The same factors appear to drive early childhood policy in all parts of the world, including the importance accorded to early childhood education, national goals, governments' beliefs about their role in the early care and education of young children, governments' regulations of early childhood services, and the background and characteristics of stakeholders. Early childhood education is also embedded in, and molded by, the social and cultural context in which it occurs. This article highlights the role of both social and political forces in shaping early childhood education policy and practice in Hong Kong. The authors examine the implications of these recent reforms for the early childhood sector. Various challenges faced by stakeholders are also addressed. Perhaps the most significant of these is a clash between traditional and contemporary attitudes towards education, and an underestimation of the potent force of sociopolitical and cultural ideals in shaping beliefs about the nature and outcome of education.