As early as 1727, the Qing government opened a Russian library in Beijing to teach Russian. This is the beginning of modern foreign language teaching in China. Until 1862, at the repeated invitation of Prince Gong Yi Kuang (1833-1898), the Qing government established the capital Wentong Museum on the basis of the Russian Museum, and began to teach English, French, Japanese and other languages.

The next 40 years will be the long embryonic stage of English teaching in China. 1902, the Qing government issued the chapter of Qingong Middle School, started to set up middle schools, and listed English as a compulsory course in middle schools. In this way, China began a more formal English teaching in middle schools. 19 13, Nanjing Provisional Government promulgated the Curriculum Standards for Middle Schools, making English a compulsory course in middle schools.

1922, following the example of Britain, the United States and other countries, Nanjing government made English a compulsory course in middle schools, and promulgated the first national unified programmatic document "English Curriculum Standards for Middle Schools", which stipulated the purpose requirements, teaching time, teaching content and simple teaching methods of English teaching. However, in semi-feudal and semi-colonial old China, education was very backward, and few people had the opportunity to learn English.

1977, China resumed the college entrance examination system, and the "English fever" accompanied by the craze for knowledge rose rapidly throughout the country. The score of 1979 in NMET is recorded as 10% in the total score, increasing year by year. To 1983, the total score of English college entrance examination is recorded as 100%. Since then, English has become one of the main compulsory subjects in the college entrance examination, which has greatly promoted English teaching in middle schools.