Weaponising Citizenship in China: Domestic Exclusion and Transnational Expansion

Abstract

This paper offers a critical and historical analysis of the transformation of citizenship in China in a way that challenges both legal orientalism and the overall discourse on Chinese ‘characteristics’ and ‘exceptionalism’. It aims to uncover how citizenship has been transformed ‘structurally’ (Solinger 1999) as well as through ‘acts of citizenship’ (Jakimow 2012). The paper will therefore not only look at how the One-Party State defines citizenship, uses it as an instrument of repression and population control, but also how citizens themselves can contribute to a new narrative on citizenship and driver of contestation in China. The paper will argue that the transformation of citizenship has contributed to the reinforcement of the fragmented and transnational nature of Chinese citizenship.