The teaching of mathematics in Chinese elementary schools

China is a country with a long history and glorious civilization. Its tradition of putting emphasis on early education, especially children's learning of mathematics, is well known throughout the world. The superior achievements of elementary school students in mathematical learning have been attributed to the unique characteristics of the Chinese language, the simplicity of the Chinese number naming system, and the specific social environmental influence in Chinese society. Aside from the logical reasoning characteristics of the Chinese language, people usually count things in numerical order, e.g., Weekday 1, Weekday 2; Month 1, Month 2, etc., so that Chinese children become familiar with numbers at an early age, and are skillful in mental arithmetic operations. Training in good computational skills is crucial in the early period of mathematics learning. By use of the multiplication table, a cultural heritage of more than 2000 years that consists of a set of rhythmic formulae of multiplications, children can easily recall the product of two single-digit numbers quickly and accurately, and find the quotient of a division directly. Mathematics teaching in elementary schools plays an essential role in the development of children's mathematical thinking ability, always a core task of teaching in China. Elementary school teachers have initiated various teaching methods to promote children's thinking to follow the course from the concrete to the abstract. Some of these effective methods are introduced in this paper. In the educational reform of China, the Ministry of Education proclaimed a new standard for the teaching of mathematics courses in elementary schools. Due to the availability of computers, some changes have been made in the requirements for written calculations. Intuitive thinking as well as creative abilities are to be cultivated. In order to meet the new standards, the role of the teacher is emphasized. The teaching/learning plan will be an interactive programme between teacher and students.