Trajectories of the development of Chinese citizenship rights in the post-Mao era

Abstract

Since the reform and opening-up, Chinese citizenship rights have been expanded in three aspects: the increase of civil rights, including individual freedom, migration, speech, and property rights; the development of political rights, including grass-roots democracy and democratic consultation; and the substantial progress of social rights, including pension, medical care, schooling, and housing. In contrast to the development trajectory of citizenship rights in most Western countries, the trajectory in China is showed as: giving priority to civil rights, then promoting social rights substantially, and steadily developing political rights. China’s experiences of citizenship right development can be characterized as ‘cross growth and selective evolution’ as a whole. China can provide abundant theoretical implications for the comparative study of citizenship rights.