Socio-Cultural Changes and Citizenship Education in China: A Historical Review

Abstract

This paper divided Chinese history into four major periods, and reviewed the socio-cultural contexts and citizenship education in each period respectively. It demonstrated that culture was always related with citizenship education: the goal of citizenship education reflected the state orthodoxy, which was decided by the ruler; the contents of citizenship education reflected the cultural background at that time; culture in citizenship education was useful in building up students’ culture (and national) identity, which was useful in consolidating political stability and maintaining social harmony.