From the Past Men - Records of Life and Death of Generations of Famous Generals

Author: Fan Chuanxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Amidst the fading mists of history, generations of heroes chase the ebb and flow of time. Standing, they are like mountains; lying down, they are like ridges. Whether alive or dead, they are a magnificent and ever-unfading scenic line. The generals in this book lived in different eras and developed in different spaces, yet their destinies shared many astonishing similarities, similarities, or parallels. Tracing back to their roots, it is still the powerful inertia of traditional Chinese culture that accounts for this. History advances, society develops, but the complex, contradictory, and conflicting human nature does not keep pace with it—in modern terms, it lags behind. Can the human nature and character of the Pre-Qin era be said to be vastly different from ours today? So, the five-thousand-year-old history and cultural elders repeatedly narrate and vividly depict are nothing but the eternal story of human truth, goodness, beauty, and ugliness. History is a drama, and the social operational forms of different eras are the stages of this drama. The heroes were both shaped by their times and born for their era, but they were also their own choices—choosing the roles that fit them perfectly on the historical stage. How we wish they could all have good beginnings and good endings, withdrawing intact from history! But wishes are just wishes, and history remains history. History is often absurd, often does not follow the rules of drama, and its outcomes are often beyond expectation. This may be the very law of history. Anyway, real absurdity is far better than perfect fiction, and known evil is always better than unknown evil. This must be the significance of historical memory! This book lists the historical stories of famous generals from different dynasties, including Wu Zixu fleeing to Wu, Wu Qi killing his wife, Lian Po's old age, Bai Qi executing surrendered soldiers, Li Mu's absence today, Han Xin crawling under his pants, Zhou Yafu's hunger strike, and Li Guang's inability to be enfeoffed.