Activity Changes into Human Shape - China Library

Author: Wang Meng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: "Transforming into a Human Figure" is a significant motif that permeates the entire book. The protagonist Ni Wuchen is like a "transforming into a human figure," with a clever mind and a tall body but deformed legs. Through this metaphor, the novel explores the inner fragmentation of modern Chinese intellectuals. Through this work, the author reflects on the fate of the Chinese people and the destiny of Chinese intellectuals in Chinese society and history. He constantly reflects on the various meanings contained within the Chinese people and Chinese history through his memories of his family. The novel depicts the struggles, indecisiveness, and confusion of a modern-minded intellectual in an old-fashioned family, yearning for Western modernity but ultimately unable to attain it, struggling throughout his life with no success. The novel is concise, vivid, and particularly skillful in character portrayal. It is rich in thought, with content and form achieving a relatively perfect unity. Some critics argue that this book is a microcosm of the spiritual journey of Chinese intellectuals in the 20th century, a book of national self-criticism, and a metamorphosis of modern Chinese intellectuals.