Perhaps, however, if I disappoint on both sides, then to some extent the book will have achieved its purpose. For, as indicated above, its aim is neither to attack China, nor to defend China, but to describe China – or rather the Chinas, that I experienced, in all their glories, joys, challenges and struggles. In any case, if, as Solzhenitsyn claimed, the separating line between good and evil lies within each human heart, how much harder to make confident moral assessments on the second most populous nation on earth? [iv] Such assessments will, of course, still be made, and it is therefore my hope that this book will help to inform readers of whatever persuasion, as they continue to forge their own understanding on the gargantuan, fascinating, and complex entity that is the twenty-first century People’s Republic of China.