Sparetime education has been developed in the Shanyang People's Commune to accomplish three major tasks. These are to wipe out illiteracy among the young and middle-aged, to disseminate knowledge about society and about agricultural technology, and to train personnel with knowledge in various social, economic, and technological fields. To meet the various demands and different learning conditions of the receivers of sparetime education (adults engaged in farm work or other jobs), sparetime education has the following specific features: learning is combined with reality and is for the purpose of application, education adopts varied forms, and measures are taken to inspire enthusiasm for learning. Anti-illiteracy programs are of two types--winter classes, sparetime schools, and literacy groups or short-term classes. Sparetime middle schools are intended to raise the cultural level of those who have achieved literacy. Sparetime polytechnical schools offer vocational training. These lessons have been learned: sparetime education must base its objectives on needs and the possibility of their achievement; it must be an undertaking of the people; there must be a coherence of knowledge; and sparetime education and full-time schooling must be considered as a whole. (YLB)