Abstract

Although environmental education is officially mandatory in Chinese primary and secondary education, Chinese schools typically find it difficult to fulfill this mandate. This chapter explores the recent development and role of “nature schools” (ziran xuexiao) in China to supplement and support the formal curricula in public schools. In particular, I profile a Sino-Japanese project to foster Chinese nature school development and network-building, and discuss its impact through the eyes of three Chinese participants. The chapter concludes by discussing teacher training and relationships with local public schools as key arbiters of nature schools’ future growth in China.