Educational research in China has reflected the turmoil and political changes of that nation. Stating at the outset that education in China is insufficient for meeting the demands of modernization, the paper shows how failure to understand the role of educational research has contributed to this condition. An overview of educational research and political history of China provides a framework. The focus of this paper is primarily on the great debate on the problem of the essence of Chinese socialist education that occurred from 1978-86. Five different views emerged during the debate: (1) education serving the economic basis of society; (2) education of human beings with differing characteristics; (3) education as an element of systems engineering; (4) education as an instrument to transmit human experiences of social life and material production; and (5) education as human development. Out of this wealth of aims came clarification and strategy. The paper sets forth principles of Chinese socialist education. Ten features of education congruent with those principles are presented. Several important theoretical and practical questions about socialist education that are now being debated in China are reported and commented on. (MDE)