Introduction

摘要

For a very long time, the concept of modern citizenship had been defined and developed upon the western experience. It is until very recently that scholars suggested a critical examination of the root of the "western" conception of citizenship and a scholarly turn towards citizenship institutions and practices in non-western societies [3]. It is under this background that a systematic project of citizenship studies in China begins. As a currently authoritarian regime with hundreds of years of feudalism history, China is conventionally considered as such a society that lacks the tradition and condition of citizenship. However, scholarly work from other fields, especially that from the school of contentious politics, has substantially provided evidence of citizenship practices by various social groups in China [e.g., 1, 2, 5, 6, 8]. Nevertheless, the institutional setting of the authoritarian state is inclined to educate the individual to be an obedient subject instead of an active citizen. The tension between the institutional attempt and the individuals' political activism mystifies the state of citizenship in China. It raises pertinent questions regarding the dynamics of citizenship formation and transformation in China.