High school students in the city will sit fewer exams, focusing only on Chinese, math, and English, while science will be assessed in the laboratory, and history and geography tested using open-book examinations. Schools are also banned from using textbooks published overseas that haven't been reviewed and approved by the the city education bureau's textbook review committee, the government said in a statement.
There are signs that the move may be part of a concerted shift in emphasis on the part of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) away from English amid a trade war with the United States and growing friction with liberal democracies over Beijing's human rights record.
