Reply 1998

Name: Reply 1998
ISBN: 9787559436528

荣青Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaJul 2019

3.6

Word count: 51K words
Chapters: 16
ISBN: 9787559436528

Report an error Find this book

Summary

1998—have you ever really thought about that number? 1998 was twenty years ago! Even the youngest of the post-90s generation is already eighteen, no longer the carefree teenager who had nothing to worry about. Why is 1998 a life coordinate that so many people can never forget? Because it was the starting point of everything—in 1998 there was a rare great flood. In 1998 Soros declared that China would not survive "the summer of 1998." In 1998 Li Yanhong was still working for someone else abroad. In 1998 Ma Huateng and his classmate Zhang Zhidong founded Tencent in Shenzhen. In 1998 Zhang Chaoyang formally launched Sohu, the first all-Chinese online search engine, in Wudaokou. In 1998, 34-year-old Ma Yun saw two business dreams fail, returned to Hangzhou, and founded Alibaba in his own home. In 1998 Liu Qiangdong was deeply in love with his fellow alumnus Gong Xiaojing, and the two named their newly founded company "JD." In 1998 Zhang Ziyi was still a third-year student at the Central Academy of Drama, having just received an invitation from Zhang Yimou. In 1998 "My Fair Princess" premiered, and Xiao Yanzi soared to become China's first superstar. In 1998, with nationwide layoffs and an uncertain future, Liu Huan's "Start All Over Again" moved laid-off workers to tears; many people's lives were hard, and they thought there would be no tomorrow. It is as if everything today began in 1998—what you encounter today, what you use today, and even your memories, your life, your very existence...

Editor's review

"Please Answer 1998" is a collection of nostalgic essays anchored in the year 1998. Through delicate personal narrative, the author Rong Qing stitches grand historical background together with minute details of daily life. The book's value lies not only in its precise reproduction of nostalgia—from the collective memory of flood relief to the nationwide frenzy over the premiere of "My Fair Princess"—but also in the author's cautious intellectual gaze, which performs a gentle dissection of that era of transition. The observations on the pains of state-owned enterprise reform, the first stirrings of the internet, and the early rise of cultural consumption carry the feel of sociological fieldwork, yet are wrapped in literary warmth. Notably, the author avoids the excessive idealization common to nostalgic works: while writing of the warmth of neighbors in tube-shaped apartment buildings, she does not shy away from the individual bewilderment of the layoff wave. This restrained balance gives the text its distinctive tension. As nonfiction, its value as historical record is equal to its emotional value; it is both a personal history of the soul and a precious slice of collective social mood.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in observing social change in the 1990s
Fans of nonfiction that interweaves personal and social history
People who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and seek generational resonance
Researchers interested in the history of daily life in China during the transition period

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a strongly plotted fictional story
Academic readers seeking systematic historical argument

Reading tips

Can be watched alongside films and television from around 1998 (such as "Cherish Our Love Forever")
Pay attention to the bibliographic notes at the end of each chapter, where clues for further reading are hidden
Try to establish a dialogue between your own memories and the text as you read

About the publisher

Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1958

Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House focuses on literary publishing while also covering the humanities, social sciences, and books on art and daily life. Its approximately 1,535 titles in the database span social novels, world history, design, science fiction, classic works, and film and television: they include modern Chinese literary classics by Lu Xun such as A Madman's Diary: The Complete Short Stories of Lu Xun, Call to Arms, Four Generations Under One Roof, and Teahouse, as well as foreign literary memoirs like Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday. In science fiction it offers Asimov's Galactic Empire series, while in architecture and art it publishes Liu Dunzhen's Classical Gardens of Suzhou and design titles from Phoenix Space. Its authors are concentrated among classic writers such as Lu Xun, Zweig, and Asimov, with translators including Liang Xijiang, Zhong Haonan, and Ye Lihua. Its overall character is built on classic works while embracing genre fiction and visual culture. Public information is limited, and this introduction is based on the titles in the database.

版权信息
请回答1998
第一章请回答1998
一、请回答1998
二、1999，全世界伤心角色又多我一个
三、2002年的第一场雪
第二章洒满阳光的生活
四、出生在中秋的孩子
五、父母爱情
六、戏台
七、奥特曼不流眼泪
八、平平淡淡才是“蒸”
第三章你好，再见
九、打葵花的少年
十、十八岁遇到一只鹿
十一、一个九零后的阅读简史

FAQ

Is this book related to the Korean drama "Reply 1988"?

Apart from the homage in its naming, the two are not directly related. This book focuses on the real social landscape of China in 1998 and is a work of nonfiction.

Does the book contain a lot of historical data?

The author takes a literary approach; data serves only as background decoration, and the focus is on the interplay between individual experience and collective memory.

Can younger readers understand the era's context in the book?

The author lowers the threshold of understanding through immersive descriptions of detailed scenes, and each chapter includes a summary of the era's background, making it suitable for reading across generations.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

荣青 Author

Rong Qing is a writer about whom limited public information is available; the library holds only one work by this author, Please Answer 1998. Judging from its current classification, the book falls under prose and miscellaneous writings, suggesting that Rong Qing's writing leans toward personal, recollective prose rather than fiction or academic treatises. The title carries an evident backward-looking quality, pointing to the specific year 1998 and readily evoking narratives built around generational memory, experiences of growing up, and everyday feelings. Because the author's dates of birth and death, nationality, educational background, professional experience, and awards cannot be verified, it is difficult at present to sketch a complete biography, and it would be inappropriate to over-interpret the author's creative trajectory. On the basis of the available information, Rong Qing's profile rests mainly on this single work: it carries personal memory and the imprint of an era through prose, in plain language and with restrained emotion, and should appeal to readers interested in contemporary prose and the writing of individual memory. Further works and a fuller sense of the author's style await additional material.