Selected Works of Gong Zizhen (Selected Poems and Prose of Modern Literary Masters)

Author: Gong Zizhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Written in the glow of fire and blood, this modern Chinese literature records the disintegration of China's long feudal society and the agony of its transformation into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society; it documents the arduous journey of the Chinese people a century ago as they entered the 20th century; it records the exploration and sacrifices made by the Chinese people for the future of their nation and the fate of their country. Today, with the smooth return of Hong Kong and Macao, and with the Chinese people already standing up and growing wealthier, taking a century-long retrospect to look at the stumbling China at the threshold of the 20th century holds particular significance. Gong Zizhen lived during a time when the Qing Dynasty was experiencing a rapid decline in its power, and also when China was beginning its transition from a feudal society to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society due to the invasion of foreign capitalism. The era was fraught with contradictions and hidden crises. Some enlightened intellectuals from the feudal landlord class awoke and sought every means to save the nation. Gong Zizhen was a prominent representative of this group and was once as renowned as Wei Yuan. Gong Zizhen was deeply concerned about the aggression of capitalist powers and held strong patriotic ideals. He also mercilessly exposed and criticized the darkness of reality and the corruption of politics, advocating reform and fantasizing about partial improvements to the feudal system to transform the "decaying era" back into an "era of prosperity" or a "peaceful era."