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Xinjiang’s 100,000: State-led Urban-to-Rural Population Resettlement in Socialist China by Charles Richard Kraus B.A. in History, May 2010, Hiram College M.A. in History, August 2014, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 21, 2017 Dissertation directed by Edward A. McCord Professor of History and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Charles Richard Kraus has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of March 3, 2017. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Xinjiang’s 100,000: State-led Urban-to-Rural Population Resettlement in Socialist China Charles Richard Kraus Dissertation Research Committee: Edward A. McCord, Professor of History and International Affairs, Dissertation Director Gregg Andrew Brazinsky, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Committee Member Shawn Frederick McHale, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2017 by Charles Richard Kraus All rights reserved iii Acknowledgements It is immensely satisfying that, after five years of graduate study, I can finally acknowledge in writing the many mentors, colleagues, friends, and family members who supported the completion of this dissertation. The research for this project began in earnest in summer 2013, but it would have never started if not for several prior interventions. In January 2011, when I was a master’s student in the Elliott School of International Affairs, Professor Shawn McHale, then the director of the Asian Studies program and my advisor, called me to his office. He asked me rather pointedly: “what are you doing?” Initially I thought I had done something terribly wrong, only to realize a few days later that Professor McHale was encouraging me to ditch my plans to obtain a master’s degree in Asian studies and instead enroll in a history Ph.D. program. This was the right advice, and I am grateful for it. Even earlier, Adam Cathcart introduced me to the study of history at Hiram College. In 2007, he brought me to China for the first time. Without Adam’s initial encouragement and continued support throughout the years, things would have played out much differently. I am forever grateful for those summer days spent searching for sources in the northeast, travelling the Sino-Korean border, and talking in the hutongs of Beijing, as well as all the time spent together in quieter corners of northeast Ohio. My advisor at The George Washington University, Edward A. McCord, continues to provide outstanding mentorship. I thank Professor McCord for the close attention he has paid to my research and writing over the years, but also for much, much more. Professor McCord is a jack of all academic trades: a model historian, teacher, and iv administrator. On top of this, he’s an incredibly kind person. Necessarily, this dissertation reflects only a small part of what Professor McCord has taught me. My committee members, Gregg Brazinsky, Shawn McHale, Bruce Dickson, and Justin Jacobs, were all exceptionally helpful throughout the writing and review process. I thank them especially for their critical questions during the defense, as well as their encouragement. Many other colleagues provided written and oral feedback on various pieces of the dissertation, shared sources and ideas, or otherwise made my research possible. I especially want to thank Sergey Radchenko, Joseph Torigian, Wen-hsin Yeh, Zhang Jishun, Shen Zhihua, Dai Chaowu, Li Sheng, Li Danhui, Yafeng Xia, Xue Chen, Chen Bo, You Lan, Xu Jianying, Ariane Knuesel, Wang Chenyi, Sandrine Catris, Ed Pulford, Chen Jian, Enrico Fardella, Judd Kinzley, Hao Ge, Chen Chuangchuang, Chen Tao, Eric Szetzekorn, Shao Weinan, Wang Di, and Liu Yi. I am incredibly fortunate to have had two academic homes in Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. At GWU, Jim Hershberg, Daqing Yang, Dane Kennedy, Jisoo Kim, Katrin Schulteiss, Erin Chapman, Michael Weeks, and the History Department as a whole have stimulated this research in ways they probably do not realize. My peers in the Department, especially Benjamin Young, Qingfei Yin, and Ryan Musto, provided essential intellectual companionship. At the Wilson Center, Christian Ostermann gave me time, space, and travel opportunities to research and write the dissertation. I thank my other colleagues in the History and Public Policy Program, especially Evan Pikulski and Laura Deal, for their support and friendship over the years. v This dissertation was researched at more than 25 archives in China (I had hoped for more!). Due to the current political climate in China, as well as the absence of clear and binding declassification laws, my experiences at many of these archives were not always pleasant. That said, I would like to thank the staffs in Shanghai, Jiaxing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Changshu, Wuxi, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Tianjin who at least tried to help. Despite a deluge of requests, the librarians at The George Washington University and the Wilson Center always provided outstanding service. None of my research or writing would have been possible without the generous financial support of several institutions and organizations. I especially thank the Department of History at The George Washington University, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the Cosmos Club (Washington, D.C.), the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Henry Luce Foundation. Family members in Thompsonville, Beulah, New York City, Nagoya, and Pinghu made writing the dissertation worthwhile. I thank my parents, Charles and Judith Kraus, for their interest in my progress and so much more. They’ve showed me what lifelong learners look like. My wife, Ting Ye, made much of the research and writing happen—and I don’t mean this figuratively. Ting’s borderline aggressive refrain, “when are you going to finish?!,” was made on a daily basis. Ting kept me focused on the task at hand and ensured that I stayed on track—at least most of the time. Having just put the finishing touches on this dissertation, Ting already has a new demand: “Now finish the book!” Thanks, Ting. vi Abstract of Dissertation Xinjiang’s 100,000: State-led Urban-to-Rural Population Resettlement in Socialist China From 1963 through 1966, more than 100,000 middle and high school students from China’s largest cities moved to Xinjiang, the Chinese frontier. Known as China’s “educated youth,” these teenagers were part of an ambitious state-led, urban-to-rural population resettlement project which aimed to transform people and place during China’s high socialist era. Intended as a project of permanent resettlement with an ever- expanding number of participants, the campaign came to an abrupt halt in the autumn of 1966 and withered slowly over the next several decades. The Chinese Communist Party’s will to change urban China, frontier China, and the minds and bodies of the nation’s youth was consistently tested by the tumult of its own making as well as by the resistance of the campaign participants themselves. Based on research at 20 archives in China, this dissertation presents a history of this urban-to-rural population resettlement program from its inception in the 1950s and 1960s to its bitter end in the 1970s and 1980s. It offers a revisionist account of the origins of the campaign, focusing on demographics, economics, and ideology rather than ethnicity or international security. It exposes the gulf between party-state rhetoric and lived reality and the challenges of acculturating urban peoples to rural environs through a close analysis of the on-the-ground experiences of the “educated youth” in Xinjiang. Finally, the dissertation uncovers how the Cultural Revolution disrupted and altered urban-to-rural resettlement in socialist China and how, in early reform era, the “educated youth” attempted to chart their own futures by resisting the party-state’s mandates. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................... iv Abstract of Dissertation ............................................................................................... vii Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Precursors ................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2: Origins ........................................................................................................ 65 Chapter 3: Mobilization ............................................................................................. 111 Chapter 4: Experience ................................................................................................ 152 Chapter 5: Disavowal ................................................................................................. 186 Chapter 6: Persistence ................................................................................................ 224 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 258 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................