This open access book offers the first systematic English-language account of the New Education Initiative (NEI), China’s largest and longest-running education reform, explaining its origins, core concepts, and theoretical framework. It examines teacher development, literacy, curriculum, digital education, classroom culture, and family-school partnerships as interrelated dimensions of holistic education, using practical strategies and school-based cases to demonstrate how the NEI operates in contemporary China.

Yongxin Zhu, President of the Chinese Society for the Study of Tao Xingzhi and Professor at Soochow University, is the Yidan Prize for Education Development laureate for founding the New Education Initiative (NEI). His educational research and work align with UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, underscoring the importance of providing inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Author of more than 80 books, he has had 30 translated into 29 languages, with over 100 editions published worldwide. His NEI now engages over 10,000 schools and has transformed the lives of 10 million teachers and students across China.