T Theories and Changes of Teachers’ Role in China from a Perspective of Sociology Jiangtao Zhao, Tien-hui Chiang, Qian Zhou, Laiting Cui, Peipei Jin, Qiaohong Wang, Ying Liu and Junren Liu Academy of Globalization and Education Policy, School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China Introduction Education occurred as human beings came into being and teachers appeared with education. Therefore, teaching is one of the oldest profes- sions. A teacher ’s role may vary in different cul- tures. Teachers may provide instruction in content areas, community roles, or life skills. Formal teaching tasks include preparing lessons according to agreed curricula, giving lessons, and assessing learners’ progress, and more. As the only country with uninterrupted human civilization, Chinese civilization was born on the shores of the Yellow river in 2800 BC. Writing is one of the most important manifestations of civi- lization. The Jiaguwens (oracle bone inscriptions) found in Henan, China, were some of the oldest characters in the world. The word teaching in Jiaguwen is consisted of two parts. The lower left part was a human being, above whom were whips and the right part was a stick. We can tell that some forms of punishment were needed even in the initial stage of education. Pictogram: Jiaguwen–teaching In the long history river of China, teachers lived in a complicated social network with differ- ent social status and played different roles (Yang & Wang, 2007). However, there were no great changes in teachers’ roles before the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, and so this is summarized here in one section. In recent China, great changes have taken place and so have teachers’ roles. Hence, more emphasis is placed on modern Chinese teachers. Main Theories of Social Changes and Teachers’ Roles Durkheim (1933) argues that the division of labor is characterized by the ability to reintegrate the work of a massive number of social actors into an # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 M. A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_619-1