China: Interesting educational tidbits

Just some tidbits captured during our travels that didn't fit in with the pictures:
-- The Chinese Flag: 1 large star surrounded by 4 smaller stars on a red background >> the smaller stars represent merchants, farmers, students & intellectuals all united to support the Communist Party (large star). The red background represents the communist revolution & the blood of the revolutionary martyrs.
~70% of China's population live in public housing.
-- Shanghai has a 3-ring road system. Only ~12% of the population can afford to live in the inner road.
-- The Chinese face-changing dance: the changing is an ancient skill and apparently a state secret passed down through families.
-- Education: school starts at 7a w/ 10 min breaks & 30-40 min for lunch. Concludes at 6:30p. Children head home, have dinner, then do homework (oftentimes until late: ~11p). Education is very competitive in China, & the (2-day) SAT is most important: highest possible result is 750. A test <700 places you in lesser universities.
-- English is required in schools since 1990. (Before that, Russian was the required language.) However, although required it's not rigorously adhered which explains why so many don't speak EN well.Read more