The history of English test reform on secondary level in China is a reflection of Chinese development in recent 30 years. The stress on English language helps move on Chinese reform-and-open process. On the new historical step, there are some criticisms of English language and English language education in China. Particularly some people hold that it is necessary to reform the English tests, to re-understand the significance of English, and to lower down its weight in education. Meanwhile some others still emphasize the importance of English language and English language education in China, refusing to weaken the status of English in school education. The two trends of thinking could be explained by the cultural politics of English education in mainland China. Though English helps in Chinese reform-and-open history, it produces difficulty in education because of its role as a foreign language, and it would bring about some possible problem in the field of ideology.