Bilingual Education in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

This chapter focuses on bilingual education programs in the People’s Republic of China, including those for ethnic minorities and Chinese-English bilingual education programs. Bilingual education programs for ethnic minorities aim at developing minority students’ literacy in national standard Chinese (the official language) and one ethnic minority language. Chinese-English bilingual education programs advocate using both national standard Chinese and English in teaching subject courses. This chapter outlines the developmental processes of these bilingual education programs and identifies challenges that may undermine their growth. By analyzing their origins, aims, and approaches, this chapter speculates about these bilingual education programs’ future development in China.