{"id":38771,"date":"2009-05-14T11:42:53","date_gmt":"2009-05-14T18:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=38771"},"modified":"2009-05-14T11:42:53","modified_gmt":"2009-05-14T18:42:53","slug":"understanding-china%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cangry-youth%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/understanding-china%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cangry-youth%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding China\u2019s \u201cAngry Youth\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The China Beat<\/strong><\/a> asked Teresa Wright for her thoughts on a Brookings Institute event<\/a> concerning China’s “angry youth,” or fenqing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As emphasized by Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Greater China, the apparent \u201canger\u201d of Chinese youth can just as accurately be viewed as \u201cenergy\u201d or \u201cconfidence.\u201d Further, as noted by panelists Stan Rosen, Xu Wu, Evan Osnos, and myself, along with displaying great love of country (aiguo, or patriotism) and sometimes nationalism (minzuzhuyi), young people in China are vocal advocates of \u201cliberal\u201d values such as freedom of expression and outspoken critics of corruption within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They are not knee-jerk apologists for the CCP.<\/p>\n

Yet at the same time, they feel unjustly slighted by the international community. As Xu Wu put it, Chinese youths are like a \u201cdouble-edged sword with no handle\u201d\u2014a force that can cut in a number of directions, and that is not controlled by any single individual, organization, or interest. In addition, panelists emphasized that many of the most vocal fenqing in China today\u2014such as Tang Jie, producer of the widely-viewed video, \u201c2008 China Stand Up\u201d\u2014are extremely well-educated and intelligent. Their anger and indignation cannot be dismissed as the product of ignorance or brain-washing.<\/p>\n

In terms of how foreigners should respond to China\u2019s youth, the lesson is something that some Americans (and other Westerners) may not want to hear: rather than treating China\u2019s young people as misguided individuals in need of enlightenment, we need to accept them on their own terms, and with respect. Many Chinese today\u2014both young and old\u2014have a sense of pride, a feeling that China is finally \u201cgetting it right.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The China Beat asked Teresa Wright for her thoughts on a Brookings Institute event concerning China’s “angry youth,” or fenqing. As emphasized by Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Greater China, the apparent \u201canger\u201d of Chinese youth can just as accurately be viewed as \u201cenergy\u201d or \u201cconfidence.\u201d Further, as noted by panelists Stan Rosen, Xu Wu, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7573],"class_list":["post-38771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-society","tag-angry-youth","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding China\u2019s \u201cAngry Youth\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/understanding-china\u2019s-\u201cangry-youth\u201d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding China\u2019s \u201cAngry Youth\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The China Beat asked Teresa Wright for her thoughts on a Brookings Institute event concerning China’s “angry youth,” or fenqing. As emphasized by Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Greater China, the apparent \u201canger\u201d of Chinese youth can just as accurately be viewed as \u201cenergy\u201d or \u201cconfidence.\u201d Further, as noted by panelists Stan Rosen, Xu Wu, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2009\/05\/understanding-china\u2019s-\u201cangry-youth\u201d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-14T18:42:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"186\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paulina 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