The Political Culture of China's University Students: A Comparative Study of University Students in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan

by Herbert S. Yee

...a useful contribution that reflects the resurgence of scholarly interest in Chinese political culture. Yee combines an impressive amount of quantitative analysis with a provocative comparative framework to give us new insights into what's on the mind of university students throughout 'Greater China.'-Kevin J. O'Brien, University of California-Berkeley and Ohio State University The People's Republic of China (PRC) is undergoing a significant transformation. Rapid and sustained economic growth since the early 1980s has brought along tremendous social and political changes in China. Economic prosperity and a relatively more relaxed political and social environment has enabled the Chinese people to choose different ways of life; many are attracted by the Western way of life. The Mainland Chinese have copied or followed fashions and ways of life in Hong Kong and Taiwan. On the other hand, the market economy has provided conditions for and aroused a sense of open and fair competition. It enables some people to become rich and the society to become more diversified and plural. Unlike the 1960s and 1970s, China in the 1990s is no longer dominated by political and class struggles. People feel more relaxed and some even venture to criticize government policies and the corrupted government bureaucracy. Many have travelled or studied abroad. Inevitably, they are also exposed to and influenced by Western democratic ideas and values. In any case, in an age of high technology and Internet, no country can effectively bar or censor her citizens from obtaining information outside the country. Since China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's death in early 1997, the PRC has entered a period of political consolidation. Headed by President Jiang Zemin, the Chinese leadership stresses on economic reform and economic development, paying little attention to political reform. The prospect of democratization in Mainland China is dim. University students, as compared to their parents and grandparents, are more receptive of new ideas and values. They are concerned with and critical of social and political issues. Indeed, they are always one step ahead of the time. This systematic study of contemporary Chinese university students' political culture casts light on China's future political development.

298 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1999