State building and the origin of modern Chinese citizenship education

Abstract

Based on a review of the situation of modern Chinese state building and the context in which citizenship education emerged, this chapter states that, China started the process of modern state building at the turn of the twentieth century. In order to achieve social integration and enhance the legitimacy of state power, the late Qing government introduced citizenship education through the newly established modern schools. The late Qing government stipulated that new schools incorporated Xiushen (literally, self-cultivation) and Dujing (literally, scripture reading), determined their educational purpose, and promoted nationally customized textbooks to “unite morals and customs”. The citizenship education in the late Qing period shows that the goals of citizenship education were to build a strong, modern state and “save the nation”.