Jinghua Yanyun (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Lin Yutang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-08-01
Features: "This book has appeared, just as all great books must. It meets all these requirements. It is realistic and unashamedly true. It is beautifully written, both serious and joyful, offering a correct understanding and evaluation of China both ancient and modern. I believe it is the most true, profound, comprehensive, important work on China to date. Even more commendable is that it was written by a Chinese, a modern Chinese. His roots are deeply planted in the past, yet his abundant fruits are borne in the present." — Pearl S. Buck, Nobel Prize Laureate
Lin Yutang, the author of 25 English works, depicted modern China vividly with the weight of Heavy Clouds Over Peking. This book stands as one of the most faithful, magnificent, comprehensive, important achievements in all writings about China. It is faithful, revealing nothing but the truth; its prose is bold and magnificent, offering profound understanding and insight into the past and present.
Major events are depicted without concealment, including the true nature of the Boxers, the Eight-Nation Alliance in Beijing, Sai Jinhua's education, the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty by the National Revolution, Yuan Shikai's rule, the May Fourth Movement and Peking University, the betrayal and massacre of patriotic students by the Anfu Party led by Duan Qirui's Beiyang Government, the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army, the drug trafficking and smuggling by Japanese in North China, the establishment of puppet regimes by the Japanese in China, the fall of Peking and Tianjin, the Battle of Shanghai on the 13th of August, the military conference of Chiang Kai-shek at Lushan and Gutian, and the mass migration and refugee crisis of the Chinese Nationalists.
Characters include the natural Taoist philosopher, the proud, straightforward, and uncompromising officials of the Qing Dynasty, the of the Boxers, traditional merchants, wealthy young ladies, maidservants, rich young gentlemen, high-class courtesans, warlords, traitors, Japanese soldiers, patriotic youth, young officers, rebels of the old family, upright scholars, the famous painter Qi Baishi, the translator Lin Qinnan, and the educator Fu Zengxiang.
Places include the Wangfu Garden, famous scenic spots in Peking, the West Lake, Suzhou and Hangzhou, a detailed travelogue of Mount Tai (including a rare description of the sunrise over the mountain), and the drug factories of Japanese and traitors.
Regarding wars, there are the bloodbaths at the Great Wall, Shanghai, and Tianjin, as well as the tragic scenes of the mass migration and refugee crisis of the Chinese nation during the years of the War of Resistance.
As the author states, "This book lays bare all the troubles and disturbances of China, but through this, it also shows that we have never abandoned our hope for our country! Without adornment, she will adjust herself, just as history has shown us! It is our sincere hope that this book will give us profound insights, firmly root us in the past, and bloom into magnificent flowers!"