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UNESCO's relatively high prestige across East Asia has spurred intensifying efforts by governments to use its imprimatur to legitimate official narratives of the past and visions of the future. This article focuses on China's use of UNESCO as an arena for competitive national 'branding' in the education field, especially relating to STEM and AI. We analyse the Chinese state's engagement with UNESCO's education work in the context of shifts in budgetary and political influence within the organisation, and of a growing 'securitisation' of education within China itself. We show how Chinese engagement with UNESCO's educational agenda reflects both domestic political considerations and the 'major country diplomacy' of Xi Jinping, as manifested in the 'Belt and Road Initiative' and intensifying strategic competition with the USA. We conclude by discussing the implications of rising Chinese influence within the organisation for UNESCO's capacity for articulating a coherent and consistently humanistic vision for education.

Existing literature has noticed two competing ideas about the state-citizen relationship promoted in China's moral education curriculum: protecting one's freedom and rights, and contributing to and even sacrificing for the country. To reconcile this contradiction, this study uses the framework of 'neoliberalism as exception' to analyze the textbooks of "Morality and Laws," the primary teaching and learning materials in China's moral education. Defining neoliberalism as a focus on individual conduct, including self-reliance, self-entrepreneurship, and individual rights and freedom, this study shows how these textbooks selectively employ neoliberal ideas to promote an understanding of personhood where students are expected to not only practice self-reliance but also prioritize collective and national interests over their rights and freedom. This selective adoption of neoliberal tenets contributes to China's economic development and national cohesion, but it risks perpetuating systemic inequity since all students are posited as coming from the same socioeconomic background.

Numerous studies have noted the difficulties in promoting a common national identity curriculum due to increasing tension between the concepts of local autonomy and national cohesion. Hong Kong's promotion of Moral and National Education provides an interesting case to examine two aspects of this tension -- what national identity education goals can be selected when local people enjoy different rights, and how local education agents can select content and pedagogy to address such goals. This article analyses two sample textbook lessons, two teachers' teaching plans for this subject, and memos from related curriculum development meetings. The comparisons reveal that textbook adaption is a consistent and important part of teacher-textbook interaction, with three major patterns emerging from Hong Kong teachers' interactions with textbooks. These can be attributed to the influence of micro- and macro-level powers over teacher-textbook interactions in Moral and National Education.

Recent policy changes to the regulation of international schooling for Chinese nationals in China have seen restrictions on curriculum, admissions and ownership. While there is evidence of the impact of these changes at the institutional level, it is not clear how recent regulation has impacted the actors at the phenomenological level. In order to address this gap, we situate recent regulation within the concept of cosmopolitan nationalism, which highlights the interplay of local and global forces and places lived experience at the forefront of analysis. We also draw on qualitative survey and in-depth interview data with teachers from an international school in China that explored their understandings of international schooling. By analysing the teachers' understandings of international schooling, we were able to gain an insight into the impact of regulation at the level of lived experience. Overall, we found little evidence that regulation had impacted the teachers' beliefs about international schooling, suggesting either the normalisation of regulation or a lag between its implementation and internalisation. Our findings also suggested two main configurations of cosmopolitan nationalism held by the teachers. The first, which we refer to as 'cosmopolitanism with national characteristics', positions international schools as a more diverse and care-free alternative to domestic schooling. The second configuration of cosmopolitan nationalism, which we refer to as 'nationalism with cosmopolitan characteristics', positions the nation as the foundation and cosmopolitan-related aspects as peripheral.

Projecting itself as the inheritor of China's past greatness, the CCP regime increasingly seeks to boost politico-cultural confidence in education and society and turn students and ordinary people into self-confident Chinese. This article identifies the oscillation of focus from victimhood to confidence in state nationalism and patriotic education and interrogates the politics behind the official push for self-confidence. Through the lens of Foucauldian governmentality and subjectivation, it argues that self-confidence serves as a governing technique for the party-state to subjugate people by individuating and subjectivising a verifiable feeling of certainty about the future, which depends on the CCP, pathologises political grievances, and precludes alternative political imaginaries. To be constructive as well as critical, this article draws upon contemporary political theory to suggest that education for humble citizenship, which centres on contingency, interdependence, and critique of the past and present, is key to citizenship education that strives for desubjugation and autonomy.

This article provides an overview of the politics of education as they affect regions and communities on the periphery of the People's Republic of China. Drawing on the articles in this special issue of Comparative Education, it analyses tensions related to the attempted imposition of Bejing's homogenising and totalising vision of Chineseness across Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and amongst the mainland's migrant underclass. Also considered here are the politics of comparative educational scholarship, as they relate to a widespread failure to engage critically with the diversity and complexity of Chinese societies. Attributable largely to the West's own 'culture wars', this failure betrays much-touted ethical commitments to social justice and anti-'hegemonic' resistance. It is thus a central purpose of this essay - and special issue - to urge educational scholars to interrogate the politics of oppression and injustice in China and elsewhere 'beyond the Western horizon'.

Like other colonial state structures, the education system in China aims to manufacture regime loyalty and cultural conformity among its 125 million minority nationalities. The Party-state's lessons in 'being Chinese' begin by nullifying traditional languages, cultures and lifestyles, which are deemed primitive and uncouth, and then remould minority students in the image of the Han majority and its perceived superiority. In this article we examine the vast network of boarding schools on the Tibetan plateau, where three out of every four Tibetan children are placed in around-the-clock state care with little access to their home communities: here a rigid and uniform curriculum in Mandarin Chinese promises upward social mobility for those who comply while transforming and homogenising worldviews. We argue these colonial-style boarding schools are slowly and irrevocably erasing aspects of Tibetan culture in ways that fundamentally alter Tibetan identity.

This article offers a theoretical intervention in new and emergent approaches to analysing China's coercive nation-building policies under Xi Jinping. The author contends that the recent Western framing of CCP policies as genocidal or necropolitical, predicated on notions of settler colonialism and indigeneity, not only strips minority nationalities of their political agency but also prevents them from pursuing anti-colonial self-determination. By delving into the extensive scholarly work within Chinese anthropology, history, and philosophy that contributes to the reconstruction of a retrotopian Chinese nation with non-Han minority groups at its core, this article argues that the ongoing effort to build a revitalised Chinese national community requires more than merely overcoming obstacles related to minority cultures and identities. It entails actively reimagining the role and participation of minorities in 'self-sacrifice' for the Chinese national community, implying their voluntary relinquishment of identities and rights in order to align with the Chinese nation.

This article analyses the implications of recent policy changes for the portrayal of minority nationalities in the latest China's history textbooks published around 2017. We argue that ideological responses to the fierce ethnic clashes of the late 2000s and the leadership transition since 2012 have generated increasingly contradictory official discourses on the relationship between Chinese identity and cultural diversity, which are manifested in the textbooks. On the one hand, policies and textbooks still appear to endorse a multi-"minzu," inclusive understanding of nationhood and Chinese history. On the other hand, an increasing emphasis on nationalist discourses celebrating the Han culture and achievements reinforces assimilationist narratives based on a monolithic and homogenising vision of Chinese nationhood. We argue that such tensions reflect conflicts over contradictory understandings of Chineseness that have intensified since 2008--2009, and that the increasing marginalisation in textbooks of non-Han groups may contribute to further exacerbating problems in the handling of inter-"minzu" relations.

In this study, we discuss the Confucian tradition in today's multicultural China from two perspectives: that of the mandatory school curriculum, which represents 'official knowledge', and that of students from ethnic minority and/or religious backgrounds who are located on the cultural margins in China. The analysis draws on curricular narratives of the Confucian tradition for six major school subjects and semi-structured interviews with a group of university students from non-Han ethnic minority and/or religious backgrounds, whose lived experiences are rarely included in the national curriculum narrative. The analysis suggests that the interpretation of the Confucian tradition is a monopolising and dominant discourse that reinforces the cultural hierarchy between different cultural groups. However, the students appear to regard the Confucian tradition as only one culture and worldview in China, which can benefit from the critical reflexivity of other cultures.

In the face of the rising tension between Hong Kong and mainland China, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam blamed the city's education system for its inability to develop a sense of 'I am Chinese' national identity and vowed to step up 'national education' from preschool. This article explores how 188 young preschool teachers perceived their national identity and viewed the applicability of national education in Hong Kong preschools. Data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative measures. The findings showed that even though the participants strongly resisted their Chinese identity, they agreed that national education could be introduced in preschools if it would be rendered rational and apolitical. Nevertheless, they suspected that the administration's motive behind national education was political indoctrination. They also noted several pedagogical difficulties. Finally, the implications are discussed against the changing socio-political context, serving as lessons for local and international readers.

English is often ideologically constructed as a global language to facilitate intercultural communication between people of diverse cultural backgrounds. However, it still remains unknown to what extent English learning can enhance English learners' awareness of global diversity. Given the dominant population of English learners in China, it is of great significance to investigate how English learning might facilitate Chinese learners' global vision and cultivate their intercultural competence. Seeing language textbooks as a key site of cultural and linguistic representation, this study scrutinizes the hidden ideologies discursively constructed in an English Intercultural Communication (EIC) textbook targeting Chinese English learners. Data are collected from dialogues, case studies, reading passages, cultural notes, exercises in the textbook. Informed by concepts of orientalism and banal nationalism, the study reveals that the distribution of characters is nation-based, essentialized, and even stigmatized. There is an inconsistency between the discursive construction of English as a global language and the actual representation of USA/UK-centered ideology. Chinese and other non-English learners are linguistically and culturally subjected to orientalist interpretation. The internal orientalist representation of Chinese speakers is also reproduced within the diverse backgrounds of Chinese population. Based on the findings, we argue that the simplified, unbalanced and unequal representations of cultural elements may hinder English learners' awareness of cultural diversity. The study suggests that a more diversified representation of cultural practices should be adopted in EIC textbooks to cultivate the global citizenship through English language education.

A major development in recent years concerning the growth of 'private English-speaking international schooling' has been the transition from a 'traditional' mode of activity towards a 'non-traditional' context. This is especially the case in Asia, where the majority of international schools now reside. Moreover, we find that in Mainland China two-thirds of the (approximately) 900 schools that might be thought of as international schools are now perhaps better classified as 'internationalised schools', catering largely for Chinese nationals and being taught by a largely local teaching force whilst delivering a fusion of international and national curricula in a profit-driven paradigm. A major challenge is to picture and theorise this changing, and increasingly very different, landscape. This paper offers a new imagery for discussion by using metaphor. Building upon the conflicting 'diluting' and 'decoupling' metaphors that have been recently introduced in the international schooling literature, we present here a conciliatory new imagery: that of 'dovetailing'. This alternative, third metaphor suggests that the changing landscape of international schooling in places including mainland China involves models of private bilingual international schooling that are pragmatically 'dovetailed' with national forms of schooling, fusing cosmopolitan sensitivities with the nationalist needs of the state. This metaphor is now ready to be developed and adapted in China and beyond.

Doctoral education is often lauded as a site of academic socialization and research training for nascent scholars. However, discussions of socialization seldom problematize the dangers of intellectual imperialism and methodological nationalism inherent in doctoral researcher socialization. As such, the traditional socialization practices for doctoral students in the United States (U.S.) must be interrogated and expanded to move towards equitable practices for research, especially for students conducting international research. Using social and spatial positioning as our conceptual framing, we problematize and question current approaches and practices to doctoral researcher training in the U.S. We use the academic hood, which is granted upon successful completion of doctoral studies, as a metaphor to reconsider how to reflect upon and navigate power dynamics and knowledge production within the U.S. academy.

Nation-building in modern China at the beginning of the twentieth century had to manage the strain between ethnic nationalism and the claim of a multi-ethnic national identity. This study focuses on how history textbooks defined China and addressed this paradox. Based on the qualitative content analysis of eight popular middle school history textbooks about imperial China, this paper demonstrates how Han nationalism and the multi-ethnic nationality of China evolved in the textbooks. While these two features of national concept contradict each other, the thesis of Hanhua may serve as a bridge between them within the symbolic framework of Chinese nationalism.

Cultivating "wenhua dacai" (great cultural talent) is a central goal of the ongoing "dujing" (classics reading) education movement, which is an integral part of the broad Confucian revival in contemporary China. Focusing on the concept of "wenhua dacai," this article explores three interrelated issues. First, as a term used in the context of "dujing" education, "wenhua dacai" refers to an idealized Confucian subject shaped by an interweaving of nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Moreover, it is expected not only to revive Confucian/Chinese culture but also to contribute to human cultural exchange. Second, the tendency of students to embrace individualistic virtues in their experience of classics reading poses a challenge to the lofty and sacred ideal of "wenhua dacai," which reinforces the need for rigid discipline in learners. Finally, contextualizing the idea of "wenhua dacai" into the general transformation of education in China can contribute to a more thorough understanding of it. This article concludes that the cultivation of "wenhua dacai" dreamed of by Confucian "dujing" education activists is constituted by paradoxical discourses and practices embedded in the ideological complexities of Chinese education.

This paper explores the governmentality in Macao's higher education (HE) by exemplifying how neoliberalism and Chinese nationalism simultaneously inform the governmental rationalities and technologies in the city. Like many other systems, neoliberalism has substantially shaped Macao's HE. However, owing to post-colonial identity, Chinese nationalism has become a significant driving force in the development of Macao's HE after the handover. On the basis of governmentality and a qualitative single case approach, this paper demonstrates how the neoliberal logic and nationalist discourses frame the governmentality in post-colonial Macao's HE. The paper further argues that the recent development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area signifies an intensification of national integration that is deliberately associated with a wave of marketisation in HE. These developments represent the economic and political imperatives of Macao's HE policy and provide insights into Chineseness in HE within the contemporary political context.

Purpose: The goal is to explore the role of international education in a developing country's nation building in a mostly indigenous process. Design/methodology/approach: This study reviews China's history of international education set in the larger context of different nation building tasks in the past two centuries. Findings: The unique case of China with dramatic ups and downs in national fortunes in the past two hundred years serves to show that an open attitude to and an active engagement in international education are contributing factors for national prosperity. The case of China also serves to show that a self-determined agenda is of paramount importance in international education as a tool for nation building. Originality/value: Few studies so far have paid attention to the specific relationship between the internationalization of higher education and nation building, so the topic of the paper is an important one and a necessary addition to the existing literature. What has been the role of international education in China's national transformation? What contributions has international education made to China's achievement of nation building goals at different stages of this transformation process? What implications can other developing nations draw from China's case with regard to the role of international education in nation building? These are the questions the researchers hope to answer in this study.

The centralized compilation and use of educational materials for the three subjects of language arts, ethics and the rule of law (ideology and politics), and history are important moves in the fundamental task of creating educational materials to build up the state's authority and instill virtue and nurturing the young. Here, centrally compiled educational materials for language arts have unique advantages with respect to strengthening education in the standard spoken and written Chinese language, enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation, and so on, and they play an irreplaceable role in forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation. Centered on the "Five Identifications," this study sets out from the three-dimensional perspective of cognitive factors, affective factors and behavioral factors, to build a framework for analysis of educational materials based on the connotations of the sense of community for the Chinese nation. The characteristics of the representation of the connotative factors of the sense of community for the Chinese nation in centrally compiled educational materials for language arts are: The educational materials comprehensively and emphatically embody the educational content of the "Five Identifications"; the educational content for the different types of identification comprehensively addresses educational objectives in the three areas of cognition, affection and behavior; and educational content on cultural identification is the most enriched. Among the inherent mechanisms for forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation through the centralized compilation of educational materials for language arts, the first is organically integrating the connotative factors of the sense of community for the Chinese nation on the basis of the patterns of the subject of language arts as well as curriculum standards; the second is to use cultural identification as a focal point in promoting education for the "Five Identifications," while highlighting the unique value of the subject of language arts; and the third is to comprehensively strengthen education for identification with the community of the Chinese nation centered on the text selection system, in combination with the design of form factors and educational activities. The main pathways for forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation through the centralized compilation of educational materials for language arts are: (1) Synchronously strengthening identification with the community of the Chinese nation in the process of improving students' language arts skills and accomplishments, based on the learning situation; (2) Creating three-dimensional educational objectives for education in the community of the Chinese nation on the basis of cognitive patterns, to build firm ideological foundations; (3) Applying diverse teaching methods and educational techniques to promote consolidation of the sense of community for the Chinese nation in language arts studies and in life. [Translation by Carissa Fletcher.]

The cause of ethnic unity progress is a foundational cause for forging a sense of community for the Chinese Nation, and progressive education for school ethnic unity is an important, integral part of the cause of ethnic unity progress. Progressive education curricula for school ethnic unity are school curricula explicitly stipulated by the state. It is an important, integral part of the system of school thought and politics curricula and a completely new curriculum form. Progressive education curricula for school ethnic unity plays a critical, important role in firmly establishing the correct view of the motherland, ethnicity, culture, and history for students of all ethnicities and is also a basic path and vehicle for building a common spiritual home for all ethnicities and firmly molding a consciousness of the community of the Chinese nation. There is a solid theoretical foundation, rich practical explorations, and real need for building progressive education curricula for school ethnic unity. Properly building a system of progressive education curricula for school ethnic unity with Chinese characteristics is an important responsibility for education workers in the new era. [Translation by Jeff Keller.]

Forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation is an important innovative thesis put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping. It is a continuation, development, and innovation of Marxist ethnic theory with rich, deep content. Systematically looking at the key theories of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important accounts of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation with regards to the background of the era, the significance of their status, the characteristics of their content, and their practical requirements and deeply studying and understanding their spiritual nature and practical requirements can promote the high-quality development of ethnic affairs work in the new era and unite the people of all ethnicities in commonly striving to realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. [Translation by Jeff Keller.]

Forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation is the main line of ethnic affairs in the new era, and also a hot topic of research in theories about the Chinese nation today. The scientific connotations of education about forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation includes three aspects: conceptual content, theoretical content, and practical content. The core of the conceptual content lies in forging the conscious sense of community for the Chinese nation, to internalize the concept of national unity. The theoretical content includes the theory of ethnic affairs with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the theory of modernization of national governance. This focuses on the "discursive consciousness" of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation to give national unity a sound basis. The practical content of forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation includes using education about national unity, national unification, and national rejuvenation to forge a sense of a united community for the Chinese nation, to make the ideal of national unity apparent in action. Only with a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the scientific content of education about the sense of community for the Chinese nation can we effectively implement the ideal of the community of the Chinese nation "that shares good or ill, that shares honour or disgrace, that shares life or death, and that shares a common destiny." [Translated by Desmond Cheung.]

Patriotism is controversial in moral education across contexts. In China, patriotism is highly politicised by the government and heavily promoted in education. In the last few decades, the moralisation of patriotism, which refers here to the framing of patriotism as a virtue, has become the focus of teaching patriotism in China. This paper demonstrates how patriotism is moralised and promoted in Chinese moral education textbooks. The paper begins by providing a theoretical introduction to patriotism in moral education and defending a rational approach to teaching patriotism given its controversial nature. Then it elaborates on the Chinese context of teaching patriotism and analyses patriotism as part of moral education in Chinese textbooks. Our findings indicate various ways in which patriotism is promoted in Chinese education as a non-controversial virtue and moral duty. Finally, the paper discusses the limitations of this way of teaching patriotism and argues for the adoption of the rational approach as an alternative.

Identity issues have been an area of focus in language learning motivation scholarship. However, the role of national identity in language learning motivation has not received sufficient attention. In response to the timely call for reflections on nationalism and language education, this study examines how political nationalism and cultural nationalism shape Chinese learners' motivation to learn Japanese. Our analysis suggests that cultural nationalism considerably enhances Chinese learners' motivation whereas the motivational impact of political nationalism is bifurcate. Our research helps illuminate the mechanism of the rooted L2 self and national interest in language learning motivation, especially in the Chinese context.

This study demonstrates ways that geopolitics may interfere with the pursuit of global science. In particular, the study sought to understand the impact of the U.S. Department of Justice's China Initiative on the U.S. scientific community, especially among those of Chinese and other Asian descent. Based on a survey of about 2,000 scientists in top U.S. research universities, findings show a consistent pattern of neo-racism, neo-nationalism, and the consequences for future international collaborations and maintaining highly skilled talent. The findings show how neo-racism and neo-nationalism may be sabotaging the efforts of the U.S. to be globally competitive.

Reality television (RT) programming is frequently and rightfully criticized and yet its popularity among adolescent and young adult viewers is also undeniable. In response to the need for media literacy programs to address the pleasures, the problems, and the pedagogy of the genre, we have chosen to take a cross-national, comparative approach and to model a process for teaching through our own research. Three popular reality tv programs were selected from each of our respective nations (China, South Korea, the United States) from one of three subgenres: Dancing, Restaurants, and Travel. We each watched episodes of all nine programs, inventoried their features and took notes. We then compared and contrasted the programs cross-nationally and across genres, and identified four themes: Pedagogy; Individualism and Collectivism; Tradition and Modernity; and Globalism and Nationalism. We found striking differences across nations in our analysis that provide important insights into our respective national cultures. In conclusion, we discuss the implications of our process for teaching about RT.

This study applies CDA and story grammar analysis to investigate how Chinese language textbooks for primary schools foster Chinese national identity through their depiction of Chinese people struggling against foreign invaders. The analysis was conducted on 12 textbooks and the findings were based on stories featuring a range of ages, from children to soldiers and artists, who all displayed patriotic spirit and were willing to risk their lives for China. The textbooks also highlight China's past humiliation, such as the Nanjing Massacre and the loss of territories such as Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. The authors of those textbooks seek to encourage the students' national identity by promoting a sense of patriotism, sacrifice, vigilance against foreign threats, affirmation for the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and putting the interests of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ahead of personal interests. Additionally, students are expected to have a strong sense of territorial sovereignty, recognizing Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan as parts of China. However, the results also show that the portrayal of Chinese national identity is Han-centric, excluding ethnic minorities.

Integrating twenty-first century competencies into the curriculum has become an important issue for education reform worldwide. This study examines and compares twenty-first century competencies demonstrated in mother tongue curriculum standards in China, the United States and Finland. It identifies key similarities and significant differences among them. It shows that the Finnish Curriculum has a more balanced distribution of twenty-first century competencies. While communication and critical thinking are stressed in all three, critical thinking is prioritised in the American Curriculum. In addition to communication and critical thinking, the Chinese Curriculum emphasises citizenship based on national identity, metacognitive strategies and aesthetics. The American Curriculum focuses on information and ICT literacy, and the Finnish Curriculum highlights personal and social responsibility concerning cultural awareness and citizenship. The significant differences between these three Curricula are related to the countries' tradition of curriculum theories -- the Chinese integrate Western theories and the Confucian tradition, the American follow the Anglo-American curriculum and the Finnish have roots in "Bildung-Didaktik." Curriculum objectives should take into consideration both subject knowledge and skills and the student as a whole person. Additionally, different curriculum traditions should be considered and learned during the curriculum design process.

This article examines how politics has shaped Hong Kong's education system and the curriculum 23 years after the British handover of Hong Kong to China. Particularly, through the concept of nationalism, the article examines how the education system is being shaped. The article is intended to provide international readers with a perspective of the political and socio-educational dynamics at play in Hong Kong. The central question at issue is: how has political culture and identity been promoted in school education under the framework of "One Country, Two Systems" after the transfer of Hong Kong sovereignty from Britain to China? Two areas--the censorship of curriculum materials and the politicization of nationalism-- particularly reflect the influence of power relationships, and the historical and societal pressures on the formation of students' identity in school education.

This study examined the multiplicative associations of the social categories of ethnicity (Hong Kong Chinese, mainland Chinese, or ethnic minorities), gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) with overall belongingness (to one's self, personal networks, and society) and national belonging to China among youth (aged 18-24 years) in Hong Kong. Our analysis revealed similar levels of overall belongingness and national belonging among ethnic minority youth relative to Hong Kong Chinese youth. The intersectionality of mainland Chinese female youth determined a higher degree of belongingness compared with their male counterparts and Hong Kong Chinese female youth. Although SES was positively associated with belongingness, it was not significantly associated with national belonging to China. We provided explanations of these patterns and recommends policy strategies to strengthen individual and national belongingness.

Efforts have been made among scholars from Japan, South Korea, and China since the 1980s--on both private and state initiatives--to narrow the gaps in their historiographies and to cultivate mutual understanding. This article offers an extensive discussion of the author's history project, "A Student Project of Writing a Common History Textbook," which which was incorporated in a multinational class environment in the Spring 2019 semester. First the author explains the development of the conceptual framework and the organization and management of the class. Then, some of the history teaching materials that the students created is introduced. Finally, the author examines what the students actually learned from this exercise and working with their group members, based on their journals and answers to the project survey. The author would argue that this was a success in promoting mutual understanding among students by having them learn history together from various points of view, as the goal was not a complete reconciliation of their historical viewpoints. Young people from different countries, even those from the countries embroiled in politico-historical controversies, are able to learn from one another to create more complex historical narratives that look beyond competing nationalisms. The results of the course confirm the value of teaching history from a global standpoint and hold promise that if adopted widely, it might have a long-term and larger, positive effect on society and even on international relations by producing globally competent future generations.

Since 1990, a large and dynamic global science system has evolved, based on grass roots collaboration, and resting on the resources, infrastructure and personnel housed by national science systems. Euro-American science systems have become intensively networked in a global duopoly; and many other countries have built national science systems, including a group of large- and middle-sized countries that follow semi-autonomous trajectories based on state investment, intensive national network building, and international engagement, without integrating tightly into the global duopoly. The dual global/national approach pursued by these systems, including China, South Korea, Iran and India, is not always fully understood in papers on science. Nevertheless, China is now the number two science country in the world, the largest producer of papers and number one in parts of STEM physical sciences. The paper investigates the remarkable evolution of China's science funding, output, discipline balance, internationalisation strategy and national and global networking. China has combined global activity and the local/national building of science in positive sum manner, on the ground of the nationally nested science system. The paper also discusses limits of the achievement, noting that while China-US relations have been instrumental in building science, a partial decoupling is occurring and the future is unclear.

China is a multi-ethnic nation. However, formal education often neglects differences in ethnicity, and school music education tends to marginalize the musics of ethnic minorities, owing to the government's political ideology of maintaining national unity. Thus, ethnic musics incorporated in teaching materials are often politicized and tokenized, and pedagogies used for teaching ethnic musics in classroom teaching tend to be oversimplified. Addressing social justice in music education is centrally concerned with equity, which I suggest can be promoted by positive changes, including institutional changes, education for music teachers that incorporates learning ethnic musics and pedagogies appropriate to teaching these musics.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is (1) to provide a critical analysis of the Finnish experience of education reforms based on published Chinese research on Finnish education and (2) to discuss how such experience can serve as a model as China embarks on its own path toward educational reform. Design/Approach/Methods: This article is based on an analysis of the research on Finnish education contained in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database from 2000 to 2017. Findings: The analysis shows that although the various aspects of Finnish education have been extensively studied in China, the content of prior studies has generally been similar and is insufficiently in depth. In particular, current research (1) lacks effective exploration of the successful experience of Finnish education reform and (2) devotes insufficient attention to the social culture perspective and core concepts that serve as the basis of education in Finland. Originality/Value: This article extends the authors' recent review of Chinese research on Finnish education and places special emphasis on the discussions regarding how China can learn from Finland's experience with educational reform. It also identifies gaps in the current research in the field and calls for a change in the future research agenda from examining the successful elements of Finnish education to focusing on how the experience of Finnish education is relevant to reforms in China.

This study investigates e-textbook development for the course of intercultural communication of national image for English majors and learners in the context of integrating ideological and curriculum education in the Chinese mainland. Under the framework of Fairclough's three-dimensional discourse analysis and glocalization in intercultural communication, the study proposes an e-textbook development workflow involving text design, discursive database construction, and social investigation and explores the unit design strategies for the course, paying special attention to integrate ideological elements properly into intercultural communication studies in each unit. Following authenticity principle and presentation-practice-production (P-P-P) model, the study constructs an e-textbook system featuring by unit design with contents and modules both linguistic theories based and intercultural communication oriented. This e-textbook will contribute to the cultivation of a locally grounded, globally minded intercultural communicator of national image.

This research applies the analytical lens of 'cosmopolitan nationalism' to examine how 'non-traditional' international high schools interweave cosmopolitan and nationalistic tendencies in Shenzhen, China. In-depth interviews with parents (n = 16) and students (n = 60) explored the motivations for choosing international schooling, experiences of international schooling, whether cosmopolitan identities are emerging amongst students and, if so, with what characteristics. The findings demonstrate the utility of 'cosmopolitan nationalism' in illuminating the nature of international schooling in China and extends it by applying it to denote the identities expressed by students, who confidently project the national into the global with their expectations for the future.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has garnered increasing attention since its inception in 2000. Correspondingly, there has been heightened interest in 'PISA poster countries' like Singapore and Shanghai-China. Yet to date, little is known about the processes and dynamics of the construction of PISA discourses within these 'poster countries'. This paper examines the Chinese print media's reception and interpretation of PISA. Using content analysis of media reportage in 2010, 2013 and 2016, the paper identifies core patterns and themes within the media-generated PISA discourses in China and traces changes in the media discourses over time. The findings shed light on a 'mediatisation' process where the Chinese media's interpretation of PISA gets shaped by culture-specific factors such as dominant political ideology, national aspirations, and histories. As such, PISA has acquired localised meanings in China and serves as an instrument to promote national development agenda and justify education reforms.

Whilst Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has influenced education in various ways, major reforms perceived as promoting mainland control have been resisted. For two decades, Hong Kong's educational autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' formula was thus largely maintained. This changed radically with the response to the protests of 2019--2020, culminating in the introduction of a National Security Law. This has drastically constrained Hong Kong's civil society, enhanced central government control of education and accelerated efforts to reeducate Hongkongers as loyal PRC citizens. We trace how this transformation has been enacted and justified, and reflect on its consequences. We analyse the current situation through the lenses of 'internal colonialism' and securitisation, which have characterised governance of China's restive periphery under Xi Jinping. We argue that analytical perspectives in Comparative Education, relating to postcolonialism/decolonisation and globalisation, obstruct or distort understanding of Hong Kong's present predicament.

The shaping of people's identities as members of the Chinese nation is crucial to China's nationalist discourse at school. What kind of image of the Chinese nation does the state intend to transmit to its new generation of citizens? Does the constitutional separation of religion and education prescribe a secular image for the collective identity of the Chinese nation? This study explores how the interpretation of religion is manufactured during the discourse of constructing the nation in Chinese school textbooks. The findings reveal that different religious traditions are assigned strikingly different roles in the national curriculum's interpretation of the Chinese nation as a construct and the distinction between China and the external world. The integration of religious narratives and the agenda of shaping the national cultural identity of Chinese students reveal the changing role of religion in contemporary Chinese society.

China has launched several national academic excellence initiatives since the 1990s, aimed at creating world-class universities. These projects contributed to the achievements of Chinese universities over the past decades and deeply influenced the field of Chinese higher education. This study focuses on the most recent Double World-Class (DWC) project and assesses the impacts of this project on the diversification of leading Chinese universities. Drawing on institutional organization theories, we analyzed how institutions set their goals for the DWC project in development plans. Findings demonstrate that on the one hand, the DWC project reinforced universities' resource dependence on the government, which lead to universities adopting similar structures and practices. On the other hand, facing the intensified competition with domestic peers for the limited slots in the DWC project, Chinese universities differentiated their goals and orientations as they seek to highlight their competitive advantages. Findings highlight both the benefits and challenges brought by the strong nation-state policies in the pursuit of world-class universities.

In this memoir, I accounted several episodes of my childhood of a middle class family in early 1990s in a Chinese urban city. Two major discourses permeated my account: the nationalism and socialism discourse and the upward social mobility discourse. While my family and I cherish the comfort and joy of everyday life enjoyed in the era of "socialism with Chinese characteristics," the suffering past is like a ghost, peeking out behind the curtain.

This paper examines the "imaginaries" taking place in New Engineering Education (NEE). The NEE is the most recent reform of the engineering education sector in China and is used to interrogate the more encompassing backdrop of the country's national imaginary, the "Chinese Dream." Further, this paper analyzes three important policy documents that constitute the blueprint of the NEE. Drawing on Charles Taylor's concept of the "social imaginary" and using critical discourse analysis, a close analysis of the discursive construction of the technological and national elements in the policy texts is carried out. This combinatory theoretical and analytical framework is used to examine how a normative vision and ideology of the development of engineering education is constructed as taking a "new" direction. In undertaking this policy analysis, this paper demonstrates how a rising power is revolutionizing its engineering education as a resource, coupled with the ideological "social (national) imagination" of the Chinese Dream, to extend its power and geopolitical positioning in a competitive and globalized economy.

This article investigates how the desire for Western credentials and transnational mobility reconcile with strong nationalist sentiments among Chinese students and how Chinese students' overseas educational experiences are largely structured by the People's Republic of China (PRC). Through a 12-month transnational ethnography study of 15 Chinese students migrating between China's Pearl River Delta and the US Midwest, I argue that transnational education has become a crucial part of China's nation-building in the era of intensified globalization. The seemingly contradictory existence of the transnational desire for Western education and rising nationalist sentiments work jointly in the neoliberal market economy to build entrepreneurial individuals, who are expected to contribute to China's economic growth as well as political rejuvenation. This article reveals that transnationalism is, by no means, the opposing force of nationalism. On the contrary, the movement, mobility, and fluidity endowed by transnationalism could enhance the migrants' national identity and political intolerance.

State policies regarding the internationalization of higher education (IHE) in China have undergone significant shifts between 1949 and 2019. This paper advances the proposition that these shifts in policies pertaining to IHE can be understood as part of a process of ongoing Chinese state formation in relation to national and global developments and does so by examining the history of IHE policy and policy changes between 1949 and 2019 to demonstrate this possibility. We consider three specific periods to make this case, including: (1) the period of Marxist-Leninist socialist nationalism, patriotism and proletarian internationalism and the early engagements of IHE (1949-1976); (2) neoliberal globalization and opening-up: a return to the international stage and further IHE (1977-2002); and finally (3) state developmentalism and the era of globally engaged higher education (HE) (2003-2019). In conclusion, the current implications of a neoliberal (capitalist) globalization are discussed in terms of real and potential implications for Chinese state formation, Chinese HE and society. The paper aims to investigate the historical underpinnings and formation of international HE in China and contribute to the significant gap in our current literature regarding IHE in China as a socio-historical phenomenon. It not only offers a detailed documentation of how policy on IHE has evolved and shifted in the context of significant changes in political and economic directions in China but also teases out influences of national concerns such as ideological and cultural considerations as well as neoliberal globalization.

Recent research has focused either on the internationalisation of China's higher education (HE) as soft power, or on soft power with 'Chinese characteristics'. There is a paucity of research combining these two foci. This paper fills this gap by: (i) unravelling the meanings and features of the 'Chinese characteristics' embodied in the policies of President Xi Jinping's new regime that seeks to rejuvenate the 'civilisational state' through internationalising HE as soft power; (ii) analysing the implications and complications therein; and (iii) exploring the predicaments and paradoxes as China seeks to construct a Sino-centric world order alongside, if not atop, the Westphalian system. It demonstrates how the internationalisation of HE as soft power with 'Chinese characteristics': finds its legitimacy in a historico-cultural narrative; rides on the tide of the current global norms/practices; builds on national agenda/priorities; and is running into conflict with the West which is pursuing its own similar interests.

Guided with an integrated theoretical framework of textbook and ideology, this study compares two versions of Chinese history textbooks published by one publisher in two different publication systems which were enacted immediately before and soon after President Xi Jinping's 2012 ascendancy. Critical discourse analysis shows that, despite seeking to balance differ groups' histories, sharing a desire of consolidating the Communist Party of China's (CPC's) domination, and supposedly following curriculum standards made before 2012, the new version of textbooks greatly differed from the old version, reflected Xi's formal ideology and authority, and updated his informal ideology while following established guidelines for conveying historical materialism. This study concludes that knowledge in Chinese history textbooks serves the CPC's political needs, and especially reflects the-then top leader's efforts at consolidating Party dominance, signifying his power, and cultivating nationalism.

Hong Kong, as a former colony of the United Kingdom, is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Its colonial history is commonly seen as establishing many positive aspects of Hong Kong and shaping good qualities of its people, such as the value of rule of law, free speech, freedom of the press, and fluency in English. Yet the majority of people in both Hong Kong and China share Han Chinese ethnicity, which has been used by both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to promote a blood-based idea of Chinese identity for decades. This paper explores "Chineseness", or Chinese identity, as promoted by the Hong Kong government. It first explores the concept of Chineseness, elaborating on a blood-based view that connects with ethnic-nationalism, in contrast with a pluralistic view of identity in the Hong Kong context. The paper then examines how Hong Kong government officials promote Chineseness through major outlets, on government websites and in speeches captured in media. As we show, the government tends to advocate a blood-based view of Chineseness akin to ethnic-nationalism. A more inclusive and pluralistic view which recognises the dynamic nature and multiple visions of Chinese identity better fits Hong Kong's multicultural context.

History teaching is often seen as essential to the project of nation-building and construction of national identity. Despite the rise of disciplinary approach, national master narratives and nationalist history teaching remain predominant in many countries. While most of the extant research were done on large nation-states, this study is focused on a refugee community. By employing qualitative thematic analysis of interviews conducted with fifteen teachers, it investigates Tibetan teachers' perceptions on the goals of teaching social studies and history in the Tibetan refugee schools in India. It argues that, for Tibetan refugees, who are engaged in a nationalist struggle for freedom and whose identity is threatened by displacement, history is perceived as pivotal to the construction of their ethno-national identity and the nationalist struggle.