BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The glory days of English are fading in China.

Debate still rages over the value of studying English even after the Ministry of Education denied last week that English would be removed from the "gaokao", the national college entrance examination.

Those in favor of its removal say English study should be optional to ease the burden of students, while opponents insist it is a necessary ability for Chinese to understand the world.

The debate started in October last year when Beijing announced a plan to reduce the value of English by shifting points to Chinese in college and senior high school entrance exams from 2016. Other provinces decided that English would be offered to students above third grade (age 9-10) instead of from day one in primary school.

The teaching of English has long reflected changes in China's attitudes to the outside world, starting in 1862 when the Qing government established the first Imperial College of Translators.

TOOL OF ENLIGHTENMENT

When the Opium Wars broke out, with Western powers led by Britain invading China, the Qing government realized that English was fundamental to understanding the outside world.

In 1902, it demanded Chinese students learn English. Even the Emperor took lessons.

During the semi-colonial period, English study developed into cultural imitation. Mission schools in Shanghai required all courses to be taught in English. People imitated Westerners in dress, speech and behavior. Chinese men, still wearing long pigtails, donned suits and spectacles.

Chinese students of English also mastered advanced technologies and ideas of democracy and freedom. Niu Daosheng, author of "The Historic Influence of English on China", wrote that English as a language had successfully brought Western culture and modern civilization to China.

PAINTED WITH POLITICS

The first decline of English in China came in the 1950s, when the language was painted with political colors.

After the New China was founded in 1949, the government established a close relationship with the Soviet Union and China was isolated by Western powers. The high status of English was overturned as schools only taught one foreign language: Russian.

In 1956, Premier Zhou Enlai called for the strengthening of translations of foreign books to help China's science development. More people were recruited to learn English, French and German. By the end of that year, 23 universities across China offered English as a major.

A decade later, the number was 74. Moreover, English was officially confirmed as the priority foreign language in a plan of the national educational authority in 1964.

However, the education system was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, when English textbooks were full of translations of Chairman Mao's Quotations.