WAFU Wah Fu Education Group Ltd

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

☐ REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from _____________ to _____________.

OR

☐ SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report:

Commission file number: 001-38619

Wah Fu Education Group Ltd.

(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

British Virgin Islands

(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

L207b, Hesheng Fortune Plaza, No.13 Deshengmenwai Street

Xicheng District,Beijing, China 100088

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Yang Yu

Tel: + 86 10 57925024 Fax: + 86 10 85171378

L207b, Hesheng Fortune Plaza, No.13 Deshengmenwai Street

Xicheng District, Beijing, China 100088

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile Number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

The number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of July 31, 2023 was: 4,410,559 ordinary shares, par value $0.01 per share.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes ☐   No ☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes ☐   No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes ☒   No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

Yes ☒   No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow:

Item 17 ☐   Item 18 ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes ☐   No ☒

WAH FU EDUCATION GROUP LIMITED

FORM 20-F ANNUAL REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

CERTAIN INFORMATION

In this annual report on Form 20-F, unless otherwise indicated, “Wah Fu” refers to Wah Fu Education Group Limited, a company organized in the British Virgin Islands; “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company,” the “Company” or similar terms refer to Wah Fu Education Group Limited and/or its consolidated subsidiaries, other than the variable interest entity, Beijing HuaXiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co., a PRC company, and Beijing HuaxiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co., Ltd. – Shandong Branch, the branch company of Beijing HuaXiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co., unless the context otherwise indicates; and “VIE” refers respectively to the variable interest entity and its subsidiaries, Beijing HuaxiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries, such as Huafu Wanrun(Guangzhou) Education Technology, Sichuan Huafu GengyunEducation Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Huafu Haihui Learing Technology Co., Ltd., and Liaoning Huafu Zhongtai Learing Technology Co., Ltd. Wah Fu conducts operations in China primarily through its wholly foreign owned enterprises (“WFOEs”) and its subsidiaries, which also includes the VIE as a subsidiary of the WFOEs, in China. As a result, Wah Fu does not conduct any business on its own. The financial results of the VIE and its subsidiaries are consolidated into our financial statements for accounting purposes, but we do not hold any equity interest in the VIE or any of its subsidiaries. Investors are purchasing an interest in Wah Fu, the British Virgin Islands holding company.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, all references to “China” and the “PRC” refer to the People’s Republic of China, all references to “Renminbi” or “RMB” are to the legal currency of the People’s Republic of China and all references to “U.S. dollars,” “dollars” and “$” are to the legal currency of the United States. This annual report contains translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this report could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. On March 31, 2023, the cash buying rate announced by the People’s Bank of China was RMB 6.87 to $1.00.

Investing in Wah Fu’s securities is highly speculative and involves a significant degree of risk. Wah Fu is not an operating company established in the PRC, but a holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, or the BVI. As a holding company with no material operations of its own, Wah Fu conducts the majority of its operations through WFOEs and its subsidiaries in China and certain operations are conducted through the VIE as a subsidiary of the WFOE. There are contractual arrangements between the WFOE and VIE entities established in the PRC in which Wah Fu does not hold any equity interest, and the VIE’s subsidiaries based in the PRC, which contains some of our operations and assets in China. This variable interest entity structure involves unique risks to investors. The contractual arrangements with the VIE have not been tested in court. This variable interest entity structure is used to provide investors with contractual exposure to foreign investment in China-based companies where Chinese law prohibits or restricts direct foreign investment in the operating companies. Due to PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership in internet-based businesses, we do not have any equity ownership of the VIE, instead we receive the economic benefits of the VIE’s business operations through certain contractual arrangements.

As a result of such series of contractual arrangements, Wah Fu and its subsidiaries become the primary beneficiary of the VIE for accounting purposes and the VIE as a PRC consolidated entity under U.S. GAAP. We consolidate the financial results of the VIE and its subsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Neither we nor our investors own any equity ownership in, direct foreign investment in, or control through such ownership/investment of the VIE. These contractual arrangements have not been tested in a court of law in the PRC. As a result, investors in Wah Fu’s ordinary shares are not purchasing an equity interest in the VIE or its subsidiaries but instead are purchasing an equity interest in Wah Fu, the BVI holding company.

Investors may never hold equity interests in the Chinese operating company. The Chinese regulatory authorities could disallow this variable interest entity structure, which would likely result in a material change in Wah Fu’s operations and/or a material change in the value of the securities we have registered for sale, including that it could cause the value of Wah Fu’s securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

In addition, as Wah Fu conducts substantially all of its operations in China through wholly owned foreign enterprises (“WFOEs”) in China, it is subject to legal and operational risks associated with having substantially all of its operations in China, which risks could result in a material change in Wah Fu’s operations and/or the value of the securities Wah Fu has registered for sale or could significantly limit or completely hinder Wah Fu’s ability to offer or continue to offer Wah Fu’s securities to investors and cause the value of Wah Fu’s securities to significantly decline or be worthless. Recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and made a number of public statements on the regulation of business operations in China with little advance notice, including cracking down on illegal activities in the securities market, enhancing supervision over China-based companies listed overseas, adopting new measures to extend the scope of cybersecurity reviews, and expanding efforts in anti-monopoly enforcement As of the date of this report, as advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, we are not directly subject to these regulatory actions or statements, as we have not implemented any monopolistic behavior and our business does not involve the collection of user data, implicate cybersecurity, or involve any other type of restricted industry. Further, as of the date of this report, as advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, no effective laws or regulations in the PRC explicitly require us to seek approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (the “CSRC”) or any other PRC governmental authorities for our overseas listing, nor has our company, any of our subsidiaries, or the VIE or any of its subsidiaries, received any inquiry, notice, warning or sanctions regarding our planned overseas listing from the CSRC or any other PRC governmental authorities.   However, since these statements and regulatory actions by the PRC government are newly published and official guidance and related implementation rules have not been issued, it is highly uncertain what the potential impact such modified or new laws and regulations will have either on the WFOEs’ or VIE’s daily business operation, the ability to accept foreign investments and list on a U.S. or other foreign exchange. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (the “SCNPC”) or other PRC regulatory authorities may in the future promulgate laws, regulations or implementing rules that requires our company, the WFOEs, the VIE or any of its subsidiaries to obtain regulatory approval from Chinese authorities before offering securities in the U.S. Any future Chinese, U.S., BVI or other rules and regulations that place restrictions on capital raising or other activities by companies with extensive operations in China could adversely affect Wah Fu’s business and results of operations. See “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors- Risks Related to Doing Business in China” beginning for a detailed description of various risks related to doing business in China and other information that should be considered before making a decision to purchase any of Wah Fu’s securities.

Transfer of Cash through our Organization

Wah Fu can transfer cash to its subsidiaries through capital contributions and/or intercompany loans, and Wah Fu’s subsidiaries can transfer cash to Wah Fu through dividends or other distributions and/or intercompany loans. Additionally, Wah Fu’s subsidiaries can transfer cash to the VIE through loans, service fees and the VIE can transfer cash to Wah Fu as service fees under the VIE agreements ( the “VIE Agreements”) and/or through loans. We intend to settle amounts owed under the VIE Agreements. The aforesaid transactions including capital injection and loans, would be eliminated upon consolidation. 

Our cash primarily consists of cash on hand and cash in banks in the PRC and Hong Kong, which is unrestricted for withdrawal and use and is deposited with banks in China. As of March 31, 2023 and March 31, 2022, we had approximately $12.6 million and $11.8 million of cash in banks, respectively, and had no outstanding bank loans or third party loans due. Funds are transferred between our WFOE, Beijing Huaxia Dadi Distance Learning Services Co., Ltd. (“Distance Learning”), and Distance Learning’s subsidiaries, including Shanghai Xin Fu Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Xia Shu Network Technology Co., Ltd, and the VIE for their daily operation purposes.

There is no assurance that the PRC government will not intervene or impose restrictions on the ability of us, our subsidiaries and the VIE to transfer cash. Most of our cash is in Renminbi, and the PRC government could prevent the cash maintained from leaving the PRC, could restrict deployment of the cash into the business of the VIE and its subsidiaries and restrict the ability to pay dividends. For details regarding the restrictions on our ability to transfer cash between us, our subsidiaries and the VIE, see “Item 3.D. Risk Factors- Risks Related to Doing Business in China”

We currently do not have cash management policies that dictate how funds are transferred between us, our subsidiaries, and the VIE. For details regarding the restrictions on our ability to transfer cash between Wah Fu, our subsidiaries and the VIE, see “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Doing Business in China- Restrictions on currency exchange or outbound capital flows may limit our ability to utilize our PRC revenue effectively,” and “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors-Risks Related to Doing Business in China- Our PRC subsidiary is subject to restrictions on paying dividends or making other payments to us, which may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements.”

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (the “HFCA Act”)

As more stringent criteria applying to emerging market companies upon assessing the qualification of their auditors have been imposed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) recently, and under the HFCA Act, our securities may be prohibited from being traded on Nasdaq if our auditor is not inspected by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, and this ultimately could result in trading in our securities being prohibited.

The HFCA Act was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states that if the SEC determines that an issuer’s audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm have not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit such issuer’s securities from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over-the-counter trading market in the United States. On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. If we fail to meet the new rules before the deadline specified thereunder, we could face possible prohibition from trading on the Nasdaq, deregistration from the SEC and/or other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our securities trading in the United States. On December 2, 2021, the SEC issued amendments to finalize rules implementing the submission and disclosure requirements in the HFCA Act. The rules apply to registrants that the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in foreign jurisdictions.

Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, if enacted, would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges or over-the-counter if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three thus reducing the time before our securities may be prohibited from trading or being delisted.

On December 16, 2021, the PCAOB issued a determination, under the HFCA Act, on registered public accounting firms headquartered in Hong Kong and the mainland China of the People’s Republic of China that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely. As of this Report, our auditor, YCM CPA Inc. (“YCM”), is not headquartered in China nor Hong Kong and thus is not subject to such determination.

As a firm registered with the PCAOB, YCM is subject to laws in the United States which provide that the PCAOB shall conduct regular inspections to assess the auditor’s compliance with the applicable professional standards. We have no intention of dismissing YCM in the future or engaging any auditor not based in the U.S. and not subject to regular inspection by the PCAOB. There is no guarantee, however, that any future auditor engaged by the Company would remain subject to full PCAOB inspection during the entire term of our engagement. If it is later determined that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate our auditor completely, investor may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection. Any audit reports not issued by auditors that are completely inspected by the PCAOB, or a lack of PCAOB inspections of audit work undertaken in China or Hong Kong that prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating our auditors’ audits and their quality control procedures, could result in a lack of assurance that our financial statements and disclosures are adequate and accurate.

Future developments in respect of increased U.S. regulatory access to audit information are uncertain, as the legislative developments are subject to the legislative process and the regulatory developments are subject to the rule-making process and other administrative procedures.

See also “Item 3D. Risk Factors - Risks Related to Doing Business in China - Our ordinary shares may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect our auditors. The delisting of our ordinary shares, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, if enacted, would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three.”

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that represent our beliefs, projections and predictions about future events. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements,” including any projections of earnings, revenue or other financial items, any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations, any statements concerning proposed new projects or other developments, any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance, any statements of management’s beliefs, goals, strategies, intentions and objectives, and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Words such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would”, “predicts”, “potential”, “continue”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “future”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “estimates” and similar expressions, as well as statements in the future tense, identify forward-looking statements.

These statements are necessarily subjective and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements described in or implied by such statements. Actual results may differ materially from expected results described in our forward-looking statements, including with respect to correct measurement and identification of factors affecting our business or the extent of their likely impact, and the accuracy and completeness of the publicly available information with respect to the factors upon which our business strategy is based or the success of our business.

Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times by which, our performance or results may be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and management’s belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, those factors discussed under the headings “Risk Factors”, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” and elsewhere in this report.

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not Applicable.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not Applicable.

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

Contractual Arrangements and Corporate Structure 

Wah Fu Education Group Ltd. is a British Virgin Islands holding company and currently conducts substantially all of our business operations in the PRC through our wholly foreign owned entities (“WFOEs”) incorporated in the PRC and certain business operations through the PRC consolidated variable interest entity (“VIE”) as a subsidiary of our WFOE. Due to PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership and investment in the value-added telecommunications market, we rely on a series of contractual arrangements among VIE and its shareholders to operate our online and mobile platforms in China. These contractual arrangements entered into with the VIE allow us to (i) exercise effective control over the VIE, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of the VIE, and (iii) have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in the VIE when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. These contractual arrangements include exclusive business cooperation agreement, exclusive option agreement, equity interest pledge agreement, power of attorney, as the case may be. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert effective control over, and are considered the primary beneficiary of, the VIE and consolidate its operating results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. As used in this annual report, , unless otherwise indicated, “we,” “us,” “our,” the “Company” and “Wah Fu” refer to Wah Fu Education Group Limited, a company organized in the British Virgin Islands; “we,” “us,” “our,” “our company,” the “Company” or similar terms refer to Wah Fu Education Group Limited and/or its consolidated subsidiaries, other than the variable interest entity, Beijing HuaXiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co. (“Beijing Digital Information”), a PRC company, and its subsidiaries, , unless the context otherwise indicates; and “VIE” refers respectively to the variable interest entity and its subsidiaries, Huafu Wanrun (Guangzhou) Education Technology, Sichuan Huafu Gengyun Education Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Huafu Haihui Learing Technology Co., Ltd., and Liaoning Huafu Zhongtai Learing Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Digital Information holds our Internet Content Provider (“ICP”) license necessary to operate our online platform in China, our domain names, including www.edu-edu.com, our registered trademarks in China and our registered software copyrights that are essential to the Company’s online operation in the PRC. For the year ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, 5.2% and 0.6% of our consolidated revenue was derived from Beijing Digital Information. Our affiliated variable interest entity, Beijing Digital Information, did not pay any fee to our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Huaxia Dadi Distance Learning Services Co., Ltd (“Beijing Distance Learning”) for fiscal years ending March 31, 2023 and 2022 since the VIE Agreements were executed in August 2017. We did not receive any dividends from our PRC subsidiaries in the past two fiscal years and expect that we will receive dividends in the near future.

As a result of such series of contractual arrangements, Wah Fu and its subsidiaries become the primary beneficiary of the VIE for accounting purposes and the VIE as a PRC consolidated entity under U.S. GAAP. We consolidate the financial results of the VIE and its subsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Neither we nor Wah Fu’s investors own any equity ownership in, direct foreign investment in, or control through such ownership/investment of the VIE. These contractual arrangements have not been tested in a court of law in the PRC. As a result, investors in Wah Fu’s ordinary shares are not purchasing an equity interest in the VIE or its subsidiaries but instead are purchasing an equity interest in Wah Fu, the BVI holding company.

The diagram below shows our corporate structure as of the date of this report, including the WFOEs, the VIE and its subsidiaries. However, investors are cautioned that the enforceability of such VIE Agreements has not been tested in a court of law. Wah Fu conducts operations in China primarily through WFOEs and its subsidiaries in China, including the VIE as a subsidiary of the WFOE. As a result, Wah Fu does not conduct any business on its own. The VIE structure is used to provide investors with contractual exposure to foreign investment in China-based companies where Chinese law prohibits or restricts direct foreign investment in the operating companies. Due to PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership in internet-based businesses, we do not have any equity ownership of the VIE, instead we receive the economic benefits of the VIE’s business operations through certain contractual arrangements. As a result of such series of contractual arrangements, Wah Fu and its subsidiaries become the primary beneficiary of the VIE for accounting purposes and the VIE as a PRC consolidated entity under U.S. GAAP. We consolidate the financial results of the VIE and its subsidiaries in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Neither we nor Wah Fu’s investors own any equity ownership in, direct foreign investment in, or control through such ownership/investment of the VIE. Investors are purchasing an interest in Wah Fu, the BVI holding company.

If the PRC government deems that our contractual arrangements with the VIEs do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to material penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations or otherwise significantly change our corporate structure. See “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - Any failure by Beijing Digital Information or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.” If we are unable to maintain effective control, we would not be able to continue to consolidate Beijing Digital Information’s financial results. See “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - If the PRC government finds that the contractual arrangements that establish the structure for holding our ICP license do not comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations” and “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - We rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders for a portion of our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.”

VIE Financial Information

Set forth below is selected consolidated statements of operations and cash flows for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and selected balance sheet information as of March 31, 2022 and 2023 showing financial information for the parent company Wah Fu Education Group Limited, the WFOE (as defined below) and WFOE’s subsidiaries (as defined below), the VIE and VIE’s subsidiaries, eliminating entries and consolidated information (in dollars). In the tables below, the column headings correspond to the following entities in the organizational diagram on page 6. See also VIE and consolidated financial information in Note 2 of our financial statements.

For the purposes of this section:

Selected Condensed Consolidation Schedule of Balance Sheet

As of March 31, 2023

Selected Condensed Consolidation Schedule of Balance Sheet

As of March 31, 2022

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations Data

Selected Condensed Consolidation Schedule of Cash Flows

Cash and Asset Flows through Our Organization

Wah Fu is a holding company with no operations of its own. We conduct our operations through our subsidiaries in China. As a result, although other means are available for us to obtain financing at the holding company level, Wah Fu’s ability to pay dividends to its shareholders and to service any debt it may incur may depend upon dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries. If any of our PRC subsidiaries incurs debt on its own behalf in the future, the instruments governing such debt may restrict our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends to Wah Fu. In addition, our PRC subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to Wah Fu only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Further, our PRC subsidiaries are required to make appropriations to certain statutory reserve funds or may make appropriations to certain discretionary funds, which are not distributable as cash dividends except in the event of a solvent liquidation of the companies.

Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries are subject to certain restrictions with respect to paying dividends or otherwise transferring any of their net assets to us. Remittance of dividends by a wholly foreign-owned enterprise out of China is also subject to examination by the banks designated by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE. The amounts restricted include the paid-up capital and the statutory reserve funds of our PRC subsidiaries, totaling $975,014, $862,323 and $529,404 as of March 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Furthermore, cash transfers from our PRC subsidiaries to entities outside of China are subject to PRC government controls on currency conversion. To the extent cash in our business is in the PRC/Hong Kong or a PRC/Hong Kong entity, such cash may not be available to fund operations or for other use outside of the PRC/Hong Kong due to restrictions and limitations imposed by the governmental authorities on the ability of us or our PRC/Hong Kong subsidiaries to transfer cash outside of the PRC/Hong Kong. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may temporarily delay the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy their foreign currency denominated obligations. In view of the foregoing, to the extent cash in our business is held in China or by a PRC entity, such cash may not be available to fund operations or for other use outside of the PRC. For risks relating to the fund flows of our operations in China, see “Item 3.D. Risk Factors- Risks Related to Doing Business in China”.

Under PRC law, Wah Fu may provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries only through capital contributions or loans, subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements. As of the date of this annual report, there have been no cash flows between Wah Fu and our subsidiaries.

Funds are transferred among our PRC subsidiaries for working capital purposes, primarily between our WOFE, Beijing Huaxia Dadi Distance Learning Services Co., Ltd., and the VIE, Beijing HuaXiaDadi Digital Information Technology Co., a PRC company, and its subsidiaries. The following table provides a summary of the distributions and working capital funds transferred between the VIE and the WOFE.

The transfer of funds among companies are subject to the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Private Lending Cases (2020 Revision, the “Provisions on Private Lending Cases”), which was implemented on August 20, 2020 to regulate the financing activities between natural persons, legal persons and unincorporated organizations. The Provisions on Private Lending Cases set forth that private lending contracts will be upheld as invalid under the circumstance that (i) the lender swindles loans from financial institutions for relending; (ii) the lender relends the funds obtained by means of a loan from another profit-making legal person, raising funds from its employees, illegally taking deposits from the public; (iii) the lender who has not obtained the lending qualification according to the law lends money to any unspecified object of the society for the purpose of making profits; (iv) the lender lends funds to a borrower when the lender knows or should have known that the borrower intended to use the borrowed funds for illegal or criminal purposes; (v) the lending is violations of public orders or good morals; or (vi) the lending is in violations of mandatory provisions of laws or administrative regulations.

Permissions Required from the PRC Authorities for Our Operations

Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations, subject to its change, our business, financial condition or results of operations may be materially impacted. As of the date of this report, as advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, currently there has not been any laws and regulations that have such material impact. However, there is no assurance that there will not be any changes in the economic, political and legal environment in China, where Wah Fu operates, in the future. In addition, in light of the recent statements and regulatory actions by the PRC government, the promulgation of regulations prohibiting foreign ownership of Chinese companies operating in certain industries, which are constantly evolving, and anti-monopoly concerns, we may be subject to the risks of uncertainty of any future actions of the PRC government in this regard including the risk that the PRC government could disallow our holding company structure, which may result in a material change in our operations, including our ability to continue our existing holding company structure, carry on our current business, accept foreign investments, and offer or continue to offer securities to our investors. These adverse actions could cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

We also have operations in mainland China and we are aware that, recently, the PRC government initiated a series of regulatory actions and statements to regulate business operations in certain areas in China with little advance notice, including cracking down on illegal activities in the securities market, enhancing supervision over China-based companies listed overseas using variable interest entity structure, adopting new measures to extend the scope of cybersecurity reviews, and expanding the efforts in anti-monopoly enforcement. For example, on July 6, 2021, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued a document to crack down on illegal activities in the securities market and promote the high-quality development of the capital market, which, among other things, requires the relevant governmental authorities to strengthen cross-border oversight of law-enforcement and judicial cooperation, to enhance supervision over China-based companies listed overseas, and to establish and improve the system of extraterritorial application of the PRC securities laws. Also, on July 10, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China (the “CAC”) issued a revised draft of the Measures for Cybersecurity Review for public comments, or the Revised Draft, which required that, among others, in addition to “operator of critical information infrastructure”, any “data processor” controlling personal information of no less than one million users (which to be further specified) which seeks to list in a foreign stock exchange should also be subject to cybersecurity review, and further elaborated the factors to be considered when assessing the national security risks of the relevant activities.

As advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, as of the date of this report, other than those requisite for a domestic company in China to engage in the businesses similar to ours, we are not required to obtain any permission or approvals from the PRC authorities, including the CSRC, the CAC or any other governmental authority that is required to approve our operations. We and our subsidiaries, and the VIEs have received from PRC authorities all requisite licenses, permissions or approvals needed to engage in the businesses currently conducted in China, and no permission or approval has been denied. The following table provides details on the licenses and permissions held by our PRC subsidiary, the VIEs and their subsidiaries.

As of the date of this report, as advised our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, none of us nor our PRC subsidiary, the VIEs and their subsidiaries are currently required to obtain any permission approval or licenses from the CSRC, the CAC, the trading of our securities on Nasdaq and the offering of our securities to foreign investors, or any other governmental agency that is required to approve our or our subsidiaries’ operations. While the businesses of our subsidiaries in the RPC are subject to cybersecurity review with the CAC, however, as advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, we do not believe we are required to conduct a cybersecurity review because (i) we do not possess a large amount of personal information on more than one million users in our business operations; and (ii) data processed in our business does not have a bearing on national security and thus may not be classified as core or important data by the authorities. However, our operations could be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by future laws and regulations relating to our business or industry, if we inadvertently conclude that such approvals or permissions are not required when they are, or applicable laws, regulations, or interpretations change and we are required to obtain approvals or permissions in the future. We may be subject to penalties and sanctions imposed by the PRC regulatory agencies, including the CSRC, if we fail to comply with such rules and regulations, which could adversely affect the ability of the Company’s securities to continue to trade on Nasdaq, which may cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

Given the uncertainties of interpretation and implementation of laws and regulations and the enforcement practice of government authorities, we may be required to obtain additional licenses, permits, filings or approvals for the functions and services of our platform in the future. For more detailed information, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Risks Related to Doing Business in China”

There may be further prominent risks associated with Wah Fu’s operations in the PRC. For example, as a U.S.-listed public company with business revenue derived primarily from our in the PRC, we may face heightened scrutiny, criticism and negative publicity, which could result in a material change in our operations and the value of our ordinary shares. PRC laws and regulations governing our current business operations are sometimes vague and uncertain, and we may face the risk that changes in the policies of the PRC government could have a significant impact upon the business we conduct in the PRC and the profitability of such business. Therefore, these risks associated with having our operations in the PRC could likely cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or be worthless. Furthermore, these risks would likely result in a material change in our business operations or a complete hinderance of our ability to offer or continue to offer our securities to investors. In addition, changes in Chinese internal regulatory mandates, such as the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors (the “M&A Rules”), the Anti-Monopoly Law, the Cybersecurity Law and the Data Security Law, may target the Company’s corporate structure and impact our and our subsidiaries’ ability to conduct business in Hong Kong and in Shenzhen, accept foreign investments, or list on an U.S. or other foreign exchange.

The U.S. government, including the SEC, has recently made statements and taken certain actions that may lead to significant changes to U.S. and international relations, and will impact companies with connections to the United States or China. The SEC has issued statements primarily focused on companies with significant China-based operations. For example, on July 30, 2021, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC, issued a Statement on Investor Protection Related to Recent Developments in China, pursuant to which Chairman Gensler stated that he has asked the SEC staff to engage in targeted additional reviews of filings for companies with significant China-based operations.

For a detailed description of the risks facing the Company and the risks associated with having our operations in China, please refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors - Risks Related to Doing Business in China.”

3.A. Selected Financial Data

The following selected financial information should be read in connection with, and is qualified by reference to, our consolidated financial statements and their related notes and the section entitled “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report. The consolidated statements of operations and other comprehensive income (loss) data for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 and the consolidated balance sheets data as of March 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 are derived from audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. Our historical results for any prior period are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in any future period.

Selected Consolidated Statements of Operations and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) Data:

Selected Consolidated Balance Sheets Data:

Selected Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows Data:

3.B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not Applicable.

3.C. Reasons For The Offer And Use Of Proceeds

Not Applicable.

3.D. Risk Factors

An investment in our ordinary shares involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with all other information contained in this annual report, including the matters discussed under the headings “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” before you decide to invest in our ordinary shares. We are a holding company with substantial operations in China and are subject to a legal and regulatory environment that in many respects differs from the United States. If any of the following risks, or any other risks and uncertainties that are not presently foreseeable to us, actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and our future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

RISK FACTORS SUMMARY

Our business is subject to numerous risks described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report. The main risks set forth below and others you should consider are discussed more fully in the section entitled “Risk Factors”, which you should read in its entirety.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry:

Risks and uncertainties related to our business and industry include, but are not limited to, the following:

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

We are also subject to risks and uncertainties relating to doing business in China in general, including, but are not limited to, the following:

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

In addition to the risks and uncertainties described above, we are subject to risks relating to ordinary shares, including, but not limited to, the following:

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

If we are not able to continue to attract students to purchase our course packages and to increase the spending of our students on our platforms, our business and prospects will be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to continue to attract students to purchase our course packages and to increase their spending on our platforms are critical to the continued success and growth of our business. This in turn will depend on several factors, including our ability to effectively market our platforms to a broader base of prospective students, continue to develop, adapt or enhance quality educational content and services to meet the evolving demands of our existing or prospective students and expand our geographic reach. We must also manage our growth while maintaining consistent and high quality of course materials, and respond effectively to competitive pressures. If we are unable to continue to attract students to purchase our course packages and to increase the spending of our students on our platform, our revenues may decline, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to improve the content of our existing courses, develop new courses or services in a timely or cost-effective manner.

Historically, our core business centered on the exam preparation courses offered through our B2C platform. We have since expanded our course offerings to target students that not only need to take self-taught higher education exams but who desire to educate themselves in other fields of study, as well as a broader range of situation-based education and test preparation targeting a wide range of student demographics. We constantly update and improve the content of our existing courses and develop new courses or services to meet changing market demands. Revisions to our existing courses and our newly developed courses or services may not be well received by existing or prospective students. If we cannot respond effectively to changes in market demands, our business may be adversely affected. Even if we are able to develop new courses or services that are well received, we may not be able to introduce them in a timely or cost-effective manner. If we do not respond adequately to changes in market demands, our ability to attract and retain students may be impaired and our financial results could suffer.

The effectiveness of our program depends on the success of our personalized learning approach to self-taught and adult higher education, which in turn is determined by the efficiency of our data analytics know-how. We might not be able to continue to efficiently monitor and analyze relevant data important for us to provide a personalized learning experience for our students, or to continue to drive our teaching training, curriculum development and other operational aspects of our platforms.

The timing of the introduction of new courses is subject to risks and uncertainties, including our ability to find and retain teachers and attract students. Offering new courses or services or modifying existing courses may require us to invest in content development, increase marketing efforts and re-allocate resources away from other uses. Unexpected technical, operational, logistical or other problems could delay or prevent the introduction of one or more new courses. Moreover, we cannot assure you that any of these courses or programs will match the quality or popularity of those developed by our competitors, achieve widespread market acceptance or contribute the desired level of income. We may have limited experience with the content of new courses or services and may need to adjust our systems and strategies to incorporate new courses or services into our existing course catalogue. If we are unable to continuously improve the content of our existing courses, or offer new courses or services in a timely or cost-effective manner, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our business depends on the market recognition of our brand, and if we are unable to maintain and enhance brand recognition, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that the market recognition of our “Huaxiadadi” brand has significantly contributed to the success of our business and that maintaining and enhancing our brand recognition is critical to sustaining our competitive advantages. Our ability to maintain and enhance brand recognition and reputation depends primarily on the perceived effectiveness and quality of our curriculum and teachers, as well as the success of our branding efforts. Our branding efforts, however, may not be successful and we may incur significant branding costs. If we are unable to maintain and further enhance our brand recognition and reputation and promote awareness of our platforms, we may not be able to maintain our current level of students, fees and engage qualified teachers, and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, any negative publicity relating to our company, our courses, teachers, platforms and services, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brand image and in turn materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If we are unable to conduct sales and marketing activities cost-effectively, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We incurred selling and marketing expenses of $1,129,146 and $1,547,665 for the years ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. As we continue to increase our marketing efforts for our B2C service by establishing office in more provinces, we expect our selling and marketing expenses to increase for the next three years.

Our sales activities may not be well received by students and may not result in the levels of sales that we anticipate and our free trials may not be attractive to our prospective institution customers and students. Furthermore, we may not be able to achieve the operational efficiency necessary to increase the gross billings per sales and marketing staff. We also may not be able to retain or recruit experienced sales staff, or to efficiently train junior sales staff. Further, marketing and branding approaches and tools in the online education market in China are evolving, especially for mobile platforms. This further requires us to enhance our marketing and branding approaches and experiment with new methods to keep pace with industry developments and student preferences. Failure to refine our existing marketing and branding approaches or to introduce new marketing and branding approaches in a cost-effective manner may reduce our market share, cause our revenues to decline and negatively impact our profitability.

Collectability of our accounts receivable has adversely impacted our operating cash flow, and may continue to do so.

Our net accounts receivable balance was $0.8 million and $1.7 million as of March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. As of March 31, 2023 and 2022, the accounts receivable derived from our online education cloud service accounted for 100% and 100%, respectively, of the total accounts receivable balance. The aging of such accounts receivable ranged from 3 months to over one year. As of March 31, 2023 and 2022, the allowances for doubtful accounts were $535,767 and $1,122,743, respectively.

If we are not able to continue to engage and retain qualified teachers, we may not be able to maintain consistent teaching quality on our platforms, and our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

Our teachers are critical to the learning experience of our students and our reputation. We seek to engage highly qualified teachers with strong teaching skills. We must provide competitive pay and other benefits to attract and retain them. Furthermore, as we continue to develop new course contents and lesson formats, we may need to engage additional teachers with appropriate skill sets or backgrounds to deliver instructions effectively. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to effectively engage such teachers quickly, or at all. Further, given other potential more attractive opportunities for our quality teachers, over time, some of them may choose to end their relationship with us. We have not experienced major difficulties in engaging, or retaining qualified teachers in the past, however, we may not always be able to engage and retain enough qualified teachers to keep pace with our growth while maintaining consistent education quality. We may also face significant competition in engaging qualified teachers from our competitors or from other opportunities that are perceived as more desirable. A shortage of qualified teachers, a decrease in the quality of our teachers’ performances, whether actual or perceived, or a significant increase in the cost to engage or retain qualified teachers would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our historical financial and operating results, growth rates and profitability may not be indicative of future performance.

We had a net income $1,672,443 and net income $902,531 for the years ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Any evaluation of our business and our prospects must be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties encountered by companies at our stage of development. The private education market in China is still at the development stage, which makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects. In addition, our past results may not be indicative of future performance because of new businesses developed or acquired by us. Furthermore, our results of operations may vary from period to period in response to a variety of other factors beyond our control, including general economic conditions, global pandemics, and regulations or government actions pertaining to the private education service sector in China, changes in spending on private education and non-recurring charges incurred under unexpected circumstances or in connection with acquisitions, equity investments or other extraordinary transactions. Due to these and other factors, our historical financial and operating results, growth rates and profitability as well as comparisons of our semi-annual and annual operating results may not be indicative of our future performance and you should not rely on them to predict our future performance.

If our students’ level of performance deteriorates or satisfaction with our services declines, the students may decide to withdraw from our courses and request refunds and our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation would be adversely affected.

The success of our business depends in part on our ability to deliver a satisfactory learning experience and improved academic results. Our services may fail to improve a student’s academic performance and a student may perform below expectations even after completing our courses. Additionally, student satisfaction with our services may decline. A student’s learning experience may also suffer if his or her relationship with our teachers does not meet expectations. We generally offer refunds for the remaining classes in a course to students who withdraw from the course. If a significant number of students fail to improve their academic performance after attending our courses or if their learning experiences with us are unsatisfactory, they may decide to withdraw from our courses and request refunds, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation would be adversely affected.

We face significant competition, and if we fail to compete effectively, we may lose our market share or fail to gain additional market share, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

The private education market in China is fragmented, rapidly evolving and highly competitive. We face competition in self-taught higher education and adult higher education, from existing online and offline education companies. In the future, we may also face competition from new entrants into the private education market.

Some of our competitors may be able to devote more resources than we can to the development and promotion of their education programs and respond more quickly than we can to changes in student demands, market trends or new technologies. In addition, some of our competitors may be able to respond more quickly to changes in student preferences or engage in price-cutting strategies. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors. If we are unable to maintain our competitive position or otherwise respond to competitive pressure effectively, we may lose market share or be forced to reduce our fees for course packages, either of which would adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

Our new courses and services may compete with our existing courses and services.

We are constantly developing new courses and services to meet changes in student demands, school curriculum, testing materials, admission standards, market trends and technologies. While some of the courses and services that we develop will expand our current course catalogue and services and increase student enrollment, others may compete with or render obsolete our existing courses and services without increasing our total student enrollment. If we are unable to increase our total student enrollment and profitability as we expand our course catalogue and services, our business and growth may be adversely affected.

If we fail to successfully execute our growth strategies, our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Our growth strategies include further enhancing our brand image to grow our student base and increase student enrollments, developing our online course catalogue and online education platforms, increasing our market penetration, expanding into additional markets, improving the learning experience of our students, and advancing our technology. We may not succeed in executing these growth strategies due to a number of factors, including the following:

If we fail to successfully execute our growth strategies, we may not be able to maintain our growth rate and our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected as a result.

We may not be able to adopt new technologies important to our business.

Technology standards in internet and value-added telecommunications services and products in general, and in online education in particular, may change over time. If we fail to anticipate and adapt to technological changes, our market share and our business development could suffer, which in turn could have a material and adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. If we are unsuccessful in addressing any of the risks related to new courses, our reputation and business may be materially and adversely affected.

Unexpected network interruptions, security breaches or computer virus attacks and system failures could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business depends on the performance and reliability of the internet infrastructure in China. In China, almost all access to the internet is maintained through state-controlled telecommunications operators. In many parts of China, the internet infrastructure is relatively underdeveloped, and internet connections are generally slower and less stable than in more developed countries. We cannot assure you that the internet infrastructure in China will remain sufficiently reliable for our needs or that either country will ever develop and make available more reliable internet access to our students and teacher. Any failure to maintain the performance, reliability, security or availability of our network infrastructure may cause significant damage to our ability to attract and retain students and teachers. Major risks involving our network infrastructure include:

Any network interruption or inadequacy that causes interruptions in the availability of our online and mobile platforms or deterioration in the quality of access to our online and mobile platforms could reduce student satisfaction and result in a reduction in the activity level of our students and the number of students purchasing our course packages. Furthermore, increases in the volume of traffic on our online and mobile platforms could strain the capacity of our existing computer systems and bandwidth, which could lead to slower response times or system failures. The internet infrastructure in China may not support the demands associated with continued growth in internet usage. This would cause a disruption or suspension in our lesson delivery, which could hurt our brand and reputation. We may need to incur additional costs to upgrade our technology infrastructure and computer systems in order to accommodate increased demand if we anticipate that our systems cannot handle higher volumes of traffic in the future.

All of our servers and routers, including backup servers, are currently hosted by third-party service providers in Tianjin and Wuhan in China. We also rely on major telecommunication companies to provide us with data communications capacity primarily through local telecommunications lines and internet data centers to host our servers. We may not have access to alternative services and we have no control over the costs of services. If the prices that we pay for telecommunications and internet services in China rise significantly, our gross profit and net income could be adversely affected. In addition, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, our visitor traffic may decrease, which in turn may harm our revenues.

Some students may decide not to continue taking our courses for a number of reasons, including a perceived lack of improvement in their performance in specific courses, a change in requirements or general dissatisfaction with our programs, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation.

The success of our business depends in large part on our ability to retain our students by delivering a satisfactory learning experience and improving their performance in the courses they have taken. If students feel that we are not providing them the experience they are seeking, they may choose not to renew their existing packages. For example, our courses may fail to significantly improve a student’s performance in the relevant subject area. Student satisfaction with our programs may decline for a number of reasons, many of which may not reflect the effectiveness of our lessons and teaching methods. Students also need to be self-motivated in order to successfully complete the courses in which they enroll. If students’ performances decline as a result of their own study habits or inability to learn the course material, they may not purchase additional lessons from us or refer other students to us, which could materially adversely affect our business.

A student’s learning experience may also suffer if his or her relationship with our teaching assistants does not meet expectations. If a significant number of students fail to significantly improve their proficiency in the applicable course subject after taking our lessons or if their learning experiences with us are unsatisfactory, they may not purchase additional lessons from us or refer other students to us and our business, financial condition, results of operations and reputation would be adversely affected.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights or defend against third party allegations of infringement may be costly and ineffective.

We believe that our copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property are essential to our success. We depend to a large extent on our ability to develop and maintain the intellectual property rights relating to our technology and course materials. We have devoted considerable time and energy to the development and improvement of our websites, mobile apps, and our course materials.

We rely primarily on copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and other contractual restrictions for the protection of the intellectual property used in our business. Nevertheless, these provide only limited protection and the actions we take to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. Our trade secrets may become known or be independently discovered by our competitors. Third parties may in the future pirate our course materials and may infringe upon or misappropriate our other intellectual property. Infringement upon or the misappropriation of, our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results. Policing the unauthorized use of proprietary technology can be difficult and expensive.

Also, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Such litigation may be costly and divert management’s attention away from our business. An adverse determination in any such litigation would impair our intellectual property rights and may harm our business, prospects and reputation. Enforcement of judgments in China is uncertain, and even if we are successful in litigation, it may not provide us with an effective remedy. In addition, we have no insurance coverage against litigation costs and would have to bear all costs arising from such litigation to the extent we are unable to recover them from other parties. The occurrence of any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may encounter disputes from time to time relating to our use of intellectual property of third parties.

We cannot be certain that third parties will not claim that our business infringes upon or otherwise violates trademarks, patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights that they hold. We cannot assure you that third parties will not claim that our courses and marketing materials, online courses, products, and platform or other intellectual property developed or used by us infringe upon valid copyrights or other intellectual property rights that they hold. We may be subject to claims by educational institutions and organizations, content providers and publishers, competitors and others on the grounds of intellectual property rights infringement, defamation, negligence or other legal theories based on the content of the materials that we or our teachers distribute or use in our business operation. These types of claims have been brought, sometimes successfully, against print publications and educational institutions in the past. We may encounter disputes from time to time over rights and obligations concerning intellectual property, and we may not prevail in those disputes.

Any claims against us, with or without merit, could be time consuming and costly to defend or litigate, divert our management’s attention and resources or result in the loss of goodwill associated with our brand. If a lawsuit against us is successful, we may be required to pay substantial damages and/or enter into royalty or license agreements that may not be based upon commercially reasonable terms, or we may be unable to enter into such agreements at all. We may also lose, or be limited in, the rights to offer some of our programs, parts of our platform and products or be required to make changes to our course materials or websites. As a result, the scope of our course materials could be reduced, which could adversely affect the effectiveness of our curriculum, limit our ability to attract new students, harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial position.

Failure to protect confidential information of our teachers, students and other customers against security breaches could damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm our business and results of operations.

A significant challenge to the online education industry is the secure storage of confidential information and its secure transmission over public networks. Most purchases of our course packages are made through our website and our mobile apps. In addition, online payments for our course packages are settled through third-party online payment services. Maintaining complete security for the storage and transmission of confidential information on our technology platform, such as student names, personal information and billing addresses, is essential to maintaining student confidence.

We have adopted security policies and measures to protect our proprietary data and student information]. However, advances in technology, the expertise of hackers, new discoveries in the field of cryptography or other events or developments could result in a compromise or breach of the technology that we use to protect confidential information. We may not be able to prevent third parties, especially hackers or other individuals or entities engaging in similar activities, from illegally obtaining such confidential or private information we hold as a result of our users’ visits to our website and use of our mobile apps. Such individuals or entities obtaining our clients’ confidential or private information may further engage in various other illegal activities using such information. Any negative publicity regarding our website’s or mobile apps’ safety or privacy protection mechanisms and policies, and any claims asserted against us or fines imposed upon us as a result of actual or perceived failures, could have a material and adverse effect on our public image, reputation, financial condition and results of operations.

Practices regarding the collection, use, storage, transmission and security of personal information by companies operating over the internet and mobile platforms have recently come under increased public scrutiny. Increased regulation by the PRC government of data privacy on the internet may occur and we may become subject to new laws and regulations applying to the solicitation, collection, processing or use of personal or consumer information that could affect how we store and process the data of our teachers, students and clients. We generally comply with industry standards and are subject to the terms of our own privacy policies. Compliance with any additional laws could be expensive, and may place restrictions on the conduct of our business and the manner in which we interact with our students and other clients. Any failure to comply with applicable regulations could also result in regulatory enforcement actions against us.

Significant capital and other resources may be required to protect against information security breaches or to alleviate problems caused by such breaches or to comply with our privacy policies or privacy-related legal obligations. The resources required may increase over time as the methods used by hackers and others engaged in online criminal activities are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. Any failure or perceived failure by us to prevent information security breaches or to comply with privacy policies or privacy-related legal obligations, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized release or transfer of personally identifiable information or other student data, could cause our students to lose trust in us and could expose us to legal claims. Any perception by the public that online transactions or the privacy of user information are becoming increasingly unsafe or vulnerable to attacks could inhibit the growth of online education services generally, which may negatively impact our business prospects.

Our employees may engage in misconduct or other improper activities or misuse our platforms, which could harm our reputation.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Employee misconduct could include intentionally failing to comply with government regulations, engaging in unauthorized activities and misrepresentation to our potential students and clients during marketing activities, which could harm our reputation. Employee misconduct could also involve improper use of our clients’ and teachers’ sensitive or classified information, which could result in regulatory sanctions against us and serious harm to our reputation. Employee misconduct could also involve making payments to government officials or third parties that would expose us to being in violation of laws. It is not always possible to deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to prevent and detect this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Allegations, harassment or other detrimental conduct by third parties, as well as the public dissemination of negative, inaccurate or misleading information about us, could harm our reputation and adversely affect the price of our ordinary shares.

We may be subject to allegations by third parties or purported current or former employees, negative internet postings and other negative, inaccurate or misleading publicity related to our business and operations. We may also become the target of harassment or other detrimental conduct by third parties or disgruntled former or current employees. Such conduct may include complaints, anonymous or otherwise, to our board, advisors, regulatory agencies, media or other organizations. Depending on their nature and significance, we may need to conduct internal investigations to appropriately review any such allegations. We may also be subject to government or regulatory inquiries or, investigations or other proceedings as a result of such third-party conduct and may be required to spend significant time and incur substantial costs to address such conduct, and there is no assurance that we will be able to conclusively refute each of the allegations within a reasonable period of time, or at all. Allegations may be posted on the internet, including social media platforms, by anyone anonymously. Any negative, inaccurate or misleading publicity about us or our management can be quickly and widely disseminated. Social media platforms and devices immediately publish the content of their subscribers’ and participants’ posts, often without filters or checks on the accuracy of the content posted. Information posted on the internet or otherwise publicly released, including by us or our employees, may be inaccurate or misleading, and the information or the inaccurate or misleading nature of the information, may harm our reputation, business or prospects. The harm may be immediate without affording us an opportunity for redress or correction. Our reputation may be negatively affected as a result of the public dissemination of negative, inaccurate, or misleading information about our business and operations, which in turn may cause us to lose market share or students, and adversely affect the price of our ordinary shares.

The wide variety of payment methods that we accept subjects us to third-party payment processing-related risks.

We accept payments using a variety of methods, including bank transfers, online payments with credit cards and debit cards issued by major banks in China, and payment through third-party online payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay. For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs and lower our profit margins. We may also be susceptible to fraud and other illegal activities in connection with the various payment methods we offer. We are also subject to various rules, regulations and requirements, regulatory or otherwise, governing electronic funds transfers which could change or be reinterpreted to make it difficult or impossible for us to comply. If we fail to comply with these rules or requirements, we may be subject to fines and higher transaction fees and become unable to accept credit and debit card payments from our students, process electronic funds transfers or facilitate other types of online payments, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

If our senior management is unable to work together effectively or efficiently or if we lose their services, our business may be severely disrupted.

Our success heavily depends upon the continued services of our management. In particular, we rely on the expertise and experience of Yang Yu, Xinghui Yang and Cuntao Hou. We also rely on the experience and services from other senior management. If such individuals cannot work together effectively or efficiently, our business may be severely disrupted. If one or more of our senior managers were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we might not be able to replace them easily or at all, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. If any of our senior management joins a competitor or forms a competing business, we may lose students, teachers, and other key professionals and staff members. Our senior management has entered into employment agreements with us, including confidentiality and non-competition clauses. However, if any dispute arises between our officers and us, we may have to incur substantial costs and expenses in order to enforce such agreements in China or we may be unable to enforce them at all.

Our results of operations are subject to seasonal fluctuations.

Our industry generally experiences seasonality, reflecting a combination of traditional education industry patterns and new patterns associated with the online platforms in particular. Seasonal fluctuations have affected, and are likely to continue to affect, our business. In general, our self-taught examination services experiences lower student enrollment during the month following the four examination periods but enjoys higher student enrollment during the two months before the four examination periods. As to our continuing education services, our sales generally slow down when our cooperating universities and colleges are summer and winter breaks. Our financial condition and results of operations for future periods may continue to fluctuate. As a result, the trading price of our ordinary shares may fluctuate from time to time due to seasonality.

We have limited insurance coverage for our operations in China, which could expose us to significant costs and business disruption.

We do not maintain any liability insurance or property insurance policies covering students, equipment and facilities for injuries, death or losses due to fire, earthquake, flood or any other disaster. Consistent with customary industry practice in China, we do not maintain business interruption insurance, nor do we maintain key-man life insurance. However, as the insurance industry in China is still in an early stage of development, insurance companies in China currently offer limited business-related insurance products. We do not maintain business interruption insurance, nor do we maintain key-man life insurance. We cannot assure you that our insurance coverage is sufficient to prevent us from any loss or that we will be able to successfully claim our losses under our current insurance policy on a timely basis, or at all. If we incur any loss that is not covered by our insurance policies, or the compensated amount is significantly less than our actual loss, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Any significant interruption in the operations of our customer hotline could adversely affect our ability to respond to potential customers’ inquiries and other service requests in a timely manner.

We have a customer hotline which responds to inquiries from potential customers and provides customer service to our existing customers. We have not experienced any significant interruption in the operations of our customer hotline. We do not currently have a risk mitigation plan for our customer hotline to prevent an interruption of its operation due to natural disasters, accidents or other events. Any significant interruptions as a result of these events or our failure to successfully expand or upgrade our systems or manage the necessary expansions or upgrades in the customer hotline could reduce our ability to respond to customer inquiries or service requests, which could in turn result in the loss of potential customers and damage our reputation.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government finds that the contractual arrangements that establish the structure for holding our Internet Content Provider (“ICP”) license do not comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Foreign ownership in entities that provide value-added telecommunication services, is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. For example, in accordance with the Guidance Catalog of Industries for Foreign Investment, as amended in June 2017, and other applicable laws and regulations, foreign investors are not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a value-added telecommunication service provider (except for e-commerce) and any such foreign investor must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record.

We are a British Virgin Islands company and our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Distance Learning is considered a foreign-invested enterprise. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we operate our website, www.edu-edu.com, through the VIE, Beijing Digital Information, which holds our ICP License for www.edu-edu.com. Beijing Digital Information is 51.5% owned by Yang Yu and 48.5% owned by Xinghui Yang. All shareholders of Beijing Digital Information are PRC citizens. We entered into a series of contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders, which enable us to:

Because of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Beijing Digital Information and treat it as our PRC consolidated VIE under U.S. GAAP for accounting purposes. We consolidate the financial results of Beijing Digital Information in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Beijing Haotai Law Firm, our PRC legal counsel, is of the opinion that (i) the ownership structure of Shanghai Xin Fu and Beijing Distance Learning will not result in any violation of PRC laws or regulations currently in effect; and (ii) the contractual arrangements among Beijing Digital Information and Beijing Distance Learning and its shareholders governed by PRC law are valid, binding and enforceable, and will not result in any violation of PRC laws or regulations currently in effect. Our PRC legal counsel is also of the opinion that there are, however, substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations concerning foreign investment in the PRC, and their application to and effect on the legality, binding effect and enforceability of the contractual arrangements. In particular, we cannot rule out the possibility that PRC regulatory authorities, courts or arbitral tribunals may in the future adopt a different or contrary interpretation or take a view that is inconsistent with the opinion of our PRC legal counsel.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress, China’s national legislative body (the “NPC”) approved the Foreign Investment Law, which took effect on January 1, 2020. Since it is relatively new, uncertainties exist in relation to its interpretation and its implementation rules that are yet to be issued. The Foreign Investment Law does not explicitly classify whether variable interest entities that are controlled through contractual arrangements would be deemed as foreign-invested enterprises if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors. However, it has a catch-all provision under definition of “foreign investment” that includes investments made by foreign investors in China through other means as provided by laws, administrative regulations or the State Council. Therefore it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions of the State Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment. Therefore, there can be no assurance that our control over the  consolidated VIE through contractual arrangements will not be deemed as foreign investment in the future.

The Foreign Investment Law grants national treatment to foreign-invested entities, except for those foreign-invested entities that operate in industries specified as either “restricted” or “prohibited” from foreign investment in a “negative list” that is yet to be published. It is unclear whether the “negative list” to be published will differ from the current Special Administrative Measures for Market Access of Foreign Investment (Negative List). The Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign-invested entities operating in “restricted” or “prohibited” industries will require market entry clearance and other approvals from relevant PRC government authorities. If our control over the consolidated VIE through contractual arrangements are deemed as foreign investment in the future, and any business of the consolidated VIE is “restricted” or “prohibited” from foreign investment under the “negative list” effective at the time, we may be deemed to be in violation of the Foreign Investment Law, the contractual arrangements that allow us to have control over the consolidated VIE may be deemed as invalid and illegal, and we may be required to unwind such contractual arrangements and/or restructure our business operations, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business operation.

If, as a result of such contractual arrangement, we or Beijing Digital Information is found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or such contractual arrangement is determined as illegal and invalid by the PRC court, arbitral tribunal or regulatory authorities, or we fail to obtain, maintain or renew any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities would have broad discretion to take action in dealing with such violations or failures, including:

The imposition of any of these penalties could result in a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business and on our results of operations. If any of these penalties results in our inability to direct the activities of Beijing Digital Information that most significantly impact its economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits from Beijing Digital Information, we may not be able to consolidate Beijing Digital Information in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders for a portion of our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.

We have relied and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information, as well as its respective shareholders, to operate our www.edu-edu.com website and mobile apps. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “History and Development of the Company.” These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over Beijing Digital Information. For example, Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders could breach their contractual arrangements with us by, among other things, failing to conduct their operations, including maintaining our website and using the domain names and trademarks, in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests.

If we had direct ownership of Beijing Digital Information, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to change the executive director of Beijing Digital Information, which in turn could effect changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders of their obligations under the contracts to exercise control over Beijing Digital Information. However, the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information may not act in the best interests of the Company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. Such risks exist throughout the period in which we intend to operate our business through the contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information. We may replace the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information at any time pursuant to our contractual arrangements with it and its shareholders. However, if any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC law and therefore will be subject to uncertainties in the PRC legal system. See “—Any failure by Beijing Digital Information or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.” Therefore, our contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information may not be as effective in ensuring our control over the relevant portion of our business operations as direct ownership would be.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation of draft PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

The MOC published a discussion draft of the proposed Foreign Investment Law in January 2015 aiming to, upon its enactment, replace the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law. The Draft Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. While the MOC solicited comments on this draft in early 2015, substantial uncertainties exist with respect to its enactment timetable, interpretation and implementation.

Among other things, the Draft Foreign Investment Law expands the definition of foreign investment and introduces the principle of “actual control” in determining whether a company is considered an FIE. The Draft Foreign Investment Law specifically provides that entities established in China but “controlled” by foreign investors will be treated as FIEs, whereas an entity set up in a foreign jurisdiction would nonetheless be, upon market entry clearance by the MOC, treated as a PRC domestic investor provided that the entity is “controlled” by PRC entities and/or citizens. In this connection, “foreign investors” refers to the following subjects making investments within the PRC: (i) natural persons without PRC nationality; (ii) enterprises incorporated under the laws of countries or regions other than China; (iii) the governments of countries or regions other than the PRC and the departments or agencies thereunder; and (iv) international organizations. Domestic enterprises under the control of the subjects as mentioned in the preceding sentence are deemed foreign investors, and “control” is broadly defined in the draft law to cover the following summarized categories: (i) holding, directly or indirectly, not less than 50% of shares, equities, share of voting rights or other similar rights of the subject entity; (ii) holding, directly or indirectly, less than 50% of the voting rights of the subject entity but having the power to secure at least 50% of the seats on the board or other equivalent decision making bodies, or having the voting power to material influence on the board, the shareholders’ meeting or other equivalent decision making bodies; or (iii) having the power to exert decisive influence, via contractual or trust arrangements, over the subject entity’s operations, financial matters or other key aspects of business operations. Once an entity is determined to be an FIE, it will be subject to the foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions set forth in a “catalogue of special administrative measures,” which is classified into the “catalogue of prohibitions” and “the catalogue of restrictions,” to be separately issued by the State Council later. Foreign investors are not allowed to invest in any sector set forth in the catalogue of prohibitions. However, unless the underlying business of the FIE falls within the catalogue of restrictions, which calls for market entry clearance by the MOC, prior approval from governmental authorities as mandated by the existing foreign investment legal regime would no longer be required for establishment of the FIE.

The “variable interest entity” structure, or VIE structure, has been adopted by many PRC-based companies, including us, to obtain necessary licenses and permits in the industries that are currently subject to foreign investment restrictions in China. See “—If the PRC government finds that the contractual arrangements that establish the structure for holding our ICP license do not comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations” and “History and Development of the Company.” Under the Draft Foreign Investment Law, VIEs that are controlled via contractual arrangement would also be deemed as FIEs, if they are ultimately “controlled” by foreign investors. Therefore, for any companies with a VIE structure in an industry category that is on the “catalogue of restrictions,” the VIE structure may be deemed a domestic investment only if the ultimate controlling person(s) is/are of PRC nationality (either PRC companies or PRC citizens). Conversely, if the actual controlling person(s) is/are of foreign nationalities, then the VIEs will be treated as FIEs and any operation in the industry category on the “catalogue of restrictions” without market entry clearance may be considered as illegal.

In addition, the Draft Foreign Investment Law does not indicate what actions shall be taken with respect to the existing companies with a VIE structure, whether or not these companies are controlled by Chinese parties. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the online education industry, in which the VIE operate, will be subject to the foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions set forth in the “catalogue of special administrative measures” to be issued. If the enacted version of the Foreign Investment Law and the final “catalogue of special administrative measures” mandate further actions, such as the MOC market entry clearance, to be completed by companies with an existing VIE structure like us, we face uncertainties as to whether such clearance can be timely obtained, or at all.

The Draft Foreign Investment Law, if enacted as proposed, may also materially impact our corporate governance practice and increase our compliance costs. For instance, the Draft Foreign Investment Law imposes stringent ad hoc and periodic information reporting requirements on foreign investors and the applicable FIEs. Aside from an investment information report required at each investment, and investment amendment reports, which shall be submitted upon alteration of investment specifics, it is mandatory for entities established by foreign investors to submit an annual report, and large foreign investors meeting certain criteria are required to report on a quarterly basis. Any company found to be non-compliant with these reporting obligations may potentially be subject to fines and/or administrative or criminal liabilities, and the persons directly responsible may be subject to criminal liabilities.

On December 26, 2018, NPCSC published the 2018 Draft Foreign Investment Law deliberated by the 7th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress, to seek public comments, which closed on February 24, 2019. The 2018 Draft Foreign Investment Law does not mention concepts including “de facto control” and “controlling through contractual arrangements”, nor did it specify the regulation on controlling through contractual arrangements. Furthermore, the 2018 Draft Foreign Investment Law does not specifically stipulate rules on the education industry.

Any failure by Beijing Digital Information or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.

If Beijing Digital Information or its shareholders fail to perform their obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective. For example, if the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information, were to refuse to transfer their equity interest in Beijing Digital Information to us or our designee if we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations.

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Under PRC law, if the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over Beijing Digital Information, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress promulgated the Foreign Investment Law, which became effective on January 1, 2020 and replace three existing laws on foreign investments in China, namely, the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Foreign Owned Enterprise Law, together with their implementations and ancillary regulations to become the legal foundation for foreign investment in the PRC.

According to the Foreign Investment Law, the State Council will publish or approve to publish a catalogue for special administrative measures, or the “negative list.” The Foreign Investment Law grants national treatment to foreign invested entities, except for those foreign invested entities that operate in industries deemed to be either “restricted” or “prohibited” in the “negative list.” Because the “negative list” has yet to be published, it is unclear whether it will differ from the current Negative List. The Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign invested entities operating in foreign restricted or prohibited industries will require market entry clearance and other approvals from relevant PRC governmental authorities.

Furthermore, the Foreign Investment Law provides that foreign invested enterprises established according to the existing laws regulating foreign investment may maintain their structure and corporate governance within five years after the implementing of the Foreign Investment Law.

If the custodians or authorized users of our controlling non-tangible assets, including chops and seals, fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets, our business and operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Under PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions, including agreements and contracts such as the leases and sales contracts that our business relies on, are executed using the chop or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with the relevant local branch of the SAIC. We generally execute legal documents by affixing chops or seals, rather than having the designated legal representatives sign the documents.

We have three major types of chops—corporate chops, contract chops and finance chops. We use corporate chops generally for documents to be submitted to government agencies, such as applications for changing business scope, directors or company name, and for legal letters. We use contract chops for executing leases and commercial, contracts. We use finance chops generally for making and collecting payments, including, but not limited to issuing invoices. Use of corporate chops and contract chops must be approved by our legal department and administrative department, and use of finance chops must be approved by our finance department. The chops of our PRC subsidiary and the VIE are generally held by the relevant entities so that documents can be executed locally. Although we usually utilize chops to execute contracts, the registered legal representatives of our PRC subsidiary and the VIE have the apparent authority to enter into contracts on behalf of such entities without chops, unless such contracts set forth otherwise. All designated legal representatives of our PRC subsidiary and the VIE have signed employment agreements with us under which they agree to abide by duties they owe to us.

In order to maintain the physical security of our chops, we generally have them stored in secured locations accessible only to the department heads of the legal, administrative or finance departments. Our designated legal representatives generally do not have access to the chops. Although we monitor our employees, including the designated legal representatives of our PRC subsidiary and the consolidated VIE, the procedures may not be sufficient to prevent all instances of abuse or negligence. There is a risk that our employees or designated legal representatives could abuse their authority, for example, by binding the relevant subsidiary or consolidated VIE with contracts against our interests, as we would be obligated to honor these contracts if the other contracting party acts in good faith in reliance on the apparent authority of our chops or signatures of our legal representatives. If any designated legal representative obtains control of the chop in an effort to obtain control over the relevant entity, we would need to have a shareholder or board resolution to designate a new legal representative and to take legal action to seek the for a new chop with the relevant authorities, or otherwise seek legal remedies for the legal representative’s misconduct. If any of the designated legal representatives obtains and misuses or misappropriates our chops and seals or other controlling intangible assets for whatever reason, we could experience disruption to our normal business operations. We may have to take corporate or legal action, which could involve significant time and resources to resolve while distracting management from our operations.

The shareholders of Beijing Digital Information may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We have designated individuals who are PRC nationals to be the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information. Beijing Digital Information is owned by Yang Yu and Xinghui Yang. The interests of these individuals as the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information may differ from the interests of the Company as a whole. These shareholders may breach, or cause the VIE to breach, or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and Beijing Digital Information, which would have a material and adverse effect on our ability to effectively control Beijing Digital Information. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and the Company, except that we could exercise our purchase option under the exclusive option agreement with these shareholders to request them to transfer all of their equity ownership in Beijing Digital Information to Beijing Distance Learning or one or more individuals designated by us. We rely on Messrs. Yu and Yang, who are also our directors, to abide by PRC law, which provides that directors owe a fiduciary duty to the company. Such fiduciary duty requires directors to act in good faith and in the best interests of the company and not to use their positions for personal gains. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

We may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiary to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiary to make payments to us could have a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Distance Learning, for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and service any debt we may incur. If our PRC subsidiary incurs debt on its own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict its ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may require Beijing Distance Learning to adjust its taxable income under the contractual arrangements it currently has in place with the VIE in a manner that would materially and adversely affect its ability to pay dividends and other distributions to us. See “—Our contractual arrangements may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities, and a finding that we owe additional taxes could substantially reduce our consolidated net income and the value of your investment.”

Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiary, which is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise may pay dividends only out of its respective accumulated profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund a certain statutory reserve fund, until the aggregate amount of such fund reaches 50% of its registered capital. At its discretion, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to an enterprise expansion fund, or a staff welfare and bonus fund. The statutory reserve funds, enterprise expansion funds and staff welfare and bonus funds are not distributable as cash dividends.

Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business. See also “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes. Such classification would likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders and has a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.”

Our contractual arrangements may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities, and a finding that we owe additional taxes could substantially reduce our consolidated net income and the value of your investment.

Under PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary and the VIE do not represent an arm’s-length price and adjust the VIEs income in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction, for PRC tax purposes, of expense deductions recorded by the VIE, which could in turn increase their tax liabilities. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties to the VIE for under-paid taxes. Our consolidated net income may be materially and adversely affected if our tax liabilities increase or if we are found to be subject to late payment fees or other penalties.

If Beijing Digital Information becomes the subject of a bankruptcy or liquidation proceeding, we may lose the ability to use and enjoy its assets, which could reduce the size of our operations and materially and adversely affect our business, ability to generate revenues and the market price of our ordinary shares.

To comply with PRC laws and regulations relating to foreign ownership restrictions in the online value-added telecommunications business, we hold our ICP license through contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information, the VIE, as well as its shareholders. As part of these arrangements, Beijing Digital Information holds assets that are important to the operation of our business.

We do not have priority pledges and liens against Beijing Digital Information’s assets. As a contractual and property right matter, this lack of priority pledges and liens has remote risks. If Beijing Digital Information undergoes an involuntary liquidation proceeding, third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of its assets and we may not have priority against such third-party creditors on Beijing Digital Information’s assets. If Beijing Digital Information liquidates, we may take part in the liquidation procedures as a general creditor under the PRC Enterprise Bankruptcy Law and recover any outstanding liabilities owed by Beijing Digital Information to Beijing Distance Learning under the applicable service agreements. To ameliorate the risks of an involuntary liquidation proceeding initiated by a third-party creditor, we closely monitor the operations and finances of Beijing Digital Information through carefully designed budgetary and internal controls to ensure that Beijing Digital Information is well capitalized and is highly unlikely to trigger any third-party monetary claims in excess of its assets and cash resources. Furthermore, Beijing Distance Learning has the ability, if necessary, to provide finance support to Beijing Digital Information to prevent such an involuntary liquidation.

If the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information were to attempt to voluntarily liquidate Beijing Digital Information without obtaining our prior consent, we could effectively prevent such unauthorized voluntary liquidation by exercising our right to request Beijing Digital Information’s shareholders to transfer all of their equity ownership interest to Beijing Distance Learning or one or more individuals designated by us in accordance with the option agreements with the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information. In the event that the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information initiates a voluntary liquidation proceeding without our authorization or attempts to distribute the retained earnings or assets of Beijing Digital Information without our prior consent, we may need to resort to legal of the contractual agreements. Any such litigation may be costly and may divert our management’s time and attention away from the operation of our business, and the outcome of such litigation would be uncertain.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes. Unlike common law systems, it is a system in which legal cases have limited value as precedents. In the late 1970s, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past three decades has significantly increased the protections afforded to various forms of foreign or private-sector investment in China. Our PRC subsidiary is subject to various PRC laws and regulations generally applicable to companies in China. However, since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involve uncertainties.

The PRC government exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we conduct our business activities. The PRC government may also intervene or influence our operations and this offering at any time, which could result in a material change in our operations and our common stock could decline in value or become worthless.

As advised by our PRC legal counsel, Beijing Haotai Law Firm, we currently have not received any notice or administrative order which require the Company to obtain approval from Chinese authorities to list on U.S exchanges, however, if our holding company or any of our PRC subsidiary were required to obtain approval in the future and were denied permission from Chinese authorities to list on U.S. exchanges, we will not be able to continue listing on U.S. exchange, continue to offer securities to investors, or materially affect the interest of the investors and cause significantly depreciation of our price of common stock.  

The Chinese government has exercised and continues to exercise substantial control over virtually every sector of the Chinese economy through regulation and state ownership. Our ability to operate in China may be harmed by changes in its laws and regulations, including those relating to taxation, environmental regulations, land use rights, property and other matters. The central or local governments of these jurisdictions may impose new, stricter regulations or interpretations of existing regulations that would require additional expenditures and efforts on our part to ensure our compliance with such regulations or interpretations. Accordingly, government actions in the future, including any decision not to continue to support recent economic reforms and to return to a more centrally planned economy or regional or local variations in the implementation of economic policies, could have a significant effect on economic conditions in China or particular regions thereof, and could require us to divest ourselves of any interest we then hold in our operations in China.

For example, the Chinese cybersecurity regulator announced on July 2, 2021, that it had begun an investigation of Didi Global Inc. (NYSE: DIDI) and two days later ordered that the company’s app be removed from smartphone app stores. Similarly, our business segments may be subject to various government and regulatory interference in the regions in which we operate. We could be subject to regulation by various political and regulatory entities, including various local and municipal agencies and government sub-divisions. We may incur increased costs necessary to comply with existing and newly adopted laws and regulations or penalties for any failure to comply.

Furthermore, it is uncertain when and whether we will be required to obtain permission from the PRC government to list on U.S. exchanges in the future, and even when such permission is obtained, whether it will be denied or rescinded. Although we and our subsidiaries are currently not required to obtain permission or approvals from any of the PRC or Hong Kong government or regulatory agencies, we have not received any denial to list on the U.S. exchange, our operations could be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by existing or future laws and regulations relating to our business or industry. Recent statements by the Chinese government indicating an intent, and the PRC government may take actions to exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers, which could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of our securities to significantly decline or become worthless.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules (some of which are not published in a timely manner or at all) that may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, and any failure to respond to changes in the regulatory environment in China could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet-related business.

The PRC government extensively regulates the internet industry, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in the internet industry. These internet-related laws and regulations are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involves significant uncertainties. As a result, in certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations. Issues, risks and uncertainties relating to PRC governmental regulation of the internet industry include, but are not limited to, the following.

We only have control over our website through contractual arrangements. We do not own the website in China due to the restriction of foreign investment in businesses providing value-added telecommunication services in China, including internet information provision services. This may significantly disrupt our business, subject us to sanctions, compromise enforceability of related contractual arrangements, or have other harmful effects on us.

The evolving PRC regulatory system for the internet industry may lead to the establishment of new regulatory agencies. For example, in May 2011, the State Council announced the establishment of a new department, the State Internet Information Office (with the involvement of the State Council Information Office, the MIIT, and the Ministry of Public Security). The primary role of this new agency is to facilitate the policy-making and legislative development in this field, to direct and coordinate with the relevant departments in connection with online content administration and to deal with cross-ministry regulatory matters in relation to the internet industry.

We are required to obtain and maintain various licenses and permits and fulfill registration and filing requirements in order to conduct and operate our business. If these new laws and regulations are promulgated, additional licenses may be required for our operations. If our operations do not comply with these new regulations at the time they become effective, or if we fail to obtain any licenses required under these new laws and regulations, we could be subject to penalties.

The Circular on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Investment in an Operation of Value-added Telecommunications Business, issued by the MIIT in July 2006, prohibits domestic telecommunication service providers from leasing, transferring or selling telecommunications business operating licenses to any foreign investor in any form, or providing any resources, sites or facilities to any foreign investor for their illegal operation of a telecommunications business in China. According to this circular, either the holder of a value-added telecommunication services operation permit or its shareholders must directly own the domain names and trademarks used by such license holders in their provision of value-added telecommunication services. The circular also requires each license holder to have the necessary facilities, including servers, for its approved business operations and to maintain such facilities in the regions covered by its license. If an ICP license holder fails to comply with the requirements and also fails to remediate such non-compliance within a specified period of time, the MIIT or its local counterparts have the discretion to take administrative measures against such license holder, including revoking its ICP license. Currently, Beijing Digital Information holds an ICP license and operates our website. Beijing Digital Information owns the relevant domain names and registered trademarks and has the necessary personnel to operate such website.

The interpretation and application of existing PRC law, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the internet industry have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, internet businesses in China, including our business. We cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses required for conducting our business in China or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain new ones.

New legislation or changes in the PRC laws or policies regarding self-taught education may affect our business operations and prospects.

The self-taught education industry in China and our business are subject to regulations and policies in various respects. Relevant rules and regulations could be amended or updated from time to time to accommodate the development of education in China. We may need to change our business practices in order to comply with the new rules and regulations or adapt to policy changes, but we may not be able to do so timely and efficiently. Any such failure may subject us to administrative fines or penalties or other negative consequences which could materially and adversely affect our brand name, reputation, business, financial condition and results of operations. On July 24, 2021, the new policy Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Homework and Off-campus Training for Students in Compulsory Education (“Opinions”) issued by General Office of the Chinese Communist Party and General Office of the State Council, we followed the laws and industrial policy in China while providing services and has never been involved in providing discipline tutoring or training services for students in compulsory education as mentioned in the Opinions.

Our business is subject to complex and evolving Chinese laws and regulations regarding data privacy and security. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could result in claims, penalties, changes to our business practices, increased cost of operations, damages to our reputation and brand, or otherwise harm our business.

In the PRC, governmental authorities have enacted a series of laws and regulations to enhance the protection of data privacy and cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity Law of the PRC and relevant regulations require network operators, which may include us, to ensure the security and stability of the services provided via network and protect individual privacy and the security of personal data in general by requiring the consent of internet users prior to the collection, use or disclosure of their personal data. Under the Cybersecurity Law, the owners and administrators of networks and network service providers have various personal information security protection obligations, including restrictions on the collection and use of personal information of users, and they are required to take steps to prevent personal data from being divulged, stolen, or tampered with. Regulatory requirements regarding the protection of personal information are constantly evolving and can be subject to differing interpretations or significant changes, making the extent of our responsibilities in that regard uncertain.

The enforcement of the PRC Labor Contract Law and other labor-related regulations in the PRC may adversely affect our business and our results of operations.

The PRC Labor Contract Law became effective and was implemented on January 1, 2008, which was amended on December 28, 2012. It has reinforced the protection of employees who, under the PRC Labor Contract Law, have the right, among others, to have written labor contracts, to enter into labor contracts with no fixed terms under certain circumstances, to receive overtime wages and to terminate or alter terms in labor contracts. According to the PRC Social Insurance Law, which became effective on July 1, 2011, and the Administrative Regulations on the Housing Funds, Companies operating in China are required to participate in pension insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance and housing funds plans, and the employers must pay all or a portion of the social insurance premiums and housing funds for their employees.

As a result of these laws and regulations designed to enhance labor protection, we expect our labor costs will continue to increase. In addition, as the interpretation and implementation of these laws and regulations are still evolving, our employment practice may not at all times be deemed in compliance with the new laws and regulations. If we are subject to severe penalties or incur significant liabilities in connection with labor disputes or investigations, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the internet in China may adversely affect our business and reputation and subject us to liability for information displayed on our website.

The PRC government has adopted regulations governing internet access and the distribution of news and other information over the internet. Under these regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet content that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China, or is reactionary, obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the revocation of licenses to provide internet content and other licenses, and the closure of the concerned websites. The website operator may also be held liable for such censored information displayed on or linked to the websites. If our website is found to be in violation of any such requirements, we may be penalized by relevant authorities, and our operations or reputation could be adversely affected.

The operation of Beijing Digital Information may be deemed by relevant PRC government authority to be beyond its authorized business scope. If the relevant PRC government authorities take actions against Beijing Digital Information, our business and operations could be materially and adversely affected.

The principal regulations governing private education in China consist of the Education Law of the PRC, the Law on Promoting Private Education, or Private Education Law, and the Implementation Rules of the Law on Promoting Private Education and the latest amendment of Private Education Law was on December 29, 2018 which came into effect on the same date. Under these PRC laws and regulations, sponsors of private schools may choose to establish non-profit or for-profit private schools at their own discretion, while prior to the effectiveness of the Amendment (as further defined below), all private schools shall not be established for for-profit purposes. Nonetheless, school sponsors are not allowed to establish for-profit private schools that are engaged in compulsory education. On December 30, 2016, the MOE, SAIC and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Welfare of the PRC jointly issued the Implementation Rules on the Supervision and Administration of For-profit Private Schools, pursuant to which the establishment, division, merger and other material changes of a for-profit private school shall first be approved by the education authorities or the authorities in charge of labor and social welfare, and then be registered with the competent branch of SAIC.

On April 20, 2018, the MOE issued for public comments the Draft Revision of the Implementation Rules of the Law on Promoting Private Education (the Draft for Comments), or the MOE Draft for Comments. As the consultation period for the MOE Draft for Comments ended in May 2018, on August 10, 2018, the Ministry of Justice of the PRC, or the MOJ, published the committee draft of the Implementation Rules of the Law on Promoting Private Education (Revised Draft), or the MOJ Draft for Approval, for public review and comments. On May 14, 2021, the State Council officially promulgated the revised Implementation Rules of the Law on Promoting Private Education, with an effective date of September 1, 2021(hereinafter referred to as “the 2021 Implementation Rules”), which made certain significant changes that may affect private schools. The 2021 Implementation Rules further promotes the development of private education by providing that a private school shall enjoy rights or preferential policies stipulated by laws equivalent to those applicable to a public school, which shall primarily include: (i) a private school may enjoy the preferential tax policies stipulated by the State and a non-profit private school may enjoy the same tax policies as a public school; and (ii) the local people’s governments shall grant preferential treatments in terms of land use by means of allocation in accordance with the principle of treating non-profit private schools equally as public schools, and for schools that provide education for academic credentials, may provide lands by means of bid invitation, auction or listing, assigning contracts, long-term lease or combination of sale as well as rental and may permit payment in instalments.

The 2021 Implementation Rules stipulates further provisions of the operation and management of private schools. Among other things, (i) Private schools to carry out educational activities online using internet technology shall obtain the corresponding private school operation permits. Private schools that carry out educational activities online using internet technology shall establish and implement internet security management systems and technical measures for security protection as required by law, and shall, upon discovery of the release or transmission of any information prohibited by laws or administrative regulations from release or transmission, immediately have the transmission stopped and remove or otherwise dispose of the information to prevent its dissemination, retain related records, and report the case to relevant authorities; (ii) at the end of each financial year, a for-profit private school shall set aside a portion of not less than 10% of its audited annual net income, and a non-profit private school from its audited annual net increase in assets, as the development fund, which shall be used for the development of the school; (iii) private schools that provide compulsory education are not allowed to enter into transactions with their interested parties, and other private schools shall conduct transactions with their interested parties in a manner that is open, justified and fair, shall be reasonably priced, shall establish standardized decision-making for such transactions and shall not harm the interests of the State, schools and teachers and students. Private schools shall set up an information disclosure mechanism for dealing with their interested parties. The relevant governmental authorities, such as the education department, the human resources and social security departments and the financial departments, shall strengthen the supervision of the agreements entered into between non-profit private schools and their interested parties, and shall review the connected transactions annually; and (iv)any social organizations or individuals shall not control compulsory education private schools or non-profit private schools that implement preschool education through mergers or “structured contracts”.

As the 2021 Implementation Rules has just been promulgated, the relevant specific rules regarding online private schools’ application for private school permits have not yet been issued, and it is not yet possible to determine whether companies engaging online non-academic education like us fall under the 2021 Implementation Rules. We have not yet received any notice from the competent authority requesting the application for private school permits. We will apply for relevant permits and strengthen network security management if so required, which may result in additional compliance costs. However, we cannot ensure you that private school permits can be obtained in a timely manner. We may also be restricted from further expanding our business, including the limitation on the potential targets we are able to consider for acquisition. If such situations occur, our business, financial condition and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

We operate online platforms that provide online educational courses to students through the internet, and both of our PRC subsidiary and the VIE are registered with Beijing AIC as commercial enterprises. As such, we believe the provisions of the Private Education Law and its implementing rules, including without limitation, the requirement for obtaining a private school operating permit, are not applicable to us. However, as the laws and regulations are new, it is unclear that how these laws and regulations will be explained and implemented and we cannot assure you that the competent PRC governmental authorities will not ultimately take a view contrary to our opinion. Moreover, because there is no further official or publicly-available interpretation of the definition of “private schools”, there are uncertainties with regard to whether our business currently conducted in PRC will be deemed by the relevant PRC governmental authorities to be “private schools” as defined under the relevant PRC laws and regulations. If our business conducted in PRC is deemed as operating private schools, we may be required to register our PRC entity as a private school with education or training-related items included into its approved business scope. Beijing Digital Information is registered with Beijing AIC as a limited liability company, and its current registered business scope only includes “education consulting” and “computer technology training,” without “training” or any other education or training-related items. However, we cannot assure you that we will not be subject to any penalties in the future. If the relevant PRC government authorities discover or determine that Beijing Digital Information operates beyond its authorized business scope, Beijing Digital Information may be ordered to complete the registration for change of business scope within a given period, failing which Beijing Digital Information is subject to a one-time fine of RMB10,000 to RMB100,000, or may be ordered to cease its operation if the relevant authorities determine that Beijing Digital Information is operating without any approval or permit required.

We face risks and uncertainties with respect to the licensing requirement for Internet audio-video programs.

On December 20, 2007, the State Administration of Press Publication Radio Film and Television (“SAPPRFT”), and the MIIT, jointly promulgated the Administrative Measures Regarding Internet Audio-Video Program Services, or the Internet Audio-Video Program Measures, which became effective on January 31, 2008 and was amended and effective as of August 8, 2015. Among other things, the Internet Audio-Video Program Measures stipulate that no entities or individuals may provide Internet audio-video program services without a License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs issued by SAPPRFT or its local bureaus or completing the relevant registration with SAPPRFT or its local bureaus, and only state-owned or state-controlled entities are eligible to apply for a License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs. In a press conference jointly held by the SAPPRFT and MIIT in February 2008 to answer questions relating to the Internet Audio-Video Program Measures, the SAPPRFT and MIIT clarified that those providers of internet audio-visual program services who engaged in such services prior to the promulgation of the Internet Audio-Video Program Measure may re-register and continue their operation of internet audio-visual program services so long as those providers did not violate the relevant laws and regulations in the past, regardless whether they are state-owned or state-controlled entities or not, but any other entities intend to provide internet audio-visual program services shall comply with all requirements specified in the Internet Audio-Video Program Measures. On April 1, 2010, SAPPRFT promulgated the Provisional Implementation of the Tentative Categories of Internet Audio-Visual Program Services, or the Categories, which was modified on March 10, 2017. The Categories clarified the scope of Internet audio-video programs services. According to the Categories, there are four categories of Internet audio-visual program services which are further divided into seventeen sub-categories. The third sub-category to the second category covers the making and editing of certain specialized audio-video programs concerning, among other things, educational content, and broadcasting such content to the general public online. However, there are still significant uncertainties relating to the interpretation and implementation of the Internet Audio-Video Program Measures, in particular, the scope of “internet audio-video programs.”

We offer recorded audio-video lectures to our enrolled students only. We believe the limited scope of our audience and the nature of the raw data we transmit distinguishes us from general providers of internet audio-visual program services, such as the operator of online video websites, and the provision of the Audio-Visual Program Provisions are not applicable with regard to our offering of the lessons. However, we cannot assure you that the competent PRC government authorities will not ultimately take a view contrary to our opinion. In addition, as supplementary course materials, we offer certain audio-video contents on our websites and mobile apps for the review of all registered members. If the governmental authorities determine that our relevant activities fall within the definition of “internet audio-video program service” under the Audio-Visual Program Provisions, we may be required to obtain the License for Disseminating Audio-Video Programs through Information Network. If this occurs, we may not be able to obtain such license and we may become subject to penalties, fines, legal sanctions or an order to suspend our use of audio-video content. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken will be deemed adequate by the authorities and we will not be subject to any penalties or legal sanctions in the future for our use of audio or video contents on our websites.

We are required to obtain various operating licenses and permits and to make registrations and filings for our business operations in China; failure to comply with these requirements may materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The internet industry in China is highly regulated by the PRC government. See “Regulations—Regulations Relating to Value-Added Telecommunications Services.” We are required to obtain and maintain various licenses and permits and fulfill registration and filing requirements in order to conduct and operate our business currently carried out, and we may be required to obtained additional licenses or permits for our operations as the interpretation and implementation of current PRC laws and regulations are still evolving, and new laws and regulations may also be promulgated. We currently, through our PRC variable interest entity, Beijing Digital Information, hold an ICP license for our website, which is valid from January 11, 2016 to December 23, 2025 and is subject to annual review. Beijing Digital Information, however, may be required to obtain additional licenses or expand the authorized business scope covered under the licenses it currently holds. For example, the contents we use on our websites or mobile apps, including the course materials and video-audio contents we licensed from third parties, may be deemed “Internet cultural products”, and our use of those contents may be regarded as “Internet cultural activities”, thus we may be required to obtain an Internet Culture Business Operating License for provision of those contents through our online platforms as currently there is no further official or publicly-available interpretation of those definitions. Also, we may be required to obtain a Publication Business Operating License for distribution of course books or other course materials, including electronical version, to our enrolled students. In addition, our providing content through our online platform may be regarded as “online publishing” and may thus subject us to the requirement of obtaining an Online Publishing License. If Beijing Digital Information fails to obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals, its continued business operations in the Internet industry may subject it to various penalties, such as confiscation of illegal revenues, fines and the discontinuation or restriction of its operations. Any such disruption in the business operations of our affiliated entities will materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

Currently all of our business operations are conducted in China and all of our sales are made in China. Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.

China’s economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the level of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the PRC government has implemented measures since the late 1970’s emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets, and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the PRC government. In addition, the PRC government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The PRC government also exercises significant control over the PRC economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. For example, as a result of China’s current nationwide anti-corruption campaign, public school spending has become strictly regulated. To comply with the expenditure control policies of the Chinese government, many public universities, including our clients, temporarily reduced their self-taught education spending in 2017. This caused the demand for our courses in 2017 to decrease. If our clients continue to reduce their demand for our services due to the policies of the Chinese government, this could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

While China’s economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy, and the rate of growth has been slowing. Some of the governmental measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. Any stimulus measures designed to boost the Chinese economy may contribute to higher inflation, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. For example, certain operating costs and expenses, such as employee compensation and office operating expenses, may increase as a result of higher inflation.

PRC regulations relating to foreign exchange registration of overseas investment by PRC residents may subject our PRC resident beneficial owners or our PRC subsidiary to liability or penalties, limit our ability to inject capital into these subsidiaries, limit PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us, or may otherwise adversely affect us.

On July 4, 2014, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE’) promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, which replaced the former Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for PRC Residents to Engage in Financing and Inbound Investment via Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles (generally known as SAFE Circular 75) promulgated by SAFE on October 21, 2005. On February 13, 2015, SAFE further promulgated the Circular on Further Simplifying and Improving the Administration of the Foreign Exchange Concerning Direct Investment, or SAFE Circular 13, which took effect on June 1, 2015. This SAFE Circular 13 has amended SAFE Circular 37 by requiring PRC residents or entities to register with qualified banks rather than SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing.

These circulars require PRC residents to register with qualified banks in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, for the purpose of overseas investment and financing, with such PRC residents’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests, which is referred to in SAFE Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle.” These circulars further require amendment to the registration in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as an increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC residents, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material events. In the event that a PRC resident holding interests in a special purpose vehicle fails to complete the required SAFE registration, the PRC subsidiary of that special purpose vehicle may be prohibited from making profit distributions to the offshore parent and from carrying out subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and the special purpose vehicle may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital into its PRC subsidiary. Furthermore, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of foreign exchange controls.

Yang Yu and Xinghui Yang, who directly or indirectly hold shares in our British Virgin Islands holding company and who are known to us as being PRC residents have initiated the application for foreign exchange registrations. However, we may not at all times be fully aware or informed of the identities of all our shareholders or beneficial owners that are required to make such registrations, and we may not always be able to compel them to comply with all relevant foreign exchange regulations. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents will at all times comply with, or in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by all relevant foreign exchange regulations. The failure or inability of such individuals to comply with the registration procedures set forth in these regulations may subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrictions on our cross-border investment activities or our PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends to, or obtain foreign-exchange-dominated loans from, our company, or prevent us from making distributions or paying dividends. As a result, our business operations and our ability to make distributions to you could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, as these foreign exchange regulations are still relatively new and their interpretation and implementation has been constantly evolving, it is unclear how these regulations, and any future regulation concerning offshore or cross-border transactions, will be interpreted, amended and implemented by the relevant government authorities. We cannot predict how these regulations will affect our business operations or future strategy. In addition, if we decide to acquire a PRC domestic company, we cannot assure you that we or the owners of such company, as the case may be, will be able to obtain the necessary approvals or complete the necessary filings and registrations required by the foreign exchange regulations. This may restrict our ability to implement our acquisition strategy and could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Restrictions on currency exchange or outbound capital flows may limit our ability to utilize our PRC revenue effectively.

All of our revenue is denominated in Renminbi. The Renminbi is currently convertible under the “current account,” which includes dividends, trade, and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but requires approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities or designated banks under the “capital account,” which includes foreign direct investment and loans, such as loans we may secure from our onshore subsidiaries. Currently, our PRC subsidiaries, a foreign invested enterprise, may purchase foreign currency for settlement of “current account transactions,” including payment of dividends to us, without the approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE’) by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, the relevant PRC governmental authorities may limit or eliminate our ability to purchase foreign currencies in the future for current account transactions.

Since 2016, PRC governmental authorities have imposed more stringent restrictions on outbound capital flows, including heightened scrutiny over “irrational” overseas investments for certain industries, as well as over four kinds of “abnormal” offshore investments, which are:

On January 26, 2017, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Further Improving Reform of Foreign Exchange Administration and Optimizing Genuineness and Compliance Verification, which tightened the authenticity and compliance verification of cross-border transactions and cross-border capital flow. In addition, the Outbound Investment Sensitive Industry Catalogue (2018) lists certain sensitive industries that are subject to NDRC pre-approval requirements prior to remitting investment funds offshore, which subjects us to increased approval requirements and restrictions with respect to our overseas investment activity. Since a significant amount of our PRC revenue is denominated in Renminbi, any existing and future restrictions on currency exchange or outbound capital flows may limit our ability to utilize revenue generated in Renminbi to fund our business activities outside of the PRC, make investments, service any debt we may incur outside of China or pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ordinary shares.

PRC regulation on loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control in currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of the IPO to make loans to our PRC subsidiary and PRC consolidated VIE or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Distance Learning. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiary and PRC consolidated VIE subject to the approval from governmental authorities and limitation of amount, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary.

Any loans to our PRC subsidiary, which is treated as a foreign-invested enterprise under PRC law, are subject to PRC regulations and foreign exchange loan registrations. For example, loans by us to our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Distance Learning, to finance its activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of the SAFE. The statutory limit for the total amount of foreign debts of a foreign-invested company is either the difference between the amount of total investment as approved by the MOC or its local counterpart and the amount of registered capital of such foreign-invested company or twice of net worth of the foreign-invested company. We may also decide to finance our PRC subsidiary by means of capital contributions.

On August 29, 2008, SAFE promulgated the Circular on the Relevant Operating Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Administration of the Payment and Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 142, regulating the conversion by a foreign-invested enterprise of foreign currency registered capital into RMB by restricting how the converted RMB may be used. SAFE Circular 142 provides that the RMB capital converted from foreign currency registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise may only be used for purposes within the business scope approved by the applicable governmental authority and may not be used for equity investments within the PRC unless otherwise provided by law. In addition, SAFE strengthened its oversight of the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency registered capital of a foreign-invested company. The use of such RMB capital may not be altered without SAFE approval, and such RMB capital may not in any case be used to repay RMB loans if the proceeds of such loans have not been used. Violations of SAFE Circular 142 could result in severe monetary or other penalties. On July 4, 2014, SAFE issued the Circular of the SAFE on Relevant Issues Concerning the Pilot Reform in Certain Areas of the Administrative Method of the Conversion of Foreign Exchange Funds by Foreign-invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 36, which launched the pilot reform of administration regarding conversion of foreign currency registered capitals of foreign-invested enterprises in 16 pilot areas. According to SAFE Circular 36, some of the restrictions under SAFE Circular 142 will not apply to the settlement of the foreign exchange capitals of an ordinary foreign-invested enterprise in the pilot areas, and such foreign-invested enterprise is permitted to use Renminbi converted from its foreign-currency registered capital to make equity investments in the PRC within and in accordance with the authorized business scope of such foreign-invested enterprises, subject to certain registration and settlement procedure as set forth in SAFE Circular 36. As this circular is relatively new, there remains uncertainty as to its interpretation and application and any other future foreign exchange related rules. On March 30, 2015, SAFE promulgated Circular on Reforming the Management Approach regarding the Settlement of Foreign Exchange Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, to expand the reform nationwide. SAFE Circular 19 came into force and replaced both SAFE Circular 142 and SAFE Circular 36 on June 1, 2015. However, SAFE Circular 19 continues to prohibit a foreign-invested enterprise from, among other things, using RMB funds converted from its foreign exchange capitals for expenditure beyond its authorized business scope, providing entrusted loans or repaying loans between non-financial enterprises. Violations of these Circulars could result in severe monetary or other penalties. These circulars may significantly limit our ability to use RMB converted from the net proceeds of the IPO to fund the establishment of new entities in China by our PRC subsidiary, to invest in or acquire any other PRC companies through our PRC subsidiary, or to establish new consolidated VIEs in the PRC.

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiary or PRC consolidated VIE or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiary. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds from the IPO and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes. Such classification would likely result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders and has a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, that became effective in January, 2008 and was amended in February, 2017, an enterprise established outside the PRC with “de facto management bodies” within the PRC is considered a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. Under the implementation rules to the EIT Law, a “de facto management body” is defined as a body that has material and overall management and control over the manufacturing and business operations, personnel and human resources, finances and properties of an enterprise. In addition, a circular, known as SAT Circular 82, issued in April 2009 by the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, specifies that certain offshore incorporated enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups will be classified as PRC resident enterprises if the following are located or resident in the PRC: senior management personnel and departments that are responsible for daily production, operation and management; financial and personnel decision making bodies; key properties, accounting books, company seal, and minutes of board meetings and shareholders’ meetings; and half or more of the senior management or directors having voting rights. Further to SAT Circular 82, the SAT issued a bulletin, known as SAT Bulletin 45, which took effect in September 2011, to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82 and clarify the reporting and filing obligations of such “Chinese-controlled offshore incorporated resident enterprises.” SAT Bulletin 45 provides procedures and administrative details for the determination of resident status and administration on post-determination matters. Although both SAT Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 only apply to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreign individuals, the determining criteria set forth in SAT Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, PRC enterprise groups or by PRC or foreign individuals.

We do not believe that the Company meets all of the conditions above thus we do not believe that the Company is a PRC resident enterprise, though a substantial majority of the members of our management team as well as the management team of our offshore holding company are located in China. However, if the PRC tax authorities determine that the Company is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, a number of unfavorable PRC tax consequences could follow. First, we will be subject to the uniform 25% enterprise income tax on our world-wide income, which could materially reduce our net income. In addition, we will also be subject to PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations.

Finally, dividends payable by us to our investors and gains on the sale of our shares may become subject to PRC withholding tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. It is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of our company would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ordinary shares.

Enhanced scrutiny over acquisition transactions by the PRC tax authorities may have a negative impact on potential acquisitions we may pursue in the future.

Pursuant to the Notice on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 698, issued by the SAT on December 10, 2009, where a foreign investor transfers the equity interests of a resident enterprise indirectly via disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, or an “indirect transfer,” and such overseas holding company is located in a tax jurisdiction that (i) has an effective tax rate less than 12.5% or (ii) does not tax foreign income of its residents, the foreign investor shall report the indirect transfer to the competent tax authority. The PRC tax authority will examine the true nature of the indirect transfer, and if the tax authority considers that the foreign investor has adopted an “abusive arrangement” in order to avoid PRC tax, it may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company and re-characterize the indirect transfer and as a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC withholding tax at a rate of up to 10%.

On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Several Issues Concerning the Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Property Transfer by Non-Resident Enterprises, or SAT Bulletin 7, to supersede existing provisions in relation to the “indirect transfer” as set forth in Circular 698, while the other provisions of Circular 698 remain in force. Pursuant to SAT Bulletin 7, where a non-resident enterprise indirectly transfers properties such as equity in PRC resident enterprises without any justifiable business purposes and aiming to avoid the payment of enterprise income tax, such indirect transfer must be reclassified as a direct transfer of equity in PRC resident enterprise. To assess whether an indirect transfer of PRC taxable properties has reasonable commercial purposes, all arrangements related to the indirect transfer must be considered comprehensively and factors set forth in SAT Bulletin 7 must be comprehensively analyzed in light of the actual circumstances. SAT Bulletin 7 also provides that, where a non-PRC resident enterprise transfers its equity interests in a resident enterprise to its related parties at a price lower than the fair market value, the competent tax authority has the power to make a reasonable adjustment to the taxable income of the transaction.

On October 17, 2017, the SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Matters Concerning Withholding of Income Tax of Non-resident Enterprises as Source, or SAT Bulletin 37, which repealed the entire Circular 698 and the provision in relation to the time limit for the withholding agent to declare to the competent tax authority for payment of such tax of SAT Bulletin 7. Pursuant to SAT Bulletin 37, the income from property transfer, as stipulated in the second item under Article 19 of the Law on Enterprise Income Tax, shall include the income derived from transferring such equity investment assets as stock equity. The balance of deducting the equity’s net value from the total income from equity transfer shall be taxable income from equity transfer. Where a withholding agent enters into a business contract, involving the income specified in the third paragraph of Article 3 in the Law on Enterprise Income Tax, with a non-resident enterprise, the tax-excluding income of the non-resident enterprise will be treated as the tax-including income, based on which the tax payment will be calculated and remitted, if it is agreed in the contract that the withholding agent shall assume the tax payable. 

There has been very limited application of SAT Bulletin 7 and SAT Bulletin 37 because these regulations were newly issued and came into force in February 2015 and in December 2017 respectively. During the effective period of SAT Circular 698, some intermediary holding companies were actually looked through by the PRC tax authorities, and consequently the non-PRC resident investors were deemed to have transferred the PRC subsidiary and PRC corporate taxes were assessed accordingly. It is possible that we or our non-PRC resident investors may become at risk of being taxed under SAT Bulletin 7 and SAT Bulletin 37 and may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with SAT Bulletin 7 and SAT Bulletin 37 or to establish that we or our non-PRC resident investors should not be taxed under SAT Bulletin 7 and SAT Bulletin 37, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations or such non-PRC resident investors’ investment in us.

Our PRC subsidiary is subject to restrictions on paying dividends or making other payments to us, which may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements.

We are a holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. We may need dividends and other distributions on equity from our PRC subsidiary to satisfy our liquidity requirements. Current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, our PRC subsidiary is required to set aside at least 10% of their respective accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds until the total amount set aside reaches 50% of their respective registered capital. Our PRC subsidiary may also allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to employee welfare and bonus funds at their discretion. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. As a result of these laws, rules and regulations, our subsidiaries incorporated in China are restricted in their ability to transfer a portion of their respective net assets to their shareholders as dividends. The amounts restricted include the paid-up capital and the statutory reserve funds of our PRC subsidiaries, totaling $975,014, $862,323 and $529,404 as of March 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. However, there can be no assurance that the PRC government will not intervene or impose restrictions on our ability to transfer or distribute cash within our organization or to foreign investors, which could result in an inability or prohibition on making transfers or distributions outside of China and may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, if our PRC subsidiary incurs debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other payments to us. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may require us to adjust our taxable income under the contractual arrangements we currently have in place in a manner that would materially and adversely affect our PRC subsidiary’s ability to pay dividends and other distributions to us. Any limitation on the ability of our subsidiary to distribute dividends to us or on the ability of the VIE to make payments to us may restrict our ability to satisfy our liquidity requirements.

In addition, the EIT Law, and its implementation rules provide that a withholding tax rate of up to 10% will be applicable to dividends payable by Chinese companies to non-PRC-resident enterprises unless otherwise exempted or reduced according to treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions where the non-PRC-resident enterprises are incorporated.

Governmental control of currency conversion may affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our revenues in RMB. Under our current corporate structure, our company in the British Virgin Islands may rely on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiary to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our PRC subsidiary in China is able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from SAFE, subject to the condition that the remittance of such dividends outside of the PRC complies with certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation, such as the overseas investment registrations by our shareholders or the ultimate shareholders of our corporate shareholders who are PRC residents. But approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ordinary shares.

The M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The M&A Rules discussed in the preceding risk factor and recently adopted regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. For example, the M&A Rules require that the MOC be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that have or may have impact on the national economic security, or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. Mergers, acquisitions or contractual arrangements that allow one market player to take control of or to exert decisive impact on another market player must also be notified in advance to the MOC when the threshold under the Provisions on Thresholds for Prior Notification of Concentrations of Undertakings, or the Prior Notification Rules, issued by the State Council in August 2008 is triggered. In addition, the security review rules issued by the MOC that became effective in September 2011 specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the MOC, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the MOC or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions. It is unclear whether our business would be deemed to be in an industry that raises “national defense and security” or “national security” concerns. However, the MOC or other government agencies may publish explanations in the future determining that our business is in an industry subject to the security review, in which case our future acquisitions in the PRC, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited. Our ability to expand our business or maintain or expand our market share through future acquisitions would as such be materially and adversely affected.

Our ordinary shares may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect our auditors. The delisting of our ordinary shares, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, if enacted, would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three.

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that a company has filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit such ordinary shares from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S.

On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. A company will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies it as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above. Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, if enacted, would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on any U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive years instead of three. On September 22, 2021, the PCAOB adopted a final rule implementing the HFCA Act, which provides a framework for the PCAOB to use when determining, as contemplated under the HFCA Act, whether the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms located in a foreign jurisdiction because of a position taken by one or more authorities in that jurisdiction. On December 2, 2021, the SEC issued amendments to finalize rules implementing the submission and disclosure requirements in the HFCA Act. The rules apply to registrants that the SEC identifies as having filed an annual report with an audit report issued by a registered public accounting firm that is located in a foreign jurisdiction and that PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely because of a position taken by an authority in foreign jurisdictions. On December 16, 2021, the PCAOB issued a Determination Report which found that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in: (i) China, and (ii) Hong Kong. Our auditor, YCM CPA Inc., is not headquartered in China or Hong Kong and was not identified in this report as a firm subject to the PCAOB’s determination.

Furthermore, various equity-based research organizations have recently published reports on China-based companies after examining their corporate governance practices, related party transactions, sales practices and financial statements, and these reports have led to special investigations and listing suspensions on U.S. national exchanges. Any similar scrutiny on us, regardless of its lack of merit, could cause the market price of our ordinary shares to fall, divert management resources and energy, cause us to incur expenses in defending ourselves against rumors, and increase the premiums we pay for director and officer insurance.

Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this prospectus, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Our auditor’s registration with the PCAOB took effect in February 2021 and it is currently subject to PCAOB inspections. The PCAOB currently has access to inspect the working papers of our auditor. However, the recent developments would add uncertainties to our offering and we cannot assure you whether regulatory authorities would apply additional and more stringent criteria to us after considering the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures and quality control procedures, adequacy of personnel and training, or sufficiency of resources, geographic reach or experience as it relates to the audit of our financial statements.

The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCA Act. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCA Act. For example, if a company’s auditor was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.

The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act and to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition to the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. While we understand that there has been dialogue among the CSRC, the SEC and the PCAOB regarding the inspection of PCAOB-registered accounting firms in China, there can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with requirements imposed by U.S. regulators. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ordinary shares to be materially and adversely affected, and our securities could be delisted and prohibited from being traded on the national securities exchange earlier than would be required by the HFCA Act. If our securities are unable to be listed on another securities exchange by then, such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our ordinary shares when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with a potential delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ordinary shares.

Further, new laws and regulations or changes in laws and regulations in both the United States and China could affect our ability to list our ordinary shares, which could materially impair the market for and market price of our ordinary shares.

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

The trading prices of our ordinary shares are likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

The trading prices of our ordinary shares are likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other companies with business operations located mainly in China that have listed their securities in the United States. In recent months, the widespread negative publicity of alleged fraudulent accounting practices and poor corporate governance of certain U.S. public companies with operations in China were believed to have negatively affected investors’ perception and sentiment towards companies with connection with China, which significantly and negatively affected the trading prices of some companies’ securities listed in the U.S. Once we become a public company, any similar negative publicity or sentiment may affect the performances of our ordinary shares. A number of PRC companies have listed or are in the process of listing their securities on U.S. stock markets. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility, including price declines in connection with their initial public offerings. The trading performances of these PRC companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward PRC companies listed in the United States in general and consequently may impact the trading performance of our ordinary shares, regardless of our actual operating performance.

Because we are incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Islands, we may be required to comply with increased reporting requirements.

As the global regulatory and tax environment evolves, we may be subject to new or different statutory and regulatory requirements (for example, on January 1, 2019, the Economic Substance (Companies and Limited Partnerships) Act, 2018 of the British Virgin Islands came into force and related regulations and guidance are anticipated in due course). It is difficult to predict what impact the adoption of these laws or regulations, or changes in the interpretation of existing laws or regulations could have on our business, however, compliance with various additional obligations may create significant additional costs that may be borne by us or otherwise affect our management and operations.

In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for our ordinary shares may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following:

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which our ordinary shares will trade. In addition, the stock market in general, and the market prices for companies with operations in China in particular, have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. The securities of some PRC companies that have listed their securities in the United States have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of these PRC companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward PRC companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of our ordinary shares, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or other matters of other PRC companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards PRC-based companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. Further, the global financial crisis and the ensuing economic recessions in many countries have contributed and may continue to contribute to extreme volatility in the global stock markets. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect operating performance. Volatility or a lack of positive performance in our share price may also adversely affect our ability to retain key employees, some of whom have been granted restricted shares under our share incentive plan.

If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we could face significant material adverse consequences including:

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our ordinary shares, the market price for our ordinary shares and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our ordinary shares will be influenced by research reports and ratings that industry or securities analysts or ratings agencies publish about us, our business and the online education market in China in general. We do not have any control over these analysts or agencies. If one or more analysts or agencies who cover us downgrade our ordinary shares, or publish unfavorable research about us, the market price for our ordinary shares would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ordinary shares to decline.

The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of our ordinary shares could adversely affect their market price.

Sales of substantial amounts of our Ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. The ordinary shares that were sold in the IPO are freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, and shares held by our existing shareholders may also be sold in the public market in the future subject to the restrictions in Rule 144 and Rule 701 under the Securities Act and the applicable lock-up agreements. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of our ordinary shares.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies.

We may seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, collaborations and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or debt securities, your ownership interest will be diluted and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a shareholder. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to us.

There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject United States investors in our ordinary shares to significant adverse United States income tax consequences.

A non-United States corporation, such as our company, will be classified as a PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, if either (i) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income or (ii) 50% or more of the value of its assets (determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). Although the law in this regard is not clear, we treat our consolidated VIEs as being owned by us for U.S. federal income tax purposes because we exercise effective control over the consolidated VIEs and are entitled to substantially all of their economic benefits. As a result, we consolidate their results of operations in our consolidated U.S. GAAP financial statements. Assuming that we are the owner of our consolidated VIEs for U.S. federal income tax purposes, and based upon our current and expected income and assets (taking into account goodwill, other unbooked intangibles, and the proceeds from the IPO) and the value of our ordinary shares, we do not presently expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.

While we do not expect to be or become a PFIC in the current or foreseeable taxable years, the determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will depend, in part, upon the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles. Furthermore, the determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC will depend, in part, on the composition of our income and assets. Fluctuations in the market price of our ordinary shares may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or subsequent taxable years. The composition of our income and assets may also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets and the cash raised in the IPO. In addition, because there are uncertainties in the application of the relevant rules, it is possible that the Internal Revenue Service may challenge our classification of certain income and assets as non-passive or our valuation of our tangible and intangible assets.

Because determination of PFIC status is a fact-intensive inquiry made on an annual basis that depends upon the composition of our assets and income, no assurance can be given that we are not or will not become classified as a PFIC. If we were to be or become classified as a PFIC in any taxable year, a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation”) may incur significantly increased U.S. federal income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of our ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distributions is treated as an “excess distribution” under the U.S. federal income tax rules. Further, if we are classified as a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder holds our ordinary shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. Holder holds our ordinary shares. You are urged to consult your tax advisor concerning the United States federal income tax consequences of acquiring, holding, and disposing of ordinary shares if we are or become classified as a PFIC. For more information, see “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation.”

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under British Virgin Islands law.

We are a company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the BVI Business Companies Act (the “Act”) and the common law of the British Virgin Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under British Virgin Islands law are to a large extent governed by the Act and the common law of the British Virgin Islands. The common law of the British Virgin Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the British Virgin Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the British Virgin Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under British Virgin Islands law are codified in the Act but are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the British Virgin Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the British Virgin Islands. In addition, British Virgin Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

The British Virgin Islands courts are also unlikely:

There is no statutory recognition in the British Virgin Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, although the courts of the British Virgin Islands will in certain circumstances recognize and enforce a non-penal judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits.

As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

Judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are a British Virgin Islands company and all of our assets are located outside of the United States. The majority of our current operations are conducted in the China. In addition, a majority of our current directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States. Substantially all of the assets of these persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the United States federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the British Virgin Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 for so long as we are an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards. However, we have elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We will be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a semi-annual basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of NASDAQ. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely as compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a British Virgin Islands company listed on NASDAQ, we are subject to the NASDAQ corporate governance listing standards. However, NASDAQ rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the British Virgin Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NASDAQ corporate governance listing standards. Although we do not currently plan to utilize the home country exemption for corporate governance matters, to the extent that we choose to do so in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under the NASDAQ corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information, which would be made available to you, were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an “emerging growth company.”

We are a public company and incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and NASDAQ, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting and permission to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. However, we have elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. After we are no longer an “emerging growth company”, we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

4A. History and Development of the Company

We began our operations in December 1999 through Beijing Distance Learning, a company formed under the laws of PRC. Beijing Distance Learning was formed to engage in the business of online training for self-taught higher education examination in Beijing. In July 2012, we formed Wah Fu Education Group Limited under the laws of the British Virgin Islands as an offshore holding company under the former name “Wah Fu Trade Limited”, which was changed to our current name in 2016. In May 2016, we established our wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary, Wah Fu Education Holding Limited, which had been dissolved in April 2021. We conduct our business through our subsidiaries and affiliated entities in China, which are described below. Through contractual arrangements described below, we control 100% of Beijing Digital Information. These contractual arrangements allow us to effectively control and derive 100% of the economic interest from Beijing Digital Information under U.S. GAAP, provided, however we are the primary beneficiary of the VIE for accounting purposes. In addition, we directly own equity interest of a number of PRC entities. Below is a list of our operating subsidiaries and variable interest entity:

Due to PRC legal restrictions on foreign ownership and investment in the value-added telecommunications market, we operate our online platform through Beijing Digital Information, the PRC consolidated variable interest entity (“VIE”). Beijing Digital Information holds our ICP license necessary to operate our online platform in China, our domain names, including www.edu-edu.com, our registered trademarks in China and our registered software copyrights that are essential to the Company’s online operation in PRC. We rely on a series of contractual arrangements among Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders to operate our online and mobile platforms in China. These contractual arrangements enable us to:

We do not own equity interests in Beijing Digital Information. However, as a result of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of Beijing Digital Information and treat it as our consolidated VIE under U.S. GAAP. We depend upon dividends and other distributions paid to us by our PRC subsidiaries, primarily Beijng Distance Learning. Beijing Distance Learning partially relies on service fees paid by our variable interest entity Beijing Digital Information. For the years ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, 5.2% and 0.6% of our consolidated revenue was derived from Beijing Digital Information. Our affiliated variable interest entity, Beijing Digital Information, did not pay any fee to our PRC subsidiary, Beijing Distance Learning for fiscal years ending March 31, 2022 and 2021 since the VIE agreements were executed in August 2017. We did not receive any dividends from our PRC subsidiaries in the past two fiscal years and expect that these levels will continue in the future.

As discussed in details in “Regulations – Regulations Relating to Foreign Investment” and “Regulations - Regulations Relating to Foreign Exchange”, current PRC laws and regulations set forth restrictions on payment of dividends by PRC companies, foreign exchange and foreign investment in PRC companies. As such, we do not have unfettered access to revenues of our PRC subsidiaries and variable interest entity. See “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Doing Business in China” and “Risk Factor – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

The following is a summary of the contracts by and among our subsidiary Beijing Distance Learning, the VIE Beijing Digital Information, and the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information; each of which is currently in full force and effect.

The series of contractual agreements include the following:

Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement

Under the business cooperation agreement, Beijing Digital Information engages Beijing Distance Learning as its exclusive technical and operational consultant and under which Beijing Distance Learning agrees to assist in business development and related services necessary to conduct Beijing Digital Information’ operational activities. Beijing Digital Information shall not seek or accept similar services from other providers without the prior written approval of Beijing Distance Learning. The agreements will be effective as long as Beijing Digital Information exists. Beijing Distance Learning may terminate this agreement at any time by giving a prior written notice to Beijing Digital Information.

Under the above agreements, the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information irrevocably granted Beijing Distance Learning the power to exercise all voting rights to which they were entitled. In addition, Beijing Distance Learning has the option to acquire all of the equity interests in Beijing Digital Information, to the extent permitted by the then-effective PRC laws and regulations, for nominal consideration. Finally, Beijing Distance Learning is entitled to receive service fees for certain services to be provided to Beijing Digital Information.

Exclusive Option Agreement

Under the exclusive option agreement, in consideration of an aggregate payment of RMB 2,000,000, each of the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information has granted Beijing Distance Learning or its designated representative(s) an irrevocable and exclusive option to purchase their equity interests in Beijing Digital Information when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. Beijing Distance Learning or its designated representative(s) has sole discretion as to when to exercise such options, either in part or in full. Without Beijing Distance Learning’s written consent, the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information shall not transfer, donate, pledge, or otherwise dispose any equity interests of Beijing Digital Information in any way. The acquisition price for the equity interests will be RMB 2,000,000 or the minimum amount of consideration permitted under the PRC law at the time when the option is exercised if such minimum price is higher. The agreement cannot be terminated by Beijing Digital Information or their shareholders. The agreement remains in effective until all the equity interests of each shareholder of Beijing Digital Information transfers to Beijing Distance Learning or its designee(s).

Equity Interest Pledge Agreement

Under the equity interest pledge agreement, each of the shareholders pledged all of their equity interests in Beijing Digital Information to Beijing Distance Learning as collateral to secure their obligations under the equity pledge agreement, the exclusive option agreement and the powers of attorney. If the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information breach their respective contractual obligations, Beijing Distance Learning, as pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights, including the right to dispose the pledged equity interests. Pursuant to the agreement, the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information shall not transfer, assign or otherwise create any new encumbrance on their respective equity interest in Beijing Digital Information without prior written consent of Beijing Distance Learning. The equity pledge right held by Beijing Distance Learning will terminate upon the satisfaction of all its obligations by all parties under the VIE contractual arrangements.

Power of Attorney

Each of the shareholders of Beijing Digital Information has executed a power of attorney to grant Beijing Distance Learning the power of attorney to act on his or her behalf on all matters pertaining to Beijing Digital Information and to exercise all of his or her rights as a shareholder of Beijing Digital Information, including but not limited to convene, attend and vote at shareholders’ meetings and designate and appoint directors and senior management members. The power of attorney will remain in effect unless each shareholder ceases to own any equity interests of Beijing Digital Information.

If our variable interest entity and its shareholders fail to perform their obligations under the above contractual arrangements, we could be limited in our ability to enforce these VIE agreements and maintain effective control over our variable interest entity Beijing Digital Information. See “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - Any failure by Beijing Digital Information or its shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business.” If we are unable to maintain effective control, we would not be able to continue to consolidate Beijing Digital Information’s financial results. See “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - If the PRC government finds that the contractual arrangements that establish the structure for holding our Internet Content Provider (“ICP”) license do not comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations” and “Risk Factors – Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure - We rely on contractual arrangements with Beijing Digital Information and its shareholders for a portion of our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.”

4B. Business Overview

We are a provider of online exam preparation services and related technology solutions as well as a producer of online training course materials in China and have been in operation for over 20 years. We develop our own online education materials that are offered through the cloud and that can be used for a wide range of purposes, such as standard examination preparation, professional training and interactive programs for educational purposes other than exam preparation. We also produce thousands of online classes. Our services not only include development of online education platforms and online course materials but also includes comprehensive cloud service for online education and exam preparation training.

Our Services

We currently offer online education services and technology research & development services. Our online education services currently comprises Online Education Cloud Services and Online Training Services.

Online Education Cloud Service (“B2B2C”)

We provide online education platforms to institutions, such as universities and training institutions, and online course development service companies. Our teachers are well regarded and recommended by our clients, which include universities and academic institutions. Through our product development team, we interview and enlist teachers who we use to record teaching sessions. In return, we provide fixed compensation to teachers. We have developed three separate types of B2B2C platforms: a self-study examination platform, a continuing education platform, a non-diploma training platform (which allows students to enroll in courses for college credit), Vocational Education 1+X and Higher Vocational Enrollment Expansion Teaching and Educational Administration Platform, Huafu E-School System and Paperless examination platform. These platforms are available both online and via mobile app that we design for each of our clients. Currently, we are primarily focused on providing clients with B2B2C services relating to self-study examinations, which are a set of standard national examinations necessary to obtain college degrees in China. We have offered such services since September 2009. We also entered into the adult education field and commenced offering continuing education platforms in late 2016. Currently, over 3,400 courses (including the self-developed courses and authorized courses by third party educational institutions) are available on such platforms and approximately 354 universities and education institutions are using and testing our platforms. We commenced offering our non-diploma training platforms in March 2017. We currently provide services in ten provinces in China and believe that we are the leading service provider in this market. We also have offered the services via the Vocational Education 1+X and Higher Vocational Enrollment Expansion Teaching and Educational Administration Platform, Huafu E-School System and Paperless Examination Platform since 2020. During the year ended March 31, 2023, we provided approximately 3,530,179 courses to students on our platforms.

The flow chart below shows our B2B2C service:

This platform is a cloud based education system for universities, government examination officials as well as students who would like obtain college degrees through self-taught higher education examination. We created customized homepage systems for each university that uses our platform. Our system allows the university management to import their student data into the data base of our platform and will generate accounts for each specific student. Students can login the platform, choose to participate in recorded or live courses that are available on the platform. The platform will grant government examination officials the authority to monitor the learning process of each student. The platform can record the student’s learning data, giving each student a score for evaluation of the performance of each course for use by the university and government officials.

This platform is also cloud based and targets college students and students aiming to complete adult higher education. Similar to the self-study examination platform, this platform offers customized interface for each university using the platform where the school management can integrate their student data into the platform. Students can log in and take courses. The system will keep track of the students’ leaning data and generate scores based on students’ performance for school evaluation. What’s different from the self-study examination platform, this platform offers additional teaching administrative functions, including student profile management, tuition payment, management of different campus, course arrangement as well as statistical screening management, etc.

This platform is cloud based as well, but services training institutions and individual students. A large number of traditional face-to-face training institutions can use this platform to provide their training courses online without overspending on personnel, servers and online training platform. Similar to the other systems, the training institutions have their own interfaces and can create accounts for their students to take courses on the platform. In addition, the platform also provides a large number of online educational operations to the training institutions, including the management of their own courses, and pricing, promotion, enrollment and payment functions.

This is a cloud computing platform for vocational education information management and online teaching. According to the policy requirements set forth under the “National Vocational Education Reform Implementation Plan” and other relevant policy requirements of the PRC Ministry of Education as well as the actual needs of higher vocational colleges, the platform provides information services for vocational colleges to implement “Academic Certificate + Several Vocational Skill Level Certificates” or “1+X” and higher vocational enrollment expansion business. It covers admission evaluation management, educational administration management, teaching resource management, online learning and other related aspects, and provides complete solutions for occupational colleges by providing hardware, software, resources and services.

Huafu e-school system is a website setup system for individuals, educational institutions and enterprise training centers. It helps customers without in-house technical capacities to create their own brand online schools for free, and provides one-stop “Internet + education” service. The e-school system supports two cooperation models: online education self-supporting and cooperative operation. The platform supports multiple terminals, PC online school, mobile app online school, etc. The self-supporting program is for our own online training programs and the cooperative operation is for institutions that we work with. These institutions can have an independent homepage, which supports their independent domain name and independent brand. The platform can authorize the use of Huafu’s existing curriculum resources to institutions or they can also setup and sell their own training courses.

This platform is a complete online examination solution for paperless examination of all subjects. The platform integrates key aspects for testing by most universities in China, such as management of question database, test paper, examination, grading, management of examination paper monitoring, etc., and provides related technical services for colleges. Through the platform, the school carries out routine examination evaluation activities such as tests, final examinations and make-up examinations. Students’ examination terminals can carry out examinations through app, browser or client-side. The examination process monitoring can adopt face recognition or ID card reader recognition for identity authentication. Teachers can grade papers online or export answers for marking up paper.

For all the five platforms, we will be paid by the schools or training institutions based on the number of courses taken by their students.

Online Training Service (“B2C”)

We provide online training and examination preparation services directly to students for a fee. We have provided this service since 2000. In connection with our B2C service, we provide an online cloud education platform targeting end users, which is available both online and via the mobile app we design for each program. We can also license this platform to other offline education and training institutions for them to offer online services, and to manage their online courses and online users. Students that use this service are primarily college students and students preparing for the self-study examination. The flow chart below illustrates our B2C services:

Technology Research & Development Services

Another major aspect of our business is dedicated to developing and maintaining online education platforms and online courses for our clients, comprising universities, government agencies and private clients such as publishers. We also provide consulting, maintenance and updating services relating to online education programs we have developed for our clients. We have provided these services to our clients since Beijing Distance Learning commenced operations in 1999.

Our Strengths

We believe that the following competitive strengths contribute to, and will continue to reinforce, our success and leading market position in the online self-taught education industry in the PRC and differentiate us from our competitors:

Our Strategies

Our goal is to strengthen our position as a leading provider of online self-taught courses in PRC by pursuing the following business strategies:

Our Mission, Vision and Values

Our mission is to improve education in China. Recognizing the unmet demand for higher education and the potential social and commercial value of private education, we started our business by providing education services focusing on long-distance learning. Our vision is to utilize our technology advantages accumulated over our nearly two-decade operations to become the best education technology company in China. We believe the core of distance-learning is service – customer satisfaction and innovation are critical to our success and we strive to promote and adhere to these values.

Steps to Improve Our Performance

Recruitment of Professional Personnel

We believe that our existing products and services with technological development of our online platform and quality improvement of our online courses will enable us to capture increased market demands for online education. With these opportunities we are able to provide, we plan to expand our team by recruiting professionals in various fields. In recent years, supply and demand of professionals tend to be stable, as long as we can provide development opportunities, we are able to hire more outstanding personnel, such as technology development professionals, online course producers, teaching professionals and senior management expertise. As our team keeps growing, we expect to be able to improve the quality of our courses, negotiate and cooperate with more schools, achieve more revenue and better financial results.

Implementation of “Provincial Partnership Model”

There are 32 provinces in China and the population in each province varies from tens of millions to hundreds of millions. We are currently implementing a “Provincial Partnership Model” under which we establish subsidiaries in different provinces. Our local partners in each province, who are also the shareholders of each local subsidiary, can develop business not only with the reputation, platform and courses of the Company, but also with their own capability and deep understanding of local education market. We believe that this “Provincial Partnership Model” will create more revenue by motivating our partners of subsidiaries to explore potential market and provide better services to local customers.

Expansion to Online Non-Diploma Courses

As of now, most of our online courses are provided to self-taught learners and college students pursuing higher education degrees. We are also exploring continuing education and professional development courses for qualification certificates. For example, we have completed development of online courses for the “National Teacher Certificate Examination”. There are a very limited amount of institutions developing courses for the “National Teacher Certificate Examination” in China, especially promoting these courses through B2B2C model like us. Therefore, competition in this field is not strong. On the other hand, our online education platform was successfully built and there will be much less cost in the upcoming periods. As such, our gross profit is more likely to increase with the development of other professional development courses.

Continuous Expansion to Online Non-Diploma Education Courses and Adult Continuing Higher Education Courses

Online non-diploma education courses

As of now, most of our online courses are provided to self-taught learners and college students pursuing higher education degrees. We are also exploring non-diploma education courses and professional development courses for qualification certificates. For example, we have completed development of online courses for the “National Teacher Certificate Examination”. Remote working from home and learning have accelerated the development of online non-diploma education and training. There are more competitors who have joined the field of non-diploma education and training. We will continue to develop more online courses and improve service capability to enhance our competitiveness.

Online adult continuing higher education courses

Adult higher education examination is an alternative way to obtain higher education for adults and an important part of China’s higher education system. We entered into the adult education field and launched our continuing education platforms in late 2016. Currently, there are over 105 universities and education institutions that we have contracts with and 106 other universities and education institutions that are in trial period of using our platforms. Given the unmet market demands for this type of services as well as the PRC government’s promotion of the “Internet Plus” model, China’s institutions of higher education, including our existing and potential clients, will likely increase their use of adult continuing higher education cloud platform to standardize teaching process and monitor learning process. As such, we expect our revenue from services for online adult continuing education will increase in the long term.

Key Aspects of Our Operations 

Sales and Marketing

We market our services through both offline and online channels. Since our inception, the bulk of our marketing is done through traditional offline channels. Our sales representative visit our targeted potential customers, such as universities and schools, and then schedule meetings and demos for these potential clients to learn about our services and for us to learn about the specific needs of each potential client. We also develop customers through referrals from existing clients and business partners. We also attend industry conferences to promote our brand and further expand our client base. We started online marketing in 2004, including search engine marketing and mobile app advertising. In recent years we also expanded the online marketing via new media channels, such as with WeChat public accounts, Weibo and other social media platforms.

Fees

Fees for B2B2C business: we provide the platform to universities or schools for free but charge students a fee of RMB 10 to 120 per class, depending upon the course.

Fees for our B2C services: we charge fees based on the specific training program. Low end programs only include online courses and we charge RMB 50 to 180 per class for this type of programs. High end programs include both online courses and in person training. We charge RMB 200 to 600 per course for this type of programs.

Technical services fees: we charge service fees based on our development and maintenance costs plus a 30% profit. The fee for each client varies, depending upon the specific program design as well as our costs for providing the services, primarily including human resources and computer hardware and software related expenses. Such fees are set forth in our agreements with such clients. 

Customers

Our customers for our online education services include universities, academic institutions, government agencies, private clients such as publishers as well as students preparing for various types of standard examination. For the B2B2C service, our customers are universities and academic institutions in fourteen provinces in the PRC such as Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, Guizhou, Anhui, Hebei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Gansu. Our top customers for the B2B2C service include the College of Continuing Education of Wuhan University, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Shandong Yingcai University and Fujian Education Institution. Our customers for the B2C service are students located nationwide. For our technology services business, customers include government agencies and private companies such as publishers.

In terms of geographic areas, all of our customers are currently based in the PRC. We plan to expand our client base internationally as we continue to grow our business.

Technology

Our Proprietary Platform

We engaged a well known cloud service provider to have a cloud host to provide online services, and cloud storage and cloud-on-demand services. Our IT department regularly monitors the performance of our websites, mobile apps and technology infrastructure to enable us to respond quickly to potential problems. We have not experienced any major problems in our network infrastructure.

Research and Development

Our technology team also dedicates part of its time to our research and development efforts. Our technology team has experience in the development, design, operation and maintenance of platform products, servers and mobile apps. In the past three years, the number of employees in the technology and development department increased every year. Most of our team members have 5 years or more of experience, 30% of our team members have a master’s or a doctorate degree and certain team members have work experience at Fortune 500 companies. Our research and development efforts are closely tied to the market. We adjust our product development and services based on market conditions and government policies. The focuses of our research and development efforts include improving our online training data collection, programs focused on intelligent study, education resource integration and technology service. In the past three years, we keep a stable input in research and development to obtain a technology advantage in the on-line education industry. We anticipate that we will continue to increase the expenditure of research and development in the future.

Intellectual Property

We currently have 71 software registrations for our online course delivery and examination preparation programs and related mobile applications. We have also registered 23 trademarks with the China Trademark Office.

Employees

We are headquartered in Beijing, where most of our senior management and technology teams are based. We also host part of our general and administrative personnel, content development professionals and sales and marketing staff in our Beijing offices. The rest of our sales and marketing staff are based in Hunan and Jiangsu. Our offices in Hunan and Jiangxi host our teacher assistance department, technology team and general and administrative personnel.

As of March 31, 2023, we had 142 employees, including 139 full time employees and 3 part time employees. As of March 31, 2023, 39 of these employees were based in our headquarters in Beijing and 103 were based in other cities in the PRC. The table below breaks down the full-time personnel of the Company by function:

We enter into employment contracts with our full-time employees. For our full-time employees in China, we also enter into stand-alone confidentiality and non-compete agreements with them. In addition to salaries and benefits, we provide performance-based bonuses for our full-time employees and commission-based compensation for our sales and marketing force.

Foreign teachers delivering paid lessons on our platform are generally not our full-time employees. We enter into service contracts with such teachers, and pay service fees to them based on the number of lessons they teach and their teaching performance.

As required by regulations in China, we participate in various employee social security plans that are organized by municipal and provincial governments for our PRC-based full-time employees, including pension, unemployment insurance, childbirth insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance and housing insurance. We are required under PRC law to make contributions from time to time to employee benefit plans for our PRC-based full-time employees at specified percentages of the salaries, bonuses and certain allowances of such employees, up to a maximum amount specified by the local governments in China.

Our employees are not covered by any collective bargaining agreement. We believe that we maintain a good working relationship with our employees, and we have not experienced any significant labor disputes. 

Seasonality

The current operations of the Company have demonstrated seasonality. There are major examinations scheduled in April and October of each year and other examinations scheduled in January and July of each year. As a result, the number of students enrolled in our programs is the highest within the two months period prior to each exam. In addition, Adult Continue Education business slows down during the summer and winter breaks of our partner schools. See “Risk Factor—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our results of operations are subject to seasonal fluctuations.”