Temporality is a relatively new conception in the field of education policy. Drawing upon historical sociology, this article aims to contribute to the field by deconstructing China's policy discourse - education modernization. It traces the history of the discourse (1904-2012) to analyze how Chinese rurality is interwoven into the nation's pursuit of modern country status. Two temporal threads are identified: "the rural as a problem" and "the rural as a modernization plan." The article reveals how the threads forms a paradoxical position of the rural in China's current modernization agenda: "the problematized rural as a potential empowering force." The findings illuminate how the policy constructs a history narrative thereby constructing a unified destiny of the nation for the future, which entrusts education policy with moral significances. China's case demonstrates how education policy inherits and utilizes historical and cultural assumptions as a governing technique, while being shaped and constrained by them.