Huang Shizhong's "The Rise and Fall of Officials" mainly reflects Yuan Shikai's first half of his life. The novel takes Yuan Shikai as the central character, running through the changes of more than ten years in the late Qing Dynasty, and involves many political figures. The novel respects historical facts and uses line drawing to more objectively show the original appearance of historical events and characters. The artistic creation attitude is rigorous, far beyond ordinary social novels. However, due to the lack of time, artistic precipitation and accumulation, it is a rushed work for revolutionary propaganda. It has shortcomings in many aspects and is actually an unfinished work.
Reader comments
This book takes Yuan Shikai as the protagonist and tells his official career. The plot is very attractive. The author objectively presented historical events and characters, allowing me to understand that period of history better. However, I didn't really like some of the characters in the book, they were too despicable and off-putting. Overall, this is a book worth reading.
This book takes Yuan Shikai as the protagonist and tells his official career. The plot is very attractive. The author objectively presented historical events and characters, allowing me to understand that period of history better. However, I didn't really like some of the characters in the book, they were too despicable and off-putting. Overall, this is a book worth reading.