During the Cultural Revolution, higher education in particular suffered tremendous losses; the system was shut down, and a rising generation of college and graduate students, academicians and technicians, professionals and teachers, was lost. The result was a lack of trained talent to meet the needs of society, an irrationally structured higher education system unequal to the needs of the economic and technological boom, and an uneven development in secondary technical and vocational education. In the post-Mao period, China's education policy continued to evolve. The pragmatist leadership, under Deng Xiaoping, recognized that to meet the goals of modernization it was necessary to develop science, technology, and intellectual resources and to raise the population's education level. Demands on education - for new technology, information science, and advanced management expertise - were levied as a result of the reform of the economic structure and the emergence of new economic forms. In particular, China needed an educated labor force to feed and provision its 1-billion-plus population.
 
By 1980 achievement was once again accepted as the basis for admission and promotion in education. This fundamental change reflected the critical role of scientific and technical knowledge and professional skills in the Four Modernizations. Also, political activism was no longer regarded as an important measure of individual performance, and even the development of commonly approved political attitudes and political background was secondary to achievement.

Education policy promoted expanded enrollments, with the l long-term objective of achieving universal primary and secondary education. This policy contrasted with the previous one, which touted increased enrollments for egalitarian reasons. In 1985 the commitment to modernization was reinforced by plans for nine-year compulsory education and for providing good quality higher education.
 
Deng Xiaoping's far-ranging educational reform policy, which involved all levels of the education system, aimed to narrow the gap between China and other developing countries. Modernizing China was tied to modernizing education. Devolution of educational management from the central to the local level was the means chosen to improve the education system. Centralized authority was not abandoned, however, as evidenced by the creation of the State Education Commission. Academically, the goals of reform were to enhance and universalize elementary and junior middle school education; to increase the number of schools and qualified teachers; and to develop vocational and technical education. A uniform standard for curricula, textbooks, examinations, and teacher qualifications (especially at the middle-school level) was established, and considerable autonomy and variations in and among the autonomous regions, provinces, and special municipalities were allowed. Further, the system of enrollment and job assignment in higher education was changed, and excessive government control over colleges and universities was reduced.

Progress in education

Since the 14th National Congress of the Party in 1992, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government attach great importance to educational development. It is clearly understood that education is imperative to base economic comstruction on the advancement of science and technology and the improvement of the quality of workers, so education should be placed in a strategic position and as a priority for development, and that efforts should be made to improve the idelogical, moral, scientific and cultural attainment of the whole nation.

Education in China has been rapidly developed since 1978. China has adopted the education policy of nine-year compulsory schooling system, which means all children are required to attend school for at least nine years. During the period, students will finish both the primary school program and the junior middle-school program. For higher education, students must pass examinations of all levels. First, one should pass the entrance examination for senior middle schools or middle-level technical schools. Then after two, three or four years, one may sit in for the national college entrance examination which usually take place on July 7 to 9. Due the grueling weather and the stress one bears all those days, the month of July is widely nicknamed the "black July."

This policy has made remarkable achievement in elimination of illiteracy. The following figures are percentages of China's illiteracy from 1949 to 1990.

After more than 40 years, new educational systems and institutions have been gradually introduced with great success. Below are the figures of Development of Schools at All Levels during 1949 to 1995.

(*) Number of student and full-time teacher in 10,000