| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of a new discourse of children's rights in the People's Republic of China. The present article traces the social, political, and economic circumstances that have led to the emergence of this discourse, describes the institutions that have been involved in its production, and considers the various ways in which urban Chinese parents of different socioeconomic backgrounds engage with the notion of children's rights in their day-to-day lives. Drawing on the results of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Shanghai schools and homes, as well as on a survey of legislative codes, teachers' manuals, academic literature, childrearing guides, and media articles published in China since the early 1990s, I argue that a new mode of speaking and thinking about children-as "subjects" rather than "objects", and as "independent persons" rather than mere "appendages" to their families or to society-is emerging in contemporary China. While this new conceptualization of the child is fraught with tensions and contradictions at the level of both discourse and practice, I nonetheless argue that the notion of Chinese children as subjects bearing rights carries important implications not only for family relationships but also for state-citizenry engagements in 21st-century China.
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