Visions Of China

Nobody's commented so I'll have a go.

There's strong allusions to Maoist propaganda and Chinese communist party membership/affiliation in the lyrics, which speak from the point of view of a participant. But there's two interpretations one could take. The first is that it's literally about a Chinese person, perhaps at the time of the cultural revolution (1966-76), but the other - which I prefer - is that it's lampooning Western student maoists in the early 80s. Being a maoist was a popular pose for the young 'dissident' student in UK universities and elsewhere at that point, and had been since the 1960s.

Walking young and strong / but just a little too thin - one of the consequences of Mao's policies was widespread hunger in China, but then your average western student didn't have a great diet either. The protagonist is prone to romanticise his situation, and his inspiration in China, and conflate the two.

I may be happy / but I don't have a clue / to this life - the protagonist is on a search for meaning in his life. Adopting an out of context ideology and struggle from a far off country is one way of getting that, without any danger of actually succeeding in starting a revolution.

Stay with me / we could learn to fight - here the protagonist addresses a romantic interest: Join in the struggle together! Now, it's a noted characteristic of people who are romantically involved together in a struggle really bond through it, and can fall very deeply in love. If you're romantically inclined - and the average student maoist would have to be - then how better to get together and fall in love than by joining the struggle together.

We are blacked out in visions of China tonight - I think here he's alluding to his room, festooned with socialist realist posters and 'blacked out' from the outside. The setting for seduction, hoping to get it on with the object of his affection tonight.

The next verse is total satire of this guy. Pinpointing him as someone with great pretensions but pretty low intellect. In love with the ideas without any idea of the context or history of what he espouses. Sometimes I've seen the first line as "I'm burning heroes" rather than "building", which would also make sense - one of the worst aspects of the cultural revolution was the iconoclastic assault on previously venerated people, ideas, and institutions by the young of China without regard to their value. Something which was very cool to angry young men everywhere at the time.

We walk backwards / say nothing - I'm not too sure of this, but I'm inclined to think this is critical of Western communists backing away from the worst excesses of their overseas idols without addressing or taking responsibility for their errors.

We're young and strong in this Party - but don't let it ever stop you from venerating yourself and your struggle. We're young, we're strong, we're different, we'll change the world when exams are over.