Gu Ming-yuan (1998)

This scholarly book investigates the relationships between heritage ethnic culture and educational modernization in cross-national comparative perspectives with some follow-up thematic comparisons, based on multi-level conceptual frameworks. Through factor analysis, comparative historical methods, documentary analysis and statistical surveys, China is compared with other countries including Japan, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and United States of America. Chapter one briefly introduces traditional ethnic culture and its evolutionary characteristics, formation and features of educational traditions, and basic properties of modern educational systems and briefly touches on the relationships between traditional ethnic culture and educational modernization. Chapters two, three, four, five, six, seven respectively deal with relationships between traditional Confucian-heritage, Japanese, USA, British, Germany, Russian cultures and their own national modernization of education systems.

Chapter eight pinpoints the influence of disparities in humanism doctrines over the formation of educational concepts. Chapter nine compares similarities and differences in the concept of “talented persons or talents’ essence (Ren-cai)”‘ in China and Japan whilst chapter ten describes how cultural differences affect didactical interactions in schools by comparing China and USA. Chapter eleven reaches a multi-faceted conclusion in the historical development of Western modern epistemology by articulating antagonistic relationships between scientism and humanism in United Kingdom and those between structuralism and humanism and ongoing influence of humanistic epistemology (including John Dewey’s pragmatism).

Background of the author:

Prof. Gu Ming-yuan is a distinguished leading figure in the field of comparative education in Mainland China and is currently working at Beijing Normal University. He is the president of China Comparative Education Society (CCES),  leading Chinese colleagues in various types of comparative education research with cross-national, cross-cultural and international perspectives at the University. He is an expert in Russian education, a committee member or the chairman in some departments of the Ministry of Education at national / provincial levels, and a chief editor of several encyclopedias of education, journals and periodicals on comparative education in Mainland China. He has rich experience in organizing local and international conferences on comparative and international education.

Back to Book Reviews