1 Introduction

Committed to the open-door policy (Gai ge Kai fang, 改革开放), the Chinese development policy has been reformed in the recent four decades. This reform took place from 1978 to 2021, resulting in an ambitious vision to create a global market conforming to the role of human capital (Li, 2008). As seen today, many education institutions in China are eager to modernise their curriculum with additional faculty that fits international competency (Wang, 2019a, 2019b). However, such a reform has been recently questioned, as an attempt at creating high-skilled labour, which is perceived as part of the problem that gave rise to the pressure for students (Fang, 2020).

Consulted with many studies and reports, such pressure is largely caused by excessive concerns of Chinese parents over the fierce competition faced by their children (Xiang, 2019). This situation has triggered an increasing number of parents to force their children to join intensive private tutoring, which means demands for extra learning hours for students are also increasing (Lei, 2020). This circumstance is increasingly prevalent, creating a bandwagon effect among parents to do the same way (Zhao, 2020).

Realising excessive academic burden and growing unrestrained competition among students, the Chinese government introduced the ‘double reduction’ (Shuang jian双减) policy, which includes reducing the pressures of excessive homework at school and minimising private off-campus tutoring courses (Wang, 2019a, 2019b). Observers acknowledge that these measures can minimise students’ academic pressure and protect their mental health (Liu, 2020).

Literature suggests that Chinese students’ burden reduction policies should be studied at the practical, empirical and theoretical levels. The first level is found in the strand of recent literature (Ni et al., 2018; Yang & Zhang, 2019; Liu, 2020; Wei, 2019), studying dynamic burden reduction policies through historical analysis. As commonly found in practical-oriented research, their studies resulted in policy recommendations based on experiences, among other things, reducing the standardised compulsory education admission tests and students’ homework pressure and overhauling the tutoring sector. Departing from an empirical perspective, Wang (2019a, 2019b) explored parental attitude against burden reduction. He found that schools, teachers and off-campus training institutions have shaped parents’ unreasonable expectations of their children’s achievements. A similar observation was made by recent studies (Zhao, 2020; Zhang & Wang, 2021), confirming parents’ expectations and that the increasingly fierce social competition has contributed to raising the burden among students, which, to some extent, obstructs the effectiveness of compulsory education programme.

From a theoretical perspective, Lei (2020) used a social constructivist approach as an analytical framework to identify the main factors that affect the implementation of burden reduction policies for primary school students. She then found that diverse understanding among stakeholders (e.g. teachers, students and parents), conflicting logic between policy arrangement and cultural rationality that is being perceived as incompatible and the increasing number of off-campus tutoring institutions have collectively contributed to inhibiting the initiatives. Aiming at examining policy problems and policy improvements, Liu (2020) examined the history of Chinese academic burden reduction policies by using a descriptive narrative approach. This account may help provide insights into the academic burden reduction strategy of China but does not systematically analyse the path development of policies.

Although the reduced academic burden in China has been investigated, what remains relatively understudied is the evolution map of the academic burden reduction strategy using historical institutionalism, where the path-dependent process is the centre of analysis. Theoretically, this analysis gains its significance from this study, given the limited path dependency research in China, compared with similar subject research globally.

Note that in policy studies, the premise of path dependency has been widely used to account for the stickiness of initiatives, followed by a change in the way in which features do not deviate from the original one (Hacker, 2002; Kay, 2005; Mahoney, 2017; Mahoney & Thelen, 2009; Streeck & Thelen, 2005). As we move forward in time, the concept of ‘path dependency’ is also useful to understand why policies may become more complex. Studying the evolution of academic burden reduction policy in China from a path dependence perspective allows us to see how the objectives of the policy are reinforced and clarified through a periodic development and clarification process, which provides a historical context for understanding policy evolution in China. The use of path dependency in the scope of the Chinese context, especially to explain the choice of the current government in implementing students’ academic burden reduction policies, is thus perceived as appropriate, given the relative stability of the country’s political economy. Thus, we identify three phases of path-dependent development involving the contingent, self-reinforcing and lock-in phases.

This article uses the archival data collection method to obtain 68 policy document data of the academic burden reduction policies of students in China from 1978 to 2021 (Silverman, 2020), covering primary school (Xiao xue小学 grade 1–6), and secondary school (Zhong xue中学 grade 7–12) containing junior high school (初中 grade 7–9) and high school (Gao zhong高中 grade 10–12). The documents are produced by central government officials, electronic archive centres, the National Archives Administration of China and the Ministry of Education. To perform an in-depth content analysis, this article also analyses the historical background of each initiative within the wide context of political economy and its connection to the current implementation.

This article is distinguished by its analysis which emphasises that policies are not only effects or outcomes but also causes of other potential policy alternatives being introduced, reinforcing the main goals of policies. As shown in the complementary effect section of this paper, in response to a Ministry of Education emergency notice in 1997 concerning excessive overburden on primary school students, joint supervision mechanisms between the government and parents were introduced in the early 2000s. It was the first initiative in China to adopt a collaborative approach to addressing students’ academic burdens. This view follows, to a certain extent, the Beland logical analysis of policy as not an effect in and of itself but rather a cause of policy reinforcement.

2 Theoretical framework

From an institutionalist point of view, policies are viewed as an immovable landscape. Attempts at explaining this argument often rest on path dependence theory, which argues that past trajectories are considered causal factors that prevent policies from deviating from their long-established track (Cox, 2004; Hall, 1993; O’Connor & Pierson, 1995). In a similar vein, influential institutionalist, Pierson, calls this situation ‘lock-in effects.’ It means once a policy is implemented, it will create ‘large constituencies and other institutional anchors’ (Béland et al., 2016, p. 251), preventing leaders from making drastic changes or winding back established legacies. Institutions, in this sense, are viewed as the outcome of the self-reinforcing process of shared interests over time, which reflects upon the overall appropriateness of the constructed beliefs, roles, identities, norms and behaviours (Murphy, 2010).

An argument emphasising institutional stability was finally put into a debate among scholars in the 2000s. A greater insight was given to understand how institutions evolved over time. Tied to this argument, two strands of literature emerged, explaining the elasticity nature of institutions in relation to changes (Hacker, 2002; Mahoney, 2017; Mahoney & Thelen, 2009; Streeck & Thelen, 2005). One argued that ‘institutions are characterised by long periods of continuity that are periodically interrupted by critical junctures, whereas another emphasised that minor changes occur continually’ (Varjonen, 2020, p. 1). In this sense, the timing, sequencing and regularities of changes are causal accumulations of changes, and ‘critical junctures’ are considered to trigger such changes (Capoccia & Kelemen, 2007; Capoccia, 2015, 2016a, 2016b). Although the elasticity nature of institutions has been acknowledged, path dependence theory has not lost its significance in policy studies; deterministic policy changes are also always considered to follow the incremental model (Streeck & Thelen, 2005).

China’s academic burden reduction system, as historically analysed, reflects the incremental nature of change, in which path dependency factors played a major role. The change emerged along with the development of the political, economic and cultural revolutions. However, research shows that Chinese policies do not tend to have different causations in shaping path-dependent effects if compared with the premise offered in new institutionalism literature (see also Chen & Shi, 2021; Cheng, 2014). The Western welfare state emphasises the rise of interest groups of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as a causal factor of institutional persistence (Garud & Karnøe, 2001), whereas Chinese models are undeveloped in similar lines; in reality, a welfare institutional development in China suggests a state-centric model that emphasises the state’s led role (See further Yuda, 2019, 2020, 2021a; Yuda et al., 2021). To gain further understanding of the historical background and existing situation of China’s academic burden reduction system, the classic model of path dependence is employed. Literature then divides the process of path dependence into three phases, that is, the contingent process, the self-enforcing process and the lock-in period (Greener, 2005; Pierson, 2000).

The first phase is the contingent process, in which policy choices are unconstrained, and the government and policymakers can make rational decisions, but such decisions are regarded as contingent and random events. Figure 1 shows a schematic illustration of the place of contingency in a path-dependent process with the help of a hypothetical scenario. As illustrated in this example, there are a number of potential options for implementing massive strategies or policies in phase one (see *). When a particular option (in this case, early phase II) is adopted based on the initial conditions present at that time, primarily concerns pertaining to mental health are dominant over other concerns. The initial adoption of policy solutions during the transition from phase I to phase II is therefore contingent and is set for a future policy reference, thus being deterministic. Therefore, institutions are perceived as inflexible and ‘locked in,’ preventing gradual or endogenous change from their original track.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Source Sydow et al., 2009 (modified)

Classical model of path dependence.

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China’s academic burden reduction measure, which primarily focuses on mental health, is not only targeted at high school students’ pressure but also at students in the basic education stage and all students’ health. The transition from this stage to the next is marked by a strong event, usually called a critical juncture (Capoccia & Kelemen, 2007; Capoccia, 2015, 2016a, 2016b; Collier & Collier, 1991). China’s policy transition from the attention to examination to students’ competency-based education can be seen as a path-breaking result of a ‘critical juncture’ brought about by the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development 1993.

The second phase is the self-enforcing process, a term to describe the stabilisation process of a taken policy. A dominant path pattern may emerge, showing the irreversibility of the policy process (Greener, 2005). Self-reinforcing studies in Western literature, exemplified by welfare state studies (Pierson, 1994), have demonstrated that public policies can influence citizens’ political participation, leading to the emergence of groups serving as ‘policy defenders’ (feedback mechanism). However, in the non-democratic countries, they have a many things in different to Western states, such as, their lack of free and fair elections, their limitations on freedom of speech, association, and the media, and their weak institutional checks on elites. A self-reinforcing system is dependent on elites who are worried about decreasing the support of key patronage groups that benefit from the policies of the regime rather than citizen participation (cf. Béland, et al., 2022). To explain further this process, we also adopt coordination, complementary and learning concepts to discuss how self-reinforcement on academic burden reduction measures occurs and forms the policy path in China (Arthur, 1994; North, 1990).

Coordination effects occur when predetermined provisions are implemented by involving additional supports from other relevant provisions under the same ends; that is, the more other elements are convergent to key policy areas, the stronger their policy outcomes (Stieglitz & Heine, 2007). Coordination effects are especially significant when others support provisions that are compatible with predetermined provisions (Pierson, 2000). The provisions about the management of textbooks and materials, the prohibition of Olympic classes and the control of students’ homework are obvious examples of provisions that are introduced to help in reducing students’ burden effectively.

Complementary effects refer to the synergy produced by interacting two or more independent resources, rules or practices, which may generate new complementary institutions supporting the specified policy (Pierson, 2000; Stieglitz & Heine, 2007). Chinese families, social organisations and schools have synergised students’ burden reduction in a complementary mechanism and complementary influence driven by policies.

Learning effects mean that further efficiency is gained with frequent policy implementations (Hall, 1993; Pierson, 2000). Illustrative is the consistent and persistent mainstreaming of subject-based competition reduction and teaching management for 20 years, ranging from 1993 to 2013. Given this high-frequency implementation, the policy agenda, as carefully reviewed, has achieved good performance. Further explanation is provided in subsequent sections.

The third phase is known as lock-in, a mechanism by which regulation or policy patterns become stable ‘in following the move onto a self-reinforcing path’ (Pierson, 2000, p. 265). In a long discussion, the reason why a policy may be locked into a current pattern is because of rational utility considerations, such as high switching cost and sunk cost consideration (Arthur, 1994; see also, Hall, 1993). In the case of China, the government would rather insist on reducing the burden of students at the cost of the collapse of many off-campus education agencies. This option is selected by considering the sunk costs incurred during decades of the academic burden reduction measures.

3 Methodology

This article provides an overview of the evolution map of China’s academic burden reduction strategy by conducting a new institutional analysis. The case of China is one example of typical institutional path trajectories within a country, where academic burden reduction policy introduction follows a pattern of cumulative incremental change. Based on this background, the research questions for this paper are: How does Chinese academic burden reduction policy evolve and institutionalise? How does the academic burden reduction policy affect the overall educational configuration in China?

To answer the research questions, we used the archival data collection method to retrieve policy documents relevant to students’ academic burden in China between 1978 and 2021. In fact, the formation of key keywords was an iterative process intertwined with purposive sampling. Through meticulous searches within the PKULaw Database and exhaustive literature reviews, our approach involved revisiting the database repeatedly, gradually identifying and refining seven core terms: students’ academic burden (Xue sheng ke ye fu dan学生课业负担), students’ health (Xue sheng jian kang学生健康),curriculum design (ke cheng/gang she ji课程/纲设计), off-campus training (Xiao wai fu dao校外辅导) and competition (Jing sai竞赛), textbook reform (Jiao cai gai ge教材改革), education system reform (Jiao yu ti zhi gai ge教育体制改革). These core words emerged organically from the interplay between purposive sampling and the continuous exploration of literature, reflecting our methodological rigour and dedication to capturing the essential facets of students’ academic burden policies in China from 1978 to 2021. However, it is imperative to acknowledge the inherent limitations of this method, including potential scope constraints and the need for vigilance in capturing subtle perspectives, emphasising the necessity for meticulous consideration in future research endeavours.

Thirteen policies were retrieved regarding student burden, 7 about student health and 9 curriculum design policies, respectively, 8 about off-campus training, but DOC_55 and DOC_67 is overlapped with academic burden policies. There are 6 competition policies, 6 about textbook reform policies, and 14 about education system reform policies. Further, the other 7 burden reduction supporting policies are derived from similar literatures and double-checked in the PKULaw database. There are 82 relevant policy documents, but the 68 were finally determined according to our criteria, which should target high school, junior high school, and primary school and eliminate some local government policies.

Thematic analysis was used to achieve the research objective. It consists of charting, compiling, and interpreting the most salient constellations of meanings found in the data. These datasets are textualised through a path-dependency process, as posited in the contingent, self-reinforcing, and lock-in theoretical frameworks. Based on the historical sequence of developments in China’s academic burden reduction policy, three main themes were discussed in the analysis, namely, the contingent phase (1978–1993), the self-reinforcing phase (1993–2014), and the lock-in phase (2014-to-date).

4 Path-dependent process of evolution

4.1 Contingent phase (1978–1993)

With China’s reform and opening up in 1977, the Ministry of Education restored the National College Entrance Examination, which is also called Gaokao (高考). The restoration of Gaokao paved the way for hundreds of young Chinese to step towards upward mobility (Hao, 2013). However, students had to make extraordinary efforts to compete with one another to be admitted to a university (Zou, 2018), given Gaokao’s acceptance rate that was only 7% (Ning, 2021). For example, students were required by their teachers and parents to improve their academic performance through increasingly heavy homework. Another reason for being highly competitive was the imbalance between a large population and insufficient educational institutions when the Cultural Revolution ended.

The implications of Gaokao for the educational system in China were particularly serious. Many high schools had to adopt indoctrination teaching approaches for the sake of pursuing a high college admission rate (Liu, 2020). Students were also compelled to grasp course subjects within a highly sensitive period, leading to a gradual increase in their academic burden. Many studies shed light on these processes of how this new social phenomenon diffused, which at its core, produced harsh implications to students’ mental health and attracted the attention of policymakers to formulate academic burden reduction measures—mainly after 1978 Deng Xiaoping’s speech on preventing an academic overload at the National Education Conference (Yao, 1996).

Indicative is the issuance of a series of burden reduction policies, targeting elementary, junior high and high school students. Even in an uncoordinated way, a total of 16 related policies were promulgated from 1980 to 1990, with four being introduced simultaneously in 1982 (see Fig. 2); focusing on student health and learning material modification (DOC_4; DOC_5; DOC_6; DOC_7).

Fig. 2
figure 2

Development trends of academic burden reduction-related measures (1980–1990)

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Such initiatives received positive responses mainly because of the health implication concerns caused by the rising academic load. The government carried out a large-scale survey and research work on the physical fitness of adolescents and children and found that health-related activities among students were worrying due to the consequent time-consuming academic demands. New physical exercise standards, school sports and health policies, in turn, were included as part of the Gaokao examination (SGAS, 1990). Such inclusion was also intended as a strategy to encourage students to focus on achieving a balance between managing their academic and physical activities.

In the 1980s, physical health was exclusively emphasised. On December 29, 1991, the government joined the United Nations General Assembly Convention on the Rights of the Child through the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People’s Congress (Detrick, 1999; Liu, 2020). Since then, the government began to highly emphasise students’ mental health (Pais & Bissell, 2006).

The health problems of an increasing number of students stimulated the government through the Ministry of Education, which issued 10 regulations to regulate homework on December 31, 1983 (DOC_9). The regulation insisted that the homework for junior high school students should be at 1.5 h a day and for high school students, two hours a day. The regulation also guaranteed the right of students to take sufficient time to sleep, rest and do extracurricular sports and entertainment activities (DOC_9).

Although attempts to relieve students’ pressure were made, they still came under unbearable academic strain, and fierce education competition continued to persist. In turn, the situation encouraged off-campus tutoring centres to arise. They offered services such as helping in students’ enrolment and providing mentoring to participate in subject competitions. The award could be recognised as a shortcut to entering a preferred school. The Chinese education system consequently suffered from serious imbalances and great inequalities among students. Given this background, the government implemented several policies to cope with the problem by regulating off-campus tutorials (DOC_6).

All in all, early policy trials ‘have a powerful effect on which of the possible equilibria will actually emerge’ (Pierson, 2002, p. 253). The next section systematically explains how policies, randomly considered, find an institutionalisation path in their present form.

4.2 Self-reinforcing phase (1993–2014)

In this phase, the state has realised the negative effect of exam-oriented education. However, as examinations are a necessary means of ensuring a fair selection of talents, the government planned not to remove the policy. Alternative measures were pursued, as reflected in the compulsory education law in 1986 (Law, 1999). The law stipulated that the government should complement the existing policy with competency-based education (Wu Yu, 五育), which includes moral, cognitive, physical, social and aesthetic examinations. However, competency-based education gained its momentum, given widespread public concern about issues of students’ academic burden and its impact on their health.

After stalling some years, on February 13, 1993, the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development was released, which was a signal for the government to implement the 1986 law (DOC_17). This initiative could be thought of as a ‘critical juncture’ and could push China’s burden reduction policies into a self-reinforcing phase. This section further discusses the coordination, complementary and learning effects as driving forces for this self-reinforcement in China’s academic burden reduction measure path (Arthur, 1994; North, 1990; Pierson, 2000).

4.2.1 Coordination effects

Coordination effects, formed through aligning predetermined provisions with supportive measures, enhance policy outcomes and were exemplified in the context of Chinese schools offering off-syllabus courses and extra lessons, creating a synergistic impact within key policy areas (Stieglitz & Heine, 2007). These schools also encouraged students to participate in subject-based competitions (e.g. Olympiad mathematics competitions and article competitions). Reports examined obviously indicated that all of these initiatives were aimed at increasing enrolment participation rate, rather than enhancing students’ ability. Such initiatives also gave rise to academic pressure on children.

Realising the potential negative side effects on students’ well-being, the coordination steps among multiple governmental departments were improved to prevent the mushrooming practice of off-syllabus training. On February 9, 1995, for example, an emergency notice on the suspension of all levels and types of Olympic classes at school was issued by the State Education Commission and the China Association for Science and Technology (DOC_22). Experts assessed that this notice was insufficient to prevent off-syllabus training, and widespread coordination was perceived as needed to address this problem. Several days later, on February 16, 1995, the State Education Commission coordinated with the National Press and Publication Administration and immediately proposed the regulations on the publication and distribution of textbooks for general primary and secondary schools (DOC_23).

Such a policy stipulated that textbooks for primary and secondary school students must be reviewed by the State Education Commission and the Provincial Education Commission (DOC_23). It also ensured that learning materials were given to primary and secondary school students but were not given to overburden students. Teaching and learning activities were thereby only performed in predetermined knowledge boundaries, as stipulated in the catalogue of teaching books (DOC_23).

Compared with the contingent phase, the government paid direct attention to students’ pressure in connection to their health in the self-reinforcing phase. Illustrative for this argument is found in some measures that reflected the government concern about students’ physical health problems, including the lack of sport exercises and poor eyesight, especially caused by the overload of homework. In 1993, the written homework, often on the typical agenda of schools, was removed in the first year of primary school. Moreover, the amount of homework in the second and third grades was set up to not exceed 30 min per day; no more than 45 min in the fourth grade; no more than one hour in the fifth and sixth grades; and no more than 1.5 h in each grade of junior high school (DOC_18). Reports showed that the main goal of this regulation was to provide more room for students to improve their health.

The government had fully realised that reducing the academic burden in relation to students’ health improvement was not easy to implement. Therefore, a series of policies to protect children’s health was managed along with the Ministry of Education by involving other relevant departments. For example, in 2007, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly issued a provision about the importance of strengthening youth sports and enhancing youth physical fitness and advocated sunshine sports (DOC-38). A similar concern was expressed by the central government through the issuance of an appeal about several steps on further strengthening sports activities at schools in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the General Administration of Sports. This appeal required schools to establish and improve sports’ monitoring and evaluation mechanism (DOC_43).

The Ministry of Education, as an agency with the authority to regulate student-related policies, also implemented a myopia prevention and control work plan for primary and secondary school students. This agenda gained its importance as the increased short-sightedness among students had been perceived as a serious problem in China. Thus, the agenda regarding short-sightedness alleviation was also a policy priority. The government targeted short-sightedness to be significantly decreased within around five years (DOC_39) along with the academic burden reduction.

Overall, burden reduction policies for teaching materials management, off-campus tutoring and students’ homework and health were self-reinforced by coordination effects among multiple actors, including the State Education Commission, the National Press and Publication Administration, the China Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the General Administration of Sports. These policies paved the way for novel, sustainable initiatives, giving breathing room to students and extensive collaboration among parties to pursue healthy environments for the education system in China.

4.2.2 Complementary effects

In the context of institutional complementarity, a policy can have various configurations, representing different combinations of agencies whose functional performance is influenced by the presence of other institutions (Pierson, 2000; Stieglitz & Heine, 2007). This concept is evident in academic burden reduction measures, where the government sought to incentivise non-state institutions, particularly schools and families, to support the initiative (Liu, 2020, p. 30).

Starting in 1997 but especially in the early 2000s, joint supervision mechanisms between government and parents were introduced in response to an emergency notice from the Ministry of Education about reducing the overburden of students in primary schools (Liu, 1997). This initiative also became the first in China to adopt a relatively collaborative approach to the problem of students’ academic burden.

Interestingly, to provide effective measures to support the initiative, the National Education Commission and the All-China Women’s Federation also jointly proposed parents’ educational code of conduct to guide Chinese parents to establish correct educational concepts; understand scientific, educational methods; and improve parents’ teaching approaches to their children (Liu, 1997).

Such a mechanism was also equipped with the establishment of the National Educational Supervision Committee, introducing methods for the supervision and guidance of responsible supervision of primary and secondary schools in 2013 (DOC_46). This special committee, in which teachers and parents also participated, functions as a means of control of policy at school levels. In case of discipline violations, schools shall be given a warning promptly and brought to the relevant departments to investigate seriously.

In general, this article strongly suggests that schools, communities and families should produce positive complementary effects in the burden reduction policy system, causing further the self-reinforcing of policies.

4.2.3 Learning effects

Learning effects state that the more frequently an operation is carried out, the more efficient the following iterations will be (Leibenstein, 1950). Based on examined reports and documents from 1993 to 2013, all measures mentioned in the first decade were mentioned less frequently in the second decade (see Fig. 3). Figure 3 illustrates two top frequent measures that were mentioned as a policy focus to reduce students’ academic burden during that period, that is, subject-based competition and teaching management. This declining trend reaffirms learning effect theory, which states that trials and errors gained in the operation of the first periods of introduction lead to high returns in terms of effectiveness from continuing implementation (see Pierson, 2000).

Fig. 3
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Classified statistics on the specific measures of students’ academic burden reduction policies at the government level

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Mentioned 16 times (see Fig. 3), subject-based competition management aimed at minimising all kinds of competitions and awards as a shortcut to college entrance whilst enhancing the competency-based assessment. The Chinese government diversified its subject-based competition management by applying different features. For example, Shanxi Province off-limited the Olympics subject competitions as part of the admission qualifications in compulsory education (Jiu nian yi wu jiao yu九年义务教育) (Mao & Liang, 2006; Haifeng & Juan, 2006). However, in Jiangsu Province, the initiative applied a different fashion. As exemplified in 2009, the prohibition of extracurricular academic project competition was inexplicitly stated, but various student competitions that were previously implemented, including mobilising them to participate in the contests held by non-academic education institutions and non-official departments, were no longer allowed (Wang, 2009).

Different implementations were found in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where competition projects were significantly decreasing approximately 80% of the total project. In 2011, for example, only 27 competition projects received approval from the Xinjiang authority (Ayinuer, 2012). A similar measure was applied in Guangdong Province, as found in 2014. The authority reduced the number of competition projects for college entrance examinations from 23 to 6, indicating a substantial reduction of 74%. The reduction included Olympic competitions and various scientific and technological competitions (Chen, 2013).

In our extensive review of documents and reports, teaching management was mentioned 17 times within the first decade. This measure significantly improved during that period (see Fig. 4). Teaching management aimed at reforming teaching content, improving teaching methods, modifying teaching plans, controlling the teaching progress, reducing teaching time and effectively lightening students’ burden in the classroom.

Fig. 4
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Classified statistics on the specific measures of students’ burden reduction policies at the school level

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An example of teaching management could be the determination of significant subjects in junior and primary schools, proposed by the State Education Commission in February 1998. In this initiative, Chinese and mathematics were introduced for primary school, whereas foreign language, physics, chemistry, and two subjects taught in primary levels were given in junior high school (DOC_28). The State Council and the Ministry of Education also strictly regulated compulsory education textbooks and auxiliary materials (DOC_28; DOC_29). As an implication, teachers must strictly implement curriculum plans and reasonable schedules for students.

Overall, although the aforementioned two policy measures appeared the most during the 1993–2000 period, both were the lowest during the 2001–2013 period, with one relevant policy introduction for subject-based competition management and three relevant policies for teaching management in the second decade. This decline occurred largely due to the competition chaos and indoctrination teaching that might have been improved by the two policies from 1993 to 2013. Thus, the frequency of such policies declined from 2000 to 2013. In sum, policy repetition has led policymakers to learn how to operate policies more effectively in the present time.

4.2.4 Transition period: from self-reinforcing to lock-in

After experiencing coordination, complementary and learning self-reinforcing processes, the path of academic burden reduction has further ossified, leaving little room for the profound change that can challenge the formed path. The underlying reason for this ossified mechanism lies in the government’s recognition that academic burden not only significantly affects students’ health but also worsens the unequal distribution of educational resources. This realisation has led to a specific government decision to focus on two key policy agendas: addressing students’ homework overload and reducing the burden of off-campus tutoring.

The example case for the former is found in Shanghai, where most 15-year-old students spend an average of 14 h a week on homework (Bank & Yeulet, 2014; OECD, 2014). Song and Yang (2014) made a similar observation; through a survey across nations, they confirmed that 54.6% of primary school students and 73.1% of junior high school students spend more time on homework than what has been regulated, that is, 1–1.5 h (DOC_39). Time spent on homework, which has been identified to significantly reduce students’ rest time. This further results in them being sleep-deprived, as Guo et al. (2006) found that 93.3% of junior high school students sleep less than nine hours during school days and have eyesight loss.

Ji and Han (2015) revealed the case of eyesight loss. They found that from 1999 to 2010, the detection rates of poor eyesight in primary and secondary school students increased. The percentage, measured as students’ group category, ranged from 10.89–20.89% in primary school, 13.15–23.15% in junior high school and 19.20–29.20% in high school students (Ji & Han, 2015).

An example of the latter is the rise of off-campus tutoring institutions, making educational resources unequal over the last decade (Tao & Liu, 2020). In this regard, the Development of New Forms of Education in China (2017) reported that the top 5% of households with the most annual consumption spend 14,372 yuan per year to send their children to off-campus training (Wang, 2017). This expenditure is approximately 20 times the fee spent for students from 5% of households with the least annual consumption.

The crux of this matter is the unfair competition rising in society. As our data showcase, many students from affluent families with poor academic performance can enter high school through off-campus tutoring. By contrast, students from low-income families without enough payment for off-campus tutoring lose their opportunity to enter high school.

Another problem of the blossoming of the off-campus tutoring market is also identified. An unfair war for talent takes place; high-salary offerings provided by off-campus tutoring companies retain the best teachers, resulting in talent-depleted schools (Liu, 2018). Xue and Li (2021) determined that the scale of the off-campus training market shares was approximately 300 billion yuan in 2005, increased to 450 billion yuan in 2017 and now reached nearly 720 billion yuan.

Wang (2021) examined the public attitude among young people towards welfare and argued that the high education expenditure of children has discouraged them to marry and have children, which has contributed to the decline of China’s fertility rate in recent years (Wang, 2021). Although this reason is not solely assigned as causation, the government perceived educational cost and its relation to population ageing as a serious problem, which if unresolved, can maximise social risks as threats of an ageing population.

4.3 Lock-in phase (2014–present)

In practice, the lock-in effects found in the academic burden reduction in 2014 were managed by alleviating off-campus training and schoolwork overload. Provisions on the prohibition of teaching services with payments for primary and secondary school teachers made in June 2015 can be taken as examples. Such a regulation, as examined, has impacted the shrinking of the off-campus training industry (DOC_50). Codified in the further regulation in 2018, this regulation was, in turn, fully implemented, followed by executing special governance measures for off-campus training institutions (DOC_56). Consequently, many off-campus tutoring agencies moved to online academic tutoring.

Responding to the mushrooming of online tutoring, the Ministry of Education; the Central Cyberspace Administration of China; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; the Ministry of Public Security; and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued on July 12, 2019, a regulation emphasising on anti-pornography and illegal publications aiming at standardising off-campus online training (DOC_65).

From a sunk cost perspective, two theses may explain why the academic burden reduction measures are entering a lock-in phase. Firstly, if the Chinese government leaves the path of the academic burden reduction measures, then 42 years of efforts to reduce students’ academic burden will be desolated. Secondly, Chinese students face increasingly fierce competition; their academic burden alleviation also becomes an unresolved social problem, thereby prompting the authorities to stay in this policy path, which means selecting a strategy through the path of least loss. This case is perceived as a good choice for the current Chinese government.

A statistical report from IT Orange (2021) revealed that from 2015 to 2020, the total financing invested in off-campus education was 129.4 billion yuan, nearly half of the financing amount that was given in 2020 (IT Orange, 2021). However, due to the ‘double reduction policy’ in 2021, the entire K12 industry, an abbreviation of kindergarten (K) for 5–6-year-olds through 12th grade (12) for 17–18-year-olds, will be experiencing potential loss amounting to 150 billion yuan (DOC_67; IT Orange, 2021).

Consulting with studies and reports, even though the K12 industry has repeatedly performed successive advocation in the court, the implementation of the double reduction policy has recently won more votes overall. The high cost of private tutoring is the most common reason, especially for families from humble socioeconomic strata.

Overall, the Chinese experiences indicate that the path development of academic burden reduction policies may experience the path-dependent process, which anchors sunk cost consideration, instead of the interest group of non-governmental organisation argumentation, as argued in Western welfare state literature. Sunk cost consideration, in this respect, is found affecting policymakers to subordinate the giant off-campus tutoring business, thereby inclined to produce piecemeal development and maximum policy outcomes.

5 Concluding remarks

Government intervention in the overall education sector was, to a large extent, based on ‘plan rational interventional state’ arrangements that had an unequal and limited impact on the academic standards of most students. In this regard, academic reduction initiatives were introduced, hoping to result in a fair educational system in China.

The historical path of academic burden reduction initiatives has shaped patterns of timing and sequence, which were divided into three phases of development, that is, contingent, self-reinforcing and lock-in stages. In the contingent phase (1978–1993), relevant burden reduction policies targeted all levels of students, including high school, junior high school and primary school. Such relevant policies, among others, reduced examination frequency, addressed the shortage and inequality of educational resources, regulated off-campus tutoring and managed homework to address the health problems of students. This set of initiatives provided terms of reference to policymakers to identify the most urgent academic burden issues, leading them to few options to maximise policy outcomes.

In the self-reinforcing phase (1993–2014), evidence confirmed that the increasing health problems of students and the uneven distribution of educational resources among primary and junior high school students were perceived as the most urgent and unresolved issues. In this regard, schools’ off-syllabus teaching was finally regulated, and the widespread concern about students’ health problems caused by the overloaded academic burden was responded to through competency-based programmes (Wu yu, 五育), which involved multiauthority cooperation and thus created coordination effects.

Complementary effects, in the self-reinforcing phase, were also reflected, as analysed in this article. The Chinese government diversified its measures by engaging different sub-supporting systems, namely families, NGOs and schools to create joint supervision mechanisms. Likewise, with the learning effects, as subject-based competition and teaching management were emphasised and mentioned frequently, more positive feedback was received, which led to high returns from continuing implementations. The accumulated experience to implement these initiatives also created repetition patterns, which helped policymakers in learning how to implement policies effectively.

From the onset of 2013, academic burden reduction measures have entered the lock-in phase. A policy has been clearly formed by emphasising two features: (1) primary and junior high school students are key policy targeted and (2) reducing students’ homework burden and off-campus tutoring tutorials are put as a policy priority. Thus, the initiative settles down onto a stable arrangement and is irreversible.

Overall, this analysis provides fruitful opportunities for understanding the map evolution of the academic burden reduction strategy with respect to various adoptions of features. Importantly, a 42-year policy evolution and its challenges are examined. In addition, insights are provided for comparative studies in different countries on the student burden issue.

Our findings also suggest that the path of academic burden reduction strengthening will not be successful without a combination of sunk cost consideration–incurred during decades of the academic burden reduction measures–and comprehensive policy reforms at both the central and local levels, coordinated and sustained over an extended period of time. The inclusion of such sunk costs in this study complements the path dependency literature’s assertion that policy institutions are durable as a result of feedback mechanisms among benefited constituencies.

It is important to keep in mind that in a path-dependent model, actors are channeled along established policy paths by existing institutions and structures. A major change is therefore unlikely in any system. However, Chinese academic burden reduction points out that policy actors play an important role in keeping policy along the developed trajectories–as reversing or switching paths is costly due to invested sunk costs. It appears that this explanation represents a sensible factor that determines path dependency in non-democratic states (over traditional argument on feedback mechanism), such as China, where policy-making is relatively isolated from external influences.

Overall, the history of China’s academic burden reduction policy features exciting examples of the impact of lock-in effects on policy development compared to Western industrial countries. In China, the government is likely to have some objectives that are less likely to be interfered with by other factors, such as the market and non-governmental organisations, in implementing the policy (Han & Ye, 2017). The policy’s path dependence, therefore, is less likely to include solid and social pressure of policy feedback that drives policy strengthening. This phenomenon contrasts with the policy feedback mechanism discussed in Western literature, which argues that policies affect social groups’ identities, goals, and capabilities that subsequently serve as policy defenders, making the policy more resistant to change.

Further research may examine to what extent the possibility of complementary effects may spur further innovation deviating from the original path. Existing studies maintained that the East Asian welfare state, including the Chinese model (Yang & Kühner, 2020), may not experience institutional changes surpassing the bounds of the historical continuum, given that the macro political–economic system in both regions is relatively stable over time (Cox, 2004). Yet, in democratic middle-income countries, which have experienced political economy instability, such as large parts of Southeast Asian regions, radical institutional changes are possible. Tied to this factor, previous works (e.g. Yuda, 2019, 2021b) implicitly suggested ‘path creation’ as a future attribution to frame institutional dynamics (see further Garud & Karnøe, 2001).

In this research, other potential causes of policy configurations in every historical development appear less clear. This limitation allows future works to refine this study gap.

6 Appendix

学生学业减负及相关政策 1979–2021.

figure a
figure b
figure c
figure d
figure e

Student Academic burden reduction and relevant policy from 1979–2021.

Reference code

Publication date

Issuing institution(s)

Government and ministry memos and publications

DOC_1

1979-12-6

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2.Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China

Interim Provisions on Health Work in Middle and Primary Schools (Draft)

DOC_2

1980-10-14

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on the key middle schools in stages and batches

DOC_3

1981-4-17

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice of revision Opinions on the Implementation Draft of the Teaching Plan for full-time six-year Key Middle Schools and the trial draft of the Teaching Plan for full-time five-year Middle Schools

DOC_4

1982-1-18

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2.Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China, etc.

Measures for the Implementation of the Work of Protecting Students’ Eyesight (Trial)

DOC_5

1982-1-21

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

A notice on several current issues in primary and secondary education

DOC_6

1982-4-22

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2. State Publication Bureau

Rules governing the publication of books such as student review materials

DOC_7

1982-6-12

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

A notice on ensuring 1 h of physical activity for primary and secondary school students every day

DOC_8

1983-8-10

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Some suggestions on further improving the quality of general middle school education

DOC_9

1983-12-31

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Ten regulations on the comprehensive implementation of the CCP’s educational policy and the correction of the one-sided pursuit of enrollment rate tendency in full-time regular middle schools

DOC_10

1984-8-15

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Suggestions on the arrangement of full-time six-year primary school teaching plan

DOC_11

1986-1-17

1. State Education Commission of the PRC, 2. State Publication Bureau

3. State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China

It is strictly forbidden to compile, publish or sell student review materials without authorization

DOC_12

1988-5-11

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

A number of regulations on reducing the excessive schoolwork burden of primary school students

DOC_13

1990-2-15

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Notice on Reiterating the Implementation of the Regulations on Reducing the Excessive Schoolwork Burden of Primary School Students

DOC_14

1990-6-4

1. State Education Commission of the PRC, 2.Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China

Regulations on School Health Work

DOC_15

1991-2-7

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Notice of the General Office of the State Education Commission on Strengthening the Management of Competition Activities for Primary and Secondary School Students

DOC_16

1991-4-16

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Provisions on strengthening the management of the compilation and use of workbooks, winter and summer homework and tutoring materials for primary and secondary school students

DOC_17

1993-2-13

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Outline of Education Reform and Development in China

DOC_18

1993-3-24

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Instructions on reducing the heavy workload of students in compulsory education and improving the quality of education in an all-round way

DOC_19

1993-10-4

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

An urgent Notice on strengthening the management of teaching books in primary and secondary schools

DOC_20

1994-7-6

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Notice on further strengthening the management of Primary and secondary school students competitions and Awards

DOC_21

1994-11-10

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Opinions on comprehensively implementing the educational policy and reducing the heavy workload of primary and secondary schools

DOC_22

1995-2-9

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

2. China Association for Science and Technology

An urgent notice on the suspension of Olympic schools (classes) at all levels

DOC_23

1995-2-16

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

2. State Press and Publication Administration

Notice on the Promulgation of the Administrative Provisions on the Publication and Distribution of Textbooks for Ordinary Primary and Secondary Schools

DOC_24

1995-2-27

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Suggestions on strengthening the management of primary and middle school students’ review and guidance materials

DOC_25

1995-3-17

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

A comprehensive report on the supervision and inspection of five provinces and municipalities on reducing the excessive workload of students in compulsory education

DOC_26

1995-4-12

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Notice on the issuance of the "Plan for Adjusting the Curriculum (Teaching) of Full-time Primary and Secondary Schools after the Implementation of the 40-h Workweek"

DOC_27

1995-6-21

1. State Education Commission of the PRC, etc.

About the issue of the "Work Regulations for Children and Children Outside School Education Institutions"

DOC_28

1998-2-6

1. State Education Commission of the PRC

Suggestions on promoting quality-oriented education, adjusting the teaching content of primary and secondary schools, and strengthening the management of teaching process

DOC_29

1999-1-15

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Several regulations on the management of competition activities in primary and secondary schools

DOC_30

1999-6-13

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Provisions on deepening educational reform and comprehensively promoting quality-oriented education

DOC_31

2000-1-3

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

An urgent notice on the alleviation of excessive burdens on pupils in primary schools

DOC_32

2000-1-13

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

On implementing the "Emergency Notice on Reducing Excessive Burden on Students in Primary Schools" to carry out special supervision and inspection Notice

DOC_33

2000-3-29

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on reasonable arrangement of after-school life of primary and secondary school students, strengthening the safety protection of primary and secondary school students

DOC_34

2001-5-29

1. The State Council

Decision on the reform and development of basic education

DOC_35

2001-6-8

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Outline of Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial)

DOC_36

2004-2-26

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

On the study and implementation of the "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council on Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Moral Construction of Minors"

DOC_37

2007-4-28

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

On the acceptance of compulsory education stage students to take part in the English level test notice

DOC_38

2007-5-7

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Notice on the Opinions on Strengthening Youth Physical Education and Enhancing Youth Physical fitness

DOC_39

2008-9-4

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on the issuance of the Work Plan for Prevention and Control of Myopia among Primary and Secondary School Students

DOC_40

2009-4-22

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Management and Standardization of School-running Behavior in Primary and Secondary Schools

DOC_41

2010-7-8

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Outline of the National Program for Medium—and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020)

DOC_42

2010-10-24

1. The State Council

Notice on Carrying out the pilot reform of the National Educational System

DOC_43

2012-10-22

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2. National Development and Reform Commission、3. Ministry of Finance

4. General Administration of Sport

Some suggestions on further strengthening school physical education work

DOC_44

2013-3-19

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on carrying out the campaign of "Reducing the Burden of 10,000 miles" for schools in the compulsory education stage

DOC_45

2013-8-22

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Ten provisions on reducing the burden of primary school students

DOC_46

2013-9-17

1. Education Steering Committee of the State Council

Measures for primary and secondary school superintendents

DOC_47

2013-11-15

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Decision on some major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reform

DOC_48

2014-3-18

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on carrying out the activities of "Reducing the Burden of 10,000 miles · the second season" in schools of compulsory education stage

DOC_49

2014-9-13

1. The State Council

Opinions on the implementation of deepening the reform of the examination and enrollment system

DOC_50

2015-6-29

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Strictly prohibit the provision of paid extra lessons for primary and secondary schools and in-service primary and secondary school teachers doing part-time teaching in other private institutes

DOC_51

2015-10-11

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Guidelines on strengthening family education

DOC_52

2017-2-24

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Guidance on after-school services for primary and secondary school students

DOC_53

2017-9-24

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Opinions on deepening the reform of the educational system and mechanism

DOC_54

2018-2-12

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on standardizing and managing activities such as naming and commendation of subject-based competitions in the field of basic education

DOC_55

2018-2-13

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2. Ministry of Civil Affairs

3. Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

4. State Administration for Industry and Commerce

Notice on Effectively Reducing the extracurricular burden of Primary and secondary School Students and carrying out special governance actions for off-campus training institutions

DOC_56

2018-3-20

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on Accelerating the Special governance of off-campus training Institutions

DOC_57

2018-8-6

1. The State Council

Suggestions on standardizing the development of off-campus training institutions

DOC_58

2018-8-30

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2. National Health Commission,

etc.

Implementation Plan for comprehensive Prevention and control of myopia in Children and adolescents

DOC_59

2018-8-31

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on the special governance and rectification work of off-campus training institutions

DOC_60

2018-9-17

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice Concerning the Administrative Measures (Implementation) of Nationwide Competitions for Primary and Middle School Students

DOC_61

2018-11-2

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

2. State market regulatory administration

3. Emergency management department

Notice on improving the special governance and rectification of several working mechanisms of off-campus training institutions

DOC_62

2018-12-25

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China

Notice on banning harmful apps from entering primary and secondary schools

DOC_63

2018-12-28

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China,

etc.

Notice on Printing and Distributing Burden Reduction Measures for Primary and Middle School Students

DOC_64

2019-6-23

1. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2. The State Council

Opinions on Deepening Education and Teaching Reform and Comprehensively Improving the quality of Compulsory Education

DOC_65

2019-7-12

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China etc

Opinions on the implementation of standardized off-campus online training

DOC_66

2019-8-10

1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China etc

Opinions on guiding and standardizing the orderly and healthy development of educational mobile Internet applications

DOC_67

2021-7-24

1. General Office of the CPC Central Committee;

2. General Office of the State Council

Suggestions on further reducing the burden of homework and off-campus training for students in compulsory education

DOC_68*

1986-4-12

1.The National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China

Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China