In 1932, with the help of the League of Nations, the Chinese government sent an educational mission consisting of five scholars to Europe, in order to investigate education in different countries as reference points for ongoing Chinese educational reform. This article argues that educators in the mission used foreign examples to support their existing educational reform proposals, and that such a situation resulted from their understanding of the function of national education and China's practical situation. In doing so, the article adopts a transntional perspective and focuses on the discussions around national educational aims and general impressions of education in European countries, with a particular emphasis on two educators of the mission--Cheng Qibao and Yang Lian. To begin with, the article introduces the educational reform background of the mission--namely, what the Kuomintang (KMT) wanted national education to contribute. In the second part, the article discusses the understanding of the two educators regarding the social function of education, and reveals that, although they admired idealised internationalism, they considered that Chinese education should still prioritise a nationalist viewpoint. In the third part, the article analyses how the two educators constructed their impressions of education in those European countries, and used these impressions to remind readers about the Chinese situation. In the final part, the article discusses the proposals the two educators put forward and analyses the potential factors that prevented their proposals from having a concrete impact on Chinese educational reform.