The author uses Karl Mannheim's social generation theory to analyze the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and argue that the current generation of rising leaders differs markedly from that of the past. Due to historical events and policy decisions, such as the end of the Cultural Revolution, the one-child policy, an expansionist foreign policy, and a western-style accession of highly educated university students, the new crop of PLAN leaders represents China's hybrid culture of revolutionary fervor mixed with market reforms and provides technically competent leadership for a twenty-first century force.