Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

When visiting Beijing's famous traditional courtyard houses, few people notice the narrow passageways, often riddled with insects and dangling electric cables. But such a corridor, built with crumbling concrete and bricks, can sell at a staggering price. Recently, it was reported that a corridor of 11 square meters in a courtyard in Qianmen, downtown Beijing, was put on sale by property agents at 1.5 million yuan ($225,750) just because it enables the potential buyers to send their children to one of the best elementary schools near Qianmen. Although the authorities soon banned such corridor selling, property agents are still promoting it off-line because the space is so popular among desperate parents who are fiercely competing to send their children to elite schools whatever they cost. The unbalanced distribution of quality education resources in Beijing has ruthlessly tormented parents and produced many ridiculous results like this one. Rather than just banning such sales, the authorities should be fixing a broken school system.