A pair of rabbits: Hu Shih couple's letters from two places

Author: Chen Laiyu, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: Hu Shi once summarized his experience of being married to Jiang Dongxiu for over forty years and finally not giving up, with the perspective of a "wiser person" in his later years. He said, "I believe love is a flowing liquid, with ample malleability. It depends on whether one has the ability to build and construct. Some people take their love to an extreme before getting married, but if it's too extreme, it becomes transparent, leaving no room for development. It's likely to break down due to monotony. I, on the other hand, started dating after getting married. Both my wife and I are always experimenting with love. That's why we maintained a harmonious family." Clearly, this is Hu Shi's final summary of his marital life. This book selects 242 letters exchanged between Hu Shi and his wife, Jiang Dongxiu. Unlike Lu Xun's Letters from Two Lovers, the correspondence between Hu Shi and his wife lacks extensive civil and social criticism. Most of the topics are mundane household matters, but they truthfully reflect important aspects of Hu Shi's life and greatly enrich the primary sources for writing his biography and chronology.