| “Citizenship is a powerful concept,which not only recognizes the dignity of the individual,but also restates the social background of individual action.”Based on the need for national governance,all countries have all included the morality,politics and legal elements into civic education and hence to promote the realization of democracy and rule of law by improving civic literacy.In order to face the challenge of the democracy and the rule of law in the globalized information age,but also to satisfy the subjectivity construction need in China's democratization and rule of law processes,the strategic planning of“including the‘rule of law'education into the national educational system”has been made in the“Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Pertaining to the Comprehensive Advancement of the Rule of Law”,adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.In 2016,the Ministry of Education,the Ministry of Justice and National Law Promotion Office jointly enacted the rule of law Educational Syllabus for Teenagers,in which the rule of law education for teenagers is confirmed as“a basic project to comprehensively govern the country by law and accelerate the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law”.The construction of the rule of law needs to adhere to an integrated construction of a country,a government and a society under the rule of law,whereas the construction of a society under the rule of law depends on the improvement of the rule of law awareness of all citizens.Therefore,the new requirement,“improving the rule of law awareness of the whole nation”has been raised in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.Therefore,to respond to China's actual demand for the construction of the rule of law,there is an urgent need to comprehensively explore the new pattern and new path for the rule of law education and to improve the rule of law awareness of citizens,hence to mould them into qualified socialist citizens.This paper has adopted empirical analysis and multidisciplinary crossover study in discussing the construction of the pattern of the civic education in contemporary China and its specific path of implementation.1.The reform of civic education in the age of globalization and its trendThe coming of the globalized information age has also resulted in a great change to the role and identity of citizens,as well as their appeals for value,which brings great challenges to civic education in various countries.Though the exploration of the pattern of civic education by various countries has achieved some success,they also face many difficulties.Based on the formation of the consciousness,a community with a shared future for mankind,as well as the common pursuit for the concept of democracy and rule of law and value,the rule of law education in the future world appears to have such a development trend,which is the equal attention on the universality and particularity of the connotation of“citizen”,the dual consideration of the uniformity of national identity and diversity among ethnic groups,and the compatibility between the patriotism and cosmopolitanism.First of all,there has been a great change to civic education in the age of globalization.Along with the economic globalization,and the rapid development of traffic and information technology,people's behaviors and exchange has exceeded the boundaries of countries and some large international economic organizations have taken the place of some functions of the national states.International conventions and regulations gradually form the international order,which further promotes the formation of world citizenship awareness.This brings a huge shock to the concept of the national states.In the process of globalization,the position of international economic organization and transnational corporations becomes more and more important.The enterprise cultures in those countries constitute an evident erosion of the cultural identity in the national states.Besides,the multi-culture has spawned the formation of multiple citizenships,including urban citizen,national state citizen,semi-federal citizen beyond the form of a state,i.e.EU and world citizen.The multiple citizenships also constitute a great challenge to the national identity,which is to say,in the economic globalization and under the global network,multi-culture,value,belief,as well as the blending,conflicting,colliding and integrating between ideology and belief,people's original value and behavioral pattern are all under the shock,which results in challenges in terms of national identity and national cohesion.Along with the rapid development of the network information technology and AI technology,there has been a great change to the behavioral pattern and exchange pattern in human society,and consequently,this has triggered a social reform involving a“dual space”consisted of virtual and reality.The act of citizens in such“dual space”has shown certain bewilderment,which leads to a pressing need for the fostering of digital citizenship.In the democratic and political practices carried out by various countries,political apathy has become the giant resistance for many national states to advance democracy and the rule of law.The fostering of“proactive citizens”who participate in a nation's political life in a vigorous,proactive and rational manner has become a call in this age.Above changes have resulted in unprecedented challenges that have been encountered by civic education in various countries in the age of globalization.Secondly,the existing line of thought and pattern for education have various kinds of defects and difficulties.Civic education is an important agenda for the construction of a modern state.The quality of citizens,to some extent,determines the level of modernization for countries and nations.The patterns of civic education formed by different countries are different because of the different ideas on civic education and different training objectives which are being upheld by them.Regardless of the republicanism,liberalism,communitarianism and multiculturalism which appeared early in western countries,ethicism that originated in East Asian countries or many others,civic education patterns formed by any of those conceptual guidance made their debut in countries in different territories,under different social systems or institutions,and also to adapt to different demands for state governance,“citizens with rights”,“citizens with responsibilities”and“proactive citizen”are fostered.However,in the actual practice of civic education,while for each pattern to manifest its own glamour in education and to achieve certain success,flaws that can not be overcome by itself also exist,bringing hidden worries to the development of a country and a society.Secondly,in order to deal with all difficulties found in the globalized information age,countries have explored the civic education in many forms.The trend of civic education in the future should be reflected by the equal attention on the universality and particularity of the connotation of“citizen”,the dual consideration of the uniformity of national identity and diversity among ethnic groups,and the compatibility between the patriotism and cosmopolitanism.For different countries and for different ages,there are different interpretations of the connotation of“citizen”.If we view from the perspective of universality,the connotation of citizen should include the positioning of the relationship between a citizen and a country,and the relevant rights and responsibilities of a citizen.If we view from the perspective of particularity,for any country,based on its different historical tradition and political and economical structure,its specific connotation will have great differences.In that case,in civic education,equal attention should be placed on the universality and particularity of the connotation of“citizen”and an objective and rational understanding and interpretation of it should be had.In today's society,many countries face the inner tension between national identity and ethnical identity,so based on the demand for the construction of a harmonious order,the rule of law education for citizens needs to give dual consideration to the uniformity of national identity and diversity among ethnic groups,thus to realize the integration and connection between the two.Based on the formation of the consciousness,a community with a shared future for mankind and the need to establish an independent status for a sovereign state,an integrated development of the patriotism and cosmopolitanism should be realized in civic education.2.Historical changes and current turns for the rule of law education for Chinese citizensIn the process of shaping modern citizens,China has chosen a road which is different from the west.This road is extremely hard,however,with continuous accumulation and metamorphosis,China is still on its way of realizing a shaping of the character and morals of its citizens using the rule of law education.In the ancient feudal society of China where there are political system featuring the same structure of the clan and country,the natural small-scale peasant economy and the society of country gentlemen,under the guidance of the ethical ideas–“loyal”and“filial piety”,and“rite”and“law”,it will surely foster the chief obedient character-as being“subjects of a feudal ruler”.Loyalties to the monarchy,morality and legal rule awareness have strengthened the obligation-oriented obedience on the parts of the“subjects of a feudal ruler”.The“subordinate nature”is extremely adaptive to the“self-consistent”running of the political and economical system in the feudal society of China,and allows the system to run stably for more than 2 thousand years.During the Opium War,the western powers invaded China using solid ships and advanced cannons,which were manufactured by their advanced industrial civilization,since then,Qing Dynasty,which was resting on its laurels,and obedient people fostered under the obscurantist policy could not break the constraint of“Chinese essence”,irrespective of“beating foreigners by learning from their advantages”,“political reform in order to survive”or“constitutional citizens”,none of them succeeded in the end,which also declared the deconstruction of the traditional“subordinate nature”in China.To this end,the enlightened intellectuals in late Qing Dynasty proposed to enlighten the people using western learning,thus to eliminate the deep-rooted bad habits and to shape the“national character”.The bourgeois revolutionaries,who relied on the chance that western learning was introduced into China and people were enlightened gradually,took the violent revolutionary means to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China,which truly initiated the historical process of a reform on national character.After Sun Yat-sen founded the Republic of China,the“Three People's Principles”thought became the theoretical basis for him to realize his political views.Also the“Three People's Principles”had just become the thought guideline for the reform of“national character”.The Republic of China surrendered but the enlightenment did not come to a halt.Chen Duxiu et al.launched the New Culture Movement,May 4thMovement,etc.,in which the banner of science and democracy was raised high in the air,feudal ethical code was opposed,new literature and new culture were advocated,the bourgeois democratic thought was preached and the Marxism was advertised,laying social foundation for the transformation of the“national character”.The dying out of Qing Dynasty had put an end to the need for feudal loyalty thought,and with the founding of the Republic of China,its citizens had also formed the idea of modern country in their minds.The patriotic feeling,which is indispensable in the national character,was built through the May 4thMovement which was aimed at anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism,the movement of resistance against Japan and saving the nation from extinction and 14 years of the war of resistance.The enlightenment for civic education in the Republic of China was in this way that the new citizens were shaped through the educational construction relating to the“new country”,consequently,the education for the masses or the mass education rose up and then the fostering of national character through education was thus realized.At the same time,the Constitution of the Republic of China,as well as the legal and institutional construction and many other factors,had wakened up the right awareness of its citizens.Nevertheless,the Nanjing KMT Government,after Chiang Kai-shek came to power,deliberately governed the country under the falsely interpreted“Confucianized Three People's Principles”.By“Party-oriented education”,the government achieved the shaping of a“fascist national character”which attaches importance to obligations but overlooks the right,but this kind of shaping was stopped abruptly on China's mainland after the founding of new China in 1949.After the founding of new China,under the leadership of the Communist Party of China,the people's dominant position in the country has been strengthened through"shaping the people's character".However,the term,“people”is a political concept rather than a legal concept.Therefore,under the guidance of this concept,civic education completely replaces legal education with political education.Therefore,under the guidance of this concept,the political education was completely in lieu of the legal education in terms of civic education.This"shaping the people's character",featuring“political education”first,adopting political movement,social education and placing emphasis on ideological and political moral education,had virtualized the rights and obligations of people who maintained the principle position in the country.People were being restricted to the“unit system”and the“system of people's commune”,lacking not only the identity to exercise their rights autonomously and independently,but also the capabilities to exercise such rights.Therefore,during the Great Cultural Revolution,the right of people was trodden on by“the people”.Since the reform and opening up,along with the economic and social transformation,the“all-around country”and“totalistic society”under the original planned economic system was separated apart appropriately.The Constitution has also granted the citizens the rights they ought to enjoy,which has strengthened the right awareness of citizens.The country has even utilized moral education,political education and legal education(popularizing-law)to cultivate the character and morals of its citizens.However,in the process of cultivating,the principle of giving priority to political and moral education has given rise to a structural disequilibrium among a ternary structure consisted of moral education,political education and legal education.As a result,Legal education is in a subordinate position and the rule of law education has also become the law education.A series of plans for increasing public knowledge of the laws are merely considered as having offered the education on law-observance.This kind of civic education is hard to respond to the demands of the time–“establish the socialist concept of the rule of law and increase the whole nation's rule of law awareness”,nor can it ensure that the citizens can protect their own rights autonomously.Therefore,in order to realize the overall target–“strengthen the people's concept of the rule of law and advance the construction of a society ruled by law”,it is necessary to include the rule of law education into national education system.The enactment of the rule of law Educational Syllabus for Teenagers can be called a mark that stands for the opening up of a new age for the rule of law education.The time significance and important mission for the currentrule of law education lies in the realization of changes from“ideological and political dominance”to“the enlightenment for the rule of law”,from“the sense of master”to“the sense of citizen”,and from“the education on law-observance”to“the civic education”–a turn from current education on law-observance.3.The congstruction of Chinese pattern of the rule of law education for citizensBased on the historical tradition and present national conditions of China,as well as the political,economic,cultural and social system with Chinese characteristics,China must explore for its citizens arule of law education pattern which is adaptive to itsrule of law pattern.First of all,the rule of law education for citizens must follow the chief value line,one core with multivariate,wherein the“one core”refers to the core socialist values.Core socialist value is the condensed contemporary Chinese value system,and also the centralized reflection of the Chinese people's appeals for value.“Multivariate”refers to the concept of democracy and rule of law,which is diversified and well integrated,a reflection of the core elements and universal value for the modern democratic andrule of law society.the rule of law education for Chinese citizens should regard the establishment of the citizens'concept of democracy and rule of law,which should be based on the national conditions and global-oriented,as the target.“On the basis of national conditions”means that the core socialist value should be referred to as the guideline.The concept of democracy and rule of law,which is based on the national conditions and global-oriented,shall include the power restriction concept,the supremacy of law concept,the fairness and justice concept and the protection of human rights concept.Adhering to the chief value line,“one core with multivariate”,is the core principle for the pattern of the rule of law education for citizens.In the“one core with multivariate”,“one core”and“multivariate”are internally fitted and coupled to each other,providing value guidance for the fostering of the rule of law awareness among citizens,which is consistent with the goal of the rule of law construction in contemporary China.Secondly,the rule of law education for citizens must undergo a positioning of rights and obligations to realize structural balance.The rights and obligations are the core contents of law,rights and responsibilities are special representations of rights and obligations.the rule of law education for citizens must comply with the view of rights and obligations with Chinese characteristics and in line with the socialist value of the rule of law,gives up the concepts of“subjects of a feudal ruler”and“private people”,cultivates citizens with independent personality and responsibilities and public spirit.In contemporary China,a qualified citizen must have balanced views about“rights and powers”and about“rights and obligations”.Through a structurally balanced positioning of rights and obligations,rule awareness is formed and in the meantime,the“greatest common divisors”between“personal interests”and“interests of other people”and between“national interests”and“public interests”are being sought as well.Thirdly,for the rule of law education for citizens,a dual framework involving both the public and private right domains,must be constructed.Citizens are not only the behavior subjects of public right domain,but also the behavior subjects of private right domain.In the public life domain,not only do we need to cultivate the citizens'capabilities for democratic participation,including the capabilities for democratic consultation,capabilities for claiming rights,capabilities for rights safeguarding and capabilities for being rational self-disciplinary,but also we need to cultivate the public ethics,thereby shaping the civic spirit which matches to the idea on national governance.In the private right domain,we need to regard integrity,fairness doctrine and the idea of being equal as the important contents for the rule of law education.In the meanwhile,the citizens'contractual spirit must be cultivated,hence to establish the standard for the behaviors of citizens in their private lives,to construct a subjective personality which is consistent with the socialist market economy and to promote the formation of the rule of law order under the market economy.In the end,for the rule of law education for citizens,we must pay attention to the hierarchical arrangement for the institutional ideas.In contemporary China,the rule of law education for citizens is an important constituent of civic education,the rule of law awareness of its citizens is cultivated over a long period of time.The way the rule of law education for citizens acts in content design and concept cultivation has shown a hierarchical arrangement.In terms of the contents,the Constitution must be regarded as the core,because the Constitution is the source of cultivating the rule of law awareness of the citizens,the foundation for the construction of the order of a state,an institutional platform to realize national integration and the basis to maintain harmony and uniformity for the legal system of a state.Through constitutional education,the citizens'awesome feeling about the Constitution is cultivated and the authoritative nature of the constitution is enhanced.Starting from relevant knowledge of the constitution,such education may be expanded to the understanding and mastery of departmental laws.In terms of the stages of education,different cognitive competences the objects of education have at different stages of growth should be based to gradually foster their cognition,understanding and internalization of common knowledge in law,legal system and principles concerning the rule of law,which eventually forms the concept of the rule of law.In terms of the methods of education,based on the different age groups the objects of education are in,flexible and diversified forms of education are adopted with emphasis given to the improvement of educational effect.In addition,the form of the character and morals of the citizens and their rule of law awareness is a long process,therefore,the rule of law education for citizens is a long,step by step process,and in all educational stages from primary school,junior middle school,senior middle school to higher education,the rule of law education for citizens must all be regarded as an important constituent of the education contents.4.Functional mechanism&The way to realize the rule of law education for citizensAlong with the continuous advancement of the rule of law in China,China is also facing the bottleneck problems for its development.Among them,the character and morals of the citizens and their rule of law awareness become important hindering factors for the rule of law construction.Therefore we must bring the functions of the rule of law education for citizens into full play and provide spiritual power for the rule of law construction.The core functions of the rule of law education for its citizens are identity and acceptance.Firstly,the national identity the citizens have are the basis and preconditions to maintain a stable and solidary country.The economic globalization,conflicts between multiple values and various contradictions in the reform and opening up,all of which bring challenges to national identity.Therefore the core function of the rule of law education for citizens is the national identity.Secondly,institutional identity,based on historical reason and actual national conditions,unlike other countries,what has been adopted by China is a socialist system with Chinese characteristics,including all specific political,economical,cultural and social system arising out of such system.Under complicated international situation,foreign powers raise their doubts and negations of various systems in China via various means.In contemporary China,corresponding legal basis can all be found in the reform on economic and political system,and for cultural innovation,the construction of all systems in China is maintained to be consistent with the goals of a country,a government and a society under the rule of law.Therefore,the use of the rule of law education for citizens to enhance the citizens'identification of the theories and concepts behind the socialist system,thus to identify with the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics.Thirdly,the cultural identity.Culture is an embodiment of national character and a collective memory of a nation.The Chinese culture is extensive and profound,and is the spiritual source for the Chinese nation to thrive and continue to be stronger and stronger.In the process of globalization,Chinese culture is also facing various kinds of challenges and shock,in this sense,the rule of law education and cultural identity are the internal force to enhance national cohesiveness.Except for core functions,the rule of law education for citizens has other 4important functional mechanisms,namely the guiding function mechanism,coupling function mechanism,driving function mechanism and reflection function mechanism,among them,the guiding function mechanism is shown by the formulation of laws and the guide on its implementation.The soul of legal system is the concept of the rule of law and value orientation.The rule of law education for citizens can allow them to form a correct legal concept and value orientation,and the formation of the good faith quality of law is being guided through legislation process.The coupling function mechanism is shown in that there is a kind of interaction between the rule of law concepts(with certain choice of value)formed in the minds of citizens that receive the rule of law education and the existing legal system,which is that a citizen's rule of law concept is“filled”into the legal system,and the citizen will observe the law willingly out of the value identity he or she has for the legal system,so the two have the interactive and coupling relation with each other.The driving function mechanism is shown in that the citizens,based on the rule of law thinking and concept formed by the rule of law education,will have important driving effect for the formulation and implementation of laws.On one hand,the increased right awareness a citizen has and his or her claim for right can drive the initiation and improvement of a relevant legislation.On the other hand,the supervision awareness a citizen has for right can drive the formulation and implementation of relevant laws and regulations.Reflection function is shown in that the rule of law education can increase a citizen's capabilities to review,rationally evaluate and criticize the existing legal system.From the positive point of view,by judging the existing legal system and putting forward relevant suggestions,citizens with the rule of law awareness can advance the formulation and improvement of“good laws”.From the negative point of view,if a citizen judges in an irrational way the rights and obligations vested by the existing legal system or does not treat the rights vested by relevant laws seriously,it is an indication from another aspect that there are problems for the formulation or implementation of existing laws and regulations,which will then cause a reflection over relevant systems.To give full play to the functions of the rule of law education,we need to adopt a path of implementation that requires multiple cooperation.First of all,a system integration for moral education,law-popularizing and legal education should be done in order to establish the independent position of legal education,moral education should be used to“nurture”legal education and the actual effect of“law-popularizing”on legal education should be strengthened,in doing so,it ensures that the rule of law education in the national education system is genuinely implemented and its actual effect is given full play.Secondly,it is to construct a multi-platform mechanism involving the country,society and schools.By top level design,the formulation of relevant laws and regulations,the building of a social atmosphere featuring democratic and rule of law and specific course arrangement,the implementation of the rule of law education for citizens will be advanced in all directions.Thirdly,the concept of the rule of law should be strengthened from multiple approaches,the forming of legal behaviors should be promoted and the legal practice capability should be improved.The traditional line of thought,propaganda and education and inculcation,should be changed,instead,more observational,experiencing and participation methods should be used as innovations for the rule of law education for citizens in order to improve the actual education effect.Finally,measures including strengthening the leadership of the Party in the rule of law education,giving full play to the public opinion guiding effect of the media,perfectly establishing the evaluation system for the rule of law education,and many others,so as to provide conditions and guarantees for the practice of the pattern of the rule of law education and the realization of its core function and four other functions. |
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