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Article
The Construction and Performance of Citizenship in Contemporary China
Journal of Contemporary China (2022)
  • Carolyn L Hsu, Colgate University
  • Jessica Teets, Middlebury College
  • Reza Hasmath, University of Alberta
  • Jennifer YJ Hsu, University of New South Wales
  • Timothy Hildebrandt, London School of Economics and Political Science
Abstract
Citizenship education has been an explicit part of the universal education system in contemporary China. Using data from an original nationwide survey conducted in 2018, this study tests the hypothesis that the longer the intensity of exposure to citizenship education, the more citizens are influenced by a state-led conception of citizenship characterized by passive obedience and loyalty to the state. The study finds mixed results in that citizenship education is effective at lower educational levels, but at higher levels it is not only less effective, but instead may foster (or at minimum, does not deter) more active conceptions of citizenship.
Keywords
  • active and passive citizenship,
  • formal education,
  • authoritarian regimes,
  • China
Publication Date
2022
Citation Information
Hsu, C., Teets, J. Hasmath, R., Hsu, J. and Hildebrandt, T. (2022) “The Construction and Performance of Citizenship in Contemporary China”, Journal of Contemporary China 31(138): 827-843.