 In the 1990s , primary education reform had become one of the top priorities in the People 's Republic of China . About 160 million Chinese people had missed all or part of their education because of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s , and in 1986 the National People 's Congress enacted a law calling for nine years of compulsory education . By 1993 , it was clear that much of the country was making little progress on implementing nine @-@ year compulsory education , so the 1993 – 2000 seven @-@ year plan focused on this goal . One of the major challenges educators faced was the large number of rural schoolchildren dropping out to pursue work . Another issue was a large urban – rural divide : funding and teacher quality were far better in urban schools than rural , and urban students stayed in school longer . 
