Education
The highest education authority in the country is the Ministry of Education. At the center of educational policy in the last few decades was the continuation of the (re) establishment of schools, vocational schools and higher education, which began in the late 1970s and which had been badly damaged by the interventions of the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s. One problem is the educational gap between urban and rural areas and between high-income and low-income families. According to topschoolsintheusa.com, there is a general nine-year compulsory schooling for children from the age of 6. The education system is divided into the areas of basic education, vocational and technical education, higher education and adult education. The primary level with mostly all-day schools lasts six years. This is followed by the six-year secondary school, divided into junior and senior middle school, both three years old. Both general education and vocational-technical courses are offered. The Senior High School Graduation Diploma is a prerequisite for university studies. In addition, there is a nationwide uniform university entrance examination (Gaokao), the performance of which decides which university in the country can be attended. China has more than 2,400 comprehensive universities, technical universities, specialized colleges (medicine, agriculture, foreign languages, etc.), technical colleges and teaching institutes. In the higher education sector, the expansion of training capacities is being driven forward. Some universities are listed as “key universities” under the national ministry of education. In addition to the state universities, a number of state-recognized private universities have been able to establish themselves in recent years. The most important universities in the country include Peking University (founded in 1898), Tsinghua University (founded in 1911), both in Beijing , Nanjing University in Jiangsu (founded in 1952) and Fudan University in Shanghai (founded in 1905). Finally, adult education is an important branch of the Chinese education system, which was established after 1949 primarily to eradicate the high level of illiteracy among the Chinese population. Today there is a well-developed network of adult education institutions, including Television and radio universities, colleges for professionals, farmers’ universities, independent distance universities and exams for self-students count.
Media
All media (press, radio, television, online media) belong to the state’s sovereignty. The Ministry of Information is the supreme supervisory authority for the entire communications sector. All media, including the Internet, are censored and comprehensively controlled using daily directives. Private satellite reception is subject to approval. Mobile communication is widespread.
Press: The authority responsible for the print media is the State Agency for News and Publishing, which reports directly to the State Council. Newspapers and magazines, unless they are the mouthpiece of a party organization, have some freedom in terms of content and have to finance themselves. There are more than 1,900 daily newspapers and 9,000 magazines in China. The largest national newspapers are party papers: Renmin Ribao (People’s Newspaper), the organ of the CCP Central Committee, and the official newspaper “Cankao Xiaoxi” (background information). Jiefangjun Bao, the People’s Liberation Army newspaper, is published by the Central Military Commission. “China Daily” (founded in 1981) was the first English-language newspaper in the People’s Republic of China. In Shanghai are »Jiefang Ribao«, “Wenhui Bao” (culture mirror) and “Xinmin Wanbao” (evening newspaper Neues Volk) are the largest newspapers. Important magazines are “Banyue Tan” (bi-monthly discussions, for party officials) and the government newspaper “Beijing Review” (issues in German, English, French, Japanese and Spanish) and in Shenyang “Shichang Zhoubao” (business week).
News Agencies: ” Xinhua ” (New China), founded in 1937, based in Beijing) is owned by the CCP and has an information monopoly. It is represented in all provincial capitals and has around 100 foreign offices. Your international service disseminates information in six languages. “Zhongguo Xinwen She” (Chinese News Agency) supplies Chinese-language newspapers and magazines abroad with domestic news for propaganda purposes.
Broadcasting: The highest supervisory authority is the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television, which is also directly subordinate to the State Council. The ban on foreign companies from participating in Chinese radio and television companies was lifted in 2004. The broadcasting chains “China National Radio” (CNR) and “China Radio International” (CRI) exist at the central level. CNR broadcasts eleven radio programs in ten national languages. CRI (formerly “Radio Beijing”) broadcasts in standard Chinese, four Chinese dialects and around 60 other languages. The state television “Chinese Central Television” (CCTV), founded in 1959, broadcasts its programs on 24 channels, via satellite (digital) also for foreign countries. In 2003, “Kanal 13” was the first news channel to go on air.
