zhiqing

See also: zhīqíng and zhīqīng

English

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese 知青 (zhīqīng), the Chinese contraction of 知識青年／知识青年 (zhīshi qīngnián, “intellectual youth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪˈt͡ʃɪŋ/

Noun

zhiqing (plural zhiqing or zhiqings)

1. (historical) 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.
   • [1977, Thomas P. Bernstein, “Introduction”, in Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: The Transfer of Youth from Urban to Rural China‎^[1], Yale University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 22:

     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.]

   • 1994, Laifong Leung, Morning Sun: Interviews with Chinese Writers of the Lost Generation, page xxvii:

     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.

   • 2003, Yihong Pan, Tempered in the Revolutionary Furnace, page 144:

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

   • 2014, Xuepei Kang, Zhiqing: Stories from China's Special Generation:

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

   • 2015, Peng Deng, Exiled Pilgrims: Memoirs of Pre-Cultural Revolution Zhiqing, page 11:

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

Synonyms

• educated youth
• sent-down youth
• rusticated youth

Translations

member of the educated youth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 知青 (zh) (zhīqīng)

• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can