Unlike countercultural movements in the West, which often germinate in protest activities, most linglei are not motivated by economic anxiety or political dissatisfaction. 'This year, the Xinhua New Word Dictionary, which serves as one of the Communist Party's official arbiters of what is linguistically acceptable, amended the definition of linglei to just mean an alternative lifestyle, without an accompanying sniff of disapproval. In its February cover story Breaking Out, Time Asia explains the term: But in fact young Chinese and Taiwanese are following in the footsteps of young Japanese, putting the emphasis on quality of life and self-expression. The new China - hungry, ambitious, successful - is often held up as a contrast to this laidback Japanese attitude. Why be number one when there are so many flowers - so many equally legitimate ways of being - blooming? This respect for pluralism has always been a Japanese theme thanks to shinto, the animistic national religion in which a thousand micro-gods co-exist in diversity, not only with each other, but also with Buddhism. The song was popular among antiwar demonstrators, but more than anything else it struck a chord here by asking, "Why do we want to be No. SMAP, perhaps Japan's most famous pop group, closed the show with last year's best-selling song, Only One Flower in the World. The annual New Year's Eve "Red and White Song Contest" television show provided a clue. The stress of competing inside Japan, let alone as part of a country competing against a visibly, and to some, frighteningly, hungry China, is furthest from their minds. If the icon of the 1980's was the salaryman who sacrificed his private life for his company, today's icon is the freeter - the young Japanese who take odd jobs to make just enough money to enjoy their personal interests or choose their way of life. 'The feeling is noticeably strong among the young. Rather than seeing a Japan losing 'the battle to be number one', she sees a Japan concentrating on diversity, pleasure and self-expression.
In this article Norimitsu Onishi puts a considerably more positive spin on Japan's current mood than, for instance, Time Asia did in their article Japan: Rising No Longer. I thought of Mao's phrase when I read an article in the New York Times entitled This 21st-Century Japan, More Contented Than Driven. (The Cultural Revolution was in fact launched eight years later, in 1966.)
Many people died, or were exiled, and the resulting cracks in society led to the Cultural Revolution, the destruction of much of China's ancient cultural artefacts, and the deaths of millions.' 'Let a hundred flowers bloom,' said Mao, 'let a hundred schools of thought contend.' It's a lovely image of pluralism, but, as Ben Hammersley points out, 'after a few of the flowers started to bloom, Mao really didn't like being told he was wrong, and soon it became apparent that the Hundred Flowers movement was really just an exercise to see who didn't support him. In 1958 Mao Tse Tung asked for the intelligentsia of China to suggest improvements and constructively criticize the regime (Tony Blair is doing the same thing right now with his Big Conversation).