Documentation on Chinese curriculum reform

I continue my search for documents that i am going to include in a content analysis of educational purposes in curriculum reform policy documentation. there is such a wealth of information online in Chinese but on closer analysis the documentation is not categorized neatly or comprehensively which would have made selecting a population of documents so much easier. i am considering collecting four categories of documentation:

1. pronouncements of the president (in this case I think i am mainly focusing on Jiang Zemin) and also the CCP. I have a book entitled "A ten year record of education in China" which is a collection of education reporting by the lead "education journalist" at Xinhua. the book contains speeches and interviews with leaders such as Jiang Zemin. this is a potential source. also next step maybe to investigate more official websites? or look on the MOE website for storage places of these types of official documentation.

2. state council documents regarding curriculum reform--i suppose these constitute the most official of the official documentation. can these documents be considered as law? i feel i need to know more about the role of law in societies in general and in China in particular.
i will need to be able to explain the role of the state council in educational development and reform and the extent to which it represents the Chinese "state" as well as get to the bottom of the meanings of the term "state."

3. documents put out by the ministry of education. (http://www.moe.edu.cn/ ) the challenge here is to be exhaustive and comprehensive about my search for the official curriculum reform documents. the website is divided into many helpful sections but it is certainly exhausting sifting through all of them and challenging to be systematic. i found a section specifically devoted to curriculum reform for basic education but i cannot feel convinced that this is comprehensive. perhaps it is and the discomfort comes from a feeling that i need to know more about education reform in general beyond only the basic education curriculum reforms, i feel i also need to know about issues related to teachers, issues related to textbook development, issues related to moral education and so on. they all seem inseparable from the curriculum reforms.

4. Documentation from academics that has had an important impact on the new curriculum reforms. i still have no idea how i will find this type of work. i may consider excluding this from my paper or I could consider it as a literature review of chinese literature on the reforms. in this case i can do searches on china academic journals. a potential problem here again is the fact that it is not a norm to cite each others articles as it is in the U.S. which makes it easier to trace the accepted source of an idea. i can also look on CERNET http://www.edu.cn/ i suppose i need to get to the bottom of what this website is all about too. like all portals in China it seems, this one is so busy with information that it is easy to get lost in it.

today i have concentrated on searching on the MOE website.

I discovered three documents tucked away...are they documents from the Chinese Communist Party itself? The first is entitled "Framework for China's educucational development and reform (1990-2000). http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/static/115plan/wenjian_01.htm
I am a little confused as to when this document may have been written--it is frustrating how often such official documents do not have dates on them! at least the online versions. then there is the second document "The plan for the national educational cause of the ninth five year plan and the goals for development by 2010."
http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/static/115plan/wenjian_02.htm
I believe this document may have been written around 1995-1996. These two documents each have a couple of brief sentences regarding the need to reform curriculum and teaching methodologies. these sentences seem to still refer to the notion of "suzhi jiaoyu" that was picked up so enthusiastically and then it seems that it was abandoned as too absract to be practicable in guiding actual reform.

First document, section 7 "－－发展基础教育必须克服片面追求升学率的倾向，注重学生全面素质的提高，保证基础教育的基本要求。要积极进行学制、教材、教学内容、教学方法和考试制度的改革，加强教育同当地生产、生活的联系，鼓励学校办出各自的特色，改变“千校一面，万人一书”的局面。"

Second document fourth large section, last paragraph

"教学改革。进一步转变教育思想，改革教学内容和教学方法，克服学校教育不同程度存在的脱离经济建设和社会发展实际的现象。按照现代化建设的需要调整课程结构，用现代科学文化发展的新成果充实和更新教育内容，加强基本知识、基础理论和基本技能训练。高等教育要拓宽专业服务范围，加强实践环节教学和训练，促进教学、科研、生产（社会应用）三结合，提高学生分析问题和解决问题能力。改革和完善小学毕业生就近入学，初中毕业生升学考试，高中毕业生会考和高考制度，减轻学生过重的学习负担，使学生在德、智、体等方面全面发展"

there is an increasing emphasis in these documents on local education departments developing their own plans in line with the characterisitcs of their provinces and local areas so that education policy can become more responsive to local areas.

the third document entitled "the tenth five year plan for the national educational cause"
http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/static/115plan/wenjian_03.htm
has a slightly expanded section on the curriculum reform. Here is it also still included under the "Suzhi jiaoyu project" as one of the main policy strategies for the tenth five year plan for education reform and development.

－－素质教育工程
　　改进、加强学校的德育和思想政治工作，并将其融入到学校工作的各个环节之中。培养学生树立正确的世界观、人生观和价值观，进一步加强学生的爱国主义、集体主义和社会主义教育，加强中华民族优良传统、革命传统教育和国防教育，加强促进民族团结和维护祖国统一的教育，加强社会公德和职业道德教育，倡导文明健康的生活方式。在加强科学文化基础知识教育的同时，普遍提高学生的思想道德品质、人文素养和科学素质。
　　端正教育思想，转变教育观念，更新教育模式，采取多种形式培养学生的创新意识、创新能力、创业精神和实践能力，促进学生德智体美等方面全面发展。
　　改革教学内容，构建面向21世纪的教育课程体系，确立符合素质教育要求的课程、内容、目标与标准，改革教学手段与方法。继续减轻中小学生过重的课业负担，尊重学生人格，遵循学生身心发展规律，保证学生身心健康成长。
　　按照素质教育的要求，采取各种措施，不断提高教师的思想与专业水平，使教师队伍的整体水平适应素质教育的需要。
　　改革教育质量评价和监督办法，增强教育质量评价和监督的客观性、公正性和科学性，建立符合素质教育要求的评价和监督机制。

the question i ask myself is...is this the seminal paragraph that set in motion the curriculum reforms. do i even need to look for such seminality?