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Sent-down Youth and Rural Economic Development in Maoist China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2015

Emily Honig  and
Xiaojian Zhao
Emily Honig*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Xiaojian Zhao
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara.
*
Email: ehonig@ucsc.edu (corresponding author).
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Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the sent-down youth movement and economic development in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. It examines ways in which sent-down youth themselves initiated improvements in rural life, and more importantly, how local officials used both their presence to acquire equipment and technical training and their skills and education to promote rural industry. The sent-down youth offices established in the cities and the countryside inadvertently provided connections between remote rural counties and large urban centres that enabled the transfer of a significant quantity of material goods, ranging from electrical wires and broadcast cables to tractors and factory machinery. Ultimately, we show how individual sent-down youths, their families, and both urban and rural officials – none of whom had a role in determining government policies – identified and made use of resources that those policies unintentionally produced.

摘要

本文探讨上山下乡运动和文化大革命期间农村经济发展的关系。 文章阐述知识青年为改变农村现状所做的种种努力, 重点显示边远地区干部如何取得发展农村工业所必需的机械设施和技术培训 并有效地对知青所带来的知识和文化技术等资源加以利用。各地各级知青办的建立为城乡沟通创造了条件。通过新的渠道, 大量的文革期间的紧缺物资---从电线和广播器材到拖拉机和工业机械---从城市运往农村。文章所涉及的知识青年、知青家长和城乡干部都不是这场运动的决策者, 然而他们对多种资源的发现、开发和运用却超出了这场运动的预期。

Keywords

sent-down youthCultural Revolutionrural industryrural–urban relationsoffice for sent-down youth知识青年文化大革命农村工业城乡关系知青办
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 222 , June 2015 , pp. 499 - 521
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Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

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