This paper adopts De Swann’S world linguistic system theory andWallerstein’S modem world—system theory to advocate an economic perspective inexplaining linguistic globalization．Specifically,it draws upon these theories toexplore what the college teachers and students in China think about English in China．Issues related to students’and teachers’views about the supremacy of English inChina,their expectations of English and the standard of English teaching andlearning in Chinese classrooms will be discussed．This research was conducted whenChina hosted the Beij ing Olympic Games in 2008,a period when China experiencedever-deepening integration into the global economy．Both questionnaire and interviewdata are presented and these databases highlight that English was considered as amore intemational and global language than Chinese．In addition,the instrumentalvalue of English,both to the country and to the individual,was also emphasized bymy research participants．Last but not least,there wasa strong orientation to and openpreference for American English as the standard．However,with regard to the issue ofChinese English as a variety,students seemed to be more liberal while teachers weremore norm—oriented．