The Poster Child of the “Second” Cultural Revolution: Huang Shuai and Shifts in Age Consciousness, 1973–1979

Abstract

This article charts fluctuations in age consciousness during the waning years of China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and its immediate aftermath. It argues that between 1973 and 1979, a dramatic shift occurred in normative perceptions of children and what the experience of childhood should entail. During the Cultural Revolution, the ideal child had a good class background, was anti-intellectual, and challenged authority. After Mao’s death in 1976, however, the new leadership reimagined children along more conservative lines. Their child was naive, studious, and, most importantly, politically disenfranchised. In juxtaposing the prevailing attitudes of these two periods, we witness a reorientation of childhood whereby the post-Mao leadership sought to move children away from revolution toward a more normative understanding of childhood that involved play, study, and growth into economically productive citizens. As a case study in what the ideal child was meant to be, the article examines the public life of Huang Shuai, a twelve-year-old primary school student who rose to national prominence in late 1973.