American Millennials enjoy (or perhaps not) a reputation as conformists and group-thinkers among some generation-watchers, but apparently they have nothing on their peers in the PRC. My old pal Matt Forney had a piece on the New York Times Op-Ed page over the weekend called "China's Loyal Youth," in which he bluntly observes: "Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or upset by their government’s human-rights record, rank among the most patriotic, establishment-supporting people you’ll meet. As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly support their government’s suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising."

In China, it is the GenXers who are the radicals and troublemakers. They are the ones who remember (and may have participated in) the 1989 uprisings culminating in Tienanmen Square. Matt notes: "It is received wisdom in China that people in their 40s are the most willing to challenge their government, and the Tibet crisis bears out that observation. Of the 29 ethnic-Chinese intellectuals who last month signed a widely publicized petition urging the government to show restraint in the crackdown, not one was under 30."

Chinese Millennials, although globally connected and more participative in the international economy than any previous generation, have taken different lessons from the experience than Western twentysomethings. Instead of internalizing a sense of ownership over the world's big issues, Chinese youth appear to view the problems of everyone else as a validation of the policies of the Chinese government and the virtues of the Chinese people, given their unbroken run of economic achievement in the past decade and a half. Matt conlcudes on a sobering note: "Barring major changes in China’s education system or economy, Westerners are not going to find allies among the vast majority of Chinese on key issues like Tibet, Darfur and the environment for some time."