In this article we examine ideologies of English in present-day China with a special focus on textbook discourse. The research framework is informed by critical theories on language and education. Critical discourse analysis is applied as a methodological approach characterized by a socially committed attitude in the explanation and interpretation of text. The study finds evidence of: (a) a selective representation of the history of English, (b) shallow sociolinguistic explanations, and (c) grammatical prescriptivism. These issues attest to the Anglo-centric language ideologies assuming the sociolinguistic "neutrality" and grammatical "uniformity" of English. In response, we argue for a multicultural and cosmopolitan perspective on curriculum development marked by an intercultural understanding of both the global and the local.