The Education Policy of China during the Korean War: A GeoPolitical Analysis

The People’s Republic of China initiated the project of universalizing education throughout China in 1950. Due to the scale of this endeavor, the popularity of education grew gradually. Historical investigations reveal that there are gaps in the understanding of the initiation of this project. The Korean War triggered China’s massive nation-building efforts, of which education planning was an integral part. In fact, in its early stage, implementation of universal schooling was neither smooth nor unhindered. The state found that the policies of the rapidly increasing recruitment of pupils and nationalizing private and missionary schools were contradictory. Moreover, popularizing education through rapid expansion was practical due to the required human resources training and overall national development. This policy, at last, was amended as the first five-year development plan, which began in the end of 1953.