The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Peking University held another council, and finally voted unanimously to accept Zhou Hexuan as the principal. The premise is that Zhou Hexuan is not allowed to interfere in the school affairs of Peking University. To put it bluntly, he is only the principal in honor.

They also voted at the meeting and elected Zhong Guanguang as the acting principal, who was fully responsible for school affairs.

Zhong Guanguang used to be a counselor of the Ministry of Education, and also opened a factory. He is fully qualified for this position in terms of qualifications and abilities.

Zhou Hexuan was also happy to be at leisure, returning to Tianjin to continue running his newspaper, and only waited for Peking University to speak after the resumption of school.

Since the suspension of classes at Peking University, there is a shortage of teachers, and a sufficient number of teachers must be hired. If it doesn't work, you can only hire teachers from other schools as part-time lecturers, and barely build up a teaching team. Secondly, many students have already returned to their hometowns, and they have to write letters one by one to call them back.

After these preparations are completed, it is estimated that it will be November, when Peking University will officially resume classes.

In mid-October, Zhou Hexuan sent the first 50,000-word manuscript of "Goddess", and his "Rise of a Great Power" was finally published, and it was released simultaneously in more than ten major cities across the country.

I have to say that the Commercial Press is so powerful, they even have a mailing service. For example, if a person in a small county in Southwest China wants to buy a book, he can order by letter, telegram or telephone, first remit the money, and the Commercial Press will post the book immediately.

The whole set of "The Rise of the Great Powers" is divided into two parts, the first and the second, which are cheaper than "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", and the price is only 4 yuan.

According to the feedback information from major bookstores across the country, the Commercial Press obtained statistical data that the sales volume of "The Rise of a Great Power" reached more than 6,000 copies in the first week, which is a very impressive figure.

What makes people dumbfounded is that "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" has sold even better. In the two weeks since its publication, more than 15,000 sets have been sold in North China. Sure enough, no matter in which period, popular books are more popular than academic monographs, because ordinary people account for the majority of the nation.

Now in several provinces in North China, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is the most popular novel, and Zhang Henshui's "Chunming Foreign History" is the second most popular novel.

But wait until next February, Zhang Henshui will open a new pit called "The Family of Gold Fans", which will be serialized for seven years, attracting countless readers to frantically follow it. The copyright fee for the first printing of this book was directly exchanged for a former Qing palace in Beiping.

"Shooting the Condors" seems to be not much different, and it has even gradually spread to the south, and piracy has begun to appear in the Jiangnan area. And traditional martial arts novelists seem to be influenced by "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and try to imitate the routines of this novel.

Although the book market in the period of the Republic of China was not perfect, it was quite mature. Many newspapers have comment columns, which are dedicated to evaluating popular works, including film reviews, drama reviews, book reviews, and so on.

There is also a special profession called critics, also known as critics, who earn their royalties by writing review articles.

After "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was published, some critics applauded it, while others complained that Zhou Hexuan changed history randomly, which would mislead readers. Fortunately, the debate between old and new literature has long since ended, and true scholars do not rarely comment on martial arts novels, otherwise they may be sprayed with what they say.

But having said that, the writing of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" (written in vernacular Chinese) is strictly speaking a new school of literature, and it was considered a progressive work a few years ago.

As for "The Rise of Great Powers", the critics were unanimous in their admiration, and many cultural celebrities stood up to promote this set of books for free.

Shen Junru, a famous scholar, politician, and activist, published a review article in "China News" and said: "The Rise of Great Powers is thought-provoking, and the research on the great powers of various countries is particularly thorough. Citizens can broaden their horizons by reading this book, and scholars can read this book." It can improve knowledge, and those in power can understand the strategy of governing the country by reading this book! Mr. Zhou Hexuan is a great talent in the world."

Qian Duansheng, a teacher of political science and constitutional law at Peking University and Tsinghua University, who advocated the abolition of foreign concessions and the recovery of consular jurisdiction, also commented in "Yishi Bao": "The Rise of Great Powers contains Western political and legal content. This book, you can appreciate the origin of Western politics and law. It interprets the rise and fall of world powers from an all-round perspective, and has great reference and enlightenment significance for China's current situation."

As the book "The Rise of Great Powers" spread more and more widely, Zhou Hexuan's reputation became increasingly loud. Although he is in Tianjin, he has long been known to all students in the south, and he has been fermented with the speech "I have a dream", and has become an academic idol in the minds of young students.

Of course, there are also "One Generation" and "Answer". These two poems are very suitable for the Republic of China.

"The night gave me black eyes, but I use them to find the light", "Despicableness is the passport of the humble, nobleness is the epitaph of the noble", these four poems are widely quoted. Especially during demonstrations, it can be shouted as a slogan, and combined with "I Have a Dream", it instantly makes the patriotic youth excited.

The most interesting thing is that Zhou Hexuan's poems only criticize the darkness, and his speeches only look forward to the future. His position is extremely vague and he has not offended any forces. Even if "The Rise of Great Powers" predicted that Japan would invade China, it was from an academic point of view. The Japanese only regarded him as a very powerful scholar, and did not arouse much vigilance.

Zhou Hexuan's biggest gain is money!

By the end of October, when the manuscript fee was settled, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "The Rise of the Great Power" brought him a monthly income of more than 40,000 yuan.

The literati in the Republic of China were really rich!

It’s no wonder that after Xu Zhimo moved to Shanghai, although his family cut off his financial support, he was able to live in a bungalow with a monthly rent of 150 yuan only on lectures and manuscript fees. The servants in his family are taking care of him, and there are cars to pick him up when he goes in and out.

Of course, the premise is that the literati must be famous, and the literati who are not famous can only be regarded as poor. With fame you still have to write bestsellers, and it’s embarrassing if no one buys your work.

October is Zhou Hexuan's big harvest season. Two best-selling books were sold at the same time, which made his bank deposit exceed 50,000 in one fell swoop. However, this situation cannot last for a long time, because the daily sales of books have been decreasing, and it is very rare to have 20,000 manuscript fees in November.

Just as the teachers and students of Beijing returned to school one after another, Zheng Zhenduo in Shanghai received a draft of a novel.

He looked at the author first, and instantly became happy. It was actually sent by Zhou Hexuan. Now Zhou Hexuan is a very popular figure in the academic world, and young students also admire him very much. If his work is published in "Novel Monthly", it will definitely attract attention.

I hope the quality of Mr. Zhou's novels is not too bad... Zheng Zhenduo thought so.

Zheng Zhenduo opened the text and read it. It was normal at first. A woman was arrested and imprisoned, as if she had been wronged, but soon the ghost appeared.

What the hell!

There are still ghosts in the prison. Is this writing the modern "Liao Zhai"?

Zheng Zhenduo read on patiently, and finished reading the 50,000-word novel in one breath, feeling his scalp numb and his vest wet with sweat.

The destruction of the body is not terrible, the most terrible thing is the destruction of the spirit.

The so-called killing and punishing one's heart, Zhou Hexuan's "Goddess" is about punishing one's heart. In the absurd and joyful plot, there is an almost hopeless sadness hidden. This is the soul of a nation dying in shock.

Zheng Zhenduo closed his eyes. To be honest, he didn't want to read this novel again. It was too creepy. It felt the same as reading Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman".