While most national systems of higher education are confronting seemingly convergent global pressures, specific national or local issues still mark the distinct features of each system. Hence, higher education, in places, has been enmeshed in the tensions between national issues and global pressures. In China, both the global influence sand internal issues have become the major driving forces for current higher education reforms. This paper explores the specific tensions between global pressures and national issues with respect to Chinese higher education in which political, economic and traditional dimensions are focused.