In the past 10 years, more than 100 million illiterate Chinese have learned to read and write in the country's national anti-illiteracy campaign in the past decade. In fact, by 2000, there were nearly no young able-bodied illiterates in the country.

According to the result of the 5th national census in 2000, there were 85.07 million illiterates in China, nearly 100 million fewer than in 1990. The illiteracy rate among young able-bodied population was only 9.08% in 2000, while it was 22.2% 10 years ago.

Nowadays, China is still working hard to improve education in rural areas, to prevent illiteracy rate from rising again. In 2006, there were 151 thousand training schools for farmers, and more than 45.2 million farmers enjoyed such convenience that year. Besides, the basic education all around the country has been greatly improved, too.

(Chinanews.cn July 30, 2007)