Political control in Chinese universities had depended mainly on the cooperation of students with nonprofessional political workers. In the process of economic reform in China, the ideological legitimation of the communist state greatly declined while other avenues of status attainment outside the realm of state control opened up. Participating actively in mutual supervision became neither moral nor necessarily profitable. As a result, a campus environment which had once facilitated political control over students became conducive to student mobilization. Some students and political workers even captured political control institutions to spread nonconforming and dissident ideas. This paper argues that this decline in political control over students made a significant contribution to the rise of the 1989 Chinese Student Movement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllardtErik. 1981. “Ethnic Mobilization and Minority Resources.”Zeitschrift fur Soziologie10:427–437.
2.
CalhounCraig J.1991. “The Problem of Identity in Collective Action.” Pp. 51–75 in Macro-Micro Linkages in Sociology, edited by HubeJoan. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
3.
CalhounCraig J.1994. Neither Gods Nor Emperors. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
4.
CherringtonRuth. 1991. China's Students: The Struggle for Democracy. London, UK: Routledge.
5.
ChowTse-Tsung. 1960. The May Fourth Movement. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
CollinsRandall. 1981. Sociology Since Midcentury. New York: Academic Press.
7.
de TocquevilleAlexis. 1955. The Old Regime and the French Revolution. New York: Doubleday.
8.
DittmerLowell. 1990. “China in 1989: The Crisis of Incomplete Reform.”Asian Survey30:25–41.
9.
DowneyGary L.1986. “Ideology and the Clamshell Identity: Organizational Dilemmas in the Anti-Nuclear Power Movement.”Social Problems33:357–373.
EsherickJoseph W.WasserstromJeffery N., 1990. “Acting Out Democracy: Political Theatre in Modern China.”Journal of Asian Studies49:835–865.
12.
FangLizhi. 1990. Bring Down the Great Wall: Writings on Science, Culture, and Democracy in China. New York: Knopf.
13.
FernandezRobertoMcAdamDoug. 1989. “Multiorganizational Fields and Recruitment to Social Movements.” Pp. 315–343 in Organizing for Change: Social Movement Organizations in Europe and the United States, edited by KlandermansBert. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
14.
FrancisCorinna-Barbara. 1991. “The Institutional Roots of Student Political Culture: Official Student Politics at Beijing University.” Pp. 394–415 in Chinese Education: Problems, Politics and Prospects, edited by EpsteinIrving. New York: Garland.
15.
“Guangzhou Ershiliusuo Gaodeng Yuanxiao Jiaoxue Keyan Huifu Zhengchang” (Teaching and Research Have [Returned] Back to Normal in 26 Guangzhou Universities). 1989, June 4. Guangming Daily.
16.
HardingHarry. 1987. China's Second Revolution: Reform after Mao. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
17.
HayhoeRuth. 1989. China's Universities and the Open Door. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
18.
HoSamuel P.S.HuenemannRalph W., 1984. China's Open Door Policy: The Quest for Foreign Technology and Capital. Vancouver, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
19.
HuanGuocang. 1989. “The Roots of the Political Crisis.”World Policy Journal6:609–620.
20.
HuntingtonSamuel P.1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
21.
IsraelJohn. 1966. Student Nationalism in China, 1927–1937. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
22.
KlandermansBertOegemaDirk. 1987. “Potentials, Networks, Motivations, and Barriers: Steps Towards Participation in Social Movements.”American Sociological Review52:519–531.
23.
KornhauserWilliam. 1959. The Politics of Mass Society. New York: Free Press.
24.
LiuAllan P.L.1990a. “Aspects of Beijing's Crisis Management.”Asian Survey30:505–521.
25.
LiuQinglong. 1990b. “Shehui Yingxiang yu Xuexiao Sixiang Zhengzhi Jiaoyu Diaocha yu Shijian de Sikao” (My Investigation and Thoughts on Social Influence and University Political Education). Pp. 52–61 in Dui Bashi Niandai Shoudu Daxuesheng Zongxian Yanjiu (Longitudinal Studies on University Students in Beijing during the Eighties), edited by CangLixin. Beijing, China: Beijing Shifan Xueyuan Chubanshe (Beijing Normal College Publishing House).
26.
McAdamDoug. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930–1970. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
27.
McAdamDoug. 1986. “Recruitment to High-Risk Activism: The Case of Freedom Summer.”American Journal of Sociology92:64–90.
28.
McAdamDougPaulsenRonnelle. 1993. “Specifying the Relationship between Social Ties and Activism.”American Journal of Sociology99:640–667.
29.
McCarthyJohn D.ZaldMayer N., 1973. The Trend of Social Movements in America: Professionalization and Resource Mobilization. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Corporation.
30.
McCarthyJohn D.1987. “Pro-life and Pro-choice Mobilization: Infrastructure Deficits and New Technologies.” Pp. 49–66 in Social Movements in an Organizational Society, edited by ZaldMayer N.McCarthyJohn D., New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
31.
OberschallAnthony. 1973. Social Conflict and Social Movements. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
32.
OppKarl-DieterGernChristiane. 1993. “Dissident Groups, Personal Networks, and Spontaneous Cooperation: The East Germany Revolution of 1989.”American Sociological Review58:659–680.
33.
ParishWilliam L.WhyteMartin King. 1978. Village and Family in Contemporary China. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
34.
PerryElizabeth J.1991. “Intellectuals and Tiananmen: Historical Perspectives on an Aborted Revolution.” Pp. 129–146 in The Crisis of Leninism and the Decline of the Left, edited by ChirotDaniel. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
35.
PinardMaurice. 1975. The Rise of a Third Party: A Study in Crisis Politics. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen's Press.
36.
PyeLucian W.1990. “The Escalation of Confrontation.” Pp. 162–179 in Broken Mirror: China after Tiananmen, edited by HicksGeorge. Essex, UK: Longman.
37.
QuanJinglian. 1990. “Dui Beijing Gaoxiao Xuesheng Sixiang Zhengzhi Jiaoyu de Kaocha yu Fenxi” (An Analysis on the Political Education to University Students in Beijing). Qingnian Yanjiu (Youth Research)3:15–18.
38.
RenYanshen. 1990. “Shoudu Wusuo Gaoxiao Xuesheng Zhengzhi Sixiang Zhuangkuang de Diaocha Baogao” (A Report on an Investigation of Students' Political Attitude in Five Beijing Universities). Pp. 112–127 in Dui Bashi Niandai Shoudu Daxuesheng Zongxian Yanjiu (Longitudinal Studies on University Students in Beijing during the Eighties), edited by CangLixin. Beijing, China: Beijing Shifan Xueyuan Chubanshe (Beijing Normal College Publishing House).
39.
RosenStanley. 1985. “Prosperity, Privatization, and China's Youth.”Problems of Communism34:1–28.
40.
RosenStanley. 1990. “The Impact of Reform Politics on Youth Attitudes.” Pp. 283–305 in Chinese Society on the Eve of Tiananmen: The Impact of Reform, edited by DavisDeborahVogelEzra F., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
41.
RosenStanley. 1991. “Political Education and Student Response: Some Background Factors Behind the 1989 Beijing Demonstrations.” Pp. 416–448 in Chinese Education: Problems, Policies, and Prospects, edited by EpsteinIrving. New York: Garland.
42.
RosenthalNaomiFingrutdMerylEthierMicheleKarantRobertaMacDonaldDavid. 1985. “Social Movements and Network Analysis: A Case of Nineteenth-Century Woman's Reform in New York State.”American Journal of Sociology90:1022–1054.
43.
SchellOrville. 1994. Mandate of Heaven. New York: Simon & Schuster.
44.
SchurmannFranz. 1968. Ideology and Organization in Communist China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
45.
ShirkSuan L.1982. Competitive Comrades: Career Incentives and Student Strategies in China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
46.
SkocpolTheda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
47.
SmelserNeil J.1962. Theory of Collective Behavior. New York: Free Press.
48.
SnowDavid A.ZurcherLouis A.Ekland-OlsonSheldon. 1980. “Social Networks and Social Movements: A Microstructural Approach to Differential Recruitment.”American Sociological Review45:787–801.
49.
SnowDavid A.RochfordE. BurkeJr.WordenSteven K.BenfordRobert D., 1986. “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation.”American Sociological Review51:464–481.
50.
SnowDavid A.BenfordRobert D.1988. “Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization.”International Social Movement Research1:197–217.
51.
StrandDavid. 1990. “Protest in Beijing, China: Civil Society and Public Sphere in China.”Problems of Communism34:1–19.
52.
SullivanLawrence R.1990. “The Emergence of Civil Society in China, Spring 1989.” Pp. 126–144 in The Chinese People's Movement, Perspectives on Spring 1989, edited by SaichTony. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
53.
TaylorVertaWhittierNancy E., 1992. “Collective Identity in Social Movement Communities: Lesbian Feminist Mobilization.” Pp. 104–131 in Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, edited by MorrisAldon D.MuellerCarol McClurg. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
54.
TillyCharles. 1978From Mobilization to Revolution. New York: Random House.
55.
“Tongji Wang Dan deng 21 Ming ‘Gaozilian’ Toutou he Gugan Fenzi” (Order the Arrest of Wang Dan and Other Twenty Leaders and Core Members of the Autonomous University Student Association). 1989, June 14. Guangming Daily.
56.
TroyerRonald J.1989. “Chinese Social Organization.” Pp. 26–33 in Social Control in the People's Republic of China, edited by TroyerRonald J.ClarkJohn P.RojekDean G., New York: Praeger.
57.
TsaoKing K.1991. “Civil Disobedience and Dissent against the Party-State: An Eyewitness Account of the 1989 Chinese Student Movement.” Pp. 153–172 in Culture and Politics in China, edited by LiPeterMarkStevenLiMarjorie H., New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
58.
UngerJonathan. 1982. Education Under Mao: Class and Competition in Canton Schools, 1960–1980. New York: Columbia University Press.
59.
von EschenDonaldKirkJeromePinardMaurice. 1971. “The Organizational Substructure of Disorderly Politics.”Social Forces49:529–544.
60.
WalderAndrew G.1991. “Workers and the State: The Reform Era and the Political Crisis of 1989.”China Quarterly127:467–492.
61.
WangDianqing. 1990. “Dui Dangqian Shoudu Daxuesheng de Sixiang Zhuangkuang, Zouxiang ji Jiaoyu Duice de Yanjiu” (Research on the Current State of the Mind of Beijing Students, Its Trends and Educational Strategies). Pp. 128–137 in Dui Bashi Niandai Shoudu Daxuesheng Zongxian Yanjiu (Longitudinal Studies on University Students in Beijing during the Eighties), edited by CangLixin. Beijing, China: Beijing Shifan Xueyuan Chubanshe (Beijing Normal College Publishing House).
62.
WankDavid L.1995. “Civil Society in Communist China? Private Business and Political Alliance, 1989.” Pp. 56–79 in Civil Society: Theory, History, Comparison, edited by HallJohn A., Cambridge, UK: Polity.
63.
WasserstromJeffrey N.PerryElizabeth J., 1992. Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China. Boulder, CO: Westview.
64.
WhiteGordon. 1993. “Prospects for Civil Society in China: A Case Study of Xiaoshan City.”Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs29:63–87.
65.
WhyteMartin KingParishWilliam L., 1984. Urban Life in Contemporary China. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
66.
WuDayuan. 1993. “Gaoxiao Sixiang Zhengzhi Gongzuo de Kunhuo yu Chulu” (Dilemma and Solutions of Political Education in Universities). Shandong Qingnian Guanli Ganbu Xueyuan Xuebao (Shandong Youth Management Cadres' Journal)2:46–49.
67.
XiongYan. 1992, June 26. “Xiong Yan Caifanglu” (An Interview with Xiong Yan). Press Freedom Guardian.
68.
“Xuechao: Guangdong Weihe Xiangdui Pingjing” (Why is Student Unrest Relatively Calm in Guangdong)? 1989, May 10. Zhongguo Funubao.
69.
YangXiaoweiCuiShaopeng. 1989. “Dierci Langchao: Congzhengre” (The Second Wave: The Political Career Fever). Pp. 36–97 in Wuci Langchao (Five Waves), edited by XiaoQinfu. Beijing, China: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubanshe (People's University Publishing House).
70.
ZhangBoli. 1994. “Jueshi Qianhou” (Around Hunger Strike). China Spring8:57–60.
71.
ZhangBoliBaiMengWangChaohua. 1993. “Guangchang Guangbozhan” (The Broadcasting Stations at Tiananmen Square). Pp. 187–193 in Huigu yu Fansi (Retrospection and Introspection). Essen, Germany: Rhine Forum.
ZhaoDingxin. 1994. “Defensive Regime and Modernization.”Journal of Contemporary China7:28–46.
74.
ZhaoDingxin. 1995. “Ecology and Social Movements: Impact of Campus Ecology on the Rise and Patterns of the 1989 Chinese Student Movement.” Paper presented at the 1995 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington.
75.
ZhaoDingxin. 1996. “Foreign Study as a Safety-Valve: The Experience of China's University Students Study Abroad in the Eighties.”Higher Education31:145–163.
76.
Zhongguo Gaodeng Xuexiao Daquan (An Encyclopedia of Chinese Universities). 1989. Beijing, China: Gaodeng Jaoyu Chubanshe (Higher Education Publishing House).
77.
ZhouHeZhuJianhua. 1994. “The Voice of America and China.”Journalism Monographs No. 143.
78.
ZhouXueguang. 1993a. “Unorganized Interests and Collective Action in Communist China.”American Sociological Review58:54–73.
79.
ZhouYongjun. 1993b. “Liusipai Buneng Zaida: Caifang Tiananmen Xuesheng Lingxiu Zhou Yongjun” (June 4th Card Should No Longer Be Played: An Interview with Student Leader Zhou Yongjun). China Spring4:54–60.
