Q: Do you think this lack of physical landmarks corresponds to a lack of psychic references to steer by as well?

YES. THIS SENSE OF BEING PHYSICALLY AND geographically dislocated is paralleled and compounded by the unique way China’s intellectual sphere has also been deranged by successive waves of revolutionary movements. China is a country that has spent the past 100 years trying to break loose from the gravity identity— something like a new suit of clothing— only to reject it and then have to begin all over. So, there is a very uncertain sense of what it now means to be Chinese.

For millennia, Confucianism provided clear-cut and proper ways of acting toward others. Values were carefully prescribed and ritual behavior meticulously delineated so that people knew their place and how to act out their roles. The whole social/political construct was very tightly wound.

At the heart of the matter there is a very uncertain sense of what it now means to be Chinese.

But in the early 1900s, this began to be questioned and rejected by a large social protest movement, named the “May 4th Movement."Under Chiang Kai-shek in the ’20s and ’30s, that model evolved into a pastiche of East and West. And, then, along came Mao and his Marxist revolution. Everything changed radically again—with the premium now placed not on hierarchy but on everyone being equal. "Serving the people" was the great watchword. The West was rejected, and Americans and their "capitalist running dogs" were reviled. Next, Deng Xiaoping and his economic reform movement emphasized a whole different commercial value system, which defied both the Confucian and Maoist systems.

So, one by one, these various new, experimental models in identity and value formation have been cast aside. Now, true north on China’s cultural compass points to unalloyed consumerism. Some people call it "Market Leninism." The Chinese now feel a great sense of relief to, at last, have a "private" way of getting ahead, and to no longer be deprived of basic comforts. Now there’s this very satisfying new measure of progress in one’s life: "How much money do I have?" But this creates a quite confusing, if liberating, atmosphere. There is a lot of energy and hopefulness, but also a lot of unanswered questions.

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