Money is like water

Author: Shen Feilong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: A bloody record of capital accumulation in contemporary China, a vivid depiction of the desires of urban power and beauty. "The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 8": "The highest virtue is like water. Water benefits all things without contention, resides in the places others disdain, and is close to the Tao." Money is like water,ing every corner of society, eroding the souls of the world. There is nothing more pervasive than money. Money is Like Water honestly, boldly, and vividly portrays the process of capital accumulation by private enterprise bosses in the early 1990s, mercilessly exposing the inflated, desire-driven faces of characters under the influence of power, money, and beauty. The novel contains some satire of ugliness, but it ultimately lacks the support of a noble, solemn, and sacred voice. In fact, not only this novel, but the entire literary scene today lacks the power of faith and the power of purification.
Contemporary Chinese literature, in some works, exhibits a clear characteristic: the ability to reveal negative realities or to exist alongside filth in the text is often praised as the courage to face reality or seen as a commitment to truth. However, the reality is that there is a lack of a call for love, a guidance toward goodness, an ability to see light and hope, or even the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. This is closely related to the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual resources the writers possess. Without a universal humanistic concern beyond personal rational truth, or a long-term moral ideal beyond relative standards, human souls are always adrift and compressed in temporary circumstances, like dust in the wind, drifting without direction.
For contemporary literature, perhaps the most urgent issue is the problem of spiritual resources.