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.

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.

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.