Statistics from China (1) be mind boggling: 1.2 billion (2) , 1.73 trillion cigarettes smoked in a year, 7,000 different (3) of woody plants. But amid all of these staggering sums, one factoid stands (4) for both its audacious size and for what it says about China’s future: there are 630 million Chinese under the age of 24. That’s a lot of (5) energy to burn. Materialism may be the (6) preoccupation among China’s young people these days, but just beneath the surface lies a feeling (7) wounded nationalist pride and an ever-deepening spiritual hunger. It isn’t clear where China’s young people are headed. But this is a generation that, by its (8) size and certain talents, will (9) the world’s destiny.
Here’s another sobering statistic: this is Terry McCarthy’s 22nd, and final, cover (10) for TIME Asia-he’s leaving the region (11) three years to become TIME’s Los Angeles (12) chief. McCarthy, who has indefatigably crisscrossed Asia out of his twin bases of Hong Kong and Shanghai, was the main driver (13) this week’s superb special report on young China. He developed the story list, guided much (14) the reporting
and wrote some of the articles. All (15) planning a swank black-tie masked ball last weekend in Shanghai. "I was (16) by the willingness of individual Chinese to write for us or talk about their (17) ," McCarthy says about the special (18) . "These are the guys (19) are going to be running the country in 20 (20) ." If we’re lucky, McCarthy will be back in the region long before then.