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Space and bodies have been conceptualized as products and producers of social relations. They are woven together to shape identities, belongings, and cultures. This paper links culture to the mutual construction of space and bodies to spatialize the embodied lives of rural Chinese boys. Stories from a qualitative study of two middle schools illustrate how these rural boys experience embodied exclusions during the making of a learning space. These students also redefine the dominant meaning of the school space through an embodied-discursive construction of their lives. They shift their interests away from academic learning and move to emphasize social knowledge that focuses on social relations and social abilities. However, their re-appropriation of the space is interpreted as a gendered expression of noncooperation, which leads to their further marginalization within the academic-oriented space. This analysis examines in which body and which space is the rural boys' resistance produced. Turning to spatiality and embodiment provides an alternative interpretation of the counter-school culture of rural Chinese boys, which helps us more fully recognize the need for re-placing rural bodies in the Chinese education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using longitudinal data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this paper employed a set of techniques to investigate the mechanism through which participation in structured extracurricular activities affects students' academic performance. The main findings are as follows: (1) high SES students were more likely to participate in extracurricular activities than low SES children. (2) Students' social relationships in school, including supportive friendships and teacher praise, are positively associated with academic performance. (3) Participation in extracurricular activities had no direct impact on eighth grade students' academic performance or any indirect effects by structuring students' social relationships in school. Our findings suggest that extracurricular participation does not contribute to students' academic performance in a context characterised by a high-stakes testing system such as that of China. In such a context, engagement in extracurricular activities, as a way to accumulate cultural capital, may facilitate individuals' future socioeconomic success on condition that their educational success is foreseeable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, millions of young people migrate away from their home provinces for higher education and employment in China. However, less is known about the extent to which Chinese young people may benefit economically from their migration. Analyzing nationally representative data from the new China College Student Survey, this paper examines the impact of inter-province migration on the starting salaries of Chinese young people after undergraduate studies. Utilizing the method of propensity score matching, this research reveals differences in the economic returns to migration for higher education and for work, and between young people of rural and urban hukou origins. The economic premium attached to inter-province education migration is largely mediated and thus explained by socioeconomic disparities across Chinese provinces. By contrast, young people's work migration generates a positive economic premium, over and above the wage disparity between sending and host provinces. Underlining the context-dependent nature of the migration premium, the results draw attention to China's institutional features – i.e. the structural configurations of education and work migration and the hukou system – in shaping the economic returns to youth migration. Rural and urban young people's differential access to the migration premium may also exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities in post-reform China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the experiences of belonging of young Chinese internet users through an analysis of their online identity practices. Drawing on a qualitative research project about online citizenship practices of 31 young Chinese citizens from mainland China, I explore their experiences of belonging on two online platforms (Weibo and WeChat) and the identities formed and sustained through these experiences. The results show that young people experience different senses of belonging in different social media spaces. Their strategies in navigating these experiences are informed by (a) their perceptions of online spaces as private or public, and (b) using online identity performance as a supplement to or escape from identities in physical life. I argue that young Chinese internet users experience different senses of belonging by flexibly appropriating the affordances of social media platforms for communication and networking; these senses of belonging play a key role in forming and sustaining their identities, and are crucial for their wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the identity construction of a number of young-adult only-children who were winners in the fierce competition for a seat at university. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the choices and decisions these young people viewed as significant and how, in negotiating these choices and striving for their life goals, a particular understanding of the self may emerge. The study shows that striving for the middle-class lifestyle, which they viewed as the norm of the good life, the young people, as winners, do not dare to stand still on the academic road. Moreover, as much as possible, they wished to secure other forms of capital by joining the Party and entering for the Civil Servants' Examination. In planning their lives and attempting to achieve their life goals, the young people have adopted an individualized approach, displaying a form of the self consistent with the autonomous, self-authoring and individualistic neoliberal subject, with little reference to the socialist-collectivist values with which the Party has been attempting to indoctrinate Chinese citizens. Such a relation to the self is analyzed against the subjectification regimes in today's China and the social-cultural context in which these individuals' lives are imbedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having emerged as a catch phrase in the media and among the general public in China, the ‘post-1980s generation’ has also become a subject of concern and discussion by academics both domestically and abroad. In order to answer the most basic questions of whether or not the ‘post-1980s’ constitute a generation, and what has founded this generation, the present paper starts with a discussion of the theoretical foundation of the concept of ‘generation’, followed by a specific discussion of the Chinese ‘post-1980s generation’, including the social forces they confront and their corresponding reactions. It is concluded that the post-1980s generation in China has grown up with and responded to the abrupt social changes incurred by reform and opening-up, and displays a distinctive generational entelechy. It therefore constitutes a generation in a practical and theoretical sense. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A person's identity is shaped by one's life experiences. Aside from family, school forms the major backdrop of the everyday experiences of children and plays an important role in shaping identity. This paper examines education and the development of identity among school-age migrant children enrolled in Beijing's schools. Marginality is the theme running through this analysis. The marginalisation of migrant children in Beijing is defined and sanctioned by the outdated household registration system that excludes them from enrolling in public schools. Many attend segregated migrant children's schools. Even after the government has relaxed its rules to allow migrant children into the public system, they suffer discrimination based on their low social status and rural origin, each reinforcing the other. These experiences shape their sense of identity. They want to stay in Beijing but know they are not accepted. They call themselves as members of their home regions, but would have difficulty fitting into their home communities and have no intention of living there. This study helps us understand how school interactions shape the identity of migrant children not only in Beijing but of the estimated 20 million migrant children in China's other major urban centres albeit with some differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is based on the narratives of two groups of young Chinese immigrants who have come to Hong Kong for family reunification and who have apparently adjusted well to their new environment. It is argued that the values, beliefs, and ultimate concerns of these young immigrants have been the underlying forces behind their efforts in adjusting to the challenges in a strange land. Of particular importance are contentment and gratitude, a strong family concept, face', an urge for knowledge, a sense of crisis, faith in life, and the identity of a marginal man. These themes reflect the importance of cultural values in shaping migration behaviors. The differences found between the two groups also point to the need to understand migration experience in the context of the developmental stage as well as the social, economic and political situations at the time of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet cafe (wangba) continues to enjoy high popularity among urban Chinese youth, mostly members of China's only-child generation, despite the derogatory connotations the wangba carries, official control and widely diffused access at home. Based on observation at wangbas and in-depth interviews with urban youth, I explore from the Internet cafe goers' perspective what wangba going is all about. The study shows that the wangba serves as a heterotopian third place for the goers. They are there, often against the will of various authorities, for a sense of freedom, relaxation, community, and equality as well as fun, which can hardly be found elsewhere in their lives. The meanings they assign to the wangba are closely related to their social-biographical situations as urban only children typically under great parental expectations in a society characterised by sharp social stratification, fierce competition, lack of security, consumerism, corruption and unfairness in the distribution of resources. In this sense, the wangba is seen as a necessary space for existential reasons, in sharp contrast to the negative portrayal of the wangba as a mere den of iniquity in both official and popular discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of 'war education'. In China, an extensive 'Patriotic Education' campaign and an expanded 'National Defense Education' curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented military programs in the 2000s. Previous work on the implementation of these programs in Chinese schools has mostly focused on urban elite youth, while overlooking the reception of these programs by non-urban, non-elite populations. The present study addresses this issue by examining youth perceptions and experiences of military training courses in urban and rural high schools. Drawing on the analysis of Chinese publications in the 2000s and on data from field interviews with students of different backgrounds, the study finds that youth military training constitutes a contentious program. Although the Chinese government promotes the program as crucial for military strengthening and the fostering of a patriotic spirit, PRC academic and media writers provide alternative rationales for the program, which at times undermine the logic of government articulations. Meanwhile, interviews with youth document divergent attitudes and even resentment towards the program, especially among city youth. This finding casts doubt on the assumption that military-training courses necessarily contribute to the increased 'militarization' of Chinese youth and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article innovatively adopts the public narrative analysis to deepen the understanding of youth policy as the historically contingent product of cultural, historical, and geopolitical factors, rather than as a universal given. Drawing upon insights from Marshall Ganz's three elements of the public narrative, namely the Story of Self, Story of Us, and Story of Now, the study theorizes the dialectic linkage between public narratives and policy. Through investigations of China's Well-off Society China Dream narratives, followed by Europe's Nobel Peace and New Narrative, this study carries out a comparative analysis of the latest narratives and the latest youth policies in Europe and China. Three thematic aspects are explored: the narrative positions, the fundamental attributes of the youth policies, and the relationships between the Story of Us and the Story of Self. Youth civic engagement is found to be of secondary relevance to youth technology capacity-building in China's Youth Development Plan (2016–2025), whereas youth civic engagement plays a key role in Europe's new EU Youth Strategy (2019–2027), in which the Story of Us serves the interests of the Story of Self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with its rapid economic growth, economic inequality rises and intergenerational mobility declines in China. Meanwhile, significant growth in HEIs’ enrolment has contributed to major migration flows across the country. This research investigates the impact of family background on the migration location choice of educated young people from peripheral China, based on data from a life-course survey of recent graduates of tertiary education institutions originating from Chaohu, China. Logistic models are employed to analyse young people’s migration to receive higher education, whether inside or outside the home province, and the location trajectories afterwards. While the findings confirm the association between university and post-university location choice, substantial interaction effects are found between location choice and family background. Young people from different family backgrounds adopt different strategies of geographical mobility in their transition to adulthood. In particular, young people from privileged families are more likely to leave the home province for higher education and return after graduation, whereas those from underprivileged families are more likely to study within the home province and then move away. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) youth organisation, the Communist Youth League (CYL, League), has an extensive grassroots network and approximately twelve million members in public and partially state-owned sectors of the economy, as well as a political mandate to promote 'youth' interests at work. This article examines the League's operation in the Chinese workplace by analyzing qualitative data collected during fieldwork in twelve different sites in Beijing and Zhejiang province. It was hypothesised that as League organisations are under pressure to represent youth-specific demands, their response would be similar to the Trade Unions, which try to simultaneously remain loyal to pro-management Party committees and act as grassroots channels for advocacy. The article finds that League cadres occupy junior positions in political, generational and workplace hierarchies resulting to their multifaceted subordination to more senior power holders present, namely the management, Party Committee and Union leadership. The institutionalised 'juniority' of cadres creates strong disincentives for pro-youth employee initiatives and leads to the disarticulation of a distinctive 'youth' agenda. This institutional 'gap' in workplace representation has direct implications both for the welfare of young employees and for the future of industrial relations in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fear of death, as one of the death attitude dimensions, is heavily studied. However, the potential influence of self-control on the fear of death is scarcely examined. Previous literature implies that self-control may be an influential element in determining the magnitude of the fear of death. However, no study, especially in the Asia region, has attempted to directly examine this relationship. Thus, the current study is among the first to investigate the effects of self-control on death fear in a group of Hong Kong adolescents. Gendered analyses, with and without being divided into different age groups, are performed. The exploration of the moderating impact of religious beliefs on self-control in influencing the fear of death is also examined. Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 1377 native Chinese secondary school-aged male and female adolescents of nine schools are surveyed. Overall, findings suggest that self-control is negatively correlated with the fear of death. Specifically, regression findings indicate that the decrease in self-control, as measured by different low self-control indicators across gender and age, is likely to increase the level of fear of death. Interestingly, findings signify that religiosity has a moderating impact on self-control in determining the level of death fear. On the whole, this study suggests that self-control plays a vital role in determining the level of fear of death among adolescents in Hong Kong. Potential caveats, future directions, and implications of the findings are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the relationship between family functioning and adolescent psychological well-being in a sample of Chinese adolescents. Relation of family functioning to hopelessness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, purpose in life and general psychiatric morbidity; Evidence of gender differences; Association of family functioning to measures of adolescent psychological well-being.

This paper explores the identity construction of a number of young-adult only-children who were winners in the fierce competition for a seat at university. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the choices and decisions these young people viewed as significant and how, in negotiating these choices and striving for their life goals, a particular understanding of the self may emerge. The study shows that striving for the middle-class lifestyle, which they viewed as the norm of "the" good life, the young people, as winners, do not dare to stand still on the academic road. Moreover, as much as possible, they wished to secure other forms of capital by joining the Party and entering for the Civil Servants' Examination. In planning their lives and attempting to achieve their life goals, the young people have adopted an individualized approach, displaying a form of the self consistent with the autonomous, self-authoring and individualistic neoliberal subject, with little reference to the socialist-collectivist values with which the Party has been attempting to indoctrinate Chinese citizens. Such a relation to the self is analyzed against the subjectification regimes in today's China and the social-cultural context in which these individuals' lives are imbedded.