Jinghua Smoke and Mist (English Version) (English Version)

Author: Lin Yutang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-02-01
Features: Publishing English works by Chinese authors serves as a role model for English learners aspiring to achieve this, adds to China's confidence for the next century, and lends a voice to the promotion of the English language worldwide. This book, published in the United States at the end of 1939, sold over 50,000 copies within the first half year and immediately received praise from multiple newspapers and magazines, including the authoritative Time magazine, and ultimately gained the distinguished honor of being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Way of Life in China (also known as Beijing Blues) is a long novel written in English by Lin Yutang, who was living in Paris, from August 1938 to August 1939. The book details the joys and sorrows, friendships and rivalries of several aristocratic families in Beijing, such as the Zeng and Yao clans, from the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 to the War of Resistance against Japan over more than three decades, reflecting indirectly the turbulent changes in modern Chinese society. It incorporates historical events such as Yuan Shikai's coup, Zhang Xun's restoration, the Zhili-Fengtian War, warlordism, the May Fourth Movement, the March 18th Massacre, the Yushi literary group, modern literary debates, youth leaning left, and the outbreak of World War II, providing a panoramic scan of modern Chinese society.