In a broader definition, education refers to all the socialization human beings have been through since birth. Education enables people to develop all kinds of ability in order to fit in social life. In early period of human history, most of the institutions in a society owned the function of education, which was not limited to knowledge or skills. However, in most of the human history, receiving formal education was still a privilege of minority class. In modern time, education system is highly related to the rising of nation states and industrialized society. The degree of government’s interference in education is increasing, including incorporating education into state apparatus, enacting systemized laws, imparting knowledge and skills, and even turning education as a civic obligation. Nowadays, education has become a consensus of many societies. Article 26 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights indicates that “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”

       Overall, education elevates labor quality, advances civilization and facilitates a country’s production to achieve the country’s political and economic goals. Nevertheless, modern China was long in chaos, and traditional imperial examination was incapable of progressing with the new trend and solving the country’s crisis in politics and economy. Moreover, systemized school system hadn’t been well-developed yet, nor were there orderly ways of learning, which caused that education was not prevalent in China. Until 1902, after the emperor promulgated the laws of school, there was finally a completed mode to elevate education. The hundred years afterwards was still a difficult path for expanding education.

        As a result, the discussion of R.O.C’s development of education, further education and social mobility in the past hundred years is a significant work and mission. In terms of sources, we collect and organize the statistics in educational annuals (including the numbers of schools, students, faculties, funds and trends), articles in educational annuals and Zhonghua min guo shi jiao yu zhi (The History of the R.O.C, Educational Journal), electronic files of related laws (including University Act, Private School Law, Junior College Law, The Senior High School Act and so on), internet sources (including Laws and Regulations Database of The Republic of China, Department of Statistics of Ministry of Education, The History of Ministry of Education), and so on. This article is expected to correctly and concisely illustrate the historical facts of the R.O.C’s development of education, further education and social mobility. The following starts from the prevalence, advancement, diversion, and expansion of education, to illustrate the development of education in the R.O.C.