ABSTRACT
The imperative of acknowledging the power of youth and drawing them into the fold produced the three organizations that are the focus of this study: the Socialist Youth League (SYL) later renamed the Communist Youth League (CYL), the Three People's Principles Youth Corps (SQT) and the China Youth Corps (CYC). These three organizations all sought to mobilize Chinese youth in service of overarching goals to strengthen political parties, consolidate power and ensure the long-term viability of parties and governments. Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Nationalist Party (GMD) and collaborationist regimes fully recognized the central importance of having youth organizations, this recognition did not necessarily translate into a clear sense of how specifically to appeal to youth and attract large numbers of members to their organizations. Student protests were spontaneous out-bursts, typically directed at imperialist powers or the Chinese government, in response to a policy or situation the students opposed.
