The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus urges us to review China??s modern and contemporary design education, especially the pioneers of design education that emerged from 1911 to 2011 deserve our study and exploration. Literature research, expert interviews, field research and cluster analysis are used to explore the educational thoughts and historical contributions of pioneers in modern and contemporary design education in China, and to review the“100-year history of modern and contemporary design education in China”or“transformation and reform history of Chinese design education”from the perspective of“human”, the main body of design education. Taking modern China as the time line, this paper explores the representative design thoughts and education ideas of the pioneers of design education in each period, and puts forward new development ideas for the future design education. The pioneers of modern and contemporary design education have created a precedent and laid a foundation for Chinese design education. We should combine history and national conditions to give them their due positioning and evaluation.