Among the many books dealing with the epochal changes of China during the eighties, this is probably the first full-length account of the popular cultural movement, or wenhuare. It is the result of collaboration between two Chinese intellectuals: a Beijing cultural activist who played a central role in the movement, and a Hong Kong academic who made first-hand observations of many of the events described. However, it is not personal experience, but rather interviews and documentary evidence on which this work is founded.

The narrative has two...