Guy Hansen:

I'll just introduce you. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Guy Hansen. I'm Director of Exhibitions here at the National Library of Australia. I'd like to start by acknowledging Australia's First Nation people as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and give my respect. Oh, sorry about that. The microphone's just come on. Luckily, my voice is quite loud, so we're most probably okay. Give my respect to the traditional owners and custodians of this land and to the elders past and present and through them to all Australian and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Thank you for attending this event, coming to you from Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to remind you that now might be a good time to silence your mobile phones or any other devices you have. This afternoon's presentation, 'Revolutionary Youth in China, 1949 to 1950' is by Dr. Sanjiao Tang, a 2025 National Library of Australia fellow. Our Distinguished Fellowships programme supports researchers to make intensive use of the National Library's rich collections through residencies of three months. National Library of Australia Fellowships are made possible by generous philanthropic support. Sanjiao's project this year has been supported by the Asian Studies Fellowship in memory of Cheng King Law.

Dr. Tang is a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Asian and Pacific Studies Seikei University. He received his PhD from the University of Auckland in 2021. His doctoral dissertation is 'Everyday Life during the Cultural Revolution in Sichuan Province', which adds up to the literature on Maoist China by examining and analysing everyday perspectives. In his presentation today, Sanjiao will discuss the history of Chinese Communist Party and its new regime focusing on the period following the years 1949 and 1950. This witnessed the most drastic and profound changes in modern China. The younger generations were strongly encouraged to follow the national progress and become revolutionary youth. Understanding the CCPs effectiveness in reshaping the younger generations helps rethink the swift establishment of the People's Republic and better understands the China of today. Join me in welcoming Dr. Tang.

Sanjiao Tang:

Okay. Hello everyone. Thank you so much for giving me such a good chance. Thanks to the fellowship of the National Library of Australia, I have had the chance to collect hundreds of primary and old items needed in my research. Currently, there have been increasing restrictions in China for accessing archives for academic use, especially for the researchers with international backgrounds. The support from NLA is extremely valuable and helpful in China today. In addition to the requirement of officially issued reference letters for entering the archives in China, if a researcher wants to see something produced after the foundation of the PRC after 1949, first, it is necessary to get the approval from those who produce the material. For example, for the archives regarding a factory in China half a century ago. First, you must get the approval from the factory, however, resulting from the economic reform taking place in China from the 1980s, most of those factories had already collapsed and disappeared for a decade.

So how to obtain the approval letter needed, this requirement, almost deprived the researchers of the opportunity to access the material for research. In NLA, I understand that there are regressions related to copyright issue for the sources produced in China. I hope that some flexibility is possible like China's requirement to obtain an approval from the producer of the material. Even if this deal possible to contact the producer or copyright holder of the material under the increasingly politicised environment in China today to avoid potential trouble, probably no one is willing to involve in or cooperate with such projects with international background. So I really appreciate this kind of help I received in NLA, which allows me to access the hundreds of items needed in my research. As I still need more time to carefully analyse all the material. Today what I want to share is based on the preliminary result of the beginning part of my entire project.

Actually, the original working title of my presentation, as you can see, is become 'Revolutionary Youth in China between 1949 and 1950' by focusing on the Chinese young people who did not engage in revolutionary activity before the arrival of the communist force and the foundation of the PRC. What I intend to highlight is the process that these young people participated in the Chinese Communist Party's establishment of its national regime and became revolutionary youths in a very brief period, normally just a few months. Among the plentiful scholarship, studying the over seven decade history of the PRC, including that during the Maoist era, relatively much less attention is paid to the initial period of the PRC, like the year between 1949 and 1950. Although numerous significant transformations with profound influences take place in China and abroad during that period. By concentrating on the experiences of the young people at that time, the result of my research joins the relevant discussions and adds to rethinking the history of the PRCs foundation and its legacies from new perspective.

Okay, so let's start our exploration from the historical background in which the tens of millions of Chinese youth encountered the national trends of the Communist Revolution. On the one hand, because of the Civil war, civil warfare, the economic collapse and the social disorder, the Chinese young people normally faced the predicament to find a job and make a living, like to mention obtaining any opportunity for upward mobility. On the other hand, resulting from the communists rapid taking over the entire country, the shortage of human resources to fund and maintain its dual regime was being amplified, especially in those dually occupied regions and the vast areas of China's hinterland and these two specific situations together. Innumerable Chinese youth born between the 1920s and 1930s had their unique experiences involved in the revolution, involved in the revolution. Admittedly, as a result of the national tide, many Chinese born during those decades had become progressive youths, progressive youths.

In the late 1940s, many the students in secondary schools and higher education participating in the anti-government protest and forming revolutionary associations with underground collections with the Chinese Communist Party. Those progressive youth contributed to the nationwide failure of the [unclear] KMT's rule. However, at the same time, remember that low fewer of their peers kept away from the national tide of revolution in addition to those who engaged in the KMT anti communist activities, either actively or passively. So for the majority of China's young people with various individual backgrounds and life trajectories, including those in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, when the communist force arrived in 1949, it still seemed to be not easy to quickly turn themselves into revolutionary youths, although it was now or never and later they might not get another good chance to secure a position in the party system which was established across the nation and dominated the whole country from [unclear], fortunately [unclear] by the experiences of lots of young Chinese between 1949 and 1950 more exactly speaking from mid 1949 when the Civil War was going to an end and the Chinese communist force started to build its national regime to mid 1950.

When the civil warfare ended nationwide and the new regime had been well established even at the most basic level of the country, plenty of opportunities were available for the Chinese youth to get revolutionised as expected and needed by the Communist Party. To achieve this goal, to achieve the goal of transformation, there were three steps they should accomplish, including obtaining a revolutionary membership, having their thoughts reformed and being distributed to certain places where they were needed. Brief time was required to complete each of these tasks. In many cases, it was even possible to conduct and finish more than one task simultaneously. Thus further minimising the time needed to become revolutionary youth. The first step was to obtain revolutionary membership with which all the following tasks would become much easier for the young Chinese who were in their tens and twenties, especially those between 14 and 25 years old. The best opportunity was truly to join the Youth League, launched by the Chinese Communist Party, different from the Communist Youth League during the Soviet period, the Soviet Republic period in China. In the 1930s, the national victory of the Communist Revolution 1949, witnessed the relaunch of the youth league, its new name was the Chinese Democratic Youth League.

Beyond changed the names as clarified in the youth league's new constitution issued in 1949, the Chinese youth could join the league based on much more broadened conditions, much more broadened conditions. Among them, the only crucial requirement was to have the willingness to contribute to the revolution of new democratism, which was regarded as a dominant ideology during the funding stage of the PRC. In addition to acknowledging the constitution of the league to make it more clearly, the youth were just required to acknowledge the Constitution instead of being professed in need. Apart from [unclear] and broad requirements and the youth's personal attitude as for the family backgrounds of the young people, the family backgrounds of the young people. While since 1949, the class background of the family had become the fundamental factor in deciding one's life and owning those with the working class or poor peasant class background were viewed as the lesions, reliable sources, reliable forces benefiting from the new constitution of the Youth League.

The young people from almost all the other class background of China at that time were all welcomed for the landlords and bureaucratic capitalists who themselves had already been targeted as their main enemy in the class struggle. Their son and daughters still had the chance to become a member of the Youth League if only meeting the requirement of the three months waiting period, three months waiting period before becoming a former member of the league. The membership was even available to those with [unclear] experiences before 1949, like those who previously joined the KMT Youth League, yes, the KMT also had its Youth League or other organisations deemed as counter-revolutionary forces. The only additional condition was a longer, longer period of time, a longer waiting period of time as shown by the firsthand materials. It seems that even the waiting period requirement, the only waiting period requirement was not well implemented in practise, was not well implemented in practise.

Here is an application form for joining the Youth League at that time, as we can see, although disclosing his experiences as a believer of an underground religion, an underground religion named [unclear] one of the popular religions labelled as counter-revolutionary forces in China at that time. In addition to once participating in the [unclear] organised by the KMT, the applicant's application was still approved, was still approved, and the low waiting period was needed as commented by the branch of the Youth League, which endorsed his application. The applicant was still regarded as having a clean slate regardless of his complicated religious politic and military experiences before the foundation of the PRC. Based on this evidence in both principles and the practises, it's safe to conclude that around the beginning of the 1950s, the Chinese new Democratic Youth League, which was the most dependable reserve force of the Chinese Communist Party, was open to nearly all the young Chinese meeting its age, meeting its age limit.

Therefore, it is not surprising to say the dramatic expansion, the dramatic expansion of the Youth League, just during the several months between 1949 and 1950, as demonstrated in the statistic. In the spring of 1949 when the Youth League just revealed its name and the Constitution, the total number of the members across the whole nation was about 190,000. By December that year, the total number reached to more than 1.3 million, 1.3 million. Only six months later, the statistic turned to be over 3 million. Over 3 million, so it is also safe to imagine that except the original 190,000 members who were probably the young people already participating in China's revolutionary activities at that time, most of the 3 million new membership of the Youth League were obtained by the young Chinese who did not contribute to the revolution before. Regardless of their various education, working, and life experiences previously in less than one year, they all had officially recognised the identity of Revolutionary Youth as a member of the Chinese Democratic Youth League.

Then the young people could enjoy many more opportunities to get further revolutionised as needed to engage in the drastic progress of establishing the new regime. In some cases, although a youth outside the Youth League might also have the chance, those with the membership of the Youth League were normally prioritised in the process. When finishing the thought reform task, which was another necessary and significant state for becoming revolutionary youth, the representative way was to enrol in the universities or schools that were founded by the new regime in different places and at different levels, normally in their name of People's Revolution University.

Between 1949 and 1950, there were such kind of universities being established in each of the big administrative regions under the Communist Party rule, like the North China People's Revolution University, the East China People's Revolution University and the Southwest China People's Revolution University. Remember that in the late 1940s when the Civil War was still going on, the Chinese Communist Party already funded the military and politics universities in China's different parts. Students of those institutions or many, the young people who already had experiences working in the communist force, they were trained for becoming higher level military and political casuals in the new regime. In comparison, the People's Revolution universities were specifically built for the young Chinese who were yet to participate in the revolution physically. Even so, considering China's huge size of young population, was it still difficult for the youth to enrol in the university?

Let's take a look at the Southwest China People's Revolution University. Founded in Chongqing in early 1950, in the first class of the university, there were 20,000 students, 20,000 students without enough space to accommodate all the new students in its main campus in Chongqing. It built six branch campuses across the provinces of Southwest China, including Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan province. In the four years until it finalised its mission, the university continuously admitted one class of new students after another. The study time needed to graduate for each class was only three months, three months, just three months were needed for the students from registration to graduation. In addition to the plenty of young people enrolled in such kind of people, people's Revolution University, way more additional chances were available in the schools opened by the provincial and even city level authority of the new regime during the same period. Due to the more limited resources of faculty, facility and the curricular in this more regional level, more basic institutions, the time needed for graduation was even shorter in [unclear] city Fujian province, the same period with this establishment of the South Fujian Public School aiming to train casuals for the local area of Fujian province.

Students in this school needed two months, just two months to study and graduate. Apart from all these multilevel universities and schools open to the Chinese youth in the whole society, in the Chinese Democratic Youth League, in the youth league schools for its members were also funded from the central to the basic level. These schools also intended to finish training students as quickly as possible as soon as possible. In their regular curricular, their terms were between one and three months in case the young people were registered students in secondary or higher education to ensure that they were not overlooked In the thought reform task. The study programme for them could take place during the summer or winter break, and the curricular could even be shortened to several week, maybe just two to three weeks to graduate, whether entering the so-called universities or other schools in diverse names and no matter studying three weeks or three months when graduating.

It was highly doubtful if the young people could really learn enough knowledge and skills needed in the future, but at that time it was not at all a worrisome thing for their institutions. Instead of securing that, students gained substantial knowledge via the learning process. The only actual goal of the short-term study was to ensure that the thoughts of the students had been well reformed in accordance with the communist parties ideals and requirements during that period. To achieve this goal, the curricular were filled with courses focusing on the basic series of Marxism, communism and the class struggle. In addition to a lot of group discussion and criticism in classes, both importantly, the students needed to write the summary of their thought, the summary of their thought submitting a satisfying thought summary was also the key requirement for graduation was also the key requirement for graduation to be the requirement that students were expected to honestly expose, fully reflect, and seriously criticise their previous experiences, viewpoints and belief highlighting the cognitive transformations they had made based on the theories they just studied.

Satisfying version of the summary may not be produced without rewriting and revising many, many times, yet probably to secure the rate of graduation to secure the rate of graduation, the worries, detailed guidelines and the template for writing the assemblies were provided, although the provider clarified that there was no need to write strictly inconsistent with the guideline and the template. After carefully reading the 10's of about more than 50 thought summaries in the old publications available in NLA collection for me, it is still unavoidable to get a highly stereotypic impression. No matter who the writers were, they generally started the writing from recording their family background. In most cases, the families were described as traditional ones in which their parents all hope the children can bring glory to the ancestors. To reach this goal they were always required to focus on study in schools, as a major result such experiences usually made them hold an indifferent attitude on politics, an indifferent attitude on politics, not mention the situation on class struggle, which at that time was one of the mainstream shortcoming of the child youth just entering the communist revolution.

For the young women, there should normally be additional reflections concentrating on the issues of gender inequality. Things would be a little more complicated for those with experiences related to foreign countries, especially the US. Like the students who studied in the schools funded by American missionaries, they must admit that they made grevious mistake before influenced by the American culture and education, whatever the defects being criticised by themselves. In the later parts of their summaries, the writer all declared that their thoughts were transformed suddenly and heavily because of the several months or several weeks study. At the end of the writing, everyone pledged to closely follow the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party forever and make their contributions whenever needed by summarising their thoughts. While so stereotyped writing, so stereotyped writing, it was not surprising if both of the students successful graduated after finishing the short-term study and the certificate of the graduation actually indicated a certified result of the thought reform.

Thus as highlighted at the end of their thought summaries, it was a time for these graduates to become a Revolutionary Youth in practise and make their contributions as needed by the dual regime. In comparison with big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where large numbers of young people gathered the opportunities to become revolutionary youth were much more plentiful if the young people, if the young men and women were willing to relocate to other parts of China where the convenience takeover just initiated and the huge gap existed in the personnel of the new governments and other public sectors.

Although the Chinese Communist Party sent a group of casuals, wherever is occupied, the human resource was still insufficient, especially at the basic level. The communist armies overwhelming victories in the Civil War made the human deficiency increasingly notable. Under this background, the Communist Party recruited the young Chinese in Beijing, Shanghai, and other main cities, I mean to dispatch them to help establish the ruling order of those newly occupied regions. In addition to the southbound servicing core, as we have seen in the advertisement of my presentation was migrating journey was from Shanghai City to Fujian Province. Here I prefer to use the word core in translation, although the youth did not formally join the Army, they were organised, located, and settled down in [unclear] ways. During the same period June, 1949, the youth in Shanghai formed one more core to China's southwest part to Fujian Province the core included 2000 and 2,400 young people, though fewer youth participated in the core to southwest China.

Prior to this youth in Shanghai, thousands of young people in Beijing were organised to go to Central China. Many the provinces along the [unclear] river following the young peoples arrival in Fujian another core of young people was heading into Guangdong Province, which was occupied by the communist force a few months later. Believing that the youth in universities and other schools had had their thoughts better reformed, including those in the author mentioned short term institutions just opened by the Chinese Communist Party. They were prioritised when applying for joining in the servicing corps. If the young man or woman was the member of the youth league, he or she would probably be appointed as a casual in the core, but there was no need to get discouraged if you were not prioritised in admission or casual selection. As I mentioned before, it was possible to finish more than one step simultaneously, in the case of the servicing core to Fujian, the young people even had the chance to accomplish all the [unclear] to become revolutionary youth.

At the same time, the youth league, the Chinese Democratic Youth League started its recruitment of new members in the core, even before it departed from Shanghai, and the recruitment continued throughout the two months. In result, when arriving in Fujian, a big part of the 2,400 young people had affiliated with the Youth League. The recruiting process was also combined with a task of thought reform. Despite the tough and limited conditions during the migration, actually in comparison with the students who spent three months formally stating in the classroom for thought reform, for the youth who had their thoughts reformed during the relocation process, as only the rest time could be partly used to study the theories and write thought summary. Requirements were much further simplified, much further simplified as a common consequence in the core. Even the boys and girls between 15 and 17 years old, many of whom grew up in wealthy families in Shanghai and scarcely took part in revolutionary activity before upon their arrival in Fujian, two months later had succeeded in transforming to revolutionary youth according to the standard that the Chinese Communist Party set at that time.

Compared with the requirement on politics, the issues of dining, sleeping and the long march on the way might be more challenge for the urban youths, although only a part of the entire journey, less than 500 kilometres needed to be done by foot. It was a mountainous area between Jiangxi and Fujian province. Just maybe one fourth or one third of the entire journey needed to be done by foot, normally finishing between 20 and 30 kilometres every day. No worries if you had heavy luggage because there were trucks for carrying and delivery your big items, your big bags directly to the destination. For the sick or weak ones, those trucks could also carry them, in the meantime. For the youth heading to Southwest China, the journey they needed to complete on food was several hundred kilometres longer, and the mountains they needed to climb was higher mainly between Hunan and Sichuan province.

Regardless of where and how they marched, safeguard and logistic support according to military standards during the warfare were provided for the young people. For the southbound youth, [unclear] occurred comparing with what happened on the first day after their departure, when the train they took was bombed by the KMT aircraft causing four deaths and over 10 injuries. Despite all the difficulties and challenges along the whole way, once reaching the destination, the young men and women also reached the goal of becoming revolutionary youth. Immediately after arriving in Fuzhou city the capital of Fujian province, which was occupied by the communist force just one month ago, all the young people received their new job in taking over the whole province and established the order of the new regime from the provincial to the township and the village level, as mentioned in many reflections available in NLA at the country level and below in Fuji.

At that time, although the KMT army had fled and the local bureaucracy had collapsed, the replaced governance could not be effectively funded until the arrival of the young people from Shanghai as Revolutionary Youth whose reliability had been endorsed officially. The 2,400 members of the servicing corps from the backbone of the regions in Fujian [unclear] more than half of them later became the leading casual in the party state system. In addition to another one third, one third becoming [unclear] professionals pioneering they settled in Fujian between the late 1940s and the early 1950s. The Chinese youth getting revolutionised in similar ways, relocated to every region that is a communist force literally took over across the country in addition to central China, south China, southwest China and border areas like Xinjiang accomodated even more young Chinese migrating from China's big cities. Although, there cannot be an accurate statistic regarding the total number of the young people who became revolutionary youth

soon after the national triumph of the Communist Revolution. Based on relevant data like the expansion of the youth league membership and the enrollment number of different schools where the social reform was an essential requirement, there may still be some estimation. Remember that just between 1949 and 1950, the members of the youth league increased by almost 3 million, 3 million, both of whom also finished the task of thought reform and went to the places where they were needed to build the new regime. Plus those joining the translator, the total number of the young Chinese turned into be revolutionary youth during that period, nationally, maybe between three and 5 million to effectively take over the whole country from the national regime and conduct the socialist and communist transformation. The Chinese Communist Party whose total members amounted to 4.5 million when established in the PRC, 4.5 million when established in the PRC had a no choice but to involve low fewer Chinese youths in the revolution as quickly as possible.

The millions of new revolutionary youths from then on between a significant and continuously living force in the [unclear] system that dominated the whole country since then. However, at the end of my presentation, I would like to suggest some more questions related to the effects, limits and [unclear] of making so many revolutionary youths so swiftly. For these young people born between the 1920s and 1930s, most of whom had mutured psychologically by 1949, was it really so easy to transform themselves according to the expectations of the Chinese Communist Party? Not to mention those growing up and receiving education in China's big cities where the atmosphere was more open and the western culture more heavily influenced. Was it really so easy to have their thoughts reformed in nine ways, the standards of the Chinese Communist Party? Many of their thought summaries I read in NLA were written by the youths born in Christian families received Christian education from their primary school and even graduated from China's famous universities with Christian background, was it really so easy to abandon their belief in God?

They declared in their soul families like this one, the author of the article said, he said he will never believe in God, so was it really so easy to abandon their belief in God. They declared in their soul families. Anyway, no matter whether the transformation effect was limited or not, they played dependent roles in the foundation process of the PRC. The Communist Party national regime was well established in just a couple of years, but the [unclear] of making so many revolution youths so swiftly remain alive in the following decade of the PRC with possible limits in keeping consistent with the ideals of the party. It was not surprising if there were tensions between them and the senior force of the party state which foreshadowed the one and after another political struggle and the movements throughout the history of the PRC during the Maoist era, the famous anti-rightist movement, the anti-rightist movement in 1957 was just the first one.

The first one in which nearly one fourth of the revolutionary youths migrating from Shanghai to Fujian were criticised and punished the rightist after the ending of the Maoist era, when many of the youth, as we discussed today, survived the politic struggles and movement and then begin the co-force of the party state China's dramatic transformations against the Maoist era might also be reconsidered from their last intentions with party's ideals. When paying attention to many notable figures in the party in China during the 1980s, you will notice an interesting and common phenomenon made of them joined their revolution. Revolutionary youth between 1949 and 1950 making communist and national youth became the national strategy in China from 1949. The first generation of young Chinese being shaped by the strategy. What were their similarities and differences comparing the youths that the strategy produced during the following three decades. My exploration and the discussion today can also help rethink China's propaganda and thought work focusing on the younger generations during the Maoist era. Okay, so that's the end of my presentation today. Thank you.

Guy Hansen:

We'll take some questions. Oh, okay. Do we have any questions? While you're thinking I can kick off with one. I was wondering, did this sit in parallel to some form of national military conscription as well? I noticed in countries like America and Australia, there were conscription schemes in place where young people were brought together and served, particularly in the United States, and that sort of service that they had to do at that time helped build a kind of national feeling and people got to mix from different areas. I wondered if there was something similar to that or is it primarily this youth movement that was in place?

Sanjiao Tang:

Okay. Okay. Very good question, and in comparison with situations in other countries, yes. I think the most important feature in China at that time, as I mentioned, is severe shortage of human resource to fund and maintain the new regime, the new national regime funded by the Communist Party. So in many places, especially at the [unclear] level and below the base level, our regime cannot be established effectively until the arrival of the youth from Shanghai or from Beijing. So their main work was to help take over the country, take over the region, across the big country, and at the most basic levels.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you for a really interesting discussion on the topic. You mentioned in Fujian where the bureaucracy had collapsed and that the youth were being brought in to build a new bureaucracy, and that many of them had undergone a training period of only three weeks to three months. How effective was that bureaucracy in that first instance in Fujiang especially?

Sanjiao Tang:

Oh, okay. Yes. It is a very effective, effective process for the tele communist party to build its regime at the most fixed level because on the one hand, because at that time the KMT Army had fled and also the local bureaucracy had collapsed, so, the, yes the young people trained by the communist party use their method introduced by the party to, for example, the most important thing at that time was to collect green, collect green from the peasants to help support the army. This is one of the first important thing, and yes, these young people could bring weapon, could bring weapon, yes to the village, to the village, and also conduct meetings with all their parents and also maybe propaganda work and collect green from their parents to support the army. But also, yes, that process is also dangerous. Some of the Shanghai youths [unclear] were killed or killed during this process because there is still someone maybe hold some anti communist attitude at that time, so that is also dangerous.

Speaker 4:

Thank you for your presentation. From what you've described, it sounded like if you were from not a well connected family as a young person in China, that you may have joined the youth league and become a revolutionary youth, just to have a job, participate in society and have a chance at a normal life. Do you think that created problems in future decades because the people who had moved as revolutionary youth to other areas of China didn't do it because they had strong political feelings, but because they just wanted jobs and they maybe were not such great supporters of the regime?

Sanjiao Tang:

Okay. Yes, very good question. Yes, it is also the question. I mentioned that in the end of my presentation, yes, I think yes, this is a limit of the transformation transforming so many Chinese youths to revolutionary youths during so short period. Yes, and at that time, yes, because of the social disorder and economic collapse, many people do not have a job, so as they mentioned in their social summaries, in their social summaries, they mentioned previously they just want to [unclear] find the way out of the difficult predicament, so they admitted that in the beginning why they wanted to join the youth league or join the revolutionary university, just want to, they admitted that, but although they held different kinds of maybe intentions at the beginning, yes, soon, in just several months, they all had the officially agreed identity of revolutionary youth. But I think yes, it is limited the inference, the effect is limited and also in the following decade because of the limited in its effect, yes, there were tensions between these new revolutionary force, revolutionary youth and those senior force of the party state system, and also with those maybe more junior ones because those more junior ones grew up under the communist rule.

Yes, their viewpoints varied from the previous generation, so there were tensions between, and also the tensions caused maybe many, many politic struggles and the movements throughout the Maoist era. Thank you.

Guy Hansen:

Karen, just here.

Speaker 5:

Thank you Dr. Tang, for such an interesting presentation. I was wondering what happened to the rural youth, so like the young people who were in Fujian or in other parts of the Central West and the Southwest, did they end up going into the revolutionary youth as well as the urban youth, and how did they mix then with the urban youth who were coming into the regions? What were the relationships like?

Sanjiao Tang:

Oh, okay. Yes. That's a very good question and it's another, it is another aspect of the discussion, the relationship between the human, those original youth from Shanghai and the local youth in Fujian or maybe local youth in Guangdong. The relationship is, that is another aspect of the discussion. Also, I did not highlight this aspect in my present today, but based on the material I collected so far, the revolutionary youth coming from the big cities and always officially endorsed identity as a revolutionary youth normally hold the leading status, hold the leading position in the local area, and yes, the local youth need to follow them, need to study from them to also join the revolutionary trends. Thank you.

Guy Hansen:

I have one more question if that's okay. I noticed your PhD is on the later period, the cultural revolution, so perhaps you could just talk a little bit about the contrast between this earlier period just after World War II and then the later period, the youth networks and movements in the cultural revolution in the sixties and coming into the seventies.

Sanjiao Tang:

Okay, yes. I just mentioned yes, there were lot ball generation gap between the younger generations in [unclear] China between those born between the 1920s and 1930s and those born between 1960s and 1970s. Yes, there were notable generation gap during the cultural revolution because of the very politicised environment. Yes, many youths joined the revolution lot to lot for finding a way out, finding the job. Yes, so the attitudes varied from the generation of their parents, so that is a major differences and also, yes, when dealing with the Chinese communist parties propaganda focusing on the younger generations throughout the whole 30 years, yes, I need to pay enough attention to the differences of the younger generation from one and another.

Guy Hansen:

Any more questions?

Speaker 6:

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Tang. I was just wondering about the normal tertiary education during that 1949 to 1950. I know that before 1949 there was some similar institutions, but mainly set up by missionaries like St. John's College in Shanghai, and maybe if I'm understanding it correctly, maybe after 1949, Communist Party set up those revolutionary universities first and then eventually they became normal, like tertiary universities.

Sanjiao Tang:

Okay, yes. That is a very good question, and based on the materials I read, yes. For example, just like the Southwest China People's Revolution University, [unclear] after, as I mentioned, it finalised its mission in four years. That means in 1953, yes, the [unclear] ended and it was divided into several independent university, and yes, maybe a lot of days [unclear] Southwest Political and Law University and the [unclear] the Southwest West University maybe has a relation with Southwest Revolution University. This is one aspect and about the many other universities and other schools, especially with missionary background at that time. The most important thing for the CCP at that time is to, first one is to take over, take over those universities. First one. The second thing is to totally reform the structure of its curriculum and the structure of its faculty and many, many other things. So maybe in just a few years, all these universities in China had been totally transformed based on the model of the Soviet Union in just a few years.

Guy Hansen:

Okay, well, thank you very much. Join with me with thanking Sanjiao and thank you for your questions. A few coming attractions before you leave, I hope you can join us for our next Fellowship lecture, Power and Vision: Australia and the South Pacific Commission, which will be delivered by the 2025 National Library fellow Dr Alexis Bergantz at 12:30 on Thursday, the 6th of November. If you want to know more about things which are coming up, and you can find them on our website, where you'll also be able to find recordings of recent talks and performances from our fellows. There's also a YouTube channel for fellowship presentations. Thank you again for attending, and once again, congratulating Sanjiao for a wonderful talk today. Thank you.