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This chapter reviews two main aspects which are not only necessary but alsofundamental for the following discussion of this study. First,the historical backgroundof the U.S. foreign language education policy changes will be reviewed. This providesa historical rationale for the specific policy changes in the U.S. foreign languageeducation. Secondly,previous studies on policy changes in contemporary U.S. foreignlanguage education will be reviewed. The literature review of this part is divided intotwo sections: studies in China and studies abroad.

2.1 Historical background of the Contemporary U.S. Foreign Language Education
To begin with, it is essential to take a review on the historical background of theU.S. foreign language education policy changes. Only when the historical backgroundis clearly known can it be better understood that how foreign language educationpolicies have been changing and what characteristics they have. Therefore, in thissection, the general historical background of both domestic and internationalsituations of the United States will be reviewed. The time span of contemporaryhistorical background covers from 1945 till the present.From the perspective of world history, the cut-off point which demarcatescontemporary time from modem time is the end of the World War II. “The victory ofthe anti-fascist war is the triumph of human civilization against barbarousness. It isthis victory that demarcates the twentieth century into two dynastic histories: themodem time and the contemporary time' (Peng, 2007: 140).'The 1940's and 1950,s were characterized by shifting global political, economicand military alliances,resulting in both bipolarity and a spirit of internationalism'(“The History of Title VI and Fulbright-Hays', 2011: 1). While the situation gotintensified as the rivalry for the world hegemony spiced up in the 1960,s till the1980,s.
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2.2 Previous Studies on the U.S. Foreign Language Education Policies
On the U.S. Foreign Language Education Policies,scholars from both home andabroad have done some researches in this regard. This section is to review the bothdomestic and international studies upon the U.S. foreign language education policies.Since the implementation of the Reform and Opening-up Policy, foreignlanguage education started booming in China. Meanwhile, domestic scholars startedto conduct researches on the U.S. foreign language education policies,trying to findout useful references to improve ours. To generalize, the domestic study in this regardcan be classified into three categories: studies on the U.S. foreign language educationdevelopment history; studies on a certain U.S. foreign language education policy orpolicies of a certain period; and comparative studies on foreign language educationpolicies between the U.S. and China.As for studies on the U.S. foreign language education development history,Guo(1993) concludes that the postwar period from the late 1960’s till present is the timewhen the U.S. foreign language education has experienced a rejuvenation. By taking aretrospection of the past 50 years of the U.S. foreign language education developmentZhang (2012) points out that the U.S. foreign language education policies reveals itsnational consideration of national security. This includes security in politics,economy,military and diplomacy. Xiao (1997) retrospects the policy changes in the postwar U.Sforeign language education and su