"The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua" that Lin Zixuan saw was published in 1991. The translator is Mr. Yu Fei, the son of Yu Dafu.

Mr. Yu Fei spent ten years translating this book called "The Instant Jinghua", which basically conforms to Lin Yutang's original intention, and uses Peking speaking, vivid writing and fluent writing.

The reason why Mr. Yu Fei translated this book started in 1939.

At that time, "The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua" was published in the West and was successful. Lin Yutang asked Yu Dafu, who was in Singapore, to translate it into the Chinese version, and sent five thousand yuan to Yu Dafu.

He believed that Yu Dafu was "proficient in English, familiar with Chinese, and experienced in this way. Dafu's words have no fake modern European sentences" and was the most ideal translator in his mind.

This sentence is very pertinent.

Yu Dafu's writings were not top-notch in the literary world during the Republic of China period, but were still top-notch.

However, Yu Dafu's period was not very good, he was relatively poor, and there were family disputes. Although he started to translate, he did not finish translation and only started one start.

Later he died in Nanyang, and the matter was left to nothing and the money was not returned to Lin Yutang.

Mr. Yu Fei is considered a father’s debt and son’s repayment, and has created a literary legend.

On July 20, 1924, "Happy Forest" began to publish "Beijing Smoke and Clouds".

The story begins with Beijing City on the morning of July 20, 26, Guangxu. This year was 1900 in the Western calendar, and it was also the year when Lin Zixuan was born.

He told a story 24 years ago.

That year, the Boxer Rebellion was in trouble in Beijing, killing foreigners, killing religious people, burning churches, and making chaos.

The Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Tianjin and was about to attack Beijing. If Beijing was a Shura field, then Tianjin would be a big hell.

It is the time when troubled times are about to arise.

The wealthy families in Beijing fled and went to take refuge in other places. Yao Mulan, the daughter of the Yao family, was separated from her family while fleeing, and fell into the hands of the Boxer Regiment. She was almost abducted and trafficked. Fortunately, she was rescued by the Zeng family and escaped from danger.

Next, Yao Mulan returned home and lived a family life.

The beginning of "The Smoke and Clouds of Beijing" is a bit dull, and it tells the story from the perspective of a woman, which disappoints many readers who are full of expectations.

Many literati even believe that Lin Zixuan and Jiang Lang had no talent and wrote a romance novel about the Mandarin duck butterfly school.

But more people are waiting and watching.

If this novel is a novel by a writer of the Mandarin Duck Butterfly School, it is nothing strange, but it is made by Lin Zixuan, you need to think about it carefully.

Like "Gone with the Wind", the protagonist of "The Smoke of Jinghua" is a woman named Yao Mulan.

In Lin Zixuan's novel, it is not uncommon for women to be the protagonist, but the story is really dull.

"Gone with the Wind" pulls readers into the war at the beginning, telling the characters' persistence and change in the war.

In comparison, the era background of "The Smoke and Clouds of Beijing" is also a period of constant war in China.

In the late Qing Dynasty, foreign enemies invaded and domestic chaos. In the next twenty years, China's political turmoil and warlords' melee could be said to be an era of great change, and there are many things worthy of writing.

However, what can a little girl do in this great era?

This is something that readers and literati who follow Lin Zixuan's new works do not understand. After all, the customs and cultures of China and the West are different.

In the West, women may be able to be independent and can deal with men and have a place in society.

However, in a conservative environment like China, the identity of a woman is destined to be able to revolve within the family and cannot truly play a major role in social life.

In other words, the pattern of this novel is destined to be a story in the mansion. Perhaps it is wonderful, but it does not match the identity of a great writer like Lin Zixuan.

According to these people's ideas, you are all great writers and can no longer write those vulgar novels. You must be high-end, elegant and upscale. Otherwise, you will be willing to degenerate.

If Lin Zixuan wants to write the Chinese version of "Gone with the Wind", he will undoubtedly be asking for trouble.

In China, the promotion of feminist ideas is destined to lose male readers, and the final result is that it is not pleasing to others and becomes a third-rate novel.

Many people watched the opening of "The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua". After some analysis, they felt that Lin Zixuan was going to miss the situation this time, and were waiting to see Lin Zixuan's jokes.

Since Lin Zixuan returned to China, he has been smooth sailing and has become a great writer.

This naturally aroused dissatisfaction among many people. I am also full of talent, so why isn’t I famous? There are people who think they are talented but have no experience in any era, and there are many.

They finally waited until Lin Zixuan failed and had a rare opportunity, so they must ridicule it.

Some people don’t think so. Some scholars who study Redology first feel when they see "The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua" that this novel has the shadow of "Dream of Red Mansions". Whether it is the narrative structure or writing style, they all have the flavor of "Dream of Red Mansions".

"The Smoke and Clouds of Beijing" describes the daily life of the large family in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty in detail.

Including customs, humanities, geography, various decorations in the home, family etiquette, etc., this is a comprehensive description of the life style of a large family in Beijing.

"Dream of Red Mansions" is known as an encyclopedia of ancient life. Does Lin Zixuan want to write a modern version of "Dream of Red Mansions"?

This is not impossible. Lin Zixuan was originally a master of Redology research. It is nothing wrong for him to write a novel imitated by "Dream of Red Mansions".

From this point of view, this book "The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua" is likely to be Lin Zixuan's ambition work.

He wanted to write an encyclopedia that records the historical landscape of this era. If it succeeds, it would be an extraordinary thing in the literary world, and this incident has attracted the attention of many people.

Hu Shi wrote to Lin Zixuan: Does Zixuan want to imitate Cao Weng?

For those of you who study "Dream of Red Mansions", it is easy to see the relationship between "The Smoke and Clouds of Jinghua" and "Dream of Red Mansions".

Lin Zixuan replied: Imitation works, laugh at me when I see you.

He is not writing the Chinese version of "Gone with the Wind", but writing the Republic of China version of "Dream of Red Mansions".

In 1938, when Lin Yutang was in Paris, he was preparing to translate "Dream of Red Mansions" into English. He did a lot of preparations and even wrote down the names of everyone in "Dream of Red Mansions".

This is very important, because it is extremely difficult for Chinese people to remember their names and to clarify the kinship between the characters in the book.

Most foreigners who read Chinese novels will be confused by the relationship between the characters.

However, for various reasons, Lin Yutang temporarily put aside the translation of "Dream of Red Mansions" and instead wrote "Beijing Hua Smoke Clouds" imitating the structure and writing techniques of "Dream of Red Mansions".

Lin Zixuan could not tell others that he wrote the Republic of China version of "Dream of Red Mansions", as that would make people feel overestimated.

He wrote the story first, and as for the evaluation, that is something that will happen in the future. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!