"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 Sprig 1989.