The sound of the wind. The sound of the rain. The sound of reading.

Author: Zhu Xueqin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Intellectuals can be divided into two types—academic thinkers and problem-oriented individuals. We always respect the former, but due to the limitations of our temperament, we are probably only suited to be the latter. The so-called "problem consciousness" of the author's generation largely emerged in the later period of the Cultural Revolution. The awakened ones were influenced by the ideological debates of 1968, while the later awakeners would not be late to the September 13th Incident of 1971. At that time, they engaged in fervent debates about these stirring issues in private settings, with weak academic backgrounds but vigorous physical strength. Later, the author chose to study at liberal arts colleges and specialize in the history of thought, driven more by the motivation of "problem consciousness" than by a singular academic interest. The generation named after "1968" later underwent significant divisions, with only a few lucky ones entering liberal arts colleges. Even so, among the latter group, fewer are willing to balance theoretical understanding with "problem consciousness" and advance them simultaneously. In those days, thinking about issues that only intellectuals could contemplate in normal circumstances, under the guise of a non-intellectual identity, was certainly a distortion of history. However, it forged the intellectual life of this generation. If, after gaining the identity of an intellectual, one immediately pursues academic success and abandons the "problem consciousness" of their youth, it is like buying a gilded box and discarding the jade inside—a tragedy of thought for an entire generation. This book records the author's ten-year journey of intellectual exploration driven by "problem consciousness," including academic articles written while enduring solitude, as well as emotionally charged essays and book reviews—words that "laugh," "shout," and "cry." These reflections on theory, emotion, and argument reflect the true insights of an intellectual historian, his passionate concern for the fate of the nation, and his relentless pursuit of self-cultivation and spiritual life.