This book offers a compelling generational approach for understanding the intricate patterns of social change in China. While the concept of generation has been widely explored in global scholarship, Waves of Time offers a fresh contribution by introducing an integrative theoretical framework of dual temporality-capturing the intersection of historical time and individual life time in shaping generational experience, identity, and consciousness. Through this framework, the author traces how unfolding episodes of transformation-including wars, revolutions, political events, economic restructurings, technological change, and shifting state policies-have defined and redefined China's generations. The book reveals that generations are not only products of history but also active agents in remaking China's social fabric, demographic trends, labor markets, political engagement, and cultural values. Waves of Time is an essential read for anyone seeking to grasp the lived rhythms of Chinese modernity or the broader dynamics of generational change.

Wen Xie, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Peking University.