1. Rosen, Stanley describes the event briefly in his “Political education and student response: some background factors behind the 1989 Beijing demonstrations,” Issues and Studies, Vol. 25, No. 10 (October 1989), pp. 36–37Google Scholar, and “Youth and students in China before and after Tiananmen,” in Yang, Winston L. Y. and Wagner, Marsha L. (eds.), Tiananmen: China's Struggle for Democracy, Its Prelude, Development, Aftermath, and Impact (College Park: University of Maryland, School of Law, 1990), pp. 211–12.Google Scholar

2. Sources for the following narration are from: “Shekou qingnian yu Qu Xiao, Li Yanjie tanshuai duihua: qingnian jiaoyujia yudao qingnianren tiaozhan” (“A frank dialogue between Shekou youths and Qu Xiao, Li Yanjie: youth educators met challenges from youths”), Shekou tongxun bao (Shekou Bulletin News), 1 February 1988, p. 1; Xianbin, Zeng, “‘Shekou fenbo’ dawenlu” (“Questions and answers on the ‘Shekou incident’”), Renmin ribao (People's Daily), 6 August 1988, p. 1Google Scholar; Yanjie, Li, Xiao, Qu and Qingyi, Peng, “Women daodi jiangle xie shenme” (“What did we really say”), Renmin ribao, 12 September 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Xing, Ding, “‘Taojinzhe’ yinqi de Shekou fengbo” (“The Shekou Storm caused by ‘gold diggers’”), Rencai kaifa (The Development of Human Talents), No. 10 (October 1988), pp. 16–18Google Scholar; Fan, Yang, “Shekou fengbo de qianqian houhou” (“The Shekou Storm”), Zhongguo qingnian (Chinese Youth), No. 8 (August 1988), p. 5Google Scholar; Binjie, Liu, “Shekou fengbo liuxia de sikao” (“Thoughts from the ‘Shekou Storm’”) Zhongguo qingnian bao (Chinese Youth Daily), 16 September 1989, p. 3Google Scholar; and Xiao, Qu, “Qu Xiao tan Shekou fengbo” (“Qu Xiao on the ‘Shekou Storm’”), Dangdai qingnian (Contemporary Youth), No. 2 (February 1990), pp. 10–12.Google Scholar Some of the translations are from FBIS-China, 21 September 1988, pp. 53–57; and 28 September 1988, pp. 68–70.

3. The following section is, in addition to the sources cited above, based on: Haitian, Wei, “Shekou: chenfu shuojiao yu xiandai yishi de yici jilie jiaofeng” (“Shekou: an intense confrontation between stale sermons and modern ideas”), Shekou tongxun bao, 28 March 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Haitian, Wei, “Shekou qingnian yu Qu Xiao deng tongzhi haiyou naxie fenqi” (“What other divergent views were there between Shekou youths and Qu Xiao as well as other comrades”), Shekou tongxun bao, 11 April 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Luna, Liu, “Dui qingnian de sixiang jiaoyu ye yao guannian gengxin” (“Ideological education for youth also needs new ideas”), Xiamen ribao (Xiamen Daily), 28 May 1988, p. 4Google Scholar; Bohua, Mi, “Yige hao xianxiang” (“A good phenomenon”), Zhongguo qingnian bao, 18 August 1988, p. 1Google Scholar; Jingchun, Xu, “‘Shekou fengbo’ de qishi” (“Revelations from the ‘Shekou Storm’”), Gongren ribao (Worker's Daily), 26 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Shizhen, Zhong, “‘Shekou fengbo dawenlu’ fanying de wenhua xintai – diaocha shilu” (“Cultural mentality reflected from the ‘Questions and answers on the Shekou incident’: a survey”), Anhui ribao (Anhui Daily), 7 September 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Jian, Lin, “Shekou qingnian gongren zhengzhi yishi diaocha” (“Survey on the political consciousness of Shekou young workers”), Shekou tongxun bao, 19 September 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Fan, Yang, “Xinjiu guannian de pengzhuang – ‘Shekou fengbo’ taolun zongshu” (“Collision of new and old ideas – a summary of the ‘Shekou Storm’”), Jingjixue zhoubao (Economics Weekly), 2 October 1988, p. 5Google Scholar; Wen, Sui, “Jinghua linghun de gongchengshi: ji quanguo youxiu qingnian sixiang jiaoyu gongzuozhe Peng Qingyi” (“An engineer of purifying souls: the outstanding ideological-political worker of the country, Peng Qingyi”), Guangming ribao (Guangming Daily), 12 September 1989, pp. 1, 4Google Scholar; Wenbu, Xin, “Weishenme yao zhizao shekou fengbo” (“Why stir up the ‘Shekou Storm’?”), Zhongguo jiaoyu bao (Chinese Education Daily), 8 August 1989, pp. 1, 4.Google Scholar Some of the translations are from FBIS-China, 21 September 1988, pp. 57–60; and 26 October 1988, pp. 19–21.

4. Licheng, Ma (ed), Shekou fengbo (The Shekou Storm) (Beijing: Zhongguo xinwen chubanshe, 1989).Google Scholar Ma Licheng was an editor of People's Daily who had read all the letters sent to the newspaper. According to his count, among the 1,531 letters, only 266 (17.4%) sympathized with die views of the three youth experts (p. 329).

5. Renmin ribao editorial note, 8 August 1988, p. 3.

6. The disillusionment and perplexity of youths were clearly shown in a letter from Pan Xiao, a pseudonym of two youths, to the editors of China Youth. The letter appeared in the March 1980 issue of the magazine, which initiated a great discussion on the meaning of life from May 1980 to March 1981. For the “Pan Xiao discussion,” see Ownby, David, “The audience: growing alienation among Chinese youths,” in Carol Lee, Hamrin and Timothy, Cheek (eds.), China's Establishment Intellectuals (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1986), pp. 212–246.Google Scholar

7. Fengjiu, Li, “Qingnian de liangshi yiyou – shitan Li Yanjie de chenggong jingyan” (“A good teacher and helpful friend: Li Yanjie's successful experience”), Anshan shizhuan xuebao (Journal of Anshan Teachers Institute), No. 2 (1983), pp. 75–78Google Scholar; Junshen, Shi and Baodi, Wang, “Cixing shi zenyang chansheng de: fang Beijing shiyuan jiangshi Li Yanjie” (“How magnetism is produced; interview with Li Yanjie”), Wenhui bao (Wenhui Daily), 16 May 1982, p. 2Google Scholar; Huiqin, Yaoet al., “Qidi qingnian xinling de ren – Li Yanjie” (“Li Yanjie, the person who inspires youths’ hearts”), Zhongguo qingnian bao, 8 December 1981, p. 1Google Scholar; Xun, Tang, “Xiwang you gengduo de qingnian zhiyou” (“Hopefully there will be more friends of youths”), Guangming ribao, 22 August 1982, p. 2Google Scholar; Yandong, Fang, “Yao you guanzhu mei de yanjing: Li Yanjie tan qingnian” (“The need for eyes with which to see beauty: Li Yanjie on youths”), Jiefang ribao (Jiefang Daily), 13 May 1982, p. 2Google Scholar; Mohan, Lin, “Qingnianren xuyao shenme” (“What do youths need”), Guangming ribao, 7 July 1982, p. 4.Google Scholar Also see Yanjie, Li, “Ni yao guanxin zuguo de weilai ma? Shouxian yao guanxin qingnian yidai” (“Are you concerned with the future of the motherland? First, be concerned with the generation of youth”), Gongren ribao, 27 April 1982, p. 2Google Scholar; and “Zuguo emu zai wei Zhonghua tengfei er pinbo” (“The children of our country are striving for the take-off of China”), Gongren ribao, 22 April, p. 3 and 23 April 1983, p. 2.

8. Tianwen, Hua, “Li Yanjie shi zenyang zoushang shehui de” (“How did Li Yanjie go to the society”), Gongren yuebao (Workers Monthly), August 1986, pp. 11–12.Google Scholar

9. “Qingnian sixiang jiaoyu yanjiu zhongxin chengli” (“The Research Centre for Ideological Education established”), Renmin ribao, 20 May 1987, p. 1.

10. Wei Haitian, “What other divergent views,” p. 3.

11. Yanjie, Li, “Weilai shi shuyu women qingnianren de” (“The future belongs to our youth”), in Shidai de baogao (The Time Report), No. 4 (1981), p. 15.Google Scholar

12. “Zairenshi - you tongku, ye you xinwei: beifang chengshi qingshaonian sixiang jiaoyu yantaohui jishi” (“Re-evaluation – some agony, but some gratitude: report of the conference on youth ideological education of northern cities”), Beijing qingnian bao (Beijing Youth News), 31 May 1988, p. 4.

13. For studies of changes in the values of Chinese youth in the 1980s, see Rosen, “Political education and student response,” pp. 12–39; Rosen, Stanley, “Value changes among post-Mao youth: the evidence from survey data,” in Perry, Link, Richard, Madsen and Pickowicz, Paul G. (eds.) Unofficial China: Popular Culture and Thought in the People's Republic (Boulder: Westview Press, 1989), pp. 193–216Google Scholar; and Rosen, Stanley, “The impact of reform policies on youth attitude,” in Deborah, Davis and Vogel, Ezra F. (eds.) Chinese Society on the Eve of Tiananmen (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990), pp. 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. Rosen, Stanley, “Students and the state in China: the crisis in ideology and organization,” in Arthur Lewis, Rosenbaum (ed.), State and Society in China: The Consequences of Reform (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), p. 172.Google Scholar

15. Ironically, some critics of the youth educators consciously or unconsciously followed the same mode of thinking in their using the dichotomies of collectivist and individualist, traditional and modern, etc.

16. Chaoyuan, Li, “Zhuanqian he fuwu shehui zheliangzhe shi keyi tongyi qilaide” (“Making money and serving the society can be unified”), Renmin ribao, 22 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 27, 32.

17. Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, p. 236.

18. Xiaohu, Li, “Bingfei chenfu shuojiao” (“Not a stale sermon”), Renmin ribao, 17 August 1988, p. 3.Google Scholar

19. Yang Fan, “Collision of new and old ideas,” p. 5.

20. Chengyang, Li, “Sixiang gongzuo yao shiying minzhu zhengzhi yaoqiu” (“Ideological work should meet the demands of democratic politics”), Renmin ribao, 17 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar

21. This argument has a long history in China, see Schwartz, Benjamin I., In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964)Google Scholar; Huang, Philip, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and Modern Chinese Liberalism (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972)Google Scholar; Pusey, James R., China and Charles Darwin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Nathan, Andrew, Chinese Democracy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985).Google Scholar

22. Lei, Wei, “Shekou fengbo yinchude lixing sikao” (“Rational thinking from the Shekou Storm”), Renmin ribao, 24 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 60, 91–92.

23. Changqing, Cao, “‘Shen de wenhua’ shi dui ren de quanmian zhixi – Li Yanjie, Qu Xiao yu Shekou qingnian zhenglun yinfa de sikao” (“”The culture of gods’ totally suffocates people – thoughts from the debates between Li Yanjie, Qu Xiao and Shekou youths”), Shekou tongxun bao, 25 April 1988, p. 3.Google Scholar

24. Silang, Jingwa, “Shilun gerenzhuyi kexue he kexue gerenzhuyi” (“A tentative discussion of the science of individualism and scientific individualism, parts 2 and 3”), Shekou tongxun bao, 26 December 1988, p. 3Google Scholar, and 9 January 1989, p. 3. English translations can be found in Chinese Education, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 1990), pp. 56–66. In fact, there was an earlier open and controversial discussion on “Impartiality and selflessness” in Shehui bao (Society) in late 1986. The newspaper was banned during the anti-bourgeois liberalization movement in early 1987.

25. Jing, Zhang, “‘Shekou fengbo’ yu jiaoyujia de xuanze” (“The ‘Shekou Storm’ and the choice of educators”), Qingnian yanjiu (Youth Research), No. 11 (November 1988), p. 3.Google Scholar

26. Shihong, Zhang, “Shangpin jingji dailai de kunhuo he xuanze – Shanghai sixiang lilun gongzuozhe tan ‘Shekou fengbo’” (“Confusions and choices from the commodity economy – ideological workers of Shanghai talked about the ‘Shekou Storm’”), Renmin ribao, 29 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, p. 90.

27. Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 38, 89; Mi Bohua, “A good phenomenon,” p. 1; Xu Jingchun, “Revelations from the Shekou Storm,” p. 3; Peizhang, Zhong, “Yiyi xiangyuxi, qifeng gongpandeng” (“Probing the problem and solving the difficulty together”), Renmin ribao, 5 September 1988, p. 3.Google Scholar

28. Yongjie, Zhang and Yuanzhong, Cheng, Disidai ren (The Fourth Generation) (Beijing: Dongfang chubanshe, 1988).Google Scholar

29. For discussions on China from a generational perspective, see Zehou, Li and Schwarcz, Vera, “Six generations of modern Chinese intellectuals,” Chinese Studies in History, Vol. 17 (Winter 1983–84), pp. 42–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yahuda, Michael, “Political generations in China,” The China Quarterly, No. 80 (December 1979), pp. 793–805CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Broaded, C. Montgomery, “The lost and found generation: cohort succession in Chinese higher education,” Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 23 (January 1990), pp. 77–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Link, Perry, Evening Chats in Beijing (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992), pp. 237–244Google Scholar; and Gold, Thomas B., “Youth and society,” The China Quarterly, No. 127 (September 1991), pp. 594–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In his article, Gold differentiates “cohort” from “generation.”

30. As Broaded says, after a brief window of opportunity in 1977–79 for students (of the third generation) who had been denied an earlier opportunity to attend university, “the educational authorities reduced the size of the recruitment pool by tightening age restrictions, so that only recent middle school graduates could sit for the entrance exams.” The great majority admitted to colleges in 1980 came directly from high schools. Broaded, “The lost and found generation,” p. 87. Also see Lizhi, Chen, “Disidai daxuesheng jiazhiguan zouxiang qianxi” (“A shallow analysis of the value orientation of the college students of the fourth generation”), Qingnian yanjiu. No. 8 (August 1990), p. 17Google Scholar; and Dian, Yu, “Dangdai Zhongguo qingnian zhishifenzi de daicha” (“The generation discrepancy of today's young intellectuals of China”), Qingnian yanjiu. No. 2 (February 1988), p. 46.Google Scholar

31. Hongbing, Li, “Daide yihuo – huxiang zhushi de sidairen he disidai ten” (“Puzzle of generations: the four generations facing at each other and the fourth generation”), Renmin ribao, 25 March 1989, p. 5.Google Scholar

32. Zhang Yongjie and Cheng Yuanzhong, The Fourth Generation, pp. 132–33.

33. Ibid. p. 203.

34. Tianyou, Huang, “Wo dui taojin he zhengren de kanfa” (“My opinions on gold digging and punishing people”), Renmin ribao, 22 August 1988, p. 3.Google Scholar

35. Li Hongbing, “Puzzle of generations,” p. 5.

36. Yun, Wang, “Geming chuantong jiaoyu bixu jianchi” (“The revolutionary education tradition must be upheld”), Renmin ribao, 19 August 1988, p. 3Google Scholar; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 163–64, 174, 327–28.

37. Zhang Yongjie and Cheng Yuanzhong, The Fourth Generation, p. 124.

38. Zhenshuang, Suet al., “Shekou chongjibo” (“The Shekou shock wave”), Nanjing ribao (Nanjing Daily), 30 August 1988.Google Scholar According to another article that analysed the fourth generation, this “I have nothing” mentality did not really mean a “value vacuum.” Rather, the youths of this generation had the vagabond spirit; its most important characteristic was circumstantial ethics, which in their case led them to “I do whatever I feel right.” See Liu Qing, “Cong ‘wo bu xiangxin’ dao ‘yi wu suoyou’: Xinshengdai wenhua de yanjiu beiwang lu (“From ‘I do not believe’ to ‘I have nothing': a study note on the culture of the new generation”), Dangdai qingnian yanjiu (Studies on Contemporary Youth), No. 8 (August 1988), pp. 5–6. The English translation can be found in Chinese Education, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring 1990), pp. 87–91.

39. Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 233–34.

40. Ibid. p. 124.

41. Beiyin, Nie, “Disidai ren de liangnan xuanze – fang Disidai Ren zuozhe zhiyi Zhang Yongjie” (“Dilemma of the fourth generation: interview with Zhang Yongjie, one of the authors of The Fourth Generation”), Zhongguo qingnian bao, 1 October 1988, p. 2.Google Scholar

42. Guoguang, Wu, “The dilemmas of participation in the political reform of China, 1986–1988,” in Roger Des, Forges, Luo, Ning and Wu, Yanbo (eds.), Chinese Democracy and the Crisis of 1989: Chinese and American Reflections (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993), p. 144.Google Scholar

43. For the efforts of journalists to promote press reform and political reform, see Michael Berlin, “The performance of the Chinese media during the Beijing Spring,” Frank Tan, “The People's Daily and the epiphany of press reform,” Judy Polumbaum, “‘Professionalism’ in China's press corps,” all in Des Forges, Luo Ning and Wu Yanbo, Chinese Democracy and the Crisis of 1989, pp. 263–275, 277–294, 295–311, respectively. Also see Mei, Li, “Renmin ribao tongren de ‘heping yanbian’ shi” (“A history of the ‘peaceful evolution’ by the colleagues of People's Daily”), Tan-so (The Quest), Nos. 11, 12 (1992)Google Scholar, Nos. 1, 2, 3 (1993).

44. Polumbaum, “‘Professionalism’ in China's press corps,” p. 302.

45. For the political “edge ball” played by the World Economic Herald in the reform, see Changqing, Cao, “Kangzheng de shengyin: Shijie jingji daobao” (“Sound of resistence: the World Economic Herald”), Beijing zhi chun (Beijing Spring), February 1994, pp. 35–38.Google Scholar

46. Qu Xiao, “Qu Xiao on the Shekou Storm,” pp. 10–12; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 123–25; Liu Binjie, “Thoughts from the Shekou Storm,” p. 3; and Xin Wenbu, “Why stir up the Shekou Storm,” pp. 1, 4.

47. Zeng Xianbin, “Questions and answers,” p. 1.

48. Su Zhenshuang et al., “The Shekou shock wave”; Zhang Shihong, “Confusions and choices,” p. 3.

49. Xin Wenbu, “Why stir up the Shekou Storm,” p. 4.

50. Ibid.

51. Qu Xiao, “Qu Xiao on the Shekou Storm,” pp. 11–12.

52. Renmin ribao editorial note, 8 August 1988, p. 3.

53. Li Yanjie, Qu Xiao and Peng Qingyi, “What did we really say,” p. 3; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 127, 317–18; Qu Xiao, “Qu Xiao on the Shekou Storm,” pp. 10–12. Four years later, Li Yanjie was still very bitter, claiming that the true story of the Shekou incident had never been reported. See Rosen, Stanley, “The effect of post-4 June re-education campaigns on Chinese students,” The China Quarterly, No. 134 (June 1993), p. 330.Google Scholar

54. Zhong Shizhen, “Cultural mentality,” p. 3.

55. The editorial of People's Daily on 25 June 1993, reiterating what Jiang Zemin, the General Secretary of the Party, set forth in Shanghai in November 1992. According to Jiang, these three “isms” should be used to resist the flagging of the senses of responsibility and morality spreading in the society (Renmin ribao, 25 June 1993, p. 1).

56. Liu Binjie, “Thoughts from the Shekou Storm,” p. 3.

57. Qu Xiao, “Qu Xiao on the Shekou Storm,” p. 12.

58. Renmin ribao editorial note, 14 September 1988, p. 3.

59. Qu Xiao, “Qu Xiao on the Shekou Storm,” p. 12.

60. It might be Zhao Ziyang who first used the phrase “gaizao sixiang zhengzhi gongzuo” (“reform ideological-political work”). See Xin Wenbu, “Why stir up the Shekou Storm,” p. 4.

61. Su Zhenshuang et ai, “The Shekou shock wave.”

62. Xiandai hanyu cidian (Modem Chinese Dictionary) (Beijing: Shangwu chubanshe, 1979), p. 345.

63. Li Yanjie, Qu Xiao and Peng Qingyi, “What did we really say,” p. 3.

64. Zeng Xianbin, “Questions and answers,” p. 1; Yang Fan, “Collision of new and old ideas,” p. 5.

65. Zhong Peizhang, the Chair of the Press Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department of the Party, mentioned that, two years before the Shekou Storm, a graduate student asked him a sharp question: “the reform needs to stimulate people opening up, initiating, bringing to full play the intelligence, talent, and creativity of every person. Why did [the authorities] praise Qu Xiao and continue the propagation of [the ideas of] obedient tools and denial of individual personalities?” (Zhong Peizhang, “Probing the problem,” p. 3.)

66. Xin Wenbu, “Why stir up the Shekou Storm,” p. 4.

67. Shi Fang, “The inspiration of Shekou youths,” p. 5.

68. Wei Haitian, “Shekou,” p. 3.

69. Su Zhenshuang et al., “The Shekou shock wave.”

70. Zeng Xianbin, “Questions and answers,” p. 1.

71. Tang, Xiao, “Shekou qingnian de jiazhiguan” (“Values of the Shekou youths”), Shekou tongxun bao, 1 May 1989, p. 3.Google Scholar

72. Poster, Mark, Critical Theory and Poststructuralism: In Search of a Context (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989), p. 128.Google Scholar

73. Xianbin, Zeng, “Questions and answers,” p. 1; Wang Haitao, “Shengchanli biaozhun he sixiang gongzuo” (“The criterion of productivity and ideological work”), Renmin ribao, 7 September 1988, p. 1Google Scholar; Ma Licheng, The Shekou Storm, pp. 175–77.

74. Lynn, Hunt (ed.), The New Cultural History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), p. 17.Google Scholar