ABSTRACT
Since 1978 higher education in China has undergone drastic change in every aspect, from curriculum to student placement, from administration to enrollment. But unlike the previous decade of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, there is no blueprint or master plan, no theory of education or society that leads the way. Rather, educational changes have been powered by the economic and social reforms summarized as the Four Modernizations, the single-minded drive of China's leadership to make China equal to advanced, industrial countries in industry, science, technology, military might, and agriculture. The modernization crucial to the success of all the others is education, particularly higher education.
