Rainy Journey: The Life of Lei Zhen: Spine or cover may have flaws

Author: Fan Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: A life of great ups and downs, from a core figure in the Kuomintang to a prisoner under Chiang Kai-shek. Ten years of imprisonment cost half of his life; the ten years of Free China won an era. Tang Degang's farewell words, "A sword hanging in the empty field, how can there be no resentment!" Nie Hualing paid respects to her mentor, tears streaming down her face, as she confidently said: "I am the one who created Chinese history." Hu Shi said – People in Taiwan should build a bronze statue for him. The author uses first-hand materials to narrate the interactive relationship between a generation of intellectuals and democratic politics through the stormy life of Lei Zheng. Considering his personal political ups and downs and the historical background, the author vividly portrays the spirit of this upright figure in terms of upholding his ideals and putting them into practice, thereby revealing the changes of that era and the true difficulties faced by liberal intellectuals.
Lei Zheng (1897-1979), a native of Hebei, Japan, studied in Japan and graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. After returning to China, he devoted himself to politics and held key positions such as Deputy Secretary-General of the National Council, Secretary-General of the Political Consultative Conference, Representative and Deputy Secretary-General of the Constitutional National Assembly, Councilor of the Executive Yuan, and Policy Advisor to the Presidential Office. Together with Hu Shi, he founded and edited the bimonthly Free China. Due to his political ideals clashing with the authoritarian system of the Kuomintang, he became the regime's biggest political opponent and was framed, becoming Chiang Kai-shek's "prisoner."
Lei Zheng lived with the courage of "knowing it is impossible but still doing it," leaving an indelible page in the history of Taiwan's post-war democratic constitutional development. The author uses first-hand materials to narrate the interactive relationship between a generation of intellectuals and democratic politics through the stormy life of Lei Zheng. Considering his personal political ups and downs and the historical background, the author vividly portrays the spirit of this upright figure in terms of upholding his ideals and putting them into practice, thereby revealing the changes of that era and the true difficulties faced by liberal intellectuals.