ABSTRACT
Editors' Introduction: These comments were written in early 1989 when China was on the eve of a major crisis that culminated in the June Massacre. While reflecting on his extensive foreign travels, Yan seeks to confront and grapple with the mounting crisis in China. He repeats a number of the themes appearing in previous essays, in particular the importance of democracy and the primacy of reason. He argues that it is the spirit of the Enlightenment and democracy that has allowed the industrialized nations to achieve so much. China, he concludes, needs both to prosper.
