China in Ten Words

“‘The arrow hits the target, leaving the string,’ Dante wrote, and by inverting cause and effect he impresses on us how quickly an action can happen. In China’s breathtaking changes during the past thirty years we likewise find a pattern of development where the relationship between cause and effect is turned on its head. Practically every day we find ourselves surrounded by consequences, but seldom do we trace these outcomes back to their roots. The result is that conflicts and problems—which have sprouted everywhere like weeds during these past decades—are concealed amid the complacency generated by our rapid economic advances.”

Here, Yu Hua uses an allusion to Dante’s writing to introduce the topic of cause and effect in the context of China’s rapid development. By inverting the natural order of cause and effect, Yu Hua emphasizes the disorienting speed and scale of change in modern China. The metaphor of an arrow hitting its target before leaving the string illustrates how the country’s transformation has outpaced people’s ability to comprehend its underlying causes. Yu Hua extends this idea by using the metaphor of weeds to describe the proliferation of “conflicts and problems” that have accompanied China’s economic growth. This imagery suggests that these issues are both pervasive and deeply rooted, yet often overlooked in the face of the country’s material progress. The word “concealed” underscores the idea that the true sources of these problems are obscured by the “complacency” generated by rapid economic advancement. Through this use of allusion, metaphor, and imagery, Yu Hua establishes a critical tone that invites readers to look beyond the surface of China’s development and examine its more troubling undercurrents. The passage introduces the book’s overarching journey tracing the complex and often contradictory forces that have shaped contemporary Chinese society.