Morning in Shanghai (Complete 4 Volumes) -- Collection of Contemporary Chinese Long Novels

Author: Zhou Erfu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: The Dawn of Shanghai can be regarded as a rare masterpiece, its cognitive and artistic value cannot be overlooked. The Communist Party of China had a scientific understanding of the national bourgeoisie, and in the early days of liberation, it creatively formulated a policy of peaceful transformation targeting their duality, aiming to gradually transform private capitalist industries into socialist economic entities. The Dawn of Shanghai is set against the backdrop of Shanghai in the early days of liberation, vividly depicting the significant historical process of transforming the national bourgeoisie and profoundly pointing out the only path to light for the Chinese national bourgeoisie after moving from "midnight" to dawn: accepting transformation, discarding the old and embracing the new, and taking the socialist path of serving the people. This is the significance of the work. The work successfully portrays a group of characters from the national bourgeoisie, among whom Xu Yide, the central figure of the entire book, is particularly well-crafted. In the spring of 1949, Shanghai had just been liberated. The capitalists were uneasy. Xu Yide, the general manager of Hujiang Textile Mill, was also worried. Long before the People's Liberation Army attacked Shanghai, Xu Yide, known as the "Iron Calculator," had already planned to leave Shanghai for Hong Kong, or even New York, if necessary. The liberation of Shanghai made him think of moving to Hong Kong to manage his business. He used the 6,000 spindles he had shipped to Hong Kong before Shanghai's liberation to open a new factory there. He also secretly smuggled existing cotton yarn out of Shanghai, exchanged it for foreign currency, and deposited it in banks in Hong Kong and New York. He also sent his son to study in Hong Kong. However, he ultimately did not leave. He could not bear to abandon his assets in Shanghai. For his own interests, he schemed against the Communist Party and the people's government. On one hand, he had his confidant—Mei Zuoxian, the deputy general manager of Hujiang Textile Mill—buy off the Nationalist Tao Amao to infiltrate the trade union and provide him with intelligence to deal with the Communists. On the other hand, he bribed the tax bureau's factory officers through Mei Zuoxian to steal national economic intelligence and make huge profits. In production, he cut corners and used substandard materials, making illegal fortunes.