The Modernization of Education, the Ideological & Political Education Curriculum: A Case Study of the Course on Modern Chinese History

The China Dream outlines a comprehensive program for rejuvenating the Chinese nation and restoring it to its rightful place in the global system of nations. The comprehensive program of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is proposed as the only means to realize this dream. The CPC sees educational reforms as essential for realizing the China Dream. This has given rise to the development and delivery of a new Ideological and Political Education (IPE) curriculum. At the university level, the IPE curriculum consists of six courses required for all undergraduate students. This paper is a case study of the History of Modern China course – one of the six required courses in the IPE. We argue that among other things the objective of this class is to build student’s confidence in the possibility of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics, and to build confidence among young people in the capacity of CPC leadership to achieve that goal.

(164 words)