Fed up with picking up the slack in terms of helping her son with his heavy school workload, 39-year-old mother, Mrs Wang, has joined millions of like-minded parents who are calling for something that China’s ‘tiger mothers’ would have considered unthinkable only a few years ago – a break from homework.

The campaign focuses on the frustrations of parents who believe they shouldn’t be spending their evenings tackling arithmetic questions or reciting complex sentence structures when they could be watching a soap or reading a magazine.

It was triggered by a viral post titled: “Goodness, what have I done wrong to have to do homework with my kids.” After millions on views on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, parents flocked to social media to share their own stories.

Since then, three Chinese provinces have issued regulations banning schools from giving out homework which would involve parents.

Three years ago, Mrs Wang’s family spent their life savings to move to a desirable catchment area where they could enroll their son, now aged nine, at an elite primary school that would compel him to work long hours.

Like the majority of Chinese parents, she believed she was doing the best for her family by helping him attain the grades needed to enter a top secondary school.