After three years’ efforts, the English version of “Cultural Foundation of Chinese Education' which was originally written by professor Gu Mingyuan, jointly translated by Professor Wang Juefei who worked in the University of Vermont and Teng Jun who was the associate professor of Beijing Normal University, is published by the Brill publishing company in Netherlands in January 2014.
This book is funded by GAPP’s 'Classic Chinese International Publishing Project' in 2010, and internationally renowned sinologist and comparative education experts Ruth Hayhoe, who worked in University of Toronto, Canada, wrote the preface for this book. This monograph studied the China's education systematically from a cultural perspective, and the authors made ？？unique analysis on the evolution of Chinese traditional education especially on the imperial examination system, based on defining the category of traditional Chinese culture and traditional education. And the book also linked many issues such as the rise of church schools since Chinese people learned from west, the dissemination of Marxist educational thought and Western educational trend, the transplanting of Western education system, the New Democratic education movement, the application of Soviet educational experience and many other issues from the New Education since the reform and opening up policy of China in 1978, with the interaction and changes of Chinese traditional education. It provides a kind of new way to answer various disputes and dilemmas among the process of Chinese educational modernization.
At present, foreign academics have already had a commonsense overview of Chinese traditional culture and the basic situation of China's education, and they are eager to better understand the intrinsic value and characteristics of Chinese academic. This book is characterized by cultural research orientation, focusing on explaining the interaction and changes of Chinese education and Chinese culture with a strong awareness of local issues and cultural consciousness, reflecting the strongest academic thinking of Chinese educational researchers. Therefore, its English version allows the overseas reader to understand the cultural background of Chinese educational development systematically, and it could also deepen their thought on the Chinese education and culture. Besides, it could promote academic exchanges and dialogues for education scholars at home and abroad. Meanwhile, the book is really understandable, making it a powerful and available tool when the institutions like the Department of Education of Chinese Embassies and Consulates, the Confucius Institute as well as foreign embassies and educational consulates in China have cultural and educational exchanges.
