This article argues that ideas from the ancient past supply insight about the future of Chinese universities. I make this case by outlining three claims about the nature and purpose of education in Homer, Plato, and Augustine. I propose that conversations based on these ideas illuminate central underlying problems facing Chinese higher education…

This commentary on Wu Zongjie's article "Interpretation, autonomy and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective" begins by suggesting the usefulness of Wu's polar opposite depiction of Confucian and modern pedagogy as ideal types for comparative exploration. It goes on to suggest that the term…

This article examines the uptake of "suzhi"--roughly glossed as "quality"--in China's recent curriculum reform called "suzhi jiaoyu" (Education for Quality) in the rural ethnic context of Qiandongnan. It engages with three layers of analysis. First is a brief etymological overview of "suzhi" to map out its…

This article begins by accounting the development of Second language theories. It describes major ESL theories ever since the 18th century to those currently adopted in ESL field. Then it proceeds to demonstrate their influences on EFL teaching in China, like nowadays an increasing awareness of non-cognitive factors in teaching foreign languages,…

Soon after remnants of the Long March reached Yan'an, the Communist Party established adult and higher education institutions. K'angta--the anti-Japanese university--was at the centre of attempts to resist foreign invaders and, after October 1, 1949, became a model for the rest of China. K'angta owed much to Mao's essays On Practice and On…

China has one of the oldest educational testing systems in the world, yet its modern form was influenced by various western educational modes borrowed during the twentieth century. This essay reviews the history of the Chinese traditional educational testing system: its origin, features, and its past impact on Chinese people's lives as well as on…

In this article, the author aims to develop a macro level understanding of home education and its research in China. The author analyzes the background, the reasons of revival, special features, and major contents of home education research in the late 70s and early 80s of the 20th century, and explores the development in the succeeding three…