The Chinese Government has conducted a series of top-down reforms of teacher education over the past several decades. The reforms have established a relatively stable teacher education system, regulated teacher education programmes and curricula, and provided opportunities for in-service teachers to be trained and to upgrade their educational credentials. Teacher education institutions have been upgraded, merged and made comprehensive, and they have initiated some innovative approaches. However, the teacher education process has not changed considerably, and most problems have not been solved. These problems have influenced the quality of teacher education.