Good Book of the Year: Non-Fiction 丨 Culture Original List · Book

◎ "Mirror Image of The OfficialDom of the Late Qing Dynasty: A Study of Du Fengzhi's Diary", by Qiu Jie, Social Science Literature Press, May 2021

I usually see that the title of the book has the word "official" and will stay away, but this time it is fortunate that I was reminded by a teacher and friend that I did not miss it. This local political and social history of the late Qing Dynasty, based on the diary of a county-level official in the late Qing Dynasty, cannot stop reading it from the beginning, and it is eye-opening and touching. As an expert in modern history, the author sorts out the original documents, sees the big in the small, seeks depth in detail, and combines original research in a plain and clear narrative, which is both super readable and full of sharp historical analysis. Since the book is full of the author's carefully selected and cleverly quoted original diary texts, the reader is deeply immersed in the historical world reflected in the diary, and it may be easy to ignore the academic orientation of this research work: the author focuses on those places that have been insufficiently studied in the past (detailed and omitted), such as the administrative characteristics of the local officials in the first county where the provincial capital is located, the complex relationship between the prefecture and county magistrates and the miscellaneous officials, how they lead and directly participate in the violent conscription, how to judge cases and prisons, how to use and deal with the local gentry, and the daily life of ordinary officials. Without a large number of quotations to Du Fengzhi's diary, the emphasis on these aspects of research will inevitably flow into abstract articles, but without the author's thorough grasp of the late Qing dynasty system and society, these quotations will be difficult to reflect sufficient academic value. For those of me who are not familiar with the literature and historical materials of the late Qing Dynasty, what is most shocking is the details, that is, the original diary cited in the book and the author's analysis, such as the increase and decrease of age under the imperial examination system, the difficult life of the officials-elect, the way and amount of gray income of local officials, and so on. Among the new historical works to be published in 2021, this is quite prominent in both readability and scholarship. (Luo Xin)

◎ "From the Hall of Spiritual Light to the Wuliang Ancestral Hall", by Miao Zhe, Sanlian Bookstore, October 2021

Miao Zhe is praised by a wide range of readers for his many exquisite translations, but translation is only his side business. The publication of the book "From the Hall of Spiritual Light to the Wuliang Ancestral Hall" gives us the opportunity to appreciate his profound skills in the field of ancient Chinese art history. Miao Zhe believes that the evolution of ancient Chinese art from the pattern decoration of the Shang Zhou To the han dynasty art is neither due to the change of psychological cognitive mode nor the internal event of the development of art form. The most direct and intense driving force came from the Han Empire's need to systematically express its official ideology through the strategy of imagery and narrative. This institutional dynamic is particularly reflected in the large-scale visual production of Wang Mang's era.

Reading the writings of today's people, it is a bonus to find honest and solid knowledge. Talent and knowledge have always been afraid to ask for luxury. But Miao Zhe's book, in addition to his profound knowledge, adds to the talents and wisdom that have been long lost by today's people, and such wisdom even overflows from the main text and spreads into a large number of endnotes, making reading notes also become a kind of enjoyment. Any reader who has long-term experience in reading and has the ability to "wait and see", even if he is not an expert in art history, as long as he reads the 25-page introduction, he can detect the talent, learning, and knowledge that lurk between the lines, with high concentration and high purity. And the author's strong, sharp, and imitable Chinese is also enough to restore our confidence in Chinese academic writing. (Gao Fengfeng)

◎ "At the Bend of the Gorge River: Notes on Chen Xingjia's Life", by Chen Xingjia, People's Daily Publishing House, January 2021

I can't remember the last time I read a book and when it was, but in April 2021, when I watched "At the Bend of the Gorge River - Chen Xingjia's Life Notes", I will never forget the old tears. The moving thing about this book lies in the long-lost sincerity and sincerity, between him and his mother, between him and his wife, between him and society, humble and deep emotions, in today's time when various deconstructivisms are overwhelming, long lost to the point of being like a bronze ware dug out from under the rammed earth layer, but shining with classical brilliance.

He mentioned one thing in his books and in his speeches: One Spring Festival, he and his wife summed up what they had done in the past, and her wife said to him, I have only done one thing in the past 20 years, that is, I love you. Even if Chen Xingjia's self-description is a seven-fold discount is the real Chen Xingjia, he deserves all this.

This is an essay, divided into several parts: about the mother, about the wife, about the grassroots work after graduation, about tsinghua graduate school and the United States for further study, about becoming the secretary of the county party committee, and about resigning from the government and changing careers to do public welfare. Chen Xingjia is over fifty years old, and there is no "maturity" described in the text by a large paragraph of gorgeous comparison, his love and hatred, joy and sorrow, excitement and anxiety, frank and simple. This is called juvenile and bookish temperament. (Zhang Jin)

◎ "Chen Mengjia and His Friends", by Fang Jixiao, Sanlian Bookstore, August 2021

There are many books that talk about modern scholars, but it is rare to see what is said. One of the reasons was that there was no new material, so I had to go from barnyard to barnyard and copy it back and forth. Fang Jixiao's five-hundred-page book, on the contrary, is based on solid and exclusive information and has no water injection. Many years ago, a large number of correspondence between Chen Mengjia and his friends flowed to PanJiayuan, most of which he obtained. Everyone has been looking forward to him sorting it out as soon as possible and making it public. It can be said that without this batch of materials, the study of Chen Mengjia would not be complete. I got the book and turned to the last chapter. Because who is the last person Chen Mengjia visited before committing suicide, Ms. Cai? What are the interactions between the two? What exactly did he write in the "Book of Desperation" to Ms. Cai? These questions are answered in detail. Not only that, Fang Jixiao also managed to visit Ms. Cai and ask her to recall the situation at that time. Now that Ms. Cai has passed away, these interviews are the only remaining first-hand accounts. In other chapters, the author writes a lot of news, writes about Hu Shi, Rong Geng, Tang Lan, Wang Shixiang, writes about the enmity and resentment between friends and colleagues, because of the rich material, he also writes with full confidence, and writes a "living" history. (Chen Xiaowei)

◎ "The Three Capitals of Kui", by Zhou Sicheng, Shanxi People's Publishing House, January 2021

The book is written about three brutal sieges in the Battle of Mengjin, from Zhongdu (Beijing) to Nanjing (Kaifeng) to Caizhou (Runan), which are dangerous and tense, and people cannot be released. This is one of the most tragic collisions of human destiny in history, the author looks at the overall situation, outlines the details, and the dramatic effect is extremely strong. It is impossible to read this book without feeling sorry for the tyranny of the Mongols and the misery of the Jin. Ten years after the Battle of Wild Fox Ridge, Changchun Zhenren Qiu led his disciples north to meet Genghis Khan, passing through the old battlefield, only to see white bones in the grass, vowing to do the Golden Hoop Dojo to surpass the hundreds of thousands of dead souls. After the Mongols captured Zhongdu, huarazm came to walk on the road, and the soil was greasy and blackened because it penetrated the fat of the people. Sixty thousand young women and maidens committed suicide by jumping off the city walls. Nanjing besieged the city in October and fell, and it was "two million families are completely red, and the eighty miles of the city are all rubble." The history of Mongolia written by The Japanese such as Masaaki Sugiyama and Hidehiro Okada always has a strange sense of substitution, deriving pleasure from the longitudinal galloping of the Mongol army, while exaggerating the so-called globalization dividend caused by the unification of Europe and Asia by the Tatars, as for the brutal destruction that comes with the horseshoe of the Mongolian army, they stretch out five fingers to cover the saucer: "How much? Not much also. (Weak water)

Nominees: Zheng Jiali, Huang Bo, Huang Jun, Shen Dayuan, Xi Shan, Liu Du, Cheng Yuhei, Gao Fengfeng, Fan Fuchao, Luo Xin, Jiang Weishui, Su Hua, Yang Jintao, Li Yongjing, Chen Xiaowei, Yao Dali, Ma Hualing, Jiang Ming, Chen Jiaying, Zhu Kunrong. (In no particular order)