China’s Education, Curriculum Knowledge and Cultural Inscriptions

Book excerpt: With a focus on the role of discourse and language in education, this book examines China’s educational reform from an original perspective that avoids mapping on Westernized educational sensibilities to a Chinese environment. Zhao untangles the tradition-modernity division expressed in China’s educational language about the body and teacher-student difference. Exploring the historical and cultural implications of the ways China’s schooling is talked about and acted upon, Zhao argues that Chinese notion "wind" (feng) is a defining aspect of Chinese teaching and learning. Incorporating Western and Chinese literature, this book explores the language of education, curriculum, and knowledge on a cross-cultural landscape and as cultural inscriptions.