ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the 2001 document by elucidating and analysing its contents with respect to educational borrowing from the West. The New Curriculum Reform (NCR) is the eighth education reform in Mainland China since 1949. The preparation of the reform started back in 1997 when the Ministry of Education (MOE) organised a large-scale investigation of compulsory education that culminated in a 21st Century Education Revitalising Action Plan. One of the observations of the NCR is that it is part of China's modernising efforts against the backdrop of globalisation and internationalisation. In the NCR as well as in the 2001 document, curriculum is used in the broad sense to include not just the academic subjects and other content, but also the pedagogy, assessment and educational system. The mention of quality-oriented education (QOE) in the 2001 document is arguably an attempt to scandalise exam-oriented education (EOE) so as to obtain buy-in for the NCR.
