Turning Point -- The 12 Months That Will Determine China's Future: The 12 Months That Will Determine China's Future

Author: Zhang Jingping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Looking back at the Chinese context from March 2003 to March 2004, the author argues that while political and economic reforms have indeed shown impressive results, they do not align with the grand narrative often misinterpreted by public opinion. What truly demonstrates depth, breadth, and strength is the unprecedented reform of the social system. Therefore, the author prefers to outline the so-called "new policy" as defined by overseas media, based on the second transformation of China highlighted by the social reforms. With this perspective, the author portrays the past 12 months as a turning point in China's 25-year straight line of development. He believes that this turning point holds significant implications for the future of China.
Interestingly, in arguing his personal views, the author avoids the grand narrative commonly used by political commentators and the big news of people's ethics. Instead, he presents the "outlines" as the focus, while the modest, seemingly insignificant small things and ordinary people serve as the evidence supporting the turning point. Among these, there are the exam questions for doctoral students in constitutional and administrative law, the lies of Yan Shouyi, the protagonist of The Cellphone, and the real life of Muzimei in blogs.
It appears that the creativity of the turning point is largely a reimagining of old works, but these works, apart from the familiar details, are completely unrelated to the scattered articles you may have previously seen. The inclusion of a large number of works by the same author in one book is like a sample randomly selected in sociological methodology. Their significance no longer lies in fragmentary records of past news, but in interpreting a dynamic contemporary history.