Review and Reflection of China’s National Unity Education Research During the 40 Years of Reform and Opening-up

The research on national unity education during the past 40 years of Reform and Opening-up has experienced three periods including germination, warming up, and flourishing. The correlated research germinated during the first period and focused on publicity and popularization of national unity during the second period. During the third period, researchers mainly focused on the improvement of national unity education efficiency and theory construction. Generally speaking, related studies developed and continued along two levels: practical level including policies, courses, teaching materials, teachers, activities and existing problems as well as theoretical level including significance, purpose, paradigm and related theories of national unity education. Practice and theory are complementary, concrete practice of national unity education established foundation for studying its abstract features and laws, while abstract and macro-level theory of national unity education provided basis and guidance for its practice. This shows the construction and development of the national unity education research system from concrete to abstract and from abstract to concrete.