China

Abstract

In February 1974, while China was going through the aftershocks of the Cultural Revolution (the Anti-Confucius anti-Lin Biao Campaign, and the tributary movements against Beethoven and the Italian movie-maker Antonioni), I traveled through the country and recorded my impressions in some articles.' Eight years later (June 1982) I went back and purposely chose an itinerary that took me over much the same physical ground. Having followed professionally developments in China during the interval, I was prepared to see many changes and share my observations in print on my return. The problem with sharing is that in the intervening years China had been demystified both by its own relative frankness in discussing its ills and by the invasion of millions of notebook-totting tourists whose travel impressions have filled the columns of newspapers the world over. China today is no longer seen as a newsworthy special case but, more accurately, as just another underdeveloped country wrestling with poverty. Still, perhaps a little of what I saw now, compared with what I had seen earlier, might be of more than personal interest.