The author points out that parents such as yourselves (and us) think of themselves as strict, when in fact they're nowhere near by Chinese standards.
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All the same, even when Western parents think they're being strict, they usually don't come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It's hours two and three that get tough.
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And "best effort" wouldn't have been good enough if they didn't turn out to be the best.
And you read to them. That's hardly hard work on their part! They should have been practising their scales and revising their geometry. Uphill both ways.
This is the author's list of chinese parenting rules. Note
NO TV, not none on schooldays.
• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin.