China began its modern system of higher education with the establishment of the former Peking University in Beijing in 1898. The traditional Confucian philosophy of education has been replaced dramatically by modern western philosophy. However, since the communist party came to power in 1949, the philosophy of higher education has experienced many more dramatic changes. In Mao's time between 1949 and 1976, Maoism philosophy largely displaced Western, so-called capitalistic, philosophy and dominated Chinese higher education for almost 30 years. One consequence was the closing of universities to middle school graduates during the Cultural Revolutionary era. Higher education resumed in 1977, when China began the new era of openness and reform. This essay will explore how Chinese higher education has sought to provide for the common good since that time. I will introduce the meaning of the "common good" in its Chinese cultural context, and then I will describe the dominant ideas of education philosophy and how the idea of the common good encourages an alternative approach for higher education. Finally, I will use my own experiences as a case study to explain how the mechanism of service-learning can help students realize and contribute to the common good.