If one examines the past century of China’s history, many years ending in the number Nine have profoundly changed China and shaped the world’s perceptionsof the Middle Kingdom. The years 1919, 1949, 1979 are the ones that, in the view of the ruling Communist Party, have defined modern China. It prefers to forget the years 1959, 1969 and 1989. Let’s start with our chronological journey from 1919 to see why those years decided China’s fate. Shakespeare’s phrase ‘what’s past is prologue’ may help us understand the challenges of the immediate future though the lens of the past hundred years.
1919 Democracy, nation and science
