As we mature, we always change what we think about life, and as we absorb change and evolve within our particular experience, we undergo a personal process of receiving and creating values. Hermans (2001) argues that values define a person and that an analysis of these values is the best way to understand someone and the society of which that person is a part. This thesis is a narrative inquiry into the evolution of values experienced by a laid-off worker in the changing social context of contemporary China. The main body of the thesis consists of three parts: (1) my brother Quan's childhood, (2) my brother's youth in Mao's time, and (3) my brother's experience of becoming a laid-off worker in Deng's time when my brother was in his middle age. I use the life history of my brother to exemplify the lives of those in China who are caught between opposing political directions to provide some insight into China's evolution in the late 20th and early 21st century.

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