China’s AI education transition illustrates a broader global shift: the central challenge is no longer whether schools can access AI tools, but whether education systems can redesign institutions fast enough to use them well. This brief examines how assessment pressure, teacher readiness, governance capacity, and uneven implementation shape China’s AI education pathway. By connecting China’s case with comparative insights from five countries, it argues that meaningful AI adoption requires moving beyond pilots and technology enthusiasm toward institutional change, evidence systems, and human-centered implementation.