For centuries, China has been extremely attentive to education relating to Confucianism, but at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, under the pressure from the West, China was forced to begin the process of modernization and westernization of all spheres of life, including education. In the first half of the 20th century, one of the important directions of the modernization of education in China was introduced by Hu Shih - a politician, philosopher, diplomat and teacher. He sharply criticized traditional foundations for their inertness, and extolled modern American ideas, but nevertheless, he combined the traditional Confucian and American pragmatic approaches to education. Hu Shih's ideas about education continue to resonate in China to these days.