ABSTRACT
In 2015, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency, it is estimated that the literacy rate for Chinese adults over the age of 15 who can read and write is 94.6 per cent. There is a slight variation in access to education where 98.2 per cent of males and 94.5 per cent of females over the age of 15 can read and write in 2015 (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/fi elds/2103.html, accessed 6/1/2016). Although this is a high percentage of literacy, given China’s large population, the remaining 5.4 per cent represented around 54 million Chinese over the age of 15 who cannot read and write (https://www.theglobalist.com/11-facts-chinas-improving-literacy-rate/, accessed 6/1/2016). Illiteracy and access to education is particularly problematic in rural settings where rural children from a poor family background have little access to education and where the quality of education remains lagging behind the urban schools. Even with the famous Mao Tze-tung’s quote of ‘women hold half the sky’, among the poor, priority continues to be given to sons, a Chinese tradition that is proving resilient to changes even as China prospers. Furthermore, the two-track education system favoured the students in the urban cities where urban students enjoyed government-sponsored education, while the state government and family are the key sponsors of rural schools (Fu, 2005).
