This book examines ideologies which surround English as a global language in China. It argues that fluctuations in these ideologies represent China's varying attitudes towards, and uncertainty about, English and its use in China's globalization process.

It contains eight chapters. The first three chapters introduce context, economic factors and cultural perspectives. Chapter 1 discusses the increasing enthusiasm of Chinese speakers regarding English language learning, connecting English proficiency with personal success and national prosperity. Chapter 2 combines Wallerstein's world-systems theory with cultural globalization theories involving ‘delocation’ and ‘relocation’ processes. A time-space frame is then proposed in Chapter 3 to situate English ideologies in China's modern history and to localize them on the scale of policies and individuals in Olympic Beijing.

Chapters 4 to 7 elaborate on the (re)production of various instrumental ideologies held by the people of China towards English, as outlined in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the promotion and prohibition of English in China are related to global political and economic forces. The decline of the state forced officials to introduce English after the Opium Wars (1840s-1911). Then intellectuals passionately learned English throughout New Culture Movements in 1912–1949. The early 1950s witnessed Russian chosen by the state as its primary foreign language owing to an alliance with the Soviet Union, only to be replaced by English due to the Sino-Soviet split at the end of the decade. English was in turn abandoned during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, seen as a language of the foreign enemy against socialism. Since the Opening and Reform policies of 1978, English learning has boomed again as a result of China's modernization and internationalization, enjoying more than two decades of prosperity. Yet its current status is uncertain after the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to Chinese perceptions of growing power and national pride.

In Chapter 5, ‘the state as switchboard’ (p. 160) is introduced as a mechanism by which political and cultural dominance is maintained through language policy. Such policy allows English to be used as an effective instrument, aiding international competitiveness and personal advancement. Chapters 6 and 7 provide substantial ethnographic accounts, detailing how teachers, students and ordinary people react to English predominance. Practitioners in education welcome the supreme status of English and acknowledge their preference for American English. Nevertheless, they demonstrate an awareness of problems regarding language policy in relation to the cultivation of patriotism and spread of Chinese culture using English.

In Chapter 7, demonstrating confidence in China's long history and economic power, as well as the strong bond between Chinese language and culture, individuals outside education are reported to be highly optimistic about English and its instrumental value; they see it as serving China's globalization efforts. Chapter 8 reiterates this, arguing that English has been politically ideologized and selectively appropriated as a tool to serve China's needs on the world stage. It is this, they argue, which has motivated its spread.