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China Popular Attitudes Toward the People's Liberation Army
Starting in the late 1970s, popular attitudes toward the PLA
also underwent considerable changes. In the 1950s and 1960s, the
military's prestige was very high because of its wartime exploits,
because it was held up as a role model for society, and because of
its participation in civilian construction projects. But the power
gained by the PLA during the Cultural Revolution reawakened
civilian resentment of military privileges and abuses of power. By
the early 1980s, with the circumscription of the PLA's domestic
role and the implementation of agricultural reforms offering
greater opportunities for rural youth, the PLA's reputation as a
prestigious, elite, Marxist-model organization and a promising
channel for social mobility was severely tarnished. Society's
perception of the military appeared to be returning to the
traditional viewpoint that "one doesn't make nails out of good
iron; one doesn't make soldiers out of good men." To restore this
damaged image in the late 1980s, the media extolled the PLA's
martial virtues and the great strides made in military
modernization in recent years.
Data as of July 1987
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