Trends in Educational Attainment in China

Abstract

Trends in educational attainment in China over the twentieth century are studied using data from all the Chinese censuses conducted since 1982. There was a marked increase in educational attainment over time, with deviations from a smooth upward trend only among those who came of age during the Great Leap Forward, which was detrimental to education, and the Cultural Revolution, which resulted in educational expansion that subsequently was dismantled. The upward trend was mainly fueled by the expansion of primary and lower middle education, resulting in a nearly complete gender convergence, as women went from virtually no schooling at the beginning of the century to nearly universal primary matriculation by the end of the century. The gender gap also closed at higher levels of schooling.

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