Synthesizing Citizenship in Modern China1

Abstract

AbstractThis article reviews the recent scholarship on citizenship in early twentieth‐century China and presents a conceptual framework for analyzing citizenship, there and elsewhere, as a complex formation of ideas and practices. The article asks why citizenship became so important in late Qing and early Republican China and why Euro‐American scholars have been so attentive to it during the last two decades. It then draws on the rich historical literature to characterize four distinct dimensions of modern Chinese citizenship. In discussing national identity, political participation and civil rights, cultural citizenship, and social membership, the author reflects on possible axes of comparison between Chinese and Euro‐American approaches to citizenship. Finally, the article argues that these four aspects can be viewed as part of a composite whole that identified Chinese citizenship with active participation in concrete tasks to contribute to national welfare.