現(xiàn)代化主要有兩大特征：工業(yè)化和都市化。如果一百年的時間，人口慢慢向都市集中，一個現(xiàn)代化都市或許來得及建設(shè)。但在十幾二十年內(nèi)，人口兩倍三倍暴增，都市的交通、醫(yī)療、教育、住宅乃至食物供應(yīng)等，怎么可能負(fù)荷？上世紀(jì)80年代臺北市的交通堵塞、醫(yī)療糾紛、房地產(chǎn)泡沫、社會沖突等，都源自于此。

然而，也正是透過寫作的反省，我找到了救贖的力量。因為我們這一代人，是目睹且切膚地感受到從農(nóng)業(yè)文明向工業(yè)文明的轉(zhuǎn)型之痛。這一過程中，人性的變化如此細(xì)致，人心的疼痛如此幽微，價值的扭曲如此劇烈，人口的遷徙如此龐大，社會的結(jié)構(gòu)如此巨變，都市的建設(shè)如此快速，舊的已經(jīng)消逝，新的不斷演化。

Modernization has two main characteristics: industrialization and urbanization. If in a hundred years,the population is slowly concentrated in the city,a modernization may be able to build. But in a dozen or twenty years,the population has doubled or tripled. How can urban traffic,medical care,education,housing and food supply be loaded? Traffic congestion,medical disputes,real estate bubbles,social conflicts and etc. in Taipei in the 1980s all originated from this.

However,it is through the reflection of writing that I have found the power of redemption,as our generation is witnessing the pain of the transition from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization. In this process,the changes in human nature are so detailed,the pain of the human heart is so quiet,the distortion of value is so fierce,the migration of the population is so large,the structure of society is so drastically changed and the construction of the city is so fast that the old has disappeared and the new has evolved continuously.