From the imperial examination to the national college entrance examination: The dynamics of political centralism in China's educational enterprise

This paper examines the relationships between political centralism and the Imperial Examination in imperial China and the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in the People's Republic of China. A brief history of the two systems is given. The purposes, characteristics, strengths and limits of the two systems are discussed. The relationships between the two systems and Chinese education, the relationships between the two systems and Chinese political systems, and the relationships between the two systems and the common people in different historical periods are also discussed. These discussions lead to the understanding that the two systems have served the political needs of both the ruling classes and the commoners (although it has been limited for the latter), and contributed to the continuity of political centralism. The NCEE is still indispensable but it needs reform. Notes * Yuan Feng is a Ph. D. candidate in the College of Education at the University of Washington. She had a rich experience of teaching and administration in the Chinese educational system from primary and secondary education to higher education. The original version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education International Pre‐Conference in Tucson, Arizona on November 8, 1994. The author would like to thank Profs. Don Williams, Kent Guy, Geneva Gay, James Vasquez, Bill Winn, and Ann Morey for philosophical questions, critique, and editorial improvement.