Fairy Tales of This World (Full 10 Volumes)

Author: Yue Leshan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This book uses the ethereal "fantastic tales" of a ( is a Chinese idiom meaning an unreal or impractical idea) as its theme, writing a worldly legend for the vast world and the myriad people, from which it constructs the joys and sorrows, rises and falls of the protagonist Qiu Shan. The timeline spans over three or four decades from the early years of the Guangxu reign to the early years of the Republic of China. The geographical scope includes most of China, from Beijing to North China, Northwest China, East China, and even the South China Sea. The characters range from emperors, empresses, generals, and ministers at the top to regional governors, various officials, clerks, and petty officials at the middle level, and down to mountain villagers, common townspeople, soldiers, and bandits at the bottom. There are over 1,200 named characters. The content covers not only major historical events such as the First Sino-Japanese War, the Hundred Days' Reform, the Boxer Rebellion, the Xinhai Revolution, and the Northern-South Peace Conference but also natural landscapes, mineral resources, famous scenic spots, and historical sites. It vividly records the politics, economy, military affairs, diplomacy, ideology, culture, folk customs, and social conditions of this period. The stories are both fierce, with cavalry charges, clashing swords, and bloody battles that shake the heavens and earth, and tender, with cherries turning red and banana leaves turning green, depicting the love, desire, affection, and longing of hundreds of wealthy and delicate women, scholarly ladies, charming beauties, and heroic women, all entwined with Qiu Shan's life and death, in a lingering and poignant manner. The entire book has 800 chapters and is approximately 3.6 million words long. In terms of its grand scale, the breadth and depth of its social content, the vivid portrayal of its numerous characters, and its distinctive linguistic style, it fully deserves the title of a "Qing Dynasty and Republic of China fantastic book."