Abstract: Bilingual education has experienced ups and downs through its nearly 400 years of history in the US.Its evolution has mainly undergone the four periods of free development，restricted development，prosperous promotion and declination.Its development has been influenced by many factors such as politics，culture and immigration.Through the reflection on the development of bilingual education in the US from a historical and practical perspective，the author concludes that China should practice maintenance bilingual education and that stable language education policy and high quality bilingual teachers and text books also contribute to the healthy development of bilingual education in China.

Key words: the US, bilingual education, language policy, pluralism, identification