It will be argued in this chapter that the modern school isn’t just about ‘education’ in some abstract, humanist sort of way. Rather, schools have an essential role to play in how we govern our society. It is tempting to think the process of teaching children has always been pretty much the same, and that mass schooling emerged as a result of greater concern for the wellbeing of the young. The evidence paints a somewhat different picture, whereby mass schooling formed a crucial component of a new form of social regulation, based upon an increasing focus on individuality, where the school subtly conforms to the requirements of the state and the disciplinary management of the population is made possible through continual surveillance, as well as through the close regulation of space, time and conduct.

China has the largest education system in the world today. It educates more than 260 million people and employed 15 million teachers in 2015. Besides its social impact, educational development has often been argued to be one of the primary reasons behind China’s stunning economic growth after the economic reform implemented in 1978. It is therefore of paramount importance to understand how education evolved in Chinese history.