| Summary: | It is 30 years after Post-Mao reforms, 20 years after Tiananmen Square demonstrations, and the
next generation of “comrades” are emerging in China. They are called the Balinghou or “Post-
80s” generation, referring to the cohort born between 1980 and 1989. This study addresses an
empirical gap by exploring the narrative resources Shanghai’s Post-80s young adults call on to
construct their identities, given the historical situation in which they live. This exploration is
achieved through qualitative empirical data by employing a combination of narrative analysis
and ethnography. Data analysis uncovers narrative resources clustered around three common
themes: generational identity, structural resources, and personal lives. Further refection reveals
that the extent to which identity is narratively expressed can be culturally constrained. Although
the Balinghou encounter unique external factors such as the One Child Policy and rapid
economic growth and reform in China, their narrative identity resources are more related to their
perceptions of life stages than unprecedented historical circumstance.
Keywords: narrative, identity, life course, symbolic interactionism, China, Shanghai, Balinghou,
Post-80s generation
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