Education in China

Education

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Last Update : 4/3/2008 3:59:03 AM: Respecting teachers and valuing education have been the tradition of Chinese people since the ancient times. There was bud of education as early as in the era of Yao, Shun and Yu.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 3:59:12 AM: In the Shang Dynasty (16^th – 11^th century BC), the development of Chinese characters entered a more advanced stage, and some books made of heavy materials appeared. Under that condition, formal schools emerged with the names like 'Yang', 'Xiao', 'Liao', 'Xue' and 'Daxue'. Teachers then were all government officials and students were all children of the nobility, so that was the earliest 'Guan Xue' (official education). The content of the education were rites, archery, music, writing and mathematics, which laid a foundation for the further prosperity of the ancient education.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 3:59:21 AM: In the golden era of the slavery society - Western Zhou Dynasty (11^th century BC – 771 BC), the six classical arts - rites, music, archery, riding, writing and mathematics became the content of the education. At that time, the government paid equal attention to cultivating the students in every aspect, including thoughts, morals, practical skills, culture, rites and inner feeling. That kind of teaching methods had far-reaching influence on the form of the traditional Chinese education.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 3:59:26 AM: In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, 'Guan Xue' began to decline and private school rose. Then, the private schools were open to the public, and many scholars of different schools was produced such as Confucius, Mo-tse, Mencius and Hsun-tzu (Xunzi).
Last Update : 4/3/2008 3:59:39 AM: In the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the government attached great importance to those knowledgeable people and encouraged the people to write and copy books, which made the education unprecedented prosperous. The schools then were divided into official and private ones, and official schools were subdivided into local and central ones. Emperor Wudi started the highest-grade official school - Great Academy, which was set up in the northwestern suburban area of the capital city Chang'an. The teaching materials of the official schools were classical books of Confucius. Students who were admitted to the Great Academy were destined for careers in the civil service after they passed the exams and were competitively selected for various positions. Private schools were much more wide-spread than official schools, most of which mainly taught students to recognize and write characters, similar to present-day elementary schools.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:00 AM: In the Sui (581 - 618) and Tang (618 - 907) Dynasties, the official and private schools were both further developed with the establishment and development of the Imperial Exam System. In the end of the Tang Dynasty, private academies (shuyuan) appeared out of the private schools. Since the Song Dynasty (1127 -1279), China was ruled by different ethnic groups one after another, and all the ethnic groups desired to cultivate ruling brains of their own nations. While wars broke out frequently at that time, so official schools couldn't meet the need. As a result, private schools flourished.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:06 AM: On October 1^st of 1949, People's Republic of China was established, and the education of China entered a new era. Along with the need of the social development, Chinese government has always been giving priority to the development of education, practicing the strategy of invigorating the country through science, technology and education. At the same time, Chinese government has also been carrying out education reforms continuously according to the principle that education should be geared to the needs of modernization, of the world and of the future. Chinese government continuously increases input in science, technology and education year by year. Through uninterrupted efforts in the past five decades, China has made great progress in education. The nine-year compulsory education (from primary school to junior middle school) has been implemented nationwide in a planned way. Higher education, occupational and polytechnic education, diversified adult education and ethical education have been developed rapidly.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:10 AM: China has set up an education system with government as the major investor and social partners as co-investors. In current stage, local government is playing a key role in compulsory education, while central and provincial governments are dominant in higher education. Ministry of Education is the supreme education administration body in China, which is responsible for carrying out related laws, regulations, guidelines and policies, activating guiding education reforms and integrating and coordinating educational initiatives and programs nationwide.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:13 AM: In addition, Chinese government pays attention to guarantee citizens' rights to get education especially the right of the minorities, women and disabled people by making related laws. With regards to the needy students, Chinese government adopted a series of measures to prevent them from dropout, including scholarship, subsidy, student loans and tuition fee reduction.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:45 AM: International exchange and cooperation

Since the implement of the reform and opening up policy in 1978, China made big strides in foreign exchange and cooperation of the education sector. Over the nearly 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students have studied abroad in over 100 foreign countries and regions. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of foreign students from over 160 countries and regions have come to China to learn Chinese culture. Besides, most foreign countries and China also exchange teachers and experts to enhance the science, technology and culture communications between each other.
Last Update : 4/3/2008 4:00:49 AM: Meanwhile, most foreign and international organizations have contributes multi-aids for China's education, including UNESCO, Children Foundation of UN, Population Foundation UN, UNDP (United Nations Development Program), World Bank and so on. World Bank has provide Chine a loan accumulating up to nearly 1.5 billion US dollars to help to develop the education, and the other international organizations have also offer China financial aids up to over 100 million.

Education Phase	Length of Schooling	Age Range	Investor
Pre-school Education (kindergarten)	without specific regulations	3-5 years old	individuals among the folk
Elementary Education (primary school)	6 years	6-11 years old	local government
Secondary Education (junior middle school, senior middle school, vocational school, technical secondary school	6 years (3 years for junior middle school, and then 3 years for senior middle school vocational school or technical secondary school	12-17 years old	local government
Higher Education (junior college ,college, university)	3 years for junior college 4 years for a bachelor's degree, and then 2-3 years for a master's degree in a college or university	18-26 years old or even older	provincial and central government
Continuing Education (technical training schools and centers)	without fixed regulations	the adult people	government and social individuals