Generally , education in China can be divided into the following stages:

1, Pre-school education for the 3-5 years old children in kindergartens.

2, Primary education for 6-11 years old children. Primary schools are usually run by local educational authorities, and in some cases, by enterprises and individuals.

3, Secondary school provided to 12-17 years old children. Education of this kind is conducted by local governments and various business authorities are classified as secondary schools or vocational high schools whose graduates hold the same degree studying as graduates senior middle schools and sorts of secondary professional schools whose graduates enjoy some privileges as from colleges. In particular, public secondary schools include junior middle schools and senior middle schools, both for three years of study. Students graduating from junior schools usually go to common senior middle schools, and parts of them go to vocational high schools or secondary professional schools for 3-5 years of studying.

4, Higher education constituted by those for vocational college students, undergraduates, postgraduates and doctorial students. Higher education is performed by universities, colleges, institutes and vocational colleges. These institutions bear the three major tasks of raising courses, doing scientific researches and providing social services.