Public and private education

This article contains four parts in which various aspects of public and private education in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, are examined with particular attention to some fundamental questions concerning the provision, scope and orientation of public and private education within the contexts of these societies. To provide a conceptual framework, the chapter begins with a description of the main features of educational provision in the public and private sectors; it then examines some of the forces that have shaped public and private education, before turning to the comparison of similarities and differences in these particular systems. It should be pointed out that one important reason for the selection of the four societies is that, apart from geographic location, they all share many important common features such as language, culture and social customs. Predominately, people in these East Asia territories are of Chinese origins and have a common heritage which is deeply rooted in the Confucian ethical values. Copyright © 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.