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2. Include the further reading list of 2-3 related articles

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2. Include the further reading list of 2-3 related articles

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3. Set three questions for your audience:

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Chloe Cheung

Emma Ko

agnes kwong

Jenny fung

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Eunice Chau 04

Trina Lam 13

Angela Lam 14

Minnie Lau 15

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Shelly, Vanessa, Cecilia, Rina

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 Cherry Lai, Febian Kwok, Charlotte Lam, Isis Leung

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 Cherry Lai, Febian Kwok, Charlotte Lam, Isis Leung

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Kathy Lo

Azura Chan

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1.How the natural resources changed in past serval years?

2.How did the Chinese government implement resource protection and alleviate environmental pollution?

3.Do you think the development of the natural resources should be prioritized?

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030147971930934X

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Abstract

One of the top priorities of the Chinese government's oversight is to address the conflicts between economic growth and resource consumption and between economic development and ecological damage. In this regard, the advocacy and compilation of the natural resources balance sheet can boost the efficiency of the government's oversight and improve the quality of resource management. However, China's natural resources balance sheet is still at an exploratory stage, lacking the theoretical framework of balance sheet preparation, preparatory ideas, and a reporting system, which must be established urgently. First, the study states the purpose of compiling the natural resources balance sheet, and, subsequently, analyzes the theoretical basis, framework system, preparatory ideas, and sample sheet format, thereby offering theoretical and methodological support for its preparation. Moreover, the development, functions, deficits, and future development of the balance sheet are analyzed in the context of the Chinese system, which provides theoretical and methodological support for the preparation of the natural resources balance sheet and government oversight.

Introduction

The implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in 1978 has facilitated economic innovation, the introduction of foreign technologies, and an increase in capital and managerial experience, which, in turn, have accelerated the development of China's economy. After 40 years of rapid growth, China's GDP is ranked only second to the United States of America. With the rapid economic growth, the income level and consumption capacity of Chinese residents have grown progressively and the comprehensive national strength has increased, laying the economic foundation for the improvement of China's competence in the international market. Nevertheless, for a long time, China's economy has exhibited an extensive development pattern, featuring an economic developmental method that prioritizes "high investment, high consumption, and high pollution" and a political performance assessment that "considers GDP only," which has boosted China's economic growth, despite its heavy price. Additionally, the rapid population growth has increased resource consumption, pollutant and household waste discharge, thereby leading to serious resource exhaustion and heavy environmental pollution. This has deepened the conflicts between human beings and nature, damaged the coordinated development between economic growth and environmental protection, and heavily restrained the sustainable development of China's economy. At present, China's natural resources imbalance between supply and demand is prominent and obvious, but the efficiency of the resource use is low. Let us consider the relationships between energy consumption and GDP growth as an example. According to the data calculation of Statistical Communique on National Economy and Social Development in 2016, China's GDP energy consumption comprised 0.68 ton of standard coal/CNY 10,000 (China's GDP energy consumption per unit comprised 3.7 ton of standard coal/USD 10,000, according to the price and exchange rate of dollars in 2015) in 2016, which is 1.4 times larger than the average world energy consumption levels in 2015 and 2.1 times larger than that of the average level of developed countries. Today, China's economic security and the lives of its citizens are severely threatened by resource consumption and environmental pollution. Besides, as resource imports are expanding, the foreign-trade dependence of our country's economic growth is increasing. Additionally, haze and water pollution caused by environmental pollution is not only reducing people's quality of life but is also causing considerable economic loss. This scenario clearly shows that the present resource consumption and ecological damage are significantly affecting China's national interest and people's livelihood.

In this context, the Chinese government has started to guide and implement resource protection and environmental governance operation in many aspects. For instance, the Environment Protection Law, the most stringent law in history, has been published, special financial subsidies for environmental protection have been set up, enterprises are being encouraged to carry out technical innovation to increase the resource utilization efficiency, media supervision has been strengthened, and information disclosure has increased. These initiatives have facilitated legal, financial, public opinion, and technology support for increasing resource utilization efficiency and alleviating environmental pollution (Leiter et al., 2011, Chiu and Sharfman, 2011; Tang and Tang, 2013, Yusuf et al., 2017, Song et al., 2018, Wang et al., 2018). However, these specific governance measures are unable to "resolve existing problems and eliminate the root causes."

In fact, China's prominent conflicts among economic growth, resource consumption, and environmental pollution can be attributed to the political strategy of valuing only GDP and the development philosophy of pursuing economic growth based on political performance standards. In order to permanently resolve these conflicts, it would be essential to help the decision-making departments and the public form a positive economic development idea and raise their awareness regarding environmental protection. In this context, according to the judgment of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on economic development, environmental protection, and achievement assessment of leaders, Chinese government has decided to prepare a natural resources balance sheet and set up a pilot scheme. As a part of its scheme, it has selected Huzhou in Zhejiang province, Yan' an in Shanxi province, Hulunbeier in inner Mongolia autonomous region, and other regions to guide and restrain the decision-making departments to ensure that the latter can transform their perspectives on economic development. This scheme also aims to raise the latter's awareness of resource management and environmental protection.

It must be pointed out that the natural resource balances sheet is prepared and designed for the off-office auditing of natural resources by the leaders. It not only serves as a critical means of governmental oversight but also provides information and system support for natural resources management and environmental protection in China. However, the preparation of the natural resources balance sheet is a complicated task. First, as a balance sheet, it needs to own accounting attributes; however, the identification of various natural resource assets and liabilities remains highly controversial. Second, from the perspective of accounting measurement and accounting, the factors put into the natural resources balance sheet should have economic value; however, owing to the current marketing and technological levels, the value of most natural resources is hard to determine. Finally, clear property right ownership forms the premise for accounting and preparation of the natural resource balance sheet. However, in the context of China's property rights system, the determination of the boundary of natural resource assets' property rights remains to be properly ascertained by the system. Given the situation, the preparation and application of China's natural resources balance sheet have been explored and studied from the perspective of governance and accounting attributes in the current study.

Section snippets

Literature review

The "natural resources balance sheet" serves as a novel concept developed by the Chinese government in 2013 with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Chinese scholars studied the balance sheet in 2014 for the first time, while few foreign scholars have studied the natural resources balance sheet. Studies focusing primarily on the "natural resources balance sheet" are sparse because the related domestic and foreign studies are merely at the exploratory stage. Based on the review of the main

Theoretical foundation of natural resources balance sheet

The compilation of the natural resources balance sheet was initiated and promoted by the Chinese government, and the aim to explore and compile the balance sheet is explicit. On the one hand, through the compilation of the natural resources balance sheet, the Chinese government would possess relatively precise and reliable information about the changes in resources and environment. In this way, the government will be able to provide a reference for evaluating and auditing leaders' performance.

Analysis of the compilation of natural resources balance sheet

The balance sheet of natural resources should have accounting and management attributes, meet the principle for compiling the accounting statement, and have management and supervisory functions. Just as the SNA and SEEA are linked, the natural resources balance sheet is not independent; it is linked to the natural resource accounts. Since the balance sheet of natural resources reflects the situation of natural resources at a certain point in a specific region, it is expected to support

Tentative application of the natural resources balance sheet

The purpose of discussing the connotation and compilation of the balance sheet of natural resources from the perspective of government governance is not only to answer the questions of "why" and "what," but also to discuss the questions of "how to compile" and "how to use." This study combines the theoretical discussion about the prerequisite, compilation principles, and composition of the balance sheet of natural resources and selects some examples to make tentative compilation and

Main conclusions

With the deepening of understanding of the relationship between economy and environment, all countries in the world are attaching importance to the coordinated development of economic growth and ecological protection. The balance sheet of natural resources proposed and advocated by the Chinese government has an important influence on the government oversight and resource management. This context is rooted in the transformation of economic development and political performance evaluation

Discussion

Sustaining natural resources while promoting economic growth and the quality of life is a significant issue for policymakers. This study addresses the gap in accounting natural resources balance sheet in China. However, achieving a sustainable environment requires more than accounting. Essential actions, including legislation, regulation, mitigation, resource management, enforcement, education, and social responses to environmental challenges, must be implemented. Environmental accounting can

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71471001, 41771568, 71533004, 71503001; 71601170); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0602500; 16YJC630123).

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China's natural resources balance sheet from the perspective of government oversight: Based on the analysis of governance and accounting attributes

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One of the top priorities of the Chinese government's oversight is to address the conflicts between economic growth and resource consumption and betwe...

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1. What kinds of natural resources we have just mentioned?

2. The excess extraction of natural resources damaged the environment, how can China take a balance?

3. In reference to article 2, suggest some of the achievements made by China regarding natural resources development?

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Tourists pose at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing during the May Day holiday. [Photo/Xinhua]

During this year's May Day holiday, more and more Chinese tourists are adding destinations such as museums and art galleries to their itinerary, suggesting an upward trend in China's domestic cultural tourism sector.

Among the country's traditional culture fanatics is a woman surnamed Dong. She was in charge of arranging her family's tour from Langfang, North China's Hebei province, to Beijing during the five-day holiday. The tour's highlights included the signature visit to the Palace Museum dressed in ancient costume and seeing the treasures at the National Museum of China.

On the last day of the May Day holiday, Dong took her child to a niche museum in the eastern suburbs - the exhibition hall of China Railway Museum.

They took photos on the station platforms and with all kinds of locomotives, and her child enjoyed a ride on a small steam train while learning more about the history of China's railway development. Clutching his favorite toy, a train-like Transformer robot, the young boy had a great time before, eventually, it was time to depart for their journey home.

As the first May Day holiday since the country optimized its COVID-19 pandemic response measures, cultural tourist attractions, especially museums and art galleries, have become a hot new trend.

Local residents and tourists from afar shuttled between all kinds of museums, wandering around various exhibitions, busy viewing rarities from all over the world and experiencing tangible and intangible cultural exchanges, both ancient and modern, between home and abroad.

Data collected by multiple museums show that the number of visitors during the holiday rebounded to higher than that recorded pre-COVID during the same period in 2019. On the first day of the May Day holiday, the top 10 scenic spots in Beijing in terms of visitor numbers included several cultural tourist attractions: Qianmen Street, the Summer Palace, Nanluogu Xiang shopping alley, the Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park and Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace.

Cultural institutions were also a preferred choice for those seeking a relaxed and enjoyable holiday experience.

During the recent holiday, museums and art galleries all over China teamed up with foreign counterparts to make their exhibits more innovative and attractive, with an almost panoramic view of the worldwide cultural treasures on offer.

Digital technologies also helped to give visitors a more immersive experience, adding strong impetus to the arts and culture craze in China.

A retrospective exhibition named Parallel Space - Meet the Terracotta Warriors in Greece digitally presents the archaeological achievements collected and preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, the archaeological sites of Terracotta Warriors, and a relevant cultural relics protection laboratory of China.

With the help of digital technologies, visitors in Shougang Park in western Beijing can see the ancient warriors stand face-to-face with the statue of Kroisos Kouros, seemingly engaging in a "dialogue" across time and space.

As China's night economy continues to heat up, some museums extended their opening hours, and even remained open at night, during the holiday.

Among them, more than 30 museums in Beijing, such as the Capital Museum and China Railway Museum, kept their doors open after hours. Many famous buildings in the city held related nighttime activities, allowing visitors to appreciate their special beauty under the night sky.

From May 1-3, Beijing held a bazaar selling all kinds of cultural and creative products from over 40 museums in the city, highlighting a collaboration between time-honored brands and new fashion forms.

Crowds of visitors at the Palace Museum in Beijing during the holiday. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Beijing is rich in museum resources, so I chose to visit the bazaar during the holiday with my classmates. I've collected multiple museum seals today. Each seal is a cultural imprint for me," says Ma Hualin, a graduate student at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, who visited the bazaar on May 1.

One visitor, surnamed Zheng, traveled from South China's metropolis of Guangzhou all the way to Beijing. After a one-day tour of the Civil Aviation Museum, Zheng took his family to the bazaar on May 1. Luckily, as part of an interactive on-site activity, he guessed correctly the name of an aircraft model on display, based on a vague description, winning a cartoon postcard of the plane.

"My son likes to study all kinds of planes, so I took him to the bazaar, hoping to help broaden his horizons," Zheng says.

"Now, society pays great attention to museums, and the number of people who like to visit museums is expanding. People of different ages visit museums for various reasons, such as to view exhibitions, listen to lectures, participate in social and educational activities, or simply to just buy things," says Gu Ying, deputy director with the White Pagoda Temple administrative office.

"Museums are an important force to inspire wisdom for a better life, promote social well-being and build a sustainable future. Behind the cultural tourism craze is the public's discovery and recognition of the historical and cultural value of the museums," says Bai Chong, director of the museum division of Beijing municipal bureau of cultural heritage.

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China's 'culture vultures' descend on the capital

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During this year's May Day holiday, more and more Chinese tourists are adding destinations such as museums and art galleries to their itinerary, suggesting an upward trend in China's domestic cultural tourism sector.

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Over the last 10 years, China has accomplished its objectives to preserve its cultural heritage, ranking second in the world in terms of the number of global heritage sites recognized by UNESCO.

During my almost four years in Beijing, I have observed how the country attaches great importance to the preservation of its heritage.

China joined the International Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985 to elevate its endeavors in preserving its heritage to global standards. The country has also undertaken national research projects on tracing the origins of Chinese civilization.

Now China boasts 50 world heritage sites recognized by UNESCO; of them, 35 are cultural, 11 are natural heritage sites, and four are cultural and natural (mixed) sites, placing it second in the world by volume.

I have been to many of them, including the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, and the Grand Canal. The visits have helped me learn how rich China is culturally and how the country has long been discovering and preserving its treasures.

Exploring the Terracotta Army is one of my favorite memories during my time in China. I was mesmerized by the sight of those funerary warrior sculptures in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. While visiting the pits of the life-sized army, I was amused to be briefed that the warriors with bigger bellies held higher ranks.

I also learnt that the army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the army of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). The army was equipped with real weapons, including swords, daggers, spears, lances, battle axes, scimitars, shields, crossbows, and crossbow triggers. The army comprised more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses.

The funerary sculptures are among the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units and also among the first batch of Chinese World Heritage sites. They are dubbed as the "eighth wonder" of the world, attracting more than 200 foreign heads of state and governments to visit them. They have also featured in famous films about ancient China's brilliant civilization and are considered one of the world's top 10 ancient tombs.

China also believes the protection of intangible cultural heritage is the task of all of humanity, joining the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2004.

China has since made significant progress in the preservation of its heritage sites. The country undertook its first large-scale renovations on seven world cultural heritage sites in Beijing, including the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall, and the Forbidden City, all of which were completed before 2008.

Moreover, from 2005 to 2009, China carried out its first nationwide census of intangible cultural heritage, counting nearly 870,000 intangible cultural heritage resources, with several of them inscribed on UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

One of the 42 intangible cultural heritages is Tai Chi, the traditional physical exercise, which you will often see many people practicing in parks. The Chinese believe that Tai Chi can bring them health and peace of mind through its signature slow circular movements.

I have also experienced acupuncture, another intangible heritage of China, several times in and outside Beijing. It is an important feature of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

While receiving acupuncture treatments, TCM doctors will apply needles to puncture and stimulate chosen points on the patient's body. Every time I experienced acupuncture, I went through a rollercoaster ride, feeling both pain and relaxation during the treatment as well as after it was complete.

Over the past decade, Chinese local governments have included the preservation of cultural heritage as an important element in their performance evaluation systems.

The number of provincial-level cultural relics protection units has increased by 58%, and that of municipal and county-level units has grown by 88%. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of curated or excavated valuable cultural relics have been restored to a better state.

The number of museums nationwide has increased by 60%, and massive technological breakthroughs have been made in cultural relics protection, including underwater, with Chinese archaeologists recently breaking new ground in deep sea archaeological missions.

China has already come a long way in preserving its cultural - both tangible and intangible - heritage in recent years. The country has proven its mettle in transforming cultural heritage into an effective tool for socio-economic development. I believe that China will apply modern technologies to the restoration and preservation of more of its relics in the years to come.
Ershad Shikdar is a Beijing-based journalist and opinion writer. Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.

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China's efforts to preserve cultural heritage

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Over the last 10 years, China has accomplished its objectives to preserve its cultural heritage, ranking second in the world in terms of the number of global heritage sites recognized by UNESCO. During my almost four years in Beijing, I have observed how the country attaches great importance to the preservation of its heritage.

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UNESCO celebrates cultural heritage conservation champions in China

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The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation highlights award winners of 2021 to 2022 from China in events postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Open-ended: Can you list out some reasons for the rapid development of Chinas cultural sector after the R&O?

Factual-based: What is the difference between tangible and intangible cultural heritage?

Further reading list: How has the preservation of cultural heritage been integrated into Chinese local governments' performance evaluation systems?

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Article 1

https://chinafocus.ucsd.edu/2021/02/16/solar-energy-in-china-the-past-present-and-future/

Article2

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-09-19/China-s-achievements-in-natural-resource-development-in-last-10-years-1ds8mwV1Gyk/index.html

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1. The reliance on natural resources has increased. In 2017 the Chinese per capita gross domestic product was approximately $8,827, which was the 72nd highest globally according to the International Monetary Fund. The Chinese economy is reliant on several of its natural resources such as fish, arable land, and minerals among others.

2. For instance, the Environment Protection Law, the most stringent law in history, has been published, special financial subsidies for environmental protection have been set up, enterprises are being encouraged to carry out technical innovation to increase the resource utilisation efficiency. These initiatives have facilitated legal, financial, public opinion, and technology support for increasing resource utilization efficiency and alleviating environmental pollution.

3. Yes, i think it should be prioritised because natural resources can reduce the harm of the environment due to coal. This way renewable energy can be used. Less carbon dioxide will be admitted to the environment.

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1. Solar energy, precious metals, minerals, wind power, land resources and coal.

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1. Name 3 indicators that showed China’s improvement since reform and opening up.

2. In your opinion, how may China further improve its education? Please explain.

3. How can China’s improvements be seen in article 1?

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http://en.moe.gov.cn/news/press_releases/201812/t20181224_364525.html#:~:text=In%201978%2C%20only%2060%20per,enrolled%20in%20514%2C000%20educational%20institutions.

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In just 4 decades since December 1978, when the Party decided at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee to embark on a new path of reform and opening up, from being a weak nation with extended periods of destitution, China has emerged as the world's second largest economy.

Education played a pivotal role in bringing about this unprecedented economic miracle in human history. Forty years ago, DENG Xiaoping, who orchestrated the reforms, famously said that "China will not become a modernized country just by talking about a grand vision: it must cultivate the necessary expertise and talent to make that vision a reality". He reinstated the gaokao system, which rekindled the enthusiasm for learning of tens of millions of young people who hankered for a place at university. His vision of building a powerful China was grounded in efforts to develop education and build technological prowess was enshrined as a national strategy, which ensured that respect for knowledge and talent was mainstreamed in succeeding development programs. This fast-tracked the development of China's education. Over the last 4 decades, China has prioritized education in its development efforts, as the country embarked on a unique development path with socialist characteristics. Unprecedented advances in education have substantially elevated the average Chinese citizens' moral and ethical attainments, as well as their scientific and reading/writing literacy. China now appears in the mid-to-top range of world education rankings, and is home to the world's largest educational sector, one holding the greatest growth potential and developing at a faster pace than in any other country.

China's education has improved by leaps and bounds. In 1978, only 60 per cent of primary school pupils went on to study in junior high schools, and the number of college and graduate students was 856,000 and 10,000, respectively. Today, China has built the world's largest education sector with 270 million students enrolled in 514,000 educational institutions. The three-year gross enrollment rate in kindergartens rose from 10.6% to 79.6%; the net enrollment rate in primary schools rose from 94% to 99.9%. Gross enrollment rates have also risen substantially in junior high schools from 66.4% to 103.5%; in senior high schools, from 33.6% to 88.3% and in tertiary education, from 33.6% to 88.3%. These impressive improvements at all levels of education have put China in the ranks of middle-and high-income countries, in terms of education. In just over 20 years, China has achieved universal coverage in nine-year compulsory education, a goal that took western countries nearly a century to attain.

Progress has been made on multiple fronts: from hardware to software, from teaching material to teaching methods, from conventional management approaches to modern governance, and increasing the quality of all the ingredients used in the education mix. The 1995 Education Law stipulated that educational spending should grow at a faster pace than local government regular income, and that funding per teacher and student should also increase steadily. In 2012, educational spending stood at 4% of GDP and has grown ever since. In 2017, public spending on education reached 3.4 trillion RMB. The number of teachers at all levels of education increased 1.8-fold from 8.99 million in 1978 to 16.23 million in 2017, and China has built a teaching force made up of professional teachers equipped with practical skills. These efforts have been supported through legislation, including eight national laws on education, 16 education-related regulations, administrative directives, and local rules.

Our progress has been felt across the world. In 2009, China was the focus of the world's attention as students from Shanghai outperformed their peers in dozens of OECD countries in its debut participation to the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA. In the last 40 years, China has sent out a large number of students overseas for further studies, and attracted an equally large number of international students to its degree programs. The number of foreign students studying in China increased from about 1,200 from 1978 to 480,000 in 2017, making China the largest destination in Asia for international students. The country has established 2,385 joint educational institutions and projects and 8 high-level people-to-people exchange schemes, through partnerships with over 180 countries or territories. It has built 533 Confucius Institutes and 1,140 Confucius classrooms across 150 countries or territories. And today, the number Chinese speakers and learners outside of China has reached 100 million.

In the last 40 years, examinations have been gradually shifted towards testing students' skills in applying knowledge rather than ability to simply memorize information, to be better aligned with the overarching purpose of education. Classified tests, comprehensive evaluation and assorted admissions criteria have been introduced as an alternative to the gaokao as students' only ticket to a future of possibilities. The testing and admissions system has undergone constant improvement, going from standardized tests in 1989 to a "three + x" model in 1998: the "3" corresponding to the three mandatory disciplines, namely Chinese, mathematics and English language, while "x" stands for the three subjects that can be selected from physics, chemistry, biology, politics, history, and geography. A recommendation-based admissions method piloted in 1984 was replaced by a reform in 2003 that allowed universities to independently enroll students. In 1998, access to higher education was limited, with a gross enrolment rate of only 9.8%. In 1999, the central government decided to expand higher education enrollment by adding 1.5968 million places, an increase of 47.4% on the previous year. In 2014, China launched the most systematic and comprehensive reform to the gaokao system since it was reintroduced in 1977. In 2017, Shanghai and Zhejiang province successfully began admitting students based on multiple assessment criteria.

The past 40 years have also seen a flourishing education sector that has greatly facilitated China's drive to become a modernized socialist country, and provided the needed intellectual impetus for China's rising comprehensive strengths and international status.

Access to education over the past four decades has also improved at all levels, including the introduction of pathways between different types of education. Academic education and vocational education, funded by both the public and private sectors, both at degree and non-degree levels, have grown in tandem. Currently, there are 12,000 vocational schools across China serving 26.8 million students, accounting for half of China's secondary and higher education, respectively. Those who have missed out on a college education have the opportunity to get a BA through online learning, self-study, and college entrance exams for adults, as well as attending open universities, radio and TV universities and MOOC programs.

The last 4 decades have also witnessed growing equity in education, with the right to access education better safeguarded. As of the autumn term of 2008, universal access to free compulsory education became a reality across China, marking a new milestone in the history of education in China. Greater effort has been invested in supporting education in rural areas and under-developed central and western provinces. Boarding schools have been built in rural areas, class sizes have been greatly reduced, and poverty-alleviation projects have been implemented across the country. Now, over 80 per cent of counties have achieved the goal of balancing development in compulsory education. More pupils than ever from rural and under-developed provinces have access to more equitable education. More than 37 million rural students have benefitted from the national student nutrition program. A financial aid system covering students from pre-school to postgraduate level has been established, ensuring that no student from a disadvantaged background is forced to drop out because of financial difficulties. More than 80 per cent of children received education in cities where their migrant parents worked, and care for left-behind children has been improved. More than 90 of children with visual, hearing and intellectual disabilities are in compulsory education.

In the last 40 years, China's education system has supplied quality human resources and technological expertise. Since the late 1970s, China's universities have produced more than 99 million high-caliber professionals, while vocational schools have graduated more than 200 million skilled technicians. The number of graduates from higher education has increased nearly 50-fold from 165,000 to 82 million in four decades. Currently, China's working population has received an average education spanning 10.5 years, and more than 45% of new entrants into the workforce have higher education qualifications with on average 13.5 years of education, which exceeds the world average. A number of major programs aimed at bolstering world class universities and disciplines in the 21st century have been implemented, including Project 211, Project 985 and the Double First-Class initiative. Thanks to these efforts, China's universities have been edging up world university rankings, with more making it to the top 100, and some 100 disciplines making it to the world's top 1,000. Universities accounted for over 60 per cent of China's basic research and major research projects, more than 60 per cent of China's key national laboratories, more than 60 per cent of rewards for scientific and technological achievements, and over 80 per cent of published papers, research projects funded by the Natural Science Foundation, and the number of researchers in philosophy and the Social Sciences. Universities were responsible for a host of groundbreaking achievements in the fields of manned spaceflight, quantum communications, supercomputing, providing a strong impetus to China's goal to become an innovation-oriented nation.

After 40 years of reform, education in China is now at the dawn of a new era. At this year's national education conference held on September 10, new reform pathways were charted to make education better aligned with the needs of the people as well as the goal of building China into a modern educational powerhouse.

It is important that we fully appreciate President Xi's remarks on education at the conference and implement his instructions about prioritizing education. We must bear in mind that reinforcement of student moral development is a fundamental task. Moral education must be stepped up to develop patriotism and perseverance among students, boost their confidence in the country's future prosperity, and promote all-round development. The capacity-building of teachers must be reinforced, and their remunerations must be improved to ensure that they are fully devoted to their profession without having to bear the burden of financial worries. Institutional reforms must remove legacy hurdles hindering progress, such as student evaluation systems focused solely on student test scores and enrollment rates, and teacher recruitment and performance evaluation systems based solely on degrees, published papers, and professional titles.

The last four decades have borne witness to the bountiful harvest reaped of hard work and a relentless commitment to fulfilling educational goals. Today, as we stand at a new starting line, we must be reminded of the greater role each of us must play in supporting China's march toward prosperity and national rejuvenation. We must press ahead with reforms to edge closer to the goal of becoming a modern educational power, by rallying around the Party central committee with comrade XI Jinping at the core.

[By CHEN Baosheng, Minister of Education]

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China's education: 40 years of epic achievements

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In just 4 decades since December 1978, when the Party decided at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee to embark on a new path of reform and opening up, from being a weak nation with extended periods of destitution, China has emerged as the world's second largest economy.

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https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-8347-2_6

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Analysis of Education Policies and Legal Texts from a National Perspective

1 Research Approach

Factors that influence changes and innovations in educational institutions range from external socio-political and economic factors and inherent factors of contradictions and tasks, to the build-in logics of educational institution. Therefore, undertaking a study of the changes and innovations in educational institutions during China's 40 years of reform and opening-up is a complicated project. The following methodological principles are sorted to guide this study:

Unification of history and logic. The changes and reshaping of educational institutions that have occurred are the historical results of development in China. Major events in educational reform and the logic of system reconstruction could only be understood within the broader historical contexts and process of reform and opening-up.

Unification of education institutional analysis and social system analysis. Education is closely linked to and interacts with political, economic, cultural, and other social forces. Changes in educational institutions are the result of changes in educational policy and reform, which are initiated and managed by the government. Education institution is the sum of diversified schooling institutions nationwide, for which the government bears at least some responsibility in terms of overall control and supervision, and whose components and processes are interrelated (Archer 1979).

The development of and changes in socialist educational institutions with Chinese characteristics are closely related to the politics and institutional reform of the country. In the historical period of the 40 years of Reform and Opening-up, the development strategy centering on economic construction has directly influenced the transformation and development of various social factors. An investigation of the changes that have occurred in educational institutions thus should be contextualized in the interconnected social, political, and social changes. Therefore, this chapter draws upon typical texts representing the contexts from speeches given by Party and state leaders, the relevant policies of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCPC) and the State Council, as well as relevant national laws and regulations, education laws, regulations, and rules, and policies of the Ministry of Education and local governments.

The unification of institutional changes and educational development. The establishment and improvement of educational institutions aim to coordinate relationships between various educational elements and to promote the healthy development of education. The main contradictions and major tasks vary in different stages of educational development and require corresponding educational institutions. Therefore, while examining the changes in educational institutions, it is necessary to maintain the focus on educational development.

The unification of systematic construction of educational institutions and analysis of major educational reform events. Education in China is a complex system composed of the schooling operating system, school leadership and management system, educational personnel system, education finance system, and examination and enrollment system. At different stages of educational development, due to differences in main contradictions and major tasks, there are different landmark events in educational reforms. These major educational reform events not only are highly relevant to certain educational institution elements but are also related to the improvement of the entire education system. In this chapter, the interpretation of significant reform events is situated in the whole systemic and institutional changes.

The unification of "top-level design" (Dingceng Sheji 顶层设计) and the practical processes of educational improvement. Faced with outstanding contradictions and tasks in education development, central and local governments will seek institutionalized measures to solve educational problems through a series of decisions and actions. In practice, due to society and educational development itself, adjustments to institutionalized top-level design are needed based on actual conditions to innovate and improve institutional design. Therefore, during the research process, the top-level design of educational institutions, implementation, correction, adjustment, and improvement of educational reforms shall be systematically examined.

2 The Historical Context of Educational Changes in China

Educational reform and changes in educational institutions have gone through different stages of development of the past 40 years, including bringing order out of chaos, restoring and rebuilding education, comprehensively initiating educational reforms, exploring institutional changes based on market mechanisms to promote educational development, adjusting education policies from an efficiency-based focus to fairness, promoting comprehensive reforms in the field of education, and accelerating modernization of education governance systems and enhancing governance capabilities.

Restoration and reconstruction of educational institutions (1978-1984). After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC, an urgent task faced by the education sector in China was to restore and rebuild educational institutions that were destroyed by the "Cultural Revolution" and improve education. By negating the "two Estimates" of the "Minutes of the National Conference on Education" in 1971, the shackles that plagued teachers and intellectuals were removed, so did the obstacles that hindered education, science, and technology development. A policy of "respecting knowledge and talents" advocated by Deng Xiaoping ( 1977) led the general public turn to respect and value education. By drawing lessons from the educational experience of the 1960s, provisional regulations for higher education institutions and primary and secondary schools1 were revised, and educational order was restored and rebuilt. The educational policy of the "Three Orientations"2 and the training objective of the New Generation with "Four Qualifications"3 were proposed, which have directed the later educational reform and development. The restoration of the unified college entrance examination and admission system became a symbolic beginning of the restoration and reconstruction of the educational system, and for the new order and modernization of education in China. In the context that the state urgently needs specialized personnel while education resources are insufficient, Deng Xiaoping proposed "there are two ways to develop education, on the one hand, we need popularization, on the other hand, we need improvement. We need to run key primary schools, key middle schools and key universities" ( 1977: 40-41). Thus, the establishment of the key school system has played an important historical role in "raising more talents in a quicker manner" (Duochu Rencai, Kuaichu Rencai 多出人才 快出人才) and meeting the country's need for educated and talented personnel.

Development of educational institutional reform: Streamlining administration and decentralization of institutions (1985-1991). In the early 1980s, the CCCPC issued a series of decisions concerning economic restructuring, on science and technology reform, and on educational reform (hereinafter referred to as the "Decisions" (CCCPC 1985)). Three important documents on these areas constitute the general framework for social reform and development during this period, thus greatly promoting the modernization process of Chinese society. In the field of education, the Decisions aims to arouse the enthusiasm of the government at all levels, the general staff, and the community at large and to promote the development of education. As for the ethical value of educational reform, the Decisions puts forward the conclusion that education must serve the socialist construction, and the socialist construction depends on education, which responds to the development strategy of "mak[ing] economic development our central task" since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC.

The essence of educational institutional reform is defined as streamlining administration and decentralizing to expand school autonomy. On various levels and aspects, such institutional reform manifests. On the central and local relationship, while strengthening the macro management from the central government, in primary education, the responsibility of basic education development is decentralized to local government. To promote the development of compulsory education, the Decisions first proposed the "two growths" principle of the educational input system, namely "the growth of education allocations of central and local governments should be higher than that of recurrent financial income, and the average education cost per student should gradually increase." On the school leadership, the Decisions stipulated that "school[s] gradually implement [a] principal accountability system (Xiaozhang Fuzezhi 校长负责制)," thus clarifying the relationship of rights of responsibility among school leaders, party secretaries, university councils, and staff congress, which established the basic structure of China's modern school system.

Exploration of educational institution reform: Introduction of the market mechanism (1992-2002). "Establishing a socialist market economy system" for economic institutional reform was put forward at the 14th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992 (Jiang 1992). Since then, Chinese society has embarked on a new development path of establishing a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. The focus of educational institution reforms in this period lies in the following factors: first, establishing an education management system compatible with the socialist market economy system. The Outline for Education Reform and Development in China in 1993 emphasized the need for "new education institutions compatible with socialist market economy institutions, political institutions, science and technology institutions reforms" (CCCPC, The State Council 1993). The management institution of "decentralized operation and decentralized management (Fenji Banxue Fenji Guanli分级办学 分级管理)" on the one hand facilitated localized implementation and fed incentives in the lowest governmental units, but on the other hand caused the dependence of compulsory education on township-level finance and literally increased the financial burden of education in the underdeveloped areas, due to the excessive "localization" of the system (Chen 1996). After the new financial allocation system was implemented in 1994, the township-level financial capacity became increasingly weakened. Therefore, the regional economic disparity resulted in the regional and urban-rural gaps in developing compulsory education.

Second, education funds were raised in multiple channels. In 1992, the 14th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that "governments at all levels shall increase education investment and meanwhile encourage different walks of life to raise funds for running schools and private schools, and change the situation where the state has a virtual monopoly on higher education" (Jiang 1992). The Outline for Education Reform and Development in China stipulated to gradually establish a multi-channel fund-raising system in which education is mainly funded by public fiscal allocation, supplemented with tax for education, tuition and miscellaneous fees from non-compulsory education students, school-affiliated industrial revenue, social donations, and education funds. This new kind of multiple funding system is literally created to cover the shortage of governmental funding, which inevitably produced the later notorious phenomena of "arbitrary school fees (Luan Shoufei 乱收费)".

Third, privatization of public schools. The term of public school transformations was used in Chinese rather than privatization. In 1994, the document Implementation Opinions on Outline for Education Reform and Development in China by the State Council encouraged enterprises and public institutions to run schools in accordance with national laws and policies. Various forms of "minban" schools (literally private schools) as "civilian run and public subsidized (minban gongzhu 民办公助)" or "public run and civilian subsidized (Gongban Minzhu 公办民助)" were allowed to experiment and practice (The State Council 1994). Since 1993, pilots for different forms of public primary and secondary school transformations were carried out. A group of transformed schools was set up under the market mechanisms, which has experimented in raising education funds through multiple channels, improving school conditions, promoting rapid development of basic education, expanding quality educational resources, and meeting the diverse educational needs. Apparently, the focus of education in China has shifted from serving the interests of proletarian politics to serving needs of economic construction, which is influenced by human capital theory (Schultz 1997). However, compared with the practice of some developed countries of fostering competitive talents through standardized education to achieve economic ends in the globalization process (e.g., see Singapore Ministry of Education 2012), the practice of privatizing education and making it a commercial industry (CCCPC 1992; Zhang 1993) deprives education of its meaning and value in human development (Bulmahn 2000).

Continuity of educational institutional reform: From efficiency to equity (2003-2009). China's rapid economic development has enabled remarkable progress in economic and social development, but also resulted in inequalities in such development. Since the proposition of "Scientific Outlook on Development" in 2003, people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development has gradually become China's new model of economic development (Hu 2004). Accordingly, the focus of educational reform has changed from the pursuit of educational quantity, scale, and speed to educational equity.

First, the arbitrary collection of school fees was stopped. Raising education funds through multiple channels based on the market mechanism leads to the increasingly serious phenomenon of arbitrary educational charges. Since 1996, the Ministry of Education has begun to "improve regulations and systems of school fee management" (National Education Commission 1996). After that, the Education Fee Publicity System (Jiaoyu Shoufei Gonshi Zhi教育收费公示制)'s (National Planning Commission 2002) "One Fee System (Yifei Zhi 一费制)" in compulsory educational institutions (Ministry of Education 2004) and the "Three Limits Policy (Sanxian Zhengce 三限政策)"4 in senior high school selection fees were approved, which strengthened the control of arbitrary school fees (State Council 2001).

Second, transformed schools were regulated. In order to solve the problem of privatizing schools, high school fees, and public education resource losses yet to regulate by the developing legal system in the 1990s, China began to adjust its reform policies for running public schools and regulated the school activities in 2005. Approval of newly reformed schools and their fee standards were terminated, and the "advance and withdrawal" strategy to conduct a comprehensive investigation and cleaning of the existing transformed schools were adopted (Ministry of Education 2005; National Development and Reform Commission 2005). The "advance" strategy refers to completely privatize the transformed schools, independent of their previous dependent public schools. The "withdrawal" strategy indicates de-transform the transformed schools and restore schools as public property.

Third, the balanced development of compulsory education was actively promoted. Since the proposition of "actively promoting balanced development of compulsory education" by the Ministry of Education in 2002 (Ministry of Education 2002), "balanced development (Junheng Fazhan 均衡发展)" has become a "strategic task of compulsory education" (Working Group Office of the National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development Plan 2010) to implement the "balanced development of nine-year compulsory education" (Hu 2012) and "coordinate [the] integration of urban and rural compulsory education" (State Council 2016), as well as to gradually establish a guarantee mechanism for rural compulsory education finance, improve public financial institutions of cost-sharing by central and local governments according to projects and proportions that ensure the balanced development of compulsory education, and to implement the "Three Increases"5 of educational funds and "Two Exempt and One Subsidy"6 policy.

Deepening of educational institution reform: From management to governance (2010 to present). "After long-term efforts, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era" (Xi 2017). The main contradiction in Chinese society has shifted from "the contradiction between [the] ever-growing material and cultural needs of the people and the backward social production" (CCCPC 1981) at the beginning of the reform and opening-up period to "the contradiction between [the] unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life" (Xi 2017). In the field of education, the primary contradiction is the imbalance between the demand for quality education and the pace of education's development. Chinese education has entered the new stage of "deepening comprehensive education reform" (Hu 2012) and the modernization of educational governance and governance capacity. The task of educational institution reform in this new era is to further separate the management, operation, and evaluation of schools, while expanding the involvement of provincial governments in educational coordination and increasing school autonomy to oversee and improve their internal governance structures (CCCPC 2013). The goals of deepening reforms of educational institutional mechanisms by the Chinese government are outlined: (1) by 2020, to establish an essential educational institutions, forming vigorous, efficient, and open educational system mechanisms conducive to scientific development; (2) to further settle and solve the well-concerned educational issues and problems by the general public; (3) to bring to perfection the pattern of government exerting macro-management of the educational system in accordance with the law, schools running themselves autonomously in accordance with the law, the orderly social participation of the general public, and the joint efforts of all parties for the further improvement of the educational system; and (4) to provide institutional enabler for the development of a world-class modern education system with Chinese characteristics (Xinhua News Agency 2017).

3 Changes in Educational Institutions: Seeking Appropriate Tension and Stimulating Vigor

Reform has altered the relations of production and interest. The first 30 years of Reform and Opening-up advanced economic growth and accumulated wealth by following the principle of efficiency. After that, the issue for further reform is the readjustment of interest relations, redistributing wealth by fairness so as to promote the harmonious and sustainable development in China. Therefore, the overall deepening of reform involves "resolutely break[ing] away [from] all outdated ideas and disadvantages of institutional mechanisms and break[ing] out of barriers of interests consolidation" (Xi 2017). For Chinese society, the 40 years of reform and opening-up is a process of restoring and reconstructing social order to break through institutional barriers and to stimulate social vitality, from a planned economy to a market economy, through the unified, centralized management of the government with the participation of multiple parties. Therefore, the conflicts and compromises between different parties' interests will inevitably occur throughout the process.

Following this line of development, in the field of education, changes and innovations of educational institutions inevitably involve a series of complex processes and ambivalent relationships, including centralization and decentralization, central planning and the market economy, government and society, government and schools, and schools and society. The process of educational reform is to seek balance and harmony among multiple parties to maintain order and stimulate the passion and vitality of all interested parties.

3.1 To Adjust the Central-Local Relationship and Promote Integration of Top-Level Design and the Local Exploration of Educational Institution Changes

Since the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up, the core of educational institution reform has lied on the improved mobilization of "all levels of government, general staff and students, and all members in society," while "decentraliz[ing] the responsibility of developing basic education to local governments" (CCCPC 1985). However, when educational management responsibility was decentralized level by level to the township, it resulted in serious regional disparity in education development. In 2001, the State Council issued the Decisions on Basic Education Reform and Development, which changed the rural compulsory education management institutions that had been in place for 15 years and made it clear that in "implementing the institutions under the leadership of the State Council [...] the local government is responsible for the institutions, which practices hierarchical management and is county-oriented." The establishment and perfection of provincial-level and county-oriented educational management institutions became a useful exploration in deepening educational institutional reform and promoting the balanced regional development of education in China.

Taking curriculum reform as an example. Over the last 40 years, explorations within tensions between the authority of the national curriculum and the flexibility of local curricula have never ceased. Balancing games among the state, local governments, and school levels have been continuously staged. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, concerning the teaching materials used in primary and secondary schools, the state has been responsible for providing standard teaching plans, syllabi, and educational materials. At the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up, in the context of the "streamlining administration and decentralization" brought about by the Decisions on Education Institutions Reform by CCCPC, the National Education Commission allowed Shanghai in 1988 to experiment curriculum reform. Shanghai then launched the "first-stage curriculum reform" as an attempt to change the exam-orientated education centered on university admission to a curriculum and instruction model featuring "Three Breakthroughs," including reducing workload, improving quality, strengthening basics, cultivating capabilities, and developing personal characteristics. After 5 years of such efforts, Shanghai developed a curriculum for primary and secondary schools, curriculum standards, teaching materials, and supplementary educational soft wares suitable for economically developed areas and has carried out corresponding experiments (Sun et al. 2016: 25). Shanghai thus provided useful experiences for the national-wide curriculum reform. In the 1990s, the National Education Commission proposed that general high schools be managed in three levels, that is, at the central government, local government, and school levels, which enables administrative authority at all levels. "The establishment of three levels of management of curriculum teaching materials is to ensure and promote the curriculum's adaptability to different regions, schools and students and to implement guided gradual decentralization" (Secretariat of the National Curriculum Professional Committee 2001: 90). The basic education curriculum reform initiated at the beginning of the new century requires "to change the situation of excessive concentration of curriculum management, to implement three levels of curriculum management of central government, local government and schools, and to the curriculum's adaptability to different regions, schools and students" (Ministry of Education 2001). The implementation of a three-level curriculum management system delivers the over-centralized curriculum power at the national level to local governments and schools, enabling local governments and schools' participation in curriculum development, thus forming the situation that the national curriculum, local curriculum, and school curriculum coexist so that the curricula are more suitable for local and school-specific teaching situations. It reflects the trend of curriculum management moving from centralization to limited decentralization. The curriculum issue not only involves the classic question of "what knowledge is most valuable" (Spencer 1860: 21-97) but also involves the key problem of "whose knowledge is most valuable."7 To fully implement the Party's educational policy and integrate the cultivation and practice of core socialist values within the process of national education, since 2012, the Ministry of Education unified textbook compilation for three subjects including ethics and law, Chinese, and history. These textbooks were put into use nationally during the autumn of September 2017 in high school. An audit system consisting of disciplinary review, comprehensive review, thematic review, and final review was established and practiced to ensure the overall quality of teaching materials. In March 2017, the Textbook Bureau was established by the Ministry of Education for the planning, production, and management of textbooks. In July of the same year, the National Textbook Committee was formed by the State Council to guide and coordinate textbooks nationwide.

In the process of promoting modernization of education governance institutions, "promotion of partial and phased Reform and Opening-up shall be carried out on the premise of strengthening top-level design, and [the] strengthening of top-level design shall be planned on the basis of advancing partial and phased reform and opening-up" (Xi 2012). As is proposed in Opinions on Deepening Reform of Education Institutional Mechanism, the combination of top-level design and grassroots exploration not only strengthens system planning but also respects grassroots initiatives. It also fully mobilizes the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of local districts and schools and timely serves to distil successful experience to systems and polices (Xinhua News Agency 2017).

A salient feature of educational institution reform in the new era is the strengthening of top-level design, such as deepening the reform of examinations and enrollment systems, the construction of modern vocational educational institutions, the construction of first-class universities, the reform of educational laws, and other major educational reforms, which are deliberated by the Standing Committee of the State Council before promotion and implementation by the State Council and relevant ministries. In March 2018, to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership in education, a leading group of education experts was established according to Program for Deepening Party and State Institutional Reform of the Third Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the CPC (CCCPC 2018). The leading group was established as a decision-making and coordination organization of the CCCPC, whose major duty is to put forward and organize the implementation of policies adhering to the Party's leadership and strengthening the Party's construction, to study political and ideological work in the field of education, to deliberate the national education development strategy, medium- and long-term planning, major policies for education and institutional reform plans, and to solve current problems in education. This is of great significance to strengthening the top-level design of educational reform, in dealing with relationships between central and local, partial and whole, and improving the system in its entirety, thus forming an overall effect. On the other hand, with educational reforms entering the "deep end," many regions and schools proceed from reality, adhere to problem-oriented principles, and summarize a lot of experience of reform and exploration. Some of the experience proved to be effective, which provides important support for macro-decision-making at the national level. The City of Qingdao, for example, has conducted school administration reform experiments and modern school construction according to law since 2014. On this basis, in February 2017, the Municipal Government of Qingdao issued the Regulations for Primary and Secondary Schools in Qingdao, which specifies that the "principal may nominate [and] appoint [a] vice-principal," as well as other school autonomy recruitment of professional and high-level personnel in shortage," "independent establishment of internal institutions and [the] appointment of [a person in charge] in accordance with provisions" (Municipal Government of Qingdao 2017). Those were previously controlled by the local government. In recent years, Shanghai, as an experimental region responsible for initiating comprehensive educational reform, has actively explored and proposed many new ideas and reform measures under the guidance of the top-level design of national macro-educational reform. In December 2017, Shanghai People's Congress formulated the Regulations for Higher Educational Promotion in Shanghai, which is the first local regulation dealing with higher education. It distils new achievements and experience in the form of laws and provides a strong guarantee for modernizing higher education management system and the sustainable development of higher education in Shanghai (Fan 2018).

Those educational reforms related to overall reform and innovation in national education law, educational institutions, educational standards, and educational strategy planning and coordination requires national-level coordination and implementation. Education reforms of key and difficult issues can be implemented gradually and adjusted dynamically based on the experiences of local pilot programs. For education reform at regional and school levels, it is necessary to allow room for grassroots educational reform initiatives and encourage individuals at the local and school levels to innovate and explore. Therefore, the process of educational reform mechanisms could integrate state-level design with grassroots exploration. This will lead to general advancement based on the key breakthroughs.

3.2 To Rationalize Inter-Government Relationships and Establish and Perfect the Mechanism of Governmental Coordination and Inter-Provincial Consultation

Inter-governmental relationships refer to the vertical and horizontal relationships among different levels of government, as well as the relationships between governments in different regions. In the same area, it mainly involves horizontal inter-governmental relations among government departments of the same level. In the government education administration system, commissions including development and reform, organization, finance, human resources and social security, compilation, land and resource planning, urban and rural construction, science and technology, supervision of state-owned assets, and economy informatization have their own corresponding educational management responsibilities.

However, the long-lasting situation that each department does things in their own way with the intersection of powers and poor communication between education administrative departments and other functional departments have caused a serious impact on school operation. In the process of reform, the education administrative departments in some regions tried to coordinate education management activities in government-related functional departments. For example, in Shanghai, Regulations for Promotion of Higher Education in Shanghai proposed the establishment of a coordination mechanism for the deliberation of major policy reform in higher education at the municipal level and to establish a Higher Education Investment Assessment Committee to evaluate major investments in higher education and supervise the use of funds (Standing Committee of Shanghai People's Congress 2018). Management measures for primary and secondary schools in Qingdao stipulate that "for appraisal, evaluation, assessment, competition, inspection and other activities related to primary and secondary schools, relevant departments need to submit plans for the next year before November of the previous year. The catalogue of the plan needs to be complied by the administrative Department of Education and is published at the beginning of the next year" (Municipal Government of Qingdao 2017). These practical explorations have resulted in the accumulation of useful relevant experience for deepening government educational institution reform, as well as establishing and improving government coordination and the educational governance mechanism for inter-governmental consultation.

3.3 To Streamline Administration and Decentralize, Fair Supervision, Service Optimization, and New-Style Government-School Relationship Reconstruction

The Decision of CCCPC on Education Institutions Reform in 1985 proposed the "reform [of] management institutions, while strengthen[ing] macro-management, resolutely implement[ing] streamline administration and decentraliz[ing], and expand[ing] schools' operational autonomy" (CCCPC 1985). Educational power was thus reallocated so that the traditional educational administrative relationship has undergone great changes since 1985. Since then, the expansion of school autonomy has been the main line of educational reform. In 2017, in the report Deepening Reform of Education Institutions Mechanism by the General Office of the CCCPC and the General Office of the State Council, it was stated that "schools operate independently according to law" was an important part of the educational governance structure, which is "dynamic, efficient, more open, [and] conducive to scientific development" (Xinhua news agency 2017). School autonomy in China is a result of government's decentralization. It is necessary for the government to scientifically plan the types, scale, and speed of national and regional education career development so that each school has a scientific and rational development orientation. A sound system of educational standards shall be established and improved so that schools have standards to follow in the process of independent operation. Schools shall be empowered. Operational and post-operational oversight shall be strengthened, so that the schools operating by law are supervised and guaranteed. In addition, education resources should be allocated in a balanced way, and professional services should be provided for schools for their healthy and sustainable development.

3.4 To Actively and Steadily Use Social Organization and Market in Education

In the 1990s, a global trend of education reform using marketization and performativity emerged to solve the public dissatisfaction with educational quality (Goertz and Duffy 2001; Headington 2000; Heller 2001; Mahony and Hextall 2000). In this process, quality education and competitive schools have become salient, emphasizing education quality management and quality assurance, school monitoring and evaluation, parental choice, education vouchers, marketization, parental and community participation in governance, as well as performance-oriented funding mechanisms and other reform issues (Cheng 2015: 5-29; Cheng and Townsend 2000: 317-344; Mukhopadhyay 2001; Pang et al. 2003: 1063-1080).

With the development of China's market economy, in the process of deepening economic system reform, the role of the market in resource allocation changed from "basic" to "decisive" (Xi 2017). In the process of promoting government institutional modernization, in addition to participating in school operation, social organizations are participating in public affairs, including education, by bringing their professional advantage. The Ministry of Education ( 2015) suggested to use contract-out services in legal consultation, faculty training, evaluation services, sports and arts curriculum, teaching resources, etc.

3.5 To Expand School Autonomy and Vitalize Schools

As mentioned above, "expanding school autonomy" is the proposition of education reform put forward in the Decisions on Education Institutions Reform of CCCPC in 1985 and is still in progress today. The Decisions proposed that "schools gradually implement the principal accountability system," which establishes a framework for school management structure consisting of school party organization, principal, school administration committee, and representatives of faculty and staff congress. "The school Party shall liberate themselves from managing everything in the past and concentrate on strengthening party-building and political work." (CCCPC 1985). With the deepening of education reform, the school leadership system in China is constantly changing. To further strengthen and improve the Party's leadership in schools, public colleges and universities should adhere to and improve principal responsibility institutions under the leadership of the CPC and give active political roles to grassroots party organizations in primary and secondary schools and private colleges (General Office of the CPC Central Committee 2014).

Schools are "ecological" systems with structures and their own vitality. Educational management systems and management mechanisms, as being imposed externally, affect or constrain the vitality of schools. The vitality of a school depends more on internal self-organization mechanisms. School vitality is manifested in three aspects: first, in the pursuit of educational values, ideals, and responsibilities, and the shared school mission; second, in internal institutions and mechanisms to inspire, facilitate, and support the school organization as well as individuals to participate and create actively; third, in active self-learning and autonomous development of students in the designed learning activities with teachers and their peers

4 Educational Institutional Changes and Laws

Reform is integral in the forming process of social regulations (Popkewitz 1991). Change and innovation in educational institutions require the support of the legal system. Fundamentally speaking, the reform of educational institutions in the past 40 years represents the process of the continuous legalization of educational reform. In 1980, when the first educational law, Regulations on Degrees in the People's Republic of China, was issued, it signified the starting point of the legal path of educational development (Standing Committee of the NPC 1980). Since then, the two laws of Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China and Teachers Law of the People's Republic of China were successively issued. The issue of the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China in March 1995 marks the transition toward the comprehensive rule of law in China.

In the new century, with issuing Vocational Education Law of the People's Republic of China, Higher Education Law of People's Republic of China, Law of the People's Republic of China on Promotion of Privately-run Schools, and several administrative regulations and local laws, a framework of China's education legal system was formed, and education legislation embarked on a comprehensive and systematic stage. In the process of education legislation, an important document regarding national education development issued in 1993 proposed that China would "initially establish the framework of education laws and regulations system by the end of this century" (CCCPC, The State Council 1993). The Outline of the National Medium and Long Term Program for Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) issued in 2010 further proposed to accelerate the education legal construction and perfect laws and regulations of socialist education with Chinese characteristics, in accordance with the requirement of the fundamental principle of governing the country by law; and outlined the specific tasks of amending the six laws including the Education Law, the Vocational Education Law, the Higher Education Law, the Regulations on Degrees, the Teachers Law, and the Law on Promotion of Private education and formulating five laws respectively in the fields of examinations, schools, lifelong learning, preschool education and family education (Working Group Office for The Outline of the National Medium-and Long Term Program for Education Reform and Development 2010). The issue and revision of relevant laws and regulations on education have promoted laws and regulations in education. In the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the contradictions and legal relations between various educational stakeholders are becoming increasingly complicated. Tensions among them are unavoidable but can be tuned within a legal framework. Confronted with the arduous task of responding to the national strategic demands the people, there is still a long way to go in terms of legislating, practicing, and enforcing the law.

5 Concluding Remarks

Education reform enacted in China over the past 40 years of Reform and Opening-up is a process of perfecting educational institution mechanisms and a process of continuously improving socialist education institutions with Chinese characteristics. It also entails a process of moving from promoting scattered reform by using education policies and regulations to regulating educational organization by using laws and promoting the construction and perfection of the education institutions. The process of education reform has explored gaming and appropriate allocation of power and interests, in which educational order has been rebuilt to break the constraints. The course of education reforms features moving from regulation to empowerment, through empowering by law, promoting consultation and shared governance, and vitality stimulation.

The main task of education institutional reform in the new era is to construct and perfect "the pattern of government's macro management according to law, school operation by law, orderly social participation and concerted efforts of all parties," and to make education "dynamic, efficient, more open and conducive to scientific development." In the future, the mission of education development is to further promote the balanced development of education, to solve the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development, and to meet the increasing needs of people to enjoy fairer education with higher quality (Cai 2017).

Looking forward, we are now entering an era with prevailing new technology. Internet-based big data and artificial intelligence have generated an uncertain but in-depth impact on our lives, work, learning, and thinking. Internet-based learning resources make school no longer the only source of knowledge, while immersion learning happens at any time and in any situation.

Educational institutional reform in the past 40 years in China has been based on institutionalized school education. When the institutionalized, systemic, and regulated school education institutions and its functions have undergone revolutionary changes, and new educational conditions based on the blending of online and offline learning will become the "new normal" of education. A call for new education institutions and education governance mechanism is soon to appear and facilitate this "new normal" education.

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Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Guorui Fan

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Correspondence to Guorui Fan .

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Editors and Affiliations

1. Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Guorui Fan

2. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Thomas S. Popkewitz

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Fan, G. (2020). Changes in Educational Institutions in China: 1978-2020. In: Fan, G., Popkewitz, T.S. (eds) Handbook of Education Policy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8347-2_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8347-2_6

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Changes in Educational Institutions in China: 1978-2020

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This chapter reviews key historical documents and reform events and outlines China's educational reform and development in the macro context of 40 years of social, political, and economic changes. Professor Elizabeth J. Perry (2014) noted the significance...

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Authors: Eva Huang, John Benson & Ying Zhu, University of South Australia

The Chinese education sector is the largest globally. In 2012, it had nearly 200-million full-time students. With admission to the World Trade Organization and the further opening of the Chinese market, coupled with parents' high expectations of and investment in education and the failure of the current Chinese education system to meet people's needs, the Chinese education sector has been, and will continue to be, an attractive business for international educational institutions in the near future.

Traditionally, Chinese people have been highly appreciative of the role of education in development. This tradition was strengthened by the introduction of the One-Child Policy which took effect in the late 1970s. Parents usually have huge expectations for their only child and are often willing to sacrifice whatever they can afford to give their child the best opportunities for educational success. Educational expenses comprise a large and increasing proportion of income expenditure for households. For example, parents in most cities spent at least one third of their household income on their children's education, and, in some cities, the proportion can account for half of household income. In addition to school-related expenditures, after-school extra curriculum activities, such as piano, maths, dancing, and English lessons, represent an increasing proportion of family education expenditure.

The national obsession with education is also reflected in government policy. At the very beginning of the period of economic reform, Deng Xiaoping viewed education as the foundation for the 'Four Modernisations': modern agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology. In 1983 he proposed 'Three Orientations' for the Chinese education system - 'education must be oriented to modernisation, to the world, and to the future'. In the same year, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council promulgated the Outline of Education Reform and Development in China, stressing 'a strong nation lies in its education and a strong education system lies in its teachers'.

Later, in 1997, the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party decided that the national development strategy would be based on science and education. In 2004, the State Council issued The Action Plan for Invigorating Education 2003 to 2007, which placed education as the top strategic priority for the development of a modern China. According to the National Statistics Bureau of China (2012), the Chinese government has substantially increased the level of investment in education since 2006 (from 5,161 billion Yuan (2.82 per cent of GDP) in 2005 to 20,772 (4 per cent of GDP) billion Yuan in 2012). More recently, in 2010, the Ministry of Education enacted the Outline of China's National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020), which was aimed at transforming China into a leading knowledge- and technology-based country.

The Chinese education system follows the 6-3-3-3/4 model (6-year primary school, 3-year junior middle school, 3-year senior middle school/vocational school, and either 2- or 3-year college or 4-year university). Attending 9 years of schooling (6-year primary school and 3-year junior middle school) is obligatory for all children under the Compulsory Education Law (1986, 2006). Students in the compulsory education stage usually go to schools within their household registration system. Once finishing primary school education, students usually go on to a junior middle school. However, after junior middle school, students undertake a high school entrance examination (zhongkao), competing for limited places in key senior middle schools, which are almost the only route to key universities.

Career progression for teachers in China happens on a competitive basis, pushing principals and teachers to work hard to achieve better performance. Highly performing principals and teachers are more likely to be promoted and better rewarded. For those not performing well, their chances of career progression are limited. Moreover, the adoption of performance-based pay means that under-achievers not only lose face but also receive less pay. Quite often, student test results are the most critical, if not the only, indicator of teachers' and students' performance. As such, teachers and students work extremely hard to improve their test results.

The emphasis on tests has led to Chinese students ranking among the best globally on test results. For example, in the Program for International Student Assessment organised by the OECD every three years, Chinese students from Shanghai in 2009 achieved the best results in mathematics, science and reading. Similar results were achieved in 2012.

Nevertheless, the focus on student test results, which require students to memorise, regurgitate information and follow instructions, has resulted in a lack of critical thinking, creativeness and problem-solving ability among students. This deficiency has been a considerable concern for the Chinese government which aims to build a sustainable and prosperous society based on education and science. Consequently, more radical educational reforms have been conducted following the launch of the Outline of China's National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020).

The development of the education system has allowed for the training of more professionals and skilled workers to meet the needs of the changing economy. The supply of this educated workforce has also helped boost growth. Education in China is not only big business for public and private investors: it is the key to China's economic dynamism.
Eva Huang was a teacher in China and has recently completed her PhD on the Chinese education system at the University of South Australia. John Benson is Professor of Management at the University of South Australia. Professor Ying Zhu is Director of the Australian Centre for Asian Business at the University of South Australia.

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national plan for long-term education reform and development

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outline of education reform and development

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program for international student assessment

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Education － China's most important economic weapon | East Asia Forum

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Authors: Eva Huang, John Benson & Ying Zhu, University of South Australia The Chinese education sector is the largest globally. In 2012, it had nearly 200-million full-time students.

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1. Solar, Wind energy, mines resources(coal and minterals)

2. The country has taken a white range of actions to recover the damage, for example growing trees to improve the quality and protect the natural environment.

3. The number of higher plant species and vertebrate species respectively account for 10% and 13.7% of the world's total, ranking among the top in the wworld, The forest coverage rate of China reached 24.02% also, The country has contributed a quarter of the world's new forest area in the past decade.

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2.Tangible heritage : artifacts withbhistorical, artistic and scientific values, like historic relics, architecture and cultural ruins,

Intangible heritage : traditions that have been pass down through generations and are closely related tothe day to day life of people. Includes various performance Arts, knowledge system, craftsmanship,etc.

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1. Solar, Wind, mine and coal

2. to use methods such as planting trees and regulating the resources that can be extracted

3. Strict system for protecting cultivated land has been implemented. The foundation for national food security has been strengthened. China has continued to carry on mineral resource exploration, achieved an increase in the reserves of major mineral resources, and maintained the world's largest output of coal, tungsten and other mineral products for many years.

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1. Literacy rate, gross enrollment ratio, high school enrollment rate

2. In my opinion, I believe that China can create some education courses for some adults with low educational level to give them a chance to get higher degree and apply for better paid jobs. Then they could have a higher quality of life and the hard power of China will increase.

3. Firstly, there are higher access rate to school as there is universal access to free compulsory education. More citizens have a chance to go to school and learn, especially citizens in rural and under-developed provinces. Also, the education system increased. For example, the examinations have gradually shifted from simply memorizing information to testing student’s skills in applying knowledge.

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14JNsQ_6ZKIAKHdxFWA0A_UknA_NuJGmQFtnDHOlqhsg/edit

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1. Chinese people started to be more aware of their national identity as a Chinese after R&O, they started to put more focus on their culture, preserving and protecting their own while learning from foreign cultures as well, since R&O gave exposures to other cultures to them.

3. They started putting more resources and effort into protecting cultures, setting up laws and regulations, China also joined the International Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985 to elevate its endeavors in preserving its heritage to global standards, according to the article.

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1. It decrease as China can now make great use of them for its development as a whole, China’s ability to obtain them also improved greatly.

2. They set up related laws and regulations, discouraging pollution, and educated the public through promotions to encourage resource protection .

3. Yes, because natural resources directly effects the production, manufacturing industry, China’s ability to produce for itself instead of relying on other country, it affects greatly on the citizen’s life and China’s national strength.