Evening Chats in Beijing: Probing China's Predicament

by Perry Link

“A lively survey of today’s China as seen by [its] brooding intellectuals. A terrific book.” –Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times Book Review Chinese intellectuals have a traditional duty, for which there is no equivalent in the West: to worry, to "take responsibility for all under heaven,” to argue the question "What can we do with China?" In this “utterly absorbing gem of a book” ( Library Journal ), Perry Link conveys the worries besetting China’s most prominent writers, journalists, scientists, professors, and dissident officials. Link creates “an invaluable opening onto China’s best and brightest hearts and minds” ( Kirkus Reviews ), allowing the Chinese themselves to tell us why Beijing took to the streets in Spring 1989.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, Essays

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1992

Reviews

[Caleb Lagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty pessimistic. I have no real way of knowing how accurate all the information was but I left the book not feeling very excited about going to China in August.

[James Reardon · Rating 5 out of 5]

'They enter the streets only to join a sea of strangers, who reflexively regard one another with suspicion. They had no way of knowing how much natural agreement already exists among them on issues such as corruption, lack of basic freedoms, and alienation from their leadership. The discovery of this natural consensus was one of the most important results of the 1989 protest movement. Although public street behavior quickly reverted to normal after the movement, the memory of another way certainly lingers.'