Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-349) and index.

"As a young teacher in China during the 1980s, Luo Xu thought that he knew his students well. And yet, in the summer of 1989, as he completed his first year of study in the United States, a student movement erupted in Beijing unparalleled by any other in Chinese history. A wide-ranging phenomenon that affected more than 600 universities and over forty cities, the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square seemed uncharacteristic for a generation of students deemed individualistic and self-centered. Xu began to wonder how his former students could have orchestrated such a large-scale action demanding such idealistic devotion to a common cause. Was it because they had changed since he left? Or was it because he had not understood them well in the first place?" "Searching for Life's Meaning chronicles the profound changes in the beliefs and values of Chinese youth that occurred during the 1980s and that ultimately led to the confrontation in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Depicting a country in search of a grand unifying and guiding vision, Luo Xu explores the many historical forces that both shaped and inspired China's youth movement of the 1980s. From the collectivist value systems of Confucianism and communism to the individualism of the West, Searching for Life's Meaning traces the circuitous path traversed by these young adults on their journey to understand not only themselves but also their place in the new world order."--Jacket.

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