{"id":52998,"date":"2020-06-25T11:56:29","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T18:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=52998"},"modified":"2020-06-25T11:56:29","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T18:56:29","slug":"why-youth-activism-has-passed-china-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-youth-activism-has-passed-china-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Why youth activism has passed China by"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Around the world, young people are emerging as trailblazers for social change. Youth activism has ranged from\u00a0Malala Yousafzai\u2019s fight<\/a>\u00a0for girls\u2019 right to education to\u00a0Greta Thunberg\u2019s mobilisation of youth climate action<\/a>,\u00a0the Hong Kong youth protests in 2019<\/a>\u00a0and even the TikTok movement which led to\u00a0organisers of a Trump rally<\/a>\u00a0expecting far more attendees than actually appeared. However, there is a region in which youth activism seems to be largely absent: mainland China.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0state of affairs<\/a>\u00a0has piqued the interest of\u00a0journalists<\/a>, leading some\u00a0to wonder<\/a>\u00a0whether Chinese youth will become increasingly involved in the global trend for activism in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

My\u00a0recent research<\/a>\u00a0set out to explore civic engagement among Chinese students. Together with a colleague at a Chinese university, I interviewed Chinese students and found that they tended to avoid volunteering and activism in favour of membership of established groups \u2013 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and town-fellowship organisations that bring together students from the same place of origin.<\/p>\n

One reason for this is a focus on academic and professional self-advancement, led by\u00a0the Chinese government\u2019s emphasis on meritocracy<\/a>. Another is the culture of trust in Chinese society. This is characterised by unquestioned trust in the State and strong in-group trust among families \u2013 but\u00a0distrust in communities<\/a>, such as universities or activist groups.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Protests in Hong Kong, June 9 2019. PaulWong\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

What is university for?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of our interviewees, Xiaofen Su, a 22-year-old undergraduate, is an active participant of a town fellowship organisation at her university. These groups are made up of members from the same geographical origin and are entirely self-organised by their members.<\/p>\n

Xiaofen had organised festival celebrations, particularly for newcomers. She had also fundraised for a town fellow whose father was injured on a construction site and had no health insurance. She invited successful past town fellows to share job-hunting experiences and mobilised these\u00a0guanxi<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 connections \u2013 to gain access to graduate school supervisors. Connections with supervisors would offer some advantages in the entrance exams and help to get a place at graduate school.<\/p>\n

Our interviews with 68 university students<\/a>\u00a0found that they considered academic study, high achievement and job prospects to be the purpose of university.<\/p>\n

Xiaofen\u2019s membership of the town fellowship association facilitated academic progression and career success. Furthermore, this group\u2019s identity, based on geographical origin, created\u00a0family-like<\/a>\u00a0solidarity and trust between members. For Xiaofen, this was the most meaningful part of her membership in the organisation.<\/p>\n

Lack of trust<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Xiaofen\u2019s strong in-group trust in her town fellows is in sharp contrast to distrust in her university and local communities. For instance, she was never involved in any charity organisations.<\/p>\n

She told us about a sexual harassment case against a male professor brought by a whistleblower. But Xiaofen had been uninterested in signing a petition denouncing sexual harassment, because \u201cthe gun shoots the birds perching out\u201d \u2013 a Chinese saying which describes the potential for a reprimand from outspoken activism.<\/p>\n

Speaking out or challenging authority is seen as being costly. Some students worried about losing out in the competition to be nominated an outstanding graduate, or that they might not gain a graduate school opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Graduates from Peking University, China. tangxn\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Xiaofen\u2019s lack of trust in how her university would respond to activism is also linked to widespread cultural attitudes. These are a result of deeply rooted\u00a0distrust in local officials<\/a>\u00a0and the tightly controlled and censored media, which has\u00a0targeted low-level officials<\/a>\u00a0as scapegoats for social problems and corruption.<\/p>\n

Party membership<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to town fellowship organisations, many students are members of the Chinese Communist Party. Xue Zhang, a 23-year-old postgraduate, offered us some insights into the popularity of CCP membership.<\/p>\n

A Party member for three years, Xue swore by her absolute loyalty to the Party State. When speaking, she consistently switched between\u00a0Wo<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Guo Jia<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cI\u201d and \u201cnation family\u201d), a linguistic move demonstrating an affinity between a person and their country. She told us that, \u201cAn individual\u2019s life chance is entirely dependent on a nation\u2019s development.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the unspoken motive of joining the CCP was to advance one\u2019s own competitiveness in Party membership, which opens doors to graduate schools and leads to job opportunities. Xue had not socialised or bonded with her Party fellows. She expressed distrust in her \u201cindividualistic\u201d Party fellows, considering them to be \u201ccompetitors\u201d rather than \u201ccomrades\u201d. Her trust was in the Party State, not the members of her community.<\/p>\n

The Chinese government\u2019s focus on\u00a0meritocracy<\/a>\u00a0has led millions of youth to become preoccupied with academic degrees, competitiveness and employability. This preoccupation has also prevented university youth from engaging in activities devoted to the public good.<\/p>\n

Unquestioned loyalty to the State and strong in-group trust in town fellows firmly lock university students into closely knit bubbles. This leaves little space for civic engagement.<\/p>\n

The participants\u2019 identities and institutions were anonymised, and pseudonyms were used instead.<\/em><\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Ye Liu is a Lecturer in International Development at King’s College London<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the world, young people are emerging as trailblazers for social change. Youth activism has ranged from\u00a0Malala Yousafzai\u2019s fight\u00a0for girls\u2019 right to education to\u00a0Greta Thunberg\u2019s mobilisation of youth climate action,\u00a0the Hong Kong youth protests in 2019\u00a0and even the TikTok movement which led to\u00a0organisers of a Trump rally\u00a0expecting far more attendees than actually appeared. However, there […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":52999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[357241],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-52998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-change","tag-youth-activism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy youth activism has passed China by - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-youth-activism-has-passed-china-by\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why youth activism has passed China by - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Around the world, young people are emerging as trailblazers for social change. Youth activism has ranged from\u00a0Malala Yousafzai\u2019s fight\u00a0for girls\u2019 right to education to\u00a0Greta Thunberg\u2019s mobilisation of youth climate action,\u00a0the Hong Kong youth protests in 2019\u00a0and even the TikTok movement which led to\u00a0organisers of a Trump rally\u00a0expecting far more attendees than actually appeared. 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