Shares in New Oriental Education rose to a year-long high on Friday in a rare spate of optimism for a Chinese edutech sector battered by an official crackdown. The rise was prompted by the company’s proposed buyback of $400 million worth of shares. The online education group’s stock rose more than 11% to HK$22.85 per share. It later pared some gains to be up more than 6% in early afternoon trading in Hong Kong. However, the stock has lost more than 80% of its value last year after Beijing’s crackdown on the private Chinese edutech sector last year. New Oriental is China’s biggest private sector education group. The stock has gained about 35% this year thanks to livestreaming by its founder Yu Minhong, who has sought to sidestep the government curbs by combining e-commerce with tutoring.