Governing China's Children: Governmentality and “Education for Quality”

This article is a close study of the discourses and practices of suzhi jiaoyu or “Education for Quality” in contemporary Beijing. Through a study of efforts to raise the “quality” of the capital's children in order to raise the “quality” of the Chinese nation and its future, this article frames suzhi jiaoyu as a form of governmentality, dedicated to teaching children the “conduct of conduct” in postsocialist Beijing. Based on ethnographic research conducted in elementary schools, among families, and in public spaces in Beijing, the article focuses on how attempts to define and raise children's “moral quality” are linked to changing forms and practices of state power.