Vol.7, No.1, 2021 891 

 

 

 

 

We Look Forward to the Future in the 

Difficult Days 

O matter from which point of view, 2020 is an unimaginable year. 

The sudden outbreak and rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic 

have caused the world to face unprecedented challenges. Schools 

were closed, and how to make the education system work effectively in this 

context has become a common topic among educators around the world. 

Best Evidence in Chinese Education (BECE) realized the importance of 

this topic early on. As the country that first encountered the virus and was the 

fastest to control its impact, China has gained valuable experience in the pro-

cess of education and anti-epidemic. Although the real situations are differ-

ent in different countries, we believe that using academics to reach consensus 

and form a joint force must be our inevitable survival choice in the pandemic. 

Based on this understanding, the editorial office quickly organized topics on 

education to fight against the pandemic. We have not only invited Chinese 

scholars to discuss this issue, but at the same time, considering that this is a 

global public health crisis, people urgently need to learn from their own ex-

perience and strength. So we also organized scholars outside of China to dis-

cuss their own country's experience. This topic quickly attracted the attention 

of all parts. The download and reprint of related papers have risen rapidly 

from the statistics results, and some readers have given us feedback and 

praised us for doing a significant thing. We are gratified that we can contrib-

ute our modest strength to the global fight against the pandemic. 

Besides, we continue to focus on promoting high-quality education em-

pirical research results from China. Throughout 2020, through professional 

evaluation and screening, we published 15 original papers, reprinted the full 

text of 10 high-quality papers published in Chinese academic journals, and 

published 32 carefully compiled newsletters. These papers and newsletters 

cover a wide range of topics from pre-school education to higher education, 

involving dozens of authoritative Chinese education research journals. The 

authors include front-line teachers, education administrators, and scholars. 

Through our efforts, we hope that we can portray the current empirical re-

search on education in China and promote academic exchanges and devel-

opment for colleagues worldwide who are concerned about empirical re-

search on Chinese education. In this process, we have received strong sup-

port from the journal staff, editors, and reviewers, and our readers continued 

to encourage and look forward to us. On behalf of the editorial office col-

leagues, I would like to express my sincere thanks to you for your guidance 

and help! 

N 



 

Vol.7, No.1, 2021 892 

In 2021, we will continue to adhere to our original aspiration and pro-

mote empirical research on high-quality education in China as our mission 

and goal. 2021 is a critical time node for the initiation and deepening of Chi-

na's education reform. We will focus on significant and vital issues in China, 

focusing on China's education poverty alleviation, education evaluation re-

form, education modernization progress, and front-line teaching reform as 

selected topics, and strive to contribute valuable empirical research on Chi-

nese education to education colleagues around the world. 

Just as whether or not the groundhog Phil can see his shadow, spring 

will definitely come. Although we still face challenges and difficulties at the 

beginning of the New Year, we are full of expectations for the future. We be-

lieve that difficult days will always pass, and we hope everything will return 

to normal as soon as possible and wish all people safety and health! 

 

Correspondence to:  

Jijun Yao, Ed.D. 
Executive Editor-in-Chief 

Best Evidence in Chinese Education 

Nanjing Normal University 
Nanjing, China 

E-mail: eic_bece@bonoi.org. 

 
Conflict of Interests: None. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.21.e003