Abstract
The Special Class for the Gifted Young (SCGY) is an educational model created by the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) during a special historical period. It aims at selecting and cultivating young talent in the natural sciences. Significantly, the establishment of the SCGY in 1978 marked the beginning of higher education reform in China after the ‘Cultural Revolution’ (1966–1976) and promoted the development of education. Currently, there are only a few general descriptions of how the SCGY was established. In research for this paper, we used many sources, including archives, personal diaries and interview records, to uncover the process leading to the establishment of the SCGY. We also investigated the reason why the SCGY was first established at USTC.
Keywords
The Special Class for the Gifted Young (SCGY) at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is a special form of undergraduate education for gifted younger students who do not complete senior middle school courses according to the normal pattern. The first SCGY at USTC commenced on 8 March 1978, marking the beginning of innovation in contemporary higher education in China. At the beginning, the SCGY was a preparatory class. After nearly six months of exploration, discussion and research, it evolved to become an undergraduate class by the time of the second enrolment and formed the basis of the current USTC SCGY.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the SCGY, which remains an innovative and far-reaching education reform in China. The special class has been constantly reviewed and discussed by the academic community. In 2008, USTC published The Thirty Years of the SCGY, which reviewed and summarized the 30-year developmental process. However, the existing records of the SCGY's establishment are too general or use a narrative structure; they lack in-depth discussion and details of the evolution of the nature of the SCGY. Based on relevant files and data, such as diaries, autobiographies and interview records, we identified and analysed particular details of the program's history in an attempt to more comprehensively record the historical process of the SCGY's establishment and to determine the reason why the SCGY was first established at USTC.
Background: The need for talent after the ‘Cultural Revolution’
The ‘Cultural Revolution’ included a proletarian ‘Education Revolution’ in the education field. Colleges and universities suspended enrolment for four years from 1966 to 1970. From June 1970, following a process of public recommendation, leadership approval and university review, universities started to recruit students from among workers, poor peasants, ex-servicemen, and young cadres holding diplomas above junior middle school level and with more than three years of working experience (Zhou, 1997, p. 85).
The ‘Education Revolution’ was intended to realize ‘education for proletarian politics’ and educational equity by means of education reform. However, the model of test-free admission to study programs was not considered fair and equitable in practice. Academic requirements were overlooked and political and practical criteria were emphasized, resulting in irregularities in learning levels among students and a generally low level of educational quality (Zhu et al., 2006). While practical knowledge was highlighted, the development of talent in basic subjects was given less importance. The suppression of intellectual education and the neglect of elementary education over the decade of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ led to a severe talent shortage and discontinuity across the country.
In October 1976, after the ‘Gang of Four’ (a political team during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ led by Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Chunqiao and Jiang Qing) was dismantled, Hua Guofeng, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, proposed the building of a powerful modernized socialist country and coined the slogan of ‘Advance towards modernization of science and technology’ (S&T). In July 1977, Deng Xiaoping officially resumed his senior political and military roles. He shared ideas with Hua on several issues, including ‘S&T work is the leading part of the four modernizations (modernization of industry, agriculture, national defence and science)’ and ‘Respect knowledge and respect talent.’ Hua empowered Deng to take charge of the development of S&T and education (Wang, 2018). With the efforts of Hua and Deng, the central government decided to convene a national science meeting in the spring of 1978 and resume the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE). The development of S&T and education was brought back on track from then on. With many things to be done, talent became the key to national development. Throughout the country, it became a common aspiration to ‘develop talents faster and gain achievements earlier’.
On 18 September 1977, the CPC Central Committee issued a ‘Notice on convening the national science meeting’. Within several months, numerous people throughout the country wrote to the State Scientific and Technological Commission (SSTC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and local leading S&T departments to make proposals and recommendations and to contribute their personal achievements to the country. At that time, CAS received 200–300 letters every day (Xinhua News Agency, 1978a, p. 1).
Fang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, director of SSTC and Vice President of CAS, was the chief assistant of Deng Xiaoping in developing science and education. He worked carefully and attached great importance to letters from and visits by the general public. Deng once said that talents are the key to the development of science and education. Fang resolutely implemented Deng's instructions and attached great importance to talent selection (Editorial team of Fang Yi's biography, 2008, p. 532).
With Fang's efforts, CAS regarded ‘exceptional selection’ of talent as an important measure for implementing the central government's ambition to ‘develop talent rapidly, earlier, and more’. Following the introduction of the measure, affiliates of CAS enrolled some ‘exceptionally admitted’ scholars. For example, Beijing Observatory and the Institute of Botany admitted, respectively, Duan Yuanxing, who discovered a new star through astronomical research, and Li Zhenyu, who was knowledgeable in plant taxonomy, as postgraduates (Zhou, 1978). USTC, which was directly subordinate to CAS, also followed Fang's instruction that ‘colleges and universities may exceptionally admit excellent teenagers’ (USTC Achieves, 1977a). In July 1977, Xiao Gang, a 25-year-old worker-peasant-soldier undergraduate of Jiangsu Normal University, wrote to CAS, recommending himself. He was then examined and became the first student exceptionally admitted by USTC, as a postgraduate student in mathematics. During the enrolment of postgraduates and undergraduates in 1977, USTC successively admitted Li Kezheng (as a postgraduate in mathematics), Liu Gang (as an undergraduate in modern physics), and Zheng Zhongwang, Yang Zili, Zhang Shangyou, Shi Fengshou, Sha Jiping and Zuo Kang (as undergraduates in mathematics) (USTC Achieves, 1977a, 1977b). After the NCEE in 1978, Li Weidu was exceptionally admitted as an undergraduate of earth and space science (Zhu, 2008, p. 190). It was during this period that the SCGY of USTC was established.
Germination: The conception of a trial middle school of science
USTC's idea of enrolling middle school students to prepare them for S&T study can be traced to a proposal for a trial middle school of science in October 1975.
The ‘9/13 Incident’ in 1971, in which Marshal Lin Biao died in an aircraft crash, made Chairman Mao Zedong rethink the ‘Cultural Revolution’. Between 1972 and 1973, Premier Zhou Enlai seized this opportunity arising from the transitioning of Mao's thought. He endeavoured to correct ultra-left (politically radical and impractical) errors during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ and implemented several important education initiatives in an attempt to break through the ‘Two Estimations’ line (Gao and Yao, 2009, p. 162). 1 During this period, Yang Zhenning and Tsung-Dao Lee (two famous Chinese physicists and winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics) returned from overseas on several occasions and were received by Mao and Zhou. Respectively, they suggested enhancing basic science research and cultivating basic science talent, and both recommendations were endorsed by Mao and Zhou (Gao and Yao, 2009, pp. 163–166). However, from the end of 1972, Zhou's correction of ultra-left errors increasingly displeased Mao. In the second half of 1973, a student's submission of a blank answer sheet during the NCEE 2 triggered a counter-attack on the ‘resurgence of a revisionist education route’ and generated a counter-resurgence movement in the education field, which promptly extended to other fields (Zhou, 1997, p. 127), resulting in Zhou being criticized (Gao and Yao, 2009, p. 170).
After October 1973, Mao made successive efforts to prevent Jiang Qing and others from developing their political power, indicating a change in the situation. At the beginning of 1975, Zhou became seriously ill and Deng Xiaoping, supported by Mao, was appointed Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, enabling him to preside over the routine work of the CPC and the country and to comprehensively rectify the disorder caused by the ‘Cultural Revolution’ (Zhou, 1997, p. 143).
In response to Deng's instruction to ‘reorganize the Chinese Academy of Sciences and enhance leadership’, CAS drafted the ‘Work report outline of CAS’ and required its affiliates to report progress in their work. On 15 August 1975, Liu Da, the then secretary of the Party Committee of USTC; Wu Ruyang, the deputy secretary; Qian Zhidao, the vice president; and other officials reported USTC's situation to Li Chang and Wang Guangwei, the then deputy leaders of the CAS caucus, and made recommendations for the further development of USTC (Zhu, 2008, p. 152–155). During their discussion, Li recommended that USTC establish a middle school of science, saying:
Science can be classified into basic and applied science. Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou have discussed the cultivation of basic science talent with Tsung-Dao Lee and Yang Zhenning, respectively. The concept of a middle school of science is well grounded, because students of such a school can go directly to USTC when they graduate. To establish a trial middle school at USTC, the students must be carefully selected from throughout the country. (USTC Archives, 1975a)
On 26 September 1975, when discussing the work report outline with Hu Yaobang, the then chief deputy leader of the CAS caucus, Li and Wang, Deng issued the following instruction:
To run USTC well, CAS should admit students skilled at mathematics, physics and chemistry, and no cadres’ children shall be privileged. If there should be something wrong in doing this, I would be the first to apportion blame. There cannot be a relapse! There will be no way of reaching the summit of education without an adequate knowledge of foreign languages, mathematics, physics and chemistry. (Zhu, 2008, p. 155)
Before and after Deng's instruction, CAS successively convened three symposia on the development of USTC on 11 September, 26 September and 5 October, asking USTC to develop, as soon as possible, a draft ‘Request for instructions regarding issues at USTC’ (Zhu, 2008, p. 155–158). Wu Ruyang returned to the school after the meetings and organized a drafting group that completed the draft on 23 October. In the name of CAS, the draft proposed seven points to the State Council that should be followed to run USTC effectively. The sixth point concerned a ‘trial middle school of science’:
To meet the needs in the development of scientific undertakings, with reference to previous experiences of talent cultivation in the sports, literature and art communities, CAS will appoint USTC to open a trial middle school of science, allowing students to learn natural science theories and receive practical training that is essential in scientific research. Students of such a middle school may be enrolled based on nationwide selection and, after graduation, some students will be directly admitted by USTC for further study. (USTC Archives, 1975b)
However, the political environment changed in an unpredictable manner. Deng Xiaoping's comprehensive rectification of the negative effects of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ was regarded as ‘a revenge on the Revolution’ (Zhou, 1997, p. 152) by the ‘Gang of Four’ and was denied by Chairman Mao. From November 1975, a movement to ‘criticize Deng Xiaoping and attack the rightists’ thoughts’ was raised nationwide. This resulted in Deng being overthrown, while Hu Yaobang, Li Chang and their comrades were accused of being capitalist thinkers. Wu Ruyang was also violently criticized for being a follower of Deng, who became known as the most stubborn capitalist thinker, and Hu and Li, who were regarded as capitalist thinkers of CAS. The draft was deemed to be ‘a draft that totally repudiated the “Cultural Revolution” and the “Education Revolution”; a draft that called for the restoration of a revisionist education strategy; and proof of Deng's attempt to restore revisionism in S&T and the education field’. The proposal to open a trial middle school of science was deemed to be ‘an attempt by capitalist thinkers to select the most skilled and intelligent pupils from across the country’ and was ‘completely antithetical to Chairman Mao's education strategy’ (USTC Archives, 1976).
The trial middle school of science was a proposal by CAS and USTC for enhancing the cultivation of basic science talent at middle school level during the ‘Cultural Revolution’. It was impracticable due to the political situation during that period and was cancelled after only one month.
Trigger: A recommendation letter for Ning Bo
Although USTC's conception of a trial middle school of science could not be put into practice at the time it was initially proposed, preparatory cultivation of selected youths remained a possibility once conditions were appropriate. There were tremendous changes in the political situation over the next two years, when a letter of recommendation for a Grade 2 senior middle school student inadvertently initiated an education reform leading to the accelerated cultivation of S&T talent.
A recommendation letter from Ni Lin to Fang Yi
On 20 October 1977, Ni Lin, a teacher at the Jiangxi Metallurgical College (now the Jiangxi University of Science and Technology), wrote a letter recommending a 13-year-old Grade 2 senior middle school student, Ning Bo. The letter enumerated Nin's extraordinary performances in understanding, memory, medicine, astronomy, weiqi (a game similar to chess, known in the West as Go), poetry and general learning. At the end of the letter, Ni wrote:
As a communist and also an engineering technician with more than twenty years of work experience, I am writing this letter to recommend a worthy person for the country. I have never met such an incredible child before. If he can be admitted and provided with professional education by USTC, I believe he will certainly become a groundbreaker. I hope your leadership can examine his abilities by some means, personally or by dispatching a suitable person or entrusted relevant department. 3
On 3 November, Fang Yi gave instructions on Ni's recommendation letter: ‘USTC should pay a visit to Ning Bo. If the student is qualified, USTC should recruit him for college study.’ (USTC Archives, 1978a)
Not only Ning Bo, but also other talented teenagers, including 15-year-old Shen Yu 4 and 14-year-old Mu Qing, 5 were recommended and admitted by the CAS leadership during the same period. On 22 December 1977, USTC submitted its ‘Report on enrolment work’ to CAS, mentioning the three recommended students:
As instructed by CAS leadership, the selection of talent follows no set form. We have carefully analysed letters from more than two hundred examinees and conducted special investigations of the most promising.
Following the instructions by Fang Yi and Li Chang, we have examined the academic performances of Shen Yu, a 15-year-old boy from Grade 3, Handan Middle School of Shanghai, Ning Bo, a 13-year-old boy from Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, and Mu Qing, a 14-year-old girl from Grade 1, No. 99 Senior Middle School of Shenyang Province. (USTC Archives, 1977c)
There is little documentation about the recommendation and examination of Shen Yu and Mu Qing. We interviewed Shen Yu's mother and Mu Qing years ago, but many details are difficult to recall now. As we remember it, Ning Bo, the youngest among the three, showed potential in weiqi, pulse-based diagnoses in traditional Chinese medicine, and poetry composition, making him quite a ‘legend’. Therefore, the ninth issue of Letter Bulletin, which was jointly run by the SSTC and CAS, reported his story in a feature article, after which he was described as ‘the first teenage prodigy’ by the general media.
Investigation of Ning Bo by USTC
USTC implemented the instructions of Fang Yi and other CAS leaders. According to The Record of the SCGY at the University of Science and Technology of China: From 8 March 1978 to 8 March 1988, ‘From 19 November to the end of December 1977, USTC dispatched well-learned teachers to the relevant provinces and cities for the investigation and assessment of recommended teenage geniuses’ (as cited in Zhu and Qin, 1988, p. 363).
On the question of how these teenage prodigies were investigated, Liu Xianrong, 6 who was responsible for enrolment in 1977, recalled that the investigation mainly involved three dimensions: solid fundamentals, diligence and talent. The time and conditions for enrolment were limited that year, so the three dimensions were tested mainly through a mathematics examination and an interview.
Because few materials about Shen Yu and Mu Qing are available, we use Ning Bo as an example to describe the investigation procedure. On 17 December 1977, 7 Luo Xiaopei and Du Xilu, teachers from the Department of Mathematics of USTC, went to Jiangxi Province to investigate Ning. Luo was the party secretary of the department, and Du was an expert in weiqi at the university. The ninth issue of Letter Bulletin described the investigation in an article titled ‘A 13-year-old teenager exceptionally admitted by USTC’:
USTC's investigation: Ning Bo has performed well and is eager for further study. He participated in the NCEE this year. 8 He was tested with two sets of mathematics examination papers. One was a test for fundamentals that contained seven questions. It took him twenty minutes to finish the first five questions correctly, while for the other two, which were beyond his knowledge, he correctly answered one of them after being provided with a hint. The other examination paper was the examination paper of the US Olympic mathematics competition in 1976, containing six difficult questions. Ning Bo correctly answered one and a half questions. In addition to the written examination, an oral examination was also given, involving classical literature, history, traditional Chinese medicine, and chemistry. Ning Bo gave clear and correct answers to those questions. In the game weiqi, the no. 4 player from USTC lost the first two rounds to Ning and won the third round by a neck. A USTC staff member asked Ning to make a diagnosis by taking the staff member's pulse. Ning listed the symptoms precisely. Finally, Ning was asked to compose a poem titled ‘Sentiment toward examination’. He finished an eight-line Chinese poem with seven characters in each line within only twenty minutes. 9 (USTC Archives, 1978)
The description of the examination in Letter Bulletin is consistent with Ning Bo's recollection and the details recorded in the diary of Ren Zhishu. 10 However, according to Ning and Ren there was a further examination. As recalled by Ning, on the third day after the first examination, the two USTC teachers visited Ganzhou No. 8 Senior Middle School to investigate Ning's performance in the school. Cai Ze, the dean of teaching affairs at the school, recommended that to provide a fair opportunity and select more talent for the country the two teachers should deliver another exam. A mathematics examination was thus organized by the Education Commission of Ganzhou and was given to Ning Bo and nine other outstanding students younger than 17. The exam results were presented later in the evening: Xu Jin, a 17-year-old student from Ganzhou No. 3 Senior Middle School, scored 75; Ning Bo scored 67; Ning Bo's classmate, Pan Xinling, a 15-year-old girl, scored 64; and all other candidates scored below 35. 11 At that time, the results of the NCEE in Jiangxi Province were already available. Xu Jin ranked first among the new graduates in Ganzhou, but he was admitted to the Mining Machinery Department of Jilin University rather than the Mathematics Department of Peking University, to which he had initially applied. His father wrote to Fang Yi to inform him of the situation. Fang Yi then instructed the Minister of Education, Liu Xiyao, to ‘give some precedence’, enabling Xu Jin to finally be admitted to study mathematics at USTC. 12
Origin: Establishment of the preparatory class
After the investigation of Ning Bo, Shen Yu and Mu Qing, USTC began to consider how to educate them appropriately and finally decided to run a preparatory class with reference to the trial middle school of science. After more than two months of preparation, the preparatory class was established.
The decision-making process for establishing the preparatory class
At that time, the older exceptionally admitted youngsters were placed directly in the corresponding undergraduate or postgraduate class. However, USTC held several meetings to discuss the placement of teenagers younger than 15 years.
On 22 December 1977, the USTC enrolment team met to discuss the placement of Ning, Shen and Mu. Wu Ruyang, the then secretary of the USTC Party Committee, was the team leader, and Xu Wenying, a standing member of the committee, was the deputy team leader. The minutes 13 are as follows:
Liu Xianrong: Information from CAS.
The 15-year-old Shen Yu from Shanghai recommended by Fang Yi.
We wrote a letter to Shen asking him to participate in the NCEE before we sent representatives to assess him. He participated in the district-level preliminary examination. There were a total of 295 examinees, among which he was the only middle school student. Only three were selected for the NCEE, and Shen was not among them. Our representatives negotiated with the provincial enrolment office 14 and agreed to let him participate in the examination. According to an article titled ‘The ambition of a youngster’ in People's Daily, 15 Shen has mastered mathematics at the senior middle school level and showed competency in foreign languages.
The two teenage prodigies.
13-year-old Ning Bo: Prior to their return, the investigators wrote a letter stating that he played weiqi well, but his self-acquired knowledge was not solidly mastered. His performance in class fluctuated, but he would participate in the NCEE.
14-year-old Mu Qing: She finished eight questions of elementary mathematics, 16 and finished middle school mathematics from the age of 10 to 20. 17 More than one thousand differentiation questions had been completed in her leisure time by the age of 12. However, her performance in fundamentals was poor. She failed in the examination at the municipal level.
It was suggested in the meeting that the three students take correspondence courses this year and go to USTC for further study in the following year. Fudan University has already done this.
Can USTC admit all of the three teenagers? Is a preparatory class possible?
About the above-mentioned questions, Wu Ruyang said: ‘A preparatory class would be similar to the trial middle school of science. ‘There is no need to ask CAS for approval. The three students can be admitted. We may discuss this matter after the investigators return from Jiangxi.
‘In future cases of this nature, no investigator is needed.
‘As to the student from Shenyang (Mu Qing), the enrolment team can deliver an additional examination, including both differentiation and integration questions.’
Xu Wenying noted: ‘The student from Shanghai (Shen Yu) can take the NCEE. If the results are good, he will be admitted to the USTC undergraduate program, or otherwise can attend the preparatory class.’ 18
Wu Ruyang was in agreement.
From this description, we can see that the teachers responsible for enrolment thought that Shen Yu had basically mastered the knowledge provided at senior middle school level, but Ning Bo and Mu Qing were less solid in their understanding of the fundamentals. Accordingly, two resolutions were proposed: (1) give them correspondence courses according to Fudan University's practices, or (2) admit them to a preparatory class. This was the first time that USTC proposed the idea of a preparatory class. Wu Ruyang agreed to the second proposal based on the preparatory class being similar to the ‘middle school of science’.
On 30 December 1977, Wu Ruyang, Ren Zhishu and other officials travelled to Beijing to report their work to Li Chang, who was then the Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Leading Party Group of CAS and also Vice President of USTC. They proposed the idea of running a preparatory class. The details of their meeting were recorded in Ren Zhishu's diary:
Wu Ruyang: ‘Can a preparatory class be run for gifted teenagers of 13 to 15 years of age?’
Li Chang: ‘If science and arts education are conducted separately, will the Ministry of Education approve?’
Ren Zhishu: ‘Separation of science and arts classes is being planned.’
Wu Ruyang: ‘We can have a try with this method so that the students can study in their preferred fields.’ 19
The diary did not record Li Chang's response to the proposal, but from the subsequent developments it is clear that he agreed with the proposed idea. Li had previously proposed a trial middle school of science, and Wu had implemented it and incorporated the proposal into the draft, which later led to the two men being ‘convicted’ and overthrown. Two years after those events, the idea was finally executed in the form of a preparatory class for the three exceptionally admitted teenagers.
After reporting to the CAS leadership, USTC immediately started to arrange the enrolment procedure for the preparatory class. On 9 January 1978, USTC's enrolment office formally proposed a trial preparatory class in the document ‘Suggestions on enrolment’, which was distributed to the local enrolment groups of provinces and municipalities:
To accelerate the cultivation of scientific and technological talents who are competent in political qualities and professional skills, USTC, based on the institutions given by Fang Yi and after discussion, proposes to run a trial preparatory class. The students in this class will learn fundamentals for six months to one year and will then be assessed to determine their suitability to enter undergraduate study at USTC.
Enrolment targets: Candidates for the preparatory class should be excellent teenagers who are politically qualified and interested in natural sciences, have the knowledge of a senior middle school graduate and show potential to become worthy persons. They will be physically healthy and generally aged below fifteen years old.
Enrolment means: The preparatory class will not be publicly promoted. Those who are identified through an investigation of local admission offices will be given an examination (using the standard question set of USTC). The materials, including the examination papers, political examination files and health condition reports, will be sent to USTC's enrolment office, and admission notices will be issued once the materials have been examined and approved by USTC. (USTC Archives, 1977d)
On 16 January, USTC formally submitted the ‘Report on the trial preparatory class’ to CAS. Similarly to the ‘Suggestions on enrolment’ that was issued on 9 January, the report confirmed the intention to ‘enrol about twenty extraordinarily intelligent teenagers’. However, this report proposed a different idea for the mode of instruction:
The preparatory class will give a six-month instruction on knowledge at the middle school level. Only students who are considered qualified can enter undergraduate study at USTC. For undergraduate study, the focus will be foundational courses such as higher mathematics, general physics, general chemistry and foreign languages. After two to three years, students will be transferred to more appropriate disciplines according to individual performances and specialties, where they will be able to participate in research activities. Those who perform exceptionally can apply for early entrance to postgraduate study. (USTC Archives, 1978b)
It was proposed in the ‘Suggestions on enrolment’ that foundational courses at the senior middle school level would be given in the first six months or the first year, and that an examination would be required before the students entered undergraduate study. However, the report released on 16 January suggested that undergraduate study would still focus on fundamentals for the first two or three years.
On 21 January, Li Chang gave his opinions on the report, agreeing to a ‘trial preparatory class at USTC’, but he disagreed with the mode of instruction and enrolment:
It depends on the reality when determining whether two or three years of fundamental courses are needed in undergraduate study. It is unnecessary to limit enrolment to below fifteen years old. Talent is valuable. It is acceptable if some excellent candidates are a little bit older. This could be referred to the Bureau of Education. (USTC Archives, 1978c)
On 27 January, CAS formally issued the document ‘Trial preparatory class agreed’, which approved the USTC report and modified the enrolment conditions and instruction mode according to Li Chang's suggestions:
It is not necessary to limit enrolment only to youngsters aged below 15 years. Slightly older students are also acceptable.
The study duration for a preparatory class is about one year, and the courses to be studied may be set as compulsory or optional depending on an individual student's situation. (USTC Archives, 1978d)
It was only about one month from 22 December 1977, when USTC first proposed the idea of a ‘preparatory class’, to 27 January 1978, when the idea was endorsed by CAS. Before the ‘Report on the trial preparatory class’ was submitted, USTC had already started the enrolment of students in the preparatory class. This indicates that the establishment of a preparatory class conformed to the political situation at the time and highlighted the consensus between the leadership of CAS and USTC.
The establishment of a preparatory SCGY
After CAS agreed with the idea of a preparatory class, USTC submitted a ‘Request for an increase in the 1977 enrolment quota’ to the Ministry of Education (MOE) on 2 February 1978, which mentioned that:
To speed up the cultivation of scientific talent who are politically qualified and professionally competent, the CAS leadership requires USTC to discard uniformity of standards in discovering and selecting talent and exceptionally admit a small number of outstanding young people. Under the leadership and support of the admissions committees of colleges and universities in related provinces and cities, USTC has admitted five exceptional middle school students. They are under the age of 15, but their academic performance was similar to that required for university enrolment. With only a little tuition, they will be ready to study university courses. We plan to recruit 20 students from across the country into the USTC preparatory class and give them special training with appropriate methods (please refer to the document no. (78) 0117 issued by CAS on 27 January 1978) [‘Trial preparatory class agreed’]. Those 20 students will be the increased quota of the 1977 enrolment of USTC. (USTC Archives, 1978e)
We did not find a direct reply from the MOE regarding this request. However, according to the ‘Summary of USTC enrolment in 1977’, the enrolment quota of the preparatory class was included in the 1977 enrolment, and the final enrolment number for USTC as a whole was 738 (USTC Achieves, 1977a), which exceeded the 715 target proposed in the request. The reason for this was that 1977 was the first year in which the NCEE (which was interrupted during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ from 1966 to 1976) was resumed. Due to limited time and the imperfect enrolment system, some colleges and universities applied for additional quotas after finishing their enrolment. At the same time, the MOE also encouraged colleges and universities to expand the number of students enrolled, based on the belief that ‘the more students enrolled in the school, the more talent would be cultivated in the next few years to achieve the Four Modernizations’ (Xinhua News Agency, 1978b, p. 2). It was for exactly this reason that the enrolment of the preparatory class was ‘recognized’ by the MOE.
Before submitting the report on the trial preparatory class to both CAS and the MOE, USTC had begun the enrolment of the class. First, USTC would seek excellent teenagers nationwide through letters and visits from the public, a basic survey conducted by enrolment staff, and recommendations from local education and admissions departments. Then, staff of the admissions office would be sent to the candidates’ locations to conduct written and oral examinations. This method of investigation was similar to that used to investigate Ning Bo. The written examination was used to assess the students’ basic knowledge, and the oral examination was used to test their scope of knowledge and their intelligence (USTC Achieves, 1977b).
The organization of the NCEE in 1977 was conducted in very limited time. The entire admissions process continued from the end of 1977 to the end of the Spring Festival in 1978. The enrolment of the USTC preparatory class was even more complicated. ‘The workload required to manage exceptional admission was several times greater than that of the NCEE’ (USTC Achieves, 1977a). With the support and cooperation of the education and admissions departments in various regions, the preparatory class enrolled 21 students (Table 1). 20
Number of students in the preparatory class (the first SCGY)
Number of students in the preparatory class (the first SCGY)
Source: Zhu and Qin (1988, pp. 23–24).
The preparatory class opened on 8 March 1978 and was renamed the SCGY on the eve of the school year. After the SCGY became a form of fixed schooling, the preparatory class became the first SCGY. There were no official documents about the name change. Ren Zhishu used the term ‘preparatory class’ in his diary on and before 2 March 1978 and sometimes called it a ‘children class’. In his diary on 6 March, he wrote: ‘I talked with Wang Huidi to encourage her to be the head teacher of the SCGY and explained the task to her.’ 21 This is the earliest record of the official use of the name SCGY. Based on this, we guess that the name was probably determined between 2 March and 6 March 1978. It has been used as the class's official name to the present day.
The first SCGY was preparatory. Unlike the current SCGY, students of the preparatory class did not immediately rank as undergraduates after entering the school and did not enjoy the benefits of undergraduate students. After completing the first period of the SCGY, USTC submitted the ‘Request for the treatment of SCGY students’ to CAS and the MOE on 31 July 1978, suggesting that SCGY students be given the same benefits as undergraduate students (USTC Archives, 1978f). The students then became real college students.
The trial preparatory class was an interim program in response to letters from the public and leadership instructions. After enrolment, there were some problems in the first SCGY. USTC faced up to the problems and conducted remedial discussions. After a comprehensive discussion, USTC decided to continue with the SCGY, but to convert it to an undergraduate class during the second enrolment.
Problems in the first SCGY
When the first SCGY opened, Wang Huidi, a politically and professionally competent teacher, was appointed as the head teacher. She took good care of the youngsters and selected seven experienced teachers to give them instruction on the middle school curriculum. The first SCGY offered courses in politics, mathematics, physics, foreign languages and sports, using textbooks written by teachers in each subject. Later, because of the generally poor standard of Chinese among the students, USTC established special Chinese lectures for them (USTC Archives, 1978g).
During the enrolment of the first SCGY, a combination of written and oral examinations was conducted, but a uniform standard to assess the students was absent. The enrolled students had different educational levels, which led to difficulties in teaching after the class began. In addition, a small number of very young students were admitted by referring to their NCEE scores only, resulting in their poor performance after enrolment (USTC Archives, 1978h). In the USTC archives, we found a first-month physics and mathematics examination report for the first SCGY, 22 which indicated that the gap between the best and worst performing students was particularly large. For physics, the highest score was 99 points and the lowest was 24 points; for mathematics, the highest was 100 points and the lowest was 30 points; for the total score, the highest was 185 points and the lowest was 54 points (USTC Archives, 1978i).
The fact that some students were too young also posed management problems. In the ‘Report on the SCGY’ on 27 May 1978, USTC addressed the problems of two young students. One had problems with diet and rest, while the other was poorly behaved and did not study hard. For such students, it was considered that ‘It's better for them to study for two more years in the original environment’ (USTC Archives, 1978h).
At the same time, excessive promotion of the SCGY also created some problems. The SCGY was well reported by the country's major media during its preparatory stage. The media propaganda had a certain influence on the learning and mentality of the students. At the time, USTC realized that ‘interviews, symposia and filmmaking took up too much time for the students, which affected their rest and study’ (USTC Archives, 1978h), and began to ‘control the number of visitors to reduce outside interference’ (USTC Archives, 1978g).
After more than four months of tutoring, the performance of most students had improved greatly. In USTC's ‘Report on the first SCGY’, submitted to CAS and the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, several students whose academic performance had greatly improved were mentioned. They had improved their physics and foreign language scores from failing scores to 98 or 99 points (USTC Archives, 1978g). Ren Zhishu also recorded their improvements in his diary:
Excellent: Dong Ruitao, Lin Chengdian, Li
Yucheng, Xiao Chen, Shi Lin, Yao Xin, Guan
Junlin, Chen Shizhong, Jiang Feng.
Good: Xie Yanbo, Cao Xiaonan, Ning Bo,
Zhang Baoguo, Li Ping.
Passed: five persons.
Failed: one person. 23
On 15 July 1978, the first SCGY was completed. 24 According to the students’ academic performance and interests, USTC assigned them to various academic departments to study together with the 1978 intake of undergraduate students, who would be enrolled in October.
Discussion about whether to continue the SCGY
Before the first SCGY opened, many teachers thought that this was an expedient program rather than a permanent one. Ren Zhishu recorded his conversation with Qian Linzhao 25 and others in his diary on 17 February 1978. Qian and the others agreed to test the preparatory class for six months in case some students could not enter undergraduate study. Qian's concerns reflected some of the teachers’ thinking at the time.
The founding of the preparatory class created a lot of extra work for admissions staff. On 20 February 1978, the 1977 NCEE enrolment was basically completed, but people's enthusiasm for recommending talents continued. On 22 February, Ren Zhishu made a special trip to CAS to seek advice on how to deal with the ‘Ning Bo effect’ and proposed three suggestions:
The capacity of the school is limited, and there is a limit to the length of schooling that can be offered. Only a small number of exceptional students can be recruited each year.
The ‘children class’ is an experimental program, and it is not advisable to recruit a large number of such students or to admit them at any time.
There will be a large number of talented students throughout the country. They should be encouraged to study hard and develop in an all-round manner, so that they can be admitted to key universities in the future. 26
On 25 February, the Letter Bulletin clarified CAS's opinion on the ‘Ning Bo effect’:
Students admitted to the school in 1977 are no longer subject to changes.
Those who are found to be exceptionally superior can contact CAS.
Those who perform at an ordinary level should be given special training. 27
The report in the Letter Bulletin indicated that CAS did not adopt Ren's suggestions. The opinions of the Letter Bulletin represented the attitude of the CAS leadership, which laid the ground for the continued operation of the SCGY.
On 24 May 1978, in response to the problems of the first SCGY, Wang Zheng and Kong Zhen, deputy secretaries of the USTC Party Committee, convened a seminar about the SCGY that included the teaching affairs department, the head teacher of the SCGY and other instructors. Wang put forward three options on the issues proposed by those teachers:
After the first SCGY is completed and its students enter undergraduate study, it should be closed. The university would then recruit 14- to 15-year-old students through the NCEE in the future.
Based on the first SCGY, USTC teachers should improve methods of admission and instruction.
A middle school for sciences should be run. 28
Some teachers agreed with the first proposal. However, school leaders such as Wang and Kong were worried about the discontinuity, stating that ‘It may cause a negative influence if the SCGY were to disappear at the time it became well known.’ 29
The opinions of Wang Zheng and others reflected the general attitude to the SCGY. Since the admission of Ning Bo, the central leadership had paid great attention to the class. After its establishment, Wan Li, secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, and Gu Zhuoxin, deputy secretary of the committee, visited USTC to meet the gifted young students. The major media provided intense coverage of the SCGY before and after its establishment. On 7 February 1978, the People's Daily published an article from Xinhua News Agency headed ‘CAS discards uniform standards in selecting talent’, which disclosed that USTC was planning a preparatory class. On 16 March 1978, the People's Daily published information from Xinhua about the enrolment of new students at USTC and specifically reported on the SCGY. On 29 March 1978, the People's Daily reported the establishment of the SCGY with an article headed ‘The heroic vows of the SCGY at USTC: We will advance toward a bright future of the country’. In mid-May, the Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio produced a film titled ‘Teenage college students’, which would later be publicly shown around the country.
As a result of the media propaganda, the SCGY became a sensation throughout China. People from all over the country wrote letters to USTC, giving their support and encouragement for the class. The SCGY developed a political meaning that transcended education. As a vanguard in the education field, it became the ‘spring flower’ of science and received widespread attention across the country. USTC had a clear understanding of this and believed that ‘this special class must be run well’ (USTC Archives, 1978h).
Following further discussion and research, USTC submitted a ‘Report on the SCGY’ to Anhui Province and CAS on 27 May 1978. This document objectively described the problems of the first SCGY. It considered the three proposals discussed at the seminar on 24 May, and further proposed the following three options:
The first SCGY is originally planned to run for six months. After three months of study, most students have already reached university level. Therefore, to produce talent earlier, those students will graduate from SCGY and study together with undergraduate students enrolled in 1978, while the other students will be managed according to their personal circumstances. After the first SCGY is completed as planned, it will be closed. There are two reasons for this: (1) The age of general college admissions has dropped to 14 or 15; and (2) each province has established key middle schools and middle schools of science to replace the duties of the SCGY, indicating that the SCGY has spread nationwide.
The SCGY will continue to be held after the first term is completed. The length of schooling will be one year. Only 13- or 14-year-old students who have finished senior middle school education perfectly will be admitted. To speed up the development of talent, a knockout system will be used. This will enable middle school students to enter university one year earlier than planned.
After finishing the first SCGY, it will be closed and a middle school of science will be established in its place, with two years of schooling. The school will recruit outstanding junior middle school graduates and implement a knockout system. The time required to complete study will not be reduced, but separate teaching of courses of arts and science will take place as early as possible, which will benefit undergraduate study in different subjects. (USTC Archives, 1978h)
USTC expressed a preference for the second option, which indicated that it was determined to continue with the SCGY and was seeking methods for improving enrolment by learning lessons from the problems caused by uneven education and very young ages in the first SCGY cohort.
In line with the instructions of CAS and the leaders of Anhui Province, USTC began to seek specific measures required to run a school in Anhui and drafted ‘Proposals for further implementing the “Report on several issues of USTC” approved by the CPC Central Committee’. The report was submitted to CAS on 2 June 1978. It clearly stated that ‘USTC will learn from experience and continue with the SCGY’ and proposed further ideas for the enrolment and cultivation of talent:
The SCGY is a preparatory program for undergraduate study. In the future, USTC will design examination papers for SCGY each year and conduct a national unified examination. Alternatively, candidates will be selected from among teenagers participating in mathematics or physics or chemistry competitions. They will be 14 or 15 years old and will have achieved excellent academic results in senior middle school. The length of schooling will be one year. After this period, those students reaching the required standard will go directly to university.
The SCGY should develop its own teaching syllabus and study plans, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, make health a priority, and allow students to excel in single disciplines so as to accelerate the growth of special talent as soon as possible. (USTC Archives, 1978j)
From the report, it can be seen that the SCGY at USTC still had a ‘preparatory nature’ at the time. SCGY students could enter undergraduate study after one year of study in the preparatory class. However, USTC put forward clear proposals to improve enrolment: the first was to conduct a national unified examination and select students on merit; the second was that students should not be too young, and that 14 or 15 years was considered the optimal age.
On 9 June 1978, Yang Haibo, the then secretary of the USTC Party Committee, returned to USTC after reporting the proposals to CAS in Beijing. He notified the standing committee of the party committee and directors of all departments of the instructions given by CAS: ‘The preparatory class will be run as proposed in the report. It will continue and the length of schooling will be one year.’ 30 On 15 June, CAS forwarded the USTC report to all of its units and agreed with the proposals in the report. At this point, the SCGY was no longer an expedient program in response to the instructions of leaders, but a long-term program at USTC to accelerate the cultivation of scientific talent.
After deciding to continue with the SCGY, USTC immediately began to research enrolment methods for the second phase. On 15 and 17 June 1978, the school held meetings to discuss the SCGY enrolment and agreed to ‘take the NCEE as the first test’. 31
On 19 June, USTC submitted its ‘Request for the enrolment of SCGY in 1978’ to the MOE and CAS. In this report, USTC still regarded the SCGY as a preparatory program for undergraduate study, and the length of schooling would still be one year. However, it changed the qualifications for enrolment and proposed that the ‘age of admission would generally be 14 and 15’. At the same time, it proposed methods to improve enrolment:
To know the candidates’ level of basic knowledge and their ability to analyse and solve problems, USTC will need to conduct a preliminary test and a re-exam, for which local assistance will be required.
Preliminary test: All applicants for the SCGY will be required to take the NCEE organized by the County (District) Admissions Committee from 20 July to 23 July. The subjects for the examination will be the same as those required for undergraduate science and engineering courses. After a unified assessment conducted by provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, the examination papers of the first five to ten applicants will be sealed and sent to the USTC admissions office before 15 August. Provinces and cities with large numbers of students obtaining good test scores can select more than ten papers to send for assessment.
Re-exam: The school will select students to participate in a second-round exam from among the candidates recommended by all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The number selected will be twice the final capacity of the SCGY. USTC will design a unified examination paper and send teachers to the candidates’ locations for the examination. An oral test will be added to the re-exam to further examine the candidate's intelligence and thinking abilities. (USTC Archives, 1978k)
The enrolment method was of great significance because this was the first time that USTC tried the pattern of ‘preliminary test+re-exam+oral test’.
The report was brought to Beijing by Liu Xianrong, the director of the student affairs office at USTC, who was responsible for enrolment, and was given to CAS and the MOE. CAS approved the report and forwarded it to the ministry on 28 June. The 1978 NCEE would be conducted from 20 to 22 July, but the MOE did not give an approval quickly. By 5 July, Liu Xianrong became anxious and wrote a letter to He Zuotao, the head of the Education Reform Group of USTC. In the letter, he mentioned the opinions of the Department of College Student Affairs of the MOE regarding the report:
Officials of the MOE thought that our requirements were too high if we use the method of ‘preliminary test+re-exam+oral test’. They suggested that we recruit students based on the enrolment method of the first SCGY. (USTC Archives, 1978l)
On 11 July 1978, the MOE finally issued a ‘Notice on the enrolment of the SCGY at USTC’ to the admissions committees of colleges and universities of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and made three recommendations for the enrolment of students to the SCGY:
The enrolment requirements for the SCGY should be love of the Communist Party of China; love of socialism; love of labour; observance of revolutionary disciplines; a senior middle school education; outstanding academic performance; love of science; aspiration for natural science research; outstanding intelligence and the potential for future development; good health; and an age of 14 or 15 years.
Admissions committees can recommend to USTC excellent teenagers whom they selected through mathematics and physics contests or through other ways.
All examinations (including written and oral tests), assessments and admissions in SCGY are handled by USTC. (USTC Archives, 1978m)
In this notice, the MOE did not agree with USTC's proposal of ‘using the NCEE for preliminary testing’; nor did it specify whether the SCGY should be a preparatory or an undergraduate program. We speculate that, unlike CAS, which actively supported the SCGY, the MOE, as the administrative department in charge of national education, was more cautious about the class. The ministry agreed that the SCGY should continue to enrol students, but it did not express an opinion on the quality of the SCGY. Judging from the later development of the SCGY, the MOE's adoption of a policy of ‘silence’ indicated that it acquiesced in the SCGY at USTC. This is also one of the important factors that enabled the SCGY to continuously develop, and to eventually become the ‘trial field’ of education at USTC.
After the MOE notice was issued, USTC changed the method of enrolment and released an ‘Enrolment brochure for the SCGY in 1978’ on 20 July. It decided to organize a unified examination on 22 and 23 August. In this brochure, USTC did not mention the preparatory quality of the second SCGY (USTC Archives, 1978n).
The enrolment workload during the second period of enrolment was extremely heavy. USTC was responsible for the whole process of the examination and admissions, which was equivalent to organizing a small-scale NCEE. The subjects covered in the examination were the same as those in the NCEE, including politics, Chinese, mathematics, physics, chemistry and English (scores for which were used only for reference) (USTC Archives, 1978n). It was originally intended to admit 30–50 students during the second period of enrolment, but almost a thousand applied for the examination (USTC Archives, 1978o). Many candidates who participated in the 1978 NCEE also participated in the examination for the SCGY. After consideration, USTC eventually decided to increase the enrolment quota, and 67 students were finally admitted.
On 9 October 1978, students in the second SCGY enrolled. On the same day, USTC submitted its ‘Report on the enrolment plan for 67 students in the SCGY and for adding 17 students in regular classes’ to the MOE, which mentioned that:
With the approval of the MOE and CAS, this year USTC has continued with a second SCGY, enrolling 67 students. Students of the second SCGY were selected through a unified examination (the difficulty of the test was almost the same as that of the NCEE, and some questions were even more difficult). Some of the students also took part in the NCEE and gained excellent results, with a total score of 400 points or more. Some were selected from among the winners of national or provincial (municipal) mathematics contests. After enrolling in a class, students in the SCGY will no longer attend the preparatory courses, and will be specially trained according to the requirements of a regular university class. Therefore, the treatment of the SCGY students will be the same as that of the general college students. (USTC Archives, 1978p)
From the students’ enrolment status in the second SCGY, it can be seen that they were classed as undergraduates after entering school. From the second phase, the quality of the SCGY began to change. Before then, the documents submitted by USTC to CAS and the MOE all clearly stated that the SCGY was ‘a preparatory program for undergraduate study’. In the formal enrolment documents for the second SCGY, both the MOE and USTC did not mention the preparatory nature of the class. Following its experience of running the initial SCGY, USTC insisted on the implementation of uniform and strict criteria in the second phase of enrolment. The students in the second SCGY would no longer receive senior middle school courses after enrolment, and therefore the SCGY changed from a preparatory to an undergraduate program. The SCGY of USTC has remained that way ever since.
The formation and development of anything cannot be separated from the historical background at that time. The establishment of the SCGY was a product of a special historical period. At the time, the ‘Cultural Revolution’ had just ended and there were many things to be done. There was an urgent need for talented people. The leadership of the CPC Central Committee was eager to develop professional talent, and the public actively recommend potential talent. Under these circumstances, USTC admitted three ‘child prodigies’ following Fang Yi's instruction on exceptional admissions, and further proposed a programme to bring talented teenagers together to accelerate their education. This was a pioneering move that conformed to the developmental trends at the time.
The desire of the CPC and state leaders, and of society as a whole, for the development of talented people was the external motivation for establishing the SCGY. However, the fact that the SCGY was pioneered by USTC and will continue to develop through innovation has its own internal reasons.
The special advantage of USTC as a school directly administered by CAS
In 1958, USTC was established in Beijing by CAS. The establishment of the school was supported by CPC leaders such as Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun and Nie Rongzhen, and was covered by personal instructions from Deng Xiaoping. When Deng tried to reorganize CAS in early 1975, he required the organization to ‘actively develop science and technology universities’. In 1977, Fang Yi assisted Deng to promote science education, which led to USTC once again receiving the attention of CPC leaders. With the support of CAS, USTC became a vanguard of science education. In addition, the reason why USCT was successfully established at the end of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ was that it was not in the centre of the political movement. Just as Ren Zhishu mentioned in an interview, ‘The MOE was the target of the “Cultural Revolution”, and universities governed by the MOE were thus difficult to restore to normal order.’ However, as a college directly administered by CAS, USTC recovered relatively easily (Ren and Xiong, 2017).
From 20 June to 7 July 1977, CAS leaders Fang Yi and Li Chang proposed at the CAS working meeting to ‘vigorously develop science and technology universities and cultivate talent who are politically and professionally competent’. From 5 to 13 August 1977, CAS convened the first working conference of USTC in Beijing and proposed to adhere to the principle of a ‘combination of CAS institutes and USTC departments’. The aim was to establish USTC as the second academic centre of CAS and as a high-level teaching and research centre. On 18 August, the Xinhua News Agency reported the conference in an article titled ‘USTC is sure to embrace a bright future’. The next day, the People's Daily reprinted the full article and commented that ‘USTC has taken a big step forward in the development of education.’ On 5 September, CAS submitted to the State Council a ‘Report on several issues of USTC’, which was approved by Hua Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping and other leaders of the CPC Central Committee (Zhu, 2008, pp. 168–171). The report clearly stated that candidates for USTC study would be selected from among outstanding new graduates from senior middle school. This was half a month earlier than the decision to resume the NCEE was made at the second national college admissions conference on 19 September 1977. The USTC enrolment requirements were personally approved by Hua Guofeng. On 5 October, when the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee discussed admissions documents of colleges and universities, he stated:
Candidates for USTC study should have a solid foundation in mathematics and chemistry at middle school level. They should not be too old and should have continuous schooling. (USTC Archives, 1977d)
With the help of the CPC and state leaders, and supported by the leadership of CAS, USTC was able to quickly propose and implement a series of forward-looking and innovative reform measures after the ‘Cultural Revolution’, such as the initiation of a graduate school and the SCGY. All these actions made USTC a pioneer in the higher education system.
USTC's persistence in talent training
USTC was established to cultivate scientific talent for the development of atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and satellites. It has shouldered the historical mission of serving the country through science education from its date of establishment. During its early years, many prestigious scientists in China joined USTC and gave lessons personally. Teachers valued and enjoyed teaching, and students studied hard. This became the cultural consciousness of USTC. Therefore, even during the ‘Cultural Revolution’, USTC still dared to break through ‘ultra-left thought’ to run a special training class for graduates and give instructions on foundation courses. Once the political atmosphere eased, it proposed the operation of a middle school of science.
In the ‘Report on the trial preparatory class’ submitted to CAS on 16 January 1978, USTC proposed the idea of giving instruction to students in the preparatory class in courses at the senior middle school level, and determining majors after two or three years of study.
Why did USTC propose such a training program? We found a copy of the official records in Ren Zhishu's notes, which may provide evidence. On 17 February 1978, Li Chang, Wu Ruyang, Yan Jici, Qian Zhidao, Qian Linzhao and others met in Beijing to discuss how to improve the quality of teaching at USTC. Qian Linzhao said:
I taught part time in 1958 and joined USTC in 1960. I focused on fundamentals in my teaching, but this principle was affected in my later work in professional courses. On the way to a meeting held in Guangzhou, Professor Yan Jici proposed the idea of running a ‘00 Department’. Students of the department should be good in fundamentals, which would provide multiple options for future study. They can decide their majors three years later, rather than before enrolling. This is a goal that is difficult for us to reach. 32
USTC has always considered foundation courses to be important. In 1959, the second year after its establishment, Qian Xuesen wrote an article titled ‘Foundation courses of USTC’, which emphasized the importance of foundation courses (Qian, 1959). In the meantime, a group of senior scientists, including Yan Jici and Qian Linzhao, also considered the cultivation of scientific and technological talent in their teaching by learning from their personal educational experiences. This may have directly or indirectly provided the inspiration for USTC to propose the idea of determining majors after two or three years of study in the preparatory class. Given the opportunity, USTC would put the idea into practice. Although Li Chang turned down the proposal, USTC never gave up.
After much discussion and research, the training method under which the SCGY students would spend three years on foundation courses was formally implemented in October 1979. In September 1985, USTC set up a pilot class for teaching reform based on the pattern of talent cultivation in the SCGY. It was referred to as the ‘00 Class’. These reformative and innovative measures stemmed from the educational philosophy proposed by the older generation of scientists and educators at USTC.
USTC's commitment to talent training drove the university to improve its enrolment method in the second SCGY. Learning lessons from the first SCGY, it selected students for the second special class by independently organizing a small-scale NCEE and changed the SCGY from a preparatory program to an undergraduate program.
During the four decades of the SCGY, this commitment has also provided the motivation for it to be practical and realistic, to be innovative, and to develop by following the laws of education.
The relationship between Tsung-Dao Lee and the establishment of the SCGY
In existing promotions, a connection has been made between the establishment of the SCGY and Professor Tsung-Dao Lee, a famous physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In an article titled ‘Establishment of and reflections on the SCGY’ written in December 2005, Lee stated that ‘the establishment of special classes for youngsters in Chinese universities is, to a great extent, directly related to my talent training proposal in 1974’ (CCAST, 2008, p. 65). The available information suggests that the earliest statement about the establishment of the SCGY based on Lee's suggestion was made on 20 April 1979 in the welcoming address of Yang Haibo, when Lee visited the SCGY. 33 What, then, was the specific proposal put forward by Lee in 1974? What was the role of that proposal in the establishment of SCGY? These questions are worthy of further research.
Lee has always been concerned with the development of S&T and the cultivation of young talent in China. During the ‘Cultural Revolution’, he returned from the United States to China twice and had an intuitive understanding about basic science research and the development of scientific talent training in China. In May 1974, Lee returned to China for the second time. After visiting Fudan University, he became worried about the significantly reduced training in basic science. When visiting the Shanghai Dance School, he was inspired by the school's selection and training of dancers. In consideration of the special circumstances in China at that time, Lee wrote a proposal titled ‘Thoughts after visiting Fudan University’. He made concrete suggestions about how to cultivate basic science personnel:
We should organize a basic science team consisting of few excellent people who are selected from the general public to serve the people. The team should be developed outside the university and maintain close contact with the masses.
People engaged in basic science should not be too many, but they should be excellent. Besides, the following two points should be noted. (1) Basic science researchers must be trained continuously for a considerable period. (2) The capability of basic science researchers is often maximized at a very young age of 20 to 30. Based on these two points, we should consider whether the training of basic science researchers can begin at the age of 13 or 14.
When we select teenagers who will engage in basic science research, we may follow similar procedures to the selection of dancers. First, a few potential teenagers of about 13 or 14 years old should be recommended by schools in the countryside and in cities. Of course, the requirements for basic science researchers and for dancers are different. Researchers must have a strong understanding ability and display sufficient competitiveness and good memory. (CCAST, 2008, pp. 57–59)
In Lee's proposal, he also proposed a specific scheme for the selection and cultivation of teenagers engaged in basic science research. First, potential candidates would be recommended by the public, and then teachers would live together with the candidates for six months to get a better understanding of their capabilities, thoughts and attitudes. The training process would emphasize manual labour, just as in the training of worker-peasant-soldiers, but also include strict basic science training to lay a solid knowledge foundation (CCAST, 2008, p. 60).
In 2005, Lee expounded on his original intentions for the 1974 proposal:
The real purpose of my suggestion was not to establish a special class for youngsters, but to overcome the situation in which the cultivation of basic science talent and other associated talents was not valued, and to get the cultivation of talent throughout the country back on track. (CCAST, 2008, p. 66)
On 20 May 1974, Lee submitted the proposal to Premier Zhou Enlai with the help of his friend Zhu Guangya, and asked Zhou to forward it to Chairman Mao Zedong. On the evening of 24 May, Zhou met Mr and Mrs Lee, together with Deng Xiaoping, Guo Moruo, Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and nearly 20 famous scientists, including Qian Xuesen, Wu Youxun and Zhou Peiyuan. In discussing the proposal, Jiang Qing raised an objection, although the scientists present did not make a clear statement. On 30 May, Mao met the Lees and said, ‘I agree with your proposal for talent training’ (as cited in Shi, 2008).
Lee's proposal was not implemented at that time, although it was approved by Mao. ‘The state leader asked USTC to implement my proposal,’ Lee recalled (CCAST, 2008, pp. 66–67). However, there is no direct evidence available to prove this. So, what is the basis for Yang Haibo proposing that ‘the SCGY was established according to Lee's proposal’ in 1979? We think this is probably because Lee's idea of cultivating teenagers aged 13 or 14 was similar to the managerial concept of the SCGY, and may also be related to the establishment of a middle school of science by USTC in 1975.
On 15 August 1975, when Li Chang recommended that USTC establish a middle school of science, he mentioned that ‘Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou have discussed the cultivation of basic science talent with Tsung-Dao Lee and Yang Zhenning, respectively’ (USTC Archives, 1975a). On 23 October, the draft of the ‘Request for instructions regarding issues at USTC’ organized by Wu Ruyang mentioned the issue of the establishment of a middle school of science: ‘With reference to previous experiences of talent cultivation in the sports, literature and art communities, CAS will appoint USTC to open a trial middle school of science’ (USTC Archives, 1975b). It can be inferred that the idea of Tsung-Dao Lee for the selection and cultivation of young basic science talent influenced the leaders of CAS and USTC. Li Chang's proposal for a middle school of science may be associated with Lee's idea, and Li's idea led directly to Wu Ruyang's decision to open a trial preparatory class in 1977. Therefore, it may be considered that Lee's proposal led indirectly to the establishment of the SCGY.
Conclusion
With the support of the CPC and state leaders, and under the influence of ideas about the cultivation of scientific talent proposed by the older generation of scientists and educators, the SCGY was established independently by USTC in a special historical period. As a novel mode of education, the SCGY has been constantly improved and developed through exploration and practice rather than being well designed and planned from the beginning. During the early years of the special class, it had extensive social influence and greatly promoted the development of education.
The first SCGY was a preparatory program that developed into an undergraduate program after the second enrolment. For better development of the class, USTC learned from previous practices and conducted a series of educational experiments. After the second enrolment, USTC held successive discussions on the SCGY, which involved the participation of school leaders, the teaching affairs department, the student affairs department, SCGY teachers and students. This provided opportunities for the university to learn from the past and seek methods to develop a unique SCGY.
In May 1980, the USTC established an SCGY research group led by Qian Linzhao and began to study the growth and education of teenage undergraduates. SCGY became a veritable experimental field for education at USTC.
In January 1985, based on Deng Xiaoping's proposal, the MOE approved 12 key universities, including Peking University and Tsinghua University, to launch special classes based on the SCGY at USTC. However, the situation of special classes gradually changed. At present, only USTC, Xi'an Jiaotong University and Southeast University retain the special program, while other universities have cancelled it and continued the cultivation and exploration of supernormal undergraduates in various other forms of elite education (Xin, 2008, pp. 16–17).
In 2007, academician Zhu Qingshi, the former president of USTC, said in an interview with Guangming Daily:
The SCGY initiated the pattern of cultivating all-rounders in China. It is a best model for higher education even today in the enrolment, cultivation and management of students. The SCGY's education model was first promoted by USTC and was later used by the key universities in China. The establishment of both Chu Kochen Honors College of Zhejiang University and Yuanpei College of Peking University was influenced by the SCGY at USTC. (Li and Ye, 2007)
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the ‘reform and opening-up’ policy and the 40th anniversary of the SCGY. The SCGY is a pioneer of higher education reform in China, and the educational research conducted during the development of the special class still provides inspiration for educational reform and the cultivation of top-class innovative talent today.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to academician Zhu Qingshi, who provided a lot of guidance during this work; Ni Lin, Ren Zhishu and Liu Xianrong, who graciously provided precious historical materials; Zhu Yuan, a former head teacher of the SCGY; Si Youhe, the former party secretary of USTC; and Zhang Pengfei, a former member of the Administrative Committee of the SCGY, who proposed valuable suggestions and recommendations for the article. We would also like to thank Ning Bo, Mu Qing, Yao Xin, Wang Yong and the other students of the SCGY who agreed to be interviewed and who helped us confirm historical details.
1
From 15 April to 31 July 1971, the State Council convened a national education conference in Beijing that lasted for more than 100 days. During the conference, the ‘Minutes of the National Education Conference’, drafted by Chi Qun and finalized by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, were discussed and passed, comprehensively approving the ‘Education Revolution’ during the ‘Cultural Revolution’ and repudiating the educational achievements gained in the first 17 years after the foundation of the People's Republic of China. The conference also proposed the ‘Two Estimations’. The first was that the education strategy during those 17 years had been a ‘dark part of anti-revolution revisionism’ in which ‘Chairman Mao's education strategy for the proletariat was basically not implemented’. The second was that ‘intellectuals’ views of the world are basically bourgeois’ and that they needed to be further modified. See Gao and Yao (2009, pp. 158–161).
2
On 3 April 1973, as instructed by Zhou, the educational science office of the State Council made two adjustments to the enrolment of worker-peasant-soldier students. One was adding an academic subject examination; the other was changing the requirement for practical experience from three to two years. Zhang Tiesheng, an educated youth from Liaoning Province, submitted a blank answer sheet in a physical chemistry examination, on the back of which he wrote a letter raising an objection to the academic subject examination for college enrolment. This event was reported by Liaoning Daily on 19 July 1973 and the story was reprinted by the People's Daily on 10 August, together with the following comment: ‘This letter proposes an important issue regarding the conflicts between the two strategies and two ideologies in the education field.’ The academic subject examination was then upgraded to a strategic conflict and was violently criticized. See Gao and Yao (2009, pp. 168–169).
3
This is from the autobiography that Ni Lin is working on (unpublished). Ni provided us with the section titled ‘Recommendation of a genius adolescent to promote the establishment of the SCGY’ for reference. Ni transcribed his recommendation letter to Fang Yi, which was included in his autobiography. Although the transcript was lost after two house moves, the content in the autobiography was consistent with the original.
4
According to The Secrets for Becoming Excellent Elementary and Secondary School Students by Si Youhe, Shen Yu, under the influence of his father from childhood, studied mathematics, physics and chemistry courses by himself and learned four languages (English, French, Japanese and Russian). His father wrote to the central leaders, recommending him for USTC.
5
As recalled by Mu Qing during a telephone interview on 10 March 2018, she mastered calculus by herself when she was a Grade 1 senior middle school student, and her mathematics teacher wrote to CAS to recommend her.
6
Liu Xianrong (1936–), the then leader of the students in the political work group of USTC Revolution Committee, was appointed director of the student affairs office in March 1978, after the institutional reform of USTC. He was in charge of USTC's enrolment in 1977 and witnessed the establishment of the SCGY. One of us interviewed Liu on 18 March 2018.
7
As recorded in Ning Bo's letter to one of the authors on 25 October 2010, it was on the Saturday after the college entrance examination that two USTC teachers responsible for enrolment went to Ganzhou for his investigation, and they spent one week there. According to the minutes of the USTC enrolment team, on 22 December 1977, the teachers had finished their investigation of Ning Bo's academic performance but had not yet returned. Therefore, the date on which Ning was investigated was 17 December.
8
According to a short message sent by Ning Bo on 23 March 2018, he was recommended by Ganzhou No. 8 Senior Middle School to participate in the college entrance examination at the end of 1977 (at that time, senior middle school operated a two-year system, and Ning was in the first semester of Grade 2; therefore, he took the college entrance examination half a year early). The examination involved four subjects: mathematics, physical chemistry, Chinese, and politics. The threshold for enrolment was an average score of 51. Ning's average score was 57.5. In addition to Ning, Pan Xinling and Chen Ying were also recommended to participate in the examination. Pan obtained an average score of 55 and was admitted to the Department of Grain and Oils Processing at Zhengzhou University of Technology (now Zhengzhou University). Chen obtained an average score of 54 and was admitted to the Department of Mathematics at Hunan University. Ning Bo applied to study chemistry at USTC, mathematics at Zhejiang University, astronomy at Nanjing University and mathematics at Jiangxi University.
9
The original poem is: , , , , .
10
Ren Zhishu (1924–) graduated in physics at Zhejiang University in 1947, worked at CAS from 1952, worked at USTC in teaching management from 1958, and was appointed as deputy leader of the education revolution group of USTC Revolution Committee in 1971 and then as deputy dean of teaching affairs in 1978. From 1982 to 1984, he was the Director of the Bureau of Education of CAS. Ren has been working on a diary for 66 years, since 1952. His diary provided valuable data for research on the history of CAS and USTC and the development of S&T and education in contemporary China. Ren witnessed the establishment of the SCGY and was a decision-maker in its early development.
11
Ren Zhishu's diary on 16 February 1978 is very consistent with Ning Bo's recall, differing only in a few details. According to the diary, 13 teenagers took the examination; Xu Jin scored 75, Ning Bo 67, Pan Xinling 62, and six or seven scored zero.
12
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 16 February 1978.
13
The minutes of the meeting were not placed in the USTC archives, but were copied and kept by Liu Xianrong. This is the first documentation describing the establishment process for the preparatory class.
14
We note that this should be Shanghai enrolment office.
15
The article was reported in People's Daily, 16 December 1977, p. 4.
16
We note that this should be ‘finished elementary mathematics by the age of eight’.
17
We note that ‘20’ should be ‘12’.
18
Shen Yu was excellent in the fundamentals. In the examination after the first SCGY opened, Shen obtained excellent scores and soon became an undergraduate in the Department of Physics. See USTC Archives (1978h).
19
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 30 December 1977.
20
The first SCGY initially took in 20 students and later added Yao Xin. According to a telephone interview with Yao on 27 March 2018, he passed the examination for the preparatory class conducted in Fuzhou, but his health was not qualified. He was admitted after passing a re-examination of his health. At the end of March 1978, he joined the first SCGY.
21
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 3 June 1978.
22
The report is a list of the first SCGY students, in which their physics and mathematics scores follow their names. This transcript exactly matches the records in Ren Zhishu's diary for 4 May 1978.
23
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 7 October 1978. Following Ning Bo's suggestion, the students who only just passed or who failed the exam remained anonymous.
24
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 15 July 1978.
25
Qian Linzhao (1906–1999) was a famous physicist and historian of science, an academician of CAS, a professor at USTC, and the director of the physics teaching and research office. In December 1978, he served as Vice President of USTC. In May 1980, he served as the head of the research team for the SCGY.
26
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 22 February 1978.
27
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 2 March 1978.
28
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 24 May 1978.
29
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 24 May 1978.
30
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 9 June 1978.
31
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 15 and 17 June 1978.
32
From Ren Zhishu's diary, 17 February 1978.
33
From material collected by Si Youhe, ‘Professor Tsung-Dao Lee's visit to USTC’. Research on the SCGY (vol. 1), printed by USTC.
Author biographies
Haohua He is a member of the Party Affairs Office at USTC and a PhD student in the history of science.
Zhihui Zhang, PhD, is a professor of the Department for the History of Science and Scientific Archaeology at USTC. His expertise covers the history of science and technology in modern China, scientific policy and oral history. He has been in charge of many research programs and published more than 30 research articles and four books.