Wang Xiaodong once gave a speech declaring that "China’s forward march is unstoppable.” He published essays calling on China to build up its military. He co-wrote a book, bluntly titled "China Is Unhappy,” in which he said the country should aim to control more land and shape global politics. "We should lead this world,” he said.
Now Wang, a 66-year-old Beijing-based writer once called the standard-bearer of Chinese nationalism, has another message: That nationalism has gone too far.
For years, it was Wang whom many Chinese dismissed as too radical, as he railed that the Chinese establishment was too beholden to Western ideas and global trade, too content to let China ease into a world order rigged by the United States.