Chinese Rural Education Research Articles

Knowledge Landscape and Trend Analysis of Chinese Rural Education Research in the Perspective of Rural Revitalization

Abstract Chinese rural education research has gone through three stages of development: the period of slow exploration, the period of steady accumulation, and the period of broad development. This paper aims to clarify the knowledge landscape and trends of Chinese rural education research in the context of rural revitalization. To this end, based on the co-word analysis method, this paper collects terms, co-occurrence frequency statistics, and cluster analysis of academic literature on rural education research to give the current situation of literature based on spatial and temporal distribution and hotspot analysis of high-frequency keywords. The number of articles published in rural education research increased year by year from 2017 to 2021 with an average annual growth rate of 16.45%, and the total number of articles reached 465. Among the authors of the published articles, there are 25 core authors with three or more articles, accounting for 5.46% of the total number of all authors. From the distribution of hotspots of high-frequency keywords, the frequency of rural revitalization and rural education as the upper concept was 146 and 87 times, respectively, and the research on rural education showed a trend of diversification. Under the perspective of rural revitalization, academic literature research based on co-word analysis can clarify the policy orientation and research hotspot dynamics in the field of rural education and rural revitalization, examine the intrinsic correlation between rural revitalization and rural education, and explore the path options for promoting the development of rural education and realizing rural revitalization.

Modern Significance of Liang Shuming’s Rural Education Theory and Practice

As an innovative form of rural education, Liang Shuming’s theory and practice of rural education has far-reaching significance for the modernization of Chinese rural education and the improvement of the comprehensive quality of rural students. However, current education is facing the problem of utilitarianization of education. This paper first introduces Liang Shuming’s life background and ideological system and the framework of the core ideas of the rural education theory proposed by Liang Shuming, and then discusses Liang Shuming’s rural education theory and practice, i.e., vitalized education. At present, the rate of compulsory education in rural areas is only 79.1% and the rate of high school education is only 32.5%, so the level and quality of education need to be improved. The modern significance of Liang Shuming’s rural education theory and practice in rural education not only lies in the enrichment of educational contents and methods, but also in the promotion of rural economic, social and cultural development and the improvement of rural education quality and level. To this end, we should learn from Liang Shuming’s theory of rural education to enhance the level of rural education and to realize the "life-giving" educational practice of promoting students’ human growth, moral development and spiritual ascension. This paper argues that in the current rural education, the school level should face the growth of students’ lives, consciously care for their lives, and guide them to deepen their own lives; in the practice of education and teaching, it should respect students’ individual lives, build a platform for students’ independent innovation, and nurture students’ spiritual lives with classical Chinese traditional culture, so as to promote the progress of rural education.

Thoughts on the Modernization of Chinese Rural Education

During the period of the 14th Five-year Plan, under the background of the strategy of revitalizing rural education, in order to effectively break through the multi-mode talent training mechanism in urban and rural areas, and realize the integrated development of urban and rural education, based on the analysis of the current situation of rural education in China, this paper puts forward the practical significance and challenges of constructing the modernization of rural education, and explores innovative ways to promote the development of the modernization of rural education in China.

Chinese education and Pierre Bourdieu: Power of reproduction and potential for change

In the edited book “Bourdieu and Chinese Education”, a group of scholars in China, Australia, Canada, and the USA engage in a dialogue with Bourdieu and raise persistent questions not only about issues of equity, competition, and change in Chinese education, but also about the value, venture, and violence in using established Western intellectual frameworks for analysing Chinese education. In response to these questions, this special issue analyses and discusses Chinese rural education, teacher education, language education, health and physical education, and transnational education; and proposes a series of new conceptualisations, for example, regression- and network-based field analysis, Bourdieu-Chinese philosophy encounter, field of mediation, localised pedagogical capital, and new Chinese habituses (e.g., contemptuous habitus, diasporic cosmopolitan habitus, habitus (re)structuring). Such collective effort responds to the strident, and sometimes misleading, castigation of Bourdieu for determinism; and also disputes the non-reflexive, celebratory tone that consecrates the French sociologist and his canonical theorem, and hence reproduces the symbolic violence in the doxic academia. In this vein, the special issue is respectful for, but not restricted to, Bourdieu’s sociology, showing no timidity in questioning and contesting the framework of the famed thinker when research problems and findings demand so.

New Confucian Liang Shuming’s Transformation of John Dewey’s Philosophy in Chinese Rural Education

During the May Fourth period, the clash of ideas of democracy and science with Confucian tradition had a great impact on the Chinese intellectual community, consisting of modern intellectuals and traditional scholars. In response to the prevailing anti-traditionalism during the May Fourth period, Liang made great efforts to retain and reform Confucianism. This paper highlights the effects of Confucian tradition and John Dewey’s pragmatism on Chinese rural education during the Republican period by studying Liang Shuming’s educational thought and practice. By exploring a philosophical ‘dialogue’ between Liang Shuming and John Dewey, this paper demonstrates how the intersection of traditional and modern aspects shaped Chinese rural educational reform during the 1930s.

School Consolidation: Whither China's Rural Education?

The School Consolidation Policy in the 1990s significantly impacted Chinese rural compulsory education and Chinese rural communities. Although this policy has been involved in many negative news reports, there is a lack of scientific research on it. To address the research gap, this paper first delineates the evolution of this policy, which was formed to balance the disparity between urban and rural education, accelerated by rural financial reformation and aborted due to various emerging problems. It then discusses the educational problems caused by the policy including misallocated resources, poor quality, rising costs, student safety issues, high dropout rate, and lost rural culture heritage. Through the analyses, this paper provides a clear picture of the development of Chinese rural education, and offers implications for improving educational policy, promoting educational quality, and securing educational rights of students in rural China.

The Importance of the Colour of the Cat: Ideology and Rationality in Chinese Rural Education after Mao

The Importance of the Colour of the Cat: Ideology and Rationality in Chinese Rural Education after Mao

Changing Policy and Practice in Chinese Rural Education

During April and May 1981, at the invitation of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and with the help of a British Council travel grant, I visited educational institutions at all levels in Beijing and in the provinces of Anhui, Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong to discuss the changes in educational policy since the fall of the “gang of four” in 1976. In addition to visiting schools, colleges and universities I was given extensive interviews with leading officials at the Ministry of Education in Beijing and at the Education Bureaus of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong.

The making and breaking of the Chinese secret societies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJonathan UngerCurrently in Hong Kong engaged in research on Chinese rural education.

Basic Reform of Chinese Rural Education (April 1927)

Chinese rural education is on the wrong path. It teaches people to leave the country and run to the city. It teaches people to eat rice, not to grow it, to wear clothes but not to plant cotton, and to build houses rather than planting forests. It teaches people to admire expensive habits and look down on devoting oneself to agriculture. It teaches people to consume, not produce. It teaches farmers' children to become bookworms. It teaches the rich to become poor and the poor to become even poorer. It teaches the strong to become weak and the weak to become even weaker. In the face of impending disaster, it is imperative that all comrades rein in their horses and find a new road.