The Chinese Communists attempted to transform urban institutions and social life in fundamental ways. This chapter discusses general trends and impressions about Chinese urban life, with a focus on the larger cities and occasional efforts to note the diversity of reactions of urban groups. The tempo of life in the early years varied. The years through 1952 were ones of novelty and disruption, with campaigns to remake society disturbing orderly work and study routines. In 1957 and then in the ensuing Great Leap Forward the tempo began to change back toward campaign mobilizations once again, and China was plunged into first a political and then an economic crisis. This chapter comments on Cultural Revolution's impact on people's lives and feelings. The Cultural Revolution produced a drastic disruption of urban social order. The legacy of crime and juvenile delinquency spawned by the Cultural Revolution carried over into the post-Mao period, producing continued popular anxieties.