Abstract:
Institutional change in education and the cultivation of a qualified citizenry were two sides of the same coin of developing democratic education in modern China. At stake is to understand how democratic education filled a critical role in bridging the gap between democratic ideals and political realities. This lecture will focus on teachings of citizenship and democracy in Chinese primary and secondary schools between 1923-1936 for the purpose of strengthening embryonic democratic politics by creating qualified citizens, and seek to shed some light on the complex intertwinement of educational and political reforms in modern China.

Short biography:
Ying Zhou is an assistant professor at the Institute of Education, Xiamen University, China. She obtained her PhD at the University of Groningen (NL), trained in both Educational Studies and Sinology. Her PhD dissertation is entitled Education and Politics in China: Civic Education in Times of Reform, 1901-1937, and her current research project is concerned with pragmatism and progressive education in China and Japan.