It would be easy for those not intimately acquainted with China to assume that the idea of citizenship is irrelevant… This lively and theoretically innovative collection of essays proves otherwise. It is an important read not only for students of Chinese politics and society, but also for those interested in the state–society relations of non-democratic countries more broadly…. In sum, this book contributes to a variety of ongoing debates in the field of Chinese studies, citizenship studies and political sociology…[I]t is a rich collection of materials and perspectives on the ways in which individuals and groups interact with the authorities in contemporary China.

Europe-Asia Studies

Theorizing Chinese Citizenship is an eye-opener for those who still believe that citizenship is an exclusively western concept. This collection provides insights into the origins of Chinese ideas about citizenship and their relation with Confucianism, the current stratification of rights, citizenship practices among workers and middle classes, and citizenship consciousness among students and ethnic minorities. A must-read book for all who are interested in the potential and constraints for a democratic transformation of Chinese society.

Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute

This book is a fascinating contribution to citizenship studies. Its originality is to provide alternative accounts of the origins and development of modern Chinese citizenship and its contemporary meanings and functions. It eschews, on the one hand, Euro-American-centric perspectives that see citizenship in China as a derivative institution, and, on the other hand, essentialist accounts that see Chinese citizenship as a pure expression of ostensibly Asian values. Instead, the book provides lively analyses of modern Chinese citizenship as a struggle over obligations and for civil, political, and social rights.

Engin Isin, Professor of International Politics, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP)

In what sense can ‘citizenship’ be said to exist in contemporary Chinese society? What challenges face the further development of citizenship in China? The contributions in this book offer significant new theoretical and empirical studies of these important problems. The strong theoretical chapters which open the book provide new insights into the modern history, comparative sociology, and ideational structures of citizenship in China, while the bulk of the more empirically-oriented chapters which follow weave theoretical themes in interesting studies of citizenship-related identities and rights, problems and actions in the key areas of the lives of migrant workers, the emergence of a new urban middle class, and developments in education. This book succeeds in making a persuasive case for the value of a ‘citizenship studies’ framework for understanding social and political change in contemporary China.

Maurice Roche, Sheffield University