Long before the dramatic events of 1989, Shanghai students had been at the center of many similar mass movements and political upheavals that wracked China from 1919 on. This book looks at how these students experienced and helped shape the course of the Chinese Revolution. Unlike most previous studies of Chinese youth movements, which have emphasized ideologies and the activities of political parties, this book is primarily concerned with the symbolic meanings of student protests and the process by which students were able to translate collective anger into effective collective action. Narrative chapters provide general information concerning Shanghai and its students during the eras in question and case studies of the most important student-led mass movements of the time. Interspersed are thematic chapters that explore general features of campus unrest throughout the Republican era. Throughout, the book is enriched with material from newly available Chinese documents and from personal interviews with Chinese scholars and participants in various protests.
Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Introduction Part I. The Warlord Era, 1911-1927: 1. Shanghai and its students, 1911-1927 2. The May 4th movement 3. Student tactics 4. The May 30th movement 5. Organization and mobilization Part II. The Nationalist Period, 1927-1949: 6. Shanghai and its students, 1927-1949 7. The student movement of 1931 8. The language of student protest 9. Student struggles of the mid-1940s 10. The power of student protest Epilogue: the May 4th tradition in the 1980s Notes Bibliorgaphic essay Bibliography Chinese character list Index.
"Wasserstrom has made a major contribution by shaping the history of student protest into a single, twentieth-century story and pattern of complexity. In doing so, he offers a model for rethinking the late imperial, republican, and communist periods as a historical unit conditioned by indigenous and global forces, and explained by sinological and comparative methods." - Journal of Asian Studies "It succeeds very well at what it sets out to do: to bring Shanghai and performance theory to bear upon our understanding of student activism in twentieth-century China. Enriched by a comprehensive bibliographical essay and suggestive comparisons with Russian, American, and European student movements, this study sets a new standard for research in social history." - The China Quarterly "Wasserstrom's study is an important contribution to political, social, and cultural history, and by focusing on the role and techniques of student protest has added an important piece to the complex jigsaw of China's twentieth-century revolution." - Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies "Analytical and rich in detail, ... this study makes an important contribution to our understanding of the roles educated Chinese youth played as challengers of authority." - Journal of Asian History
