The Resumption of the College Entrance Examinations
In 1977, China reintroduced the college entrance examinations, which had been suspended for 10 years during the Cultural Revolution.
In early August 1977, Deng Xiaoping, who had just been reinstated after the Cultural Revolution, presided over a meeting on science and education. The participants requested that the college entrance examinations be restarted as soon as possible, and the proposal was endorsed by Deng. In September, the Ministry of Education decided to go ahead. In October, the State Council approved the ministry's report on holding national examinations in the winter of 1977 and agreed that all eligible workers, farmers, youth who had gone to countryside or stayed in cities, ex-servicemen, officials, and clerks, as well as senior high school graduates of that year, could take part. More than 5.7 million people from all walks of life sat the examinations and 273,000 of them were accepted by universities and colleges.
The resumption of the examinations ushered in the era of China's reform and opening up. This reflected the need for a large number of qualified people in various sectors, and the future of the next generations was transformed. It also laid sound foundations for China's development and take-off in the ensuing decades.
恢復高考
1977年，由于“文革”的沖擊而中斷了10年的中國高考制度得以恢復。1977年8月初，鄧小平主持召開科學和教育工作座談會時，與會者紛紛主張立即恢復高考，得到鄧小平明確支持。9月，教育部召開全國高等學校招生工作會議，決定恢復已經停止了10年的全國高等院校招生考試，以統一考試、擇優錄取的方式選拔人才上大學。10月12日，國務院批轉教育部《關于1977年高等學校招生工作的意見》規定，凡是工人、農民、上山下鄉和回鄉知識青年、復員軍人、干部和應屆畢業生，符合條件均可報考。1977年高考招生考試在冬季進行，新生第二年春季入學，有570多萬人參加了考試，當年全國大專院校錄取新生27.3萬人。
高考制度的恢復，奏響了改革開放交響曲的序曲，不僅改變了幾代人的命運，更為中國在新時期及其后的發展和騰飛奠定了良好基礎。高考恢復使中國高等教育重新走上正軌，基礎義務教育逐漸引起重視，并使國民經濟各行各業急需的大批專業人才和知識精英快速涌現。
