Admission to Public Lower Secondary Schools as Social Closures

Having analyzed Zexiao at the policy, school, and family levels, in this chapter the author will interpret admission to public lower secondary education as social closures by elucidating the power relationship behind the interaction among government, schools, families, and other related stakeholders in public school admission to junior high schools in Community A of Beijing as a case study. The author will examine how rent-seeking, privileges, and social disparities formulated stakeholders’ participation in public school admission to junior high schools. Moreover, the author will illustrate an interactive social closure constituted by diverse interactions between the advantaged and the disadvantaged to interpret further and discuss the diverse and stratified powers in urban China.