Abstract
This paper attempts to review briefly the background and experience of implementing 9-year compulsory basic education in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong after the Second War. The three regions share the same Chinese identity but follow different patterns of development in contemporary history.Taiwan has 1945 deliberately popularised 9-year compulsory education to support its industrial take-off and subsequent export-oriented economic development. This attempt was strongly supported by a high percentage of educational expenditure in the annual government budget. As a result, Taiwan was able to implement 9-year compulsory education in 1968, the second region in Asia after Japan capable of doing so. Taiwan has also adopted a far-sighted policy of upgrading the qualification of teachers to ensure that the quality of basic education is upheld.
Hong Kong implemented 6-year compulsory primary education in 1971 and 9-year compulsory education in 1978, the pace of which synchronised with Hong Kong's economic growth. Yet the quantitative expansion of basic education was somewhat hasty and was not very well supported by measures that would ensure quality. It was during the 1980s that the government gradually took measures to address the quality issue.
The People's Republic of China has spent tremendous efforts in eradicating illiteracy and popularising basic education. Illiteracy rate was reduced from 80% in 1949 to about 20% in 1990. But due to policy contradictions and political upheavals, it was not until 1986 that the Chinese government introduced the 9-year Compulsory Education Law. Because of the vast territorial size and imbalances of economic development between different regions in China, the nationwide implementation of 9-year compulsory education has faced and will face many difficulties.
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