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Asian children, including Chinese children, perform better than their English-speaking peers in cross-national mathematics studies. This superior Asian performance is attributed to several factors including cultural beliefs, educational systems and practices, and the Chinese number naming system. Given the limited empirical evidence on pre-school mathematics learning in Chinese societies, the outcomes of Western studies are often borrowed and adopted in curriculum planning in Asian schools. The study reported in this paper investigated the performance of Hong Kong Chinese pre-school children based on Western studies involving English-speaking children, and examined the relationship between the Chinese number naming system and children's performance in number and operation concepts. Data were collected from 299 pre-school children aged between 3 and 5 years. The learning sequence of the children in mastering number and operation concepts was established using the Rasch Model. This study provides empirical evidence for the feasibility of borrowing lists of mathematics concepts from studies of English-speaking children to serve as a reference for school-based curriculum planning in a Chinese-speaking context. However, it is not enough to establish the relationship between children's performance and the Chinese number naming system. Classroom instruction and cultural beliefs in mathematics learning are also important in explaining children's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dai Shu Shu (Algebra) and Wei Ji Su Yuan (The Roots of Calculus) translated by Hua Hengfang (1833-1902) and John Fryer (1839-1928), mathematical works in the late Qing Dynasty had exerted great impact on the internationalization of Japanese mathematics, and the influence had lasted until the Meiji Restoration period. This paper focuses on the Chinese ions of these works such as a missionary in China, which had exerted great influence on the internationalization of Japanese mathematics during the Meiji Restoration period. Firstly, a synopsis is offered of some maths works introduced into Japan translated by others except Hua Hengfang and their influence on Japanese mathematics. Secondly, the author of Notes to the Method of Algebra and his mathematical researches are introduced, together with an analysis of the Notes and the western mathematics and the literature of the latter spread into Japan during the early period of Meiji Restoration via comparison between the Notes and the Chinese translation. Finally, some accounts are offered of Japanese scholars during the Meiji period who referred to and cited from Chinese translations of mathematical works like the Origin of Calculus in their studies or translations of western ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]