ABSTRACT
As the twentieth century wound to a close in China, it was impossible not to be struck by two somewhat contradictory thoughts. One was that the echoes of the major political anniversaries of the past century still ring with unnerving clarity, suggesting just how relevant the issues of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries remain at the turn of another century. The other was that the social and political changes that are underfoot are so dramatic and fundamental that China really is moving into a new era in which those echoes will finally grow fainter. Which of these impressions becomes the more accurate depends much on the course of the next ten years or so.
