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The status of action research in the People’s Republic of China

University of Sydney, Australia, I.Hughes{at}fhs.usyd.edu.au

Lin Yuan

Sichuan University, People’s Republic of China, linda6688{at}hotmail.com

Participative action research can appear both strange and familiar in the People’s Republic of China. China has a distinctive intellectual history, a specifically Chinese approach to citizen participation, and a growing interest in international forms of action research. For more than 30 years, participative approaches have been used in rural and community health in China, although these activities usually lack explicit reflective learning. Much of Chinese education follows authoritarian Confucian traditions. Transformation of Chinese education through action research is recently receiving official recognition as it is expected to develop creativity based on reflective thinking. There is also evidence that action research is bringing organizational and professional development to Chinese public administration, and enhancing rural health. While China has established a few centres of action research education cooperation from the West, it is inevitable that Chinese forms of action research will develop. The challenge for the international community of action researchers is to build open communication with Chinese action researchers to help the development of a Chinese way of conducting action research.

Key Words: action research • Chinese characteristics • participation • People’s Republic of China

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