Recent decades have witnessed the proliferation in China of huge numbers of private universities and colleges in response to a wide-ranging spectrum of socio-economic and political demands under the country's flourishing market economy and its wholesale pursuit of decentralization. This book explores the issue of property ownership, an area which is regarded as an essential element in the attraction into the sector of local private institutions and foreign partnerships, as well as in facilitating the future development of the country's existing institutions. The focus throughout this book is primarily on the legal, economic, managerial and financial aspects of the relevant issues, as well as other related topics, such as consumer protections and fund-raising activities. A feasibility analysis and discussion is also provided on 'for-profit' universities and their potential market niches in China, in recognition of the fact that the current regulations-which allow private universities to maintain a non-profit status whilst actually enjoying profit returns-clearly provides some legitimacy to the phenomenon of 'for-profit in disguise.' It is argued in this book that such quasi-profit regulations may further exacerbate profiteering behavior, whilst it is also noted that, in the short term, there is a clear need to provide adequate protections within the apparent hybrid version of an ownership system-a system characterized by a mix of capitalism and socialism-through the adoption of a definitive legal framework within which economic actors can coordinate their efforts through a mutually understood framework of action. Finally, it is clear that in the transition from the 'rule-of-the-people' to the 'rule-of-law,' legislation, practices and compliance do not always go hand-in-hand in China; thus the healthy development of the educational sector will undoubtedly require some time, as well as the introduction of complementary mechanisms, for such legislation to be fully enforced in practice. This book concludes with policy recommendations on the existing property ownership system in China to address both the profitability and altruistic concerns of private institutions, and provides suggestions for areas which might be explored to facilitate ongoing sector development.

Providing an indispensable resource for students, educators, businessmen, and officials investigating the transformative experience of modern China, this book provides a comprehensive summary of the culture, institutions, traditions, and international relations that have shaped today's China. In Modern China, author Xiaobing Li offers a resource far beyond a conventional encyclopedia, providing not only comprehensive coverage of Chinese civilization and traditions, but also addressing the values, issues, and critical views of China. As a result, readers will better understand the transformative experience of the most populous country in the world, and will grasp the complexity of the progress and problems behind the rise of China to a world superpower in less than 30 years. Written by an author who lived in China for three decades, this encyclopedia addresses 16 key topics regarding China, such as its geography, government, social classes and ethnicities, gender-based identities, arts, media, and food, each followed by roughly 250 short entries related to each topic. All the entries are placed within a broad sociopolitical and socioeconomic contextual framework. The format and writing consistency through the book reflects a Chinese perspective, and allows students to compare Chinese with Western and American views.

Examines the transformation of education policy in China, with an emphasis on transformations in the post-1978 period. This title also emphasises on policy change and its subsequent impact on different aspects of education at various levels of educational institutions, particularly in areas of educational financing and curriculum reform.

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Chinese moral education reform in the last three decades represents the most significant decentralization of decision-making power since the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949. On one hand, it shows how de-politicized China’s moral education curriculum has become following the introduction of China’s “Open-door” policy and economic reforms and the resultant social transformations. On the other hand, it reveals persistent problems in moral education caused by political stresses and tight state control. To explain these tensions, Power and Moral Education in China analyzes the characteristics of power relationships in school moral education curriculum goal-setting, content and pedagogy selection, and implementation. The ultimate purpose is to identify not only what factors impact Chinese moral education curriculum decision-making at the school level, but also how and why. Through a multiple case study conducted during 2008 in three schools in Shenzhen City, and based on four major data collection instruments (observation, interview, questionnaire, and document review), Wangbei Ye analyzes how power relationships have evolved in school moral education, and how and why school power affects school moral education. Contrary to the common belief that Chinese schools are passively impacted by external forces in moral education curriculum development, this book suggests that school power is a “semi-emancipatory relationship” that acts as a major force shaping moral education. This means that although both the Chinese Communist Party and the state are positioned to control schools and moral education, schools nonetheless have the power to either negotiate for more influence, or partly emancipate themselves by collaborating with other external forces, responding to grass-root needs, empowering school teachers and adjusting internal school management style. This helps to explain the influence of Chinese schools in moral education and suggests a broader theory of power relationships in curriculum.

Educational researchers have long been concerned about the factors that influence the patterns of attendance in higher education and the extent to which higher education has been accessible to all students regardless of their socioeconomic status. Extensive research has indicated that a variety of class-related factors, such as cultural capital, social capital, and economic capital, exert remarkable impacts on the amount and type of education that one receives. Drawing on cultural capital theory, this study aims at analyzing how students' college choice process varies by social class in China. By exploring different cultural and financial factors that influence different stages of students' college choice process, this study hopes to contribute to identifying the most appropriate policies and practices for raising the representation of students from the lowest social class among college participants.

This book takes an in-depth look at the development of the private education sector in modern China. Readers will find valuable data and materials never before presented in such an accessible and transparent way, together with analyses of the major changes and challenges in the course of this development. The book is organized both chronologically and by topic: it employs a past-present-future order that unites the general arrangement; at the same time, each specific subject is approached historically, not only to show the origins of the problem, but also to link it with the historical-comparative context, in which the evaluation of alternative policy choices become highly viable. Further, the book provides a pioneering account of current problems, adopting a fresh perspective to address the most important aspects of Chinese private education reform. The elaboration on topics concerning private school assets, property rights, legal personality, school operators’ entrepreneurship, benefits and investment returns, school autonomy, and the development of teachers and students, is both empirically rich and highly insightful. The book’s content is chiefly derived from years of fieldwork in private schools and from extensive interviews with hundreds of policy makers, school operators, managers, teachers and students. Since these people are self-conscious about themselves as the actors in and witnesses to the development of Chinese private education over the past three decades, the book places great emphasis on neutrality, allowing the private education landscape to unfold in the context of the privatization of the socialist system after 1978. The book offers an essential guide for anyone who wishes to understand the transformation of Chinese education. It is highly recommendable as a detailed introduction to Chinese education, or as a resource for comparative research on private education from an international perspective.

This book makes both empirical and conceptual contributions to the debate on privatization of higher education in China. Empirically, it aims to fill a gap in our knowledge of privatization of higher education in North China. To this end, Beijing was chosen as a case for analysis, and nine local higher educational institutions were visited. The case study strategy is also complemented by an extensive review of national policies to reveal problems beyond the specific case of Beijing and of national concern. The effects of the cultural and socioeconomic background and the unique state-party controlling system on higher education management are stressed. Conceptually, most existing studies on privatization of higher education in China adopt a policy analysis approach, while research on privatization of other public sectors or in other countries is frequently guided by economic theories. This book thus seeks to combine both social policy and econometric approaches to provide a systematic and detailed investigation of the privatization process in the context of higher education. It also improves examines the applicability of western theories in the Chinese context.

China has been experiencing great economic and social changes since the late 1970s when the Reform and Opening-Up policies were accepted. While some Sinologists argue that such changes have made the Chinese structure of authority fragmented and discrepant, and have weakened the directive power of the Central Government, a few others emphasize that despite a certain degree of economic decentralization and segmentation of public power, the Central Government has been seeking ways to hold the nation together. Consequently, while the former argue that due to the centrifugal nature of the political system, policy implementation is bound to deviate from the route specified by the Central Government, the latter hold that national policies are carried out faithfully, with minor deviations only in certain circumstances. This book studies the processes of policy implementation in contemporary mainland China by taking minban/private education at the level of basic education in Shanghai as an example. Based on 65 interviews conducted during 2001 and 2004, three moduses of policy implementation are proposed, and the Model of Structural Fracturation is advanced as the prevailing modus of policy implementation in contemporary China. The model argues that policy metamorphosis during implementation is not something random; in contrast, it is determined by structural factors that no single policy actor can manipulate. The pyramid of Chinese politics is a loose construction, with vertical and horizontal fracturations between different layers. The model highlights the fact that governments at the county/district level are remote from and beyond the control of the Central Government and the provinces. They deserve more attention than they have received. Contrary to Western perspectives which regard the structural fracturation in the Chinese polity as dangerous for national stability and unity, this book takes the fracturation as an important and delicate element of the Chinese mode of governance, and suggests that the very strength of the state lies in its capacity to tolerate local deviation and to embrace it into national institutions.

This book represents an ethnographic study of an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in a school in mainland China, serving Chinese students and staffed by teachers from a variety of origins. It offers in-depth descriptions of the way in which students, teachers, and managers interact and communicate with one another in a variety of school activities. Through the communication process, cultural experiences and understandings are negotiated constantly among school participants. The ethnographic study also has a critical intention. Going beyond description, the author discusses the extent to which networks of social relationships in the case are imbued by asymmetries in power, and how this leads to people’s inability, unwillingness, and unawareness to interact with those from different cultural backgrounds. As research findings reveal, where the construction of meaning is less equally available to each participant, prejudice and exclusiveness are more likely to be assumed, impeding individuals’ intercultural learning. The key is to empower those less privileged, giving them legitimacy to come to voice in an institutional context on the one hand, and protecting their reflections on hegemonic discourse meticulously on the other hand. Since the research explores the complexities and subtleties of the communication process that are bound to particular contexts, like most ethnographic studies, it aims at adding a body of experience and humanistic understanding of cultures, rather than testing theories. Although the IB Program being studied can hardly be representative of the overall development of international education in China, the detailed description of contextual issues of the case and the research procedures could facilitate the readers to vicariously experience these events, thus they can make their own decisions about the transferability of the research to their own unique situations.