User:Eric Baer/Sandbox

In the history of the People's Republic of China, the Class of 1977 refers to the students who gained admission to Chinese universities in 1977, in the first sitting of the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (hereafter, the gaokao) to be held since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. The students who gained admission the following year, the Class of 1978, are regarded as a similarly elite group. During China's reform and opening-up, they came to comprise a significant portion of the country's new elite.

Background
During the Cultural Revolution's Down to the Countryside Movement, students were taken out of school and sent to rural areas to work alongside peasants. With no sign that they would be allowed to return home, many regarded their situation as a "life sentence of tedium and hardship". Though tertiary education continued during the Cultural Revolution, admission was contingent on class background rather than examination. Furthermore, the education during that time continues to be regarded as inferior, harming the upward mobility of those who received it.

The examination
In October 1977, it was officially announced that the gaokao would be held for the first time in twelve years. Students between the ages of 13 and 37 would be permitted to sit for the exam; the unusually high age limit was intended to give a second chance those whose educations had been disrupted by the turmoils of the past decade. The huge number of test takers&mdash;5.7 million&mdash;resulted in an extremely competitive atmosphere, and in the end only 273,000 people (4.7% of all examinees) were admitted to university, in comparison to 58% of the 9 million who took the gaokao in 2007.

At study
The Class of 1977 entered into university in 1978. They were noted for the diligence and idealism with which they applied themselves to their studies. Most did not concern themselves with romance or marriage, which in any case were against the rules for students; there were those who did, but even for them, their forbidden "dates" consisted of going to the library together, not going out to the city or watching movies.

Lingering effects of the Cultural Revolution
The friendships forged in the adversity of the Cultural Revolution led to resilient networks of relationships, which retain great professional and personal importance to the members of the Class of 1977. Ken Smith credits the movement with "introducing [the class of 1978] to their own people" for the first time, leaving its mark on the musical style of the composers who emerged afterwars.

The generation which made up the Class of 1977 are distinct from both their juniors and seniors in the lack of contact with foreign countries during their formative years. Many of the generation above them studied in the Soviet Union. For example, contact with foreign music was limited to those who could listen to illegal tapes smuggled in by the children of diplomats, or who broke into Red Guards' stores of forbidden records and stole them to listen to later.

Music

 * Bright Sheng
 * Tan Dun
 * Chen Yi
 * Chen Qigang
 * Quo Wenjing
 * Zhou Long

Film

 * Chen Kaige, filmmaker
 * Zhang Yimou, filmmaker

Finance

 * Gao Xiqing, legal advisor to the China Securities Regulatory Commission
 * Shan Weijian, banker
 * Chen Xiaoyue
 * Qiu Zhizhong

Politics

 * Ding Xueliang, professor of political science
 * Li Keqiang
 * Wang Juntao, democracy activist
 * Chen Zemin, democracy activist