Secondary education includes common middle school and specialized secondary schools. Common middle school education consists of junior middle school and senior middle school. Lengths of schooling are both three years. Courses offered at general middle schools are Chinese, maths, foreign language, politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, physical education, music, fine arts, physiology and labor. Excellent students well developed morally, intellectually and physically will be awarded. By 1996, there were 80,000 general middle schools in China, with an enrolment of 57.4 million students.

Specialized secondary school education mainly consists of secondary technical schools, normal secondary schools and vocational schools. Lengths of schooling is 2 to 3 years, or 3 to 4 years. Courses at secondary technical schools and vocational schools include science, agriculture, forestry, hygiene, finance and economics, management, politics and law, art, teacher training, physical culture and tourism. Vocational schools mainly train skilled workers and technicians. By 1996, there were already 4,099 specialized secondary schools in China, with an enrolment of 4.228 million students.