The People's Republic of China's adult literacy rate, defined as literacy in those aged 15 and above, was measured at 97% in 2020 by the World Bank. Youth literacy, defined as literacy in those aged 15–24, was 100% since 2010 and remained so in 2020.
Historical trends under the PRC From 1994 onwards, the PRC began a campaign to eradicate illiteracy, and the State Council issued the "Outline on the Reform and Development of Education", which set the goal of reducing illiteracy to below 5% before the 21st century. This target was achieved.
When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, more than 400 million of the country's more than 500 million people were illiterate, and the illiteracy rate was about 80 percent, including over 95 percent in rural areas. In 1964, the results of the second national census showed that the country's total population was 723 million, and the literacy campaign reduced the illiteracy rate (the proportion of illiterate people aged 15 and over) in China to 52%, and about 100 million people became literate. During the Cultural Revolution, the college entrance examination system was suspended, and millions of young people went to the countryside for a month out of each year as part of secondary school.
In 1977, the college entrance examination was resumed during the "rectification of troubles" period. By the end of 1978, China's population was close to one billion, and the illiteracy rate reached 25 percent, with nearly 240 million illiterates and 30–40 percent of young and middle-aged people being illiterate. After the reform and opening, compulsory education and literacy education were included in the newly revised Constitution of the People's Republic of China (82 Constitution) in 1982. In 1986, the Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China came into effect, and since then, the nine-year compulsory education has been implemented in mainland China.
In 2001, the State Council virtually eliminated illiteracy among young and middle-aged people. In the sixth national census in 2010, the total population of mainland China was about 1.34 billion, of which about 54 million were illiterate, with an illiteracy rate of 4.08 percent. According to UNESCO, by 2015, China's illiteracy rate had dropped to 3.6 percent, and by 2020, it reached 3%. Amongst those aged between 15 and 24, it was completely eradicated – China's young adult population is 100% literate.
Before the founding of the PRC
During the period of the mainland Republic of China, the popularization of education was only implemented briefly due to the influence of the education system and the turbulent social situation.
Before 1949, all the areas under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control also carried out literacy work. At that time, every winter farming season in the accessible areas, farmers were organized to read and write. This kind of learning is only carried out in winter, called "winter learning". There are different levels of winter schools in other places, various organizational forms, teaching materials and teachers, and many winter schools still attach importance to political education and neglect cultural education.
In September 1949, the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, formulated by the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, like the Provisional constitution, called for strengthening part-time education for workers and on-the-job education for cadres.
Mao Zedong period
The early days of the founding of China In November 1949, the Ministry of Education of the Central People's Government set up the "Literacy Campaign Committee", which led the literacy education of peasants, workers and cadres. In December 1949, the Ministry of Education of the Central People's Government convened the first National Conference on Education Work, at which it was proposed that education must serve national construction, that schools must be open to workers and peasants, and that the structure of new education should be based on the unique educational experience of the old liberated areas, absorb some helpful knowledge in senior education, and make use of the advanced expertise of Soviet education. It also proposed to carry out a nationwide literacy campaign from 1951. It issued the "Instructions on carrying out the Winter School Work in 1949", pointing out that the winter school campaign should be generally tried in rural areas throughout the country.
From 20 to 29 September 1950, the Ministry of Education and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions jointly convened the first National Work Conference on Education for Workers and Peasants. Ma Xulun, Minister of Education, pointed out in his opening speech that worker and peasant education should focus on literacy education. More than 400 staff members from the central government, education departments of major administrative regions, women's federations, and model teachers and students from workers' and peasants' spare-time schools attended the meeting. Issues such as the implementation policy and leadership relationship between worker and peasant education were discussed at the meeting. The slogan "promoting literacy education and gradually reducing illiteracy" was put forward, and the principle of "government leadership, relying on mass organizations and cooperation from all sides" was realized. The main educational objects were workers and peasants cadres and activists, and the leading educational contents were culture education and policy and current affairs education, respectively.
The literacy campaign has been carried out on a large scale throughout the country, but in the implementation process, some places have ignored reality and rushed ahead. In promoting the "rapid literacy method", there are also too hasty and unstable learning results. After the end of 1952, only 550,400 people in China needed to be made literate. On 15 November 1952, the 19th meeting of the Central People's Government Committee passed a resolution to establish the Central People's Government Illiteracy Work Committee (chairman and Party Secretary Chu Tunan, deputy chairman Li Chang, Lin Handa, Qi Jianhua) to eradicate illiteracy step by step. In January 1953, the Cultural and Education Commission of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government proposed at the meeting of the directors of the Regional Cultural and Education Commissions held in Beijing that cultural and education work should be carried out as planned. Literacy was a long-term and complex task requiring more than a decade or more to complete, requiring all localities to continue to correct the aggressive tendency of literacy work after the autumn of 1952.
In response to the problems caused by the lack of unified literacy standards, on 24 November 1953, the Illiteracy Eradication Commission of the Central People's Government issued the Notice on Interim Measures for Literacy Standards and Graduation Examinations, in which the concepts of illiteracy and semi-illiteracy were defined for the first time after the founding of the People's Republic of China according to the different literacy targets of cadres, workers and peasants. That is, "in terms of literacy, those who can read more than 500 words and do not meet the literacy standard are semi-illiterate; Illiterate or literate number below 500 is illiterate ", but also provides for unified literacy standards and literacy test rules and regulations, that is, "cadres and workers, generally can be set to know 2,000 common words, can read popular books and newspapers, can write two to three hundred words of application; Farmers are generally prescribed to be able to read 1000 common words, generally can read popular books and newspapers, can write common notes, receipts; Urban working people are generally prescribed to be able to read 1,500 common words, and the reading and writing standards refer to the standards of workers and farmers." "At the request of the masses, the county literacy Work committee or the Education Department may issue a literacy diploma to those who have passed the exam." "The graduation examination for eradicating illiteracy shall be presided over by the leading grass-roots institutions for eradicating illiteracy or full-time cadres and teachers... Exam content can be divided into three literacy, reading, and writing ". Since then, the literacy movement has grown steadily.
Literacy class
By the end of 1951, literacy classes had been set up nationwide. Statistics show that in 1951, more than 1.7 million factory workers participated in literacy classes. In the 1950s, the song "Husband and Wife Literacy" was sung in literacy classes across the country along with the literacy campaign, with the lyrics: "Haig in the winter sky, out come out stars."
Literacy book At the beginning of the literacy movement, schools were temporary, teachers were amateur, there was no uniform regulation of teaching materials and various "literacy books" were published in multiple places. Some of these "literacy books" were aimed at workers, others at peasants, and still others at urban housewives. Textbooks vary in content depending on the group they are aimed at. "Literacy textbook" mainly consists of text, new words, after class exercise three parts. Ideological and political education, such as supporting the CCP, loving the motherland, anti-feudalism, and loving one's job and dedication, is also necessary content in the textbook. Various types of literacy competitions were held in the course of learning. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) held in Beijing in August 1952 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the army, even set up a "literacy race" (write the required characters on the ground to start) and "cultural test" items. Rural literacy competitions are more common; some students write on the walls of their homes, doors, and work tools and compete to be "active" in literacy.
Rapid literacy method Qi Jianhua, a cultural education instructor of a department of the Southwest Military Region of the People's Liberation Army, invented the "rapid literacy method" in the process of carrying out cultural education in the army and carried out teaching in three steps:
Learn phonetic symbols and pinyin. Surprise literacy requires the ability to read and initially speak. Study Chinese textbooks and conduct reading, writing, and writing activities.
In practice, it generally takes only half a month for one to learn and memorise more than 1,500 characters.