Chapter 3: Ideological Orientations and Pedagogization of Citizenship and Human Rights in China

China’s deeply embedded philosophical and cultural traditions shed light on its ideas of citizenship and human rights, and the reciprocal relation between the individual and community. This study reveals four ideological orientations—Confucianism, liberalism, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism—by examining the discourses, policies, and curricula of human rights education (HRE) in China. Its efforts to balance the sociopolitical and economic tasks of education in China’s nation-building provide a meaningful framework for pedagogizing those ideas in national education. The process of pedagogization identifies the omnipresent orientations to search for solutions to broader social and economic problems through education and to translate broader societal issues into educational practice. The discussion situates this study in an evolving framework of HRE, in which rights and multilevel citizenship— central to global citizenship education—are gradually being more accepted in China’s education system.