For nearly a century now, despite the attempts of the Chinese government with foreign assistance to change the educational system in China, make it appropriate for the whole population of the country, and expand it to remote rural areas, numerous research on the issue proved that those areas remain untouched even by the compulsory education imposed by the government. The reasons for this increasing inequality in access to education between the urban and rural population originate from the historical and economic changes that took place during the early era of communism, followed by the Cultural Revolution in 1966, the market reforms in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and current situation in China. Some of the events had greater influence on the country’s socio-cultural environment than others. The main challenges for education in rural China are closely connected with Chinese values and identity, and are to be discussed in this essay.
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