Introduction

Though citizenship education (CE) has been promoted globally to address social challenges in various countries, the dynamics of citizenship teaching and learning remain unclear. This book applies social structure and agency theories to explore the complexity of CE in China, revealing how competing social structures and agency shape the outcomes of Chinese CE. The chapter first introduces the global trends and issues of CE, followed by an examination of the status of citizenship and CE in China. Moreover, it outlines the methodology of this study, which is based on the constructivist research paradigm. The study conducted fieldwork in two high schools, involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students. Finally, the chapter briefly introduces the organization of the book and highlights its academic and practical contributions.