The very first television imports were Man from Atlantis and Garrison's Gorrilas, both little-known drama series from the US. In the first one, people could not figure out how the underwater shots were done. In the second, the idea of bad guys having fun was so novel that censors pulled it off the screen lest youngsters imitate the anti-heroes.

From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the accessibility of foreign entertainment was haphazard. More foreign countries were represented. Japanese movies and television series became very popular - but there was no guarantee of quality.

Starting in 1995, China began to import foreign movies using a profit-sharing scheme and a quota system. As many as 10 so-called "big pictures" are screened every year. Most of these "big pictures" are new releases from Hollywood with eye-popping production values. Some are artistically outstanding as well, but the choice usually leans toward box-office potential.

In early 1998, Titanic was released in China, and the box-office record it set has yet to be topped. The quota system is still in operation, but disks of current releases, both movies and televisions, are readily obtainable on the street or online. Meanwhile, on Chinese television stations, foreign programming has disappeared entirely from primetime.

What we ate

Food rationing was still in place in 1978. One would get up in the wee hours and stand in line for a thin slice of pork. Even if you had tons of money, you still ate a mostly vegetarian diet because most food items, except vegetables, required coupons. That was in the urban areas. In the countryside, meat was available only on rare occasions, such as the Chinese New Year, when households would slaughter a pig they had raised and feast for a week.

Supermarkets did not exist back then. Instead, we had farmers' markets. In the small town where I grew up, the main street doubled as a farmers' market for a few hours every morning. If you got there at 10 am there would be only rubbish left.

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