One of the most ambitious programs of the Communist Party has been the establishment of universal public education for such a large population. In the first two years of the new government (1949-1951) more than 60 million peasants enrolled in "winter schools," or sessions, established to take advantage of the slack season for agricultural workers. Mao declared that a dominant goal of education was to reduce the sense of class distinction. This was to be accomplished by reducing the social gaps between manual and mental labor; between the city and countryside resident; and between the worker in the factory and the peasant on the land.

The most radical developments in education in China, however, took place between 1966 and 1978. During the Cultural Revolution, virtually all classrooms in China were closed from 1966 to 1969. The 131 million youths who had been enrolled in primary and secondary school remained out of school; many became involved in Mao's efforts to shake up the new elite of China by the presence of youthful critics reviewing governmental programs and policies. Primary and secondary schools began to reopen in 1968 and 1969, but all institutions of higher education remained closed until the 1970 to 1972 period.

Government policies toward education changed dramatically during this period. The traditional 13 years of kindergarten to 12th grade were reduced to a 9- or 10-year plan for primary and secondary (or middle) school. Colleges that had traditionally had a four- or five-year curriculum adopted a three-year program, and part of this time was mandated as productive labor in support of the school or the course of study being pursued. A two-year period of manual labor also became essential for most secondary school graduates who wished to go on to college.

Following Mao's death in 1976, a major review of these policies began. As a result, and because of the increased interest in the development of science in Chinese education, curricula again came to resemble those of the pre-Cultural Revolution years. Programs for primary and secondary schooling were gradually readjusted to encompass 12 years of study (although only nine years are compulsory), and high school graduates were no longer required to go to the countryside for two years of labor before competing for college positions.

A significant change in the educational system has been the reinstitution of standardized college-entrance exams. These exams were a regular part of the mechanism for upward mobility in China prior to the Cultural Revolution. During the experimentation of those years, antitraditionalists were able to eliminate the entrance exams by arguing that they favored an elite who had an intellectual tradition in their families. When colleges reopened from 1970 to 1972, admission was granted to many candidates because of their political leanings, party activities, and peer-group support. This method of selection ceased in 1977, as the Chinese launched their new campaign for the Four Modernizations. The government's stated goals for rapid modernization in agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology required high levels of training. Such educational programs by necessity had to be based on theoretical and formal skills more than on political attitudes and the spirit of revolution. As a result of student disturbances in 1989, university students are again required to complete one year of political education prior to entering college.

By the early 1990s about 121.6 million pupils were enrolled in primary schools, and about 52.3 million students were enrolled in secondary schools; enrollments in 1949 had been about 24 million in primary schools and 1.25 million in secondary schools. About 2.04 million students enrolled in China's 1075 institutions of higher learning.

Chinese higher education is now characterized by the "key-point system." Under this system the most promising students are placed in selected key-point schools, which specialize in training an academic elite. University education remains difficult to attain; as many as 2 million students compete each year through entrance examinations for 500,000 university openings. Students finishing secondary schools may also attend junior colleges and a variety of technical and vocational schools. Among the most prominent universities in China are Beijing University (1898); Hangzhou University (1952); Fudan University (1905), in Shanghai; and the University of Science and Technology of China (1958), in Hefei. An innovation in China's educational system is the Television University (see Communications below). In the past, students received free university education but upon graduation were required to accept jobs in state-owned industries. The government instituted a pilot program in 1994, whereby the state allowed university students the option to pay their own tuition in exchange for the freedom to find their own jobs after graduation. This enabled graduates who paid their way to choose better paying jobs with foreign companies in China, or to demand better pay from state-owned enterprises. By the late 1990s, all incoming university students were required to pay their own tuition, although government loans were available.