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Abstract：In an era of economic globalization circumstance，language policies in the Greater China have gone through many changes，and English has been placed in a higher position.Recently，National Language Work Committee issued a new ideology，“to set up a harmonious society of languages” to make all ethnic languages and foreign ones be properly used and inherited.English，however，as the largest foreign language used in China，is still facing problems.This essay focuses on the insufficience of English-related education policies in Greater China by comparing language education policies between mainland and Hong Kong.Proper suggestions on English education will be given for future reference.
Keywords：comparison，analysis，English-related education policy，mainland，
Hong Kong
Language Policies in Greater China
In the mainland，linguistic policies have changed from standardization of an official language to the preservation of minor languages and the popularization of English since the middle of the 20th century.In September 2001，English became a compulsory subject in Grade 3 in all elementary schools that have suitably qualified teachers，lowering the age to start learning English from 11 to 9，with two to three 40-minute lessons per week in primary schools，and five to six 45-minute lessons in secondary schools（Lo，Orton &Gao，2009）.Related decree “Guidelines for promoting English Teaching in Elementary Schools” could be found in the People’s Education Press（2003.4）.Meanwhile，in 2001，the Ministry of Education issued the “Guidelines for Improving Teaching for University Graduate Students”，in which it was suggested that 5 to 10 percent of all undergraduate teaching should be imparted through a foreign language among which，as expected，English was the ‘big winner”.However，in 2013，several regions in mainland planned to decrease the percentage or cancel the English test in the college entrance examinations.It’s guessed that higher attention will be given to Chinese.
In Hong Kong，Chinese and English has been placed in the same important position.In Article 9 of Kong Kong Principal Law，it’s set like this：“In addition to the Chinese language，English may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities，legislature and judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” Also，it’s known that Kong Kong government promotes Bi-literacy and Tri-lingualism.To a large extent，universities there have created an excellent atmosphere of English in class.
Problems of Language Education Policies in Mainland
Comparing the language education among the mainland Hong Kong，there are sharp contrasts and differences.
From the perspective of the society environment，atmosphere of English usage in mainland is much different from that in Hong Kong.Though English is taught throughout the country，the percentage of people who can speak English is not that big.And it’s said that China’s access to WTO and the 2008 Olympics are the only two major factors encouraging Chinese to speak English（Romina，2012）.According to National Common Character and Language Law of People’s Republic of China，there are a series of regulations on the usage of Chinese：Article 10，“Schools and other education institutions use Mandarin and standard Chinese characters as the primary teaching words in education.” Article 11，“Publications which need to use foreign languages should be noted with our national language.” Hence，English is certain to be positioned as a secondary language.And the Chinese government will never decrease the importance of Mandarine and Chinese.Anyway，policies like these put constraints to English development.On the contrary，English development in Hong Kong is less limited.Firstly，the correspondence between literate characters and spoken language is vague（Lands，2008）.As a result，Cantonese，Chinese and English leave space for each other to survive in the society of Hong Kong.Secondly，its language policy is more emphasized on pragmatism：Chinese for culture heritage，English for communication with outer world and Cantonese for local convenience（Lands，2008）.Thirdly，the policy is relevantly invisible（Lands，2008）.There is no hard constrain on the policy，so people don’t feel it a pressure.For example，in some public radios，some broadcast in mandarin，while some still keep broadcasting in English and Cantonese.In consequence，generations of people in Hong Kong have mastered three languages.Meanwhile，some contrasts are formed in the quality of English education as well.Given the fact that English has became a requirement for access to university and a big professional tool，private English Teaching business have also proliferated，the real situation of English in China is，however，many-fold.First，how easy it results for students to learn English is not high.In regions where pinyin is being taught at early ages，the inclusion of English at the same time may confuse students，since both phonetic alphabets use the same letters.Second，though China is in need of English speakers，neither the number of experts nor the material provided meet those needs.It’s true that over the years thousands of Chinese have studied English.However，the teaching staff is not enough to teach the primary and secondary children of more than 200 million（Hu，2007）.Thirdly，the quality of teaching staff in English-oriented class is high enough，especially in teaching classes of other professions rather than English.Usually teachers are equipped with good professional skills but with no good English skills.They can’t set a good model for the students，who can’t gain high competency from their teachers.Specifically，students in lower grades are less capable for this teaching arrangement than those in higher grade.Fourthly，the English education pattern doesn’t live to the society’s expectations.One the one hand，in English teaching before university，most lessons are about grammar and there is little about English speaking and listening，which are actually the most demanding in the field of career.On the other hand，English education in different stage is not corresponding to the reality of students.For instance，students of English major should be acquainted with strong background information of English history and literature，while in college of professional training，English related to the specific field should be taught，and the related skills，whether it’s reading，listening or speaking should be payed higher attention to.In all，lessons taught
only in English in China is somehow a failure compared with that in Hong Kong.Students in Hong Kong can choose whether to go for complete English classes.
Suggestions on Policies Related to English Education in China
With all the problems above concerned，several solutions are obtained for the English education policies.
It’s essential for the Chinese government release the strict constraints on the language usage.Only a complete open environment can induce a higher motivation for English as the demand of English these days are boosting.Just like Hong Kong，governments in the mainland can also allow several radios to be broadcast in English，especially those radios loved by Chinese adolescence.For people out of student age who have little knowledge of English，it’s adoptable to implement programs of teaching simple English.
On the level of the Ministry of Education，they should strengthen
Keywords：comparison，analysis，English-related education policy，mainland，
Hong Kong
Language Policies in Greater China
In the mainland，linguistic policies have changed from standardization of an official language to the preservation of minor languages and the popularization of English since the middle of the 20th century.In September 2001，English became a compulsory subject in Grade 3 in all elementary schools that have suitably qualified teachers，lowering the age to start learning English from 11 to 9，with two to three 40-minute lessons per week in primary schools，and five to six 45-minute lessons in secondary schools（Lo，Orton &Gao，2009）.Related decree “Guidelines for promoting English Teaching in Elementary Schools” could be found in the People’s Education Press（2003.4）.Meanwhile，in 2001，the Ministry of Education issued the “Guidelines for Improving Teaching for University Graduate Students”，in which it was suggested that 5 to 10 percent of all undergraduate teaching should be imparted through a foreign language among which，as expected，English was the ‘big winner”.However，in 2013，several regions in mainland planned to decrease the percentage or cancel the English test in the college entrance examinations.It’s guessed that higher attention will be given to Chinese.
In Hong Kong，Chinese and English has been placed in the same important position.In Article 9 of Kong Kong Principal Law，it’s set like this：“In addition to the Chinese language，English may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities，legislature and judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” Also，it’s known that Kong Kong government promotes Bi-literacy and Tri-lingualism.To a large extent，universities there have created an excellent atmosphere of English in class.
Problems of Language Education Policies in Mainland
Comparing the language education among the mainland Hong Kong，there are sharp contrasts and differences.
From the perspective of the society environment，atmosphere of English usage in mainland is much different from that in Hong Kong.Though English is taught throughout the country，the percentage of people who can speak English is not that big.And it’s said that China’s access to WTO and the 2008 Olympics are the only two major factors encouraging Chinese to speak English（Romina，2012）.According to National Common Character and Language Law of People’s Republic of China，there are a series of regulations on the usage of Chinese：Article 10，“Schools and other education institutions use Mandarin and standard Chinese characters as the primary teaching words in education.” Article 11，“Publications which need to use foreign languages should be noted with our national language.” Hence，English is certain to be positioned as a secondary language.And the Chinese government will never decrease the importance of Mandarine and Chinese.Anyway，policies like these put constraints to English development.On the contrary，English development in Hong Kong is less limited.Firstly，the correspondence between literate characters and spoken language is vague（Lands，2008）.As a result，Cantonese，Chinese and English leave space for each other to survive in the society of Hong Kong.Secondly，its language policy is more emphasized on pragmatism：Chinese for culture heritage，English for communication with outer world and Cantonese for local convenience（Lands，2008）.Thirdly，the policy is relevantly invisible（Lands，2008）.There is no hard constrain on the policy，so people don’t feel it a pressure.For example，in some public radios，some broadcast in mandarin，while some still keep broadcasting in English and Cantonese.In consequence，generations of people in Hong Kong have mastered three languages.Meanwhile，some contrasts are formed in the quality of English education as well.Given the fact that English has became a requirement for access to university and a big professional tool，private English Teaching business have also proliferated，the real situation of English in China is，however，many-fold.First，how easy it results for students to learn English is not high.In regions where pinyin is being taught at early ages，the inclusion of English at the same time may confuse students，since both phonetic alphabets use the same letters.Second，though China is in need of English speakers，neither the number of experts nor the material provided meet those needs.It’s true that over the years thousands of Chinese have studied English.However，the teaching staff is not enough to teach the primary and secondary children of more than 200 million（Hu，2007）.Thirdly，the quality of teaching staff in English-oriented class is high enough，especially in teaching classes of other professions rather than English.Usually teachers are equipped with good professional skills but with no good English skills.They can’t set a good model for the students，who can’t gain high competency from their teachers.Specifically，students in lower grades are less capable for this teaching arrangement than those in higher grade.Fourthly，the English education pattern doesn’t live to the society’s expectations.One the one hand，in English teaching before university，most lessons are about grammar and there is little about English speaking and listening，which are actually the most demanding in the field of career.On the other hand，English education in different stage is not corresponding to the reality of students.For instance，students of English major should be acquainted with strong background information of English history and literature，while in college of professional training，English related to the specific field should be taught，and the related skills，whether it’s reading，listening or speaking should be payed higher attention to.In all，lessons taught
only in English in China is somehow a failure compared with that in Hong Kong.Students in Hong Kong can choose whether to go for complete English classes.
Suggestions on Policies Related to English Education in China
With all the problems above concerned，several solutions are obtained for the English education policies.
It’s essential for the Chinese government release the strict constraints on the language usage.Only a complete open environment can induce a higher motivation for English as the demand of English these days are boosting.Just like Hong Kong，governments in the mainland can also allow several radios to be broadcast in English，especially those radios loved by Chinese adolescence.For people out of student age who have little knowledge of English，it’s adoptable to implement programs of teaching simple English.
On the level of the Ministry of Education，they should strengthen