Rethinking Citizenship and Citizenship Education in Contemporary China: Discourses and Politics

Chen, Sicong

doi:10.1080/10611932.2020.1716607

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The formation of PRC citizen subjects is thus an “unfinished project” (Isin, 2012) mediated by the ethical‐political reflections and manoeuvres of actors both within and outside the party-state system. Future research could investigate the diverse historical and cultural roots of Chinese citizenship and how these are deployed in the citizenship practices found in a variety of contexts (see also Chen, 2020; Wang, 2022). Such studies will deepen our understandings of the political‐moral order of the PRC and the creative citizenship practices of citizen-actors in contemporary China.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the emergent field of Chinese citizenship studies, the dominant approaches remain concerned with citizenship as membership, whereas others essentialize citizenship as a Western invention (Chen, 2020; Wang, 2022). Both approaches impoverish the conceptual power of citizenship and overlook its profound relevance to the contemporary Chinese context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Practicing citizenship privately: ethical self-fashioning and citizen-making in the revival of “Chinese Traditional Culture”

Zhang

2022

STICS

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Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship between ethical self-fashioning and citizenship practices in the ongoing revival of “Chinese Traditional Culture” pursued in tandem by the party-state and by private actors in present-day China. Design/methodology/approach Adopting an anthropological approach, the author draws from three sets of resources: (1) research literature on China’s political history and key texts of early Chinese thought, (2) contemporary state discourses on citizen formation, and (3) participant observation notes and interviews with organizers and followers of the Wu-Wei School (a pseudonym). The author conducts a textual analysis of primary and secondary literature and a critical discourse analysis of the ethnographic data and examines emerging themes. Findings Firstly, the author identifies a crucial dimension in the historical and cultural roots of Chinese citizenship practices: an enduring conception that binds individual ethical self-improvement with socio-political flourishing. Secondly, examining contemporary state discourses on “citizen quality” and “reviving China’s outstanding traditional culture”, the author showcases how party-state authorities call on individuals to self-reform for national rejuvenation. Thirdly, the author investigates how members of the Wu-Wei School construe their individual pursuits of ethical self-improvement as significant for societal progress. Originality/value Based on these findings, the author demonstrates the ways in which autochthonous conceptions of Chinese citizenship give a central place to private acts of self-fashioning. The author argues that the entanglement between individual ethics and citizenship practices constitutes a crucial but largely understudied dimension of Chinese citizenship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practicing citizenship privately: ethical self-fashioning and citizen-making in the revival of “Chinese Traditional Culture”

Zhang

2022

STICS

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“…The official discourse has undergone subtle changes with China’s social transformations, but its core values have remained the same. According to Chen (2020), the core values of the official discourse lie in the fact that “citizens are expected to put the party-state first and follow the ideologies and rules set by it, rather than to act as decision-makers and have the final say on the running of the state” (p. 9). In line with this, Li and Tan (2017) found that Chinese teachers perceive “good citizens” as those who actively promote the official discourse by showing loyalty to the authorities, obeying public orders and respecting their filial elders.…”

Section: China’s Practice Of Citizenship: Education As a Battlefield ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the state’s reach? Education and citizen making in China

Zhao,

Wang

2023

STICS

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Purpose This special issue aims to address the complexities and dynamics in contemporary China’s citizen-making processes, with a focus on the educational dimension. Design/methodology/approach The four articles in this special issue present citizen-making processes in both educational and cultural arenas. Based on the rich, first-hand data collected inside and outside China, the researchers revealed the dynamics of the educative processes, as the interplay of different mechanisms produces new understandings of citizenship practice. Findings This special issue sheds light on the rise of new types of citizens, who are emerging at the grassroots level in China, beyond the state’s strict direct regulations, along with the rise of market forces and multicultural communities in Chinese society today. Contributors to this special issue have captured an ongoing change, in that the diversified citizen-making mechanisms are, to a certain extent, mitigating the party-state’s definitive monopoly on forging citizens and are creating new spaces for individuals to develop fresh forms of political subjectivity and citizenship practice. In this sense, we argue for the unpacking of the citizen-making processes in present-day China not only from the lens of state-dominated, top-down initiatives but also from that of participatory, bottom-up initiatives performed by grassroots groups with differentiated socio-economic statuses and cultural traditions. Originality/value This special issue can be regarded as a contribution to the growing field of Chinese citizenship studies, which constitutes an integral part of the unfinished project of citizenship after orientalism.

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“…Viewed through the eyes of the party-state, the mobilisation of cultural heritage and historical episodesincluding references to imperial dynasties and the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)serves manifold purposes. Indeed, this politico-cultural operation purports to at once underpin political legitimacy in a low-growth economic environment, invoke unifying narratives of Chinese identity and support the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" (Callahan, 2017;Chen, 2023;Unger, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics of Memory, Heritage, and Diversity in Modern China

Mayer,

Pawlik

2023

Journal of Current Chinese Affairs

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Interpretations and memorialisations of China's long history, in service of political aspirations of the present and towards the future, have long attracted scholarly attention. This special issue addresses how the curation, performance, and consumption of collective memory provide valuable insight into the interplay between the reconstruction of Chinese identity, cultural modernisation, and the shifting role of heritage and memory in Chinese domestic and international politics. Touching on issues around diversity in, for instance, personal/collective memory or community-based/state-led heritage, we consider how state–society relations inform local memory practices. Furthermore, the articles enclosed discuss pertinent and far-reaching impacts of China's cultural-material changes, transformations, and destructions in service of memory re-formation. Investigating the politicisation of heritage and the material solidification of strategically selected representations of the past, we consider how the notion of “memory infrastructure” contributes to an academic understanding of the interaction between history, memory, and politics.

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Rethinking Citizenship and Citizenship Education in Contemporary China: Discourses and Politics

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Practicing citizenship privately: ethical self-fashioning and citizen-making in the revival of “Chinese Traditional Culture”

Practicing citizenship privately: ethical self-fashioning and citizen-making in the revival of “Chinese Traditional Culture”

Beyond the state’s reach? Education and citizen making in China

Politics of Memory, Heritage, and Diversity in Modern China

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