The achievement and dilemma of political education in Chinese universities since 1978: a comparative perspective

In this paper author considers political education in Chinese universities. Political education has always been a controversy as much as a top issue of social-political life in modern China. Along with the drastic changes brought by the Reform in 1978, political education in Chinese universities has gradually shifted in both contents and forms from stereotyped ideological-political work to a modernized scientific educational disciplinary with strong theoretical supports. It is shown that political education differs in the east and the west in many ways. So, it’s necessary to make clear what political education means in Chinese context. Political education is far-reaching in its scope, in general it concerns with the theoretical, empirical, normative and conceptual dimensions of political practices. Up to now, there are no acknowledgements, no required doctrines in western political philosophy to advocate that political educationist do or ought to address an authoritative definition for political education. Although the general features of political education can always be outlined because of the sameness of political, social and cultural background of individual researchers. Considering the achievements of political education in Chinese universities for the past 30 years, the author notes that there is political education dilemma. Summarizing the author outlines the future prospects of political education in Chinese universities.