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Blossoming Branches Symbol the Real 

Spring: Chinese Sample of School 

Management 

Alan C. K. Cheung 

HE development of education is influenced by the economy, politics, 

and culture. Due to the differences in politics, economy, and culture 

of various countries, various countries’ education also shows different 

characteristics. China’s education is affected by specific economics, politics, 

and culture and has its unique operating model and mechanism. As far as 

school management is concerned, the management system of Chinese 

schools more reflects Chinese characteristics. 

Two original papers in this issue of the journal focus on school man-

agement, one discusses the issue of physical education teachers serving as 

head teachers (Bai et al., 2021), and the other discusses the impact of local 

political elites and decision-making collectives on China’s educational ex-

penditures (Cai & Zhang, 2021). 

Bai’s study object, “Head Teacher (it is referred to as Ban Zhu Ren in 

Chinese),” is a character with distinctive Chinese characteristics. A teacher 

who serves as a head teacher has to teach one or more classes and manage a 

specific class. From this perspective, the head teacher often has a more sig-

nificant influence on students than other teachers. So, who is the head teacher 

has become a particular concern for parents (Shi, 2021). This research is dif-

ferent from most of the same kind of empirical research. It used more stand-

ardized experimental research, supplemented by qualitative research, and ob-

tained interesting and robust conclusions. This was a helpful attempt by the 

head teacher to do scientific management research. 

Cai’s study explores a more sensitive topic. People often think that po-

litical elites such as mayors and municipal party committee secretaries have 

greater discretion in China’s local education governance. Previous studies 

 

 

 
 

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Vol.7, No.2, 2021 940 

indicated that this is one of the characteristics of Chinese authoritarian local 

governance that is different from Western democratic systems (Blanchard, 

2011; Qian & Weingast, 1996). The study shows that in the field of local ed-

ucation expenditure, which is closely related to the welfare of the people, 

China’s local governments seem to rely more on the leadership collective ra-

ther than the “rule by the voice of one man alone” of the political elite to 

make decisions. This is an exciting discovery. This means that, at least in the 

process of local education governance in China, various localities are indeed 

making decisions by the principle of “democratic centralism.” This also 

shows that it is not appropriate to understand the logic of local education 

governance in China and simply apply Western mainstream theories. There-

fore, we need to construct a more explanatory theory to describe the facts 

more accurately. 

We published these two papers with “Chinese characteristics” at the 

same time. The intention was to present the uniqueness of China’s problems 

from both the micro and macro levels. For researchers who do not under-

stand Chinese education’s essence, it may not be easy to understand these 

two topics. However, considering the vast volume and incredible develop-

ment speed of China’s education, we believe that such efforts are necessary 

to provide Chinese samples to the world or promote the common progress of 

education between China and the world through such academic expressions. 

This shall be the so-called “international value” of these studies. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

Bai, P. Zhang, J., & Yao, J. (2021). Is it reliable for a physical education 

teacher to be a head teacher? A mixed-method study. Best Evidence in 

Chinese Education, 7(2):949-960. DOI: 

https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.or019  

Blanchard, O., & Shleifer, A. (2001). Federalism with and without political 

centralization: China versus Russia. IMF Staff Papers, 48:171-179. 

https://doi.org/10.3386/w7616  

Cai, R., & Zhang, X. (2021). An empirical study on the impact of individual 

local political elites and decision-making collective on educational 

fiscal expenditure in China. Best Evidence in Chinese Education, 

7(2):961-985. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.or023  

Qian, Y., & Weingast, B.R. (1996). China’s transition to markets: Market-

preserving federalism, Chinese style. Journal of Policy Reform, 

1(2):149-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/13841289608523361  

Shi, X. (2021). Can a non-core subject teacher serve as a homeroom teacher? 

Discussion on the dispute between core and non-core subject teachers 

https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.or019
https://doi.org/10.3386/w7616
https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.21.or023
https://doi.org/10.1080/13841289608523361


 

Vol.7, No.2, 2021 941 

as homeroom teachers. Science Insights Education Frontiers, 

8(1):989-1000. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/sief.21.or003  

 

Correspondence to:  

Alan C. K. Cheung, Ph.D. 
Department Chairperson and Professor 

Department of Educational Administration and Policy 

The Chinese University of Hong Kong 
Hong Kong 999077 

China 

Email: alancheung@cuhk.edu.hk 
 

 

Conflict of Interests: None. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.21.e004 

https://doi.org/10.15354/sief.21.or003

