Students now are more interested in politics than before.
What a topic! During my college years 10 years ago, politics as a word itself was still a taboo in China, a country still shrouded in the shadows of the notorious 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident. In one early summer night students and civilians were slaughtered by swarms of armed soldiers. The exact number of casualties is still undisclosed as China’s political climate remained dark and repressive for the many years after. Understanding this background may help you better appreciate my viewpoint that yes, students in my country today are more interested in politics than 10 or 20 years ago, because they can and they care.
First of all, the uprising of social media makes it possible for students to participate in political discussions. Before students had no place to make their voices heard unless they are willing to put up posters in public gathering places and subject themselves to political oppression. That might seem unfathomable to westerners. But let me remind you that in my country all media are controlled and censored by the communist party. A lapse in screening may cost the editor in chief his career. Social media like Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, and many other forms of internet media changed the situation irreversibly. Now with weibo and Renren(The Chinese facebook), students have quite an extended freedom to discuss political topics liberally. They inform themselves on previously hidden topics like election, corruption control, and territorial disputes before immediately turning around to share the information with millions of others. What’s truly amazing is that the collective voice of students and others on the internet can push for some real changes in the government. One most recent example is the downfall of a high government official in Shanxi pulled into anti-corruption inspections because students on the internet discussed poignantly how a civil servant like him could afford all the luxury watches he’s shown in multiple work pictures. These impacts on reality in turn fuel student’s interest in further participation in politics through the internet.
This leads to my second argument that students today care more about politics than before because they can make an impact. The past 40-50 years of China’s political history established a reflex that politics often leads to deprivation of properties, freedom and even life. My own father once warned me with a stern voice to never write down any of my thoughts in a diary. Frankly in that political environment when everything was solidly controlled like an iron plank, I had no interest in voicing my thoughts because they wouldn’t change anything. But in today’s political environment, the Chinese government is loosening up its rigidity when political reform is often brought up on the agenda, pursuant to the last 20 years of economic boom. So more than occasionally when students pool their voices together to make strong statements, they can make change happen. The government and the ruling party are in part welcoming these voices, especially in pushing the country’s legislation and anti-corruption control from below. For example, when a reckless driver ran over a few students kill two of them on a southern university campus, students all over the country expressed their fury over the internet and eventually forced the prosecution of the driver and his father, a corrupt local police head. Students are in turn empowered by their political achievements. They will only get more involved in politics when the next hot topic comes up on their Weibo.
Politics still remains a precarious topic in Today’s China. But at least more and more students are entertaining the thought of participation without an overcastting terror. That is progress.