The civil service exam training industry, long dormant, has suddenly erupted into public view over the past few days. Starting September 16, FENBI published three "open letters" on social media, not only openly admitting to "pixel-level imitation" of a competitor's question-bank course and engaging in a price war by cutting a 2,180 yuan product to 1,380 yuan, but also exposing that Sihai Education had spent over 2 million yuan to poach its interview instructors. This brought the industry's hidden rivalries directly into the spotlight. Netizens exclaimed that "FENBI has gone mad," even dubbing the chaos the "September 17 Civil Service Exam Incident."
Two days later, the drama subsided with an apology from FENBI. In its statement, FENBI acknowledged that its previous "antics and theatrics" were aimed at grabbing attention, originally thinking that "riding the wave would boost course sales." Instead, "not only did courses fail to sell, but many students requested refunds."
A listed company, one that trains civil service aspirants, now finds itself resorting to a series of "erratic marketing stunts" to attract eyeballs. This underscores the intensifying competitive pressures within the civil service training sector. These pressures are already visible in the first-half financial reports: China Education's revenue grew only 1.22% year-on-year, while major players like FENBI and Huatu are clearly straining under the weight. FENBI, notably, swung from profit to loss, marking its first loss since listing. Against this backdrop, FENBI's recent upheavals become easier to understand.
According to FENBI's 2026 interim report, the company generated revenue of 1.248 billion yuan in the period, a 16.3% year-on-year decline. Yet from the perspective of the civil service exam market, this should ostensibly be a business with no shortage of customers. National exam registrations have climbed steadily in recent years, and with the relaxation of age limits, the potential applicant pool has expanded further, pushing application numbers to new records.
In response to recent operational issues, our reporters contacted public relations departments at both FENBI and China Education, but received no responses as of press time. So why, with more people taking the exams, are training institutions finding it increasingly difficult to make money?
Age Limits Eased, But Positions Dwindle
After seven attempts at the civil service exam, Cui Jing finally realized his dream of "landing a stable job" at age 38. Having been laid off in 2020, this marked his first stable employment since. As a music teacher, he had previously worked either at training institutions or in schools without permanent staffing. In the wake of the pandemic, schools cut costs, and Cui Jing, lacking tenure, became one of the first to be let go.
At 32, he had little interest in the civil service exam, valuing professional growth over stability. He used the gap period to pursue a master's degree, spending three years as a full-time graduate student at a conservatory of music. The real shift came just before graduation. In his final year, Cui Jing began worrying about his post-graduation prospects. He sent out twenty or thirty resumes, expecting that his decade-plus of work experience and expertise would yield opportunities. Instead, all his efforts went unanswered.
It was then he clearly felt that after 35, age had become a barrier to employment, and for the first time, he reassessed the value of "stability." Coincidentally, the age ceiling for the civil service exam began to loosen. The 2026 national exam expanded the general application age from under 35 to under 38, with fresh master's and doctoral graduates eligible up to age 43. Subsequently, provincial exams in regions like Hubei and Hunan followed suit.
This policy quickly funneled a cohort of previously "over-age" candidates back into the examination halls. Li Rui, 37, is one such example. He started preparing at 34, studied seriously at 35 and made it to the interview stage, then had to pause for a year at 36 due to age cutoffs, believing his exam journey was over. Only with the relaxed limits did he restart preparations for provincial and public institution exams. "Having lost this opportunity once, I cherish it much more now," he said.
More and more people are flooding into the exam halls. For the 2025 national exam, 3.416 million candidates passed the qualification review; for 2026, that number rose to 3.718 million, an increase of about 302,000. Over the past four years, the number passing review has climbed from nearly 2.6 million in 2023 to over 3.7 million, adding more than one million candidates.
But while candidates multiply, positions are not keeping pace. Huatu Shanding noted in its interim report that the 2026 multi-province civil service joint exam, covering 23 provinces and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, recruited a total of 125,901 people, a 15.3% reduction from 2025. The first-half national public institution joint exam recruited 133,000, also down about 5% year-on-year. Meanwhile, from 2023 to 2026, the ratio of qualified candidates to planned hires for the national exam climbed from 70:1 and 77:1 to 86:1 and 98:1, respectively.
For candidates over 35, genuinely viable positions are sparse. When Li Rui applied, he focused on "no-restriction" positions in culture and general categories with lower thresholds. Cui Jing, determined to continue in music, faced even fewer options. "If there are 10 positions, I might only be eligible to apply for 3 or 4," he noted. Yet he was unwilling to completely abandon his profession for "stability": "I've studied music for so many years; if I end up doing something entirely unrelated, it feels wasteful." Ultimately, he set his sights more on public institution roles.
Despite their strong desire to pass, neither man enrolled in prep courses for the written exam. Cui Jing, married with children, had considered training classes but was deterred by the hefty price tags and uncertain outcomes. "First, it's too expensive given current financial pressures. Second, they can't guarantee you'll pass, so I decided to study on my own."
Li Rui felt the written exam wasn't challenging enough to necessitate outside help. "The math is at a junior high level; language and logic are used in daily life; political knowledge requires memorization, but it's essentially just rote learning. It's not beyond a normal person's intellect." Thus, he relied on online courses, the FENBI app, and practice questions for the written portion. It was only after advancing to the interview stage that he chose to enroll in a class. "From what I understand, virtually no one skips training at the interview stage; you need face-to-face interaction to practice speaking," he explained.
Their choices reflect broader shifts in civil service training. Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst at iMedia Consulting, told us that as low-cost online courses, question banks, and AI tools proliferate, traditional large-group written exam classes are being fragmented. The written exam is evolving into a lead-generation product for institutions. In contrast, interview training demands real-time feedback and small-group practice, offering a clearer path to success, which often translates to stronger willingness to pay.
The catch is that shrinking positions limit the number of candidates reaching this high-value stage. Huatu Shanding's interim report estimates that the natural interview advancement rate for the 2026 national exam is merely 3%, with multi-province joint exams around 6%. As single-exam success rates decline, candidates are less able to pin hopes on one test, giving rise to "long-cycle, multi-exam" preparation strategies. Huatu Shanding also noted that reduced recruitment in civil service has already impacted its interview training revenue.
More candidates are taking exams, but the funnel from registration to payment, and then to high-ticket interview training, is narrowing.
From "Refund on Failure" to "Pay After Landing a Job"
Li Rui has made it to two interview stages and enrolled in two training classes, but his payment structures were completely different. His first attempt in 2024 led him to prefer large institutions. "Big players have experience and strong faculty; even if I fail, refunds are more assured." In his mind, China Education, Huatu, and FENBI were the most familiar names. FENBI leaned on online operations, while China Education and Huatu had stronger physical presences. Given China Education's widely publicized refund controversies at the time, Huatu seemed the safer bet.
He opted for Huatu's interview agreement class, with tuition near 20,000 yuan. The arrangement required paying upfront, with a full refund if the interview was not passed. For a long time, this "no-pass, full-refund" model was one of the most attractive selling points in the industry. Candidates paid a premium over standard classes; if they succeeded, the institution kept the fee; if they failed, the contract guaranteed a partial or full refund, mitigating the financial blow of failure.
For institutions, the model's biggest allure was robust cash flow. Large sums of tuition flowed in as prepayments, and as long as enrollment, pass rates, and refund timing remained steady, these funds could fuel rapid expansion. However, when operations and cash flow stumbled, the advantage could turn into a burden. China Education is the prime example. After years of refund disputes, its outstanding refund liabilities still hovered around 496 million yuan as of end-June 2026, with current liabilities at 4.194 billion yuan against current assets of just 361 million yuan. The lingering refund issues from past agreement classes remain a heavy historical albatross.
Regulators are also tightening scrutiny of such high-prepayment models. In June, Beijing introduced new rules for civil service exam training institutions, barring promotional language like "full or partial refund on failure," "guaranteed pass," or "assured placement." If prepayment is used, training fees must be held in dedicated bank custodial accounts with risk reserves. The rules also encourage "service-before-payment" arrangements.
Li Rui's second interview class followed exactly this model. However, not everyone can start with zero upfront costs. Li Rui explained that institutions tier fees based on a candidate's written exam ranking and interview status. For instance, a top scorer might enroll with no payment, while a runner-up might pay 3,000 yuan upfront. Li Rui, having scored first in his position, paid nothing initially. His class had only five students, mostly those viewed as high-probability candidates for success, including one who bypassed the written exam and others with top rankings.
The course ran until the day before the interview. Ultimately, Li Rui secured a position at a Changchun municipal public institution, transferring his tuition of over 10,000 yuan to the institution once the list was publicized.
This shift in fee structures is spreading across the industry. Huatu Shanding's interim report reveals it has launched "installment payment" courses, where students pay a portion upfront and the remainder after passing. As of end-June 2026, the upper limit on collectible future training fees stood at about 514 million yuan, up from 333 million yuan at the end of 2025. FENBI's deferred payment business is also expanding, with contract assets tied to deferred-payment agreement classes rising from roughly 11 million yuan at end-2025 to 54 million yuan in the first half of 2026.
Zhang Yi noted that the "train-now, pay-later" model shifts risk from consumers to institutions. The ability to rapidly expand using prepayments is curtailed. Institutions must front the costs of instructors, facilities, and operations, then await exam results to determine whether they'll see revenue. Future profitability increasingly hinges on course delivery, pass rates, and average spending per student.
Competing for Teachers and Longer Learning Cycles
With fee structures changing, where will training institutions find new growth? The first-half financial reports show none of the major players having an easy time. Huatu Shanding generated revenue of 1.543 billion yuan, down 10.49% year-on-year, with non-GAAP net profit falling 57.99%. FENBI's revenue dropped 16.3% to 1.248 billion yuan, swinging from a profit of 227 million yuan to a loss of 184 million yuan. China Education grew revenue by 1.22%, but its civil service training revenue was just 588 million yuan, up a mere 0.14% year-on-year.
Exam participation is rising, yet top institutions can no longer rely on new candidates for organic growth. When Li Rui advanced to his second interview, he traded Huatu's large class of twenty or thirty students for a local small class of just five. For him, the teaching content was largely identical; what truly mattered was having ample practice time and instructors who could promptly identify and correct issues. He observed that competition among local small institutions was already fierce. Recently, he passed a street near a school and counted fifteen or sixteen civil service training banners on a single block, a sign of intensifying rivalry and diverging reputations.
Zhang Yi argues that interview training, by nature, is hard to scale like written exam courses. Candidates need repeated oral practice with individual feedback and correction; the larger the class, the less personalized attention each student receives. At the interview stage, candidates increasingly follow specific instructors, weakening the brand and branch network advantages of large firms. This makes instructors with personal followings increasingly valuable.
In August, Li Mengyuan, a Shenlun and interview instructor at FENBI for about 11 years, announced her departure. She cited long-term, high-intensity work affecting her health, noting no conflict with the company. Yet as a well-known instructor, she can continue live-streaming on her own social media channels, directly reaching her existing audience. In the past, institutions brought students to instructors; now, an instructor with a strong personal brand can attract both followers and students on their own.
This explains why FENBI's recent "open letters" mentioned competitors luring away its interview teachers. The scramble isn't just over individual employees but the reputation, student base, and recruitment capacity they collectively represent. However, only a minority of candidates reach the interview stage, so to grow revenue, institutions must find ways to extend the overall preparation cycle.
Huatu is now heavily promoting its "Civil Service Express," integrating overlapping content from civil service and public institution exams, like administrative aptitude and essay writing, allowing students to prepare for multiple tests with one curriculum. It has also built closed-door preparation bases to boost utilization of instructors and facilities. From March to June this year, enrollment in this program reached 18,216 people, up 38% year-on-year, and it has now launched in hundreds of cities. Huatu's interim report also identifies long-cycle products as a key future focus.
China Education is also expanding its service boundaries. In its 2025 annual report, the company outlined plans to shift from traditional civil service training to "all-category, full-cycle employment services," covering state-owned enterprise recruitment and vocational skills, extending into career assessment and job matching. In the first half of this year, public institution training revenue climbed 18.36% year-on-year, making it a primary growth driver.
FENBI, for its part, is trying to use technology to deepen engagement with candidates. As an online-born institution, it has a large user base practicing questions, taking mock exams, and listening to lectures through its app. Over the past two years, the company has invested in AI-powered question analysis and interview feedback tools. In the first half of 2026, its AI question-solving system class generated revenue of 42.2 million yuan, making it one of the few growth areas in its large-group course offerings.
The surge in civil service exam popularity may not fade soon, but the business of catering to it has entered a new set of rules.
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