This paper delineates the rise, fall and re-emergence of "tongshi" education in Chinese higher education history, and in doing so hopes to reveal the underlying forces behind the two waves of "tongshi" education and capture their important 'Chinese' characteristics. Based on a comparative-historical examination of the Chinese knowledge traditions and their modern developments across different time periods, this paper argues that despite deliberate efforts to borrow from the American general education model, "tongshi" education in China stands out as an evolving, localized educational ideal embedded within the changing socio-cultural, political and institutional environments that Chinese universities are situated in. Three salient 'Chinese' features are put forward, i.e. a dual focus on reviving the Chinese learning and opening to the world, an underlying rationale to foster a collectivistic, political consciousness, and finally an economic-driven, utilitarian orientation to produce innovative talents.