China’s education system from a cross-cultural perspective: an in-depth observation and scholarly assessment by a Vietnamese Chinese-language teacher

China’s education system is frequently interpreted through Western-centered comparative frameworks that emphasize binary contrasts (for example, “rote learning versus critical thinking” and “centralization versus autonomy”). Such readings risk overlooking the historical rationalities and developmental priorities that shape educational governance in many parts of the Global South. Drawing on long-term participant observation and reflexive positionality as a Vietnamese Chinese-language teacher and international doctoral student in China, this article offers a cross-cultural, non-normative assessment of China’s educational structures and academic socialization. It foregrounds interpretive empathy and epistemic pluralism, highlighting how institutional coherence, research-driven graduate training, and evolving pedagogies are experienced in everyday academic life. The article further provides a focused Vietnam–China comparison over the past seven years (approximately 2019–25), with attention to compulsory education and higher education reforms, and it examines Vietnam’s growing recognition of Chinese as an institutionalized language in general education, including the promulgation of Chinese as a “first foreign language” option and the approval of localized primary-level Chinese textbooks. The analysis argues for “multiple modernities” in education: rather than treating any single model as universal, global scholarship should cultivate dialogical understanding among diverse educational trajectories in an increasingly multipolar world.