An examination of China's policy, "making the ancient serve the present and foreign things serve China," introduced by Mao Ze-dong, is intended to provoke further discussion of the ideological dimension of foreign language education (FLE) in China. Some observers suggest that this has been an important guiding doctrine in FLE since 1949, both overtly and as an underlying ideology. Development of this policy is placed in historical perspective, and the policy's impact on FLE and on people's attitudes toward foreign language expertise and foreign technology are represented through documented facts and examples. Implications of the policy in FLE are then explored by examining the country's most influential foreign language course, college English, focusing on its syllabus, materials writing, and teaching methods. Finally, how the policy will be implemented further is discussed by examining some "quasi-official" documents, a term coined to refer to commercial publications authored by or bearing names of senior government officials. Contains 39 references. (MSE)