Human Zoo

Author: Zhang Yuanshan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: In Zhang Yuanshan's portrayal, the giraffe possesses a "bewitching beauty," akin to "Song Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain: elegant, precious, and fragile." Additionally, she is described as "Apollo's muse, a poet." Meanwhile, the flatfish is an "artist," the camel is a "pilgrim," and the bat is astonishingly a "philosopher." Regarding snakes, the author almost abandons any visual description, merely humorously pointing out that it is the zodiac sign of humans. Thus, we discover that in the "Humanistic Zoo," all animals are, in fact, characters, and all characters can be animals. Therefore, with an enlightenment-like perspective that transcends material barriers, the author humorously exhibits "netizens," "clones," and "God" alongside elephants, tigers, and mosquitoes in his zoo. The external boundaries between animals and humans vanish, and the theoretical limits between thought and imagination disappear. Zhang Yuanshan seems to draw inspiration from the boundless nature of the life he portrays, with his words soaring between heaven and earth, his thoughts ranging from the highest heavens to the deepest underworld, and his imagination soaring to the heavens. As a result, this delightful little book also becomes a Nietzschean philosophical allegory. For, with a slight attention, one can easily notice that behind the author's seemingly playful and scathing words lies a solid rational judgment. A hundred animals are described in dazzling detail, yet when they land before the reader, they have become "like flowers yet not quite flowers." All we feel is a renewed understanding of the world and its phenomena. Reading Mr. Zhang Yuanshan's Humanistic Zoo is as enjoyable and enlightening as visiting a city zoo, allowing us to encounter once again our old friends (such as horses, magpies, pandas), our elders (such as chimpanzees, monkeys, turtles), our rivals (such as wolves, tigers, rabbits), or our old companions (such as dogs, pigeons, foxes). Zhang Yuanshan, drawing on the boundless nature of these lives he portrays, lets his words soar between heaven and earth, his thoughts range from the highest heavens to the deepest underworld, and his imagination soar to the heavens. As a result, this delightful little book also becomes a Nietzschean philosophical allegory. Behind all the author's seemingly playful and scathing words lies a solid rational judgment.