Sent-down Youth

The sent-down youth or rusticated youth (Chinese: 知识青年; pinyin: zhīshi qīngnián; literally "educated youth", shortened to zhiqing) of the People's Republic of China refers to educated young people who, beginning in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, willingly or under coercion, left the urban areas and were sent down to live and work in rural areas during the Up to the mountains and down to the countryside movement. The vast majority of those who went had received elementary to high school education, and only a small minority had matriculated to the post-secondary or university level.