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."
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.
Xiaohongshu users compared the old and new versions of the lesson "The Independence of the United States" in the ninth-grade first-semester world history textbook. The new excerpt no longer contains passages stating that the legitimate powers of government derive from the consent of the governed and that the people have the right to change or abolish a government that damages their rights. After retaining expressions such as "all men are created equal," it uses an ellipsis to connect directly to the paragraph declaring independence, and commenters joked that they were afraid students might awaken.
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.
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.
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 9, AI designer Mihrolla released a surrealist video, using metaphor to showcase the academic burden and ideological constraints in Chinese education.
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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.
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.