The three-episode full-length documentary From Jianguomen to Fuxingmen: A Stroll along Chang’an Street (hereinafter referred to as A Stroll along Chang’an Street), planned and produced by China Education Television, was shown during the recent National Holiday. From the three perspectives of culture and history, symbols of state, and the great rejuvenation, the documentary explored the many great buildings of Chang’an Street as part of the glorious history of the Chinese people,

from humble origins driving carts in rags to blazing new trails in magnificent views under a century of the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

The third episode of A Stroll along Chang’an Street, broadcast on 3 October 2020, told the story of the Open University of China (OUC). Today, when ranking institutions of higher learning remains a hot topic, the OUC is creating “a university without walls.”

The OUC, inaugurated in 2012, is a new style of university engaged in open and distance education. Many people have fulfilled their dream of learning at the OUC, and a great many shining examples for the new era have been established. However, few people probably know that distance education in new China actually came into being many years ago in the 1950s and 1960s. Founded in February 1960, Beijing Television University was the first city television university in China, and also the world. It is even nine years older than the Open University, UK. Many eminent teachers were engaged in distance television education in new China from its very beginning. The students have listened to mathematics classes from Hua Luogeng and physics classes from Yang Zhenning, to name but a few.

As soon as the lights came up, young people craving knowledge would sit before their televisions with notebooks… Although scenes such as this belong to a different era, the construction of a university without walls is still in full swing in the new era. The total number of registered students of the OUC has surpassed 4 million. With the help of rapidly changing internet technology, it is clear that this university without walls is helping more people to realise their Chinese dream.

By OUC News Network