The Chinese 59Cultural Revolution years were forced to think of other
ways to construct their lives, and have since become some
of the greatest entrepreneurs and thinkers of the post-
Mao era.
Of course, the above is, again, the merest overview of
an extremely complex set of topics. Levenson perhaps
best summed up this complexity: ‘China’s past will be kept
in mind, and fragments from its world of values valued.
No radical westernisation will put an end to the historical
significance of China.... Their modern revolution, against the
world to join the world, against their past to keep it theirs,
but past—was a long striving to make their own accounting
with history.’
There is an active and creative tension between the needs
of family and the individual, between getting ahead and
getting along, between China’s nationalist and internationalist
urges. Seeing how all that plays out among individual Chinese
one befriends, and watching how it all plays out for China as
a nation over time, are among the most fascinating aspects
of having that front-row seat to history that an assignment
to China provides.