【Epoch Times, January 23, 2025】The leading company in children’s programming in mainland China, the listed company Tong Cheng Tong Mei, has its headquarters in Beijing and has over 200 campuses in more than 50 cities across the country. Recently, the headquarters of Tong Cheng Tong Mei in Beijing has been deserted, and its 9 campuses in Zhengzhou have also been closed.
According to Dahe Daily’s report on the 22nd, on January 14th, many parents reported that Tong Cheng Tong Mei Technology Co., Ltd. in Beijing had simultaneously suspended classes at its 9 campuses in Zhengzhou.
On January 11th, Li Ping took her child to the Tong Cheng Tong Mei Zhongyuan Wanda campus in Beijing. At that time, the teacher mentioned a week-long intensive training course upcoming, but to her surprise, on that Sunday (January 12th), Li Ping saw a message in the group saying “the school is closed”.
Before the 2024 National Day holiday, Zhang Yan paid 12,180 yuan for 80 NOIP course hours at the Tong Cheng Tong Mei Zheng Hongcheng campus in Zhengzhou for her child. Unfortunately, after only attending 10 classes, the school closed down. On January 15th, she decided to report the incident to the police with her child.
“We have two children in our relatives’ family studying programming at Tong Cheng Tong Mei,” Zhang Yan said. “The fees here are very high, almost 300 yuan per class.” However, despite the cost, she reluctantly paid, hoping her child could improve their programming skills.
Upon hearing about the closure of Tong Cheng Tong Mei in the parent group, Wu Hongyu immediately called the teacher at the Haikou campus for confirmation. It turned out that the Haikou campus had also closed down. Wu Hongyu, who previously worked in Hainan, had enrolled his 5-year-old son in the programming course at the Haikou campus of Tong Cheng Tong Mei.
After returning to Zhengzhou in 2022, Wu Hongyu transferred the unfinished programming courses from the Haikou campus to the Zhengzhou Jinshui District Zheng Hongcheng campus, investing nearly 60,000 yuan in his child’s programming education. The Tong Cheng Tong Mei staff informed him that “by paying 100,000 yuan, your child can study until the ninth grade,” including all fees required for competitions. Wu Hongyu could not believe that such a reputable institution could suddenly close its doors.
Wu Hongyu promptly reported to the police in Beijing: “The police went to the Tong Cheng Tong Mei headquarters in Beijing, but it was empty.”
On January 15th, Wu Hongyu and other parents went to the Zhengzhou Jinshui District Economic Investigation Brigade to report the incident. Meanwhile, the police in Zhengzhou’s Zhongyuan District, Erqi District, and Guancheng District also received numerous reports from parents of Tong Cheng Tong Mei students. “However, so far, the police have not filed a case,” said parent He Li.
After the incident, parents at the Zhongyuan Wanda campus created a shared spreadsheet detailing the students’ payment information and remaining fees. Currently, more than three hundred parents have filled in the information on this shared spreadsheet, with nearly 5 million yuan remaining unpaid for unattended classes.
Recently, parent representative Wang Bo has been trying to contact the institution’s responsible person with little success.
“The responsible teacher in the Zhengzhou area told us a figure, stating that Tong Cheng Tong Mei has over 3,000 students in nine campuses in Zhengzhou, with an outstanding balance of approximately 40 million yuan for unfinished class hours,” said Wang Bo. Although this figure has not been confirmed by relevant authorities, the organization of hundreds of parents at each campus and the training fees averaging tens of thousands per person make parents believe that the figure is not unfounded.
“We have reason to suspect this is a scam,” Wang Bo said.
After the incident, parents at various campuses spontaneously organized for self-help. They expressed their demand: either resume classes or refund the fees.
Zheng Yi, director of the Regulation Division of the Zhengzhou Science and Technology Bureau, stated that Tong Cheng Tong Mei, a programming training institution, has opened nine campuses in Zhengzhou. Among them, five campuses are included in the “White List of Zhengzhou Science and Technology Extracurricular Training Institutions” approved by the Zhengzhou Science and Technology Bureau, while the other four are unlicensed institutions.
On the evening of January 12th, the company held an internal meeting and issued a notice that due to operational issues at the group headquarters, each regional campus operates independently and bears its own profits and losses. As a result, on January 13th, a large-scale closure occurred nationwide, affecting Zhengzhou as well.