China’s education system is composed of three levels. The first level consists of six
years of primary school education. The second level involves middle school education.
This level is divided into three years of junior school and three years of senior school.
Primary school and junior school constitute the nine-year compulsory education
period. The third level is college or university education. English as a foreign
language began to be part of the curriculum in middle schools and colleges in 1970.
Since 1999, English has become a compulsory course for primary school students at
5
and above the third grade according to the new National English Curriculum Standard.
Except for a few private schools where some other languages such as French,
Japanese or Spanish are taught as second foreign languages, English is taught as the only foreign language12 in most of the schools. English is considered a subject as
important as Chinese and Mathematics at schools, and is one of the six compulsory
subjects in the Senior School Entrance Examination. The students selected at the key
senior schools must have above average or excellent marks in English.