Arthur Miller

Feudalism. Agrarian communism. Fascism wrapped in slogans of Marx and Mao. The anarchy of the Cultural Revolution. Now come renewed relations with the United States and, inside China, the unaccustomed sound of many voices, some even talking of democracy, of imitating capitalism, of bringing the Communist party under the rule of law. “China surprised us in a hundred ways,” writes Mr. Miller of his and his photographer wife’s first visit. In this sensitive yet wary report, he tells some of the ways.

“It is true to say, I think, that the language of the family is the language of the private life — prose. The language of society, the language of the public life, is verse.”