146 Harvard Human Rights Journal Vol.20 A.Historical Background:Universities in Post-1949 China When the Communist government came to power in 1949,it fully ab- sorbed all educational institutions into the state-run framework and dra- matically reorganized the entire education sector based on the Soviet model.14 The education system was consciously redesigned to serve the na- tional economic plan.5 The Ministry of Education standardized university curricula for all subjects and strictly enforced its requirement that schools use the government-created curricula.16 Over the ensuing decades,the education system was decimated by politi- cal purges of faculty and administrators caught on the wrong side of rapidly shifting political winds and the elimination of entire disciplines considered inconsistent with Party ideology.The Cultural Revolution virtually shut down the university system,as students donned Red Guard armbands,and the Gang of Four encouraged campus radicals to attack their professors as symbols of Western bourgeois expertise.17 In the late 1970s,the Chinese government began picking up the pieces of its shattered higher education system.The government returned author- ity over the university system to the Ministry of Education,which had itself been closed down for part of the Cultural Revolution.'s Universities re- opened departments that had been closed for decades for ideological reasons, including sociology and anthropology,19 and the pursuit of technical and scientific knowledge became a key part of central government policy under the banner of the so-called "four modernizations."University admissions tests were once again instituted,and ideological factors such as an appli- cant's class background,which had been given pride of place during the Cultural Revolution,were largely discarded as part of the admissions process.20 The year 1979 saw the reform era's first calls for academic autonomy.In June of that year,four prominent university presidents published a public appeal in the pages of the People's Daily calling for more academic autonomy for all institutions of higher education.21 This appeal was followed by an 14.SUZANNE PEPPER,RADICALISM AND EDUCATION REFORM IN 20TH-CENTURY CHINA 157-58 (1996). 15.Broader geographical distribution of educational institutions was also emphasized:each prov- ince would have its own medical,agricultural,and teacher-training schools,and the comprehensive universities that were set up were also geographically dispersed.Id.at 177. 16.1d.at187. 17.For a detailed account of the damage done to the education system during the Cultural Revolu- tion,see ld.at 259-352. 18.Id.at480. 19.RUTH HAYHOE,CHINA's UNIVERSITIES 1895-1995:A CENTURY OF CULTURAL CONFLICT 123 (1996). 20.PEPPER,supra note 14,at 479. 21.Li Xiaoping,University Autonomy in Chind:History,Present Situation,and Perspective,in ORGAN- ZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT,CURRENT ISSUES IN CHINESE HIGHER EDU- CATION 38 (2001),avilable at http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000 000b/80/27/aclh.pdf.\\server05\productn\H\HLH\20\HLH2001.txt unknown Seq: 6 12-JUN-07 16:27 146 Harvard Human Rights Journal / Vol. 20 A. Historical Background: Universities in Post-1949 China When the Communist government came to power in 1949, it fully ab￾sorbed all educational institutions into the state-run framework and dra￾matically reorganized the entire education sector based on the Soviet model.14 The education system was consciously redesigned to serve the na￾tional economic plan.15 The Ministry of Education standardized university curricula for all subjects and strictly enforced its requirement that schools use the government-created curricula.16 Over the ensuing decades, the education system was decimated by politi￾cal purges of faculty and administrators caught on the wrong side of rapidly shifting political winds and the elimination of entire disciplines considered inconsistent with Party ideology. The Cultural Revolution virtually shut down the university system, as students donned Red Guard armbands, and the Gang of Four encouraged campus radicals to attack their professors as symbols of Western bourgeois expertise.17 In the late 1970s, the Chinese government began picking up the pieces of its shattered higher education system. The government returned author￾ity over the university system to the Ministry of Education, which had itself been closed down for part of the Cultural Revolution.18 Universities re￾opened departments that had been closed for decades for ideological reasons, including sociology and anthropology,19 and the pursuit of technical and scientific knowledge became a key part of central government policy under the banner of the so-called “four modernizations.” University admissions tests were once again instituted, and ideological factors such as an appli￾cant’s class background, which had been given pride of place during the Cultural Revolution, were largely discarded as part of the admissions process.20 The year 1979 saw the reform era’s first calls for academic autonomy. In June of that year, four prominent university presidents published a public appeal in the pages of the People’s Daily calling for more academic autonomy for all institutions of higher education.21 This appeal was followed by an 14. SUZANNE PEPPER, RADICALISM AND EDUCATION REFORM IN 20TH-CENTURY CHINA 157–58 (1996). 15. Broader geographical distribution of educational institutions was also emphasized: each prov￾ince would have its own medical, agricultural, and teacher-training schools, and the comprehensive universities that were set up were also geographically dispersed. Id. at 177. 16. Id. at 187. 17. For a detailed account of the damage done to the education system during the Cultural Revolu￾tion, see Id. at 259–352. 18. Id. at 480. 19. RUTH HAYHOE, CHINA’S UNIVERSITIES 1895–1995: A CENTURY OF CULTURAL CONFLICT 123 (1996). 20. PEPPER, supra note 14, at 479. R 21. Li Xiaoping, University Autonomy in China: History, Present Situation, and Perspective, in ORGANI￾ZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, CURRENT ISSUES IN CHINESE HIGHER EDU￾CATION 38 (2001), available at http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000 000b/80/27/ac/fa.pdf