Sebastian Veg explores the rise of minjian-unofficial, unaffiliated, and among the people-intellectuals and how they have profoundly transformed China's public culture. Minjian documents how, amid deep structural shifts, grassroots thinker-activists began to work outside academia or policy institutions in an embryonic public sphere. Absolutely indispensable to any student of Chinese politics, society, or contemporary history, a must-read for scholars and students alike.