East Meets West in Shanghai: But Is There a Learning Society on the Road to Cathay?

Lifelong education was developed in Europe in the 1970's. A learning society arises when principles of adult education are properly deployed. Vertical integration concerns learning throughout the lifespan. Horizontal integration requires education to occur in informal and nonformal as well as familiar formal settings. Democratization demands the dismantling of barriers that impede access to education and involvement of learners in the design and management of their own education. Chinese citizens have always learned from a broad array (of not just educational settings). The initiative to build 61 "learning cities" demonstrates a genius for adapting western ideas. China has already transcended some limitations of European ideas about lifelong education. However, because of ageism, the obsession with formal education and need to navigate within the contours of the party-state, building a learning society faces special challenges. In China, as elsewhere, universities are not leading these initiatives. They need to become more flexible and open.