Moral/Political Education in the People's Republic of China: learning through role models

Abstract This paper discusses the use of role models as a means for political socialization and moral education in the People's Republic of China. It looks at the use of role models in historical context and shows the ways in which children were encouraged to learn from the socialist role model, Lei Feng. In answer to the question, “What are the children really learning from Comrade Lei Feng?” the paper suggests that Chinese children in post‐Liberation China were actually learning a set of core virtues that have their roots in the Confucian tradition and that individual Chinese constructed their own versions of the role model in accordance with their own beliefs. Finally, the paper suggests that although the socialist role model, Lei Feng, may disappear as China becomes increasingly capitalistic, the use of role models as a pedagogical tool will not. Indeed, the excesses of “commodity socialism” may call for new role models who perpetuate certain values like benevolence which are rooted in Confucian and communist thought.