A history of change in the words of those who lived it

The book, an updated second edition of a 2009 release, was launched last month by Contemporary China Publishing House.

Beijing-based Liu Qingsong, 41, tells China Daily that he decided to compile the book in 2008 after realizing that his younger friends had very limited knowledge about the road China had taken, "because what they now see is so different from just decades ago, what they have now is so much better".

Liu, born in Wanzhou in southwestern Chongqing, says he remembers a time when the neighbor's two daughters shared one pair of decent trousers, so when market day came, only one had the chance to go out and enjoy the fair.

With the country becoming the world's second-largest economy, Liu would like readers to see how society has gradually opened up, and "how every individual has gone from not knowing to knowing and from having limited choices to being spoilt for choice".

"It (the book) is also a history of progress and of struggles," he adds.

So, in the book he mixes up people's experiences with the important footsteps the country took as he lists thousands of quotes in chronological order, each under a short, concise and humorous introduction on the historical context.

Yu Zhixiao, a literary critic, says: "The way the writer introduces and lists the material, without any comments, is smart and maybe the best way to present this history."

Reader Qingyang Yuer says on Douban.com that the book is also good material for the study of contemporary language and society.

Liu says he has been collecting press material for 15 years, especially first issues and final issues of publications, and he has used a lot of this in his book.

Liu studied the law in college and became a journalist at a local newspaper in Chongqing. He then moved to Beijing to pursue a career in nonfiction.

"I see a natural call for writing and I feel happy if I can capture and record even a segment of what's going on around us," Liu says.

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