Study Gods - (Princeton Studies in Contemporary China) by Yi-Lin Chiang

About the Book

"How privileged adolescents in China acquire status and why this helps them succeed Study Gods offers a rare look at the ways privileged youth in China prepare themselves to join the ranks of the global elite. Yi-Lin Chiang shows how these competitive Chinese high schoolers first become "study gods" (xueshen), a term describing academically high-performing students. Constant studying, however, is not what explains their success, for these young people appear god-like in their effortless abilities to excel. Instead, Chiang explores how elite adolescents achieve by absorbing and implementing the rules surrounding status. Drawing from eight years of fieldwork and extensive interviews, Chiang reveals the important lessons that Chinese youth learn in their pursuit of elite status. They understand the hierarchy of the status system, recognizing and acquiring the characteristics that are prized, while avoiding those that are not. They maintain status by expecting differential treatment and performing status-based behaviors, which guide their daily interactions with peers, teachers, and parents. Lastly, with the help of resourceful parents, they rely on external assistance in the face of potential obstacles and failures. Chiang looks at how students hone these skills, applying them as they head to colleges and careers around the world, and in their relationships with colleagues and supervisors. Highlighting another facet of China's rising power, Study Gods announces the arrival of a new generation to the realm of global competition"--

Book Synopsis

How privileged adolescents in China acquire status and why this helps them succeed

Study Gods offers a rare look at the ways privileged youth in China prepare themselves to join the ranks of the global elite. Yi-Lin Chiang shows how these competitive Chinese high schoolers first become "study gods" (xueshen), a term describing academically high-performing students. Constant studying, however, is not what explains their success, for these young people appear god-like in their effortless abilities to excel. Instead, Chiang explores how elite adolescents achieve by absorbing and implementing the rules surrounding status.

Drawing from eight years of fieldwork and extensive interviews, Chiang reveals the important lessons that Chinese youth learn in their pursuit of elite status. They understand the hierarchy of the status system, recognizing and acquiring the characteristics that are prized, while avoiding those that are not. They maintain status by expecting differential treatment and performing status-based behaviors, which guide their daily interactions with peers, teachers, and parents. Lastly, with the help of resourceful parents, they rely on external assistance in the face of potential obstacles and failures. Chiang looks at how students hone these skills, applying them as they head to colleges and careers around the world, and in their relationships with colleagues and supervisors.

Highlighting another facet of China's rising power, Study Gods announces the arrival of a new generation to the realm of global competition.

Review Quotes

"Impressive. . . . Study Gods provides a vivid picture and in-depth analysis of privileged students from the top high schools in China's capital and how they compete for university places in a hyper-competitive educational system or aim to move to top ranked US universities. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of meaning in the Chinese elite high school system."---Martin Lockett, Asian Affairs

"The importance of this study is . . . that while most research so far om social inequality and status reproduction (as distinct from upward social mobility) has considered thewe phenomena as restricted to one country, it is now shown that the elite students of China are part of the dynamics of elite status reproduction on a global scale."---Bart Dessein, Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies

About the Author

Yi-Lin Chiang is assistant professor of sociology at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. Twitter @chiang_yilin Instagram @yilin.chiang