ABSTRACT
The migration of people and of ideas is central to the story of education in post-Mao China. This chapter looks at the role of overseas study in official strategies for 'modernisation', as well as in popular competition for status and credentials. It focuses on the implications for China and also indicates ways in which Chinese educational internationalisation has affected other societies. These extend well beyond the effects of transnational study, to China's participation in international programmes of educational testing and ranking, and the recent pursuit of 'educational diplomacy'. One ironic consequence of this cross-border educational traffic is that, during the very period when the Party has been abandoning socialist internationalism for nationalism, many urban Chinese have become profoundly transnational in their outlook and interests. While official strategies for internationalisation remain permeated by the imperative of maintaining loyalty to the Party, this cultural transformation may profoundly challenge that project.
