Developing a National Strategy for Foreign Language Teaching and Research: Exploring the Case of China for the 21st Century

Against the backdrop of China’s reform and opening-up, its foreign language teaching and research have achieved tremendous development and progress. Entering the 21st century, however, the global order and landscape have undergone fundamental changes; particularly under the rapidly evolving new trends of (anti) globalization, cultural diversity, mediatization, and artificial intelligence, the question of how to transform and upgrade China’s foreign language teaching and research-and what kind of strategy it should adopt-has become an urgent issue in the field. The present paper argues that it is necessary to break free from the Westernized confines of foreign language and literature studies and establish a globally minded, culturalist strategy of communication (mission+ tasks) in order that the traditional foreign language teaching and research community becomes a driving force for national rejuvenation and human development as a whole.