* This article is based on a paper presented to the 27th Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in San Francisco, 24–26 March 1975. It will form part of a book on the transfer of urban youth to the countryside to be published by Yale University Press. Research on this topic was made possible by grants from Yale University, the Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation. I am indebted to Andrew J. Nathan, Michel C. Oksenberg, William Parish, Jr, Janet Salaff, Ezra F. Vogel and Martin K. Whyte for comments on an earlier version.

1. Peking, Radio, 22 December 1975, in Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report, P.R.C. (FBIS), No. 248 (24 12 1975)Google Scholar.

2. “Chih-ch'ih ho chiao-yu tzu-nti shang-shan hsia-hsiang kan ko-ming” (“Support and educate our sons and daughters in making revolution by going up to the mountains and down to the villages”), Hung-ch'i (Red Flag), No. 8 (1972), pp. 66–68Google Scholar.

3. Informants interviewed in Hong Kong report this. In 1972–73 I held extended interviews with 22 youths, most of whom had been sent to the country-side from Canton, and who subsequently escaped to Hong Kong.

4. For some examples see Kuang-ming jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily) (Kuangming), 8 July 1970, 27 July 1970 (San-ho hsien, Fukien), and 15 November 1970; Jen-min jih-pao (People's Daily) (Jen-min), 10 January 1972, 25 February 1972 (Hao-ch'ing, Yunnan).

5. Jen-min, 27 June 1969.

6. White, D. Gordon, “The politics of Hsia-hsiang youth,” The China Quarterly, No. 59 (1974), pp. 491–517CrossRefGoogle Scholar, stresses this point. The press also refers to this attitude (see, e.g. Kuang-ming, 22 May 1969).

7. One informant made this point specifically in relation to friends of his in Canton. The press also refers to the awareness of the advantages enjoyed by t'ung-hsüieh who are not sent down, and which contributes to wavering among urban youths; see, e.g. Kuang-ming, 25 July 1973.

8. For an example, see Radio Hofei, 1 November 1972, FBIS, No. 214 (3 November 1972).

9. See the section below on Remedial Measures for a discussion of housing.

10. Kuang-ming, 17 March 1970, reports the case of a Peking girl who lived with a Mongol family, as does ibid. 17 March 1971. In still another case reported in the press, a single individual, a girl from Shanghai, lived with a family in a small 13-household production brigade in Hun-ch'un hsien, Kirin; see ibid. 5 May 1971.

11. Jen-min, 6 December 1968.

12. Lao-tung (Labour Journal), No. 3 (1964), pp. 6–7Google Scholar. (I am indebted to Chongwook Chung of Yale University for this reference.)

13. See especially Radio Wuhan, 29 July 1974, in FBIS, No. 148 (31 July 1974). For examples of units that are separate accounting units, see Radio Nanking, 22 November 1974, in FBIS, No. 231 (29 November 1974).

14. Radio Foochow, 4 January 1975, in FBIS, No. 4 (7 January 1975).

15. Information supplied by Professor Michael Y. M. Kau of Brown University in 1973.

16. A good example is in Jen-min, 20 December 1970 (Fu hsien, Liaoning, where youths could not budget and wasted food).

17. Radio Hofei, 1 November 1972.

18. Cases where this has been done very well include one from Tung-t'ai hsien, Kiangsu (Kuang-ming, 27 June 1969), and one from Hui-ning hsien, Kansu, where a party secretary took an urban youth home and studied with him more than 20 times, (ibid. 22 December 1970).

19. For examples, see ibid. 25 July 1973 and Jen-min, 18 August 1974 as well as Radio Nanchang, 22 December 1972, in FBIS, No. 4 (5 January 1973) (“ All rural comrades in various localities should welcome these educated young people and should never regard them as mere passersby ”).

20. Jen-min, 15 June 1974.

21. Kuang-ming, 24 December 1970, article by Liaoning Revolutionary Committee's Graduates' Office (pi-yeh pan-kung-shihy), ibid. 17 December 1970.

22. Radio Changchun, 2 January 1973 in J5BIS, No. 7 (10 January 1973).

23. Letter by an unnamed youth: “Kuan-yü chung-shih tui ch'ing-nien ti ssu-hsiang chiao-yu kung-tso ti t'ao-lun” (“discussion on emphasizing thought education work for youth”), Hung-ch'i, No. 11 (1971), pp. 71–73Google Scholar.

24. Cf. Whyte, Martin King, Small Groups and Political Rituals in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), p. 11Google Scholar.

25. For some cases, see Kuang-ming, 11 July 1969; ibid. 24 December 1970 (Hu-lin hsien, Heilung-kiang); Jen-min, 10 April 1970 (Chia hsien, Kwangsi); Kuang-ming, 24 January 1972 (Ch'ang-ling hsien, Kirin); and Jen-min, 11 January 1971 (Lung-hua hsien, Hopei), also reported in Kuang-ming, 20 November 1970.

26. Jen-min, 13 June 1969 (An-t'u hsien, Kirin).

27. This point is made in Chap. V of Kraus, Richard, “The Evolving Concept of Class in Post-Liberation China” (unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1974)Google Scholar. See also White, “The politics of Hsia-hsiang youth.”

28. Jen-min, editorial, 9 July 1967, in Survey of China Mainland Press (SCMP), No. 3983 (19 07 1967)Google Scholar.

29. Jen-min, 8 March 1970.

30. The press does occasionally mention discord arising from membership in different Red Guard organizations; see, e.g. Kuang-ming, 7 April 1970.

31. See “Using Mao Tsetung thought to reeducate educated youths coming to the countryside,” Hung-ch'i, No. 9 (1969)Google Scholar, in Selections from China Mainland Magazines, No. 665 (22 09 1969)Google Scholar.

32. Jen-min, 14 December 1972 (Pei-chen hsien, Liaoning).

33. Radio Shenyang, 26 November 1972, in BBC, Summary of World Broad-casts: Far East, No. 4160 (2 12 1972)Google Scholar.

34. Jen-min, 5 July 1973, reprinted in a collection of materials on the transfer entitled Je-ch'ing kuan-huai hsia-hsiang chih-shih ch'ing-nien ti ch'eng-chang (Be enthusiastically concerned about the growth of sent-dawn educated youth) (Je-ch'ing kuan-huai) (Peking: Jen-min ch'u-pan she, 1973), pp. 13–19Google Scholar.

35. See Jen-min, 29 August 1973 and 18 August 1974. A case of youths in a brigade in Huo-ch'iu hsien, Anhwei, reported in Je-ch'ing kuan-huai, pp. 28–38, shows variation among the youths as well: “Last year,” presumably 1972, the average number of days put in was 280, but the largest number was 324 (p. 37).

36. See Je-ch'ing kuan-huai (Chi hsien), pp. 13–19.

37. For one such example, see Kuang-ming, 3 November 1969; for another, which stresses peasant leadership, ibid. 21 December 1972.

38. Ibid. 25 July 1973 (Ch'ang-pa hsien, Shantung); and 24 December 1970.

39. As will be discussed below, this issue was raised in 1973.

40. Je-ch'ing kuan-hum (discussion of issue of additional resources for housing construction in Feng-jun hsien), pp. 48–49.

41. Several informants reported this. For an important article acknowledging it, see Ch'ing, Kuo, “Show concern for the life of the educated young people,” Kuang-ming, 22 June 1973, in SCMP, No. 5,406 (2 07 1973)Google Scholar.

42. Je-ch'ing kuan-huai (Feng-jun hsien), p. 40.

43. Kuang-ming, 6 May 1971: a case in which youths attributed the warm welcome to shortage of manpower.

44. Jen-min, 24 January 1973.

45. Victor Li, of Stanford University Law School, reports that when talking with peasants they often took pride in pointing to youths who had had difficulties at first, being unable to do hard agricultural labour, but who had gradually got used to it and had done very well.

46. For some examples of contributions, see Jen-min, 16 October 1972 (Paoying hsien, Kiangsu), Kuang-ming, 28 March 1974 (Li-ling hsien, Hunan), Jen-min, 23 August 1973 (Yang-kao hsien, Shansi).

47. For a remarkable case of a young woman from Shanghai who led a production team in Hun-ch'un hsien, Kirin, , see Jen-min, 7 11 1973Google Scholar.

48. For details of these statistics, see ch. V of my forthcoming study of the transfer of urban youths.

49. If locals perceive that sent-down youths are likely to leave when an opportunity arises, they are reluctant to recruit them. For one case from Liu-ch'eng hsien, Kwangsi, , see Jen-min, 23 07 1973Google Scholar. Informants complained that they did not possess appropriate skills; the press has also drawn attention to the need for training programmes for urban youths within the rural areas. For one case, from Ch'ang-ling hsien, Kirin, see ibid. 15 June 1973.

50. Informants say they have heard of such cases.

51. Shum, S., “Living conditions still backward in the villages,” South China Morning Post, 15 02 1973Google Scholar.

52. For an example, see “The Heng-lan tragic incident,” Chih-nung hung-ch'i (Red Flag of Support for Agriculture), No. 3 (11 1967)Google Scholar, in Translations on Communist China: Political and Sociological, No. 436 (Joint Publications Research Service, No. 44052, 17 01 1968), pp. 16–23Google Scholar.

53. See Jen-min, 24 January 1969 (case from a small state farm in Kiangsu).

54. Ibid. 22 April 1972 (Han-chiang hsien, Kiangsu).

55. Howard Chao of Yale University, who visited Hopei villages, similarly reports cadres as referring to youths as “they.” Still, it is worth noting that the press does describe peasants inviting youths to their homes, as in Ai-hui hsien, Heilungkiang, where the purpose, however, was to “recall past bitterness and compare it with present sweetness,” Chieh-fang jih-pao (Liberation Daily), 10 February 1970, in SCMP (Supplement) No. 272 (21 06 1970)Google Scholar. Kuang-ming, 3 July 1972 carries a case from Mu-ling hsien, Heilungkiang, where peasants invited youths to New Year feasts.

56. Canton, Radio, 18 January 1972, in China News Summary, No. 403 (20 01 1972)Google Scholar.

57. Je-ch'ing kuan-hum, pp. 13–19.

58. See the section below on Remedial Measures.

59. Kuang-ming, 8 January 1969 (Wu-yang hsien, Ho nan).

60. Ibid. 21 December 1972 (Nan hsien, Hunan).

61. Ibid. concerning youth participation in tou-p'i-kai. See also “Taking the revolutionary path of going to the countryside,” Peking Review, No. 19 (10 05 1974), p. 21Google Scholar.

62. Informants have reported on Mao's letter, but it has also been referred to in the press. See Radio Foochow, 25 April and 4 May 1974, in FBIS, Nos. 92 (10 May 1974) and 88 (6 May 1974) respectively.

63. Radio Kweiyang, 11 September 1973, in FBIS, No. 178 (13 September 1973).

64. Jen-mln, 30 April 1973, reprinted in Je-ch'ing kuan-huai, pp. 5–12.

65. Radio Changsha, 25 September 1973, in FBIS, No. 192 (3 October 1973).

66. Je-ch'ing kuan-huai, p. 32 (Huo-ch'iu hsien, Anhwei).

67. Jen-min, 24 September 1973 (Huai-te hsien, Kirin).

68. Radio Nanking, 22 November 1974, in FBIS, No. 231 (29 November 1974). In Chu-chou, Hunan, one third of the personnel of youth settlements are local peasants and cadres; see Kuang-ming, 13 June 1974.

69. Radio Foochow, 4 January 1975.

70. Radio Chengtu, 20 July 1974, in FBIS, No. 141 (22 July 1974).

71. E.g. Jen-min, 23 December 1974 (Ta-ch'ang Hui-Tzu Tzu-chih hsien, Hopei).

72. Radio Shenyang, 26 November 1972, in FBIS, No. 232 (30 November 1972). Same broadcast is carried in BBC, Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East, No. 4160 (2 12 1972)Google Scholar; quotation is taken from both because of ambiguities.

73. Radio Peking, 23 November 1974, in FBIS, No. 229 (26 November 1974).

74. For examples, see Kuang-ming, 30 June 1973 and 15 October 1970.

75. New China News Agency (Shanghai), 5 May 1970, in SCMP, No. 4,656 (14 May 1970); and Radio Chengtu, 20 July 1974.

76. Radio Wuhan, 8 October 1974, in FBIS, No.199, (11 October 1974).

77. Radio Peking, 18 January 1975, in FBIS, No. 14 (21 January 1975).

78. 84% of the 516 urban cadres sent by Sian are CCP members; Radio Sian, 15 October 1974, in FBIS, No. 201 (16 October 1974). In Chu-chou, Hunan, 176 of 193 cadres are CCP members; 13, moreover, are members of Party Committees. See Kuang-ming, 13 June 1974.

79. Radio Wuhan, 29 July 1974, in FBIS, No. 148 31 (July 1974). The Sian broadcast mentioned in note 78 also refers to rotation. Jen-min, IS December 1974, reporting on urban cadres from Liu-chai hsien town, Kwangsi, speaks of long-term stays.

80. Jen-min, 20 December 1974 (story on Sian cadres working with urban youths).

81. Radio Wuhan, 29 July 1974. Mention of “unified leadership” is made in the article on Sian cited in note 80.

82. Some reports published in 1975 suggest that the problem of on-going leadership has not been fully solved. See Radio Wuhan, 22 October 1975, in FBIS, No. 212 (3 November 1975), and Radio Foochow, 23 June 1975, in FBIS, No. 123 (25 June 1975).

83. Kuang-ming, 13 June 1974, on the model case of Chu-chou, Hunan.

84. Jen-min, 20 December 1974.85. Kuo Ch'ing in Kuang-ming, 22 June 1973. Equal pay for equal work, equality of reward for men and women and similar matters, were mentioned by conferences convened in Fukien (Radio Foochow, 29 August 1973, in FBIS, No. 172, 5 September 1973), Kirin (Radio Changchun, 10 September 1973, in FBIS, No. 180, 17 September 1973), Kansu (Radio Lanchow, 14 September 1973, in FBIS, No. 182, 19 September 1973), and other provinces.

86. Radio Foochow, 29 August 1973, in FBIS, No. 172 (5 September 1973).

87. I am indebted to Professor Randle Edwards of Columbia University Law School for a copy of the Tientsin sentences. For a set of cases from Yunnan, see “Deal a hard blow to the crimes undermining the program of sending youths to rural areas,” Issues & Studies, Vol. XI, No. 3 (03 1975), pp. 111–15Google Scholar.

88. “Wrathfully condemn Liu Shao-ch'i,” Ko-ming ch'ing-nien (Revolutionary Youth), No. 2 (10 11 1967)Google Scholar, in SCMP, No. 4093 (5 January 1968).

89. Kuang-ming, 12 February 1971.

90. Jen-min, 8 March 1970.

91. In the case of a Heilungkiang army farm, peasants reportedly criticized neglect of living conditions, evidently leading to improvements. See ibid. 6 December 1972. Letters to higher levels can also have an effect, as in the case of an investigation, launched upon receipt of such a letter, into conditions of married sent-down youths in Hai-ch'eng hsien, Liaoning. See ibid. 23 November 1974.

92. Ibid. 9 August 1972 and 5 November 1974.

93. It was this informant who was quoted earlier as reporting the remark of a hsien cadre to the effect that he could not understand why so many urban youths were infected with bourgeois ideology.

94. Kuang-ming, 21 May 1973, in SCMP, No. 5,387 (4 06 1973)Google Scholar.

95. Kuo Ch'ing in Kuang-ming, 22 June 1973.

96. Radio Nanking, 22 November 1974.

97. Ibid. Other stories on self-sufficiency appear in Kuang-ming, 10 August 1973 (Lung hsien, Shensi); ibid. 20 July 1973; and in Radio Nanchang, 16 September 1973, in FBIS No. 189 (28 September 1973).

98. Kuang-ming, 10 August 1973; Jen-min, 29 August 1973; and Je-ch'ing kuan-huai (Huo-ch'iu case, Anhwei), pp. 28–38.

99. Jen-min, 18 August 1974.

100. Labour checks were instituted in the case of Huo-ch'iu, Anhwei, see Je-ch'ing kuan-huai, pp. 28–38. The 22 day per month work requirement is reported by Radio Hofei, 1 November 1972, in FBIS, No. 214 (3 November 1972).

101. Jen-min, 23 December 1974.

102. Ibid. 29 August 1973.

103. Ibid. 23 December 1974: story from E-chi-na Banner, Kansu, claiming self-sufficiency for the youths generally, adding that some even have a surplus.

104. Informants' reports. China News Summary, No. 494 (22 11 1973)Google Scholar gives 480 yiian as the new state settlement fee.

105. Radio Chengtu, 20 July 1974.

106. Radio Chengtu, 29 October 1973, in FBIS, No. 209 (10 October 1973).

107. Jen-min, 15 August 1973. 108. Radio Lanchow, 27 October 1973, in FBIS, No. 210 (31 October 1973).

109. Kuang-ming, 28 October 1973. See also Jen-min, 23 November 1974, op. cit., where the problem of married couples is discussed, and where self-help in solving the housing question is mentioned.

110. Kuang-ming, 13 June 1974.

111. Jen-min, 15 December 1974 (Lu-chai hsien, Kwangsi), where a hsien-level fertilizer plant supplied trucks.

112. Je-ch'ing kuan-huai (Chi hsien), p. 15.

113. Radio Hofei, 29 September 1974, in FBIS, No. 197 (9 October 1974).

114. Jen-min, 5 November 1974. (Chung-li hsien, Hopei); ibid. 20 December 1974) and 28 November 1975 (Ssu-hui hsien, Kwangtung).

115. Radio Hu-ho-hot, 22 December 1972, in FBIS, No. 251 (29 December 1972). For a story about female urban youths in Chia hsien, Kwangsi, some of whom thought about premature marriage, see Jen-min, 16 October 1972, and for one from Honan where an “early marriage wind” blew, see ibid. 30 January 1971.

116. Two years previously the urban youth population was 28,000. Assuming that marriages would take place among them and not among the 20,000 more recent arrivals, the percentage would be 5·8. Radio Shenyang, 15 November 1974, in FBIS, No. 229 (26 November 1974). On Chi hsien, see NCNA (Peking), 4 July 1973, in FBIS, No. 131 (9 July 1973). For other instances, see Kuang-ming, 30 June 1973.

117. Kuang-ming, 6 May 1974.

118. Jen-min, 23 November 1974.

119. Ibid.

120. Radio Changchun, 15 January 1975, in FBIS, No. 11 (16 January 1975).

121. Kuang-ming, 21 May 1973, in SCMP, No. 5387 (4 06 1973)Google Scholar (story on Hsiangyang commune, T'ien-ch'ang hsien, Anhwei). Study by locals includes learning to take a more nurturing and tolerant attitude towards urban youth shortcomings and errors. Thus, in Ming-shui hsien, Heilungkiang, instead of disdaining and looking down on the backward youths, the locals should unite with them, and encourage them to make progress. Radio Peking, 30 March 1973, in FBIS, No. 87 (4 May 1973).

122. See Kuang-ming, 16 December 1971 (cases from Lung-men hsien, Kwangtung and Pao-ying hsien, Kiangsu).

123. For discussion of general difficulties in politicizing the peasantry, see Whyte, , Small Groups and Political Rituals, pp. 164–66Google Scholar.

124. Jen-min, 20 December 1974.

125. Wen-hui pao (Shanghai, ), 17 02 1969Google Scholar, in SCMP (5), No. 249 (2 05 1969)Google Scholar.

126. It should be noted that because of limited space it has not been possible to discuss adequately in this article an important aspect of adaptation, namely recruitment and the opportunities to do significant work other than manual labour. Remedial measures have also sought to increase opportunities, and probably this has had an effect upon adaptation.

127. As a 1975 broadcast put it: “Why is it that some educated young people only want to steel themselves for a few years in the countryside … but do not want to work there for their entire lives?” See Radio Changsha, 14 May 1975, in FBIS, No. 95 (15 May 1975).