Meaning of zhiqing | Babel Free

Definitions

A member of the "educated youth", the young Chinese sent from urban areas to work in poor villages as part of the PRC's Down to the Countryside Movement.

historical

Examples

“The most important definitional confusion is between urban and rural educated youth. The term for “educated” or “intellectual” youths, chih-shih ch’ing-nien, is applied both to youths whose families reside in the cities and who went to school there and to youths from peasant families who left their villages to attend secondary school, either at the commune center, where the market town is often located, or in the county (hsien) town. After graduation they return to their home villages. When the press chooses to be precise, the term hsia-hsiang chih-shih ch’ing-nien, “sent-down educated youth,” is used for the urban youths, and hui-hsiang chih-shih ch’ing-nien, “returned educated youth” (RY) for the peasant youths.”

“Quality of life depended largely on the attitudes of the production team leaders and the local peasants, and the zhiqings' experiences with the peasants were varied.”

“Many leaders themselves, or their neighbors and colleagues, had children or relatives as zhiqing, who were another channel of information.”

“The authors who have contributed to this book are a group of zhiqing now residing in Houston, Texas.”

“In some cases, politically active zhiqing paid heavily for their involvement in the Cultural Revolution.”

CEFR level