What Students Believe In

Though China remains one of the most closed societies on earth, two secret polls taken among students at Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University provide an illuminating and perhaps unsettling glimpse into the minds of a small but important segment of the population.

The results of the polls, administered in 1979 and in September of this year by Fudan's federation of students, were briefly posted on the university's bulletin boards, then ordered removed, presumably because they show a striking skepticism about the future. Asked, for example, what they thought of the current leaders' ability to achieve the "Four Modernizations," 78% of the students took a noncommittal "wait and see" attitude. When asked whether people Like the Gang of Four could return to power in China within the next ten years, only 5.4% responded with a firm no. More than half replied that such a return was "possible," and 39% said that it would be "difficult to avoid." About their own futures, 54% said that they felt "uncertain," compared with 36% who declared themselves "full of confidence."

The polls of 1979 and 1980 ask different questions, which themselves reflect the concerns of the moment. Last year one question asked what the students thought of bell-bottom trousers; 69% said they were not a matter for meddling by others. This year the pollsters acquiesced by not meddling. One question this year asked students to choose the country that China should most emulate economically. Japan led with 28%, followed closely by Yugoslavia with 26%, then, some distance behind, came the U.S. with 11% and the Soviet Union with 10%.

One of the most interesting results came from the question "What is China's biggest social problem?" Fifty-five percent replied that it was the special privileges of Communist Party cadres. Some 23% said unemployment. Another question simply asked the students to name what they believe in. Only one-third answered "Communism," a surprisingly low figure considering the intense indoctrination of youth for the past 30 years. Nearly a quarter of the students said they believed in fate, a tiny fraction named capitalism. A significant 25% offered a chilling answer: "Nothing at all."

Their skepticism extended to the polls themselves. Complained one student: "It would be good if the leaders would pay more attention. But, in fact, these polls have no effect on them whatsoever."

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