English-medium instruction in higher education in China

Since China's opening to the world in the post-Mao era from the 1980s onwards, the teaching and learning of English has spread through all levels of education in the People's Republic of China. However, the continuing conundrum of English-language education remains, and this is that, notwithstanding the many millions that have studied English to some extent, how is English actually used in mainland China? In other terms, where in China is English used for intranational purposes, within Chinese society? The answer appears to be that English finds application in certain business and commercial sectors, primarily for dealing with international trade, while, otherwise, English largely remains a ‘foreign'language, in the classic sense of the term (He, 2017). An exception to this generalisation is provided by the domain of education, where proficiency in English has become an important requirement in most schools and universities (Bolton, Botha, & Zhang, 2020, 2024; Bolton & Graddol, 2012; Zhang, Bolton, & Botha, 2020). Moreover, in recent years, many tertiary institutions have begun to offer English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes of various kinds, although many of these are referred to as' bilingual programmes'. English-medium programmes in higher education have often been seen as innovative and modern. However, the historical reality is that the English language and EMI in higher education has had a long and often forgotten history in Chinese society (Bolton, 2003; Bolton & Botha, 2015).