Universities · Full chronicle and history

A PPT from the Southeast University Medical School circulating online shows that out of 236 freshmen enrolled, only 133 remain, a dropout rate of 43.6%. In Medical Imaging, 6 out of 21 remain, and in the 5+3 integrated clinical program, 39 out of 86 students transferred out. Some students claim that in their freshman year, the class size dropped from over 30 to 14.

On November 5, The Paper reported that universities including Jiangnan University, Heilongjiang University, Wenzhou University, and Northeast Forestry University have introduced AI classroom patrol systems to monitor attendance rates and student engagement (head-up rates). Jiangnan University's system covers 462 classrooms, has analyzed over 120,000 class hours, and automatically sends alerts for abnormal classroom situations, while Southern Medical University uses AI to grade classes.

Taiyuan University of Technology released a procurement intention in the same batch, planning to spend 340,000 yuan to purchase internet behavior management equipment. It requires coverage of all faculty, students, and various terminals, integration with unified identity authentication, and the capability for website access control and internet behavior auditing.

The eighth round of inspections by the 20th CCP Central Committee has officially begun, with teams stationed at the Ministry of Education and 31 centrally administered universities including Peking University and Tsinghua University.

On October 19, the School of Electrical Engineering at Three Gorges University issued a notice on a themed class meeting, placing illegal use of VPNs alongside internet addiction and other issues, requiring guidance for students to obtain information through official channels and install the National Anti-Fraud Center App, and to submit class meeting records for archiving before October 28.

On October 14, a university teacher posted on a social platform, saying that what he teaches students is knowledge that is years behind, mocking himself as "a product of the previous industrial revolution teaching knowledge from the era of industrial Cthulhu," and feeling powerless for his students. The post received 857,000 likes and 157,000 reposts.

On October 11, according to domestic media reports, a member of the parent committee at Siji School in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, proposed in a group chat that parents take turns going to the school to supervise students' midday rest, claiming the move was intended to allow teachers to rest better.

On October 10, the School of Intelligence at the Hangzhou Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) issued a statement warning that using foreign SIM cards for roaming or accessing restricted websites via VPN constitutes illegal internet connectivity that bypasses regulation.

On September 29, the Beijing Institute of Technology announced that faculty member Pei Yi had seriously violated professional conduct standards for teachers, revoking his qualification as a graduate supervisor and terminating his employment. Pei Yi had previously sparked controversy over remarks made in class discussing feminism and noting that all members of the Politburo Standing Committee are male.

A netizen shared a video of two elderly people fighting over cardboard boxes, sparking sighs in the comments section about social involution. Some netizens pointed out that given the involution and food safety issues in China, many people might not even live long enough to reach the age of fighting over cardboard boxes.

Ministry of Education spokesperson and Vice Minister Wang Guangyan announced that China has built the world's largest and highest-quality education system, with 270 million people having received higher education.

On September 17, Peking University issued the "Implementation Measures for Fulfilling the Requirement of Tightening Our Belts," strictly controlling expenditures on meetings, business travel, and asset procurement, explicitly prohibiting holding meetings at 21 scenic spots including Huangshan and Jiuzhaigou. Recently, Beijing Forestry University, Anhui Jianzhu University, and several other universities have also successively issued detailed rules to curtail administrative extravagance.

On September 11, 2026, a netizen posted on a social platform stating that when using the university learning software “Zhidao”, even after closing the app and clearing the background, after turning on VPN a prompt “VPN environment detected, please adjust network” still appears. The netizen worries this prompt could be monitored by the school and affect credits or graduation. Zhidao belongs to Zhihui Tree Net, and its privacy policy effective from July 1, 2025 states that the platform will collect device identifiers and IP in the background, and may provide abnormal learning behavior data to the school after school authorization.

On September 9, AI designer Mihrolla released a surrealist video, using metaphor to showcase the academic burden and ideological constraints in Chinese education.

Henan University of Economics and Law has implemented a mandatory facial recognition and location-based clock-in attendance system, and stipulates that leave of absence requests require parental cooperation, sparking widespread questioning and dissatisfaction among students regarding the excessive administrative and prison-like management of universities.

China University of Petroleum: You're Mom If You Play Games

On September 5, 2026, primary and secondary school teachers in various regions posted on social media to complain about schools disguisedly forcing donations. Quotas were assigned based on senior teacher rank or permanent staff status, with requirements to post screenshots of the donations in work groups, triggering strong resentment.

On September 5, 2026, Tang Jiafeng, a famous postgraduate entrance exam math tutor, publicly declared that English is merely a tool, calling for an end to English's status as a core course in basic education and an end to the worship of foreign things, sparking fierce public controversy over education reform.

On September 4, 2026, a netizen's submission reported that multiple universities required students in every class to follow the state security (MSS) WeChat official account, with class monitors verifying and tallying the number of followers one by one and reporting it upward.

On September 4, 2026, a college student revealed that the school required students to report and document their travel history during the summer break to designated provinces and overseas, using a publicly editable online form to collect the information, sparking controversy over infringement of personal privacy.

A plan by Zizhuang Primary School in Yongchuan, Chongqing, to charge students a tray-cleaning fee of 45 yuan per semester has sparked controversy. On September 3, 2026, the Yongchuan District Education Commission announced that the charge was non-compliant and ordered the school to stop it immediately.

On September 2, 2026, a parent exposed the schedule of the high school division of Haikou City No. 4 Middle School, which shows that the school forces students to collectively watch a half-hour broadcast of Xinwen Lianbo during the evening self-study period, sparking public discussion.

In Huazhou, Guangdong, a large number of students' parents gathered at the school gate to protest after some students were required to transfer to other campuses, and clashed with police.

Police told Enxu that Li Zheng was being detained on suspicion of organized crime; the report also stated that Li Zheng's network of schools was still registering companies and promoting new schools.

Beijing No. 18 Middle School recently replaced its principal with one from Shandong along with a number of teachers, sparking dissatisfaction over their poor Mandarin, low teaching quality, and an open letter from the principal criticizing students; subsequently, the principal was exposed as allegedly having a prior rape record, leading to collective student protests.

On September 1, 2026, some kindergartens in Hong Kong had young children perform Chinese-style marching drills to raise the flag at their opening ceremonies, and the Education Bureau disclosed that it had held 40 flag-raising workshops for more than 1,000 kindergarten teachers across Hong Kong to strengthen patriotic identity.

Recently, a number of universities, including Beijing Forestry University, Anhui University of Architecture, and Shanxi Vocational College of Finance and Trade, successively introduced detailed rules for living within their means, stipulating measures such as banning flowers at meetings, prohibiting the distribution of souvenirs, and purchasing low-cost air tickets for travel, in order to cut administrative extravagance.

A teacher at Tongling No. 1 High School in Anhui, Anhui Province, posted a complaint saying that in addition to regular teaching they must constantly take part in teaching-research activities, write study reflections, work on papers and research projects, and set exam questions, saying: "Why can't work just be teaching? I'm so miserable, I want to escape all of this."

Hong Kong's Education Bureau announced a series of student mainland exchange programs themed on the "90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March" for the new school year, arranging for students to visit relevant memorial sites and participate in themed activities.

On August 28, 2026, the Hong Kong Education Bureau sent a circular to all primary and secondary schools across Hong Kong, launching a student mainland exchange program for the 90th anniversary of the Long March victory, organizing students to visit Zunyi and other places to enhance their sense of identity.

On August 25, 2026, Aite Qidi Yulongwan Kindergarten in Laiyang, Shandong issued a report stating that family members of 3 students forcibly entered the teaching area and beat the kindergarten director and teachers, causing injuries, and that the kindergarten is cooperating in pursuing legal responsibility against the attackers.

On August 23, 2026, a netizen posted to expose Fuzhou Institute of Technology's high-pressure management, which forces morning check-ins and confiscates phones, and also instructs the student union and students to report and manipulate comments on social platforms regarding negative content about the school.

First-year high school students at Anlu No. 1 High School in Hubei Province staged a collective strike to protest the school's decision to cut their original 20-day summer vacation down to just 5 days. Chanting slogans such as "Against centralization, advocate equality" and "Return our 20-day summer vacation," they ultimately forced the school administration to compromise and restore the long break.

Blogger Shiju Insight posted in June this year that some university technician classes failed to recruit enough students and in the end had to hold classes together with ordinary classes starting from junior high school graduates; the teachers' lecturing pace was extremely slow and the content extremely shallow, and high-end skills training turned into a big pot of stew for just killing time.

A university teacher submitted a post arguing that engineering education accreditation, while wearing a non-governmental mask, is actually an administrative directive that reduces engineering universities to formalistic administrative performances, resulting in the 'high schoolization of universities'.

Jiangxi Normal University requires students to submit an application for all private international travel. This policy has been in effect for half a year, and specific implementation details have not been made public.

A school group notice requires all student clubs to refrain from holding team-building or recreational activities on campus between October 31 and November 3, and instructs groups to contact their faculty advisors separately.

Online reports claim that China has begun implanting chips into student school uniforms for location tracking and surveillance.

Netizens submitted records of extreme point deductions at Hengshui No.2 High School, showing that students were frequently penalized for everyday details such as holding books incorrectly, using the restroom at night, not lying down properly while sleeping, and even laughing or combing hair.

Henan examinee Li Mengmeng scored 565, 13 points above the first-tier cutoff, but her paper application form never entered the admission process and was forgotten in the admissions office.

Starting in 2006, rural western China was the first to waive tuition and fees; in 2007 this was extended to all rural areas, and in 2008 free education was achieved in both urban and rural areas. The Two Exemptions and One Subsidy policy covered 150 million rural students, bringing to an end the system of paying fees during the compulsory education stage.

On March 16, 2005, the Tsinghua Network Center blocked access from off-campus, and the Shuimu Tsinghua BBS was converted into an on-campus-only system, leaving 82.3% of its former off-campus users unable to log in; on April 14 the servers were taken over by the university, and on April 19 the station affairs committee resigned en masse.

The author's uncle scored excellently on exams at Shanghai No. 5 Middle School in the 1950s, but because his father was a fugitive landlord he could not attend university and was assigned to an agricultural university in the northwest; that school was located in a famine-stricken area where people starved to death. After he returned to Shanghai, his household registration had already been transferred out so he could not re-register there, and he ultimately returned to his hometown in Zhejiang to farm and live out his days.