ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1990s, Chinese educational policies advocated and implemented the ideas of a learning society, lifelong learning, and learning organizations. The Beijing municipal government decided to develop a learning city in order to face the city’s rapidly changing economic and industrial development as well as prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Building Advanced Learning Districts of Beijing Evaluation Project began in 2002 to supervise, implement, and assess the development of learning districts. The program was open to all districts and offered awards and medals for those successfully passing the evaluation. This article suggests the Xicheng District is a successful example. This project contributed to building Beijing into a learning city with learning districts and illustrated the influence of this evaluation project in China and across the world.
