ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Confucianism and its relationship with cultural scripts and indigenisation. It discusses the perceptions of Chinese educators on educational borrowing from the West through their Confucian lenses. The chapter explores the link between Confucianism, cultural scripts and Chinese education, by examining selected Confucian classical texts. Confucian education is perceived to have played an instrumental role in the rise of China and other East Asian societies. Given that prevailing cultural scripts and indigenous knowledges for education originate from local history, traditions and conditions, it is instructive to further explore the influences of Confucianism on Chinese education. In terms of Western-based, student-centred pedagogies advocated in the New Curriculum Reform (NCR), such as class discussion, peer-learning and cooperative learning, many Chinese educators relate them to the teaching and example of Confucius. The Chinese educators also see a Confucian justification for the NCR's recommendation of autonomous and inquiry learning in students.
