How to deal with the relationship between tradition and modernity has become a global concern under the impact of pluralism. This book explores the relationship between traditional Dai culture and modern school education through a field study in the Dai region of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China.

The study analyses the reasons for conflicts between monastic education and modern school education in the Dai region of Xishuangbanna. It also discusses the logic behind the formation of the Dai people’s belief in Southern Theravada Buddhism and its importance in Dai culture. Through the analysis of the changes in monastic education before and after the intervention of the modern school system, the study finds symbiosis in the differences and conflicts between these two forms of education. The author proposes a symbiosis theory of multiple educational forms in ethnic areas and offers targeted solutions to specific problems between the Dai monastic education and modern school education in Xishuangbanna.

This book will be a great read to students and scholars of Chinese studies, ethnic studies, education, and those who are interested in multi- ethnicity issues in general.

"This book identifies cultural and pedagical issues that emerge in the gradual integration of a Chinese minority into modernization. The reader is treated to a detailed description of the Buddhist Dai people juggling indigenous, honored, culture, religion, and pedagogy with the implacable movement of modernization. This transition and its difficulties is pertinent to all the countries of the world which address multiculturalism."

Carl Ratner, Adjunct professor of psychology in the doctoral program, Autonomous University of Morelos, Mexico.

"A pair of cultural contradictions: tradition and modernity, lies in front of all humans. How to solve it is not only a theoretical but also a practical issue. Chen Hui’s book has laid a solid cultural foundation for the development of the Xishuangbanna Dai people by studying on their tradition through monastic education and their modernity through school education, thus forming a symbiotic and complementary structure."

Zhang Shiya, Center for Studies of Education and Psychology of Ethnic Minorities In Southwest China, Southwest University, China

Hui Chen, PhD in Education, Associate Professor, is a full- time researcher at the Center for Studies of Education and Psychology of Ethnic Minorities in Southwest China of Southwest University, a key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education. She used to be a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Education of Beijing Normal University. Her main research areas are ethnic education issues and basic education theory. She has published nearly fifty academic papers and three academic books; She has presided over two projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China, one project of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, and three research projects funded by the provincial government.