The name of the Chinese classic novel... Strange Currents in a Decade (Upper and Lower)

Author: Wu Yanren
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: In April 1903, Li Boyuan's The Real Story of Officialdom began serialization in World Splendor Newspaper. A month later, Li Boyuan's friend, the talented journalist Wu Yanren, left the press world to dedicate himself to fiction. In October, Strange Currents in a Decadent Age, which Wu Yanren serialized in the New Fiction magazine, caused a huge sensation. Like The Real Story of Officialdom, Strange Currents in a Decadent Age was a work that exposed, condemned, satirized, and fiercely criticized reality. The difference was that Li Boyuan's focus was on officialdom, while Wu Yanren depicted and exposed the "current state of Chinese governance." Over 108 chapters, the novel presented readers with a historical panorama of a feudal society on the brink of collapse. Strange Currents in a Decadent Age is a typical reflection of Wu Yanren's artistic style in fiction—his sharp pen, biting satire, flowing prose, and a mix of solemnity and humor. However, due to Wu Yanren's intense emotions and his fierce hatred for evil, he sometimes exaggerated and distorted the facts in his descriptions, which became a flaw in the novel.