Introduction

This incident was recorded by a young professor born in 1980, who was perplexed by the robust “cultural remembrance” of his seniors when compared to the complete nihilism of his generation in China, which has no history and believes in nothing. Getting lost in a highway system caught perpetually in the postindustrial infrastructural loops and darkness, these two senior professors quickly resorted to their common musical memories to form a common bond and provide an emotional anchor. The author reflects that although the members of this Cultural Revolution generation were deprived in their own ways, their cultural and communal adherence is the envy of the younger generation. We must admit that this sturdy cultural embeddedness is foreign not only to the younger generation in China but also to most people in Western liberal societies. This sense of assurance— that there are people around them sharing the same aesthetic bonds and cultural memories—cannot be replicated easily in today’s consumer society.