The business environment for foreign companies in China can be summed up in one word, challenging.

Here are the full Wall Street Journal series, The State of She's Chinese Dream, all in one place, and WSJ Special Access.

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Here's your money briefing for Friday, August 25.

I'm Ariana Usburu from the Wall Street Journal, filling in for J.R. Wayland.

The After School 3PM pickup isn't the end of the day for many students.

Now, more parents are opening up their schedules and their checkbooks for extracurriculars.

The end goal is, of course, to expose kids to new activities, get them to come out of their shell, and even get them to dive into something that they're interested in.

But the majority of parents who do put their kids in these extracurriculars do hope for some kind of return of investment.

We'll speak to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Oyen Adodoyan, after the break.

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With back to school season in full swing, parents are spending big on music lessons, sports, and other after school activities.

Oyen Adodoyan from the Wall Street Journal's personal finance team joins us.

So Oyen, growing up, lots of us played a sport or took some piano classes after school, even going into high school.

And extra curriculars have always played a role in things like college admissions.

So why are they becoming more important now?

It's a combination of things for one, standardized test scores like the SATs and ACTs are carrying a lot less weight in the college application process now.

And college admissions consultants are saying that the Supreme Court's June decision to outlaw affirmative action may put even more pressure on non-academic activities.

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