Investing in the future, the evolution of China's education system

In December 1949, the first National Education Work Conference was held. Guidelines were adopted, requiring that the country's education system meet the needs of the newly founded People's Republic of China and its people.

At the founding of the PRC, 80 percent of the population was illiterate. In September 1950, the National Conference on Industry, Agriculture and Education decided that the first task in the education of workers and farmers was to roll out a large-scale literacy campaign.

In January 1956, the State Council－China's Cabinet－issued the Chinese Character Simplification Program, and Mandarin was promoted nationwide in February of the same year. In February 1958, the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, adopted Chinese Pinyin, which was required to be used as a tool to guide the study of Chinese characters and to promote Mandarin.