[摘要]

The structure and stratification of China’s higher education have been

greatly shaped by political factors since the regime’s establishment in 1949.

In different political periods, such as the Cultural Revolution and Reform

era, different factors affect the inequality structure and stratification

mechanism for acquiring higher education. This study aims to examine the

predictors of getting ahead into college education in urban China, drawing

data from the 1997 East Asian Survey conducted by the Institute of Sociology,

Academia Sinica. The explanatory variables include political and economic

factors (political periods, place of birth, area of residence, father’s

working unit), family background factors (parent’s education and occupation),

and gender.

Logistic regression finds that statistically significant predictors of getting

ahead into college varied by stages of political process in China. In the

early stage of the regime (1949-1965), significant predictors include places

of birth, father’s education (junior high school or higher), and male. In the

Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), significant predictors for getting into

college include places of birth, cities of residence, father’s occupation,

father’s education, mother’s occupation, and male. Also, significant

predictors for the reform era (1977-1997) were places of birth, cities of

residence, father’s occupation, and father’s education. The findings of this

study highlight different roles of family and political factors played in China

’s educational stratification system in different political periods. Although

macro political economy shaped the opportunity structure of higher education

in China, family’s effects persisted through different periods.