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Re: Intellectual disabilities in China European language sources seem fairly scanty for obtaining an idea of mental retardation within the historical cultures of China. Those that exist give a picture that would hardly please the modern mind, though perhaps no worse than comparable sources from much of the world. For example: DIKÖTTER, F. (1992) The Discourse of Race in Modern China. London: Hurst. (Chapter on the growth of Eugenics thinking 1915-1949 (pp. 164-190), quotes many Chinese sources with highly prejudicial views about people with mental retardation, and other disabilities, especially pp. 185-188.) EBERHARD, Wolfram (1968) On some Chinese terms of abuse, Asian Folklore Studies 27 (1) 25-40. (See pp. 36-37. Among unwanted traits, 'stupidity' is most frequently the object of verbal abuse. (Cf comparative number of pages with disability terms in MacGillivray's lexicon, see below. See also Stone, 1999, in supplementary refs below). LAMSON, Herbert D. (1935) Social Pathology in China. A source book for the study of problems of livelihood, health, and the family. Shanghai: Commercial Press. xviii + 607 pp. (Professor of sociology, Univ. Shanghai, discussing leprosy (pp. 297-325); `mental deficiency' in China with some case histories, but with European / American conceptualisation (pp. 379- 97); mental disease, pp. 408-41.) MACGILLIVRAY, Donald (1930) A Mandarin-Romanized Dictionary of Chinese, 8th edn. Shanghai. (A wide range of disability terms is given, some apparently descriptive, some abusive. Page numbers on which one or more appear under the following broad categories are: Fool, Blockhead, Weakminded, etc (1, 22, 83, 103, 117, 127, 130, 163, 193, 201, 233, 235, 277, 320, 365-6, 387, 390, 458, 485, 494, 501, 509, 529, 546, 566, 568, 571, 575, 591, 594, 596, 608, 611, 617, 633, 639, 643, 662-3, 688, 749, 825, 849, 854, 942, 982, 1024, 1026, 1041, 1076); Epilepsy, Fit, etc (168, 327, 896, 1036); Disabled (96, 234, 259, 916, 1143); Lame, Crippled etc (226, 251, 378, 560, 562-3, 638, 710, 860, 898, 934, 1014); Deaf, Stammer, Dumb (98, 193, 231, 463, 469, 574, 648, 663, 909, 983, 1035); Goitre (cretinism?) (70, 277, 956, 1064); Dwarf (3, 950, 1021); Hunchback (214, 506, 917, 1003); Blind (306, 326, 358, 427, 476, 584, 610, 744, 777, 811, 856). The meanings of the clusters of symbols in which many of these terms occur give some clue to the ways in which they may have been used. The Dic. is archaic - but may nevertheless give a comparative glimpse of vocab and clusters of meaning). Anyone is at liberty to believe (as might indeed sometimes be, or have been, the case), that for millions of Chinese who were a bit slow in understanding there could have been a reasonable level of accommodation and patience within families and neighbourhoods, and they may e.g. have learnt simple agricultural tasks, and got by without an excessive amount of teasing or bullying - as do many of their counterparts in Russia, India, UK, USA etc, in 2004. A sketch of PR China's educational and social/linguistic efforts with children having learning difficulties, appeared in: C Miles & M Miles (1993) Children with learning difficulties. In: P Mittler et al. (eds) World Yearbook of Education 1993. Special Needs Education, 53-64. London: Kogan Page, with slight update below. Some further references are appended. [p. 56-57] "...Ideological factors in China may work more positively for casually integrated children with learning difficulties. Robinson (1978) found a reticence about 'mental retardation' as such. Her sources admitted individual differences in school readiness and in learning speed, but not fundamental differences of intelligence, which would be inconsistent with socialist doctrine. Robinson noted that many school activities were of a practical nature that easily accommodated the mildly retarded child, who were observably present in primary schools. There was also an emphasis on mutual help, on smoothing out differences of individual performance and on the needs of the group rather than the individual. During the 1970s, official recognition of mental retardation grew, spurred by various surveys (Kuo Tai, 1988). Yongxin (1986) suggests there are some two million school- aged children with learning disabilities. The first formal 'special classes for mentally retarded children' began in Shanghai in 1979, catering mainly for mildly retarded children. By 1986 education of these children was said to be a widely identified priority need among Chinese educators (Stevens et al, 1990)." "The early special needs work in Shanghai emphasized the building of a friendly teacher-pupil relationship, growth of pupils' self-respect though positive reinforcement, flexible curriculum and timetable, close school- family cooperation, and some mother-tongue teaching for children of linguistic minorities (Shih, 1979). Such emphases appear to match the politically correct picture of Wenhsing Street Primary School (Anon, 1973), where a somewhat idealised teacher does not merely impart knowledge to the pupils but cares for them and is their wise, older comrade, showing them how to think and solve problems. It contrasts with the competitive atmosphere of the later ordinary primary school portrayed by Juemin (1987). Here entrants are swept on to a tread-mill of achieving high marks, aiming by colossal feats of memorisation to gain entry to one of the 'fast-track' high schools, with great loss of self-esteem for those who fail in the rat- race." "Contrasts are not surprising. In China, as in many smaller countries, there are great variations between the ambience and achievements of schools in any one area, between urban and rural schools, between schools with more or less children from ethnic minorities or backward classes, between schools with more or less funding and resources, between schools as they appear in official reports and as they might be found by unnotified visit, plus variation across the time span from 1970 to 1990. Undoubtedly, appeals for an early, liberal, child-centred education, in which children with learning difficulties can blossom in their own good time, have been heard since the 1920s (Hsing-chih, 1928) or earlier, and continue to the present. Weber (1979), Potts (1989), and Stevens et al (1990) report features of such an approach. However, Unger (1977) notes the ease with which schools shown to foreign visitors can give a false impression. The more typical rural school has very modest facilities. There, education remains traditional, with an emphasis on direct instruction and unison chanting to assist memorisation. Students are not expected to work at their own individual pace." "There is evidence of this vast nation mobilising resources towards goals that are impressive in scope. Plans for children with learning difficulties extend to remote and 'culturally impoverished' areas, with practical research on socio-cultural cognitive delay (Menglan, 1983), and some use of minority mother-tongue teaching to ease entry to the normal curriculum. Education of the children of scattered, nomadic tribes herding sheep in mountain areas is being tackled by putting teachers on horseback and organising peer tutoring between the visits of these peripatetic teachers (Joint Investigation, 1975). The cultural and geographical 'learning difficulties' of such children appear substantial. The efforts to reach them, even if described in politicised jargon, suggest an admirable spirit among the teachers and local organisers." [ Later, after a national drive for integrating such children in ordinary schools, the school entrance rate of children with disabilities is claimed to have risen from 6% to 60% (1987-1996), most being in their nearest ordinary school. This rise has generated considerable problems, with few resources to address them. Many children in regular classrooms are reportedly learning nothing. Some are on the register only - the child remains at home (Meng Deng & Manset, 2000). However, they have at least come to official attention, as a category of children for whom some provision must be made, since they are now recognised to exist. The (re-) entry of Hong Kong to the PRC also adds considerable local resources that can introduce and explain modern, evidence-based methods for accommodating the learning needs of not-entirely-standard children. ] CITED REFERENCES Anon (1973) A model elementary school. China Reconstructs June 7-12. Hsing-Chih, T'ao (1928, tr. 1974/5) How is kindergarten education to be made available to all? (tr. L Harris) Chinese Education 7: 77-80. Joint Investigation Group of the Education and Health Division, Ma-to Hsien (1975) Strongly popularise pastoral-area primary school education. Chinese Education 8: 44-52, tr. P Brainin, from Hung-ch'i 5: 83-86 (1974). Juemin, Z (1987) Thought-provoking and worrisome aspects of our primary and secondary education. Chinese Education 20: 40-47. Kuo Tai, T (1988) Mentally retarded persons in the People's Republic of China: review of epidemiological studies and services. Am. J. Mental Retardation 93: 193-199. Menglan, Z (1983) The effect of cultural education on children's cognitive development: a study of conservation development with six- to eleven-year- old Jinuo tribe children. Chinese Education 16: 124-139. Potts, P (1989) Working report: educating children and young people with disabilities or difficulties in learning in the People's Republic of China. In: L Barton (ed) Integration: Myth or Reality, 168-181. London: Falmer. Robinson, NM (1978) Mild mental retardation: does it exist in the People's Republic of China? Mental Retardation 16: 295?298. Shih, Chung (1979) Helping mentally handicapped children to learn. Intl Child Welfare Review 42: 31-34. Stevens, R, Bowen, J, Dila, K, O'Shaughnessy, R (1990) Chinese priorities in special education. Intl J. Special Education 5: 324-334. Unger, J (1977) Post-cultural revolution primary-school education: selected texts. Chinese Education 10 (2) 4-29. Weber, L (1978-79) Early childhood education. Chinese Education 11 (4) 86- 96. Yongxin, Pu (1986) Special ed comes of age. Women of China (Dec., No.12), pp. 2-3. SOME FURTHER REFERENCES (and more can of course be found with Google, etc) Achievement of Education in China. Statistics 1949-1983. Ministry of Education, Deptt of Planning, PRC. 1985 [Spec. ed. data, pp.235-6] Achievement of Education in China. Statistics 1980-1985. State Education Commission, Deptt of Planning, PRC. 1986. [Spec. ed. data, p.92] Alban-Metcalfe, J, Cheng-Lai, A & Ma, T (2002) Teacher and student teacher ratings of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder in three cultural settings. Intl. J. Disability, Development and Education 49: 281-299. Ashman, AF (1995) The education of students with an intellectual disability in the People's Republic of China: some observations. European J. Special Needs Education 10: 47-57. Dai-Hua Shen (1993) Special education in cross-cultural perspective: People's Republic of China. In S Peters (ed) Education and Disability in Cross-Cultural Perspective, pp.237-58. New York: Garland. Kegel, T (1991) Das Behindertenwesen in der Volksrepublik China. Strukuraspekte und Entwicklungen. Frankfurt: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation. Kleinmann, A, Wen-Zhi Wang, Shi-Chuo Li, Xue-Ming Cheng, Xiu-Ying Dai, Kunt- Tun Li & Kleinmann, J (1995) The social course of epilepsy: chronic illness as social experience in interior China. Social Science and Medicine 40: 1319-30. Meng Deng & Manset G (2000). Analysis of the "Learning in Regular Classrooms" movement in China. Mental Retardation 38: 124-130. Pearson, V & Chan, TWL (1993) The relationship between parenting stress and social support in mothers of children with learning disabilities: a Chinese experience. Social Science & Medicine 37: 267-274. Pearson, V, Yu-Cheung Wong & Pierini, J (2002) The structure and content of social inclusion: voices of young adults with learning difficulties in Guangzhou. Disability & Society 17: 365-382. Semmel, MI & Gao Xiaohong (1992) Teacher perceptions of the classroom behaviors of nominated handicapped and nonhandicapped students in China. J. Special Education 25: 415-430. Stone, E (1996) A law to protect, a law to prevent: contextualising disability legislation in China. Disability & Society 11: 469-484. Stone, E (1997) From the research notes of a foreign devil: disability research in China. In: C Barnes & G Mercer (eds) Doing Disability Research. Leeds: Disability Press. Stone, E (1999) Modern slogan, ancient script: disability in the Chinese language. In: M Corker & S French (eds) Disability Discourse. Buckingham: Open University Press. Stone, E (1999) Making connections: using stories from China as an example. In: E Stone (ed) Disability & Development. Leeds: Disability Press. Tse, JWL (1995) Community-based social services for people with learning difficulties in the People's Republic of China. British J. Learning Disabilities 23: 28-32. Wang, Hong Bo & Rule, S (1994) Mainstreaming: increasing services in China to young children with disabilities. Intl J. Special Education 9: 287-95. Wang, Y, Shen, Y, Gu, B, Jia, M-X, & Zhang, AL (1989) An epidemiological study of behaviour problems in school children in urban areas of Beijing. J. Child Psychology and Psychiatry 30: 907-912. *** [Switching this over via the 'New Message' board, there's a lot of junk that has appeared in the space below the message box -- some quirk of the machine. 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