Mobilising China's One-Child Generation - Advances in Critical Military Studies by Orna Naftali Paperback

About the Book

Explores the militarisation of education and youth in contemporary China.

Book Synopsis

Drawing on a wide variety of Chinese-language publications and in-depth interviews with high-school students, Mobilising China's One-Child Generation provides systematic evidence of the spread of martial logic and techniques into Chinese schools. The book explores how China has implemented Patriotic Education and National Defence Education programmes to foster love for the nation and the Party-state, mobilise the population to fight modern wars in the information age, and encourage youth to join the army. It studies how these programmes present the tropes of war and the military to youth, and how they are related to shifting constructions of gender and the national collectivity. It also documents students' varied perceptions-and notably contestations-of this militarised ethos, complicating our understanding of popular nationalism and militarisation processes in this authoritarian global power.

Review Quotes

An important contribution to the study of nationalism, education and militarisation in contemporary China. Naftali's research provides a comprehensive and well-documented account of the ways in which the state attempts to shape young people's conceptions of war and military service, while recognising the role of young people in negotiating these narratives. Through a combination of fieldwork and textual analysis, it paints a dynamic picture of the ideological forces shaping China's younger generations.--Giovannipaolo Ferrari "Europe-Asia Studies"

Orna Naftali's highly readable book is overall a meaningful addition to the debates about the militarization of Chinese society. It is of great relevance to anyone interested in Chinese youth, education, and military-society relations more broadly.--Jérôme Doyon "The China Quarterly"

Around the world, matters of security are shrouded in secrecy. Naftali skilfully and courageously lifts the veil from the multiple enmeshments of education with militarisation in China, one youngster at a time. A disciplined and ruthless book, and a must read for everyone who desires to understand the promises and limits of militarisation.

--Sabine Frühstück, University of California Santa Barbara

In this ethnographically enriched book, Naftali navigates macro-level discourses, institutional practices and individual subjectivities to offer a nuanced exploration of China's militarisation of education and the complicated perceptions of it by the nation's youth.

--Fengshu Liu, University of Oslo

This is the first authoritative study of how the Chinese education system and media guide youth on war, peace and the military. And, how youth respond in often unexpected ways to these top-down lessons. Naftali's insights are urgent and profound for all those concerned about China and the world's strategic order.

--Louise Edwards, University of New South Wales, Australia