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Since the 1980s, far-reaching changes have occurred in modern Chinese practical writing: a number of new genres have emerged and the functions of some genres have changed. These changes include: extension, restriction and diversification. There are a variety of reasons for these changes, such as political reform, development of a market economy and development of modern communication technology. These changes have attracted the close attention of experts, who have adopted advanced methods of analysis and research to examine closely the pattern of development.

Globalisation has resulted in curriculum reform, particularly at matriculation level, in many educational jurisdictions. When Victoria (Australia) and Hong Kong reformed their curricula, both claimed that their reforms were intended to develop students’ critical, independent and high-order thinking skills, and to foster their ability to learn independently. The question of whether the almost identical reform rhetoric has been translated into identical classroom practice was investigated in a comparative case study of the implementation of the reforms of Chinese writing curricula, specifically relating to report writing, in one classroom in Melbourne (Victoria) and one in Hong Kong. The study considered the following aspects: teaching cycles; classroom interaction patterns; teachers’ views, goals and strategies; students’ expectations and, through an analysis of students’ writing, the relationship between teaching and learning. It is shown that despite similar educational objectives and rhetoric, major differences arose when it came to implementation in classrooms with diverse cultural, social and linguistic contexts. In conclusion, factors are presented, which curriculum designers must take into consideration if the goal of global curriculum sharing is to be achieved.

The chapter attempted to trace the development of English writing teaching back from the 19 century till present, which witnessed its interrelationship with Sino-American diplomacy and domestic Chinese politics (e.g., the Self-Strengthening Movement, the Cultural Revolution). It then illustrated the teaching procedures of English writing courses at different levels of education. In view of the advancement in information technology, the chapter also advocated the use of computer-aided instruction and proposed the process-oriented approaches to be used in class. The chapter finally concluded with four directions for future research.

The author first traces the evolution of teaching methodologies of writing starting from Shang Dynasty till present — the emergence of fairy tales, Book of Rites, ‘Thousand Words Texts’, ‘Eight-Legged Essay (ba gu wen)’ and the ‘Vernacular Writing Movement’ which was followed by the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Then the teaching strategies at different stages of schooling are high-lighted, with a special emphasis on the sequels of prevailing exam-oriented writing practices, which hamper students’ creativity. Besides, the correlation between external cultural environment (as a factor changing over time) and students’ conceptual construct after the re-orientation in teaching methods is established. In conclusion, the impact of the scopes of titles on students’ thinking processes and mentality is investigated, and suggestions how to cope with such impacts are presented.

The authors first trace the education history of the Korean minorities in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and the difficulties of learning writing in Chinese as a second language encountered by the Korean students. They then outline the syllabi and orientation of Chinese learning policies for the group from the Cultural Revolution until present time at different levels (primary, secondary and tertiary). Emphasis has been placed on the establishment of the National Minority Chinese Proficiency Test System as a mean test for narrowing down the learning gap drifted apart by the inappropriate Chinese learning materials and guiding curriculum reforms in Korean schools. The authors finally spot out the inter-related problem induced by both parties (teachers and students) and offer solutions like in-class activities and after-class writing exercise drills.

The authors first introduce the history and development phases of TFC (‘Teaching Foreigners Chinese’), and highlights the interactions among the curriculum, teaching materials and the ethnical background of the students, for the teaching strategies used in dealing with European students and Asian students (e.g., Koreans and Japanese) are different. The author then poses the debate on whether the four main skills (listening, speaking, writing, reading) should be developed simultaneously or the first two be cultivated prior to the last two skills, with regard to the difficulties encountered by foreign students in learning Chinese characters and pinyin. He also divides the teaching cycle into three levels and suggests some teaching clues such as the use of topic-restricted compositions and free compositions. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research directions and teaching techniques.

This chapter attempts to illustrate the different psychological constructs of junior and senior primary students in Beijing during the composition processes. It begins with a brief analysis of the major problems existing in the process of teaching composition. It then highlights the essential teaching goals in class by dimensionalising and categorising the elements of composition teaching into the aspects of ‘ability’, ‘attitude’ and ‘knowledge of writing’. Discrepancies in tailor-made curriculum are spotted out with regard to the variation in school levels and composition genres (picture description writing and special topic composition). A number of in-class activities for teachers and students have been proposed with special emphasis on cooperative learning and the use of multi-media.

The author advocates the use of two new writing teaching methods — ‘Method of Teaching on Topics’ and ‘Method of Live Demonstration in Teaching’ — and offers concrete examples of lesson plans with games that can relieve students’ anxiety on doing composition in class. These methods stress the incorporation of real-life scenarios as ‘topics’, which are to be distinguished from the conventional ‘titles’ used, and the effectiveness of learning through role-playing. Students would then be equipped to adapt to the changing society through practical writing tasks. The author also addresses the problem of lack of stimuli in provoking the students to write, and sentimental thinking (attachment to the writing subjects) in writing as an often-neglected mechanism was introduced into the games. The author then concludes the essay by stating the ‘Standards of Chinese Teaching’ upheld by the PRC Ministry of Education.

Since the 1980s, far-reaching changes have occurred in modern Chinese practical writing: a number of new genres have emerged and the functions of some genres have changed. These changes include: extension, restriction and diversification. There are a variety of reasons for these changes, such as political reform, development of a market economy and development of modern communication technology. These changes have attracted the close attention of experts, who have adopted advanced methods of analysis and research to examine closely the pattern of development.

This chapter briefly introduces the content and results of two research topics that have been going on and completed by the author since the late 1980s with respect to the teaching reform in university writing. After an exploration for more than ten years, a new and more extensive framework of writing has been established with systemic theory as the guide for syllabus renewal. For the reform in teaching methods, with a change of the concept of education as the precursor, the situation in which students are willing to learn and teachers willing to teach has basically been brought about by adopting new teaching and examining methods. Pilot tests made in different schools show that, despite the existence of quite a few problems in the new writing theories and teaching methods, the effect is good and the orientation is correct.