Peer pressure may also play a role in the marches, which have attracted thousands of students, says Li, who is a freelance writer for Shanghai Youth, a campus magazine. Although he won't say whether he is a Communist, Li questions the motives of the protesters. "There is a very big psychological factor. Many people just write things and play with words to show off. For example, my friend joined the marchers because he wanted his girlfriend to think he was brave."
China's State Commission of Education has announced that fewer than two percent of a student population of almost two million participated in the demonstrations. But in a country with one billion people, that number makes some people think that the students do not really represent the people.
"I think that there must be many people in China who are worried that if the students go too far the state will crack down. The masses are probably pleased with the general drift [toward reform] but fear the students could provoke a reprisal," Harvard's Schwartz says.
"You have to understand that China is 30 to 40 percent illiterate. For the most part, the peasants have nothing to say," Yu says. "They are concerned only with food and shelter for their families. But the students are a different story. They believe in the power of the people to control themselves. Students know we can go faster, do more. They know we should have more freedom."
The protesters who are marching in the streets now are mostly first--and second--year college students. Their youth, and, by implication, their lack of political sophistication raises questions about how far the movement will go. "They are really naive. If I was in China now, I would laugh at them," says Li.
On the other hand, Li adds, some of the older students "have a good recollection of what happened during the Cultural Revolution. Those who have experienced it understand that the political enthusiasm and social concern of the masses can sometimes be used for vicious purposes."
Some have worried that this association of the current-day student activists with the drastic and occasionally brutal methods of the Cultural Revolution's Red Guards may harm protesters' efforts. But for the most part the students are seen as part of a continuing Chinese tradition of scholarly responsibility.
"Chinese students, when they are encouraged to participate in political self-expression, will tend to go quite far in expressing their opinions," says Schwartz. "I always find amazing the reckless courage which such students show."
But Straus Hall resident Li is not so impressed. He says he believes that the demonstrations will never achieve their purpose. "In general, in the case of China, I don't think any demonstrations can be helpful," says Li. "I don't think the students are really doing something political. I generally regard them as very ignorant."
Li sees the demonstrations as pointless because, he says, he does not think there is a need for greater political freedom. "In China you have the right to think, but you cannot do everything. Just like in the States there are many people who worship Hitler, but they are not allowed to practice Nazism."
"My general idea about freedom is that freedom is for qualified people only," he adds.
Zhang, however, has a different idea about the students. "Young people are for idealism," he says. "Some people might think it's naivete and lack of sophistication, but that's not a bad thing. They are full of enthusiasm for China--for a democratic and economically developed China."