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This paper examines the emergence of China’s ‘university cities’ (daxuecheng) as a governmental strategy to modernise higher education and to promote its socio-economic integration. To the disappointment of policy makers, the model of university cities has largely failed to yield satisfactory educational outcomes and economic productivity. Drawing from ethnographic research at the Higher Education Mega Center (HEMC) in the suburb of Guangzhou City, this paper analyses the characteristics and problems of China’s university cities. It discusses how various disjunctures between planners’ visions and students’ everyday experiences undermine the missions of university cities: Universities intended to reinforce the reputation and growth potential of cities overestimated the need for such facilities; students rejected the vision of isolated education enclaves as a style of living; and productive connections with research and development sectors were not realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines truth regimes -educational discourses - from 1978 to the present in China and finds that these truth regimes experienced a wide variety of changes. These changes moved from "Suzhi Jiaoyu" education for all-round development, to building a country with strong human resources, and finally to the rejuvenation (fuxing) of the modern Chinese nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]