Pre-Trip Task: Exploring China's Education System

Education Structure

 Education in China is a state-run system of public education run by the MOE. 9 years of education is compulsory for all students. At the age of 6/7, students will start their 6 years of primary education and later on at 12, they will have their 3 years of junior secondary education, both of which are compulsory. Then they will have 3 years of senior secondary education at 15. Lastly, they will go to either university or college.

Subjects tested for 'Higher Education Exam' (高考）includes:
> Chinese Literature
> English
> Mathematics
> Humanities/Natural Sciences

About Lida Secondary School

Founded in 1996 by Suzhou High School of Jiangsu Province,Suzhou Lida has grown into an educational establishment servicing a 2165-strong students in 51 class 7th grade through 9th grade. It is to mark its 10th anniversary with its own premises separated from Suzhou High.

The new site has excellent educational facilities that include classroom buildings, gyms, laboratories, and centers of arts such as music, ballet, and painting. Its dormitories are designed for students coming from afar, superb for both accommodation and learning.

Since the founding of the school, the teachers with Lida has won 77 awards in a wide range of competition held in Suzhou, Jiangsu and Nationwide. They have also seen an annual publication of more than 100 educational research papers.
Talent and virtue have always been the distinguish mark of  Lida's student body. Over the past 10 years, Lida students have participated in a variety of competitions. As told by statistics of the 2002-2005 period, Lida students have won 300 awards in provincial competitions. 

Lida Secondary also performs greatly academically. One example is in the 28th Australian Math Competition for the Westpac Awards in 2005, they took home 171 awards despite being first timers in such international event which was something unprecedented for a single school in the entire history of the competition.  Another example would be that 15 students with this background have finished or have been doing their first degree in various top universities all around the world.

Questions:
- Do they have CCA?
- Do the students feel stress having to keep up to the school's reputation?
- I heard that China has very long school hours and are given a lot of homework which needs to be handed in the very next day. How do they cope with this kind of stress?