The transformation of citizenship education at universities in the People's Republic of China from 1998--2006

This dissertation examines and analyzes the changes of citizenship education at universities in China from 1998--2006 both in terms of theoretical foundations and pedagogical methods.;There are a total of five chapters in this dissertation. Chapter One raises the issue by addressing the main research problem of recent changes of citizenship education (officially called ideo-political education) in China's higher institutions. The term "ideo-political education" will be used throughout the rest of this study mainly because this was a direct translation from the Chinese version of citizenship education. The researcher's rationale for studying and analyzing the periods of 1998--2006 was because of two main factors. One being that the civics studies curriculum for China's higher institutions were standardized in 1998. The other being that two contrasting curriculum plans (Plan '98 and Plan '05) were designed and implemented in 1998 and 2006 respectively.;Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature which includes both historical and global perspectives on the concept of citizenship education and recent development of citizenship education worldwide as well as the discrepancies between the fundamental and instrumental levels of the official Chinese ideology that became apparent in the 1980s and 1990s.;Chapter Three provides the research methods used to conduct this study. This study utilizes a qualitative approach to analyze and compare the current ideo-political education curriculum to previous ideo-political education curriculum at five major Chinese universities in the city of Shanghai in order to understand the transition in the overall direction of citizenship education in Chinese universities. It also acknowledges the limitation of this study.;Chapter Four provides the research findings of this study by providing detailed and analytical answers to the research questions. The findings are divided into three sections including a curriculum framework comparison of two curriculum plans, an in-depth comparison of eight civics textbooks, and a comparison of the 40 interviews for similarities and differences and thereby delves deep into the purpose of reform in China's ideo-political education.;Chapter Five summarizes the main findings if this study. The immediate aim of the Chinese government is to strengthen the "legitimacy of the official achievements" through the offering of the reformed version of ideo-political courses in order to maintain a stable political situation both within the university campuses and the society as a whole.