A Chinese Model of Citizenship Education in Taiwan: Under the influence of globalization, localization and cross-straitization

Abstract

Although the trends of western democracy and the Confucian tradition\r\nhave had a great impact on the formation of Taiwan’s recent citizenship education\r\npolicies, a third force, derived from the cross-strait relationships between Taiwan\r\nand China, has also played a critical role in shaping these policies. This chapter is\r\nan attempt to portray citizenship education in Taiwan as one of the manifestations\r\nof Chinese models from a multi-faceted perspective including Chinese cultural heritage,\r\nwestern democracy, and the cross-strait relationships with China. The author\r\nargues that, like many other countries in East Asia, citizenship education is a contested\r\nterm in Taiwan, which fulfi lls the needs of social change, government policy\r\nand personal development. It has been found that the concept of national identity\r\nreceived very little attention in current Taiwan’s citizenship education thanks to her\r\nambiguous political status with China. Nevertheless, an image of ‘being Taiwanese’\r\nis increasingly promoted and receives more and more attention in curriculum and\r\ninstruction in Taiwan.