Sometimes a single life can tell more about a country’s experience than a shelfful of history books. Many Chinese people of a certain age have such lives – rich in struggle, in suffering, in the consequences of man’s folly, but often enough, too, in a measure of redemption.
“I knew nothing about the United States, but I knew that if you wanted to learn science, the U.S. was the place.”
– XU TIANThese are people today in their 40’s whose transition to adulthood was hijacked by the Cultural Revolution.