Your Unpublished Thesis, Submitted for a Degree at Williams College and Administered by the Williams College Libraries, Will Be Made Available for Research Use
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WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR A STUDENT THESIS Your unpublished thesis, submitted for a degree at Williams College and administered by the Williams College Libraries, will be made available for research use. You may, through this form, provide instructions regarding copyright, access, dissemination and reproduction of your thesis. The College has the right in all cases to maintain and preserve theses both in hardcopy and electronic format, and to make such copies as the Libraries require for their research and archival functions. _ The faculty advisor/s to the student writing the thesis claims joint authorship in this work. _ I1we have included in this thesis copyrighted material for which T/we have not received permission from the copyright holder/s. If you do not secure copyright permissions by the time your thesis is submitted. you will still be allowed to submit. 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Selecting this option allows access to your work only (i'om the hardcopy you submit for as long as you retain copyright in the work. Such acccss pertains to thc entircty of your work, including any mcdia that it incorporates. T'his option docs NO'I' permit thc Libraries to provide copies of the thesis to researchers. Signed (student author) � L...- - Signed (faculty advisor) ----- ______ Signed (2d advisor, if applicable) __________ ___ Thesis title W\ of C1 fa (WHAt; IAJst Elenerz,hCV1 : Tk.t feLllt-DOfMll MD�n-r �Vld (A�Sfes" II 11M.-'''1Vtvct 0 ltt Date C;/-w J 2-0 Use ',:-Libniry ;- : ./' : -' -�:. ' '.">. - : - : " ' -:" . Accepted. By: .-+-'-':'-'-"-f:-c""-::-:-....:..;c;..:'--':-:-.,.,--'��"'c-�-,. ' . re�.March 26Jo FORMATION OF A LOST GENERATION: THE SENT-DOWN MOVEMENT AND THE "THREE OLD CLASSES" By SERENE-LORETTA Y. SHEN Anne Reinhardt, Advisor A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in History WILLIAMS COLLEGE Williamstown, Massachusetts APRIL 18, 2011 T For the Yu Siblings Chenghan 7¥{)( Chengzao 7;p.17F:;+�,,",3- Chengfang if7!i Chengxue 7J(� Chengzhong 7¥ cp Chengyuan 7¥�� Chengzhe ;ij'(:$(O Chengru 7¥=gr Chengqing 7¥�� -- T 11 Contents Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Rustication - "Show Your Red Heart by Going to the Villages" 23 Chapter Two: Back to the Cities 49 Chapter Three: Grappling with the Past and Present - The Zhiqing in New China 71 Conclusion 101 Selected Bibliography 103 iii T IV Acknowledgments Professor Reinhardt, your uncanny ability to preemptively soothe all my insecurities, frustrations and worries kept me going through the production of this thesis. Your patience, wisdom and guidance helped me stay confident and inspired my focus on the sent-down generation. I cannot thank you enough. Professor Bernhardsson, your classes ignited my passion for history and will remain part of my happiest memories of Williams. Gongi and Popi, you are my inspiration and motivation. Thank you for giving me such a rich family history. Baba and Mama, your unconditional love, support and willingness to stay up into the early hours of the morning were invaluable. Your insights and help with my Chinese comprehension and translation made this thesis possible. Meijie, your initial encouragement pushed me to pursue this work. I am so grateful for your confidence in my abilities. Gordon, your patience, kindness and care got me through the year. To the rest of my family and friends, you have my sincerest gratitude for indulgence throughout this process. v T Introduction On July 8, 1968, sixteen-year-old Jinmei Yu set out on a three day journey to begin a new life in Inner Mongolia. Leaving her home city of Tianjin, Yu took a train to Beijing. From there, she traveled west, past the Great Wall to Inner Mongolia, stopping in Hohhot and again further westward in Baotou. On a crowded train for the majority of her travels and without much entertainment, Yu was left to her thoughts, carrying a teaching from Mencius that would prove especially prescient over the next years of her life. So it is that whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities, it first tries his resolve, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and confounds his every endeavor. In this way his patience and endurance are developed, and his weaknesses are overcome. 1 Yu was a willing participant of a larger phenomenon of urban educated youth (zhiqing) giving up their city residencies to live and labor in the countryside. Yu knew her life from then on would be difficult, but she believed in Mencius and the idea that her hard work would lead to a better future for China. In Baotou, Yu transferred to a local slow train, stopping in each small town before arriving in Wulateqianqi. From Wulateqianqi, Yu boarded a bus, traveling for four hours on a mud road leading to the Lu Sun commune, where she would spend the next decade of her life. Five months after Yu left Tianj in, on December 22, 1968, Chairman Mao formally called on the rest of Yu 's peers to transform their lives and head "up to the mountains and down to the villages" (shangshan xiaxiang). This directive then became a governmentmandated program requiring the relocation and rustication of the entire urban youth population. The result of this movement was the I David Hinton, trans., Mencius (Washington DC: Counterpoint, 1999), 230. "i!tx:*����*1:I-T�A ' &;\:)fC'5'A'L,\;G; , �AJW� , tftA1*fl� , �ZAffir ' 1:J:t�3LAPJT};J , ill piTj;J zJJiL,\;>2,ti ' 'I&�APJTT" 1 - -------T irrevocable change in up to an estimated 20 million lives.2 The sent-down movement turned many traditional "Chinese" values upside down. Peasants and cadres became the new teachers; reeducation in the countryside replaced the vigorous academic competition within the urban centers; the purpose of education was not upward social mobility but permanent integration in the countryside, which to many seemed to be downward mobility. Instead of aspiring to move into the bustling and prosperous cities, people were encouraged to give up their material aspirations and lead simpler lives in the villages.