As the first year of the Sixteenth National People's Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as the first year for the new government, the year 2003 witnessed new events and new expectations in Chinese society. The universalization of compulsory education and the elimination of adult illiteracy made new advancements. Secondary education and higher education continued to develop rapidly. In this article, the author describes some of the significant events in the Chinese education community during the year 2003. For one, the year would be remembered as "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Education Year" because society as a whole and the education community united as one in order to weather the SARS crisis. The year 2003 can also be called "Rural Education Year" as for the first time since the foundation of New China, the State Council held a meeting for rural education to make a serious commitment and adopted concrete measures to intensify its efforts to universalize compulsory education in rural areas. [Translated by Jennifer Eagleton.] (Contains 1 table and 40 notes.)