The New Education Initiative: A Transformative Program for Chinese Basic Education

The New Education Initiative (NEI), founded by Professor Yongxin Zhu at Soochow University in 2000, has had a widespread and enduring impact on Chinese basic education. It has transformed the education ecosystem in many regions in China, with its theory and practice inspiring numerous teachers who have suffered excessive pressures under the teaching to test culture. This article is a review of the initiative’s background, evolution, and implimentation framework and summarizes its major achievements, in the hope of providing implications for future education development in China and beyond.