Fantasy City Chronicle

Author: Kong Lin Niao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-03-01
Features: Writer and metaphysical scholar Zhang Hao feels that the morality of those around him is deteriorating day by day. So, he uses a special camera to capture the dark sides of the entire city and transforms them into a magical painting. Zhang Hao's nephew, the college student Ji Wen, is seduced by the family's nanny. They unintentionally enter this magical city together. In this magical city, residents are variously decadent and absurd, constantly being eroded and infected by a bacteria that leads to decay. Ji Wen gradually becomes assimilated, growing increasingly decadent and absurd. He parts ways with the nanny, then becomes entangled in sexual affairs with women such as the female scholar Xia Ke Ying, the literary youth Hu Fang Ni, and Zhao Ming Li, eventually marrying Ke Sang, Xia Ke Ying's cousin. Throughout this, Ji Wen meets all kinds of people—professors, poets, writers, leaders, merchants, and nuns. After experiencing countless absurd stories, he absurdly transforms from an unknown into a so-called writer, then absurdly becomes a businessman, and absurdly becomes wealthy. In the end, the humanity and conscience of the entire city are sold off completely, leading to the collapse and destruction of the magical city. Carrying a wounded heart and a deeper understanding of the world, Ji Wen and the nanny return from the realm of illusion to the real world.