Ji Xianlin: Walking Quietly in the Bustle: Walking Quietly in the Bustle

Author: Yu Qing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-01
Features: This book is part of the "Elephant Figures in Focus" series, which presents the brilliant life of Ji Xianlin in concise text and rich images. In addition to the main text, it includes excerpts of the subject's self-narratives and others' reviews. The captions for the images are designed to break away from conventional patterns, making them more lively and meaningful, thereby presenting a person's life in multiple layers, from various perspectives, and vividly. This is a series that highlights historical photographs and visual materials. It is said that we are now in an image-dominated era. This is quite true. Not to mention television, movies, CDs, and other media that shape cultural consumption and reading trends, even the rise of old photographs, old cartoons, and old illustrations as historical relics demonstrates that people are no longer satisfied with experiencing life and history through text. They are increasingly willing to read about people and history through historical images. Indeed, a single living scene, a portrait, or even a page of manuscript often contains more and more unique content than descriptive text, making them more engaging for readers and sparking their imagination. Over the years, whenever I travel abroad, I always buy some books. Among them, I particularly enjoy character books with concise text and abundant images that complement each other, such as Van Gogh Brothers and Virginia Woolf. These books give a fresh and innovative impression in terms of structure, layout, and format. It was inspired by these books that I conceived the idea of editing a series of character biographies. Fortunately, my idea was warmly supported by the friends at Elephant Publishing House, which led to the creation of the "Elephant Figures in Focus" series. The reason I say "focus" rather than "record" is that, strictly speaking, I do not write about each character in a completely biographical manner. Instead, I take a person's life as the background to scan and explore certain fragments that interest me and that highlight their character and destiny. Several years ago, in the "Climbing Through Time" series, I adopted this approach. If such text is combined with historical photographs and images in an appropriate way, it might have the characteristics of a visual biography. Therefore, in addition to the main text, I have deliberately selected the subject's self-narratives and others' reviews, and the captions for the images are designed to break away from conventional patterns, making them more lively while also more meaningful. I hope that this arrangement will present a person's life in multiple layers, from various perspectives, and vividly. Of course, this is just a wish, an attempt. Any form of focus is aimed at highlighting the living conditions of different individuals in historical scenes. Examining them is, in essence, also examining intellectuals in reality. This is why I am so enthusiastic about describing historical figures. Now, I am even happier to have a new style that combines text and images.