Based on extensive research, this book makes a novel contribution to the study of citizenship by examining how individuals at the margins of Chinese society deal with state efforts to transform them into model citizens.

Bringing a new dimension to the study of citizenship, Chinese Citizenship examines how individuals at the margins of Chinese society deal with state efforts to transform them into model citizens in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Based on extensive original research, the authors argue that social and cultural citizenship has a greater impact on people's lives than legal, civil and political citizenship. The seven case studies present intimate portraits of the conflicted identities of peasants, criminals, ethnic minorities, the urban poor, rural migrant children in the cities, mainland migrants in Hong Kong and Chinese youth studying abroad, as they negotiate the perilous dilemmas presented by globalization and neoliberalism. Drawing on a diverse array of theories and methods from anthropology, sociology, education, political science, cultural studies and development studies, the book presents fresh perspectives and highlights the often devastating consequences that citizenship distinctions can have on Chinese lives.

'This volume provides fresh insights into some fascinating questions. Through a wide assortment of rich case studies, its sheds new light on current understandings of changing, contested, and often conflictual conceptions of citizenship in the post-Mao period.' - China Journal 'In sum, the authors not only provide detailed information about neglected but important subjects, but also leave the reader with ample food for thought about the quest for modernity and prosperity both in China, and around the world.' - China Journal 'This edited volume of papers from a conference at Cambridge University fills a notable gap in addressing citizenship in China from the perspective of those at the margins of society, exploring particularly the question of how "cutural citizenship" conditions access to social goods...With its focus on those struggling to keep up in China's rush to "modernity," the Fong and Murphy book points toward stimulating new directions for further research on citizenship.' - Sophia Woodman, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 3, Fall 2007