The article tells only a small part of the 'life story'. The mothers are very competative with each other and the sucess of their child is tightly bound with their own self esteem, and they will go to great lengths to keep this in tact. The mother is also usually answerable to the grandparents (father's role is much more limited).
While the kid's lives are highly controlled, they learn to be manipulative at a very early age - learning to get what they want (now days mostly the latest high-tec stuff) while allowing the mother's ego to remain intact (somewhat). They know how important their scholastic results are to mum so mum will give in to their demands. Phones and the net also allow them to play both ends against the middle in a very sophisticated manner from a very early age. Many also know if they can't get things correct they can cheat - and that is OK, too.
Of course the ones that don't learn (or can't) play the game for some reason dip out in a big way (or go and live overseas away from the family).