From Dependency to Leadership: How Does Chinese Education Acquire Discourse Power?

Educational discourse power refers to a nation's capacity to define and disseminate influence in terms of educational concepts, rules, and standards. Its acquisition is not only a natural reflection of educational strength but also a conscious achievement of strategic construction. China's journey to attain educational discourse power is rooted in a century-long historical evolution from "saving the nation through education" to "strengthening the nation through education," and is realized through a strategic transformation from "dependent transplantation" to "independent construction." The underlying logic for China's acquisition of educational discourse power lies in four dimensions: consolidating the discourse foundation by constructing an autonomous knowledge system, accumulating discourse resources through large-scale educational practices, expanding discourse space via building institutional platforms, and elevating the discourse realm through the awakening of cultural subjectivity. This strategic process represents China's practical path toward the center of global education and contributes a unique "Chinese approach" to global education governance.