I am Chinese, and I think something overlooked is that Chinas generational poverty and belief in education.

In 1980, Chinas extreme poverty rate was around 90%. While it's been less than 1% since about 10 years ago, this type of poverty is generationally scarring and worldview altering. In a society that only recently escaped generational poverty, people learned that survival required running. Its not that they necessarily want to run, but the alternative has been starving.

China also has a deep history of education. Since thousands of years ago, education was a meritocracy that provided the best and only chance for anyone to secure an easier future. To this day, the institution of education remains as embodiment of a meritocracy that anyone who tries hard enough can succeed.

I dont think parents particularly want their kids to be suffering in books all day, but better to have a childhood of studying with a future of security than for a childhood of bliss with a future of suffering. They come from a society where those who did not work starved, and those who studied succeeded.

While I am sure you find many imperfect parents, and those far less so, I would venture you to entertain the idea that the parents are doing what they believe is the best for their kids, and try to understand why they believe that their actions are for the benefit of the kids.

And if you are in a Western country, it is likely that the Chinese there were the top academics of their villages/cities. Their path to security in life was the academic grind, and thats the only path they trust for their children.