Selected Works of Gong Zizhen

Author: Gu Zhengzhen (Author), Sun Qinxian (Editor and Annotator)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Written amidst the flames and bloodshed, this modern Chinese literature records the disintegration of China's long feudal society and the agonizing transformation into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society; it documents the arduous journey of the Chinese people a century ago as they entered the 20th century; it chronicles the exploration and sacrifices made by the Chinese people for the future of their nation and the fate of their country. Today, with the smooth return of Hong Kong and Macao, and as the Chinese people have stood up and are becoming prosperous, taking a century-long reflection on the China that stumbled at the threshold of the 20th century holds particular significance. Gu Zhengzhen lived during a time when the Qing Dynasty was experiencing a rapid decline in its power, and also when China's history began to shift from a feudal society to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society due to the invasion of foreign capitalism. The era was fraught with contradictions and hidden crises. Some enlightened intellectuals from the feudal landlord class awoke and sought every means to save the nation from peril. Gu Zhengzhen was a prominent representative of this group, renowned alongside Wei Yuan at the time. Gu Zhengzhen was deeply concerned about the aggression of capitalist powers and held strong patriotic ideals. He also mercilessly exposed and criticized the darkness of reality and the corruption of politics, advocating for reforms and fantasizing about partial improvements to the feudal system to transform the "decadent era" back into an "era of prosperity" or a "peaceful era."