YOUNG PEOPLE IN COMMUNIST CHINA/THEIR ASPIRATIONS AND ATTITUDES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500450244-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 25, 1999
• Sequence Number: 244
• Publication Date: April 14, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 200',0/09/11: CIA-RDP80-00809A000500450244-9
U.S. Officials Only
cONFIDEPrIAL
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT
Young People in Communist China/Their Aspirations and
Attitudes
PLACE ACQUIRED
(BY, SOURCE)
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DATE ACQUIRED
(ev SOURCE)
DATE (OF INFO.) Mar 52
DATE D I STR. / L April `!?
At the time of the CoIzmunist take ovary in the winter of 1949.1950, the soft
spoken and goodlmannered Party vanguards arrived at iluaheng Township in 5anwui
(Heinhui) District with a considerable amount of propaganda literature. About 25X1X
half of this literature, `"-'25)(1X
was addressed to young people of high school and colleCe age. The other
half was addressed to adults, mainly on promisee of the raising of the standards
of living under' the Communist regime and on exposure of 104T corruption. In the
literature addressed to youth, special emphasis was laid on:
a. Appeals to youth to take. over the corn ily aJ China's new masters, and
b. They need to, cooperate wholeheartedly with the People's Govornnent in
reforming Chinese ed:v ation and new *.ray of life in general.
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literature had been distributed in other
ing the c I ty ot'; CEhtoC .'.} ,, n?... c.,
-similar types of p*opaganda
areas in Kwangturig Province, inelud-
U?9. Officials Only
C0'1e71,',)i'PIAL
:TT-
Ln15Tn18uTInNA6 STATE _X ARMY NAVY :TT-
. I
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
CENTRAL
INFORMATION REPORT
Agencies lndlc.:ed above. It In not to be trenemitted ovmrseas without the concurrence of the
originating o1P s through the Aseiatant Director of the Office of Collection and Dtsremtnation, CIA.
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3. All through tha year 1950 student, morale and enthusiasm
in rural as we!? as urban areas liked the new ages under
high. Students
the Communist regime.
a.
They attended very flew classes and had practically no homework, spending
the d. haranguing stre?t corner crowds, demonstrating, parading, inter-
rogating people in neighboring communities or'working in party offices.
b.
They were completelrlfree frcm parental control.l In some cas~s they were
ever feared by their parents as potential Party spies and accusers.
c.
The,., enjoyed unprecedented associations with students of the opposite sex
which the Party positively encouraged. In rural areas, however, there
was less nromiscuity~than in cities.
d.
They loved all the excitement of a social turmoil in which they felt
the,. were the center and in which they thought they had everything to
gain and nothing to lose.
e.
They were happy to se- all expenses paid by the State, although the
meals served were n, all satisfactory.
4. After the laps(. Of n our a year,) the fascination of the new order began to
wear thin for most young people. Some of them realized that the endless
rounds of mass meetings, speech making, and drum. iong (Yangico) dances would.
land them nowhLre eventually, ans. that although they 1, were advanced automat-
ically to a hi(!hc_r grade at the end of the school year, they had learned
nothing e.-.:cent the recitation of'a few Party doctrine formulas. The one
attractive goal, that of enjoyment of full Party -membership, seemed remote
for that involved intensive study of the writings of Marx, Lenin, Stalin,
and :,'.ao, and their whole works were expensive items on the book market.
Most of the high school graduates in 1951 began to rcla:: in despailz .
5. The children of "poor farmers" and farm laborers were elated for a time.
It wac announced by the stern Party workers (who had replaced the mild-
mannered vanguards) that such young people could petition on behalf of
their parents for grain loans from the People's Government at no interest.
They had to nr~ rnt evidence that they had been loyal and hard working
supporters of the Iir?6. China. But that was not difficult as all evidence
was accepted and petitions granted. The youngsters felt that they had
plenty of "face". Their disillusionments came quickly) however, f or:
a. The grain loan was what was called granary bDttomrice (to'angti.:ci)
and was scarcely edible.
b. when repa,,oent time came after the harvest, each lender .car. "urged to
contribute 30 percent, to the "Resist the US and Aid Korea" campaign,
although technically no interest was collected.
Still, quite a fe were adamant on being ro,7rensivc" and conttui: ? to
"re.sc torwaru.
The most': emphatic points made
i
.. Confucius was a national criminal -- retardingChina'n progress for
two thousand ; eart?.
b. Sun Yat-sen was a forerunner of the L'ev Age, but was only like Hung
iisiu-Ch'uon, the T' airing Revolution loader --',not at all comparable
to Mao Tse-tung.
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c. Dictatorship of proletariat was the only true democracy, so that there
4 the
was no point in studying fake democracy in the US.
Longi argumente ensued with the pro-Communist young man oftentimes e.vbarrsssed.
On such occasions he woule say: "Study the works q. the master minds more
closely and you will understand".or "The Party says so, and it must be right."
Young people in the Canton area. who were politically ambitious would seek
admission into the Nan Fang (Southern) University in preference to any other
institution because:
a. Membership in the study body in Nan Fang was identical with candidacy for
Communist !Party membership; and
b. A distinguished graduate of Nan Fang University might win admission to
one of the three following "supreme" institutions of highest learning
in Peking:
(1) Revolutionary Military Research Institute i headed by Liu Po-Ch'eng.
(2) People's Revolutionary University headed by Wu Yu'chang.
(3) Ma-lieh Hsueh-,ter,.: (Marxist-Leninist tInstitute) headed by Liu Shao-ch'i
"with -the assistance. of riore So?riet professors than could be fo=d in
.nny other institution in China".
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~A rr' ^g
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893.1
981 L
114.71 !9811
890.02 ,9811
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