How COVID-19 Has Stimulated Innovation in the Chinese Education Sector

This chapter aims to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 in China's education sector. It will capture the dynamics of the interlinked changing relationships between the availability and use of education technology (EdTech) and the demand for online learning among various stakeholders in the Chinese education market. In addition, this chapter examines whether and how these relationships enhance operational efficiency via transforming the current business models in the sector, in particular due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the current practices of the sector, this chapter will critically discuss the challenges and opportunities for technology in education and how these changes in turn drive stakeholders (including students, educators, and regulators) to respond and engage with each other, and how these stakeholder engagements impact the sustainable development of delivery modes, such as digital education and remote learning by using EdTech strategies in the sector.

“Who to Cultivate?”: A Study on the Changes in Primary School Language Education Goals in the Curriculum Documents

What kind of person is the root of education? What kind of person embodies the essence of education and the direction of education? The goal of education cannot be solved without specific courses and disciplines. This study is carried out to characterize the Chinese curriculum standards (syllabus), review the founding of New China over 70 years of primary school Chinese curriculum, and outline an education picture from the “curriculum” itself to “individual students,” from “single” to “compound,” and from “present” to “future.” It has been concluded that the pursuit of national characteristics, the exploration of a wholesome personality, and the prospect of new people of the times are the internal evolution logics of primary school Chinese education.

Sensing the Poetic Habitat – A Study of Middle School Chinese Teaching from the Perspectives of Life Aesthetics

The concept of life aesthetics reflects an individual’s cry for life and pursuit of beauty, inspiring individuals to discover their spiritual home, sense their poetic habitat, and enjoy the beauty of life flowing from their fingertips. Chinese education, viewed through the lens of life aesthetics, is founded on the natural characteristics of life, stimulating the aesthetic sense of individual life through the allure of language, and teaching students to view life through the aesthetic lens as well as from an understanding of life’s essence. Teachers and students are required to take an aesthetic view of life as theoretical guidance, based on core Chinese literacy, with textbook contents serving as carriers and classroom instruction as the position, closely connected to students’ actual lives, in order to help stimulate aesthetic experience among students, improve their aesthetic ability through aesthetic activities, and thus establish a correct view of life.

INCORPORATING CHINESE TRADITIONAL CULTURE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHINESE TEXTBOOKS

"Where there are Chinese people, there is Chinese education". The Malaysian Chinese ancestors practised Chinese education in Malaysia since their arrival and with their efforts, Malaysia has the most comprehensive and systematic Chinese education in Southeast Asia. It is also considered the country that has preserved Chinese culture the best (Qian, 2017). Since 2011, the Chinese language has been offered as an elective subject in the standards-based curriculum for primary school (KSSR) syllabus. Since introducing Chinese into classrooms, there have been two versions of Chinese textbooks for the national primary schools: (KSSR) National Primary School Chinese Textbook from grade 1 until grade 6. Its subsequent revision in 2017 KSSR (Semakan 2017) National Primary School Chinese Textbook has been applied up to grade 5. By studying these two versions of the textbooks, this paper will discuss how Chinese culture is depicted in Malaysian national primary school Chinese textbooks. It will also analyse the elements of Chinese culture and subsequently investigate whether cultural content is necessary to be reinforced in national primary school Chinese textbooks for its text to be enriched. The research objective is determined using integrated studies done within and beyond Malaysia and includes relevant materials, research reports, literature, and dissertation papers. Through literature review, this paper summarises, categories, and analyses content about traditional Chinese cultural elements that can be found in both versions of the Chinese textbooks in national primary school. The traditional Chinese cultures found in both versions of textbooks are listed under seven elements which are: Traditional Chinese Festivities, Traditional Chinese Folk Games, Traditional Chinese Family Appellations, Traditional Chinese Food Culture, Traditional Chinese Arts, Traditional Chinese Customs, Chinese Literature. The collected content is then categorised, arranged, and analysed. A deduction can then be made to provide conclusive recommendations. It can be deduced that the textbooks are pretty packed with relevant and related Chinese cultural elements, but primarily, it is apparent that the Chinese culture is mainly influenced by local cultural elements, which are very close to our daily life. National primary school Chinese language education plays a role in cultural dissemination. It enables pupils of different ethnic backgrounds to learn Chinese and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. As well as can help prevent misunderstandings caused by cultural differences.

How the ‘Taming’ of Private Education in China is Impacting AI

Following the theme of this issue of On Education, this paper suggests that one of the most significant and recent examples of ‘taming’ educational technologies occurred in China this year, involving national policy directives aimed at regulating both technology companies and the private education sector. This ‘taming’, it will be argued below, has particular and significant implications for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) for education in China, principally due to the way in which this burgeoning field has developed in relation to private educational provision. The following sections will outline key government policies, and assess the extent to which state regulation is impacting the ways such technologies are designed and deployed in the Chinese education system.

LITERACY AND IDENTITY: FROM LIM KIM HOK, AND KHO PING HO TO THE CONTEMPORARY INDONESIAN LITERATURE

The history and progress of Indonesian literature become a piece of authentic evidence for ethnic Chinese. Both of them can exert influence on contemporary Indonesian literature at large. It can be seen in the history of Indonesian literacy, romance, martial arts stories (Cerita silat), and Chinese literary writing styles which are still used nowadays. This shows how ethnic Chinese education and Hybrid (Malay-Chinese) in Indonesia have developed rapidly. Before this country was formed into a nation-state with cultural institutions, ethnic Chinese had undergone literary expressions. Moreover, culture at that time was widely accepted for Malay nations, Java, Balinese, etc. Conversely, many identity challenges and contestation during Dutch colonial, Old Order, and New Order pressed the ethnic Chinese in various ways. In addition, this can be understood as a part of cultural exchange. Hence, Indonesian literature is currently strongly influenced by the contact of Malay and Chinese literature.

Regulating Chinese education in colonial Macao: political struggle and the role of “the Chinese Educators' Association of Macau” (c. 1914–1949)

PurposeThe study aims to trace the history of Chinese education in Macao in the first half of the 20th century, emphasizing macro- and meso-level political influences.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews published works including official documents, rare books, newspapers, etc. and provides a three-part analysis: first, discussion of the colonial Government's education policy during the early 20th century and the establishment of the Chinese Educators' Association of Macau (CEAM); second, contextualization of the major upset and change in educational policy during the Sino-Japanese War (World War II in Asia); and third, considering the reinstatement of laissez-faire education policies regarding Macao's Chinese community and the CEAM's shifting political loyalties in the post-war period.FindingsThe colonial Government created a vacuum into which both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) muscled, seeking to manipulate education from across the border via control of the CEAM. Mainland China's shifting political landscapes thus significantly altered the political orientation of the CEAM, especially around 1949. Soon afterward, various Catholic and other schools withdrew from the CEAM, primarily separating Chinese schools in Macao into blue (Catholic et al.) and red (pro-CCP) camps.Originality/valueThe paper reviews Macao Chinese education history from 1914 to 1949 while providing better comprehension of an analogous situation in neighboring Hong Kong.