Shanghai is like a sponge, absorbing everything cleanly, as if all the memories never happened. "The Age of Shuffling" is a prose classic by writer Jin Yucheng. The twenty-eight essays construct a blossoming landscape image: the changing people and scenes, the daily life of the city with the original accent of old Shanghai, the cold legends of Northeastern farms, the meticulous description of handmade utensils... When spread out, it is an old picture of Shanghai, a riverside scene during the Qingming Festival in a special era; when taken together, it is the eternal human nature and spiritual desires of the human heart. "The Age of Shuffling" is the source material of "Flowers", a collection of old Shanghai stories, from which many of the characters and stories in "Flowers" were born. It is also a volume of the material life history of Shanghai, detailing the past lifestyle of Shanghainese and overlapping it to reveal the original appearance of the past. Underneath the images, colors, smells and sounds, the story is undercurrent, with free, gorgeous and touching details, like mercury pouring down the ground. Details are the subtle history of the times. "The Age of Shuffling" captures objects, people, spaces, and smells. They combine to form a trickle of the story, reviving Shanghai's geographical space and urban accumulation. Characters walk among them, and various interests in life, inner passions, and suppressed stories are concentrated on specific objects. They are microcosms of secular life, showing a sense of eternity.
Reader comments
This book is like a documentary about old Shanghai. The author Jin Yucheng uses delicate brushwork to describe the daily life of the city and the human nature of people in that special era. The characters in the book have distinct personalities and different experiences, making people feel the colorfulness and helplessness of life. Moreover, this book is not only the source material of "Flowers", but also a history of material life in Shanghai. It feels like you can smell the smell of Shanghai when reading it. It is very worth reading!
This book is like a documentary about old Shanghai. The author Jin Yucheng uses delicate brushwork to describe the daily life of the city and the human nature of people in that special era. The characters in the book have distinct personalities and different experiences, making people feel the colorfulness and helplessness of life. Moreover, this book is not only the source material of "Flowers", but also a history of material life in Shanghai. It feels like you can smell the smell of Shanghai when reading it. It is very worth reading!