This book is a direct and empirical response to the mounting official interest in citizenship
education increasing dynamics between state and society and growing citizenship awareness and
practice in society in contemporary China. Placing the focus on society the book investigates
the meaning of the Chinese term gongmin - equivalent to 'citizen' - in non-official media
discourses and in university students' and migrant workers' perceptions through the
constructed analytical lens of Western citizenship conception. By laying out the complex
details of how the meaning of the term resembles and deviates in and between collective social
discourses and individual citizens' understandings with reference to state discourses the book
makes clear that there is discrepancy in the meaning of gongmin between state and society and
that the meaning varies in contemporary Chinese society.Cutting across multiple topics this
book is a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in Chinese citizenship
East-West citizenship citizenship education the media university students and migrant
workers in China.
