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Understanding the Process of 

Internationalization of Curriculum Studies 

in China: a Case Study  
 

Mei Wu Hoyt1 

University of North Texas, USA 

 

Introduction 
Internationalization has been considered not a uniform stance on what we think 

curriculum is or may become, rather, a ground work that each of us, across the nations, 

with our own intellectual histories, sources, and influences, can construct our own 

understanding of curriculum studies; this ongoing conversation is based upon each 

nation’s curriculum issues, ideas, and traditions as they relate to reconceptualization of 

curriculum (Pinar, 2003). Indeed, international conferences on curriculum studies, 

publications of curriculum works of international scholars in this field, and the ongoing 

dialogue and interaction between and among international curriculum scholars have 

engendered a worldwide “complicated conversation” (Pinar, 2004a) that cannot be 

reduced to a globalized vision or position. Book series on curriculum studies have 

introduced the unique intellectual histories, cultures, and commitments of countries 

such as South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, and China (Pinar, 2010, 2011b, 2011c, 2014; 

Kumar, 2012). In addition, individual works have presented multifaceted views on how 

curriculums are understood by different cultures and nations (Aoki, 1986, 2005; Moon, 

2013; Wang, 2014).  
While a number of scholars have articulated their vision of a worldwide 

curriculum that includes works from different countries and in which content and 

context are actively engaged, how such internationalization functions in different 

contexts has yet to be explored, especially with regards to the aspiration or direction of 

such works, and in what ways they might serve to influence the formalization of the 

field. In the International Handbook of Curriculum Research, Pinar (2003) explained 

the interconnected nature of intellectualization and institutionalization with regards to 

curriculum work; an institution, in his regard, involves our professional and scholarly 

engagement and includes associations, societies, journals, and conferences. Thus, when 

examining process in a local context, one must consider how local intellectual work 

serves to constitute and functions within the process of institutionalization. Many of us 

in the field of curriculum studies have consented to the method of currere, and embrace 

the notions of fluidity, continuity, and relationality in curriculum work; such 

characteristics can also be applied to the nature of process. In examining such process, I 

ask the following questions: What forces mobilize or sustain the process of the 

internationalization of curriculum studies in this local context? When local cultural and 

curricular efforts meet the international, how do they work with, through, and around 

the process of “complicated conversation”? What is the nature of such a process?  

To explore such questions, I chose the curriculum studies center at South Central 
Normal University in China; this institution is now at the forefront of Chinese 



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curriculum studies and has a unique and noticeable presence in the field.  I adopted a 

basic qualitative research method, including 10 semi-structured interviews with 

participants at this center, field notes, and online data collection. The overall themes of 

this research include the political forces, social realities, and intellectual works that 

serve to mobilize the internationalization of curriculum studies; traditional Chinese 

cultural wisdom and curriculum consciousness serving equally as dialogue capital; and 

the nature and structure of the process of the internationalization of curriculum studies 

in China as unbounded and democratic. 

 

The Internationalization and Curriculum Studies: A Review of the 

Literature 
 Internationalization is not a uniform stance on what a curriculum is or may 

become; rather, it is a complex interweaving of what each of us, across the nations, with 

our own intellectual histories, sources, and influences, brings about our own 

understandings of the concept of curriculum and curriculum studies; it is an ongoing 

conversation grounded in each nation’s curriculum issues, ideas, and traditions (Pinar, 

2003). The primary goal of this complicated conversation is to construct our field worth 
of schoolteachers and students who labor to understand themselves and the world they 

inhabit (Pinar, 2002, referenced in Trueit, 2003). It has also been argued that the 

internationalization of curriculum inquiry is a collaborative effort among scholars of 

different locales in which they negotiate trust and contribute to the field by reframing 

and decentering their own knowledge traditions (Gough, 2002). However, I would 

argue that decentering requires an acknowledgment of what the center is; this, for 

emerging fields in non-Western curriculum studies, may pose a challenge and result in 

deferred development or a focus on local wisdom and traditions. What is important 

about this decentering is that curriculum practitioners from different traditions not only 

must recognize – but also honor – difference, and engage in a continuous dialogue and 

back-and-forth interplay (Trueit, 2003).  
For example, Paulo Freire’s notion of conscientização (e.g., critical 

consciousness), has been linked to the reconceptualization movement in the US and its 

thought-provoking questions about the consciousness of self and restoration of 

humanness (Johnson-Mardones, 2015); such consciousness delimits us from the 

oppressive social, political, and economic elements of reality (Pinar, 1979). Conversely, 

such back-and-forth interplay is also reflected in research on everyday life in Brazil, a 

concept imported from the US (Kumar, 2012), in terms of their responses to 

technocratic curriculum issues. This international interplay of ideas, conceptions, and 

questions is set on the global landscape but locally grounded; each conception cannot be 

directly translated into the new context. No one can remain untouched once the 

internationalization movement has been set motion. As Lopes (2015) has argued “We 

cannot escape of it…. If we read, the translation happens. If we are read, we are 

translated, and this process allows us to exist as producers of texts and as the authors of 

curriculum field” (p. 1). Translation cannot be taken merely as a literal term, because 

we cannot evade the social, political, and cultural circumstances in each context. In 

China, such translation in curriculum studies must consider curriculum reform and its 

intellectual history (Zhang, 2014).  

 

In the process of understanding the other, one must also be cautious of simplistic 

explanations of particular nation-state’s curriculums, culture, and education; they should 

not be considered to be universalized or a collective form of curriculum. (Moon, 2013). 



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Also in this context of interplay and understanding, we need to recognize that certain 

forms of curriculum-related wisdom are still nascent, not already there to be found but 

in the process of becoming. Curriculum scholars may have to unpack their own cultures 

and intellectual histories, and renew their own visons of culture and tradition, especially 

when such traditions are marginalized within their own national curriculums. In 

addition, such interplay does not suggest that different forms of knowledge share a 

comparable significance or an equal exchange. We need to ground the 

internationalization of curriculums within the larger context of the internationalization 

of education, and in the even larger and more widely accepted concept of globalization. 

One cannot ignore the complications globalization engenders, which reflect nothing of 

univocality and instead highlight global interconnectedness and its unpredictability 

(Smith, 2003). For example, Paraskeva (2013) underscored the waves of 

internationalization serving to engineer non-Western epistemic forms to cease to exist, 

even though this was not the intent of the internationalization movement. Thus, 

articulating one’s voice, culture, history, and practice, and endeavoring to share them 

through conversations, becomes even more complicated, with no agreed-upon ends in 

the next phase of the process. Rather than seizing upon these unpredictable goals, we 

should instead embrace a field of becoming. It will be particularly beneficial to examine 

the process by which one might truly articulate the intellectual and epistemic forms of 

various traditions and wisdom in their unique contexts as they see in the interplay 

between intellectualization and institutionalization (Pinar, 2013).  

 

Internationalization and Curriculum Studies in China: Background 
International influence on Chinese curriculums can be traced to the turn of the 

20th century; at this time, the impact of Western thought on Chinese curriculum reform 

was recognizable. For example, John Dewey’s pragmatism and democratic education, 

William Kilpatrick’s project method of the 1920s, and Russian educator Ivan Kairov’s 

formal stages of instruction pedagogy of the 1950s were all incorporated into Chinese 

education. The early internationalization of Chinese curriculums was intertwined with 

the idea of modernization (Zhang, 2014) and reflected early on in China’s aspirations 

regarding science and democracy, which were usually viewed through the lens of 

Western rationality and objectivism. This internationalization was mostly a top-down or 

centralized practice in that the government assumed a major role in promoting these 

educational beliefs and practices.   

Since the Chinese government began the policy of “going-out and brining-in” in 

the early 1980s, the strength, breadth, and variety of influences has become much 

stronger and more comprehensive. The Chinese government not only provides financial 

support for Chinese scholars attending overseas academic institutions, it also supports a 

large number of international educational events, projects, and activities within Chinese 

borders. From elementary school to college, Chinese education has been actively 

engaging by participating in exchange student programs, hiring foreign teachers, 

inviting international speakers, and translating international books. The traditional 

public school model has also been interrupted and diversified through homeschooling, 

international education, and private academic institutions. Chinese education is now 

diversified in content, format, funding, and goals.  

The field of curriculum studies began to take shape in response to efforts at 

curriculum reform in 2001. The Chinese government launched a comprehensive 

curriculum reform effort aimed at transforming the nation’s curriculums, systems of 

pedagogy, and understanding of the nature of learning, which has engendered a new 



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round of internationalization with regards to curriculum work. What is notable this time 

around is the more comprehensive and continuous work of the curriculum scholars at 

East China Normal University (ECNU). Led and heavily influenced by Professor Zhong 

Qiquan, a substantial number of graduate students from ECNU have become prominent 

leaders and made considerable contributions to the field. ECNU also hosted the first 

international curriculum conference of the International Association for the 

Advancement of Curriculum Studies (IAACS). The close and continuous exchange 

between North America and ECNU, as well as with other curriculum scholars in other 

Chinese universities, has been accomplished through conferences, seminars, lectures, 

and cross-cultural cooperative research. These scholars have had a considerable impact 

on the shape and direction of Chinese curriculum studies. For example, they have 

introduced to the cannon subjects such as a post-modern perspective on curriculum 

studies, currere research, and feminist and autobiographical research methods (Doll, 

1994; Miller, 2006; Pinar, 1976; 2004); all have been embraced by emerging Chinese 

curriculum scholars. China enjoys an atmosphere of embracing the new, the modern, 

and the “international,” which historically has mostly meant the Western. For example, 

since 2000, Chinese scholars and students have studied and translated a wide range of 

foreign curriculum-related works, and published a significant body of research on 

concepts related to postmodern curriculum theory, constructivism, multiple intelligence 

theories, and phenomenological curriculum models (Zhang, 2014). As a result, the field 

of curriculum studies in China is considered distinctive and dynamic, even by its own 

curriculum workers (Pinar, 2014).  
What is unclear, however, is how, in this mixed environment of dynamic 

internationalization, the field of curriculum studies can mobilize and take shape. If the 

early 20th century’s internationalization is characterized by modernization in that 

sociopolitical, economic, and cultural context, what are the forms and nature of this new 

internationalization of education in general, and in curriculum studies in particular? As 

the internationalization of curriculum studies is aimed at bringing more cultural and 

intellectual history to this complicated conversation, one also needs to be mindful of the 

circumstances that prevent deeper curriculum-related dialogue and exchange. One such 

circumstance is created by curriculum scholars themselves, as Zhang (2014) has 
argued: “Most curriculum scholars and students are busy providing prescription to 

schools and show little interest in understating curriculum as an academic field with [a] 

long intellectual history” (p. 17) in China. For those who have moved from the “how” to 

the “what,” in what ways can they contribute to internationalization in terms of both 

wisdom and intellectual history, and what kinds of interplay can they create?   

South Central Normal University is now at the forefront of curriculum studies in 

China; this is the result of the Chinese government’s “going-out and bringing-in” 

policy, curriculum reform, the intellectual work of their scholars, and interactions with 

the international curriculum studies community. Their aspiration is to promote 

internationalization through cross-cultural cooperative research and introduce cultural 

wisdom to the world (Zhang, Zhang, & Pinar, 2014), Over the years, this university’s 

research team has played a central role in the following: initiating complicated 

conversations about curriculum studies both within and outside of China by introducing 

international curriculum works into Chinese curriculum studies, organizing emerging 

curriculum scholars to venture out of China, involving graduate students in international 

work, inviting local school teachers to participate in international dialogues, and voicing 

their own visions of Chinese curriculum reform.  

 



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Method 

 

Research Participants 
I used purposive sampling to identify participants involved in the 

internationalization of curriculum studies at South Central Normal University.  An 

email containing the recruitment letter and consent form was sent to potential 

participants; 10 agreed to be interviewed. These participants, including graduate 

students and faculty members, had all interacted with the content, context, and process 

of curriculum internationalization in one way or another.  There were six males and four 

females. Nine were graduate faculty with ranks including lecturer, assistant professor, 

associate professor, and professor; one was a doctoral student. Their time at the 

university ranged from two to 20 years. Eight participants had either studied or 

researched as visiting scholars at universities in North America and Australia. Most 

could comfortably use academic English in written communications and conversation; 

nine preferred to use Chinese in their interviews, and one chose English. Though most 

conversations were in Chinese, English terms were used intermittently, especially for 

key concepts employed by the international community, such as “understanding 

curriculum” and “discourse.”  All individuals had actively participated in conferences, 

seminars, or workshops that comprise the internationalization process of curriculum 

studies in China.  

 

Research Design 

  
A basic qualitative research method focusing on inductive reasoning was 

adopted for this study as a means of understanding how the participants made sense of 

their experiences, and how they constructed meaning related to the process of 

internationalization. My major research questions included: What forces mobilize or 

sustain the process of internationalizing curriculum studies at this university and in 

China? When local cultural and curricular projects meet international studies, how do 

they work with, through, and around the process of “complicated conversation,” and 

what is the nature of such a progress?  

In the course of this study, I interviewed professors and graduate students 

involved in the process of internationalizing curriculum studies at this university, 

observed classes and an elementary school that is part of the university’s 

internationalization effort, and participated in courses and other curricular activities. 

The data collected, including interview transcripts, field notes, online data, and 

documents, were triangulated to assess the relationships among and credibility of the 

results.  Field notes and online data provided contextual confirmation useful for 

documenting the salient points emerging from the interview, and facilitated the data 

analysis.  The interviews served as my major data source, because interviews are “direct 

quotations from people about their experiences, opinions, feelings, and knowledge” 

(Patton, 2015, p. 14); they are essential “when we are interested in the past events that 

are impossible to replicate” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 108) and thus were important 

to my research on this phenomenon. I conducted 10 semi-structured face-to-face 

interviews, all of which were audiotaped. Nine interviews were in Chinese, and one was 

in English (which was the interviewee’s choice).  

The data analysis began concurrently with my conducting and transcribing the 

interviews; notes and thoughts were jotted down as they occurred to me. Such 



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rudimentary analysis occurring while the researcher is in the process of collecting data 

is both important and necessary (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). After all of the 

transcriptions were completed, I read and reread them and identified key words. I 

employed an analytical coding for the meanings and interpretations of meaning derived  

from these examinations (Richards, 2015). I also considered issues of interpretation and 

translation related to cross-language qualitative research such as language differences, 

barriers, or the use of third parties in cross-language interviews (Squires, 2009; Temple, 

1997; Temple & Edwards, 2002). However, since my participants were insiders in the 

world of curriculum studies and were fully aware of the languages used, and I am fluent 

in both Chinese and English and can comfortably switch between the two, such cross-

language concerns made no noticeable differences in communication or meaning 

making.  In addition, because I used multiple sources of data collection (triangulation) 

to increase credibility, the codes identified in the interviews were checked against the 

field notes and online data. After I located the codes in Chinese, I translated into 

English the entire sentence containing that code in order to contextualize the meaning.    

The recurring patterns and themes across the interviews were then uncovered, 

and the themes gleaned from the codes were constructed.   

 

Findings 
 After the preliminary coding of the interviews, the codes that most directly 

addressed my research questions were selected and grouped together as categories. An 

inductive approach of exploring and confirming strategies was adopted to analyze the 

meanings, patterns, and interrelationships. Themes were identified based upon the 

participants’ particular voices and perspectives (Patton, 2002). Below, I discuss the 

central themes that resulted from the thematic analysis. These themes are categorized as 

forces mobilizing the internationalization of curriculum studies, the local response to 

the internationalization process, and the nature of that process.  

 

Forces Driving Internationalization 
 Government policy and support serve as the political force. Government 

policies driving internationalization can be seen from multiple perspectives. First, 

curriculum reform policy drives K-12 teachers to seek international wisdom. Second, 

the Chinese government provides funding to support young scholars’ international 

academic activities.  

 The Curriculum Reform of Basic Education issued by the National Ministry of 

Education in 2001 (National Ministry of Education, 2001) specifically called for school-

based and localized curriculums, a topic that the participants linked to several other 

issues arising from the internationalization process. A school-based curriculum was 

perceived as a driving force for K-12 teachers, administrators, and curriculum scholars, 

motivating them to design and develop curriculums that are situated within local 

contexts. However, in many ways, because of a lack of curriculum consciousness, such 

practices devolve into worksheet practice or the mere addition of contents. For example, 

Wei pointed out: 

 

The school principals are concerned more about classroom instruction; they 

lack … curriculum development leadership. Together with teachers, they 

gradually turn curriculum development into worksheets, or merely add content 

and texts 



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 However, there were some teachers who, while developing their own school-

based curriculums, began to explore outside of their particular school. They attended 

conferences or professional development workshops, seeking new ideas and teaching 

strategies from the international community. The curriculum conferences hosted by 

South Central Normal University offered one of such avenue for their exploration. Lan, 

who had facilitated these conferences for several years, said: 

  

Quite often, you have teachers who really want to learn something new about 

curriculum studies, too. I think this has something to do with … curriculum 

reform. After 14 years, we launched this reform. I feel lots of teachers are quite 

familiar with all those theories, but they may have trouble … integrating these 

theories into their own practice. So when they feel confused, they [see] this 

chance [the conference]. ‘Oh, look at those speakers.’ They may already know 

some of [the keynote speakers], so they … may learn something new. 

 Policies on school-based curriculums have not only driven teachers and school 

leaders to explore new possibilities to enrich their own teaching, especially those from 

the international curriculum community.  Such policies have also awakened teachers’ 

curriculum-related consciousness, though they still focus much of their effort on how to 

teach.  

 Since the turn of last century, the Chinese government has sent thousands of 

young scholars to visit and study at overseas universities, mainly in the US and Canada. 

This was reflected in the participants’ experiences. Of the nine participants, eight had 

visited American, Canadian, or Australian universities for one to two years. As a result 

of learning about what their international counterparts’ research and practice processes 

involved, they began examining their own work and practices through a different lens. 

What philosophies and scholarship these scholars were exposed to during their visits to 

the West had a great deal to do with the scholarly work their sponsor universities 

conducted. For example, Qing visited a university in the Midwestern part of the United 

States; the professor she collaborated with had a research interest in homeschooling, 

which had a significant impact on Qing. After she returned to China, she began to 

investigate homeschooling there. To her surprise, there were thousands of Chinese 

students being homeschooled. She noticed that many Chinese students were 

homeschooled due to religious beliefs, which was similar to many households in the 

US.  However, in many other cases, the reasons for homeschooling in China were more 

complicated. She explained: 

 

There are many many Christians [voice lowered] in China; about 60% [of the] 

homeschooling population are Christians. Others include some exceptional 

kids whose parents are highly successful business leaders or highly educated; 

another kind … are those with learning difficulties or those kids whose parents 

themselves did not have a good educational experience at school so they 

decided to opt their kids out.   

 Chinese curriculum reform and “going-out” policy have encouraged scholars 

and teachers to explore within and without their individual experiences by researching 

others. However, while this policy may advance international exchange, it could also 

restrict it. Wen was concerned about the sustainability of international work. She said, 

“if some conditions change, the sustainability of internationalization is unknown.” 



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Although Qing, Lan, and Wen had all visited international universities and attended 

international conferences overseas, the new 2015 funding policy placed a tighter control 

on their international activities. Passport and reimbursement regulations now restrict 

scholars from active international engagement. Luckily, beyond the government, there 

are existential realities that mobilize scholars to engage in the work of 

internationalization.  

 An increasingly international society serves as a social force. Blooming 

Chinese economic development due to worldwide economic globalization has made 

China increasingly international and diversified. The 2010 Chinese census reported 

nearly 600,000 foreigners residing in China from more than 190 countries; they are 

attracted by employment opportunities and a low cost of living (Song, 2015). The 
growing number of international students and workers have contributed to the linguistic, 

cultural, and ideological diversity of Chinese society. This has, though, posed certain 

challenges for Chinese schools and education policies. Jun, a scholar studying such 

educational policies, made note of the phenomenon: 

 

Migrants from other countries reside in many cities in China. China is 

gradually becoming internationalized. China is a big country, with plenty of 

opportunities. For example, there are many migrant workers in the city of 

Yiwu, [in the] Zhejiang province. One of my students had studied the 

educational experiences of the migrants’ children, including people from 

Africa, [the] Middle East, and India. 

  

 Another perspective concerning the examination of the internationalized nature 

of Chinese society is the growing number of religious groups; this, too, has posed 

ideological challenges. Qing lowered her voice when she mentioned the term 

“Christians,” indicating that religious beliefs are not openly discussed. As seen in 

Qing’s research, many Christian families have opted out of China’s basic education 

system, choosing their own curriculums to educate their children: 

 

There are different homeschooling approaches. Some of them teach the 

children at their own home. Some are helping each other. Some even receive 

international help and use international curriculums…. They also have … 

regular conferences on homeschooling.   

 Qing called this phenomenon a grey area. That is, according to Chinese law, 

children must receive a basic education; however, this has not been enacted. The 

Chinese government may not have given enough thought to how they would deal with 

the growing trend of internationalization.  

 The process of internationalization, interexchange, intercultural communication, 

and dialogue leads unavoidably to my second research question: When local cultural 

and curricular processes meet international systems, how do they work with, around, 

and through the “complicated conversation” that results, and what is the nature of that 

process? 

 

Complicated Conversations Within and Beyond 
 There are quite a few findings that address the research questions.  “Complicated 

conversation” is based upon equal dialogue and the development of cultural and 

curriculum consciousnesses as the basis of dialogue capital, the crucial role of 



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curriculum scholars in the interexchange, and the critical importance of theory in 

practice. 

   Complicated conversations lead to an equal dialogue for mutual benefit and 

acceptance. “Complicated conversations” are highlighted by the vision of an equal 

dialogue between Chinese wisdom and international scholarship related to curriculum 

studies. The main goal of Chinese scholars is to have an equal voice in this international 

discussion. However, their “voices” are still developing, as is the process itself. The 

participants in this research shared strong opinions on an equal exchange between the 

local and the international, which they believed should not be limited to format; content 

and two-way communication are of primary importance.  

Qing observed: 

  

I found many times that internationalization is simply understood in a superficial 

way. For example, equating hosting an international conference with 

internationalization by inviting international scholars … However, such 

communication is an important model; that is, what we think they brought to us. 

I think the curriculum studies team led by Tao is beyond this stage, because they 

have the capacity to internationally interexchange, and such interexchange is 

mutually beneficial.  

 

 Wei, who had conducted multiple studies locally and collaborated 

internationally, believed that the value of an such international dialogue was not as a 

means of comparison, but rather as a platform for embracing each other’s views. “I am 

not saying Confucianism is better than Nel Noddings, but the purpose is to find a 

dialogue platform, let conversations … take shape, and accept each other.”  

Jun, a scholar studying educational policy, also emphasized equal dialogue as 

the primary purpose of the “going out” policy. He noted:  

 

The international exchange between China and the international community 

has been inclined toward sending students and money overseas, or supporting 

international students by providing funds for them. I think for a truly equal 

dialogue, foreign students should come here to study, even if that means they 

have to fund themselves. 

 

 The financial support for foreign students that Jun discussed comes from 

programs sponsored by the Chinese government and administered by the China 

Scholarship Council. Their website lists different kinds of scholarships that foreign 

students can apply for if they hope to study at a top Chinese university 

(http://www.csc.edu.cn/Laihua/scholarshipen.aspx). A student can apply for a 

scholarship even if he or she has not yet been admitted to a university.  

   Developing cultural and curriculum consciousnesses as dialogue capital. 

Curriculum and cultural consciousnesses are viewed as dialogue capital; thus, Chinese 

traditional culture should be one source of such consciousness. Feng expressed the 

following: 

 

If a country does not have curriculum capital, how can one join the dialogue? 

What we need most is to establish our own cultural capital. Where is the capital? 

It is located in the traditional cultural wisdom. 

 

http://www.csc.edu.cn/Laihua/scholarshipen.aspx)


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Traditional cultural wisdom in China is reflected in different schools of thought.  

For example, the most well-known are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Of these 

three, Confucianism has been the primary source for scholars engaging in curriculum-

related conversations. Deng, a scholar whose research interest is citizenship education, 

realized that he must involve Confucianism, which he believed to be a foreign concept, 

in his effort to introduce the concept of citizenship: 

 

I chose Confucianism because it is widely accepted by common people. For a 

cultivation of virtue, if we use Western discourse to explain, it is easy for 

intellectuals to understand but laymen will not. Only using the language that 

they are familiar with will cause them to accept [it]. For example, if we 

emphasize virtue, if we do not stress filial duty, it will be very difficult for them 

to accept [it]. 

 

Wei, a scholar studying ethics, viewed curriculum development and design as an 

ethical system of decision making. He frankly admitted that he did not begin from a 

point within Chinese traditional culture. Rather, he began his research on ethics using 

Nel Noddings’s theory of caring. Later, when he realized that teachers’ classroom 

practices were reflections of cultural values, he began to incorporate Noddings’s 

framework of caring into exiting Confucian classroom values in order to rethink and 

explain the daily ethical decisions made by teachers. He noted: 

 

Because in Chinese history the united cultural vision is Confucianism … ethics 

is Confucian ethics. The ethics of teaching is consistent with this national and 

cultural ethics. There was no conflict between social and educational ethics.  

 

In the attempt to create a dialogue and in the actual international dialogue 

process, scholars have acknowledged a deeper understanding of how traditional culture 

requires careful and objective examinations of the meanings and flux of traditional 

Chinese culture. Tao, as the leader of the team, pointed out:  

 

We need to recognize the advantages, characters, and shortcomings of Chinese 

culture. Overly emphasizing traditional culture will likely … induce populism. 

For a country where there is no [authoritative] religion, populism easily incites 

national sentiment. Nationalism will lead a country to conservatism, and 

eventually it becomes a closed society. We have to objectively treat traditional 

culture as centering around Confucianism and working with Taoism and/or other 

schools of thought.  

 

 Chinese culture is never fixed; it is always changing. Its meaning is diversified 

over time. It is scholars who make conscious cultural and curricular choices when they 

face different traditional wisdoms.    

 The role of curriculum scholars. Curriculum scholars as dialogue executors 

and cultural and curriculum consciousness articulators are regarded as those who 

advance Chinese curriculum consciousness and cultural enlightenment. Tao called them 

pioneers whose research framework is located in constructive and postmodern 

theoretical foundations; they constitute and bear the mission of a collective cultural 

enlightenment. Their interaction and intercultural communication with the international 

audience actually contributes to their own formation as curriculum scholars. Tao stated: 



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We need overall cultural consciousness. In the field of curriculum studies, the 

scholars whose works are situated in the constructivism and postmodernism 

frameworks are the curriculum pioneers. They proposed their own understanding 

of what a curriculum could be. They broke through the notion of curriculum as 

regulations or as a universal principle. As a result, they liberated culture, made 

people realize that curriculums can be related to psychology, to age, and to 

culture. In the international interexchange, we become more aware of our own 

cultural consciousness, and we articulate our own understanding, I think this is 

the value of internationalization. 

 

The role of the curriculum scholar can be seen in their participation in 

government policies, which have a significant impact on classroom practice. Qing 

noted: 

 

I think scholars have great impact on policy. Many influential policies are 

drafted by these scholars, with Chinese features. But I think they are 

progressive. It depends on the scholar, not the government officials or some 

other beneficiary groups with special interest. 

 Scholars share their research with the international community, but also closely 

connect with school teachers because of their involvement in government policies.  

Theory-into-practice was emphasized by many of my participants. 

  Theory-into-practice. Integrating theory-into-practice requires a shared vision. 

Theory includes international educational theories and concepts, and traditional Chinese 

wisdom. In Lan’s account, one major reason that many K-12 teachers attend curriculum 

conferences is they are interested in how to “translate theories into practice.” Theories 

need to be practical and useful. According to Xiao, the sole graduate student 

interviewed in this study, this is a concern that many graduate students share.  She 

explained: 

 

As a student involved in curriculum conferences where international scholars 

share their research and perspectives, I felt they really opened my eyes. Many 

questions I had not thought about before. I also want to know how teachers 

teach in other countries, but Bill [the invited speaker] does not like us to ask … 

questions. 

Integrating theory-into-practice for scholars taking a deeper look at international 

perspectives and traditional Chinese wisdom means “having one’s own stuff” and 

“critiquing actions.” Wei considered internationalization to be beyond the direct 

translation of others’ theories. He stated: 

 

Completely adopting Western perspectives for local realities will not work out 

very well; completely using Taoist perspectives may not meet today’s needs 

since China is closely related to the international community.  At this time, as 

Chinese curriculum researchers, how we can develop local cultural 

consciousness, our knowledge about these local issues, and knowledge about 

international related researches that are important for us to dialogue [about 



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and] integrate, and then [use them to] propose our new stuff?   

For Jun, practice is action, especially with regards to other scholars’ intellectual 

activities and projects. He gave the example of PISA (the Program for International 

Student Assessment). Students in Shanghai have topped tests in mathematics, reading, 

and science, among thousands of secondary school students around the world. Jun 

stated: 

 

I think a researcher is a person who records and critiques. But it starts from 

action. I can criticize PISA, for Shanghai cannot represent China. But because 

they are doing so, I have the opportunity to critique their doings. The goal is to 

see the changes of policy, describe its process, and share with other 

researchers. 

Tao, as the leader of this group, took the idea of theory-into-practice as one of 

his missions and a major part of internationalizing curriculum studies. He noted: 

 

Our work is a highly open. We dialogue on theory, practice, and 

internationalism. There are dialogues between teachers, students, and the 

curriculum, and we also provide a theoretical framework for such dialogues. 

 

 I visited one of the local schools in which Tao was conducting research projects. 

A school mottoChildren Inquiry stood out when I entered the school building. The 

school’s principal, Ms. Chen, happily met me. She discussed the history of their 

collaboration with South Central Normal University, and it seemed to me that the 

relationship was very positive and productive. She informed me that children at this 

school had the opportunity to explore topics that interested them and that went beyond 

their regular classes. I had observed a third grade classroom. In my field notes, I 

described the following: 

 

When I entered the classroom, there were about 12 students in the classroom; 

they were attentively watching a video on marine animals. They looked very 

involved and some of them did not even know I walked in. After the video, a 

group of four students shared their knowledge and research with their 

classmates. 

 Integrating theory-into-practice is highly appreciated by school teachers. In this 

process, they are not the receivers of knowledge, but the co-creators of new curriculum 

possibilities. Practice is multifaceted; it involves policy, reform, curriculum making, 

teacher research, and student inquiry.  

After examining the forces driving their work to internationalize curriculum 

studies, the participants also shared their views on the nature of the process.  

 

A Free, Flexible, and Democratic Process  
The last major research question of this study addressed the nature of the 

internationalization process. What are the characteristics of this process? What kinds of 

processes make “curriculum studies” internationalized? Upon reflection, the participants 

shared ideas regarding concepts such as “free” and “unstructured,” “democratic,” and 

even ambiguity to describe the flow of the process.  



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For several years prior to this research, Lan was actively involved in organizing 

conferences and working with keynote speakers. Her observations of the process 

included that it was: 

 

Quite free. It is not like we have to organize this way or that way. We tried to do 

it constantly, given the condition of each year. For example, because of [a] 

conference in Ottawa [the IAACS Conference], we [had] two conferences in the 

same month, so we had to be flexible and … skip th[at] year. 

  

 The flexibility is also reflected in moving conferences to different locations, 

collaborating with other interested partners, and reaching out to potential participants 

not in the curriculum studies group. 

  

We just had another conference in Zhejiang University [in] October … I 

remember the classroom was quite full, 50 or 60 interested people, most of them 

… teachers. We can tell from the discussions after. 

     

 Jian also shared his view, which was motivated by the pursuit and result of the 

ongoing process of internationalization. “Our involvement in the process takes a 

democratic nature. Tao encourages everyone to present and share their research, but he 

does not force you.” For Wei, however, the process involved ambiguity. “But how we 

develop and operate the internationalization of curriculum studies is not clear for the 

time being.” 

 

Perhaps it is the democratic quality and inherent ambiguity that make the 

impossible possible. The question is: Who is obligated or authorized to participate in 

this internationalization dialogue? Given the academic culture, worldwide rankings, and 

unique areas of specialization, breaking down boundaries and hierarchies might animate 

more exchange and prompt further ventures. This is not a clear-cut structure that 

linearly defines who belongs or who should leave. There is a thread that participants 

mentioned, but they did not explicitly connect it to the process in terms of who can be a 

part of this internationalization, including both institutions and individuals.   

    

Discussion 
If mere conversations about others’ histories, cultures, and intellectual wisdom 

can be complicated, certainly the process of internationalization is far from 

straightforward or linear. The fluid platform of internationalization has been shaped on 

this moving globe by driving political and social forces, increasing cultural and 

curriculum consciousnesses expanded during interexchanges, the role of scholars, 

aspirations for an equal dialogue and enunciation of individual voices, and the free and 

flexible structure.  Such a platform is enmeshed in a robust matrix rather than a duet of 

intellectualism and institutionalization. All things in this flux impact the direction, 

function, and meaning of this internationalization, while simultaneously constituting 

one another.  To unpack the intricacies of this process, a nondual vision if we are to 

study this matrix. I will elaborate on this claim below.  

 

 



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Curriculum Vision through the Attainment of Intellectual and 

Cultural Capital  
Chinese traditional culture is seen as the capital that scholars must develop if 

they are to engage in an international dialogue and affect curriculum reform from 

within. What is noteworthy is that of the three major traditional wisdoms, Confucianism 

has received the most recognition and is most actively engaged. Reflecting Chinese 

mainstream values, Confucianism takes precedence in scholarly work; this is not 

surprising because scholars find it inspirational as a thought system and laymen use it as 

a life philosophy (Zhang, 2008). It is also consistent with the Chinese government’s 

ideology on collectivism as a morality (Yu, 2003). Yet traditional cultural capital is not 

static content to be grasped, for students in China do not lack traditional cultural 

knowledge. They begin learning poems, articles, and stories layered with traditional 

culture as early as preschool. For example, I have seen that traditional culture as 

content, in the format of visual story, is illustrated on the street level, such that laymen 

can read and ruminate on it.  

In the instance I recorded, an elder was reading a story on the wall. Two young 

men were passing by on their bicycles. On the left side of the wall were two simplified 

Chinese characters: 诚信 (honesty and trust). The middle image on the wall told the story 
of how an ancient reformer built trust among the people. On the right hand side were the 

words: “promoting traditional Chinese culture.” Engaging traditional culture in 

curriculum studies is a way of creating a curriculum vision and embodying it in 

intercultural exchange and dialogue on an international platform. The development of 

traditional Chinese cultural capital cannot be separated from the current context, social 

order, and culture. From it, a curriculum vision will take shape while practitioners 

engage new problems arising from these complex situations.  

Traditional culture is viewed as fluid and mutating over time, but it must be 

attended to with objectivity and open-mindedness in order to avoid populism and 

nationalism; this was emphasized by Tao. Nationalism poses the danger of 

“suppress[ing] difference internally and aggression internationally” (Pinar, 2011, p. 51). 

National sentiment in China should not be viewed as an isolated concern in the process 

of internationalization; it may indicate the failure of equal dialogue or act a s the other 

side of an equal dialogue, a point the participants made. I am a Chinese native, but I 

have lived outside of China for more than a decade. The clamor of “equal dialogue” still 

echoes, especially when that dialogue, interaction, or exchange is with a Western 

partner who is usually perceived as having more control.  

The concept of “equal” is particularly salient in arguments made by historically 

marginalized countries or groups. For example, the women’s rights movement aimed 

for suffrage and racial desegregation. These goals reflect the historical imbalance of 

power and appreciation that made marginalized groups aware of their powerlessness in 

dialogues and exchanges with their more powerful counterparts. In academia, the 

concept of equality also refers to the unbalanced production of knowledge and 

discourse, as Tishkove (1998) pointed out in his international anthropological research. 

“U.S. Social science has a dominant position in today’s world research community in 

terms of the number of practitioners, the resources allocated to them, and the influence 

of their disciplinary methodologies” (p. 1). I would add that language can signify 

dominance and power. English has been the dominant, if not the only, language used in 

academic exchange. As participants have pointed out, the ability to have an equal 

dialogue includes the easy use of good academic English. Cultural and curriculum 



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consciousnesses must acknowledge such challenges and how they contribute to an 

unequal dialogue.  

Compared with the call for a complicated conversation, the emphasis on equality 

calls for a recognition of the existing unbalanced discursive practices in international 

discussions and the importance of valuing each other’s ideas. The emphasis on equal 

dialogue is also important for solidifying non-Western epistemic forms, as Paraskeva 

(2013) has stated, and understanding the limits of our colonized worldview, as Ng-A-

Fook (2007) has argued.    

 

Inter-causality and Interpenetration of Curriculum Vision and 

Institutionalized Practices  
The internationalization of curriculum studies in China reflects an 

interpenetration of intellectualism and institutionalization that is discernable from the 

interplay among scholarly research and institutionalized practices such as curriculum 

conferences, seminars, school-based curriculum efforts, teachers’ active involvement, 

and theory-into-practice. I have used the concepts of interpenetration and inter-causality 

from Chinese Huayan Buddhism to describe the nature of internationalization in China. 

The Huayan worldview and metaphysics denote “mutually non-interfering phenomena: 

reality realm of phenomena [shi], reality realm of noumenon [li], reality realm of the 

non-interference between noumenon and phenomena, reality realm of the non-

interference among phenomena” (Park, 2008, p. 161). Here, interference indicates 

conflict, and Buddhism does not deny a temporary conflict between phenomena; 

however, conflict is not the nature of the relationship between phenomena. Park further 

notes that these four realms are not ontological states; rather, they are hermeneutical 

devices used to describe the relationships among noumenon and phenomenon and their 

structures. Instead of viewing noumenon and phenomenon as independent and discrete, 

they should instead be seen as interdependent and inter-causal. Such inter-causal 

interdependence, as Hershock (2012) argues, is not “a contingent, external relationship; 

it is constitutive or internal. Ultimately, all things are irreducibly relational in nature” 

(Hershock, 2012, p. 36). The Huayan worldview and metaphysics developed the 

dharma-dhatu dependent origination (法界缘起) theory. The infinite interfusion of 
noumenon (li) and phenomenon (shi), and the inter-causation and dependent co-

origination of the reality realm of li and the reality realm of shi make it possible to see 

the self and other relationships as non-dualistic, interdependent, and interpenetrating: a 

dynamic self-other because it has interpenetrated self into the other.  

Government policies and forces (noumenon, li) constitute emerging curricular 

explorations, theoretical inquires, and various questions; curriculum conferences, 

seminars, and presentations (phenomenon, shi) constitute scholars’ research agendas 

and questions. Unlike curriculum work before 2001, current curriculum studies situated 

in the new internationalization movement manifests a robust interpenetration of policy 

and practice, theory and practice, or a multifaceted interpenetration of curricular li and 

shi. Curriculum scholars as agents constitute government reforms. The current field of 

curriculum studies in China does not reflect a top-down approach or linear diffusion 

from the government, as it has in the past; social realities and curriculum scholars’ own 

cross-cultural research have influenced the dynamic process of internationalization and 

constituted its own curriculum reform. The process is less about the goal to achieve and 

more about forming relations that are inter-causal and interpenetrating; gone are the 

days of disciplinary boundaries, ranking and size hierarchies, and school theory and 

practice dichotomies.  



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Pinar (2003) viewed the first stage of internationalization as an “intellectual 

project of self-understanding” (p. 30). What I see in the process, the self, regardless if it 

is traditional culture or curriculum consciousness, does not exist to be discovered or 

retrieved; rather, it is temporal and co-emerges with the inquiry process itself, a function 

of transition and interdependence. The impermanence of self indicates that self-

understanding must be considered contextualized in arising conditions, a Heideggerian 

existential self of “being-in-the-world” in the process of internationalization that is 

probably more relevant here; a self existentially inhabits, dwells in, and forms an inter-

causing relationship with the process. The self co-grows with the process, and its 

attainment and actualization is a function of the process (Nobo, 1986). That is, Chinese 

cultural enlightenment and curriculum consciousness are not preexisting; they are 

actualized as the result of an ongoing inter-causative process.  

One particularly intriguing element of this research is that most of these 

participants (for example, Qing, Jun, Deng, and Wei) did not identify themselves as 

curriculum scholars because they had their own research interests and were in different 

disciplines. However, their work unavoidably reflected curricular concerns, asked 

curricular questions, and took on curricular challenges constituted in the process of 

internationalizing curriculum studies. What they investigated and were involved in, and 

their participation in the unstructured process of internationalization itself, made them 

think like curriculum scholars and perform curriculum inquires. Thus, we can say that 

an interpenetration was at work.  

Like many other countries, China has its own way of ranking universities and 

providing funding to support research productivity and programs, for example, the well-

known projects 211 and 985. Universities that are members of these projects receive 

significant funding and other kinds of support from the government, which may have a 

side effect of preventing other small universities from increasing their research 

productivity and participating internationally. Interviewees for this research saw such 

rankings and school sizes as posing a glass ceiling that kept schools at lower ranks from 

becoming involved and participating in international work. Both Wei and Wen 

indicated such a challenge. Wei mentioned, “we are a small university,” and Wen 

pointed out that Tao’s vision had really opened their eyes. He asked young scholars to 

have a dialogue directly with the international community rather than limit themselves 

just because they are in a regional school.  

Later, when China cut back the 985 and 211 projects, the perishing of its process 

and completion of certain missions created opportunities for smaller universities. 

Although rank, discipline, funding, and even language barriers posed challenges for 

South Central Normal University, their work on the internationalization of curriculum 

studies truly broadened the visions of many young scholars; many had no prior 

opportunities to “go out.” Such a process reflects the nonlinear nature of curriculum 

work and the formation of the field, but South Central Normal University carried on the 

mission of internationalization in a different way. Thus, institutionalized practices such 

as conferences and seminars have provided a platform for Chinese scholars to share 

their research and contributed to their intellectual wisdom.  

 

Conclusion 
This study examined the forces driving and mobilizing the internationalization 

of curriculum studies, how intercultural interchanges work, and the particular nature of 

this process in China. Government policies and the reality of an increasingly 

internationalized Chinese society have shaped the present circumstances. In order to 



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have an equal dialogue with various epistemic forms and traditions, Chinese curriculum 

scholars feel an urgency to develop their own cultural and curricular capital. As a result 

of this international dialogue, they have developed a double lens (e.g., traditional 

wisdom and international vision) not for comparison, but for a deeper understanding 

and exploration of local curricular issues. Unlike internationalization in the early 20th 

century, today’s internationalization, in the context of economic globalization and 

demand for equal dialogue, has taken many forms; it gradually but steadily assembles, 

folds, and unfolds.  

The process of internationalization in China does not reveal a sequential and 

linear course with a past, present, and future. These events are interrelated, but not 

necessarily progressive. The nonlinear nature of the internationalization of curriculum 

studies in China makes it difficult to see where it starts and stops, because it can start 

anywhere and a single cutting event cannot destruct the system. Curriculum scholars’ 

continuous engagement with both traditional and Western wisdoms, the manifold of 

such curriculum work, emerging international conditions in China, exchanges between 

local and international centers of thought, and teachers’ eagerness to learn new things 

have all helped to constitute the process of internationalization of curriculum studies. 

This fluid platform is enmeshed in a matrix where the flux of interrelated events 

mobilizes the substance, direction, and function of each.  

The ongoing process of internationalization of the field of curriculum studies in 

China does not delineate a clear picture of where the process is going, but it 

simultaneously delimits boundaries and opens up new opportunities and alternatives. 

Although there are various challenges that scholars must overcome to express their 

ideas on an international platform, much more distinctively Chinese curricular work is 

on the horizon.     

 
Notes  
                                                 
1 may_wudl@yahoo.com 
 

 

 

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Submitted: June, 11st, 2016 

 

Approved: July, 29th, 2016