Historical foundations of modern educational concepts in China

Abstract

The article attempts to show the interconnections and evolution of the Chinese education system, to analyze the problems that the country faces in modernizing education, which is considered as the most important factor in the country's innovative development and nation consolidation. In its search for the most effective solutions, China relies on both borrowing successful foreign models of education and at the same time striving to revive its own cultural, historical and educational traditions and concepts. In the speeches of the Chinese leaders, the development of education plays an important role in the consolidation of the whole nation for the implementation of the national strategy for achieving world leadership by 2050. To realize this “Chinese dream” requires a lot of creatively thinking personalities. At present, in China there is a real contradiction between the government’s orientation to training personnel capable of creating new technologies and the practice of learning based on the mechanical storage of knowledge. The article shows what measures are being taken to change the consciousness and thinking of the younger generations of Chinese, how the model of school and university education is changing. The analysis confirms that the attitude to education as one of the most important life and cultural values has been preserved in Chinese society. After the events in Tiananmen Square (1989), ideological control over students and teachers intensified in the country. In general, the current educational policy is pragmatic and includes both the import of knowledge and technology from abroad, and the maintenance of Maoist ideals and traditional values.