Sunroof -- Angle 04

Author: Zhong Shuhe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: Learning to open windows and bring light and vitality into dark and enclosed caves is a technological creation and a leap forward in civilization, a crucial step in the evolution from monkeys to humans. Reading this book requires extra caution—Mr. Zhong’s casual references and insights may hide profound meanings. As the ancients said, "Only with great wisdom can one write great works." The author once remarked, "Essays should be diverse, prose should be scattered, and sketches should be spontaneous." This book is the author’s new creation over the past year, comprising 57 pieces. Though short in length, diverse, scattered, and spontaneous, it is filled with profound knowledge, captivating reasoning, and insights that illuminate the ordinary. As Huang Chang noted, the author is skilled in writing. One could also say his essays are enjoyable. In "A Joke from the Taihang Mountains," the opening line reads: "China has many mountains, and many people. If asked which mountain is most familiar to the entire nation, it must be the Taihang Mountains. Because those who have read the 'Three Essays from Every Day' know there is a Taihang Mountain blocking the way, and their task is to 'dig the mountain every day without stopping' in the hope of 'moving the mountain to please God.'" The ending states: "The Taihang Mountains still stand firmly on the land of China, while God, as Nietzsche said, has 'died.' Mountains are inherently unmovable and indestructible. Moving mountains and filling seas are merely dreams, especially since no one has ever really dug even a single shovelful."