1939.1 Tongzhou, Ansai and Zhaojue Revisited
Dramatic changes have occurred across and within the case study districts. These
have taken many forms, the flavour of which is apparent from the case studies.
Along with the rest of China economic growth, the fruits of the “open door” policy
and Deng Xiaoping thought have transformed the physical and financial context
within which nine year compulsory education is being realised. Average per capita
income was between 1300 and 2000 yuan in 1990 in Tongxian. By 2010 it was
over 17,000 yuan (urban), and 8300 yuan (rural). In Ansai per capita income was
between 180 and 330 yuan per capita in 1990 and is now between 16,000 yuan
(urban) and 2600 yuan (rural). And in Zhaojue it has increased from around 210
to 240 yuan to about 11,700 yuan (urban) and 2600 yuan (rural). Zhaojue remains
overwhelmingly rural, whereas Ansai is increasingly urban. Zhaojue thus remains
the poorest of the three counties.
Over the last ten years in two of the areas, Tongzhou and Ansai, the number of
school age children has fallen dramatically as fewer children are being born. In
Tongzhou the effect on enrolments has been moderated by the influx of substan-
tial numbers of migrants. Nevertheless by 2006 primary enrolment was less than
half its 1990 level. In Ansai enrolments have fallen at primary level by nearly half
since 2001. But in Zhaojue primary school enrolments have doubled since 1990.
These changes are related to the falling birth rates in Tongxian—from about 15‰
to less than 7‰, and from about 25‰ to less than 10‰ in Ansai. In Zhaojue the
birth rate remains high and though it has probably fallen from the 25 % in 1990 it
still appears to be over 15‰.
In all the areas enrolment rates have improved at both primary and secondary
level. Overall, in Tongzhou nine year compulsory education has been consolidated
and the high levels of performance reported in 1990 have been sustained. It is
fairly certain that virtually all school age children were enrolled then and continue
Chapter 9
Transitions and Challenges for the
Development of Basic Education
© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2016
L. Wang and K. Lewin, Two Decades of Basic Education in Rural China,
New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2120-6_9