This book offers a new perspective on the transnational dimensions of
China's educational and economic history by focusing on Sino-German
interactions in the field of vocational education. It explores how
Chinese perceptions of manual work, vocational skills, and educational
practices changed dramatically throughout the first half of the
twentieth century as Chinese educators increased their efforts to study
and translate German pedagogical writings. Case studies researched in
this book illustrate how a Chinese appreciation for German technological
and scientific advances and German interests in profiting from a growing
Chinese economy are not just recent phenomena but have their roots in
the early twentieth century.