Social Change, Citizenship, and Citizenship Education in China since the Late 1970s

Since 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC). In 1978, in response to changing domestic and global contexts, the CPC-led state (under Deng Xiaoping) began to focus on economic development rather than class struggle, and promulgated a reform policy intended to open China to the world.