Lifelong learning is not a foreign concept to the Chinese. However, learning in ancient times was often recognised only in the formal sense by success in civil examinations. Thus success in lifelong learning was a reward only for the few who succeeded in public examinations.

In the first 20 years of the socialist republic, adult education was confined to the preparation or upgrading of manpower as required by the national manpower plan. A large number of people were then given a second opportunity after they had left the formal education system, but not through their own choice.

In the first years of the open economy, there was an explosion of the need for continuous education, which is a reflection of the flexible labour market, but it was still confined to learning for certification. It is only in the past few years that adults have begun to participate in education for leisure and self-development.

There is clearly a change of views among the working population, and more people are aspiring towards the goal of lifelong education. However, it is interesting to observe the role of culture in the process of change. On the one hand, culture plays a positive role in confirming the value of education. Chinese people seldom lack motivation for education, whether formal or non-formal, schooling or lifelong. Culture, therefore, plays a positive role in current reforms.

However, the results of such reforms do not always reinforce the traditional values of culture. Developments in lifelong education, for example, have demonstrated the emergence of individual needs and non-incentive motivations for education. There is a clear deviation from the traditional aims of education for social mobility or collective objectives. Education is acquiring a new meaning.