Biography of Su Dongpo

Author: Lin Yutang

The legendary life of a well-known generation of great writers, politicians and artists.

People may sometimes think foolishly that a great writer like Su Dongpo, who has made China people * * * enjoy a thousand years, should be the supreme pride of his time. People around him will cherish him carefully and look up to him devoutly, and they are always unwilling to bother him, right? On the contrary, the more cultural celebrities who are beyond the times, the less compatible they are with the specific times in which they live.

Although Su Dongpo's articles are world-famous, his career has gone through hardships and repeated persecution, but he will never change his optimistic nature. Throughout his life, he integrated Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and his poetry, prose, ci, calligraphy and painting reached their peak in the Song Dynasty, where talented people came forth in large numbers. He has outstanding achievements, loves the people like a son, has both literary skills and martial arts skills, develops charity and establishes public hospitals, which is comparable to the warm spring sun and brings endless vitality and warmth to the world. He is full of life, but he has no choice but to live in the wind and rain, the years are lost in the road, and his fate is trapped in party struggle.

His magnificent life has long since disappeared into the dust of history, and his great personality and social conscience are still shining today. Su Dongpo, written by Lin Yutang, has a distinct personality, full image, amiable and respectable, and can be called the perfect ideal personality in the world.

2. Biography of Wang Anshi

Author: Liang Qichao

The bumpy life of a generation of reform pioneers, the noble personality of "although thousands of people have gone".

As a lonely reformer, there is probably no one more controversial than Wang Anshi in the history of China. Throughout the ages, there is a world of difference in his evaluation, which is inconsistent in all aspects of reform, knowledge and personality; At the same time, Su Shi and Sima Guang had different opinions in different periods.

This book systematically discusses the political situation in Wang Anshi's era, his ideological growth track, activities before and after he took office, the content and success or failure of the new law, academics and literature, family and making friends, etc. With a keen scholar's eye and rigorous historian's brushwork, the author cites more than 111 historical works and thoroughly analyzes the success or failure of Wang Anshi's new law with reference to modern European and American politics. And made "textual research" nineteen articles, trying to return Wang Anshi in the historical dust to his true face.

This book is unique in perspective, innovative in thinking, rich in information and rigorous in discussion. It is a volume in hand, and it is refreshing, thought-provoking and enlightening to read.

3. Biography of Zhu Yuanzhang

Author: Wu Han

The founding epic of the grassroots emperor, a legend in troubled times.

this book was written in 1948, which was the result of 31 years' painstaking efforts by Wu Han, a famous historian in Ming dynasty. With detailed textual research and vivid brushwork, the reliable records of the wind and clouds in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty are restored.

At that time, the author was free in thought, lively in writing and vivid in language, and was in his prime. In his works, a hooligan who went through hardships and begged for a living, a commander-in-chief who was brave, wise and magnanimous, an emperor who was diligent, loving the people, staying up all night and being suspicious and murderous, these complex and contradictory images were vivid, and * * * isomorphic became Zhu Yuanzhang's multifaceted life.

The history of struggle from the bottom commoner to the top emperor, and the road of thorns in the new dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's life course is worth reading carefully by everyone who is confused in the struggle.

4. Biography of Zhang Juzheng

Author: Zhu Dongrun

Inspiring story of elite growth, thrilling epic of times change.

This is an official story of an iron-fisted prime minister.

Zhang Juzheng was an outstanding politician in the Ming Dynasty and one of the famous reformers in the history of China. He started from an ordinary family in Jingzhou, and through unremitting efforts, he finally became the first record of Wanli, the teacher of Emperor Shenzong and the founder of Zhongxing in Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng made a drastic reform on the malpractice of the Ming Dynasty, and achieved good results, making great achievements in politics, economy and military affairs. However, in order to carry out reform measures, Zhang Juzheng has used disgraceful means, and his personal life is hard to say how to behave. Before his death, he held a high position and kept his word; After his death, he was deprived of posthumous title, and his property was confiscated, which harmed his descendants. The Daming Empire, which denied Zhang Juzheng's reform achievements, also went to the road of extinction.

Mr. Huang Renyu believes that the focus of Zhang Juzheng's ten-year New Deal is to change the style of civil service institutions, which is burdened by various environments and lacks organization. Zhang Juzheng tried to cheer up, demanding too much, so that he resisted bringing about trouble. In his lifetime, he can still use his power to suppress his critics, but once he dies, his hard work will also go down the drain.

5. Biography of Li Hongzhang

Author: Liang Qichao

Restore a true politician Li Hongzhang in the late Qing Dynasty, which was beset by internal and external difficulties.

Liang Qichao said: "In the past 41 years, Li Hongzhang has been involved in all the major events in China." You can see a nation's forty years from one person, and such a figure should be valued and remembered anyway.

This book started from Li Hongzhang's early years, and wrote that he suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then launched the Westernization Movement to make his reputation reach its peak, and then the Sino-Japanese War shattered his dream of becoming a powerful country, which quickly went from prosperity to decline, and finally he could only deal with the powers until his death.

Mr. Liang compared Li Hongzhang with Zeng Guofan, Zhang Zhidong, Bismarck, Gafur, Ito Bowen and others, and pointed out that Li Hongzhang was "tinkering" for the Qing government with the heart of enduring humiliation and dying, but he lacked long-term political vision and did not know how to make a century-long plan for future generations.

Look at Liang Qichao, who is also a political man of the late Qing Dynasty, telling Li Hongzhang's merits and demerits at close range, and paying attention to and remembering the true side of history.