IDEOLOGICAL SHIFTS IN THE EDUCAT:::ON OF ADULTS IN CHINA: 1949-1986

BY

HENG RONG

A THES1:S

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

ZN PARTIAL FULFILHENT OF THE REQUIREHENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

KASTER OF ART

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION AND POL1:CY STUDIES 1:11 EDUCATION

McGILL UNIVERSITY

1991 ACRNOWLEDGEMENT

l shoul d like to express deep ~ppreciation to my adviser, Professor Ratna Ghosh, whose steady encouragement and instructive guidance considerably eased the writing of this study. Thanks are also due to the professors and Gtaffs of the

Department of Administration and Policy studies in Education for thei r kind support and sustained interest throughout the study.

The lov ing support and encouragement of my husband and fami ly are aIse aclmewledged. witheut their willingness to sacrifice, this study would not have been cempleted. ABSTRACT

The educational policy for adults in China has fluctuated over the 4n-year period since the founding of the People' s

Republic of China. The purpose of this study will include the effec~s on adult education of ièeological shifts in the underlying educational philosophy related to social and political development in China during the three identifiable key periods of change associated with the re-building and development of the nation from 1949 ta 1986; namely,

1) 1949-1966, the beginning of the Comm 1mist Era;

2) 1966-1976, the Cultural revolution period;

3) 1976-1986, the period after the Cultural Revolution.

In many cases, the development of Chinese education for adults has been quite irregular due to political upheavals.

Marxist principles ot education have been felt in Chir.a to be difficult to integrate with the developmental neecis of the country. Commitment to adult education as an important element of the development pattern has been high, but political struggle has seriously hampered educational expansion. The struggle within the high-level leadership seems to have been the most direct reason for ideological shifts over the 37 year periode ------

Résumé

Pendant 40 ans, depuis la fondation de la République

Populaire de Chine, l'éducatton chinoise pour adultes a

certainement varié. Cette étude a comme but d'examiner la

philosophie fondamentale de l'éducation reliée aux

développements sociaux et politiques en Chine, pendant trois

périodes de changements associés avec la reconstruction et les

mouvements de la nation de 1949 à 1986:

1) 1949-1966, l~ début de l'ère communiste 2} 1966-1976, la période de lu Révolution Culturelle 3) 1976-1986, la période après la Révolution Culturelle.

Das beaucoup de cas, à cause des soulèvements p~litiques,

le développement de l'éducation chinoise pour adultes a été

assez irrégulier. Les principes marxistes de l'éducation ne

sont pas faciles a intégrer aux besoins de développement du

pays. Le ni veau d'obligation de rendre l'éducation pour adultes

un élément important au plan du développement est élevé, mais

les tumultes politiques ont sérieusement ralenti l'expansion

éducationnelle. Les débats au sein du diregeants du pays

semblent être la raison la plus directe pour les mouvements

idéologiques pendant cette période de 37 ans. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter l Introduction 1

1. statement o~ the Problem l 2. Purpose of t~e Study 2 3. Relevant Literature 4 4. Methodology 5 5. Lil"ü ta t ions 7

Chapter II Adult Education in the Beginning of the Coramunist Era (19·19-1966) 8

1. Traditional Chinese Ideology 8 2. Marxist Ideoloqy 12 3. Adult Education POlic;y: To Serve the Workers and Peasants 18 4. Contradictions and Problems 26

Chapter IrI Adult Education in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) 36

1. The Beginnlng of ThE! Cultural Revolution 36 2. Two Lines in Education 39 3. Changes in Adult Education policy 46 4. The Impact of The Cultural Revolution 52

Chapter IV Adult Education After The Cultural Revolution !1976-1986) 59

1. The "Open Door" Policy 59 2. Economie Development and Education Policy 62 3. The Impact of ongoing Gnvernment Economie Reform on The [ducation of Adults 71

Chapter V Summary and Conclusion 82

Bibliograplly 86

List of Figures and Tables 94 Chapter l

INTRODUCTION

1. statement of the Problern

The relationship between educatioD and developrnent has received much scholarly attention over the last four decades. The role of adult education in stlmulating national developrnent is being increasingly seen by less industrialized countries as a very important tool for economic and cultural developrnent.

Tne utilization and development of human resources is one of the most basic and pressing problems in the Third World. Possibly the most visible trend in the Western industrialized countries has been the recognition of the need for inception and rapid development of adu 1 t education servicE:>s. In the developing countries, on the other hand, mass adult education efforts are related to the increasingly visible majority of the adult population who lack functional skills necessary for modernization.

In China, formaI policy regarding the education of adults began in 1949. At that time the population was 0.45 billion.

China now boasts a population of 1.1 billion with adults as th~

1 great majority. Within this majority, most people are directly

engaged in industrial and agricultural production. ChinaIs

adult education, according to ~he state Education Commission

(Ministry of Education) in China, was once termed as worker­

peasant education, or spare-time education, and was primarily

for workers, peasants, staff members and cadres. The word

"adult" refers to the 14-45 age group. The broad scope of adult

education includes a wide range of learning activities outside

of the formaI school system, although reference to higher

formal education will also be made. There is presently a great

diversity of educational opportunities for adults. The three main identif iabl e periods of China 1 s history s ince 1949,

reflected in different state policies represent different

applications and patterns of adult education policies. These

differences are related to the social and political

developments during each of the periods.

2. Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the

education of adults in China in terms of ideological policy

and practice since 1949. The study will describe the changes

in adult educational policy and relate them to the economic

and political situation and socialist development strategies

in three periods up to 1986; namely

2 1949-1966 the beginning of the Communist Era.

1966-1976 the Cutur~l Revolution Periode

1976-1986 the Post-Cultural Revolution Periode

The study is based on original documentary research from the primary source materials as they appeared in the official daily press, periodicals, and books published in the PeoplG's

Republic of China. There are very few publications available in English, i.e., the education of adults in China, and with the exception of Payne (1987) and Wang (1988) which are short articles, there is no recent analysis on adult educational policy.

The above documentary research materials are supplemented by secondary source materials published in Hong Kong, Taiwan,

Britain, United States and Canada. Both the primary and secondary source documentation is available in research libraries at McGill University and l'Université de Montréal.

The study attempts to examine and analyze Chinese adult educational policy since 1949. It will include the effect on adul t education of ideological changes in the underlying philosophy related to social and political development in

- "ina. The government's policy, structural changes in organization, administrative control, and program or functional changes within the scope of adult education will also be

3 described in relation to the shifts in emphasis which occurred during the three periods.

3. Relevant Literature

Books on Chinese educational policy are relatively few, although they are growing in number. These deal rnainly with the political and ec~nomic implications. Few pages may have been written on education itself and still less may have been devoted to adult education policy.

Documents on Chinesc adult education are found in sorne books, journals and daily newspapers. For instance, Renmin

Ribao (People's Daily), which carries official documents and official opinions; Renmin Jiaoyu (People's Education) magazine is the off icial organ of the Ministry of Education (state

Education Commission). other periodicals lJublished in China sornetirnes aiso carry information on adult education policy and research.

Periodicals published outside of China include: Unesco statistical Yearbook, Comparative Education, Convergenc2,

Cana.? i.an and International Education, The China Quarterly etc ..

Articles on Chinese adult education are also scattered in sorne journals around the world. Sorne of them supply up-to­ date information about China in addition to author i tùti ve writings.

4 As a nation with large-scale goals for future growth

and improvement, China has to realize that the weakness lies in the lack of an adequate level of education for her people.

For the past fifteen years, Chinese educators and scholars have

systematically worked in the area of adul t education. The

research has a Iso stated that Chinese adul t education, from

1 i teracy programmes to high levels of scientific and

technological training, has been in the fore front of policy

planning and government expenditure. Most of these res~arches

can be found in Chinese journals.

Besides the source materials in Chinese, a few

unpublished theses and dissertations and a nurnber of books have

been written on Chinese adult education policy effect prior to

the period of the Cultural Revolution.

4. Methodology

This study takes the form of library research. Through

bibliographical research and screening of Chinese newspapers

and journals, relevant documents, reports and writings on the

theme have been identified, studied, compared and interpreted.

Throughout the study, l have tried to be objective and

impartial from an; personal background, politically, socially,

cul turally élnd educationally, and from my own beliefs and

cOilvictions. l have looked into what actually happened in China

in general, and into the education and the adult education

"

5 policy in particular.

Procedurally, the first step has been the gathering of source materials for the study. From library research, the materials are identified and classified. Most of the primary source materials are ln the Chinese language.

The second step was the compilation of a chronological eard index of major policies in three dlfferent periods, ineluding polieies in adult education and events in representative institutions and programmes.

The third step was the general screening for documents from 1949 to 1986, photocopying and taking notes of relevant materials. A~ the same time, books around the topic were read and notes were taken.

The fourth step was to study ln general about the adult education polieies. This helped me to conceptualize in general the political, economic, social and cultural forces at work and their effects on, and interactions of these forces with adult education.

The fifth step was to find out what edue cional changes and national development were implemented or suggested in the later periods in the educaticnal system in general and adult education in particular.

The thesis has five chapters. The next chapter deals with the adult education poliey development and ideologieal changes in the beginning of the Communist era (1949-1966). This is

6 1

followed by chapter III which deals with the idological shifts during the Cultural Revolution perlod (1966-1976).

Chapter IV deals with the idological changes during the

Post-Cultural Revolution period (1976-1986) and the impact of ongoing government economic reform policy on adult education.

The final chapter gives a summary of findings of the study, a conclusion and suggestions for further research.

5. Limitations

This study relies on Jibrary research with primary and secondary materials available in Canada. Sorne limitations naturally follow. Many publications were obtained through library exchange. Many are a few months or a year behind the date of publication. Also many of the important documents are not released to the press until several months or a year afterwards.

Another problem encounte~ed is a relative lack of data and basic research in the field, and sometimes insufficient data on the topic. Government documents about adult education policy are limi ted, and stati<~tics é.re not freely available outside of China.

7 ..

Chapter II

Adult Education policy in the Beqinninq of the Communist period (1949-1966)

1. The Legacy of Traditional Chinese Ideology

China is one of the oldest countries that has an educational system. The extraordinary role of education in the formation and preservation of the Chinese way of life, with aIl that it implies, has long been acknowledged. Leighton stuart went so far as to suggest that "the history of Chinese education is almost the history of China, for perhaps no other country has the educational process that had such influences in shaping the national life" (Hu, 1984). Max Weber opened his essay on Chinese literature by noting that "for twelve centuries, social rank in China has been determined more by qualification for office than by wealth. This qualification, in turn has been determined by education, and

especially by ~xamination" (Weber, 1968). From whatever view of the educational scene in lmperial China, officialismwas the enduring feature of Chinese society,

since the scholar-offic~al class has had the dominant influence in aIl areas of Chinese civilization. FormaI education formed the sole avenue leading to membership in that class.

8 Chinese schools came into existence as early as the

Western Zhou (C.llth century to 770 B.C.). Among the subjects

taught were rites (~itual and rules), music (ceremonial music

and ritual dances), ~rr~ery, chariot riding, history and

ma~hematics. Jointly, these subjects were referred to as the

"six drts". The government ran and controlled the schools;

governrnent officiaIs and teachers were in fact the same people.

Private education began to make its appearance during

the 770-221B.C. Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was a pioneer in this

regard. Besides Confucius, there were many other famous private

educators and each of thern had his own theoretical system. But,

perhaps the rnost worthy for consideration is the Confucian

heritage. Confucius had always been regarded as the first

person to have made teaching a profession and he had a

progressive class viewpoint. While emphasizing that he had been

the first to introduce private education, it was maintained

that he also was the first to popularize education because he had made it available for the first time to those not born ir.to

the aristocracy. Confucius haJ sorne 3,000 students, proving to

syrnpathetic cri tics that he had tried to spread education widely (Hu, 1984). From this point of view, ancient China was dorninated by his ideas for centuries.

In aIl educational systems, what is taught always

reflects the goals of education, and the goals are always determined by the dominant ideology and its values. Under the

traditional ideology or Confucians heritage, the educational

9 system was, to a great extent, developed by the examination

• system and Confucian ethics. The Chinese believe in one of the

most fundamental Confucian tenets that the alI-important

business of government must not be left to the accidents of

either birth or wealth, "since administration was supposed to

be less by law than by example" (Levenson, 1966; Hu, 1984).

Schooling and formaI education were mastery of written texts,

with promotions determined by examination. The major goals of

education were not so mu ch the transmission of knowledge or

the learning of skills as much as the internaI part cf a set

of ethical principles which governed human behaviour in aIl

conceivable situations. Thus educational achievement was

measured primarily in ethical terms. It was the accepted

style, not only for education but for the selection and

ideological preparation for government services.

However, after the long period of inheriting and

developing Confucius' ideolcgy, the consequence had been that

physical labour was disdained (Lorstedt, 1980; Zhao, 1984). In

1951, according to Chinese estimate, up to 85 per cent of the

population was illiterate, and illiterates were those who could

flot read the 2,000 basic Chinese characters and cou Id not write

simple notes or letters (Liu, ~951). The new China of the

Communists embarked on national development from this base.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China

in 1949, Confucius' educational ideas have been "inherited" in

10 the new socialist society. Those ideas were meant to be put .... into practice, and there were attempts to try ta keep those educational thoughts active and alive. The optimism following the announcernent of the First Five-Year Plan of 1953-1957 helps to explain why Confucian education was not attacked. It was

hoped that by the exarnple of the Soviet union and hard work, econornic recovery and national prosperity would become a reality after decades of civil strife. Coupled with this, Soviet education had at this time itself become more

traditional, and had begun to absorb features of the old Russian system, such as the ernphasis on the central role of the

teacher. AIso, The Hundred Flowers period (1956-1957) saw the appearance of sorne books written since 1949 specifically on Confucius' educational thought. To the a.lthor, the basic elernent of Confucian education was a process of self­

cultlvation based on propriety and benevolent behaviour, the

two central concepts in Confucian ethics. This restatement of

an orthodoxy was no mere academic exercise. In the late 19505,

Mao Zedong stated that "Contemporé. ::y China has grown out of the China of the past; we are Marxist in our historical approach and must not lop off our history. We should sum up our history

from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen and take over this valuable legacy" (Louie, 1986).

11 2. Marxist Ideology

Marxist theory generally deals with the development of human society in a historical perspective covering several stages. Ideology for Marx, is a question of the expression of the special interest of the working class as the general interest of society as a whole. In terms of education, Marxist theory if put very simply is to adjust correspondence between social relations of production and social relations of schooling.

"In the social production which men carry on they enter into definite relations that are indis~ansable and independent of their will; these relations of production correspond to a definlte stage of development of their material forces of production ... "(Marx, 1904).

The product is a new socialist person. Marxists see education as an ideological instrument of the state apparatus, with the function of reproducing class society, i.e. both the qualifications needed for production and the ideology needed to make people accept the necessary division of labour. Sorne of the main elements of the Marxist concept of education and society are given in Figure 1:1.

12 Marxists, being concerned with "seeing the world as it

is in order to change it; regard education as those processes which contribute to the formation and changing of a p~rson's consciousness and character" (Priee, 1377). This is particularly important for education iu a communist state because the development of consciousness involves a world view which education influences through its system of values and symbols.

Also, adul t education is important in a communist country because of the immediate impact education must have on the inculcation of values associated with Marxist ideology on the existing adult population.

Although China gradually turned into a semi-feudal, semi­ colonial country after the Opium War in 1848, the early 20th century witnessed a gigantic leap in mechanized industry and a consequent upsurge of modern education with well-defined plans, purpose and organization. After the birth of the Chinese

Communist Party, their new policy of education and its application, particularly adult education, served the purpose of disseminating Marxism and fostering revolution.

13 Figure 1:1 Education and Society in Marxist Theory

EDUCATION: SUPER­ STRUCTURE

REPRODUCTION REPRODUCTION OF OF QUALIFICATION IDEOLOGY SELECTION

------] [WORKING CLASS ---r------BASE ,PRODUCTION

Source: Lofstedt, 1980.

14 •

since the Chinese Cornmunist Party took power, Marxist theory has been the predominant theory used in China to deal with the development of human society in a historical perspective which covers several stages. This reflects the relevant aspects of understandihg the Chinese developrnent strategy (Lofstedt, 1980). The major concern of Marxist education is moral-political, the developrnent of 'socialist consciousness', as it is phrased in China (Priee, 1977).

Mao is seen as the major Chinese interpreter of Marxist theory in the Chinese context. In general, Mao' s view that class struggle would continue under socialism has been expressed in numerous wri tings since 1949. The ideology is defined as a view of people, knowledqe and society.

According to Mao, the educational system is part of the cultural network of a country. He accepted the basic Marxist principle that education is part of the superstructure of society and economy.

"Any given culture [as an ideological form] is a reflection of the politics and economics of a given society, and the former in turn has a tremendous influence and effect upon the latter. Economies is the base and politics is the concentrated expression of econornics. This is the fundamental view of the relation of culture to politics and economic" (Mao, 1940).

It is very important to recognize that Mao dld not adopt

Marxism unquestioninglYi he adapted it and integrated it with

Chinese reality, and the experience of other socialist

15 countries. f • Mao believed that education is a propaganda tool of the rul ing class and serves i ts interests a lone . He had so l id grounds for his belief. In feudal China, 90 per cent of the population were peasants, but education was controlled by the ruling class, and the ideology within the educational system represented that of the ruling class. In a socialist society, Mao held, education should be turned to serve the interests of workers and peasal1ts. Mao denied that education or culture, aIl literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines. There is, in fact, no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes or that

which is detdched from or independent of politics (Mao, 1942). What were the airns of education? In socialist China, it must contribute to the creation of a new man, who is both a worker and an intellectual, in other words, "red and expert". Here, redness refers to the socialist consciousness; expertness refers to the knowledge. It was the dut Y of the educational system to instil and create political awareness in the young:

"We must strengthen our ideological and political work. Both students and intellectuals should study hard .•. they must rnake progress both ideologically and politically which mean~ they should study Marxism, current event.' and political problems. Not to have a current political viewpoint is like having no soul" (Mao, 1957).

16 1--

Mao saw the aims of education as socialist construction

after the establishment of the republic. His emphasis shifted

from nationalism to socialism:

"Our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a weIl educated worker imbued with socialist consciousness" (Mao, 1958).

Education was henceforth to serve proletarian ideals

and should be integrated with productive labour.

From the Marxist ideology and Mao's view, with regard

to adult education, the most important principle which has had

an enormous impact upon educational policy is the combinat ion

of education and production (Cleverly, 1984). This is perhaps

the most noticeable area in which Confucian education differs

from Marxist theories of education on the question of the

relationship between study and productive labour. Mao who had

quoted from Confucius approvingly on many occasions, had to

say:

"Confucius never reclaimed land or tilled the soil .•. When a student asked him how to plough the field, Confucius answered, '1 don't know, 1 am not a~ good at that as a farmer'. Confucius was next asked how to grow vegetables, and he answered, '1 don't know, 1 am not as good at that as a vegetable gardener. ' In ancient times, the ycuth of China who studied under a sage neither learned revolutionary theory nor took part in labour" (Mao, 1967).

" 17 3. Adult Education Policy: To Serve the Workers and Peasants

Modern Chinese adult education began in 1949, and since then it has been developed in conjunction with aIl sorts of formaI education. During the founding of the People's Republic period, adult education efforts were made with much enthusiasm by aIl segments of the Chinese society. The government made the commitment of adult education as one of the important components in the state educational system.

For policy making, the general programme for development was socialist and "new-democratic" in nature, and aimed at achieving graduaI nationalization of industry, land reform and collectivization of agriculture, abolition of the free market, impl€mentation of central planning, dnd fostering of Communist ideas.

In the beginning of the Communist period, the first few years were devoted to reconstruction, and production was largely restored to pre-war levels. In the area of pducation, aIl over the country, only sorne 16,000 professor3 and other instructors were working in 205 schools of higher education.

Ninety percent of the population were illiterate, and less than 40 per cent of the school-age children could go ta school

(Liu, 1951). Teachers specializing in technological subjects, and public heaith formed a small rninority. As a nation with large-scale goals for future growth and improvement, Ch ina

18 began to realize that her weakness lay in the lack of education of her people. In October, 1949, the Joint program enacted by the

Chinese Political Consultative Conference explicitly specified:

"Lay more emphasis on spare-time education for the working people and cadres". In the Conference of AlI-China Educational

Work in the same year, it declared that the policy of adult education was to serve the workers and peasants, because "the working class and peasantry make up 80-90 per cent of the

Chinese population. The alliance of these two classes is the foundation of the People' s Democratie Dicr:atorship" (Renmin

Jiaoyu, 1950).

It further expounded the great political importance of worker-peasant education. It set up a numbér of polices concerning the implementatj on of adul t education and hence laid a foundation for the establishment of administrative systems and various rules and regulations for adult education from the national to the local level.

In May 1950, Vice-Minister of Education Qian Junrui read a final report to the National Education Conference which defined the educational policy of the "New Democracy" as

"national scientific" and "mass based". The task of education was to serve economic construction and the working classes. The important educational tasks Qia~ dealt with were to introduce the natural sciences into the cu~ricula, to promote spare tirne supplementary education for the workers, to provide

19 supplementary education to peasants, to step up the struggle against illiteracy, to set up worker-peasant middle schools, to train working class cadres, and to change the recruitment sys~em in or der facilitate enrollment of working class students.

In October 1951, the document, Decision on the Reform of the Schaol System, promulgated by the Central People's

Government gave a legal basis for adult education in China. In

November of the same year. the Central People' s Government proposed in the Report on First National Conference of Worker­

Peasant Education that "Worker-Peasant education ls a necessary condition for the consolidatiùn and development of the people' s democratic dictatorship for the establishment of a powerful army for national defence, and for building a strong econamic basis." There can be no upsurge in cultural learning without the popularization and improvement of worker-peasant cultural education"(Gao,1980).

The structure of the Chinese educational system in the early 1950s is given in Figure 1:2.

20 Figure 1:2 The Chinese educational system in the early 1950s.

TYPE OF SCHOOL Class Research Institutes Year ------~-, ~. - - - - .. ------. ------5 '- - 4 (4-SYrs) 3 Universities, Institutes 2 and Colleges i!i (3Yrs) : 1 echnicall ! Schools______,-, ____~ ______---t 18 ! 17 6 Senior Vocational Short-Term Senior 16 5 Midd~e Middle Worker & Middle 1 Schools Schools Schools 1 Peasant 1 1 (Spare- time)

15 4 1 ---+-----~~~~~~s------~1 1 1 Short -Term 1 Junior 14 3 1 2 Worker & Peasant Middle 13 Junior 1 Middle ; Schools ! Schools Schools 1 i 12 1 " Peasar.t Schools 1 i f------..... 1 1 11 S ! Spare­ 4 : time 10 1 \ 9 3 primary Schools primary 8 2 1 Schools , 7 1 , 1 ------J ------...... ------! 6 S Nurser ies and 4 Kindergartens 3 age

21 The first Worker-peasant School opened in Beijing during

1953, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The

116 students enrolled ranged in age from 16 to 30. AlI had between three and thirteen years of "experience" in revolutionary work. By 1954, a total of 5,100 students were enrolled in 87 such schools. In 1955, 33,000 new students were admitted . The first gradua tes received their diplomas in 1956, after three years of intensive study, and 1,622 of the 1680 graduates went to college ta continue their studies (Beijing

Review, 1956).

During the fifties, another important aspect of adult education policy was the attempt to expand the set up of a semi-formal system of education for the peasants called Winter

School. A big movement was launched in the winter of 1949/50 to enroll adults in the countryside in su ch schools. The movement had actually begun three or four years earl ier in the liberated areas and valuable experience had been gained which demonstrated to the leadership the us 'ulness of this type of schools.

It was reported that more than 35.5 million peasants were attending Winter School in the winter of 1951/52. The efforts of the schools were rnainly directed at eliminating illiteracy.

22

= Figure 1: 3 Industrial (dotted line) and Educational Developrnent-rncrease over 1954.

Increase over (1954 ) l f'" " 3,000 / .1 , (million) ," :l··- 1 1 ,. 2,500 ,, 1 2,000 TAIWAN USSR: PRe 1 . 1,500 1

t 1 , ... 1,000 1 . . , 1 1 · 1 · ,. 500 ·. .. ' 1 • ,...... / " 100 " L 5 .. 10-15-20'25.30 5.10-15.20.25 ·30 (year)

Source: Lofstedt, 1980.

The Figure 1: 3 is used to show the success of the new education efforts and policies relative to industrial developrnent increases.

"Combining Education with productive labour" is being retained as a central educational slogan and focus of

23 educational policy. A number of government directives and national conferences continued ta map out the educational course in 1954. Adult education, in the new Peaple's Republic of China, had a very important raIe to play in training aU age and levels of people for national reconstruction.

A main portion of the important point on education policy which is relevant to adult education is quoted as follows:

The Culture and education of the People 1 s Republic of China shall be Ne'" Democratie, that is, national, scientific, the cultural level of the people, the training of personnel for national reconstruction, the elimination of feudal, compradore, fascist thinking and to develop the ide a of serving the people (Ministry of Education, 1950).

Arnong the policies, adult literacy work remained a priority area in adul t education, and the struggle against illiteracy was an important issue in 1956. The Communist Party took a decision regarding the elimination of illiteracy, which was made public by Xinhua, the official news agency, on March

30. According to the decision, "Organ caares are required to be elirninated of ilU teracy in two ta three years. About 95 per cent of the industrial workers in factories, mines and enterprises are ta be eliminated of i11i teracy in three ta f ive years. The residents in the cauntryside and the cities should be basically eliminated af illiteracy in five ta seven years.

This is to say that over 70 per cent of the illiterates are

24

d required to be eliminated of their illiteracy". It also said

that people were expected to learn about 1,500 characters which

would enable them to read "simple - worded popular newspapers

and magazines, to keep less complicated books, to write simple

memorandums, and to do simple calculations wi th the abacus ... ".

It was pointed out that people should be granted a minimum of

240 hours of instruction per year (Lofstedt, 1980).

Table 1: 1 Enrollment and Graduates (Millions) in 1954

Enrollment Graduates

Tertiary 0.258 0.047

Secondary vocational 0.608 0.l69

Secondary general 3.580

Workers' and peasants

secondary 0.050

primary 51. 20

Source: Beij ing Review, 20, 1955.

In the winter of 1955/1956, aIl provinces of the country were required to draw up detailed plans to provide spare-time literacy classes for the peasants. A million special teachers

25 had been trained by the middle of 1950s but even that number was not enough. In early 1956, it was reported that a ten­ million strong anti-illiteracy army cornprised of mernbers of the military had organized. The National Association for the

Elimination of illiteracy was founded on March, 1956. It coordinated the work of a number of Anti-illi teracy

Associations which organized middle school students te help compile special reading texts for the campaign. The communist

Youth League of China also took an active part in this work.

AlI levels of schools' enrollment and graduates as shown in

Table 1: 1.

4. The Contradictions and Problems

In 1956, the year of the Great Leap forward, hard political struggle developed during the summer between Mao and the more conservativ2 elements. The political problems were closely related to the economic situation. Financial credits extended by the r lviet Union had ended by that time and the loans were being repaid. Agriculture did not yield an adequate surplus. The financial drain created by loan repayment coupled with in adequate agriculture incorne resulted in lack of state money for education as weIl as for other sectors.

In the field of education, the contradictions and

26 struggles were fairly serious. A great number of leading

intellectuals attacked the Communist Party with slogans such as "Protecting the scientists" and "Letting the professors run the schools". These advocates for purifying education appeared to be critical of the Chinese leadership and before long they were def ined as Right ists, referring to the extreme right winc.J.

The so-called Rightists included sorne ministers, a great number of professors, and many research workers. AIso, the Rightists tried hard in rnany schools to turn students' political opinion against the Cornrnunist Party line. That period is also called

" The Hundred F lower Blossom". Another problem that worried the Chinese leadership was that many school gradua tes preferred to work in research or teaching institutions rather th an in industry or agriculture.

The "anti-rightist" campaign, a backlash to eliminate

Richtist extrernes, had been initiated in 1957 by the Maoists.

This developed into a nation-wide movement and had an obvious effect on development and educational policy. It paved the way for radical change in the educational system in which was termed the 1958 educational reform and which in general had effert of shiffing the emphasis to include more attention to higher level education.

Educational policy makers, at this time, became increasingly aware of a number of crucial issues that urgently demanded solutions. One of the major ones was related to the

27 transfer from secondary to tertiary education. During the First

Five-Year Plan period (1953-1957), there was the discrepancy between the actual output of the secondary schools and needed in-take at the te~tiary level. Even if aIl the secondary school graduates were to enroll, there would still be a shortage of

30 per cent at the tertiary level. Yeti the question was how to give employment and/or facilities for further education and training for a growing number of graduates from sevondary school.

According to the Vice-Director of Department of Middle

School Education in the Ministry of Education, the main problem was ideological. It was "a question of attitudes towards work and physical labour. In the old days, the belief was that 'aIl lives are lowly; only the life of a scholar is noble' and

'mental workers rule; manual workers are ruled'''. These attitvales were in contradiction with current idology which emphsized that mertal workers and manual workers were of equal importance. To deal with the problem created by the contradiction, a nation wide campaign was carried out i'A the spring and summer of 1957 to educate and inform the students and thelr parents regarding the question of working or continuing to study. They were told, according to Mao' s teachings, that a puperly educated persan achievd a balance beteen academic learning, abi litY to perform physical work, and a resultant states of good of mental and physical weIl being. Ris words were " shen Ti Hao, Xue xi Rao, Gong Zuo

28 Hao", meaning good health, good studies, good work. This is one reason why increased attention was given at the time to physical education and physical labour in the schools. At the same tine, a new programme for economic development, known as the "General Line for Socialist Construction" was adopted by the Communist Party. Tremendous reforms were undertaken in Many sectors, including the field of education, among thus. Generally speaking, the Most important aspect of the 1958 education reform was the consistent introduction of productive labour in education.

On January, 1958, Mao presented directives for educational reforms in the document " sixtY Articles on Work

Methods", it ~tated that: "The relations between being red and expert and between politics and business is the unity of two opposite things. We must criticise the tendency of political apathy ... the students should implement half-work and half-study. Additianally, it May aIse be possible for students and teachers to enter into labour contra ct with local factories" (Mao, 1958).

The idea that labour and study should be linked and physical work and brain work be closely integrated was gererally accepted. The advantage was felt to be af benefit in the political, pedagogical and economical spherea. The difference between workers and intellectuals and between mental and physical labour could be eliminated.

29 Another step to guide the reform for education was taken in September, 1958, when the educational policy makers issued a "Directive concerning the Educational Work" which outlined the tasks to be undertaken during the second Five-Year

Plan(1958-1962). The immediate goals were to eradicate illiteracy to make primary education universal, develop secondary education ... The document confirmed that education must serve the proletariat, the working class, and be combined with productive labour and led by the Party (Beijing Review,

1958). A typical result of these efforts was the setting up of

Red and Expert-universities, which suddenly raised the total number of colleges and universities to more than 1,000. There were three kinds of Red and Expert-universities: (Red and

Expert: political consciousness and professional competence)

1. full-time comprehensive colleges

2. work-study Red-Expert universities

3. spare-time universities

(Beijing Shida Xuebao, 1, 1958)

Table 1: 2 shows the percent age students of working or

peasant class ta the end of 1958.

30 Table 1: 2 Percentage students of working or peasant class in aIl levels of school

1952-1953 20.64

1955-1956 29.20 1956-1957 34.29

1957-1958 36.42 (out of 160,000 students)

Source: Beijing Review, 12/1958

A direct resul t of the growing dissatisfaction in China

with the Soviet development strategy in general and Soviet aid

to China in particular was that the relationship wi th the

Soviets deteriorated gradually in the late 1950s. The Soviets

unilaterally cut off the agreement on new technology for

national defence concluded between China and Soviet union in

1957, and refused to provide China with a sample of an atomic

bomb and technical data concerning its manufacture. Heavy blows

to ChinaIs economic construction were the withdrawal of Soviet

experts from China in the summer of 1960 and the discontinuation of aid from the Soviet Union to China. The

detariorating Chinese- Soviet relations also marked the

beginning of the end of cooperation in education and science.

31

L In 1959, the Party had posted a resolution entitled:

"Concerning the anti-Party clique headed by Peng Dehuai" (peng was the former Minister of Defence) and another resolution concerning the hatching of "a campaign to oppose rightist opportunist erroneous thjnking" (Beijing Review, 1959).

As a result, nineteen-sixty became a year of deepening crisis. The Great Leap Forward and ideological struggles between the Rightists and anti-rightists had left the country exhausted, ideologically divided and politically disunitcd. Mao resigned as Chairman of the state in 1958 but remained Chairman of the Party, contradictions among the party leadership had increased.

In adult education, however, 3ignificant gains were made in the early 1960s. It was officially estimated in 1960 that 4 per cent of aIl workers and office staff ir the country had a senior middle school education or its equivalent. Another

22 per cent had attained the level of junior middle school students.

A drive to set up tertiary spare-time schools gained momentum in early 1960. "It leaps into a new stage. Many spare-time colleges established to speed training of technicians"; "progress in Liaoning workers' education";

"36,000 attend spare-time college course"; IIMany worker:; promoted to leadership"; "Television college opens in Beijing, over 6,000 sign up for studies" were typical headings in the

32 Chinese press (Renmin Ribao; Guangming Ribao; Renmin ;iaoyu;

Wenhui Bao, 1960).

A sample was the Shanghai University of Science and

Technology, establisned in 1958 which began offering workers'

courses in 1960 in arder te train an army of working class

intellectuals for the Chinese socialist construction.

A national Spare-Time Education Conference was held in

July 1960, where it was noted that the number of workers

studying in spare-tirne universities had increased one-and-a­

half time as against the year before. The main aims of spare­

time education in the 1960s continued to be the training of

middle level skilled man-power, and the wiping ou~ of

illiteracy. According to official estimates in the 1960s about

5 million former illiterates had learned to read and write in

those years. This meant that the proportion of illiterates

among the industrial workers had dropped from about 80 per cent

in 1949 to about 15 per cent in the 1960. The adult education

system had expanded threefold since 1957 (Bei; ing Review,

1964) .

33

- .. " ..

..., ------. ------... - 2) \Q 17 UnJ\lCn,hn. ImIlIIlIC\ oInd II/ha l~rll.J(y wllq:c\ 1 C 22 li .... (1) a. 16 1 ;;i 21 ... 1 .... s:- as :::>- :r" Tea.her < 20 ~ ~ Hiunrng ,&.. 2. C' - 14 n- ~.. college: o,. -c: 19 .. :::>- :; ~= t-3 13 ""n 0~ ., - .... ::1' ---.; .... 18 ~ ~ VI ~ \0(1) ~ ... ~ ::r 0\ 12 0 .. 0 =o ~ o() 17 Senior hlgh Scmor 'c:acher ::0- ~ ~ < SCnlor TcchOlcoIl· Urh.tn AgnCUIrUrollj cn:r Il ~ ;:;c: =:> '" ~ hlgh "ocallon.. \ ~eco",J.H~ ~ccond.H> .... 16 Khoul lril/nlng Kho()} =ti ::> !:. ....:s ~ r-- c: Q,ë \chU(l1 ~choo\ schu,,1 SChQ()\' ~ Q. 10 C ..~ -::::J .., :> en ....c: ::> o ... l~ Co. - Co. c: - CIl s;- ::> ;t; (1) ..,. :; ë ~ S w < 9 ::r~ ~ ~ oc. 14 ":r ...- ~ ~ g JUnior -" 8 :> - ~- 8 ~ t'l 8 1uOIor hlgh ~chool ::::J "... 'fo'ë ;;:-", ;;:- hl~h Jumor hlgh ~cho()1 0- - ....- n ::r::> 13 ::r ~ch,,()1 1 C n ~§ 1 () 7 ~ ~I - Il III 6 ....r1" Il Upper pnmdry Kht~)1 o S Pnm .. ry schoul ?I ::1 10 ------c: III -::: 4 ~ 1-' r- 9 1 Par"'.. ur\.. pnm .. ry Khool ::> n CIl < .3 f------"" ----1 1 ~ ~ !!.. 8 Luwcr prtm .. ry s..hool CIl 2 Lllcracy d~,~c\ r1" 1 l 1 7 (1) 1 1 ::1 6 1_ Il .... S VI ~ ::r "':Inlle:rg .. ne:n " r1" 4 8 ...... ~~ ::r --< en .3 ..n Full lime: S,h""h ~p .. r,-IIOH: ~,h,,,," l'MI-..... r\.. ~,hu()h ...... 3: l IAge C. In 1965, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution, China had largely recovered from the crisis years. Per capita steel production had risen to around 16 kg, still less than 1959 and 1960, but 40 times more than 1949. Grain production in 1965 was about 257 kg per capita, still less than in the good years of the 1950s, when the figure sometimes approached 300 kg. In education, great progress had been made as weIl. About 116

million children or 85 per cent of the age groups were enrolled in primary education. Total enrollment in the regular educatlonal system amounted to about 17.3 per cent of the total population. This was a 3.6-fold increase compared to 1949. As for literacy, in 1966, the national illiteracy rate had fallen below 60 per cent. Among industrial personnel it was said to

be about 5 per cent (Beijing Review,1966i Renmin Jiaoyu, 1966). Despite the turn for the better, China still faced many problems. The most significant ones were perhaps the political cOlt'cradictions with wihtin the higher leadership and low cultural level of the majority of the population .

.. 35 Chapter III

Adult Education in the Cultural Revolution (1966~1976)

1. The Beginning of the Cultural Revolution According to Mao Zedong, "any cultural revolution is the ideological reflection of the poli tical and econornic revolutions and must be at their service" (Mao, 1964). As such, the Cultural Revolution was the attack and eradication of revisionisrn in the party. As the Party's function was setting the ultirnate goals for the state, forrnulating policies, exercising control, internalising Cornrnunist values, rectifying conduct, and applying sanctions to integrate and rnaintain the Cornrnunist pattern, the revis ion of goals under the leadership of Liu Shaoqi(the Chairrnan of the People's Republic) and Deng Xiaoping (the General Secretary of Party) were the central issues that led to the Cultural Revolution. Willson Yang once concluded that evidence did support the charges against the revisionist:

"The 'revisionists' did tend to divert the course of the Cornrnunist revolution from its purely proletarian direction and did revise the ideological goals of a classless society by catering to the interests of different classes, especially intellectual and technical groups. The idealisrn of a planned society is threatened by the revisionist and recognition of the laws of value and priees so fundarnental to the capitalist econorny" (Young, 1968).

36 In early 1966, a movement, first called the 'socialist

cultural revolution' and later named 'The Great Proletarian

Cultural Revolution' spread over the country. Yet China pushed

one step forward to revolution in cultural and educational realms. "This is not a simple decisional campaign but a real

strugg~e where sorne win and others lose. But despite the talk, the thrust of the revolu~ion is not against a segment of the population, as it was in the past, but essentially against one of the structures of training of organized power, namely the

Chinese Communist Party" (Schurmann, 1968).It was officially explained that the broad masses of workers, peasants, soldiers, cadres and revolutionary intellectuals had opened fire on the anti-Party, anti-socialist black line that had appeared in the cultural fields.

In the area of education, on May 7, 1966, Mao Zedong made his famous statement on education ~hich was called the

"May 7 Directive" and was officially made public later:

"While the students' m3in task is to study, they should also learn other things, that is to say, they should not only learn book knowledge, they should also learn industrial production, agricultural production, and military affairs. They shou1d also criticize and repudiate the bourgeoisie. The length of schooling should be shortened. Education should be revolutionized, and the domination of our schoo1s and col1eges by bourgeoisie inte1lectuals should not be tolerated any longer" (Renmin Ribao, 1966).

37 The "May 7 Directive" aimed at alI-round new communism.

The whole nation should be made a big school of Mao' s thought in which \ the soldiers, workers, peasants, and workers in commercial, party and government offices should aIl learn politics, military science, academic studies and criticize the bourgeoisie (Renmin Ribao, 1967). The old educational system was criticized totally. A big character poster posted on May

25, attacked the leadership who were revisionists in Beijing

University. Then, the People's Daily published an article in which it listed the 'crimes of the bourgeois educational system': it separated teaching from productive work, separated education from the working people and from class struggle in society; the educational system was too long; the curriculum was "increasing in bookishness; and book-teaching wi thout character building took place' (Renmin Ribao, 1966). Later, the leadership of Beijing University was replaced. The happenings in Beijing University were sirnilarly repeated in many university campuses aIl over the country. Many heads of institutions were criticized or purged and evenin the Beijing

Municipal Party Committee there was no exception, because they emphasized professional and research achievement while neglecting politics and labour.

At the end of June 1966, the Cultural Revolution was entering into a new and much more spectacular stage.

38 2. Two Lines in Education

In fact, education was a focal point in the Cultural

Revolution and that was made clear at a very early stage. A Peoplels Daily editorial on June 18, 1966, demanded that the enrollment system be changed. It also addressed the Party decision to abolish the existing entrance examination procedure used in admitting students to institutions of higher learning. It said that in the beginning of that year, a new method of enrollment, a combination of recommendation and selection, in which proletarian politics are put first and the mass line is fOllowed, would go into effect. The best students would be selected and admitted from among those recommended for their outstanding moral, intellectual and physical qualities.

The same method would be used in enrolling students of senior middle schools (Renmin Ribao, 1966). On August 8, 1966, the Chinese government reached a decision as to the future course to follow. In the Party document, the Cultural Revolution, the main objectives were to challenge the bourgeoisie in the ideological field, to reinforce political struggle against 'those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road', to repudiate bourgeois academic 'authorities' and transform education and aIl other parts of superstructure that did not correspond to the socialist economic bases. The document set out guidelines

39 on a number of important issues, one of which was education. Regarding educational reform, the decision called for a transformation of the old educational system and a stop to the domination by bourgeois intellectuals. The aim of education should be to serve proletarian politics and combine education with productive labour in order to foster fully developed socialist labourers. The direction of schooling should be shortened, ~ourses improved, and students should learn industrial work, farming and military affairs as weIl and take part in the ideological struggle of the Cultural Revolution.

The struggle had continued. After the reorganization of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and official attacks on the professi~nal and party leadership of Beijing university in June, a number of important people in education aIl over the country came under attack and were dismissed. The two top leaders brought down by the Cultural Revolution were "ChinaIs

'Khrushchev' Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping". At a mass rally in Beijing, Jiang Qing (Mao's wife, a member of the group of five in charge of the Cultural Revolution) listed the "ten major crimes" of Deng Xiaoping. Because Deng made the "sixty­

Points on Tertiary Education in 1961, Jiang Qing said Deng

"plainly disregards the absolute leadership of the Party in the sphere of higher education, and negates class struggle in the whole field of education. The 'sixtY Points' distorted the

Party's policy towards the intellectuals, overernphasizeed

40 unit y, while ignoring the education and reformation of intellectuals" (Renmin Ribao, 1967). This document also promotes knowledge first, the alI-importance of books, as weIl as advocating the idea that politics can manifest itself in

professional studies. On the question of teaching and scientific research, the document only emphasizes the guiding

role of teachers and aims to encourage the development of specialists. Renmin Ribao in 1967, accused him, saying that " Deng's real aim was to allow bourgeois intellectuals to remain

in charge of Chinese schools for an indefinite time, and prepare pUblic opinion for a restoration of capitalism".

According to Jiang Qing, Deng' s attitude to Mao' s

instruction on part-time work and part-time study had become

one of outward supDort and covert transgression. In 1966, Deng had ruled that Beijing University should continue to use the

full-day system, and he had wanted to slow down the development of part-time study and work education and bring back the old

educational system. To prove her point, Jiang Qing quoted Deng

as saying "We do not necessarily require within the Third Five­

Year Plan the other leg (Le. part-time work and study and night schools) and we should achieve equal enrollment with the

full-time system" (Renmin Ribao, 1967).

In assessing educational development in China since

1949, the Left usually presented a rather simplified and polarized picture of the two forms of education: Maoist and

41 the anti-Maoist (Rightist) during the Cultural Revolution. The differences between the two forms of education according to the chronology are shown in the Table 2:1. Table 2:1 Two Lines in Education According to the Chronology

------period Mao Anti-Mao 1949-1952 Education reform, Soviet Preserve the old experiences, health first­ alI-out Sovietization study second opposition to political in education 1953-1957 Educationa1 Reform, 5 year Against 5 year cycle cycle, stress on ideology extension of time, labour education, less more teaching and Soviet model general technical education (Soviet polytechnic) 1958-1960 Half-work, half-study, "Two kinds" of participation in educational system production pushing the full-day school system 1964-1965 Stress on reform Promoting two-track of courses, changed system promoting a examination, Liu version of work­ emulation of PLA*, study system participation in Socialist Education Movement 1966-1967 Against bourgeois Peddling the Liuist intellectuals, for type of work-study radical reform system, trying to strangle the Cultural Revolution through the work-team.; and variance bureaucratie measures ------*PLA: People's Libration Army Source: Lofstedt, 1980

42 Although normal recruitment to the regular full-day

universities had not yet been resumed in 1968, important

innovations were being prepared. Schools should be run in an

"open door" manner and teachers and students should integrate with the workers and peasants in accordance with the May 7 and

July 21 announcements in which Mao referred to the Shanghai

Machine Tools Plant which trôined technicians from the workers, and said that "students should be selected from among the workers and peasants with practical experience, and they should return to production after few years 1 study" (Mao, 1973).

Later, many of the schools for the training of workers peasants and cadres were called "May 7 School" or "July 21 University".

For the administration, from 1967 through 1974, there was no tunctioning Ministry of Education (and Scientific and technological commission). Responsibility for the implementation of the educational policy was in the hands of the party, the five of the Cultural Revolution Group. Under the

Group was the Science and Education Group of State Council.

After 1966, the Cultural Revolution settled down to working out the new education pattern. The extent of changes and their duration depended on the degree to which Mao Zedong and his supporters were able to consolidate and maintain their poli tical control over the country. Howcver, a series of

43 contradict1ons never stopped developing among the Chinese leadership. In 1971, the problems were leading to an attempted coup d'etat by Lin Biao, the Vice Chairman of the Party and

Mao's close comrade in arms. Official news on the Lin Biao incident was released about one year later by Premier Zhou

Enlai in 1972: " He launched the coup in a wild attempt to assassinate our great leader Chairman Mao and set up a rival central cornmittee ... After his conspiracy had collapsed, Lin

Biao surreptitiously boarded a plane, fled as a defector to the

Soviet revisionists in betrayal of the country, and died in a crash at Undur Khan in the People's Republic of Mongolia"

(Beijing Review, 1972).

Lin Biao was labelled Rightist which seems to indicate a shift from one headquarters to anotner in the struggle against the Lin Biao line. The education line of Lin Biao was later identified in general terms as Confucian. Therefore, the movement was to criticize Confucius as the object of the struggle. A part of the campaign was criticism of Confucius thinking on education: "the basic principle of this educational work was to train bureaucrats for the reactionary slave-owners.

He encouraged his disciples to seek fame and personal gain and wanted thern to look down on manual labour and those who did it.

He told them explici tly that the purpose of 'study' was to become an 'official'. This was summed up by his disciples in one sentence - 'A good scholar will make an official' - which revealed the core of Confucius' thinking on education" (Renmin

44 Ribao, 1971). During the period, 1972 marked temporary retreat of the Left. Premier Zhou Enlai fought against Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" and issued instructions concerning educational work and advocating raising its quality and warning against an excess of productive labour. Another measure advocated by Zhou

Enlai was aimed at enrolling sorne of the yearly group of middle school graduates in universities instead of requiring that aIl new stll~ents have experience of productive labour, as Mao Zedong had advocated.

The year 1973 was also a period of contradiction and inconsistency both in education and other fields and a time of both compromise and struggle. As example, Deng Xiaoping, who had been the number two "capitalist - roader" in the early stage of the Cultural revolution was partly rehabilitated and made a member of the Central Committe8, and Vice-Premier.

The death of Zhou Enlai in January 1976, however, probably made it possible for the Left to intensify the struggle against Deng Xiaoping during the movement against the

" Right Revisionists " Deng was criticized on the big character posters. Direct political confrontation took place in Beijing in connection with the ceremonies for Zhou Enlai in early April. Deng was ~eld partly responsible for this incident, and on April 7, the Central Committee of the Party adopted the following resolution:

45 "Having discussed the counter-revolution incident which took place at Tiananmen Square and Deng Xiaoping's latest behaviour, the Political bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of r.hina holds that the nature of the Deng Xiaoping problem has turned into one of antagonistic contradiction. On the proposaI of our great leader Chairrnan Mao, the Political bureau unanirnously agrees to dismiss Deng Xiaoping from aIl his posts both inside and outside of the Party while allowing him to keep his membership in order to see how he will behave in the f\~"'ure" (Red Flag, 2, 1976).

After the fall of the "Gang of Four", Deng was reinstated as Vice-Premier and was again in charge of education.

3. Changes in the Educational policy for Adults

It should be pointed out that the educational policy of China always followed the struggle between two opposing leaderships. In terms of the educational policy for adults at

that time, the direction was totally shifted to the "combination of worker".

" The lowly are most intelligent, the elite are most ignorant" (Mao, 1957). Mao's saying has become a sneer at the intellectuals who undertook another long period of re-education by workers, peasants, and soldiers.

46 In 1969, graduates of institutions of higher learning were not assigned any work. Instead they were asked ta go and integrate with the workers and peasants. The trend of movement of intellectuals toward the countryside continued wi th at least

5 million graduates and students participating. students were not canvinced of the usefulness of reeducation and integration. They complained of bad luck for having finished college and university at the wrong time, and felt disa~pointed for getting nowhere once they were in the countryside. It is observed that there was a lack of motivation for study for its uselessness and futility. Students felt that, after 18 years of study, they were asked to be an ardinary labourer or peasant, for which work they did not need college and school preparation. They lamented over 18 wasted years

(Guangming Ribao, 1969).

Under such circumstances, there were growing signs of discontent and frustration in many sectors of the teaching profession, science and research, social science, and among the cultural workers and university graduates.

By 1970, the universities and colleges of science and engineering, including the July 21 colleges, were reopened.

Those institutions had enrolled less students and resumed classes in 1968. An additional important trend in the early

1970s was the ruralization of adult education. The model in this respect were the worker' universities and the peasants' colleges. The principle was "from the workers and communes and

47 back to the factories and communes". In such schools, leading members, teachers and students from a number of universities

and colleges took part.

Jiang Xi Communist University was a typical model. The

university was established in 1958, with the campus aiong the

bank of the ri ver and field. It was done as part of the

movement to shift from an urban to a rural area. The students

came from communes and would have several years 1 of labour

experience. During the Cultural Revolution, this type of

university was very popular. There was a famous saying for

this type of school: "no need to have examination and

certificate but just the need ta have calluses in the hands".

In such universities, during the study period, students spent

most of their time at villages doing social investigation and

taking part in political campaigns. There were many differences

between this kind of 'new' and old system. Table 2:2, shows

these differences clearly.

Table 2: 2 The Difference Between the New and Old System ------New System 01d System ------Leadership working-class Bourgeois­ intellectual

Manaqement students attend, manage Leadership & transform the university domination & authoritarianism­ enslave the students

Aim "from the communes & "He who excels ~n back to communes" learning can be an official"

48 ~ -~---- I-~

Method Put proletarian politicians Give lst place to in command intellectual development

Part-work, part-study Regularization Class link with the Teaching "centred "three great revolutionary around teachers, movements" books,& classrooms & based on "three conventional stages" (basic theory, basic principles of various specialties, & specialized courses

Source: Renmin Ribao, 1973

In the Cultural Revolution and with the revival of the

Liu and the Deng form in education, the Jiang Xi Communist

university was abandoned as the new model.

In 1973, because of the compromise in the leadership

struggle, the university entrance examination policy made sorne

changes. The system of recrui trnent to higher education by recommendation was not attracting the properly qualified or

those motivated for studies, therefore, the state Council

decided that entrance examinations should be given in order to

ensure the quality of the new students. A directive issued by

the state Council stated that prospectjve students should be

enrolled from arnong outstanding workers, peasants and soldiers

49 having at least two years of practical experience and who had been recommended by the masses after adequate discussion. "

Their political qualities must be first taken into consideration and there should be tests to ascertain their educational levels and verify thej r grasp of basic knowledge and their ability to analyse and solve problems " (Beijing Review, 1977).

Another important aspect of the development of adult education in China during that time was the expansion of the radio network. It was reported that in 1975 a rediffusion network had been set up for 92.7 per cent of th~ production teams in rural areas aIl over the country. All programmes from

Radio Beijing and provincial radio stations were transmitted,

in addition to the locally produced programmes. That same year,

70 per cent of rural households were reported to have wired loud speakers, making a total of 100 million households which could receive the programmes ( Beijing Review, 1975).

In 1975 and 1976, the temporary victory of the Left

line resulted in more attention being given to adul t education.

According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 1975, there had been over 5,160 "July 21" workers' colleges aU over the country wi th a total enrollment of 250,000 worker-students. And by 1976, a total of more than 1,220 " May 7 " peasants' colleges and communist labour acadernies with over 216,000 students had been founded throughout the rural areas (Beijing

Review, 1976).

50 It was reported in the summer of 1976 that Il July 21"

workers' colleges had developed rapidly during the strugg~e to

cr i ti.cize Deng, who was sa id to have ~ooked down upon these

colleges, saying they were only " college in forrn". The total

nember of this type of colleges at that time was said to be

15, 000 as against 1,200 in the f irst half of 1975, élnd total

enrollment had increased from 90,000 te 780,000 (Beijing

Review, 1976).

Through the surnrner of 1976, the criticism of Deng

continued unti~ the death of Mao Zedong. A rnass rally was held

at the end of October to celebrate the fall of the "Gang of

Four" a few weeks after the appointrnent of the Hua Guofeng as

the new chairrnan. Several newspapers dealt with Deng' s view on

educational po~ices:

"Sinee the Cultural Revolution, schools have not pd id at. tention to educational standards and instead overemphasised practieal work, students' knowledge of theory and basic skills in their areas of specialization has been disregarded. The deter ioration of academic standards will have the long-term effect of ~eaving fields such as science without cornpletely trained workers " (Beij ing Review, 1976).

The death of Mao on Septernber 1976, created a new

political situation. A period of political struggle followed

upon the arrest of the "Gang of Four", a number of high ~evel

leaders W'3re rernoved and sorne disorder occurred, but generally

speaking, the new leadership had the situation under control.

In March 1977, the Political Bureau of the Central Commi ttee

51

------.----. ------decided to advocate the reinstatement of Deng Xiaoping . • There is no doubt that a great maj ority of the Chinese

people greeted the fall of the "Gang of Four" and the return

of Deng wi th great joy, for many had suffered persecution during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution. It was

likewise that the "Gang of Four" had represented a p,::>litical

trend with considerable popular support, especially among young intellectuals and ernployees who had opposed dogmatic and

bureaucratie tendencies in the old system. The "Gang of Four

had also made capital of strong egalitarian ideas, especially

arnong the people who were young and lacking in personal

influence.

4. The impact of the Cultural Revolution

The educational policy for adults changed in many

respects after the Cultural Revolution.

As educ::ltion serves proletarian politics, politics

takes command in everything. Many events in China dur ing that

time cannot be explained once we leave out politics. Historians

already larnented how China missed a good opportunity of further

advance in education and science, in econornic, industrial, and

rnili tary nation building into a modern power.

Educational policy for adul ts was disrupted, but this

disruption occurred because of the changes in the incentive

structure of the system rather than because of pedagogical ...

52 reform.

There was no question that Mao Zedong and the "Gang of Four" had exercised considerable influence in the field of education, or that they had, at least for some time, expounded ideas that were widely accepted. It created an untenable situation.

A wave of criticism of the Gang of Four swept across the country at palitical meetings and in the mass media. Here, we should cancern ourse Ives with criticism related to adult education.

Cartoon criticizing the educational policy of the "Gang of Four":

r

53

------\ J. / t~ #~I .. ~ ,.'~ ) .~

Our revolu rion in education - The four look Ih~ lead in ~Olouraging anoHl hy ln ,he !.(. hool~. Chi~ng ~houlS, "w~'d rath~r h.lvC .~normt workers'" (thJn cJuc.lh.·d cxploircrs); Ch.ln~ Chun

Source: Zhou Tong, 1978.

54 Mao Zedong and the "Gang of Four" were said to have

opposed aIl forms of intellectual education, on grounds that

it meant putting Expert before Rett (i.e. professional

competence before political consciousness). Thus, they spread

the idea that study is useless. Reference to a statement by

Zhang Chunqiao, a member of the of "Gang of Four", in 1975 is

as follows:

" One way is to rear cultural exploiters, intellectual aristocats with bourgeois consciousness, another way is to rear uncultured workers with (proletarian) consciousness, which kind of people do you want? l prefer an uncultured worker to cultured exploiter or intellectual aristocrat" (Renrnin Ribao, 1975).

For l:he expert, the "Gang of Four" was said to have

opposed experts, to train and foster talents in aIl fields.

For the education of adults, of course, should be actively

prornoted to satisfy the demand for learning on the part of

cadres, workers, peasants, soldiers and school graduates who

have gone to the countryside.

AIso, there was a switching back to the other extreme

of emphasis on "redness" against "expertise". prior to the

Cultural Revolution, ernphasis was put on the quality of

education. This emphasis on quality naturally ousted rnany

workers, peasants and soldiers. During the "Gang of Four" years

(1966-1976), the ernphasis on "redness" prevailed. Courses were

drastically simplified. The emphasis was laid on productive

.. 55 labour, political and military training, and learning "other things" whatever such a program can cater for the dubious values.

Another important and controversial area of change was the part-time principle, and the relationship between theoretical studies and practice. Widely politically divergent groups in China have to accept part-time schools as the only way to rnake schooling universal, but they have done 50 on economic grcunds. Professional objections to the extension of part-time schooling were that it lead to a lowering of standards and so, until now, it has largely been confined to areas not covered by the normal school system. There was a contradiction here between the need for trained people in order to make technical progress, and hampering of such progress which can result fram trained people being unable to find suitable employment.

Mao Zedong 1 s aim of creating a new type of worker­ intellectual has so far failed. There have been changes, but the results have fallen short of the aime The proposals by

Maols supporters for new methods of selection could have been successful, but they only made a small difference, as already a larger number of students came from workers and peasants families. What is vital? It is the education provided. As for the selection process i tself, a method cannot be developed which will really test social attitudes, or character accurately.

56 •

For the organization and administration, the changes

also have been great. There were no president and vice­

president, and aIl institutional or training centres were under

the leadership of three-in-one committees at aIl levels.

Academie titles were abolished. The leadership of the workers,

peasants, soldiers was conspieuously shown in aIl proposaIs

which were called Il three-in-one". Through popularization, aIl

disciplines taught in the schools were now available to

workers, peasants, and soldiers, with a much lower standard.

The bourgeois teachers were still undergoing a new task force

of proletarian teachers. The emphasis was focused on political

and ideological indoctrination.

In fact, the most negative consequences of the Cultural

Revolution were a decline in the quality of education and

disr~ption of scientific research. In 1977, Vice-Premier Fang

Yi contends that because "basic scientifie and theoretical

research in particular has been virtually done away with ..• the

gap between China 1 s level of science and technology and the

world's advanced levels has widened" (Fang, 1977). He argues,

"science and education are lagging so far behind that they are

seriously hindering the realization of the modernization of

agriculture, industry, national defence and science and technology (Fang, 1977). Many Chinese scientists as sert that their research was only slightly behind the Japanese. They feel that gaps in technology today between China and her counterparts can be blamed almost on the pOlicies of the

57 Cultural Revolution.

Underlying aIl these impacts is the basic conception of education as primarily moral-poli tical; concerned wi th hurnan attitudes and ends rather then techniques. The values Mao Zedong stressed are deeply in Chinais past, but most operate in a socio-economic context very different from that of Confucian China.

58

,. Chapter IV

Adult Education after the Cultural Revolution (1976-1986)

1. The "Open Deor" Policy

The succession struggle shifted gear on 8 January 1976

when Zhou Enlai finally lost his fight against cancer and died

in hospi ta 1. Deng Xiaoping, Zhou 1 s successor, was then depicted

as the chief bourgeois "capitalist roader."

Opposition to the "Gang of Four" became evident, however,

during April 1976 when huge crowds assembled in Tiananmen

Square in Beijing to lay wreaths and pay homage to the

immensely popular Zhou Enlai during the annual Qing Ming

festival. The "Gang of Four", disturbed by this spontaneous

display of popular feeling and raising of banners critical of

Jiang Qing and in support of Deng Xiaoping, decided to put a

stop to the commemoration and removed the wreaths, poems and

posters on 5 April. This only resulted, however, in larger and

angrier demonstrations by more than 100, 000 Zhou supporters and

the eruption of a riot which had to be quelled by Beij ing militia forces. Two days later, at a Politbureau meeting, Deng was blamed for the Tiananmen riot and was dismissed from his

posts. The" Gang of Four" now seemingly weIl established spent

the next four months attempting to win additional backing from

senior ministers and officiaIs to enable them to assume power

peacefully after the ailing Chairman Maols death.

In the aftermath of the "Great Helmsman" Mao Zedong

59 in September 1976, the nation lost an important unifying force

1 and a violent ante-dynasty succession struggle appeared likely. The two rivaIs for Mao's rnantle were his widow Jiang Qing,

supported by her "Gang of Four", and Deng Xiaoping. Deng,

although temporarily in hiding, had the support of the majority

of the state bureaucracy, and the army commanders. The "Gang

of Four" by contrast, cou Id only muster the support of radical

young students, trade unionists and of the recently reformed

urban militia. Finally, the 1st Vice-Chairman Hua Guofeng of

the Communist Party refused to side with Jiang, and ordered

the arrest of the "Gang of Four" during October 1976.

In November 1976, wall posters beg:::ln to appear in Beijing

calling for the restoration to office of Deng. This movement

gained the support of leading bureaucrats, ministers,

provincial party leaders and military commanders who, fearing

popular disorders on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square

intendment, agreed to Deng r s return to high office. At an

enlarged Politbureau meeting in March 1977 , the decision, which

was greeted by enthusiastic procession all over China dur ing

April 1977, marked the beginning of the shift in power away

from Hua and into the hands of Deng (Falkenheim, 1987).

By 1978, Deng had become f irmly establ ished as the

dominant force in Chinese politics dnd was presiding over a

major restructuring of China r s economy and poiiticai system

and reappraisal of the country' s international role and i ts

60 relationship with the outside world. Yet, the "open door"

policy started.

In the years 1979-1980, Deng intended that Zhao ziyang, the state premier, concentrate on overseeing the Chinese econorny and state bureaucracy while his other protege Hu Yaobang, the general secretary, would concentrate on party work

and ideology in a duumvirate wi th other committed Dengist members. These changes gave Deng Xiaoping a firm hold over the Chinese reform policy and furthered its return to pre-1966 constitutional norms. In this period, the conflicts among the

leadership were still existing. It is shown in the Table 3:1.

Deng-Hu-Zhao, three like-minded figures, with their complernentary skills, formed a formidable triumvirate anxious to transform China's economic rnodernization during the years between 1976-1981, introducing a number of innovative reforms.

However, econornic developrnent requires rnuch more than retaining the best of the pa st while selecting and strengthening the best of the present. The enhancernent of youthful talent for industries and studies seemed likely to encounter multiple problerns in China.

61 Table 3:1 Model of policy conflicts

Leadership Experience

urban rural "white" "red" Chinese Foreign civilian military

Moderate 1" Radical Left Left policy conflicts society---­ education centre region theory practice urban rural central local industrial agricultural full-time part-time modern tradi tional quality quantity intellectual manual consuming producing Expert Red economic political needs needs Chinese foreign teacher- pupil- centred centred accumulation consumption Chinese foreign

Source: Hunter, 1985.

2. Economie Development and Educational Policy

a) Economie development.

If one were to believe the frequent reports of armed clashes and sabotage in ChinaIs major industrial centers, one would conclude that China 1 s economy is in utter chaos. 'let that

62 supports the largest military force in Asia. China still is a developing agricultural country, and even in a chaotic

situation, the economy will not grind to a haIt. On the other

hand, the levels of output achieved by 1965, just before the

Cultural Revolution were not spectacular and did not leave the

economy a margin sufficient enough to absorb any ill effects

of Revolution.

In fact, any meaningful assessment of economic realities

in China today must include a discussion of the different

economic polices of the contending fa~tions in the Cultural

Revolution, the impact of the Cultural Revolution, on the current state of the economy, and its effect on China' s economic future.

By 1976 China had suffered from the chronic malaise characteristic of many relatively mature socialist economies.

Despite a continuous increase in the share of national output devoted to investment, the country' s econcmic growth rates were on a decline and patterns of consumption were stagnating.

By the end of 1978, many Chinese leaders and economists felt that the Chinese economy had again entered a familiar 'blind alley'. China' s economic policy was still producing . high speed, high accumulation, but low resul ts, and low consumption'

(Shirk, 1978).

Since then, Chinese leaders have reached a consensus on the need for systematic structural reform that would break decisively with the institution and policies of Leninism and

63 Maoism. By early 1977, the new post-Mao leadership had already ... begun to try again to rejuvenate the Chinese eC0nomy by

reinstating the "four modernizations" program which héld been

announced a few years earlier by Premier Zhou Enlai.

When the "four modernizations" policy was launched the

overseas search for technology was reinstated, and foreign

experts and businessmen were again welcomed in China. On the

other hand, the amount of "catching upl! which had to be done

on top of desperate problems calling for desperate remedies

compelled the Chinese to set priorities in very strict order.

The complex domestic economic reform program undertaken

since 1978 can be summarized in three propositions: private

ownership can occupy a useful place in a socialist economYi

market forces should be allowed ta influence the allocation of

goods and the determination of pricesi and material incentives

should be the principal mechanism for stimulating greater

productivity and efficiency. Based on these three principles,

Chinese leaders have envisioned an economy in which individuals

can start their own small businesses; managers enjoy greater

autonomy in running their factories; state officials exercise

less direct administrative control over economic activity and

productive workers are rewarded with higher levels of

compensation.

64 •

The Deng-Hu-Zhao team believed that major strùctural

changes were essential if the Chinese economy was to grow at

a faster pace daring the remaining two decades of the century.

They rejected Hua Guofeng's attempt, in the 1976-85 ten year

plan, to achieve rapid growth wi thin the framework of the

Maoist system. They introduced instead a sel"ies of reforms

which, taken together, resulted in the creation of a unique new

and more decentralised Dengist system of "market socialism".

A transformation was attempted in the industrial sector and was

founded upon two injtiatives: firstly, the reduction in

central bureaucratie interference and the devolution of decision-making powers to the factory level; secondly, the

introduction of material j.ncenti ves and more market-related

pricing policies. Table 3:2 gives an example of per capita production in the different years.

Table 3:2 Per capita proc'uction of steel, coal and grain for selected years.

1953 1958 1964 1970 1979 (5) (10) (16) (22) (31) ------Steel 3.1 12.0 14.0 21.0 35.5

Coal 113 409 290 388 655

Grain 278 312 262 288 342

Source: Beijing Review, 1979.

65 • b). The underlying ideology and educational guidelines.

Although Chinais post-Mao leaders are devoted to

reforms, they also remain cornrnitted ta socialism. And each of

the three principles of economic reform just outlined conflict

with a crucial element of the socialist ethic which is private

enterprise, although the socialist ethic demands the

predominance of public ownership of the rneans of production.

Reform allows a greater role for market forces in the economy,

but the socialist ethic insists on the continued pr imacy of

state planning. And reformists emphasize the use of material

incentives ta stimulate production, but socialism warns against

a polarization of rich and poor and extols the spirit of 'plain

living and ha rd struggle' (Renmin Ribao, 1980).

It took a while for ideological statements to appear

after 1976. Early official staternents attacked particular

emphases and interpretation of the Cultural Revolution period

such as taking the class struggle as the key link. This was

said ta have caused continuous disruption. The econornic line

of the "Gang of Four" which discounted the impOl:tance of

production was discredited. The Cultural Revolution was

condernned in some detail at one of the Party celebrations of

the thirtieth anni versary of the founding of the People' s

Republic of China in 1979: and in the following year Hua

Guofeng descr ibed i t as a 'decade of chaos', and announced that

'it is finally over now'.

66 By the €drly 1980s, strongly worded ideological statements were reinforcing educational policy. One example will suffice. In March of 1983, Hu Yaobang delivered the main speech in the celebrations of the centenary of the death of

Karl Marx in which he urged Marxists 'to emancipate their

minds' and independently integrate the uni versaI truth of Marxism with the concrete practice of their own revolution.

Marx's knowledge, said Hu, was 'extensive and expert' and he

was truly a working-class intellectual who represented the wisdom an~ conscience of mankind. CPC leaders must not divorce themselves from expertness nor should Marxism isolate itself

from the cultural knowledge of the world (Hu, 1984).

The thrust of Hu Yaobang's speech was in stark contrast to that of the "Gang of Four" a deC'ade before. Compared wi th them who had given certain political objectives primacy, Hu was concerned to give 'expertness' prominence in his ideological framework vs the "Gang of Four" emphasis on 'Red'.

Both the "Gang of Four" and Hu spoke of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thoughti however, the political and educational policies that they derived from the ideology were markedly different.

The 'open door' policy was laid bare in the statement by Deng Xiaoping:

"We will unswervingly follow a policy of opening to the outside world and acting to increase exchanges with foreign countries on the basis of mutual equality and benefit. At the same

67 time we will keep a clear head, firmly resist corrosion by decadent ideas from aborad, abroad and never permit the bourgeois way of life to spread in our country" (Deng,1982).

This reflects confidence that it is possible to separate advanced modes of scientific and technological knowledge from the 'decadent ideas' that provide their intellectual context in the West. Likewise it should be possible for the Chinese to gain a thorough critical knowledge of specifie areas of the arts and social sciences as pursued in the West ~ithout being tainted by the 'bourgeois way of life' which they reflect.

The ideological statements augur the importance and uniqueness of the Chinese response to Marxism. This is weIl brought out in advocacy of the concepts of socialist materlal civilization and socialist spiritual civilization which are viewed as Chinese contributions to the Marxist corpus. This assertion of chinese interpretation has been paralleled in a willingness to look at previous Chinese educational solutions.

The 'language' of education currently reflects a willingness to draw on educational ideas originally tried out earlier, with terms like 'productive work', 'half day', 'the integration of theory and practice', 'three-in-one cornbination' and 'self- study' being heard. That 'flexible measures' are being re- examined should come as no shock. ChinaIs degrees of freedom

(in education) are limited by its underlying circumstances, and the state of the art of modern schooling. Within these constraints, China must apply diverse solutions if it is to

68 move closer to its objectives (Cleverley, 1984). In terms of the relationship between education and

economic reform, there was an explanatl.on for educational change focused on the econornic variables. If Ch ina is to modernize its economy, it cannot afford educational e'''periments which thinly disperse its resources; rather it must concentrate educational investrnent on the training of high-level technical expertise. Economic modernization also requires an educational system in which students are placed according to ability and receive training appropriate to their future raIes in the economy. Thus, the current ernphasis and specialization are said to be tied to economic development goals (Shirk, 1979).

One of the first blueprints for new directions in general and adult education as weIl as in science and technology - was published in December 1977, when Fang Yi, at the time a member of the Poli tical Bureau of the Communist

Party and Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, delivered his "Report on the State of Science and Education."

According to this document, institutional co-operation and financing, the coming education and science policy among other things should aim at "studiously learning advanced foreign science and technology and acti vely strengthening international science exchanges on the premise of independence and self­ reliance" (p.10). The aim was to 'master the world's most advanced scientific and technological achievernent as soon as

69 possible, to serve as a new starting point for our advance"

(p.13). According to Fang Yi, these programmes were necessary for "rapidly developing the national economy in a new technological basis, greatly increasing labour productivity, or equipping our national defense with the most up-to-date technology ... so as to catch up and surpass the most advanced world levels in major fields of science and technology by the end of the present century" (Henze, 1984).

In summary, the changes in the educational policy of late

1970s represent a return to the school system of the 1960-1966 era in which resources were concentrated on those wi th the greatest intellectual potential in order to provide the economy with expertise in the speediest, most efficient fashion. Then, as now, education of adults, including manual labour and political education were an integral part of the informaI school curriculum, and students were selected by a combination of academic and political criteria. The leadership's political rationale for the restoration of 1960-1966 policies is that the pre-Cultural Revolution educational system did indeed represent

Mao Zedong's ideas and was not aIl badi they argue that the

"Gang of Four misled" the people with their "Two-Assessments"­ the assessment that the 17 years of education before the

Cultural Revolution were aIl bad, and the assessment that the

10 years of education after the Cultural Revolution were all good.

70 3. The Impact of Ongoing Government Economie Reforrn on the

Education of Adults

since the econornic reform took place, the best way to

achieve the modernization through education has remained

contentions. Both the pre-1977 pOlicies have differed, and

current pOlicies present further modification of the post-1976

model. It is useful to look more closely at aspects of

contemporary modern education of adults in recent times to

discern continuity and change.

After 1980, the educational policies differ in sorne

important ways from those of the 1960-1966 period. According

to the press, sorne opponents of current policies have

complained that the policies "have gone even farther than those

adopted during the 17-y~ar period before the Cultural

Revolution", and the y may be right. Before the Cultural

Revolution, ability tracking of classes was rare, while now it

is widespread. Even more striking is the new emphasis on

modernizing science and the economy by learning from the United

states and other advanced countries and the ctecision to send

large numbers of Chinese students abroad to study are

unprecedented and are likely to have profound ramifications.

These new polices work to the advantage of sorne Chinese

groups and to the disadvantage of others, just as the Cultural

Revolution reforms enhanced the raIe of sorne groups while harrning others.

71 Nevertheless, "to serve as an agent for .. socialist development, adult education must complement the goals of economic development in the urban and rural areas. Ta maintain the level of productivity 3nd for the appropriate application of Lechnology in development, adult education serves the important function on upgrading the quality of workers and farmers, in areas of scientific knowledge, cultural, and moral development" (Education Research, 1988).

The des ire to improve educational quality has led

policymakers in 1980s to reinstate centralized administration

and control by the Ministry of Education. Once again there are

national regulations (which apparently are revis ions of

regulations which were in effect before the cultural

Revolution) on teaching schedules, curriculum, labour workes,

etc., for aIl levels of schools and also for adult education.

The policymakers hope that centralization will enhance quality

control.

One aspect of the curriculum which is now cé:'trally

regulated (although there are still local variations in

practice) is manual labour. According to two Vice-Minsters of

Education, the new regulations stipulate that primary students

(third grade and above) do manual labour for a maximum of 4

weeks and a minimum of 2 weeks per year; high school students,

a maximum of 8 weeks and minimum of 4 weeks and uni versi ty

students, about 4 weeks a year. Even though the Cultural

Revolution school system now is criticized for requiring too

much labour for students( and therefore teaching too little

basic cultural knowledge), and book learning and classroom

72 teaching are given priority, the leadership has decided that ... the symbolic or practical value of combining labour with study

is too great to remove from the curriculum (Renmin Ribao,1978).

One important by-product of the revival of the entrance-

examination system i~ the restoration of powerful incentives

for student achievement which, in turn, are expected to change

student behaviour patterns. As one press article described the

transformation:

"The broad masses of youth themselves give greatest scope to the spirit of activ~'~ making progresse The number of students acting as hooligans, provoking mischief and being unwilling to study has greatly decreased. The new student enrollment system has brought into full play the study enthusiasm among the middle and primary school students, who amount to ~ fourth of the population" (Guangming Ribao, 1979).

The new pragmatism means offering people tangible

incentives to motivate them to work harder, to "bring their

enthusiasm into full play": bonus and p 'Lecework for factory

workers, larger pay differentials for peasants, and higher

educational opportunities for students.

In the rural areas, the changes in the structure of

production (towards commercialism, professionalism and

diversification ) led to subsequent changes in the manpower

pattern, which in turn created new demands for technological

techniques among the farming population.

"l'

73 But it is no easy task to convince young people and their parents that they should be just as happy working in the countryside as attending university. And yet, because of the impossibility of absorbing all city youth into the urban work force, the top leadership has said that it must continue to send larger numbers of graduates to settle in the rural areas.

Authorities in various localities said that from one-third to one-half of the 1977 graduating class was transferred to the countryside. Vice-Minister of Education, Pu Tongxiu, made it very clear that the continuation of unpopular rural transfers made no reference to the ideological or social benefits of the program. He simply stated that as the urban economy expands, fewer graduates will have to be sent down and more will be able to return to the city; but for the present, those graduates who cannot get into university and who cannot be accommodated in city factories will have to be sent to the countrysicte. Since only those "left over" are sent down, i t is no wonder that rural transfer is socially defined as a failure (Shirk, 1979).

Self-reliance has been important in the maintenance of technical training outside the formal education sect or through on-the-job training and establishment of training schools and classes inside factories. As Table 3:3 shows, the trend for self-reliance in industrial training, which began in the 19505, was developed further through establishment of 'July 21

Worker's Universities' fOllowing a direction by Mao Zedong.

74 Table 3: 3 July 21 Worker's University

------Years No.of Universities No.of students

1975 1,200 90,000

1976 6,000 460,000

1977 15,000 780,000

1978 860,000

Source: Hultiu, 1981.

At present, adult education is quite different from other formaI education. Generally speaking, it is operated within the economic infrastructure, and after readjustment and consolidation, adult education has already begun some trial reforms and thus gained sorne significant experiences.

(a). Outmoded prejudices against adult education have been abandoned. Chinais adult education has a long histery and vital position in the Chinese revolution. However, influences by an ideology favouring traditional full-time education, and because of insufficient knowledge of adult education, quite a number of people regarded adult education as only being able to popularize knowledge, but unable to foster specialized talent. They aIse thought adult education had only short-term effect

75 and was not permanent, since it is, after aIl, a non-formaI

education.

since the reform was carried out, from the central to

provincial and municipal governments, much scope has been gi ven

to adult education.

Adult enrollment in primary schools dropped sharply,

representing only about half its volume of five years earlier.

The relative drop was noteworthy in worke~s primary schools as

compared te peasants primary schoels. The enrellment in the

peasants primary schools was already much larger (95% of the

total) than in the workers primary schools. It has increased

te 99%. Within the workers and peasants' primary schools, the

drop in enrellment, from 1980 to 1985, was much sharper for the

literacy classes than for those primary schoo]s proper,

comparative decreases: 57% and 19% (Lamontagne, 1989).

At the senior and junior levels combined, enrollment

of adults in general secondary schools was, in 1980, much more

characteristic of staff and workers than pcasants: 82% of the se

adults were staff and workers. On the whole, adult enrollment

in general secondary schools was on the rise (an increase of

16%) from 1980 to 1985. However, the tendency was not the same

for staff and workers and for peasants. Indeed, there was a

119% increase of adult peasants in general secùndary schools

and 6.7% decrease of adult staff and workers in general

secondary schools. Consequently, in 1985, only 66% of the

adults in general secondary schools were cadres and workers . ..

76

• For staff and workers, as weIl as for peasants, enrollment tended to shift from the junior level to the senior

level during the first half of the 1980's. The senior level represented 24% of enrollment in 1980 and 34% of enrollment in

1985. However, staff and ~orkers remained more concentrated at the senior leve1 (28% in 1980 and 48% in 1985) than the peasants (7.8% in 1980 and 8.5% in 1985). The enrollment in normal and short-cycle courses in higher educational institutions for adults increased more than two-fold from 1980 to 1985. Another important change at the higher educational level during this short period is that normal and short-cycle courses for adults have largely replaced courses not leading to formaI qualifications: in 1980, only 32% of persons enrolled in higher educational institutions for adults were registered in normal or short-cycle courses leading to formaI qualifications; the comparative figure for 1985 was

87%. Total enroJlment in higher edl Lonal institutions for adults was close ta two million in "5, making it slightly larger than the total enrollment in regular institutions of higher education during the same year (Lamontagne, 1989).

(b). .l\dult education will be taken up by more work units in the future.

According to Chinese educator Gao Benyi, since 1986,

China has carried out an adult higher school enrollment system through unified nation-wide entrance examinatlons. Most exanlÏnations have to be taken by members of the work uni ts. For

77 instance, the Ministry of Chemical Engineering has paid due

.. attention to the development of staff-workers' education and

trained a lot of talents urgently needed in its work. Not onJy

have staff-workers' intellectual refresher programs been

basically established, but each year more than one-fourth of

technical management personnel parti ,;ipate in a variety of

studies, and hence, p",="oducti vi ty continuously increases. In

1983, production increased by 25% over 1982, and pronuction in

1984 rose by 24% over 1983 ( Renmin Ribao, 1986). The same is

true of the machinery industry. Among the more than Il,110,00Q

young workers who received elementary technical training, more

than 7,000,000 obtained certificates of qualification through

unified examinations and entered the secondary training period

(Guangming Ribao, 1985). Besides, an investigation conducted

in Shanghai demonstrated that 33,029 graduates from TV

university, spare-tirne universities, st,ff-workers'

universities (July 21 Worker's Universities) and night schools

sinee 1979 have accomplished 1,847 innovations, 553 inventions

and 1,631 treatises on highly specia l ized topies. They have

thus made important contributions to the promotion of

Shanghai 1 s economy (Wenhui Bao, 1985). In addition, of the five

gold medals awarded to China at the Geneva International

Invention Exhibition, one went to an invention resùlting from

adult education (Wenhui Bao, 1986). The €Iler-increasing quality

of adult education proves the contribution adult education ha~)

made to society to be nQ less than that of others education

78

- •

systems. (c). New policies have led the Multi-approaches to be

efficient. Shaped under the guidance of the new policies of

'regulating 1 reforming 1 consolidating and improving', the

multi-form, mult:i-Ievel, multi-type and multi-channel approach

has proved efficient in adult education.

A more flexible approach in terms of learning and

teaching efficiency has very much been encouraged. In other

words, the dominant role of classroorn contact teaching will be

taken over by distance learning - "electronic teaching" and

correspondence courses. Electronic teaching includes television

programs, video tapes and broadcastin'd through satellites. For

instance, radio and television uni versities have bec orne , for

adul ts, the most popular means of obtaining forma l quaI i f ications a t the higher educational level: they

represented 39% of all enrollmeni.. in 1985 (in cornparison wi th

34% in 1930). Next in popularity (29% in 1985) are the evening

schools and divisions of correspondence run by regular

insti tutions of higher education. However, the relative

importance of this type of schools has tended to fade during

the f irst haH of the eighties (i t represented 38% of aIl

enro] Iment in 1980). The decline was attributable to the

relati vely small increase in divisions of correspondence run

by regular institutions of higher education. It appears that

these divisions as weIl as the independent correspondence

79 colleges, are gradually being superseded by radio and

television universities. As an examp1e, enrollment in Beijing

T.V. Univeristyit has shown in the Table 3:4. Nevertheless,

evening schools run by regular institutions of higher education

have been catering to rapidly increasing clientele: a four-

fold inC':.-ease froIn 1980-1985, and 7.4% of all enrollment in

1985. Enrollment in uni vers i ties for staff and workers

increased almest three-fold and came te represent 15% of aIl

enrollment in 1985. On the other hand, enrollment 1.n

universities for peasants decreased by 94% in five years, and

represented only 0.05% of all enrollment in 1985. Finally, the

enrollment of adults in educational colleges has had a

remarkable growth: after a five-fold increase, from 1980-1985,

it represented 14 % of a Il enrollment (Lamontagne, 1989).

Table 3:4 Enrollment breakdown: Beijing T. v. University

r~~~~~~~i~~------~~~~;-~~~~~~~;----~~~~~~~~~~-~;-~~~~î-l 1------·------1 Workers 11,543 39.7

Government 3,472 12.0 cadres

scientific and 9 / 240 technical personnel 31.8

Teachers 3,411 11.8 l_:;~~~:~:_~~:::::~:=_~~::: ______:~: ______1 .. Source: Hu1tiu, 1981 80 As China is a country with vast territory and huge

population but cornparatively low education standards, such an

enrollment system is a major irnprovernent for guaranteeing

quality of those enrolled so as to satisfy the needs of the

nationa l econorny and social developrnent. The reasons for this

innovation are four fold: first, the lirnited capacity of adult

h igher schoo l s cannot cater to a Il cand idates i second, the ten­

year 'Cultural Revolution' had distorted the intellectual

foundation of young and middle aged people ta the extent that

quite often t.here were people with a diploma but without

knowledgei third, as diplomas of adult education have a direct

connection with job assignrnents and the remuneration of the

graduates, their quality must be guaranteedi fourth, the

scholastic recorùs of aIl rniddle school graduates cannot be

stored in the enrollrnent centre, and self··taught people with

the same qualification are still the great majori ty of

candidates for adult college enrollment. In addition, to

guarantee enrollment quali ty, the unif ied 13ntrance examination

practice has cut down on expenses and facilitated planne.d

management. It is also one of the important measures to

facili tate the macro level management of adul t higher education

(Hayhoe, 1987).

81

a_ Chapter V

SU~Y AND CONCLUSION

Dur ing the thirty-seven years after the founding of the People's Republic of China up to 1986, the ideological shifts in education for adul ts have undertaken remarkable changes.

In the early period of the People's Republic (1949-1966), the new China initiated a new scheme and established new pr inciplt~s in education for adul ts: It "must serve proletar ian politics and should be combined with pror:1uctive labour"(Zhou,

1988), and "education of workers during their spare time and education of cadres who are at their posts shall be strengthened, and revolutionary political education shall be accorded to young intellectuals and old-style intellectuals in a planned and systematic manner" (Sheringham, 1984). The adult li teracy campaign in the 1950s enabled hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants to learn to read and to wr i te as the y were simultaneously leurning Marxist ideology. The success of the campaign can be attributed to the link between politics and education, as inspired by the Communist Party, which greatly influenced the conduct of the literacy programmes to allow for such success.

The ideological prescription during the Cultural

Revolution period (1966-1976) was to "train and bring up

82 ------.

millions of successors who will carry on the cause of

proletarian revolution" (Mao, 1965) 1 and the Cultural

Revolution was "absolutely neccessary and most timely for

consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing

capi talist restoration and building socialism" (Cleverley,

1984). Education for adults as part of the whole educational

system in China at that time had undergone many changes.

Students were selected from workers, peasants and soldiers.

Courses were shortened. Political activity was stressed.

Teaching content was highly politicised. Factory laboring and

farm work were made compulsory for students, and under the

banners of "open door schooling", schoo.ls were even combined

with factories or farms as new forms of institutions.

After the death of Mao Zedong and the arrest of the "Gang

of Four" in 1976, the ideology in educatJLon twisted again and

this affected the adult education sector. In this period,

education under Mao and the "Gang of Four" was greatly

criticized. By early 19BOs, the new policy in education for

adults declared a willingness to look beyond the confines of

China for scientif ic and technolog ical knmvledge. Under the new

policy, being red and expert was no longer emphasized and the

education for adults was successful in implementation and

development. It was related directly to the economic

development of the nation as a whole. According to the World

Bank:

"

83 f t • "The Chinese nonformal education system is very well established and effic5ent. It is closely related to the traning and education needs of the course participants ... (It) is probably the best and most comprehensive in the developing world, and it should continue to be a very important factor in ChinaIs human resources development" (Sidel, 1982).

While education for adults in China has been highly

successful as stated by the World Bank, it still faces many

problerns, and the work-force continues to be undereducated.

The rural education for adults has not met the demand for

highly trained personnels, and suffers from scarcity of

educational resources. The whole rural area in China is still

experiencing the continuing problern of illiteracy. In 1982, 78

per cent of the total labour force had nine years of education

or less, and there are still about 280 million people who are

illiterate today. unfortunately and tragicaly, the great

progress in educaton for adults during the late 1980s was

rnarred by the Beijing massacre of students in Tiananrnen Square.

As China politically, economiclly and culturally, took a

backward step, education for adults has also been stepping

backwards. Nearly fort y "years after the revolution, China had

lost its way and the Communist Party had lost its mandate"

(Gittings, 1990).

In brief, many problems in the area of educatiJn for

adults at present persist and are worth y of further ~xploration

and verification by careful research. Although ~ number of

84 general principles in China's adult education reform have been explicitly specified, and certain reforrns implemented and sorne rneasures accornplished since the promulgation of the Party decision (referred ta on page 20), the whole field is vast and this is just the beginning. As the outcomes of education can only be judged in retrospect, ta what extent the achievements up to 1976 will cornply with and rneet the basic requirrnents of adult education for the future of the Chinese nation and its citizens is yet to be determined.

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, 93

~.! Ll:ST OF FIGURBS AND TABLES

Figure 1:1 Education aud society in Marxist theory

Figure 1:2 Chinese educational system in the early 1950s

Figure 1:3 Industrial (dotted line) and educational development-increase 1954 Figure 1:4 The Chinese educational system in the mid-1960s

Table 1:1 Enrollment and graduation (millions) in 1954 Table 1:2 The percentage students of working or peasants class

Table 2:1 Two lines in Education according to the chronology

Table 2:2 The different between the new and old system Table 3:1 Model of policy conflicts

Table 3:2 Per caJ:ita production of steel, coal, and grain for selected years

Table 3:3 July 21. Worker's Universities

Table 3:4 Enrollment breakdown: Beijing TV University (1979)

Cartoon Criticizing the educatl.onal policy of the "Gang of Four"

94