Word: boom
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Shanghai is caught up in entrepreneurial energy. In the mid-'80s, while southern provinces like Guangdong and Hainan turned Deng's experiment in "special zones" into a capitalist boom, Shanghai's decrepit state industries stagnated, its infrastructure disintegrated, and its people sulked. The economic revolution wasn't reaching far beyond a few chosen cities. Recalls Li Bo, a Shanghai economist who runs a consulting firm for German companies: "The most popular expression in 1991 was 'Gao bu hao le'--everything's hopeless...
China before Deng may have been poor, but everyone was equally in need. Now, around the corner from Shanghai's glittering Golden Age club, those forgotten by the economic boom gather under the eaves of the central railway station. There, a "floating population" of the destitute from far-flung corners of the nation arrives by the carload, hoping that Shanghai will be the land of plenty. Ran Yigang, a scruffy 23-year-old with the thick hands of a farm laborer, got off the train last week from Anhui, one of the poorest provinces. All day he searched in vain...
...music is a most glaring problem. The sound system consists of a woman who sits at the scorer's table and holds a microphone against an archaic, cumbersome boom box. We would not be surprised if it were stolen from an '80s break-dancing flick...
...leveling of social distinctions that Price Club facilitates represents a major sociological phenomenon that extends past Price Club into other areas of consumer purchases. In my area-the suburbs of Washington, DC-bargain stores aimed at people who want high-quality goods are experiencing a boom...
There's always a risk when little companies get big dreams. Right now the entire indie industry needs caution. The current boom could be only a bump. Aging moviegoers could go back to TV. Or the next film by English Patient director Anthony Minghella could be more like his previous, invisible effort, Mr. Wonderful. Or the major studios could emerge from their stupor and figure out how to make the kinds of films from which the indies have profited...