China’s Youth Post-Tiananmen: Apathy A Fact Or Front?

From CNN:

They’re known as the “post 1980s” kids or the “Tiananmen-plus-20” generation: 200 million-strong, Web-savvy, pop-culture-conscious and decidedly apolitical.

As the world observes the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday, pro-democracy advocates abroad lament how little Chinese youth today know or care about the student-led movement that ended with the deaths of hundreds when tanks rumbled through the capital’s streets and troops opened fire.

But what is lost in the generalization is whether today’s political apathy is a fact or a front.

“Politics is not a game that we want to play or we can play,” said “Holly,” a 21-year-old college student, who like the rest of the people quoted in this article, agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

Read also “Is this an anonymous interview?” by Solarina Ho.

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