Q: China's increased input in basic education has pulled many people out of illiteracy. But in some poverty-stricken areas, there are still some illiterate adults. How many illiterate people are there now in China? And what measures will the government take to help them shake off illiteracy as soon as possible?

A: With the developments of popularizing primary school education and special education to help illiterate people, China has made remarkable achievements in eliminating illiteracy. The illiteracy rate fell from more than 80 percent in 1949 to below 8.72 percent at present. Despite this, the total number of illiterate people in China is still as high as 85 million, which is almost equal to the total population of Germany. It means there is approximately one illiterate person for every 15 Chinese people, and the total number of illiterate people remains second highest in the world.

According to statistics, among the 85 million illiterates, the illiteracy rate among people aged 15 to 50 is now below 4.8 percent, dropping from 20.56 percent in 1982, 10.38 percent in 1990, and 6.14 percent in 1995. China has realized its objective and the promise it made to the world that the illiteracy rate among people aged 15 to 50 would be lowered to below 5 percent by 2001.

The illiteracy rate is an important indicator in judging a country's social progress, economic development and living standards in the modern world. Although China has done pretty well at wiping out illiteracy between the ages of 15 and 50, it isn't resting on its laurels, as the total number of illiterate people is still as high as 85 million. Among these people, 90 percent live in rural areas, about half of which are in the western region, and 70 percent are female. In some rural areas, there are still many girls dropping out of school. Women shoulder the heavy responsibility of bringing up and educating their children. As such, the education levels of mothers are directly related to the future of their children and to the future of the whole nation. Eliminating illiteracy among females is still a difficult problem for China.

In addition, for various reasons, there is an increase of about 500,000 illiterates in China every year. Since there are still a number of students dropping out of school, about 200 counties around the country haven't popularized primary school education. Increased population migration also brings new illiterate people. In some areas, it is difficult to consolidate the achievement in illiteracy elimination, and as a result, a number of those who have cast off illiteracy become illiterate again. In the vast, poverty-stricken rural areas, poverty generates illiteracy, which in turn leads to poverty again. This vicious cycle has a direct negative influence on the development of all undertakings in rural areas and the improvement of farmers' living standards. Farmers who can't read can hardly understand or master new technological concepts and new ways of production. And it's even harder for them to respond to the competition brought about by China's entry into the WTO and to experience the enjoyable new aspects of modern life.

All these things have reminded us that we can't slack off and must work even harder to wipe out illiteracy. China has listed the work of eliminating illiteracy in the government's plan for economic and social development, requiring governments at all levels to work out detailed plans to ensure that everyone is literate. Key work includes preventing emergence of new illiterates, eliminating illiteracy among the remaining illiterate people, and improving illiteracy elimination results. In their effort to wipe out illiteracy, many provinces and municipalities have deepened the reform of courses and teaching methods. With the farmers' need to learn as the orientation, they have increased the practical nature of the illiteracy elimination work, changing courses that consisted mainly of learning to read and calculate into an integrated curriculum system that includes basic Chinese, practical math, living knowledge and skills for families, living knowledge and skills for citizens, and knowledge and skills about starting a business.

Recently, China worked out an action plan on educational development from 2003 to 2007 for the western region, aiming to wipe out almost all illiteracy among people between the ages of 15 and 50 in west China. There is still much work to be done to meet this goal.