China's education system has grown increasingly complex, creating the need for an annual critical review of the education system by China's top scholars. The "Blue Book of Education," as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this important English translation combining the Blue Books published in 2007 and 2008, the issues, developments, challenges, and crises in Chinese education are comprehensively discussed and critically analyzed. This volume's incisive contributions address a wide range of pressing issues including: debt caused by the expansion of higher education, quality of education, employment of graduates, corruption of scholarship, education for migrant children, the gap between policy and practice in bilingual education for minority students, the popularization of no-fee compulsory education in rural areas, reform of the national university examination system, and thorny problems faced by private daycares and private schools. The volume is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the perspective of some of China's most critical scholars about the most pressing challenges facing education. This book contains an introduction by Gerard Postiglione and the following articles: (1) Educational Reform in China: An Overview (Yang Dongpin); (2) Funding for Compulsory Education in Rural Areas (Cheng Gang); (3) Early Childhood Education in China: Problems and Solutions (Chu Zhaohui); (4) Issues Involved When Seeking Balanced Development of Urban and Rural Compulsory Education (Fan Weichen); (5) Compulsory Education for Migrant Children: A Case Study (Han Jialing); (6) Educating the Children of Migrant Workers in Rural Areas (Ye Zhong and Tu Xiaoming); (7) Curriculum Reform amid Controversy (Zhai Jinyu); (8) The Current Situation of Rural Substitute Teachers in China (Zhu Yinnian); (9) The Reform of China's University Entrance Examination System (Wang Xiong and Zhu Zhengbiao); (10) Chinese Ethnic Minorities and Bilingual Education (Teng Xing and Hai Lu); (11) Improving the Quality of Higher Education in China (Shen Yushun); (12) Bureaucracy in Chinese Universities (Xiong Bingqi); (13) The Debt Crisis in China's Colleges and Universities: Causes, Resolutions and Contradictions (Lin Li); (14) Employment Issues Facing China's College Graduates (Tian Yongpo); (15) Reform of Financial Aid to University Students: Policy for Enhancing Equity (Shen Hong and Wei Li); (16) The Development of Private Schools in China (Hu Wei, Xie Ximei and Chai Chunqing); (17) Reform of Vocational Education in China (Xing Hui and Li Shiwei); (18) Art Education in China (Li Gongming and Hu Bin); (19) The Societal Push to Develop the Education System in 2007 (Wang Sheng); (20) The Current Status and Future Prospects of Education Legislation (Song Yanhui); (21) The Innovation of Local Educational Systems (Cong Chunxia); (22) Educational Corruption in China (Ren Jianming); (23) The Remedy for Undesirable Academic Practices (Jing Jianbin); (24) Satisfaction with Chinese Education: A 2007 Survey--21st Century Education Development Research Institute-Horizon Research Consultancy Group; (25) Confucius Institutes and International Promotion of the Chinese Language (Wang Yan); (26) Hong Kong and Macao University Recruitment of Mainland Chinese Students (Li Mei and Xue Wenzheng); (27) A 2007 Summary of the Education System in Hong Kong (Zhao Zhenzhou); (28) A Summary of Education in Taiwan in 2007 (Huang Kunjin); and (29) The 2007 Almanac of Chinese Education: 21st Century Education Development Research Institute. [For Volume 2, see ED512153.]