Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

Sept 10, 1985, marked the country's first Teachers' Day to raise public awareness of their contribution to education.

An item in China Daily showed a Beijing student saluting all the teachers nationwide at the Great Hall of the People on that day.

In China, teachers enjoy huge public respect, because education is always high on the agenda for families. The 35th Teachers' Day is on Tuesday.

There are about 16.74 million teachers in China, a 79 percent surge from the figure in 1985, according to the Ministry of Education.

The quality of Chinese teachers has greatly improved over the past 35 years.

The proportion of teachers with bachelor's degrees or higher in primary and junior secondary schools increased by 61.59 and 80.59 percentage points respectively during the period.

A total of 510,000 new graduates have been recruited to rural schools of compulsory education in central and western regions since 2012, and 250,000 teachers are stationed in poverty-stricken areas, official data showed.

As technology has advanced, students can now learn both in class and online.

A report published by the China Internet Network Information Center said China's online education sector had 232 million users as of June, up by 31.2 million, or 15.5 percent, from the end of last year. The report also found that over 199.4 million people take online education courses on their mobile phones.

This month, the State Council, China's Cabinet, announced measures to encourage the growth of online education in a major boost to businesses in the sector.

It said efforts will be ramped up to promote Internet Plus education－the use of information technology in teaching－and encourage market entities to develop online education.

In recent years, TAL Education Group and New Oriental Education and Technology Group, the country's two major education players, have been migrating from offline to online.