title: Education in China

text: In December 1977, when uniform national examinations were reinstated, 5.7 million students took the examinations, although university placement was available for only the 278,000 applicants with the highest scores. In July 1984, about 1.6 million candidates (30,000 fewer than in 1983) took the entrance examinations for the 430,000 places in China's more than 900 colleges and universities. Of the 1.6 million examinees, more than 1 million took the test for placement in science and engineering colleges; 415,000 for places in liberal arts colleges; 88,000 for placement in foreign language institutions; and 15,000 for placement in sports universities and schools. More than 100,000 of the candidates were from national minority groups. A year later, there were approximately 1.8 million students taking the three-day college entrance examination to compete for 560,000 places. Liberal arts candidates were tested on politics, Chinese, mathematics, foreign languages, history, and geography. Science and engineering candidates were tested on politics, Chinese, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Entrance examinations also were given in 1985 for professional and technical schools, which sought to enroll 550,000 new students.


title: Education in China

text: Other innovations in enrollment practices, included allowing colleges and universities to admit students with good academic records but relatively low entrance-examination scores. Some colleges were allowed to try an experimental student recommendation system - fixed at 2 percent of the total enrollment for regular colleges and 5 percent for teachers' colleges - instead of the traditional entrance examination. A minimum national examination score was established for admission to specific departments at specially designated colleges and universities, and the minimum score for admission to other universities was set by provincial-level authorities. Key universities established separate classes for minorities. When several applicants attained the minimum test score, the school had the option of making a selection, a policy that gave university faculty and administrators a certain amount of discretion but still protected admission according to academic ability.


title: Education in China

text: In addition to the written examination, university applicants had to pass a physical examination and a political screening. Less than 2 percent of the students who passed the written test were eliminated for reasons of poor health. The number disqualified for political reasons was known, but publicly the party maintained that the number was very small and that it sought to ensure that only the most able students actually entered colleges and universities.


title: Education in China

text: By 1985 the number of institutions of higher learning had again increased - to slightly more than 1,000. The State Education Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued a joint declaration for nationwide unified enrollment of adult students - not the regular secondary-school graduates but the members of the workforce who qualified for admission by taking a test. The State Education Commission established unified questions and time and evaluation criteria for the test and authorized provinces, autonomous regions, and special municipalities to administer the test, grade the papers in a uniform manner, and determine the minimum points required for admission. The various schools were to enroll students according to the results. Adult students needed to have the educational equivalent of senior-middle-school graduates, and those applying for release or partial release from work to study were to be under forty years of age. Staff members and workers were to apply to study job-related subjects with review by and approval of their respective work units. If employers paid for the college courses, the workers had to take entrance examinations. In 1985 colleges enrolled 33,000 employees from various enterprises and companies, approximately 6 percent of the total college enrollment.


title: Education in China

text: In 1985 state quotas for university places were set, allowing both for students sponsored by institutions and for those paying their own expenses. This policy was a change from the previous system in which all students were enrolled according to guidelines established in Beijing. All students except those at military school or police academy, those who had financial difficulties, and those who were to work under adverse conditions after graduation had to pay for their own tuition, accommodations, and miscellaneous expenses.


title: Education in China

text: The children enrollment and graduate assignment system also were changed to reflect more closely the personnel needs of modernization. By 1986 the state was responsible for drafting the enrollment plan, which took into account future personnel demands, the need to recruit students from outlying regions, and the needs of trades and professions with adverse working conditions. Moreover, a certain number of graduates to be trained for the People's Liberation Army were included in the state enrollment plan. In most cases, enrollment in higher education institutions at the employers' request was extended as a supplement to the state student enrollment plan. Employers were to pay a percentage of training fees, and students were to fulfill contractual obligations to the employers after graduation. The small number of students who attended colleges and universities at their own expense could be enrolled in addition to those in the state plan.


title: Education in China

text: Accompanying the changes in enrollment practices were reforms (adopted 1986) in the faculty appointment system, which ended the "iron rice bowl" employment system and permitted colleges and universities to decide which academic departments, which academic majors, and how many teachers they needed. Teachers in institutions of higher learning were hired on a basis, usually for two to four years at a time. The teaching positions available on basis were teaching assistant, lecturer, associate professor, and professor. The system was tested in eight major universities in Beijing and Shanghai before it was instituted nationwide at the end of 1985. University presidents headed groups in charge of appointing professors, lecturers, and teaching assistants according to their academic levels and teaching abilities, and a more rational wage system, geared to different job levels, was inaugurated. Universities and colleges with surplus professors and researchers were advised to grant them appropriate academic titles and encourage them to work for their current pay in schools of higher learning where they were needed. The new system was to be extended to schools of all kinds and other education departments within two years.


title: Education in China

text: Under the 1985 reforms, all graduates were assigned jobs by the state; a central government placement agency told the schools where to send graduates. By 1985 Tsinghua University and a few other universities were experimenting with a system that allowed graduates to accept job offers or to look for their own positions. For example, of 1,900 Tsinghua University graduates in 1985, 1,200 went on to graduate school, 48 looked for their own jobs, and the remainder were assigned jobs by the school after consultation with the students. The college students and postgraduates scheduled to graduate in 1986 were assigned primarily to work in forestry, education, textiles, and the armaments industry. Graduates still were needed in civil engineering, computer science, and finance.


title: Education in China

text: In July 1986 the State Council announced that the stipend system for university and college students would be replaced with a new scholarship and loan system. The new system, to be tested in selected institutions during the 1986–87 academic year, was designed to help students who could not cover their own living expenses but who studied hard, obeyed state laws, and observed discipline codes. Students eligible for financial aid were to apply to the schools and the China Industrial and Commercial Bank for low-interest loans. Three categories of students eligible for aid were established: top students encouraged to attain all-around excellence; students specializing in education, agriculture, forestry, sports, and marine navigation; and students willing to work in poor, remote, and border regions or under harsh conditions, such as in mining and engineering. In addition, free tuition and board were to be offered at military school, and the graduates were required to join the army for at least five years in relevant positions. For those who worked in an approved rural position after graduation, student loans would be paid off by his or her employer, such as a school, in a lump sum. And the money was to be repaid to the employer by the student through five years of payroll deductions.


title: Education in China

text: In addition to loans, another means of raising educational quality, particularly in science, was to send students abroad to study. A large number of Chinese students studied in the Soviet Union before educational links and other cooperative programs with the Soviet Union were severed in the late 1950s (see Sino-Soviet split). In the 1960s and 1970s, China continued to send a small number of students abroad, primarily to European universities. In October 1978 Chinese students began to arrive in the United States; their numbers accelerated after normalization of relations between the two countries in January 1979, a policy consistent with modernization needs. Although figures vary, more than 36,000 students, including 7,000 self-supporting students (those who paid their own way, received scholarships from host institutions, or received help from relatives and "foreign friends"), studied in 14 countries between 1978 and 1984. Of this total, 78 percent were technical personnel sent abroad for advanced study. As of mid-1986, there were 15,000 Chinese scholars and graduates in American universities, compared with a total of 19,000 scholars sent between 1979 and 1983.


title: Education in China

text: Chinese students sent to the United States generally were not typical undergraduates or graduate students but were mid-career scientists, often thirty-five to forty-five years of age, seeking advanced training in their areas of specialization. Often they were individuals of exceptional ability who occupied responsible positions in Chinese universities and research institutions. Fewer than 15 percent of the earliest arrivals were degree candidates. Nearly all the visiting scholars were in scientific fields.


title: Education in China

text: Many of the problems that had hindered higher educational development in the past continued in 1987. Funding remained a major problem because science and technology study and research and study abroad were expensive. Because education was competing with other modernization programs, the capital was critically short. Another concern was whether or not the Chinese economy was sufficiently advanced to make efficient use of the highly trained technical personnel it planned to educate. For example, some observers believed that it would be more realistic to train a literate workforce of low-level technicians instead of research scientists. Moreover, it was feared that using an examination to recruit the most able students might advance people who were merely good at taking examinations. Educational reforms also made some people uncomfortable by criticizing the traditional practice of rote memorization and promoting innovative teaching and study methods.


title: Education in China

text: The prestige associated with higher education caused a demand for it. But many qualified youths were unable to attend colleges and universities because China could not finance enough university places for them. To help meet the demand and to educate a highly trained, specialized workforce, China established alternate forms of higher education - such as spare-time, part-time, and radio and television universities.


title: Education in China

text: China could not afford a heavy investment, either ideologically or financially, in the education of a few students. Since 1978 China's leaders have modified the policy of concentrating education resources at the university level, which, although designed to facilitate modernization, conflicted directly with the party's principles. The policies that produced an educated elite also siphoned off resources that might have been used to accomplish the compulsory nine-year education more speedily and to equalize educational opportunities in the city and the countryside. The policy of key schools has been modified over the years. Nevertheless, China's leaders believe an educated elite is necessary to reach modernization goals. Corruption has been increasingly problematic for rural schools. Because the educational funding is distributed from the top down, each layer of bureaucracy has tended to siphon off more than its share of funding, leaving too little for the bottom rural level.


title: Education in China

text: Families have had to cover for government indifference by making personal investments in their children's education. Chinese economy may not be able to effectively absorb the resulting influx of college graduates, who may need to settle for lower paying jobs, if they can find those.


title: Education in China

text: In 1998 the Chinese government proposed to expand the university enrollment of professional and specialized graduates and to develop world-class universities. Restructuring, through consolidations, mergers, and shifts among the authorities which supervise institutions, was aimed at addressing the problems of small size and low efficiency. Higher vocational education was also restructured, and there was a general tendency there to emphasize elite institutions. This rapid expansion of mass higher education has resulted in not only a strain in teaching resources, but also higher unemployment rates among graduates. The creation of private universities, not under governmental control, remains slow and its future uncertain. The restructuring of higher education, in the words of one academic "has created a clearly escalating social stratification pattern among institutions, stratified by geography, source of funding, administrative unit, as well as by functional category (e.g., comprehensive, law, medical, etc.)." Thus, although recent reform has arguably improved over-all educational quality, they have created new, different issues of equity and efficiency that will need to be addressed as the century proceeds.


title: Education in China

text: In the spring of 2007, China planned to conduct a national evaluation of its universities. The results of this evaluation are used to support the next major planned policy initiative. The last substantial national evaluation of universities, which was undertaken in 1994, resulted in the 'massification' of higher education as well as a renewed emphasis on elite institutions.


title: Education in China

text: Academics praised the "fin du siècle" reforms for budging China's higher education from a unified, centralized, closed and static system into one characterized by more diversification, decentralization, openness, and dynamism, stimulating the involvement of local governments and other non-state sectors. At the same time, they note that this decentralization and marketization has led to further inequality in educational opportunity.


title: Education in China

text: Chinese policies on College Entrance Examination have been influenced by the recruitment systems of western countries and the traditional culture of imperial examinations. Since Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University started independent enrollment before College Entrance Examination in 2007, some of the top Chinese colleges began to follow them using a new method to choose students besides a unified examination system. In accordance with university regulations, those colleges appoint their own staff and are responsible for selecting students. Students can get admitted by taking a specific exam or interview before the College Entrance Examination. In this way, students have more chances to get admitted by the top colleges. In 2010, there were several critical reforms in the education field. On 31 January, the education ministry in Guangdong province began to implement parallel voluntary admission in the college entrance recruiting system, which is an efficient way to decrease the risk of getting into a college for the majority of students. On 20 November, the education ministry of China canceled the additional Olympics points in the College Entrance Exam policy. It is fairer for the high school students, and efficiently reduces the heavy academic burdens for students. As the economic development of China, the private school system has been gradually built up. Many private preschools began to use bilingual teaching. Furthermore, some public colleges and universities cooperated with investors to run secondary college by using public running and being sponsored by private enterprises, which promotes the development of education. On the other hand, the Technical and Vocational Education in China has developed rapidly, and become the focus of the whole society.


title: Education in China

text: Nowadays, as the educational level of Chinese has increased, getting into college is no longer a remarkable achievement among the Chinese students. Instead, having a degree of an ordinary Chinese university already can't satisfy the increasingly competitive society. Chinese parents and students have begun to place a high value on overseas education, especially at top American and European institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, which are "revered" among many middle-class parents. Since 1999, the number of Chinese applicants to top schools overseas has increased tenfold. Much of the interest in overseas schools has been attributed to the release of how-to parenting books such as "Harvard Girl", which spawned a "national obsession" with admissions to overseas schools. After 2005, the number of overseas students from China not only showed a growth trend, but also presented a lowering trend of age.


title: Education in China

text: With more students going abroad for university, increasing numbers of affluent families are "opting out" of the conventional public school system, which is heavily oriented towards preparing for the Chinese college admissions test. These families, who can afford tuition at a foreign university and may prefer a more "western" education for their children, are sending their children to private schools, special programs within Chinese public schools, or schools abroad. Some of the prestige of American higher education is the result of weaknesses in the PRC's education system, which stifles creativity in favor of rote memorization.


title: Education in China

text: As a result of the growing mismatch between university degrees and job opportunities in China, university students are also increasingly undertaking extracurricular educational training during their time in university. These include university clubs, volunteering activities, and internships. Furthermore, the Chinese state has promoted entrepreneurship among university students by running business training, setting up "business incubators" on campuses, and offering special benefits for student entrepreneurs. As a result of this development, university life in China has become associated with various aspects of "self-development" in addition to formal classroom learning.


title: Education in China

text: The number of foreigners wanting to study in China has been rising by approximately 20% annually since the reform and opening period began.


title: Education in China

text: According to reports, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Vietnam, and Thailand were the five biggest source countries, and the number of students from European source countries is increasing. Currently the Chinese government offers over 10,000 scholarships to foreign students, though this is set to rise by approximately 3,000 within the next year.


title: Education in China

text: China's economy is improving more quickly than had been predicted, i.e. sizable economic growth by 2015 has been predicted as opposed to 2050. China has already drawn the attention of the West for its growth rates, and the 2008 Olympic Games and Shanghai Expo 2010 have intensified this positive attention. Another factor that draws students to China is the considerably lower cost of living in China compared to most western countries. Finally, major cities in China such as Beijing and Shanghai already have a strong international presence. Nevertheless, unlike in many Western countries, possibilities to legally engage in internships and part-time work are limited and remain within a grey area although national legislation has tried to clarify the matter.


title: Education in China

text: Currently, China has around 3,012 colleges and universities. The quality of universities and higher education in China is internationally recognized as the country has the world's second highest number of universities in some rankings. Regardless of different rankings about universities in China, the Ministry of Education of China does not advocate or recognize any ranking conducted by a third party. In the 2020 CWTS Leiden Ranking edition, China surpassed the U.S. with the number of universities including in the ranking for the first time (204 vs.198). China has dominated the QS BRICS University Rankings and the THE's Emerging Economies University Rankings, claiming seven of the top 10 spots for both rankings. China is also the most-represented nation overall. In 2020, China tops the QS Asia University Rankings list with over 120 universities including in the ranking, and five Chinese universities appear in the Asia Top 10, which is more than any country. There were 22 Chinese universities on lists of the global top 200 in the 2020 ARWU, behind only the United States in terms of the overall representation.


title: Education in China

text: According to THE China Subject Ratings 2020 conducted by the Time Higher Education World University Rankings, Chinese universities are on a par with their counterparts in the US, the UK, and Germany across 89 subjects ahead of others like France, South Korea, and Russia. The country scores above the global average of B score, with 46 percent of its universities’ grades were A+, A, or A−, only slightly behind the US (49 percent). The QS ranking by subjects 2021indicated that universities in China now have a record number in the top 50 universities in the world across all 51 subjects in five broad discipline areas: “Arts and Humanities”, “Natural Sciences”, “Social Sciences and Management”, “Engineering & Technology”, and “Life Sciences and Medicines”.


title: Education in China

text: This reflects the continual development of Chinese higher education and research quality of universities over time. Regardless of different rankings about universities in China, the Ministry of Education of China does not advocate or recognize any ranking conducted by a third party.


title: Education in China

text: Leading universities in the Double First Class University Plan such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, have already gained international reputation for outstanding teaching and research facilities. China has signed agreements with almost 54 countries such as Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and Russia on mutual recognition of higher education qualifications and academic degrees. Many Chinese universities such as United International College now offer degrees in English enabling students with no knowledge of the Chinese language to study there.


title: Education in China

text: Because only 4 percent of the nation's secondary education graduates are admitted to universities, China has found it necessary to develop other ways of meeting the demand for education. Adult education has become increasingly important in helping China meet its modernization goals. Adult, or "nonformal," education is an alternative form of higher education that encompasses radio, television, and correspondence universities, spare-time and part-time universities, factory-run universities for staff and workers, and county-run universities for peasants, many operating primarily during students' off-work hours. These alternative forms of education are economical. They had sought to educate both the "delayed generation" - those who lost educational opportunities during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) - and to raise the cultural, scientific, and general education levels of workers on the job. The primary purpose of adult education is to provide a second chance for those who are poor in society or who have lost access to education for other reasons in order to achieve social justice and equal access to education. In the 1960s, the idea of "lifelong education" was raised, and began the transition of Chinese education. Adult education begins focusing on the cultivation of social responsibility to develop lifelong education theory.


title: Education in China

text: In 1949, the common program formulated by the first session of the Chinese people's political consultative conference (CPPCC) clearly confirmed that China needed to put emphasis on the education of the working class. It addressed the serious situation of illiteracy, which was then more than 80 percent of the population. The period from 1949 to 1966 marked the beginning and development of adult education in new China. From 1966 to 1976, adult education could not be carried out normally due to the impact of the ten-year "cultural revolution". Since 1978, when China entered the new era of modernization, adult education has been rapidly restored and developed.


title: Education in China

text: Schools have been established by government departments, businesses, trade unions, academic societies, democratic parties, and other organizations. In 1984 about 70 percent of China's factories and enterprises supported their own part-time classes, which often were referred to as workers' colleges. In Beijing alone, more than ninety adult-education schools with night schools enrolled tens of thousands of students. More than 20,000 of these students graduated annually from evening universities, workers' colleges, television universities, and correspondence schools - more than twice the number graduating from regular colleges and universities. The government spent 200 yuan (¥) to ¥500 per adult education student and at least ¥1,000 per regular university student. In 1984 approximately 1.3 million students enrolled in television, correspondence, and evening universities, about a 30 percent increase over 1983.


title: Education in China

text: Spare-time education for workers and peasants and literacy classes for the entire adult population were other components of basic education. Spare-time education included a very broad range of educational activities at all levels. Most spare-time schools were sponsored by factories and run for their own workers; they provided fairly elementary education, as well as courses to upgrade technical skills. Most were on-the-job training and retraining courses, a normal part of any industrial system. These schools continually received publicity in the domestic media as a symbol of social justice, but it was unclear whether they received adequate resources to achieve this end.


title: Education in China

text: China's educational television system began in 1960 but was suspended during the Cultural Revolution in 1966. In 1979 the Central Radio and Television University was established in Beijing with branches in twenty-eight provincial-level universities. Many Central Radio and Television University students were recent senior-middle school graduates who scored just below the cut-off point for admission to conventional colleges and universities. Full-time (who take four courses) and part-time students (two courses) had at least two years' work experience, and they return to their jobs after graduation. Spare-time students (one course) studied after work. Students whose work units granted them permission to study in a television university were paid their normal wages; expenses for most of their books and other educational materials were paid for by the state. A typical Central Radio and Television University student spent up to six hours a day over a three-year period watching lectures on videotapes produced by some of the best teachers in China. These lectures were augmented by face-to-face tutoring by local instructors and approximately four hours of homework each evening. The major problem with the system is that there were too few television sets. In 1987 the Central Television and Radio University had its programs produced, transmitted, and financed by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. The State Education Commission developed its curriculum and distributed its printed support materials. The curriculum included both basic, general-purpose courses in science and technology and more specialized courses. The Central Television and Radio University offered more than 1,000 classes in Beijing and its suburbs and 14 majors in 2- to 3-year courses through 56 working centers. Students who passed final examinations were given certificates entitling them to the same level of remuneration as graduates of regular, full-time colleges and universities. The state gave certain allowances to students awaiting jobs during their training period.


title: Education in China

text: The continuing campaigns to eradicate illiteracy also were a part of basic education. Chinese government statistics indicated that of a total population of nearly 1.1 billion in 1985, about 230 million people were illiterate or semiliterate. The difficulty of mastering written Chinese makes raising the literacy rate particularly difficult. In general, language reform was intended to make writing and the standard language easier to learn, which in turn would foster both literacy and linguistic unity and serve as a foundation for a simpler written language. In 1951 the party issued a directive that inaugurated a three-part plan for language reform. The plan sought to establish universal comprehension of a standardized common language, simplify written characters, and introduce, where possible, romanized forms based on the Latin alphabet. In 1956 Putonghua (Modern Standard Chinese) was introduced as the language of instruction in schools and in the national broadcast media, and by 1977 it was in use throughout China, particularly in the government and party, and in education. Although in 1987 the government continued to endorse the goal of universalizing Putonghua, hundreds of regional and local dialects continued to be spoken, complicating interregional communication.


title: Education in China

text: A second language reform required the simplification of ideographs because ideographs with fewer strokes are easier to learn. In 1964 the Committee for Reforming the Chinese Written Language released an official list of 2,238 simplified characters most basic to the language. Simplification made literacy easier, although some people taught only in simplified characters were cut off from the wealth of Chinese literature written in traditional characters. Any idea of replacing the ideographic script with the romanized script was soon abandoned by government and education leaders.


title: Education in China

text: The third area of change involved the proposal to use the pinyin romanization system more widely. Pinyin (first approved by the National People's Congress in 1958) was encouraged primarily to facilitate the spread of Putonghua in regions where other dialects and languages are spoken. By the mid-1980s, the use of pinyin was not as widespread as the use of Putonghua.


title: Education in China

text: Literacy campaigns and the differences in funding actually increased the differences in literacy rates in the city and the countryside. Retaining literacy was as much a problem as acquiring it, particularly among the rural population. Literacy rates declined between 1966 and 1976. The political disorder may have contributed to the decline, but the basic problem was that the many Chinese ideographs can be mastered only through rote learning and can be often forgotten because of disuse.


title: Education in China

text: With the development of the education system in China, the government gradually began to pay attention to adult education, instituting three types of adult education: Adult college entrance examinations, higher education self-taught examinations, and open education and network education (distance education).


title: Education in China

text: There is only one college entrance exam every year, typically in the middle of October. Adult college entrance classes are usually held on weeknights or weekends.


title: Education in China

text: Adult self-taught exams are open to all adults and does not require a certificate of formal schooling to participate. The only requirement is possession of a valid ID card. Candidates can take the exam by studying various subjects on their own or enroll in courses which are organized by universities or junior colleges.


title: Education in China

text: Compared with traditional academic education, open education is a new teaching model that combines traditional face-to-face teaching, textbook autonomous learning, and online real-time courses and online classes.


title: Education in China

text: Network education is taught through a network course. The study style is convenient, suits adults with busy jobs and do not have a fixed time to attend a class. Enrollment time is relatively loose, divided into spring and autumn admission. The examination time is also quite open, every month having an entrance examination.


title: Education in China

text: The participation of big investors in online education has made it a new hotspot for investment in the education industry. Students of remote and under-developed areas are the biggest beneficiaries of online education, but online universities offer students who failed university entrance examinations and working people the chance of lifelong education and learning.


title: Education in China

text: The Ministry of Education has approved 68 ordinary schools of higher learning and the Central Radio and TV University to pilot modern distance education. By the end of 2003, these schools had established 2,027 off-campus learning centers around China, offering 140 majors in ten disciplines, and had a total enrollment of 1.373 million.


title: Education in China

text: The gradual spread of broadband technology has also helped online education. The China Education and Research Network (CERNET), started in 1994, is now China's second largest Internet network, covering all major cities of China. The high-speed connection between it and the China Education Broadband Satellite Net opened in 2000, established a "space to earth" transmission platform for modern distance education, and provided an all-round network supporting environment for distance education.


title: Education in China

text: The government supports private educational organizations, as well as private for-profit educational providers. The first "Law on Promotion of Private Education" came into effect on 1 September 2003.


title: Education in China

text: Development of private schools means an increase in overall education supply and a change in the traditional pattern of public-only schools, so as to meet educational needs. At the end of 2004, there were more than 70,000 private schools of all types and levels, with a total enrollment of 14.16 million, including 1,279 private institutes of higher learning, with a total enrollment of 1.81 million.


title: Education in China

text: Private schools have pioneered cooperation with foreign partners in the running of schools and many foreign universities have entered China this way, which has both improved the quality of China's education resources and opened new channels for students' further studies.


title: Education in China

text: In January 2017, State Council of China stated that the China Communist party's leadership over private schools should be strengthened, CCP's organizations should be established in private schools, and the party organizations of private schools should play a political core role and firmly control the private schools' school orientation: Training socialist builders and successors.


title: Education in China

text: In 2010, the Government of China released its medium and long term national ICT in education master plans, which stated explicitly that ICT would have a historic impact on the development of education and called for a strong emphasis on ICT in education. In order to realize the scientific and orderly development of ICT in education, China has developed a holistic and top-down approach. The Ten Year Development Plan for ICT in Education 2011-2020 was formalized in 2012. It states that by 2020, all adults will have access to quality education resources in an ICT-enabling environment, an ICT support service system for the learning society will take shape, and all regions and schools at all levels will have broadband internet access.


title: Education in China

text: In order to considerably enhance Internet coverage and transmission capacity, China has accelerated its drive to upgrade infrastructure, including the China Education and Research Network (CERNet) and China Education Broadband Satellite (CEBSat), which are the two main education networks.


title: Education in China

text: To enhance the impact of ICT in education and teaching, China has placed a strong focus on developing quality digital educational resources. In particular, China has launched the “one teacher, one quality lesson, and one class one quality teacher” initiative, which has led to the creation of quality digital teaching resources for 3.26 million teachers. In tandem, the Chinese Government has encouraged higher education institutions to develop MOOCs, and private companies to develop basic digital resources to supplement formal educational materials.


title: Education in China

text: To enhance the modernization of education governance, China has promoted ICT in education administration through the establishment of a national data center and the implementation of the national service system for education decision-making. China has also set up a national data center supporting the administration through a unique online identity number for each student, each teacher, and each school.


title: Education in China

text: In an effort to promote the widespread application of ICT in teaching, China has carried out full-scale capacity training for teachers. China has launched a capacity improvement project targeting primary and secondary school teachers’ capacity to use ICT, helping them to integrate ICT into their teaching. ICT training for education administrators has also been stepped up, so as to enhance their ICT leadership capability.


title: Education in China

text: In 1985, the government designated 10 September as Teachers' Day, the first festival day for any profession, and indicative of government efforts to raise the social status and living standards of teachers.


title: Education in China

text: The government has started the Nationwide Program of Network for Education of Teachers to improve the quality of teaching. It aims to modernize teachers' education through educational information, providing support and services for lifelong learning through the teachers' education network, TV satellite network, and the Internet and to greatly improve the teaching quality of elementary and high school faculty through large-scale, high-quality and high-efficiency training and continuous education.


title: Education in China

text: As required by state law, local governments are implementing teacher qualification systems and promoting in-service training for large numbers of school principals, so as to further improve school management standards. Currently, in schools of higher learning, professors and assistant professors account for 9.5 percent and 30 percent respectively. Young and middle-aged teachers predominate; teachers under age 45 account for 79 percent of total faculty, and under age 35 for 46 percent. Teachers in higher education constitute a vital contingent in scientific research, knowledge innovation, and sci-tech. Of all academicians in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 40.7 percent (280) are in the higher education sector; for the Chinese Academy of Engineering the corresponding figure is 35.3 percent (234).


title: Education in China

text: Among the most pressing problems facing education reformers was the scarcity of qualified teachers, which has led to serious stunting of educational development. In 1986 there were about 8 million primary- and middle-school teachers in China, but many lacked professional training. Estimates indicated that in order to meet the goals of the Seventh Five-Year Plan and realize compulsory 9-year education, the system needed 1 million new teachers for primary schools, 750,000 new teachers for junior middle schools, and 300,000 new teachers for senior middle schools.


title: Education in China

text: To cope with the shortage of qualified teachers, the State Education Commission decreed in 1985 that senior-middle-school teachers should be graduates with two years' training in professional institutes and that primary-school teachers should be graduates of secondary schools. To improve teacher quality, the commission established full-time and part-time (the latter preferred because it was less costly) in-service training programs. Primary-school and preschool in-service teacher training programs devoted 84 percent of the time to subject teaching, 6 percent to pedagogy, and psychology, and 10 percent to teaching methods. In-service training for primary-school teachers was designed to raise them to a level of approximately two years' postsecondary study, with the goal of qualifying most primary-school teachers by 1990. Secondary-school in-service teacher training was based on a unified model, tailored to meet local conditions, and offered on a spare-time basis. Ninety-five percent of its curricula were devoted to subject teaching, 2 to 3 percent to pedagogy and psychology, and 2 to 3 percent to teaching methods. There was no similar large-scale in-service effort for technical and vocational teachers, most of whom worked for enterprises and local authorities.


title: Education in China

text: By 1985 there were more than 1,000 teacher training schools - an indispensable tool in the effort to solve the acute shortage of qualified teachers. These schools, however, were unable to supply the number of teachers needed to attain modernization goals through 1990. Although a considerable number of students graduated as qualified teachers from institutions of Higher Learning, the relatively low social status and salary levels of teachers hampered recruitment, and not all of the graduates of teachers' colleges became teachers. To attract more teachers, China tried to make teaching a more desirable and respected profession. To this end, the government designated 10 September as Teachers' Day, granted teachers pay raises, and made teachers' colleges tuition free. To further arrest the teacher shortage, in 1986 the central government sent teachers to underdeveloped regions to train local schoolteachers.


title: Education in China

text: Because urban teachers continued to earn more than their rural counterparts and because academic standards in the countryside had dropped, it remained difficult to recruit teachers for rural areas. Teachers in rural areas also had production responsibilities for their plots of land, which took time from their teaching. Rural primary teachers needed to supplement their pay by farming because most were paid by the relatively poor local communities rather than by the state.


title: Education in China

text: Many schools in China require the use of a school uniform until college. Students have uniforms for both sportswear and their daily uniform, both of which will change depending on the season. Uniforms can also differ in design depending on the school, making it easy for people to identify which school a student attends. Proponents of school uniforms argue that the uniforms are a unique form of culture, remove the pressure of students comparing clothing, and allow the faculty and others to identify students and their respective schools. In an article for "China Daily", Yuan Can stated that while student uniforms were previously regarded as a sign of progress, in current society the uniform's style is seen instead as a sign of identity and belonging.


title: Education in China

text: Although cities like Shanghai regularly perform highly in international assessments, Chinese education has both native and international detractors; common areas of criticism include its intense rigor; its emphasis on memorization and standardized testing; and the gap in quality of education between regions and genders.


title: Education in China

text: In 2014, Jonathan Kaiman of "The Guardian" wrote that Chinese parents and educators "see their own system as corrupt, dehumanizing, pressurized and unfair"; he went on to discuss the country's college admission exam (called the "gaokao"), writing that "many parents consider the grueling nine-hour test a sorting mechanism that will determine the trajectory of their children's lives."


title: Education in China

text: In 2014, Helen Gao of "The New York Times" called China's educational system "cutthroat" and wrote that its positive reputation among admirers is largely built on a myth: While China has phenomenally expanded basic education for its people, quadrupling its output of college graduates in the past decade, it has also created a system that discriminates against its less wealthy and well-connected citizens, thwarting social mobility at every step with bureaucratic and financial barriers. A huge gap in educational opportunities between students from rural areas and those from cities is one of the main culprits. Some 60 million students in rural schools are 'left-behind' children, cared for by their grandparents as their parents seek work in faraway cities. While many of their urban peers attend schools equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and well-trained teachers, rural students often huddle in decrepit school buildings and struggle to grasp advanced subjects such as English and chemistry amid a dearth of qualified instructors. 'Rural students stand virtually no chance when competing academically with their urban counterparts,' Jiang Nengjie, a friend and independent filmmaker who made a documentary on the left-behind children, told me. In 2014, Lara Farrar argued in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" that the disabled are "shortchanged" in Chinese schools, with very little chance of acceptance into higher educational institutions.


title: Education in China

text: Reflecting the fact that most of China's population lives in the countryside, 95.2 percent of all elementary schools, 87.6 percent of junior high schools and 71.5 percent of senior high schools are in rural areas, with 160 million students at the compulsory education stage. The 1995-2000 "National Project of Compulsory Education in Impoverished Areas" involved the allocation of 3.9 billion special funds from the central finance and 10 billion yuan raised by local governments to improve schooling conditions in impoverished areas. In 2004, various special funds allocated by the central finance for compulsory education in rural areas reached 10 billion yuan, a 72.4 percent increase on the 2003 figure of 5.8 billion.


title: Education in China

text: The China Agricultural Broadcast and Television School has nearly 3,000 branch schools and a teaching and administrative staff of 46,000. Using radio, television, satellite, network, audio, and video materials, it has trained over 100 million people in applicable agricultural technologies and over 8 million persons for work in rural areas. After 20 years in development, it is the world's largest distance learning organ for rural education.


title: Education in China

text: In a Ministry of Education program covering the next five years , the government will implement measures to realize its aims of nine-year compulsory education in China's western region and the basic elimination of young and middle-aged illiteracy and the popularization of high level, high quality nine-year compulsory education in the east and central rural areas. At the same time, the government is to promote the development of modern distance learning for rural elementary and high schools and further improve rural compulsory education management systems.


title: Education in China

text: Although gender inequality in the context of education has lessened considerably in the last thirty years, the rapid economic growth China experienced during that time created uneven growth across regions of the country. Language barriers among minority populations, as well as drastic differences in regional laws governing school attendance, contribute to the differing levels of gender equality in education.


title: Education in China

text: A 2010 statement by UNESCO stated that in China it is "necessary to articulate a strategy to improve girls' and women's participation, retention and achievement in education at all levels," and that education should be "seen as an instrument for the empowerment of women."


title: Education in China

text: China's first contact with the English language occurred between the Chinese and English traders, and the first missionary schools to teach English were established in Macau in the 1630s. The state emphasis of English education emerged after 1979 when the Cultural Revolution ended, China adopted the Open Door Policy, and the United States and China established strong diplomatic ties. An estimate of the number of English speakers in China is over 200 million and rising, with 50 million secondary school children now studying the language.


title: Education in China

text: In China, most school children are taught their first English lesson at the age of 10. Despite the early learning of English, there is widespread criticism of the teaching and learning of the language. Schools in China are evaluated and financed based on test results. This causes teaching to be geared towards the skills tested. Students focus on rote-memorization (written and oral repetition) as the main learning strategy. These methods, which fit very well with the Chinese way of learning, have been criticized as fundamentally flawed by Western educationalists and linguists.


title: Education in China

text: Furthermore, newly learned words are seldom put into use. This arises because everyone in China communicates through Mandarin or a regional Chinese dialect, and English is perceived to be of little use in the country. This has been further reinforced through the national Band 4 examination where 80% of the test is the writing component, 20% is devoted to listening, and speaking is excluded entirely. According to a national survey, only half of the teachers consider that vocabulary should be learned through conversation or communication. A far smaller percentage support activities such as role-playing or vocabulary games.


title: Education in China

text: According to research completed by The Telegraph in 2017, less than 1 percent of people in China speak English conversationally.


title: Education in China

text: Following the large-scale movement of the Chinese rural population to the cities the children of these migrant workers either stay as left-behind children in the villages or they migrate with their parents to the cities. Although regulations by the central government stipulate that all migrant children have the right to attend a public school in the cities public schools nevertheless effectively reject these children by setting high thresholds such as school fees and exams or by requesting an urban registration (Hukou). Providing an alternative, private entrepreneurs established since the 1990s semi-official private schools that offered schooling to migrant children for lower fees. This system contributed to the segregation between urban and migrant children. Furthermore, these schools often have a poor teaching quality, provide only school certificates of limited value and sometimes even do not comply with safety regulations. Since the beginning of the 2000s, some local governments thus started campaigns to close these private schools but nevertheless, in many cities, these schools still exist. Although Chinese scholars have conducted case-study research on migrant children and their schools there is a lack in studies with a nationwide scope.


title: Education in China

text: Studies among left-behind children in China found that they had lower self-esteem and more mental health problems than children overall. Teachers of left-behind children often lack the resources, understanding, or opportunity to communicate to family or guardians the need for them to provide support and attention. Analysis for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report found that children with absent mothers had lower grades in mathematics, Chinese, and English. Children with one or both parents absent had more symptoms of depression than those with present parents. Analysis from rural Gansu province (2000 and 2015) found that children with absent fathers had 0.4 fewer years of education.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romance-war-adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Ernest Hemingway and Howard Hawks were close friends and, on a fishing trip, Hawks told Hemingway, who was reluctant to go into screenwriting, that he could make a great movie from his worst book, which Hawks admitted was "To Have and Have Not". Jules Furthman wrote the first screenplay, which was set in Cuba like the novel. However, the screenplay was altered to be set in Martinique instead of Cuba because the portrayal of Cuba's government was believed to be in violation of the United States' Good Neighbor policy with Latin American countries. Hawks's other good friend, William Faulkner, was the main contributor to the screenplay, including and following the revisions. Because of the contributions from both Hemingway and Faulkner, it is the only film story on which two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature worked. Filming began on February 29, 1944, while Faulkner continued to work on the script, and ended on May 10.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: The film premiered in New York City on October 11, 1944. Audience reception was generally good. Critic reviews were mixed, with many claiming the film was a remake of "Casablanca" (1942). Critics specifically mentioned Lauren Bacall's performance or the chemistry between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on screen. Bogart and Bacall began an off-screen relationship during production and married in 1945, after the film's release. "To Have and Have Not" was one of the top 10 grossing films of 1944 and received an award from the National Board of Review.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: In the summer of 1940 world-weary Harry Morgan operates a sport-fishing boat, the "Queen Conch", in Fort-de-France, on the French colony of Martinique. It is not long since the fall of France and the island is under the heavy-handed control of pro-German Vichy France. Harry makes a modest living chartering out to tourists, crewed by his blithering friend Eddie, a one-time top mate reduced by alcohol to a rummy Harry affectionately looks after. The island is a tinderbox of dissent, harboring many people sympathetic to Free France.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Harry's current charter client, Johnson, owes Harry $825. Johnson insists he hasn't enough ready money to square his account, but promises to get the funds when the banks open the next day.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Back at his hotel home Harry is approached by its owner, Gérard (known as "Frenchy" to English speakers), who urges Harry to help the French Resistance by smuggling some people onto the island. Harry steadfastly refuses, choosing to keep uninvolved from the current political situation. Also at the hotel, Harry first sees Marie ("Slim") Browning, a young American wanderer who has recently arrived on the plane from Rio. Seeking to avoid the advances of a drunken Johnson she volunteers a duet of "Am I Blue" with pianist Cricket and his ensemble in the hotel bar.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: A keen observer, Harry has noticed Slim picking Johnson's pocket, and follows her to her room directly across the hall from his own. He forces her to hand over the wallet, which is found to contain $1,400 in traveler's cheques and a plane ticket for early the next morning before the banks open. On returning the wallet to Johnson, Harry demands that he sign the traveler's cheques to pay him immediately. Just then a shootout in front of the hotel between police and the Resistance spills over into the bar, and Johnson is killed by a stray bullet. The police take Harry and several others for questioning, seizing Johnson's wallet, Harry's passport, and his own money when he proves combative.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Back at the hotel, Gérard offers to hire the now effectively penniless Harry to transport Resistance members Paul de Bursac and his wife Hélène from a nearby islet to Martinique. Harry reluctantly accepts. Meanwhile, a sexually charged romance has been developing between Harry and Slim, who feels Harry is starting to fall for her. Her hopes are shattered when he uses the bulk of the money he earned in transporting the fugitives to buy her a ticket back home to America on the next plane out.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Harry picks up the de Bursacs, but his boat is seen and fired upon by a navy patrol vessel. De Bursac is wounded, but Harry manages to escape and transfer his passengers to a pre-arranged rowboat. When he returns to the hotel, he finds Slim still there, having chosen to stay with him. The de Bursacs are hidden in the basement of the hotel; at Frenchy's request, Harry removes the bullet from Paul's shoulder. He learns the couple have come to Martinique to help a man escape from the penal colony at Devil's Island in order to aid the Free French. De Bursac asks for Harry's assistance in this operation, but Harry respectfully turns him down.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: The police return to the hotel and reveal that they recognized Harry's boat the previous night. They also reveal that they have again Eddie in custody, this time withholding liquor from him to get him to reveal the details of the smuggling plot. Cornered in his hotel room by the Vichy authorities, Harry turns the tables, killing one and holding police captain Renard at gunpoint. He forces him to order Eddie's release and sign harbor passes. Harry, Eddie, and Slim then head together for the "Queen Conch".


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: On a ten-day fishing trip, independent director Howard Hawks tried to persuade Ernest Hemingway to write him a script, but Hemingway was not interested in working in Hollywood. Hawks insisted he could make a film from Hemingway's "worst story". Although Hawks had a high regard for Hemingway's works in general, he considered "To Have and Have Not" his worst book, a "bunch of junk", and told Hemingway so. Hemingway and Hawks worked on the screenplay during the remainder of the fishing trip. They decided the film would not resemble the novel, but rather would tell the story of how Morgan met Marie. Marie's character was extensively altered for the film as well.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: In May 1939, Hemingway sold the book rights to the Hughes Tool Company, with whom Hawks had connections. Hawks bought the book rights in October 1943, then sold them to Warner Bros. Because the rights to the novel bounced between sellers, Hawks made ten times more money selling the rights than Hemingway did. On learning this, Hemingway reportedly refused to speak to Hawks for "three months". The screenplay for "To Have and Have Not" bears little resemblance to Hemingway's novel. The only similarities include the title, the name and a few personality traits of the main character Harry Morgan, the name of Marie, the name of Eddie, and the name and character traits of Johnson. Johnson is the only character that remained the same in the novel, in every revised screenplay, and in the film. The film bears resemblance to only the novel's first four chapters.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Howard Hawks recruited Jules Furthman to work on the screenplay. Completed on October 12, 1943, the initial screenplay was 207 pages. It resembled the novel more than the final screenplay did. By the end of December, Furthman had completed a revised screenplay with sixty fewer pages. Hawks instructed Furthman to alter Marie's character to be more sultry and masculine like Marlene Dietrich. In the previous version of the script, Bacall's purse was stolen; after the revision, Bacall's character stole the purse. Much of Bacall's character was based on Hawks's wife Slim Keith. Some of her lines reportedly came directly from Keith. According to Keith, Furthman even suggested she ask for script credit. Hawks instructed Furthman to work on the final screenplay and stop writing the second version of the screenplay. The second version had Bacall as a minor character in case she proved to be poor for the role. Furthman worked on the screenplay throughout January and February 1944 and recruited Cleve F. Adams and Whitman Chambers to help him with the work. He completed it before February 14, 1944.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Joseph Breen read the script and cited three dozen instances which violated the Production Code, citing that Morgan was portrayed as an unpunished murderer and the women as suggested prostitutes. He stated that the characters must be softened, the studio must remove all suggestions of inappropriate sexual relations between men and women, and that murder must be made clear to appear as self-defense. As the movie was filmed during World War II, Hawks moved the setting from Cuba to Vichy-controlled Martinique as required by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to placate the Roosevelt administration. They objected to the unfavorable portrayal of Cuba's government as against the U.S. government's "Good Neighbor" policy toward Latin American nations. Writer William Faulkner was hired on by Hawks on February 22, 1944, to avoid recounting political conflict between Free France and the Vichy government in the story line and to satisfy the Production Code. It was reportedly Faulkner's idea to change the setting of the film to Martinique, because he had been working on an unproduced story line involving Charles de Gaulle, so he was familiar with the details. Furthman stopped writing after Faulkner was brought on the project.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Faulkner and Hemingway never met, but "To Have and Have Not" is considered by Charles M. Oliver the best adaptation for film of Hemingway's novels. In order to satisfy the Production Code, Faulkner wrote that every character would sleep in the same hotel, but put Morgan and Marie's bedrooms across from each other to facilitate interactions between them as well as reducing Marie's drinking in the film. He also removed scenes in which Morgan appeared to be a murderer. Other additions included Marie becoming Morgan's sole romantic interest and Helen and her husband becoming fighters for the resistance. Finally, Faulkner made the time frame for the film three days instead of the many months depicted in the novel. Hawks intended to have the screenplay be loosely modeled on "Casablanca", which also starred Humphrey Bogart, hoping for the same success "Casablanca" had met at the box office.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Production began on February 29, 1944, with only 36 pages of the screenplay written, due to changes required by the Production Code office. Faulkner had very little time in between the rebuilding of sets to continue the screenplay, therefore, each scene was written three days before it was filmed. The final cast reading was done on March 6, 1944, with final script changes finished by April 22. Line by line, Hawks and Bogart changed the script to create a more sexual and comedic film. For example, the line "It's even better when you help", was not originally in the script and was added during filming. After 62 days, filming was completed May 10, 1944. Bogart and Hawks served as their own technical advisers, because of their experience with fishing and sailing.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: After filming began, a romance developed between Bogart and Bacall, despite Hawks's disapproval. Bogart was married and 45 years old, he was more than twice Bacall's age. They kept their relationship a secret from Hawks. This romance eventually led to Bogart divorcing Mayo Methot, his third wife. He and Bacall married a year after "To Have and Have Not" and remained married until Bogart's death in 1957. Hawks expanded Bacall's part to take advantage of the Bogart-Bacall chemistry. According to the documentary, "A Love Story: The Story of "To Have and Have Not"", included on the 2003 DVD release, Hawks recognized the star-making potential of the film for Bacall. He emphasized her role and downplayed Dolores Moran's role, the film's other female lead. (Hawks and Moran had their own affair during production). Two weeks before the end of production, Bacall was called to Hawks's home. Hawks told her Bogart did not love her and she was in danger of losing career opportunities. After he threatened to send her to B-list Monogram Pictures, Bacall was very upset. She told Bogart and he became upset with Hawks. This caused an argument between Hawks and Bogart, stunting production for two weeks. Bogart recognized his power and used negotiation to his advantage. After negotiating with Warner, Bogart received an extra $33,000 salary, as long as Bogart promised to no longer stall production.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: In her autobiography, Lauren Bacall described what she called Hawks's "brilliantly creative work method" on set. She described that every morning on set, Hawks would sit with Bacall, Bogart, and whoever else was in the scene in chairs in a circle as a script girl read the scene. After reading through the scene, Hawks would add sexual dialogue and innuendo between Bacall and Bogart. After Hawks and Bogart felt the changes were adequate, Hawks would add one light on the set and they would go through the scene. Hawks would encourage them to move freely and do what felt comfortable for them. After going through the scenes a few times, cinematographer Sidney Hickox would discuss camera set ups with Hawks.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: According to biographer Todd McCarthy, "To Have and Have Not" is a quintessential Hawks film. It contains classic Hawksian characters such as the strong male and his female counterpart. He also states that although elements of Hemingway, Faulkner, and "Casablanca" can be found in the film, it represents Hawks's capacity for expression, claiming it is, "beyond doubt, exactly the work its director intended it to be, and would have been nothing like this in the hands of anyone else."


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Cricket, the piano player in the hotel bar, was played by the singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. In the course of the movie, Cricket and Slim perform "How Little We Know", by Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, and "Am I Blue?", by Harry Akst and Grant Clarke. Cricket and the band also perform "Hong Kong Blues", by Carmichael and Stanley Adams. "The Rhumba Jumps", by Mercer and Carmichael, is performed by the hotel band. Bacall shimmies out at the end of the movie to a faster "How Little We Know". The song "Baltimore Oriole" was intended to be Bacall's theme for the movie, but was merely added as background music on the soundtrack due to Bacall's vocal inexperience. Background music or nondiegetic music is minimal in the picture. However, the film score including the main title was composed by Franz Waxman. One music cue, 7b, is credited to William Lava on the original cue sheet. William Lava was a music staffer at Warner Bros who regularly contributed additional cues.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: According to professor of film studies Ian Brookes, Howard Hawks uses jazz, particularly through interracial performance scenes, to underscore anti-fascism in the story line of the film.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: A persistent myth is that a teenage Andy Williams, the future singing star, dubbed the singing for Bacall. According to authoritative sources, including Hawks and Bacall, this was not true. Williams and some female singers were tested to dub for Bacall because of fears she lacked the necessary vocal skills. But those fears were overshadowed by the desire to have Bacall do her own singing (perhaps championed by Bogart) despite her less than perfect vocal talent.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: This myth is disputed in "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" entry for this film, but the myth is propagated in a 1986 episode of "MacGyver", entitled "Three for the Road", when the character of a movie veteran asks his wife this particular question, whereupon she answers that Andy Williams, when 14, did dub the voice for Lauren Bacall. Several sources on the film set have stated this myth is false. In fact, Bacall's low singing voice in the film helps her character establish a form of masculine dominance.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: In one scene, Marie says to Morgan, "I'm hard to get, Steve. All you have to do is ask me." This quote came from the earlier 1939 Hawks film "Only Angels Have Wings" in which Jean Arthur says to Cary Grant, "I'm hard to get, Geoff. All you have to do is ask me."


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: The critical reception of "To Have and Have Not" at the time of release was mixed yet often unflattering. Early publicity and much of the initial reaction to the film focused on Lauren Bacall, either praising her or criticizing her part in the film as merely as a gimmick for attention from the press. Other critics found the film to be betraying Hemingway's work due to only the first fifteen minutes of the film bearing resemblance to his novel. Finally, Americans were preoccupied with World War II and had little interest in a hero (Bogart) who consistently rejected commitment and whose only interest in France's cause was financial, to help himself and his girl (Bacall). Critics called the film a fast, witty romance with a plot as merely "an excuse for some good scenes." "Variety" cited the film's inferiority to "Casablanca" and other Warner Bros. melodramas, but acknowledged the film's success in its characterization. "Time" called the film a "tinny romantic melodrama which millions of cinemaddicts have been waiting for ever since "Casablanca"." "New York Variety" was mixed about the film citing, "nifty productional accoutrements" with "too unsteady" a story line. Other reviewers called it, "definitely swell entertainment", while others stated it was a delightful remake of "Casablanca". American film critic James Agee liked the film but felt "Going My Way" was better, because "To Have and Have Not" focused too much on "character and atmosphere" rather than on plot. Agee was far more interested in Bacall's performance than the anti-Fascist themes in the film.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: The film was one of the top 10 grossing pictures of 1944. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $3,652,000 ($ in 2022 terms) domestically and $1,605,000 ($ in 2022 terms) foreign, coming close to the high earnings of "Casablanca".


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "To Have and Have Not" has a 97% approval rating based on 36 reviews and an average rating of 8.10/10. The critical consensus states, "With Howard Hawks directing and Bogey and Bacall in front of the cameras, "To Have and Have Not" benefits from several levels of fine-tuned chemistry—all of which ignite on screen."


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Screenwriter and film critic Paul Schrader classified the film as noir, made during the first or "wartime" period of film noir. Some other scholars categorize the film as noir, while some don't believe Howard Hawks ever made a true "noir". The names of the characters in "To Have and Have Not" are directly related to the quality of the characters. Characters which are meant to elicit sympathy from the viewer are known by their nicknames: Steve, Slim, Eddie, Frenchy, and Cricket. In this way, Hawks creates the illusion of a character by devoiding it of past and present social roles that may be associated with a surname. Villains or corrupted characters are called by their surnames such as Johnson.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: According to English film critic Robin Wood, "To Have and Have Not" presents "one of the most basic anti-fascist statements the cinema has given us." The film portrays anti-fascist themes common to the time period through its emphasis on individual liberty expressed through Bogart's character and through its representation of people progressing and working together well. When he decides to join the resistance cause, Morgan reasons, "maybe because I like you and maybe because I don't like them." The power of this anti-fascist statement comes because it's instinctive rather than coming from an expected ideology. More generally, Hawks expresses a protest of authoritarianism and infringement of individual rights. Hawks, however, claimed he wasn't interested in politics and the focus of the movie was on the relationship between Bogart and Bacall. Regardless, the anti-fascist themes come through in the relationship between Bogart and Bacall. They represent the individual standing up to those who abuse their power. According to Ian Brookes, during the scene where Bacall sings "Am I Blue?" with Hoagy Carmichael, her low-voice establishes herself as "one of the boys" and thus a "soldier" in the anti-fascist cause. Moreover, during this scene, the patrons at the bar represent different races and are racially integrated throughout the space, challenging the ideas of segregation and race during the time period. The next song, "Hong Kong Blues" is reminiscent of Django Reinhardt's pre-war version. This represents French resistance spirit, as swing music became a symbol of resistance in France, because it was the only available example of American culture in France at the time.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: A common theme of war films such as "To Have and Have Not" is the conversion narrative. An individual who originally does not want to be involved in the war effort eventually becomes converted through a changed attitude and accepts their duty as a citizen to participate in the war efforts. Along with Harry Morgan's transformation, the Humphrey Bogart persona changed along the years, making him an important casting decision for the film. Harry Morgan, the fisherman, represents the center of the story line of "To Have and Have Not". According to Robin Wood, Harry Morgan represents, at the same time, the personality of Humphrey Bogart and the Hawksian hero. Harry Morgan, as a character, represents a myth the audience accepts as real such as the heroes of Homer. Morgan represents the heroic ideal. Morgan acts on his own interests, yet is not self-indulgent, minding his "own business". He does good, because of the responsibility he feels he has for his personal alliances. Morgan controls and establishes the morality of the film through the distinctness of what one does and what one is. Bogart's character establishes: one's personal identity is not determined by one's actions if they do not allow it to happen. In the film, Slim steals Johnson's wallet. Harry overlooks this to a point because he (Johnson) did not pay Morgan for his services as a boat captain. When they are both approached by Morgan, Slim shows no shame, indicating her morality was not affected by her actions. Johnson, however, shows shame and doesn't receive sympathy, because he reveals he is defined by his actions. Bogart's character is direct and blunt, yet makes an effort to not judge a person by their actions. Harry Morgan encompasses the qualities of the "Hawksian" hero due to his personal integrity, and at the same time could be described as a Hemingway code hero because of his courage and loyalty.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: One of the biggest differences between the film and the novel is the resolution of Harry Morgan. In the novel, Morgan is beaten down through the story line and perishes in the end. In the film, however, Morgan ends up a winner. This was specifically altered by Hawks because he did not like stories about "losers".


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: With some regarding "To Have and Have Not" as one of Hawks's best, the film represents the only time two Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner and Hemingway, worked on the same film story. Some of Bacall's lines became renowned as "double entendre"; for instance, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and ... blow ..." (said while looking at him provocatively). This quote is ranked at #34 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: When Humphrey Bogart was buried, Bacall put a gold whistle with the inscription "If you want anything, just whistle" in his coffin, a nod to her line in their first film together.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: "To Have and Have Not" is noted for its similarity to earlier films "Casablanca" (1942), "Morocco" (1930), and "Across the Pacific" (1942). There are some similarities to the plot of the earlier "Casablanca", and both stories involve the French Resistance. Other changes from Hemingway tended in the same direction, such as the introduction of a sympathetic piano player as an important supporting character. Carmichael's Cricket was not in the Hemingway book, and parallels Dooley Wilson's Sam in "Casablanca". Several cast members from "Casablanca" also appear in the film; apart from Bogart and Dalio (Emil in "Casablanca"), Dan Seymour (Abdul in "Casablanca") plays Captain Renard, whose name and position resemble Captain Renault in "Casablanca". As in "Casablanca", Bogart's initially reluctant character assists husband-and-wife Resistance members.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: "To Have and Have Not" was adapted as an hour-long radio play for "Lux Radio Theater", with Bogart and Bacall reprising their screen roles. It was broadcast on October 14, 1946.


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: Warner Brothers adapted the novel a second time with the film "The Breaking Point" (1950) directed by Michael Curtiz, who was also so credited for "Casablanca". This screenplay stayed closer to the novel; it bore little resemblance to the 1944 film. Screenwriter Ranald MacDougall and Curtiz were interested in creating a film better modeled after Hemingway's novel. The film did not remotely resemble "Casablanca". Despite the film's faithfulness to the novel, it remains less popular than "To Have and Have Not", though Hemingway said the remake, "suited him". The film was remade another time in 1958 by director Don Siegel as "The Gun Runners". Siegel was reluctant to remake the film, but "needed the money". The film was shot quickly and cheaply. According to author Gene D. Phillips, "The Gun Runners" was nothing more than a "crass exploitation of the Hemingway book".


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: From 1951 to 1952, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall participated in a weekly, half-hour radio adventure series called "Bold Venture", intended to be a spin-off of "To Have and Have Not".


title: To Have and Have Not (film)

text: "Bacall to Arms" is a 1946 Looney Tunes short, spoofing scenes from "To Have and Have Not", and featuring "Bogey Gocart" and "Laurie Bee Cool." It is included as a Special Feature on the DVD release of "To Have and Have Not".


title: Ellen McLain

text: Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the "Portal" video game series, the Combine Overwatch in "Half-Life 2", and the Administrator, the announcer in "Team Fortress 2". Her voice roles also include the Jaeger A.I. in "Pacific Rim" and The Witch in "Left 4 Dead" and "Left 4 Dead 2".


title: Ellen McLain

text: McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve. Among them are GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the "Portal" video game series (for which she won an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance), the announcer in "Team Fortress 2"; and the voice of the Combine Overwatch for the "Half-Life" series.


title: Ellen McLain

text: McLain sang "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone", the ending credits songs to "Portal" and "Portal 2", respectively, both of which were written by Jonathan Coulton. She sang "Cara Mia Addio" at the end of "Portal 2". It is sometimes called the "Turret Opera". In December 2011, McLain won the Spike Video Game Award in the category "Best Performance by a Human Female" for her voice acting as GLaDOS in "Portal 2".


title: Ellen McLain

text: In 2013, she lent her public support to gathering donations for the Kickstarter-funded LGBT gaming convention GaymerX. She later was a special guest at the convention in August 2013. In 2014, she portrayed Fairy Godmother in the online video series "[Wish It Inc.]". In 2015, she portrayed Lisa Clarke in the gay independent film, "Winning Dad". This film was also promoted on McLain's YouTube channel.


title: Ellen McLain

text: In 2021, McLain provided the voice of GLaDOS non-canonically, singing a verse in The Chalkeaters’ song "Count to Three" as a cameo.


title: Ellen McLain

text: McLain has been married to fellow voice actor John Patrick Lowrie since 1986. McLain now spends her days as a voice instructor, teaching at local community and children's theaters.


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. An overwhelming majority of 92.3% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991.


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: Voters were asked "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?" The text of the Declaration was included as a preamble to the question. The referendum was called by the Parliament of Ukraine to confirm the Act of Independence, which was adopted by the Parliament on 24 August 1991. Citizens of Ukraine expressed overwhelming support for independence. In the referendum, 31,891,742 registered voters (or 84.18% of the electorate) took part, and among them 28,804,071 (or 92.3%) voted ""Yes"".


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: On the same day, a presidential election took place. In the month up to the presidential election, all six candidates campaigned across Ukraine in favour of independence from the Soviet Union, and a "Yes" vote in the referendum. Leonid Kravchuk, the parliament chairman and de facto head of state, was elected to serve as the first President of Ukraine.


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: From 2 December 1991 onwards, Ukraine was globally recognized by other countries as an independent state. Also on 2 December, the President of the Russian SFSR Boris Yeltsin recognized Ukraine as independent. In a telegram of congratulations Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sent to Kravchuk soon after the referendum, Gorbachev included his hopes for close Ukrainian cooperation and understanding in "the formation of a union of sovereign states".


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: Ukraine was the second-most powerful republic in the Soviet Union both economically and politically (behind Russia), and its secession ended any realistic chance of Gorbachev keeping the USSR together. By December 1991 all former Soviet Republics except the RSFSR and the Kazakh SSR had formally seceded from the Union. A week after his election, Kravchuk joined with Yeltsin and Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich in signing the Belavezha Accords, which declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The USSR officially dissolved on 26 December.


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: Polls showed 63% support for the "Yes" campaign in September 1991; that grew to 77% in the first week of October 1991 and 88% by mid-November 1991.


title: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum

text: The Act of Independence was supported by a majority of voters in each of the 27 administrative regions of Ukraine: 24 oblasts, 1 autonomous republic, and 2 special municipalities (Kyiv City and Sevastopol City). Voter turnout was lowest in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. The six regions with the lowest percentage of "yes" votes were Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Odessa Oblasts, Crimea, and Sevastopol; all of those regions still had majorities of "yes" votes and all of them, except for Crimea and its administrative center, Sevastopol, had "yes" majorities exceeding 83%.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel-'Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young". He had sold 12 million records by 1963.


title: Duane Eddy

text: He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy was born in Corning, New York. He began playing the guitar at the age of five. In 1951, his family moved to Tucson, and then to Coolidge, Arizona. At the age of 16 he formed a duo, Jimmy and Duane, with his friend Jimmy Delbridge (who later recorded as Jimmy Dell).


title: Duane Eddy

text: While performing at local radio station KCKY, they met disc jockey Lee Hazlewood, who produced the duo's single, "Soda Fountain Girl", recorded and released in 1955 in Phoenix. Hazlewood then produced Sanford Clark's 1956 hit, "The Fool", featuring guitarist Al Casey, while Eddy and Delbridge performed and appeared on radio stations in Phoenix before joining Buddy Long's Western Melody Boys, playing country music in and around the city.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy devised a technique of playing lead on his guitar's bass strings to produce a low, reverberant "twangy" sound. When he was 19 he had obtained a 1957 Chet Atkins model Gretsch 6120 guitar at Ziggie's Music in Phoenix, Arizona and in November 1957, Eddy recorded an instrumental, "Movin' n' Groovin'", co-written by Eddy and Hazlewood. As the Phoenix studio had no echo chamber, Hazlewood bought a 2,000-gallon (7570-litre) water storage tank that he used as an echo chamber to accentuate the "twangy" guitar sound. In 1958, Eddy signed a recording contract with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record in Phoenix at the Audio Recorders studio. Sill and Hazlewood leased the tapes of all the singles and albums to the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records.


title: Duane Eddy

text: "Movin' n' Groovin'" reached number 72 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in early 1958; the opening riff, borrowed from Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", was in turn copied a few years later by the Beach Boys on "Surfin' U.S.A.". The follow-up, "Rebel-'Rouser", featured a overdubbed saxophone by Los Angeles session musician Gil Bernal, and yells and handclaps by doo-wop group the Rivingtons. The tune became Eddy's breakthrough hit, reaching number 6 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. It sold over one million copies, earning Eddy his first gold disc.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy had a succession of hit records over the next few years, and his band members, including Steve Douglas, saxophonist Jim Horn, and keyboard player Larry Knechtel went on to work as part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. According to writer Richie Unterberger, "The singles — 'Peter Gunn', 'Cannonball', 'Shazam', and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road' were probably the best — also did their part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock and roll alive, during a time in which it was in danger of being watered down." On January 9, 1958, Eddy's debut album, "Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel", was released, reaching number five, and remaining on the album charts for 82 weeks. On his fourth album, "Songs of Our Heritage" (1960), each track featured him playing acoustic guitar or banjo. Eddy's biggest hit came with the theme of the movie "Because They're Young" in 1960, which featured a string arrangement, and reached a chart peak of number four in America and number two in the UK in September 1960. It became his second million-selling disc. Eddy's records were consistently even more successful in the UK than they were in his native United States, and in 1960, readers of the UK's "NME" voted him World's Number One Musical Personality, ousting Elvis Presley.


title: Duane Eddy

text: In 1960, Eddy signed a contract directly with Jamie Records, bypassing Sill and Hazlewood. This caused a temporary rift between Eddy and Hazlewood. The result was that for the duration of his contract with Jamie, Eddy produced his own singles and albums.


title: Duane Eddy

text: During the 1960s, Eddy launched an acting career, appearing in such films as "A Thunder of Drums", "The Wild Westerners", "Kona Coast", and "The Savage Seven", and two appearances on the television series "Have Gun – Will Travel". He married singer Jessi Colter in 1961, the same year he signed a three-year contract with Paul Anka's production company, Camy, whose recordings were issued by RCA Victor. In the early days of recording in the RCA Victor studios, he renewed contact with Lee Hazlewood, who became involved in a number of his RCA Victor singles and albums. Eddy's 1962 single release, "(Dance With The) Guitar Man", co-written with Hazlewood, earned his third gold disc by selling a million records.


title: Duane Eddy

text: In the 1970s, he produced album projects for Phil Everly and Waylon Jennings. In 1972, he worked with Al Gorgoni, rhythm guitar, on BJ Thomas's "Rock and Roll Lullaby". In 1975, a collaboration with hit songwriter Tony Macaulay and former founding member of The Seekers, Keith Potger, led to another UK top-10 record, "Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar". The single, "You Are My Sunshine", featuring Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, hit the country charts in 1977.


title: Duane Eddy

text: In 1986, Eddy recorded with Art of Noise, remaking his 1960 version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn". The song was a top-10 hit around the world, ranking number one on "Rolling Stone"'s dance chart for six weeks that summer. "Peter Gunn" won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental of 1986. It also gave Eddy the distinction of being the only instrumentalist to have had top-10 hit singles in four different decades in the UK. (Although his 1975 top-10 hit featured a female vocal group).


title: Duane Eddy

text: The following year, "Duane Eddy" was released on Capitol. Several of the tracks were produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ry Cooder, and Art of Noise. Guest artists and musicians included John Fogerty, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ry Cooder, James Burton, David Lindley, Phil Pickett, Steve Cropper, and original Rebels, Larry Knechtel and Jim Horn. The album included a cover of Paul McCartney's 1979 instrumental, "Rockestra Theme". In 1982, Duane Eddy's "Rebel Walk" was heard in the musical comedy, "Grease 2", featured as background music at the bowling alley, when the T-Birds rushed to face rival Leo Balmudo. Though it was not a part of the original soundtrack, it was mentioned in the film's credits. In 1992, Eddy recorded a duet with Hank Marvin on Marvin's album "Into the Light", with a cover version of The Chantays' 1963 hit "Pipeline".


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" was featured that same year in "Forrest Gump". Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" used "The Trembler", a track written by Eddy and Ravi Shankar. Also in 1994, Eddy teamed up with Carl Perkins and The Mavericks to contribute "Matchbox" to the AIDS benefit album "Red Hot + Country" produced by the Red Hot Organization. Eddy was the lead guitarist on Foreigner's 1995 hit "Until the end of Time", which reached the top 10 on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary chart. In 1996, Eddy played guitar on Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for the film "Broken Arrow".


title: Duane Eddy

text: In October 2010, Eddy returned to the UK at a sold-out Royal Festival Hall in London. This success prompted the subsequent album for Mad Monkey/EMI, which was produced by Richard Hawley in Sheffield, England. The album, "Road Trip", was released on June 20, 2011. "Mojo" placed the album at number 37 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011." Eddy performed at the Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2011.


title: Duane Eddy

text: For an 80th-birthday tour in 2018, Eddy returned to the UK in concerts with Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Robert Vincent, performing on October 23 at the London Palladium, and October 30 at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.


title: Duane Eddy

text: On April 5, 2000, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, the title "Titan of Twang" was bestowed upon Eddy by the mayor.


title: Duane Eddy

text: In 2004, Eddy was presented with the "Guitar Player Magazine" "Legend Award". Eddy was the second recipient of the award, the first being presented to Les Paul.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Among those who have acknowledged Eddy's influence are George Harrison, Dave Davies, Hank Marvin, the Ventures, John Entwistle, Bruce Springsteen, Adrian Belew, Bill Nelson, Mark Knopfler, and Ben Vaughn.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy's favored guitar was a 1957 Chet Atkins Gretsch 6120 guitar that he bought at Ziggie's Music in Phoenix, Arizona in 1957 (for which he had traded in his gold top Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar from the early 1950s plus monthly payments of $17,-). From 1959's The "Twangs" the "Thang" LP he also used a Danelectro six-string bass guitar.


title: Duane Eddy

text: Eddy was the first rock and roll guitarist to have a signature model guitar , as in 1961 the Guild Guitar Company introduced the Duane Eddy signature models DE-400 and the deluxe DE-500. A limited edition of the DE-500 model was reissued briefly in 1983 to mark Eddy's 25th anniversary in the recording industry. In 1997, 40 years after he had bought his Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120, Gretsch started production of the Duane Eddy Signature Model, the Gretsch 6120-DE. In 2004, the Gibson Custom Art and Historic Division introduced the new Duane Eddy Signature Gibson guitar. A new Gretsch G6120DE Duane Eddy Signature model was released in spring 2011 and in 2018 Gretsch released the G6120TB-DE Duane Eddy 6-string bass model.


title: The Bernie Mac Show

text: The Bernie Mac Show (often shortened to Bernie Mac in syndication) is an American sitcom television series created by Larry Wilmore, that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001 to April 14, 2006. The series featured Bernie Mac and his wife Wanda raising his sister's three kids: Jordan, Vanessa, and Bryana.


title: The Bernie Mac Show

text: The series was loosely based on Mac's stand-up comedy acts. In real life, Bernie "Mac" McCullough was married with one daughter; Mac's character on the show (a stand-up comedian) was married with no children of his own. The pilot episode, aired on November 14, 2001, set up the basic premise for the series: the character Bernie Mac takes in his sister's children after she enters rehab (a fictional premise taken from one of Mac's stand-up routines which was eventually featured in the 2000 film, "The Original Kings of Comedy"). "In reality, the story is a blend of two real incidents: Mac briefly took in his niece Toya who was an at risk youth and her daughter Monique; while a friend of his had to raise her sister's children long-term."


title: The Bernie Mac Show

text: Much of the humor in the show was derived from Mac's continual adjustment to and his unique take on parenthood. A frequent motif of the show was the juxtaposition of Mac's acerbic comments, such as his threats to "bust the (children's) heads 'til the white meat shows," and the deep parental affection he felt towards the trio, which often brought him to the verge of tears during happy moments. Towards the end of the series, Bryana's long-lost father (Anthony Anderson) returns and drops by from time to time to help Bernie and Wanda with the kids.


title: The Bernie Mac Show

text: Many of his most emotional scenes occurred in segments in which Mac, while still in character, broke the 'fourth wall' and talked to the television audience, which he referred to as "America". This technique was most notably used before an episode during the 2005–2006 season, when Bernie, as himself and wearing a Chicago White Sox cap and jacket, delivered a heartfelt congratulatory message to the baseball organization and its staff on their recent World Series Championship. Bernie, who grew up on Chicago's south-side, was a die-hard fan of the White Sox and was seen at Game 1 of the World Series, in a front row seat. As was also the case during his stand-up routine, Mac habitually addressed the audience as "America" for humorous effect.