¹ Recent works on Chinese student movements are Tse-tsung, Chow, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge, Mass., 1960)Google Scholar; Israel, John, Student Nationalism in China, 1927–1937 (Stanford, 1966)Google Scholar; Lutz, Jessie G., “December 9, 1935: Student Nationalism and the China Christian Colleges,” Journal of Asian Studies, XXVI, 627–648Google Scholar.

² Among the numerous recent writings on student movements, youth culture, and the conflict of generations are: Lipset, Seymour M., ed., Student Politics (New York, 1967)Google Scholar; Erikson, Erik H., Identity, Youth and Crisis (New York, 1968)Google Scholar; Feuer, Lewis S., The Conflict of Generations, The Character and Significance of Student Movements (New York, 1969)Google Scholar; Califano, Joseph A., The Student Revolution: A Global Confrontation (New York, 1969)Google Scholar; Lipset, Seymour M. and Altbach, Philip G., ed., Students in Revolt (Boston, 1969)Google Scholar; “Generations in Conflict,” Journal of Contemporary History, V, no. 1Google Scholar; Lutz, Rolland Ray Jr., “Fathers and Sons in the Vienna Revolution of 1848,” Journal of Central European Affairs, XXII, 161–173Google Scholar. For additional references, see Altbach, Philip G., Select Bibliography on Students, Politics, and Higher Education (Cambridge, Mass., 1967)Google Scholar.

³ Feuer makes this point, though he does not include the movement of 1945 to 1949 in his consideration; see Conflict of Generations, p. 191.

⁴ In this article I use the term intellectuals as it is frequently defined when referring to pre-industrial or industrializing societies; included among the intellectuals would be almost anyone who has attained a modest level of literacy and is engaged in professional or academic pursuits where literacy is an important prerequisite. This is a much broader definition than that often used for societies where literacy is so widespread as to confer little distinction or privilege.

⁵ “New Youth” is used to refer to 20th century Chinese students and young faculty members congregated at the modern institutions of higher education and caught up in nationalism and anti-traditionalism. The term distinguishes them from the older generation among the intellectual elite at any given time and it also indicates the break between the traditional literati and the scholars who have been influenced by Western learning.

⁶ Literature written during the 1920's and 1930's often used the theme of the conflict of generations. Among the works translated into English, see for example, Yen-ping, Shen (Mao Tun), Midnight (Peking, 1957)Google Scholar and Spring Silkworms and Other Stories (Peking, 1956)Google Scholar; Fei-kan, Li (Pa Chin), Family (Peking, 1958)Google Scholar; and Shu-jen, Chou (Lu Hsün), Ah Q and Others (New York, 1941)Google Scholar.

⁷ Typical expressions of the development of national consciousness in an urban university environment and in opposition to Western influence are: Tso I-li, “Wo ti ta-hsüeh sheng-huo” (My University Life), Wen-hua (Culture), (June 1934), pp. 95–97; Tsʻao I, “‘Shih-erh-chiu’ kei-wo ti chiao-hsün” (The Lesson of “December 9th” for Me), Shih-erh-chiu chou-nien chi-nien tʻe-kʻan (Special Issue on the Anniversary of December 9th), issued by Yen-ching ta-hsüeh hsueh-sheng tzu-chih hui (Yenching University Student Self-governing Association), (Peiping, 1936), pp. 31–33. Hereafter cited as SECCN. Also, Chia-chü, Yü, “Chiao-hui chiao-yü wen-tʻi” (The Problem of Church Education), Chung-hua chiao-yü chieh (Chung Hua Educational Review), (October 1923)Google Scholar.

⁸ Heng (pseudonym?), “Shih-erh-chiu hou shang-hai” (Shanghai after December 9th), SECCN, pp. 28–29. Also the statement of loyalty by a student during the 1931 movement, quoted in Day, Clarence B., Hangchow University (New York, 1953), p. 79Google Scholar and Yen-ching tzu-chih hui, “Wei pa-kʻo kao shih-chʻang shu” (Appeal to the Faculty Regarding the Strike), June 17, 1936, in Nym Wales Collection on the Far East, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University.

⁹ These are terms coined by Weber, Max in his lecture, “Politics as a Vocation,” Essays in Sociology, Gerth, H. H. and Mills, Wright, trans, and ed. (New York, 1958), pp. 120–121Google Scholar. See Lipset's use of them in Student Politics, pp. 16–17. Statements by students frequently mention that the older generation had acquired so many commitments that they could not devote themselves to saving China while members of New Youth were still free to do so. See Yen-ching ta-hsüeh hsüeh-sheng tzu-chih hui, “Kao chʻuan tʻi tʻung hsüeh-shu” (Letter to All Yenching Students), December 14, 1935 (Broadside in Nym Wales Collection). Also, “Chinese Students under Fire,” The Student Advocate (March 1936), pp. 11–13.

¹⁰ Chʻen Tuan-sheng, dean of the law school of Peking National University and a prominent non-party liberal, is quoted as having said during the student movement of 1945–49, “The students of today, in comparison with students of our generation, are much more advanced.” See Lei, Chʻen, Hsiang pʻao-kʻou yao fan-chʻih (Demanding Food before the Cannon's Mouth), (Shanghai, 1947), p. 81Google Scholar. According to a newspaper report, Ho Ssu-yüan, mayor of Peiping, praised the student dmonstrations of December 30 and 31, 1946 and stated: “If I were young, I would have joined them in the parade.” Hsin-min pao, January 1, 1947, Chinese Press Review (CPR), Peiping-Tientsin.

¹¹ During the 1930's, magazines frequently carried articles deploring the high rate of unemployment among college graduates and expressing the sense of insecurity among college seniors. For example, Kuo, P. C., “College Men In Depression,” and “Chief Events,” China Critic, VII, 690, 775–777Google Scholar. The warfare and inflation of the 1940's only aggravated the situation, and articles on unemployment became frequent again in 1947 and 1948. Paradoxically, college enrollments were rising during the late 1940's partly because most students could secure rice subsidies from the government and thus matriculation assured some economic support in a time of rapid inflation.

¹² See the resolutions passed by the National Student Union on July 10, 1947, quoted in Chʻen Lei, Hsiang pʻao-kʻou yao fan-chʻih, p. 134. An appeal by the union to American students in the fall of 1947 also reveals the outlook of the union. Its language and augumentation coincide with that of the Chinese communist propaganda at the time. Typical excerpts are: “The struggle is basically one of the whole people against the fascist oppression of the Nationalist reactionaries. … We therefore urge you to call for the immediate cessation of all military aid to the Kuomintang dictatorship and for an abandonment of America's imperialistic policy. … Dear Friends! The tide of democracy is already running high in China. … The people of China are fully awakened and are determined to take their fate in their hands.” “Chinese Students Speak,” The Nation, Vol. 166, p. 155Google Scholar. The change in Kuomintang-student relations during 1947 was pointed out by Borg, Dorothy, “Students in Kuomintang China,” Far Eastern Survey, (January 14, 1948), pp. 4–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹³ There was a student campaign of some significance and length during the winter of 1945–46, but it was largely confined to Kunming. Communist sources, especially, have emphasized this campaign; see Nien-kʻun, Wang, Hsüeh-sheng yün-tung shih yao chiang-hua (A Summary Discussion of the History of the Student Movement) (Shanghai, 1951), pp. 55–68Google Scholar. Further information on the “December 1st Movement,” as it has been called, is in Lin, Hu, I-erh-i ti hui-i (Reminiscences of December 1), (Hong Kong, 1949)Google Scholar and Payne, Robert, China Awake (New York, 1947)Google Scholar.

¹⁴ See the reports and commentaries between December 26 and 30, 1946 in the Peiping-Tientsin newspapers, Ching-shih jih-pao, Min-kuo hsin pao, Hsin chung-kuo pao, Pei-ping jih-pao, and Hsin pao, CPR, Peiping-Tientsin.

¹⁵ The Democratic League was an indeterminate grouping of organizations and individuals. Many of its members came from the professions and espoused democracy and socialism. Between 1944, when it was organized, and 1947, when it was outlawed by the Kuomintang, various groups split off, often over the question of cooperation with the Kuomintang or the Chinese Communist Party.

¹⁶ Many of the Chinese newspapers tried to straddle the fence and keep out of trouble with the Kuomintang by expressing sympathy with student indignation but at the same time urging the students to leave the matter up to the municipal government. The students, they argued, should not make a political issue out of a legal case. The Shih pao, Peiping, stated on December 31, 1946, that it had received warning from the municipal Bureau of Social Affairs concerning its coverage of the incident; the Ta-kung pao, Peiping, December 30, 1946, spoke of the silent protest of the general community in support of the students.

¹⁷ Letter to the editor by “Citizens of Kunming” dated January 9, 1947, China Weekly Review, January 18, 1947, and Frank L. Tsao, “A Review and Study of the Student Demonstrations,” ibid. See also Yi-shih pao, December 30, 1946 and Hsin-min pao, December 31, 1946, CPR, Peiping-Tientsin. One indication of the widespread nationalist appeal of the issue is the fact that Taiwanese students gave as proof of their nationalism their organization of a demonstration of their own; undoubtedly, the Taiwan demonstration also had strong anti-Kuomintang overtones. Wang Nienkʻun, Wo-kuo hsüeh-sheng yün-tung shih-hua (An Informal History of Our Country's Student Movement), (Wuchang, 1955), p. 97.

¹⁸ New China News Agency Releases, January 9 and 14, 1947.

¹⁹ Tse-tung, Mao, “Greet the New High Tide of the Chinese Revolution,” February 1, 1947, in Selected Works, 5 vols. (New York: International Publishers, 1954–56), V, 119–127Google Scholar.

²⁰ Hsin-min pao, December 31, 1946, CPR, Peiping-Tientsin. In Chinese communist writings, Hu Shih has often been used as the prototype of the bourgeois intellectual and his inadequate response. Hsin-min pao was a communist organ. See also, Wang, Wo-kuo hsüeh-sheng yün-tung, pp. 96–98.

²¹ Yi-shih pao, December 30, 1946 and Shih-chieh jih-pao, January 9, 1947, CPR, Peiping-Tientsin.

²² Dated January 20, 1947, China Weekly Review, February 8, 1947, pp. 262–264.

²³ Mao Tse-tung wrote, “a great people's movement is unfolding in the Kuomintang areas.” “Greet the New High Tide,” Selected Worlds, V. 120. The populist theme pervaded writings throughout the movement from 1945 to 1949. One whole section of excerpts in Chʻen Lei, Hsiang pʻao-kʻou yao fan-chʻih is entitled “Ni-men ti nufang, tai-piao-le mei-ko chung-hua erh nü ti yüan-wang!” (Your efforts represented the aspirations of every Chinese man and woman!), pp. 80–82.

²⁴ There was an appeal and a retrial in June 1947; the decision in this instance was that there was insufficient evidence for conviction.

²⁵ Wang, Wo-kuo hsüeh-sheng yün-tung, p. 96. To maintain contact with student organizations throughout the country, the student leaders used a news bulletin simply entitled, Kʻuai-yu tai-tien (Special Delivery). This telegraphic bulletin had been used in the December 9th movement and had been revived by 1947. Personal communication by a participant who was enrolled in a Chungking middle school in 1946–47.

²⁶ See the resolutions of the National Student Union in which they argue in 1947 that the struggle to save the nation and the struggle to save education are one and the same; the crusade for a new China must have priority over all other activities because the overthrow of the reactionary faction is a prerequisite for improvement in all other realms. Chʻen Lei, Hsiang pʻao-kou yao fan-chʻih, pp. 131–134. A manifesto issued May 30, 1947 by 585 faculty members in north China had compared the Chinese environment with that of France in 1789 and Russia in 1917, ibid., p. 82.

²⁷ Shen pao and Ta-kung pao, May 5, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

²⁸ Hsin-wen pao, May 1 and 20, 1948; Ta-kung pao. May 14, 18, 20, 1948, CPR, Shanghai. As factionalism in the Kuomintang mounted and discipline declined, certain elements in the party tried to use student protests to undermine the influence of other segments; it was reported that Chʻen Li-fu's clique supported the initial protests to try to discredit Li Tsung-jen and any proposals for compromise with the communists, “Anti-American Demonstrations,” China Weekly Review, June 5, 1948, pp. 9–12.

²⁹ Chʻen Lei, Hsiang pʻao-kʻou yao jan-chʻih, pp. 131–134.

³⁰ Barnett, A. Doak, China on the Eve of Communist Takeover (New York, 1961), p. 41Google Scholar.

³¹ See, for example, a telegram sent by 338 professors and academic leaders in Shanghai to President Truman and Secretary of State Marshall, Ta-kung pao, June 1, 1948, CPR, Shanghai. Also the letter to the editor by Chao Tzu-chʻen, dean of Yenching's school of religion, dated June 2, 1948, China Weekly Review, June 9, 1948, pp. 68–69.

³² Ta-kung pao, June 1, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

³³ “On the Question of the National Bourgeoisie and the Enlightened Gentry,” March 1, 1948, and “A Circular on the Situation,” March 20, 1948, in Selected Works, V, 207–210Google Scholar, 219–226.

³⁴ In a May 30, 1947 commentary for the New China News Agency, Mao had called the student movement a second front against the Chiang Kaishek government, “The Chiang Kaishek Government is Besieged by the Whole People,” ibid., p. 135. There were several conflicts between students and administrators over the use of theater performances, lecture series, and school publications for political propaganda; and numerous teachers and administrators who incurred the ire of students were forced to resign. See, for example, the conflicts over the performance of “A Woman and a Dog” and “Return in Triumph” at Peita and Nankai University, Ta-kung pao, May 9, 1947 and Wen hui pao, May 20, 1947, CPR, Peiping-Tientsin. Also, the controversies at the University of Shanghai, St. John's University, and Chung Shan University (Sun Yat-sen University) over the use of clubs for political activities and over the housing of outside agitators in dormitories, Ta-kung pao, May 30 and June 25, 1948, and Yi-shih pao, May 23, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

³⁵ Shih-tai jih-pao, May 26, 1948, CPR, Shanghai. Note the conscious elitism of the students. St. John's was one of the major university centers of left-wing influence in Shanghai during the student movement of 1945–49; for a discussion of why this should be true of this particular Christian college, see Lutz, Jessie G., China and the Christian Colleges, 1850–1950 (Ithaca, 1971), chap. XIGoogle Scholar.

³⁶ With the factionalism, new associations appeared like mushrooms after a rain. This appeal was made by a special organization founded by the Shanghai Student Union, the Shanghai Students' Federation for Opposition to America's Building up Japan and for Relief of the National Crisis. Ta-kung pao, May 23, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

³⁷ In March, 1948, the Yenching News published six interviews with members of the university staff, including Chang Tung-sun of the Democratic League and Lu Chih-wei, chancellor of the university. Several of these individuals had advocated a truce and a coalition government a year earlier, but none considered a mediated peace a possibility in the spring of 1948. See CPR, Shanghai, March 13, 1948.

³⁸ Shih-tai jih-pao, May 30, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

³⁹ As president of Yenching University until he became U. S. ambassador to China in 1946, Stuart had been looked upon as generally sympathetic to the students. Among the considerations which had led to his appointment as ambassador were both his personal friendship with Chiang Kai-shek and his contacts with certain communist leaders. Stuart's statement is contained in the Annexes of U. S. Dept. of State, The China White Paper, August, 1949 (Stanford, 1967), pp. 869–871Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Hsin-wen pao, June 21, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

⁴¹ Ibid., June 8, 1948; Ta-kung pao, June 11, 1948, CPR, Shanghai.

⁴² Jean Lyon, “Report on Peiping Shooting,” China Weekly Review, July 17, 1948, pp. 203–206. The July 5 demonstration itself began as a protest against a rumor which turned out to be highly exaggerated, i.e., that Manchurian refugee students in Peiping were to be drafted to fight the communists. According to one Peita student, the rumor was deliberately fostered by communist student leaders in order to launch one more demonstration to embarrass Kuomintang authorities. Yen, Maria (pseud.), The Umbrella Garden (New York, 1954), pp. 9–10Google Scholar. Sec also the comments of Derk Bodde whose own quarters were occupied by Manchurian, refugee students in November 1948: Peking Diary, A Year of Revolution (New York, 1950), pp. 12–14, 48–52Google Scholar.