World - Jiangshan Walks

Author: Han Yuhai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The book All Under Heaven collects essays written by Professor Han Yuhai over the years, inspired by his travels to China's border regions, Korea, Japan, and even Europe and America. These essays include studies on the history, ethnicity, and systems of places such as Shanghai's concessions, Shangri-La in Yunnan, Northeast's old industrial base, Beijing's urban water system planning, and Henan's "earthen villages." Additionally, the book explores and examines the civilizations and systems of Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Germany. Most of the essays were originally published in magazines like Shucheng and Tianya, receiving high praise from readers. Among them, the essay From Afar won the 2004 Guo Moruo Essay Award.
The book All Under Heaven includes 12 recent essays published by the author over the years. They appeared sporadically—some in the Shucheng magazine, others at international conferences—but when gathered together by those who sought them, they gained the momentum of a spark igniting a fire. This "momentum" is the key to understanding Han's essays. The author discusses the world at large, focusing on the concept of "momentum." The three essays—From Afar, Northwest Prosperity, and This Beautiful Shangri-La—take readers from Northeast to Northwest to Southwest, shifting attention away from the overly emphasized Jiangnan region and toward the interior and frontier areas, aiming to reveal China's true inner court and support system. A Single Read and Snow Flies from the Head and The Legend of the Island touch on broader themes, detailing the transformations and struggles of two important cities—Guangzhou and Shanghai—amid the historical whirlpools and their interactions with various interest groups. The Death of Silver uses three perspectives—industrial revolution, the Opium War, and the system of the gongxing—to uncover the complex historical storm.
In the afterword, the author writes that the poem "Events in Jiangnan and Jiangbei are as tangled as, half leaning on Liu's family, half on Ruan's, three sides of a chess game, don't plan for it, one move in the southwest fears competition" from The Peach Blossom Fan captures the turning point of the rise and fall of the world—it is "balance of power," which is also the wisdom the book seeks to convey.