General Education and the Development of Global Citizenship in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China: Not Merely Icing on the Cake

General Education has taken center stage in the greater China area (Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China) because of a number of important developments. First, globalization has created both opportunities and challenges for college students. When they graduate and enter the real world, they must have the cultural sensitivities and social skills, in addition to their professional training, to compete in a knowledge-based global economy. Equally significant for institutions of higher education, pressing global problems challenge traditional disciplines and demand new forms of learning that reshapes the boundaries of knowledge. In response to those rapidly changing dynamics, general education has taken an increasingly important role in undergraduate education. As the first English publication on the subject, this anthology brings together a distinguished group of General Education scholars and teachers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China.

Jun Xing is Professor and Director of the General Education Centre at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. Trained as a cultural historian, Professor Xing specializes in US immigration, American ethnicity, popular culture, and the history of cultural relations between the United States and China. Before arriving in Hong Kong, Professor Xing served as a professor and director of academic program and assessment in the United States for many years. He is the author/editor of six other English-language books, including Baptized in the Fire of Revolution (Lehigh University Press, 1996), Asian America through the Lens (Sage Publications, 1998), Reversing the Lens (University of Colorado Press, 2003), Teaching for Change (Lexington Books, 2006), Seeing Color (University of Hong Kong Press, 2007), and Service Learning in Asia (University of Hong Kong Press, 2010).