Education Policy · Full chronicle and history

On November 8, Chinese media reported that primary and secondary schools in many parts of the country have adjusted their schedules, delaying school start times and canceling morning reading sessions. Netizens commented that canceling extended school services is the only real measure to reduce time spent at school, and netizens from many provinces stated that local school schedules have not been adjusted, with student pressure remaining excessively high.

On November 6, the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences established the School of Obscure Studies in Beijing to research over a dozen ancient ethnic scripts, including Old Turkic, Tangut, Khitan, and Jurchen, as well as oracle bone inscriptions and bamboo/silk manuscripts. The university stated that this would provide academic support for the long-term stability of border regions, and Vice Dean Zhao Rui described it as a concrete measure to implement the discourse of Xi Jinping.

On November 5, Jiangyin, Jiangsu announced the arrival times for local schools: 8:00 for primary school, 7:40 for middle school, and 7:20 for high school. Since the beginning of November, many schools in Jiangsu have successively adjusted their schedules, and many Jiangsu netizens have posted notifications of these schedule adjustments on Douyin.

East China Normal University issued a notice stating that classes will be suspended across the entire campus on November 16 due to the district-level People's Congress election, sparking public questioning regarding the real power of candidates and students' right to know.

On October 31, a netizen shared a work reminder issued by the Donghai County Education Bureau in Jiangsu Province, requiring schools to strictly adjust their schedules, control evening self-study hours, and regulate holiday arrangements. Except for the third year of high school, schools must strictly implement two-day weekends. Practices such as 'dismissal on Saturday noon and returning on Sunday noon'—a fake two-day weekend—are prohibited, and no disguised supplementary classes are allowed. The news sparked discussions among students and parents, with some Jiangsu netizens claiming that similar measures are often abandoned as soon as the inspection teams leave.

The Education and Sports Bureau of Changyuan City, Xinxiang, Henan Province, issued a document requiring all middle schools to achieve an HPV vaccination rate of over 80% by November 20. The bureau will rank schools based on their vaccination rates, and the principals of the bottom three schools will be summoned for talks by bureau leaders. Vaccination sites are operating 24 hours a day. Parents in many places have reported being pressured by homeroom teachers and principals.

Recently, an educational consulting institution published an article reviewing policies in China in recent years on income incentives and subsidies for teachers of ideological and political courses at universities. Universities in many regions have explicitly required that the actual income of such teachers be higher than the average income of all teachers on campus, with preferences also given in professional title evaluations.

The table of contents of the PEP edition high school Chinese selective compulsory textbook (Volume 2) has been adjusted: Rousseau's "Compassion Is Human Nature" has been dropped from its original unit, replaced by Xi Jinping's speech and article on the "two integrations."

According to a report by The Washington Post on October 2, China's Ministry of Education recently stated that it expects all schools to offer AI education before 2030, establishing an AI literacy system covering all educational stages and society as a whole.

A frontline English teacher using the online name "Teacher Li the Educator" posted an article claiming that Chinese cultural and ideological-political elements make up nearly 80% of the new People's Education Press (PEP) English textbook, that the protagonists have been changed from Li Lei and Han Meimei to "Fuxing" (Rejuvenation), and that because relations with a certain country have deteriorated, all material from that country has been deleted, calling for textbooks that combine Chinese and Western elements.

According to a September 29 report by the Chinese edition of The New York Times, China will include Jane Eyre in the ninth-grade Chinese "whole-book reading" list this autumn, and ninth-graders across the country are required to read it in full. State media said it helps foster a positive outlook on life and understand equality and an independent personality in love.

The Ministry of Education released the "Management Measures for Primary and Secondary School Leadership Personnel," stipulating that having taught in rural and weak schools for more than 3 years will be a priority condition for the selection of school leaders, and encouraging leaders of quality urban schools to exchange, take up posts, and study in rural schools.

On September 16, to comply with the implementation of the "Shanxi Provincial Electric Bicycle Management Regulations," multiple schools in Yongji City, Shanxi Province, required students to bring the helmets used for riding electric bicycles into classrooms and mark them with their class and name. Helmet usage was incorporated into students' daily behavior evaluations and growth records, triggering netizens' doubts about insufficient campus space and over-management.

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, netizens released the ninth-grade first-semester "Morality and Rule of Law" textbook compiled by the Ministry of Education, which requires students to arm their minds with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. It also quotes "A household with a thousand mouths is led by one person" and emphasizes the maintenance of Xi Jinping's core position, sparking public attention.

The new edition of the Grade 5 first-semester 'Morality and Rule of Law' textbook, revised according to the 2022 curriculum standards, has been released, covering political indoctrination such as the history of the CPC, socialist propaganda, and the core status of Xi Jinping.

On September 9, a netizen posted photos of a revised edition of the fifth-grade first-semester elementary school textbook “Morality and the Rule of Law,” updated in line with the 2022 version of the curriculum standards. Its four units revolve around the history of the Chinese Communist Party, socialist construction, reform and opening up, and the “New Era,” containing statements such as “Only socialism can save China,” and explicitly stating that Xi Jinping has established “the core position of the Party Central Committee and the core position of the whole Party.”

On September 2, 2026, Hong Kong netizens exposed that a new primary school Grade 5 humanities textbook, approved by the Education Bureau, marks the origin of Chinese civilization at 5000 BC, sparking controversy over historical narratives.

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.

On September 1, 2026, the new autumn edition of the fifth-grade primary school textbook Morality and Rule of Law was put into use. Unit 1 was changed from daily life to "Without the Chinese Communist Party There Would Be No New China," with party history and political ideology content substantially increased.

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.

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 26, Leibo County in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan held the 2026 autumn education administration meeting, proposing that teachers scoring below 30 in primary school and below 15 in junior high must collectively take a "shame photo" to motivate teaching performance through humiliating means.

On August 17, 2026, Caixin reported that as the school-age population shrinks, surplus school places have appeared in primary schools across the country, yet some megacities have chosen to cut places, and the threshold for migrant children to enroll remains as high as ever.

On July 31, Tongji University issued new rules announcing that it would no longer sign long-term employment contracts and that teachers must undergo periodic assessments. Scholars criticized the move as abolishing tenure and pushing universities toward social Darwinism.

In July 2026, netizens found that the new edition of the PEP Chinese textbook for 9th grade added an article by Xi Jinping, replacing classic texts such as Liang Qichao's "Dedication and Harmony with Others," prompting concern about ideological infiltration in basic education.

According to the program, the CCP Central Propaganda Department has required schools at all levels in China, including private schools, to gradually hang portraits of Xi Jinping in prominent locations from the new academic year, along with inscriptions of Xi Jinping's words on education; specific details have not yet been released.

The Chinese Communist Party's Ministry of Education released the 2025 national education statistics bulletin, showing that the number of kindergartens nationwide fell by 24,100 in one year, a drop of 8.45%, while enrollment fell by 3.58 million children.

On June 16, 2026, universities in multiple Chinese provinces successively announced the establishment of counselor colleges, specifically to strengthen the counselor workforce's ideological monitoring of college students and the work of Xi Jinping Thought on Ideology and Politics for a New Era education.

On June 16, 2026, several Double First-Class universities announced their 2026 undergraduate enrollment plans, generally expanding enrollment scales and focusing on increasing training efforts in shortage disciplines such as artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and new energy.

The Ministry of Education issued a document mentioning that Shanghai is implementing the "Construction Standards for Ideological and Political Courses in Universities," requiring private universities to establish the awareness that "the School of Marxism is the primary school" and "ideological and political courses are the primary courses," and to fulfill their primary responsibility for the construction of ideological and political courses. Public data shows that the number of Schools of Marxism in universities nationwide has expanded 18-fold over twelve years (2012 to 2024).

In 2026, Hunan issued a notice on the revitalization and utilization of idle rural primary and secondary school buildings, listing elderly care services and others among the possible directions for using idle school buildings.

The National Disease Control and Prevention Administration issued a Q&A clarifying that age-appropriate girls should fulfill their obligations for immunization program vaccines, but completion of the HPV vaccination does not affect a child's school enrollment.

In 2025, five departments in Hubei Province issued a document proposing that by 2028 the coverage rate of the student milk drinking program in basic education schools should reach more than 85%, and the awareness and acceptance rate among students and parents should reach more than 90%; at the same time, it stipulated that promotion should follow principles such as government guidance and parental voluntariness.

China introduced a policy prohibiting public schools from cooperating with private schools in running schools, and as a result Hengshui No. 2 High School's cooperation with the relevant private schools has come to an end.

On July 24, 2021, the General Office of the CCP Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Double Reduction" guidelines, prohibiting academic after-school tutoring institutions from listing for financing and making profits. This led to the bankruptcy of a large number of companies in the tutoring industry and mass unemployment for workers.

The General Office of the CCP Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Easing the Burden of Homework and Off-Campus Tutoring on Students in Compulsory Education, delivering a devastating blow to the tutoring industry.

China introduced policies targeting after-school tutoring and the private education industry; the video claims that education and training institutions such as New Oriental were hit as a result.

During Hu Jintao's term, the agricultural tax, which had lasted for over two thousand years, was successively abolished, and the Compulsory Education Law was amended.

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.

In 1999, the number of university students enrolled in China surged from 1.08 million to 1.6 million, as higher education began its transition toward mass enrollment.

After Mao Zedong's death, in 1977, with the support of Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang, China restored the gaokao (college entrance exam), allowing many children of families persecuted during the Cultural Revolution to change their fate through the exam. Subsequently, in the 1980s, overseas scholarships and government-sponsored study abroad programs emerged, and large numbers of Chinese students went to the United States for further studies.