This book explores social citizenship through the lens of investigating local compulsory education policy targeting migrant children in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Deploying a multi-case methodology, this book illustrates how these two local governments respond to central decisions on compulsory education for migrant children, the implementation models they employ and the impact of this unique practice on social citizenship boundary redefinition through single- and cross-case analysis. It helps readers understand the evolution of compulsory education policy and its effects on access to schooling for migrant children and clearly illustrates this policy’s implications for social citizenship.

Revealing the important relationship between the central and lower levels of government in China, this book will appeal to students and scholars of education, social policy, as well as those with an interest in Chinese culture and society.

Chengqi Cao is currently an assistant professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University's XIPU Institution and an honorary member of the China Studies Centre, The University of Sydney, Australia.