ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the state in China has attempted to transform rural migrants and their children into new types of subjects by introducing policies that would monitor and control them. It lays out the development of these policies, both at the state and regional level, and shows how they influence the often “less-than-official” status of China’s migrant children schools. 1 Yet members in migrant communities often adopt strategies to chart out alternative paths for their children’s education, and in ways that cannot be fully captured by Western understandings of social movements. By documenting these communities’ efforts towards redefining the education they provide for their children, and by tracing out the ongoing impacts such efforts carry for the society as a whole and for individuals, this chapter makes the argument that Western constructs such as democracy and social movements fail to illuminate the complexity of current social and political changes in China and the richness of the agendas that are developing at the grassroots level. Such an analysis offers insights into the nature of collective action in Chinese society and the reconstruction of social dynamics across its cities.
