ABSTRACT
China's disability profile provokes deep-seated social inequality. A national disability survey in 2006 revealed that there were 83 million people with disabilities in the country, and among them, 75% were from poor rural areas. This chapter investigates the changing bureaucratic landscape of disability governance in China. It outlines a brief genealogy of the institutional formation of special education from the end of the 19th century to the present. The chapter analyzes empirical cases of contemporary special institutions and the discursive landscape of power they are situated within. It explores the historical conditions, social circumstances, and bureaucratic arrangements that have made disabled bodies and special institutions matter in China. The case of China lends insights into how the global systems of converging policies are deeply intertwined with idiosyncratic adaptations and cultural history of a nation to enable diverging forms of Secular Benevolence in governing disability and special education.
