One-way ticket: A story of an innovative teacher in mainland China

This article is based on a true story about a Chinese teacher who applied a n innovative pedagogy in her rural hometown in mainland China. It unfolds t he highly complex and often dangerous remaking of ideologies and power rela tions inherent in pedagogical reform as a microcosm of other concomitant ch anges in the society at large. It also reflects the inadequacy of teacher e ducation in preparing teachers to survive the micropolitics of the seemingl y neutral or beneficial-to-all education reform.