Escaping China’s Gaokao with Chinese Capital
A Bourdieusian Analysis of Wealth, Guanxi and Elite Schooling
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8404808 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Phillip Stout (0009-0003-0132-8315, BASIS International (United States)), Adeline Koh (0000-0001-9883-3227, National Chung Cheng University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-11 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Educational Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1005 • E-ISSN: 1467-8527 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00071005.2025.2579154 |
| OpenAlex | W4416104391 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 22 |
The gaokao, China’s annual college entrance exam, profoundly impacts Chinese students and their families; their singular performance will determine their university pathway. It is the exam of their lives. While studies often focus on rural, low-income, and middle-class experiences, little attention has been paid to how wealthy families circumvent the gaokao altogether. This study addresses that gap through a case study of ‘Lennus’, an elite school offering an alternative international track. We define elite schools as top-ranked and highly selective institutions serving socially advantaged families; yet ‘Lennus’ embodies a dual form of elitism. It is academically prestigious, but it also admits students who, though not academically exceptional, leverage socio-economic privilege and guanxi (social connections) to bypass the gaokao. In doing so, such schools become complicit in constructing privileged exit routes from the domestic exam system. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory, our analysis of interview data shows how elite families strategically convert wealth and guanxi into educational advantages. This process illuminates the reproduction of class advantage while offering fresh insights into the interplay of capital, privilege, and elite schooling in contemporary China
China · Elite · Habitus · Work (physics) · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Social and Cultural Dynamics
Class Choreographies
Privilege
The Best of the Best
Insider-outsider
‘Start-up’ capital
Guanxi, Social Capital and School Choice in China
The Role of Social Capital/Guanxi in Students’ Decision-Making about Postgraduate Education in China
The reproduction of regional inequality through university access
The proliferation of international schools
Consider ‘studying up’ in comparative and international education
Social capital and educational inequality of migrant children in contemporary China
Meritocracy, social mobility and a new form of class domination
Rural dispositions of floating children within the field of Beijing schools
Sociological silhouettes of elite schooling
Utilizing Insider-Outsider Research Teams in Qualitative Research
Geographies of wealth
Urban political economy of elite education
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |