The goal of this article is to examine how the provincial education media in China play a role of forging consensus among local actors responsible for the implementation of new centrally-promulgated youth socialization policy. In doing so, it also explores the tension among three of the Chinese state's claims to legitimacy: economic development, moral education, and the decentralization of policy implementation. The article concludes that while economic development and decentralization create problems for the implementation of socialization policy at the local level, the central state still gains legitimacy for its role in promoting morality among the rising generation.