Empirically rich and historically illuminating,Gilded Voices contributes a new and important perspective to the growing field of scholarship dedicated to rethinking PRC cultural history beyond the conventional dichotomy of Mao-era state domination and Reform Era autonomy.By corroborating a range of historical source materials——from personal interviews,municipal archives,periodicals,and audiovisual recordings—Qiliang He constructs a convincing argument that market competition and pursuit of individual livelihood played a much larger role in early PRC culture than previously thought,a patt that,He shows,continues in the Reform Era,rather than emerging after the Cultural Revolution as something new.