Editor’s note: This review of My SpiritualHome, a collection of essays published in 1997,marks the fifth anniversary of the death of theauthor, Wang Xiaobo, acknowledged withinChina’s cultural circles as a true intellectual, andthe most humorous literary figure of an otherwiseinsipid age. Noted for his sober and penetratingviews on worldly affairs, Wang died an untimelydeath in 1997 at the age of 45.