Preamble, Introduction and Epilogue to "China's Lost Decade

Overview & Synopsis

The period in China's recent history between the death of Mao and the débâcle of 1989 can be seen as a long decade, but also historically as a "lost" decade. It is "lost" in the sense that the political engagement of intellectuals and makers of culture has been occulted by official history-telling; it is also "lost" in that its memory has been abandoned even by many who lived through it; "lost" also in the embarrassed silence of those who prefer to focus on the subsequent economic miracle of the 1990s that gave rise to today's more prosperous China; and "lost" as a time of opportunity for cultural and political change that ultimately did not happen. Calling on over thirty years of acquaintance with China including five years spent studying the cultural scene in Beijing during the 1980s, the author here traces the imbrication of culture, politics and history of a decade when everything seemed possible.