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INBRIEF
HIGHER EDUCATION
IN THE PEOPLE'S
REPUBLIC OF CHINA
by
Stanley
R.
Rader
H
aving the way for a visit by
Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to
e People's Republic of China
(PRC),
1
recently met with a number
of high officials in the PRC's Minis–
try ofEducation and at severa! prom–
inent national universi ties and librar–
ies. We spoke about , among other
things, the state of higher education
in the world's most populous nation.
The Chinese leaders are putting a
renewed emphasis on education these
days. Education is slated to play a
vital role in Peking's ambition to be–
come a modern industrial superpow–
er by the year 2000.
While the " modernization" cam–
paign has been toned down a bit since
its inception almost a year ago, the
fact is that the government's long–
term plans still call for vast changes
in the PRC's economy. The leaders
in Peking know, for example, that in
order to be able to compete in world
markets or even make the best use of
the resources they have, they' re go-
40
ing to have to produce many mi!Jions
of tech nologically sophistica ted
people. Current plans are to raise up
a "vast army" of scientists, techni–
cians, and skilled workers. The PRC
already has the muscle power it
needs-what it lacks is expertise.
And yet the PRC's educational
system is only just now beginning to
recover from a decade of turmoil and
radicalism. In the middle and late
60s, and early 70s, the PRC went
through a period of student unrest
not unlike that experienced else–
where in the world.
In China, most of the turmoil was
stirred up by four high- level officials
(who have since been deposed) called
the "gang of four ." One of them was
the wife of Mao Tse-tung. The gang
of four were extreme zealots for a
completely
equal
society. Education,
which necessarily stresses such
things as study, diligence, and excel–
lence, carne under fire. To the gang
of four, education had to become
subservient to the política! objective
of making society more equal. Nato–
rally, standards fell and chaos
reigned.
According to officials in the Min–
istry of Education, in sorne colleges
and universities cont rolled by the
gang of four (including Peking Uni–
versity, where 1 visited) sorne classes
spent only
eight weeks
a year in
study! Laboratories were srnashed, li–
braries were deserted. Teachers and
students who worked hard were ac–
cused of becoming "capitalist road–
ers" by becorning "expert."
Students, of course, found it easier
to engage in "política! criticism" of
their teachers than to study. The
gang of four even went so far as to
abolish entrance exams to get into
the universities. Admission depended
on having the correct "political out–
look," rather than on cornpetence.
Gang of four-inspired radicals said
that anything which required dili–
gence or study smacked of "elitisrn"
and was too "middle-class" for a
Cornmunist society. At Fudan Uni–
versity (where
1
also visited on my
recent trip). all scientific research
stopped.
ft
was too "elitist." At Pek–
ing University, subjects such as psy–
chology were dropped from the cur–
rículum. A correct "class outlook,"
said the radicals, made the subject
unnecessary.
[t
was during this period that most
of the. officials with whom 1 met at
the Ministry of Education and at
Peking University had to tred very
carefully and maintain an extremely
The
PLAIN TRUTH October
1
November 1979