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Shang Shan Xia Xiang(上山下鄉)

In December 1968, Cultural revolution had entered its second year, Mao Tsetung issued an order: Young people should go the the country side, to be reducated by poor peasants, is very necessary. This movement was then called (上山下鄉), literary means: go up the mountain, and down to the country side, and Mao was allegedly using this movement to peacefully disband the multi-millions strong Red Guards (China).

Between 1966, 1967 and 1968, nearly all the then Chinese high schools students were sent to the country side, resulting in up to 16 millions people were moved from urban areas into country side of remote provinces such as Yunnan, Quzhou, Hunan, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang.

The time span of the movement was about 25 years(beginning from mid 50s and ended in mid 70s), and totalling more than 20 millions were involved.

Unemployed graduates sent to country side

On 26 Dec 2008, Malcolm Moore of East China Normal University reported that history seems to have repeated itself, since the global economic meltdown had forced many Chinese college graduates looking for jobs in the rural areas, reminiscent of the mass movement during the Cultural revolution.

According to Moore, this year alone, there shall be 5.6 millions graduates competeing with the 700,000 jobless graduates from 2007 .Chinese ministry of Education, said it had rapidly expanded its recruitment scheme in order to cope with the rising levels of unemployment, the government...will recruit over 30,000 college graduates to go to rural and western regions to teach,

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As of February 2009, hundreds of thousands of graduates were working as village administrators in 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.

To work in the countryside seems to have become a hot choice among many new graduates. Premier Wen Jiabao once encouraged college graduates to go to the countryside to contribute their youth and wisdom.

In March 2009, the government launched a five-year project to have 100,000 college students work in villages. They would be responsible for helping farmers with agricultural technology, raising health awareness and skills, promoting cultural activities and researching farmers' complaints.

Internet video

• In Chinese:中國當下上山下鄉運動之真相