What do the Chinese value in (mathematics) education?

The achievement in mathematics among the Chinese has aroused the interest of educationalists, sociologists and psychologists worldwide. The coining of the term Confucian Heritage Culture learner’s phenomenon mistakenly led researchers to look for direct attributions from Confucianism, without realizing that Confucianism is just one Chinese school of thought, and it is over-simplistic to draw causal relationships between schools of thought and social phenomena. This paper begins by introducing three major Chinese schools of thought—Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism—and their views on education. The discussion will then focus on how these schools of thought might impact education in general and mathematics education in particular.