Educational issues are central to understanding China’s modern development and the goals of Chinese society as a whole. In this first full-length study to relate China’s educational system to China’s development strategy from 1949 to 1978, Taylor analyses the difference between traditional Confucian concepts of education and those of Marxist-Leninist ideology. He shows how the conflicting educational philosophies of Mao Tse-tung and Liu Shao-ch’i reflected tension between egalitarian social goal and economic priorities. This divergence led to the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution, struggles between the “Gang of Four” and the “bureaucratic moderates,” and to events preceding the 1978 National Convention. Broadly political in scope, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in China’s role in the modern world.E