In analysing the youthful cohort that launched the Tiananmen protest movement, Luo Xu draws our attention to the problematic connection between young people's quest to define individual identity and the decision to commit themselves to political and social action. How, he asks, could a “self-centered ‘me generation’ . . . engage in such an enormous collective action that demanded great devotion to a common idealistic cause?” (p. ix)

Part one, “The journey” treats intellectual formulations from Bei Dao's poem I Don't Believe (1976) to Cui Jian's song I Have Nothing (1986), and summarizes public discourses by and about youth from the Democracy Wall (1978|–79) to the lesser known “Pan Xiao discussion” (1980) and “Shekou Storm” (1988). Xu's narrative implies that the tidal changes of the 13 years from the death of Mao to the Tiananmen uprising created two mini-generations. The first (late 1970s and early 1980s) was preoccupied with unresolved issues of the Cultural Revolution. The second (late 1980s) sought to redefine the relationship between the individual and the public realm.