ABSTRACT
China's rapid economic growth has brought about profound transformation in the social landscape. The old social class categories have been replaced with fluidity, and social groups have been greatly diversified. Redistribution of resources and wealth under the framework of a market-oriented socialist economy have caused the rise of new strata of people, and in this process access to political, economic, and educational power have been determining factors in one's “making it” or not in the upper echelon of the society. As education has become a screening mechanism for social mobility, a newly formed “middle class” is exerting their influence in education to attain an advantage in the competitive economy.
