| dc.description.abstract | After 1949, Communist Party of China tried to improve the National Tertiary Education Entrance Examination in order to recruit manpower for various constructions in contemporary China. Due to the thought of ultra-left trend pervading the then Chinese society, the Anti-Rightist Movement gradually evolved into the Cultural Revolution so that the National Higher Education Entrance Examination was nipped in bud.
During the period from 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution was not only Mao’s tactics to maintain his regime but also an experimental movement to embody his thought on education. Due to the slogan “Education needs revolution”, tertiary education became the battlefield of the Cultural Revolution and was therefore paralyzed. In order to restore the order of the utter chaos resulted from the Red Guards, Communist Party of China started the “Reeducation Movement” also named the “Down to the Countryside Movement”, dispatching thousands upon thousands of young intellectuals to the rural areas. Nevertheless, the needs of professional manpower are not completely met. Because the tertiary education was brought to a virtual halt, China soon lacked for qualified manpower and specific technicians. Therefore, Mao’s “721 Directives” in 1968 gave part of higher schools an opportunity to restore in the fields of science and technology. In 1971, the education conference came up with the “two appraisals”, approving the contribution of Cultural Revolution to Chinese society. In “two appraisals”, the proletariat was allowed to enroll in the colleges according to the political review and parentage, to manage colleges and to change colleges; however, the colleges of the proletariat actually didn’t have the function of higher education.
Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping attempted to rectify and reform the system of tertiary education after “913 Incident”, but their efforts were thwarted due to the leftists’ criticism and Mao’s denunciation. Finally, the rectification and reformation of the tertiary education was sparked by Deng Xiaoping after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1977.
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