Chinese children start elementary school when they are six or seven and stay for five years. In school they study the Chinese language, math, science, music, painting, and government. In third grade they begin English, Russian or another foreign language. In the upper grades they also do some manual work to teach them to respect labor.

City students go to high school for five years, country students go for three years. Here they are in school for seven hours a day, six days a week. Part of the week the students work in factories or workshops to help them learn a skill.