This paper examines the determinants of intergenerational correlation of education in rural
China by using a data from a large survey of households. Three generations who completed
education during the period from pre-1949 to the beginning of the 2000s are included. The
focus is on the influence of family class status (chengfen) on offspring education. Our
investigation suggests that family class status is still important for the intergenerational
transmission of education. The offspring of landlord/rich peasant families are more likely to
achieve higher educational attainment, even though parental education, family wealth, and
other family characteristics are the same. The unique determinant of the intergenerational
transmission of education in the postreform era is found to be an education-oriented family
culture, created as an intergenerational cultural rebound against class-based social
discrimination during the Maoist era. We have also found that the cultural reaction is a
combination of class-specific effects with cohort-specific effects.