Foreign language education in Shanghai has developed greatly since the 19th century. Many factors such as the social changes and the eminent people’s promotion have motivated the development. The missionaries, the outstanding figures and the returned students who had studied abroad popularized foreign language education, which lead to the renewal of knowledge and the progress of the society. The common people provided the social foundation for the development because they gradually changed their attitude towards the foreign things and accepted the foreign languages and the western way of life. The government policies of education played the decisive roles in the development. The missionary schools extended their influence and attracted more people. The practical benefit motivated people to learn foreign languages. The dispute about the following questions, for instance, why to learn a foreign language, which foreign language should be learned and what roles could a foreign language play, had been evoked and made people know more about the importance. Foreign language education had finally gained its legal status and became an important part of the education modernization in China in the 20th century.