Into Asia The American Dream Is Fading. What Comes Next For China's Youths?
Jan 20, 2026
Xiang Biao, a social anthropologist known for writing on Chinese migration and youth, reflects on post‑pandemic disillusion among young people. He discusses how education and mobility promises falter. He introduces the idea of the 'nearby'—rebuilding local ties and practical agency. He also rethinks the role of intellectuals as facilitators rather than lecturers.
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Fieldwork Among Wenzhou Migrant Garment Workers
- In 1992 Xiang began fieldwork in a Beijing migrant garment community from his hometown region, using his dialect to embed with workers.
- He watched an illegal-but-resilient migrant economy grow to over 10,000 people and found freedom to think outside campus politics.
Elitist Intellectuals Missed Everyday Realities
- Xiang criticized 1980s intellectuals as elitist and disconnected from everyday concerns like inflation and food shortages.
- He said highbrow debates on alienation missed the practical questions neighbors were asking about quality, price, and markets.
How Academia Became Disconnected After The Cold War
- Post-1990s academia narrowed into technical, credential-driven work, producing radical rhetoric yet detachment from lived life.
- Xiang links tenure pressure and managerial universities to repetitive, abstract scholarship that scares outsiders.
