ABSTRACT
Since the United States established ties with China in the 1970s, foreign vistors have been fascinated with remarkably composed young children. Three-, four-, and five-year-olds perform sophisticated dances and dramatic plays and sing in front of the foreign visitors who visit kindergartens as a necessary part of their pilgrimage to the People's Republic of China. This fascination has become an inseparable part of the curiosity about the Chinese people. There are many publications about Chinese kindergartens for popular audiences or for serious scholars. They provide glimpses of an important aspect of Chinese life as well as material for comparative pedagogy. However, an overview of the history and cultural background of modern preschool education in China is needed, and that is the purpose of this chapter. On the basis of field research and library studies between 1983 and 1988, the chapter presents an overview and some personal insights on Chinese preschool education for the past eighty years.
