A Chinese Model of Citizenship Education in Taiwan: Under the Influence of Globalization, Localization and Cross-Straitization

Abstract

Although the trends of western democracy and the Confucian tradition have had a great impact on the formation of Taiwan’s recent citizenship education policies, a third force, derived from the cross-strait relationships between Taiwan and China, has also played a critical role in shaping these policies. This chapter is an attempt to portray citizenship education in Taiwan as one of the manifestations of Chinese models from a multi-faceted perspective including Chinese cultural heritage, western democracy, and the cross-strait relationships with China. The author argues that, like many other countries in East Asia, citizenship education is a contested term in Taiwan, which fulfills the needs of social change, government policy and personal development. It has been found that the concept of national identity received very little attention in current Taiwan’s citizenship education thanks to her ambiguous political status with China. Nevertheless, an image of ‘being Taiwanese’ is increasingly promoted and receives more and more attention in curriculum and instruction in Taiwan.