But that began to change in the 1990s, a tumultuous decade for Russia and its lawless economy.

FORBES: Welcome to Londongrad

The attitude will serve it well in the tumultuous decade ahead.

FORBES: Fear, Greed And Technology

The mock-epic story ends in 1990, but nothing really has happened: inner lives are stunted, inert passivity prevails, and, Jia suggests, the decade of tumultuous change in China was merely a convulsive emptiness.

NEWYORKER: Platform