1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the Research 1
1.1.1 The Origin of the Research 1
1.1.2 The Pilot Study 2
1.1.3 The Rationale of the Research 5
1.1.4 The Objective of the Research 6
1.2 The Theoretical Framework of the Research 7
1.3 The Terminology of the Research 8
1.4 Overall Structure of the Research 9
2 Education in China 11
2.1 The History and Tradition of Education in China 11
2.1.1 The Foundation of Education 11
2.1.2 The Underlying Principles of Education 12
2.1.3 The Influence of Confucian Education in Other Asian Countries 13
2.2 Present Education in China 13
2.2.1 The Causes of the Growth of Education 13
2.2.2 Present Education System in China 15
2.3 Higher Education in China 15
2.3.1 What Is Higher Education 15
2.3.2 Access to University Education in China 16
2.3.3 The Causes of the Growth of Higher Education 17
3 Women and Education 19
3.1 Women's Access to Education and Higher Education in Old China 19
3.2 Women's Access to Education and Higher Education at Present-day China 20
3.3 The Changes of Women's Perspectives 22
3.4 The Implication of Higher Education on Women 24
4 Methodology 26
4.1 Data Collection 26
4.2 The Study Setting 27
4.3 The Sample Selection 28
4.4 The Method of Data Analysis 30
4.5 Survey Questionnaire Design 31
5 Analysis of the Data 34
5.1 Discussion and Interpretation of the Findings 34
5.1.1 Biographical Details 35
5.1.2 Women's Perspectives on Career 38
5.1.3 Women's perspectives on Marriage 50
5.1.4 Women's Perspective on Motherhood 72
5.2 The Summary of the Findings 76
5.2.1 The Relationship between One's Family Background and Education Level 76
5.2.2 The Characteristics of Women's Perspectives 77
6 Conclusion 81
6.1 The Significance of the Research 81
6.2 The Validity of the Research 84
6.3 The Limitation of the Research 85
6.4 Suggestions for Further Study 86
Referenees 88
Appendix 95
Appendix A:Pilot Interview Data 95
Appendix B:Pilot Questionnaire 96
Appendix C:Pilot Questionnaire Data 97
Appendix D:Research Cover Letter 98
Appendix E:Research Questionnaire(English Version) 99
Appendix F:Research Questionnaire(Chinese Version) 110
Appendix G:Questions Unique to Each Group 116
Appendix H:Summary Sheet of the Research Interview Transcripts 118
Appendix Ⅰ:Summary Sheet of Questionnaire Data 146
List of Tables and Figure 16
Table 1:School System in the People's Republic of China 16
Table 2:Females Enrolled in Higher Education in 1978—2004 21
Table 3:The Fertility Status of Different Educational Levels of Women from 1981 to 1989 25
Table 4:Conditions That a Woman Wants Future Spouse to Have 69
Table 5:Factors That Influence Girls'Plans on Marriage in the Future 70
Table 6:Women's Ideal Marriage Age 71
Figure 1:Difficulty Level in Finding Jobs 46
Keywords Indexes 164