Chit-chat and trivial talk

Author: Zhang Zhongxing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-01-01
Features: This is a book of essays. The author took the meaning of chatting leisurely while basking in the sun, writing articles in the early 1980s about the old people and old events centered around Peking University in the early 1930s. It includes more than 60 pieces about figures like Zhang Taiyan and Huang Huivwen, published in 1986. The intention was to record people worth remembering, events worth feeling, and emotions worth cherishing. The author said, "It was written as if it were poetry and history," so the writing is always light yet serious, humorous yet tearful. After its publication, numerous reviews and articles were published in domestic and international newspapers and magazines such as Dushu (Reading), (), Guangming Ribao (), Wen Hui Reading Weekly (), Jin Wan Bao (), and Qing Nian Bao (), as well as Hong Kong's Da Guang Bao () and Oriental Culture (). These articles praised the author for his profound insights and deep emotions, describing his writing as "flowing like clouds and water," natural and effortless, as if writing a modern Sayings of the World (). He portrayed the passage of time with a sense of compassion for people, a longing for the past and lament for the present, the uniqueness of the book's style, and the high level of its writing, which are rarely seen in recent years. The book has long been out of print and is now being reprinted. In addition to correcting errors, a long postscript by Mr. Zhou Ruchang has been added.