The Siege (2017 Standalone)

On December 16, 2023, I finished reading Mr. Qian Zhongshu's masterpiece "Fortress Besieged" today. The people who surrounded the city wanted to escape, People outside the city want to rush in, Whether it's marriage or career, Most of the wishes in life are like this. In such a special era, foreign invaders invaded China aggressively, and it described an intellectual who studied abroad without learning or skills. Now, the biggest feeling this book gives me is that reading requires real talent and practical learning, and we ordinary people should also have our own abilities. This is fundamental. As long as Fang Hongjian had real talent and practical knowledge, his life would not be like this. His foundation would be unstable and his personal development would not be smooth. Regarding marriage and career, my current thinking is to improve ourselves. We cannot satisfy anyone, nor can we change others. Then we can only change ourselves, make ourselves stronger, have a strong career, strong psychology, and then be fearless.

I felt very boring when I read the previous part. I almost couldn't read it and wanted to give up, but I kept reading. It was only when Fang Hongjian and Miss Sun were together that I finally got into it. Qian Lao's writing style is very humorous. I laughed out loud at several parts. The writing is also very realistic. It is described from a man's psychological perspective, and it really ironically depicts the story of marriage. They are so ugly that they like to pretend before marriage and show their beautiful side in front of each other. After getting married, their true nature is exposed and they show their unsightly side. People who are really in the wall want to get in, and people in the wall want to get out. People who are not married envy the people who are married and have someone to love and accompany them. People who are married envy the freedom and comfort of being alone. What inspired me is that you must carefully consider getting married. There is almost no pure love. You must recognize the reality.

Wow There were so many metaphors in the article that made me laugh out loud or immerse myself in the situation. This is the most admirable writing style I have seen so far. It is just right and natural, and the witticisms are all very impressive.

"People who are surrounded by the city want to escape, and people outside the city want to rush in. Whether it is marriage or career, most of their wishes in life are like this." This is a sentence written by Ms. Yang Jiang on the title page of "The City Besieged". Marriage is a siege, work is a siege, and life is also a siege. Entrance and exit reflect the philosophy and realm of life and have become the normal state of life. I feel that Fang Hongjian in the book is a very real character, so real that when I look at his actions from a reader's perspective, I feel "unreadable". Looking around, we can see that Fang Hongjian was so confused every time he "entered and exited a city". Before I criticized him, I thought carefully about myself, why my life today is so unsatisfactory, and whether I have made some decisions in a confused way, so that I don't understand how I "entered this city". Perhaps this is why there is a huge contrast between ideals and reality. Is it because we are never willing or able to think deeply about what it means to go to the city? Therefore, we should all admit that although "Fang Hongjian-style confusion" seems to have no reason, it widely exists in everyone. Does Fang Hongjian look like us who are confused and at a loss now? I thought that there were thousands of possibilities in life, and even the opportunity to improve my class might appear inadvertently, but due to various reasons, I missed the opportunity. Looking back, the classmates who I thought were from the same starting point have now left you far behind. And you, in the end, only received the comment "You're not annoying, you're just completely useless" and your life was a mess. Take the people Fang Hongjian met as an example. If Miss Bao represents the newly awakened erotic enlightenment, Miss Su represents the vanity of being loved by others, and Miss Tang represents the regret left in her youth, then the final wife Miss Sun represents the helpless but forced reality. These girls are all regrets in Fang Hongjian's life. Obviously, every one of us has this kind of regret. After all, in those years that have passed, we will always more or less miss some opportunities that seem to allow us to live a happier and better life, or perhaps no matter how carefully we make choices, we will still leave all kinds of regrets. So I think, although life is full of regrets, these regrets are only relative. There is no need to feel inferior because of the confusion in the past, nor to be enthusiastic about participating in various struggles, nor to feel depressed about various regrets. Instead of being a "city dweller who wants to come out" or "an outsider who wants to go in", we should take some time to calm down and think about how to accurately position our next step, so as to find a city that is more suitable for us. Just like our life, we always feel that among all living beings and within the ever-changing times, life is full of possibilities. However, whether you are Zhao Hsin-mei or Fang Hongjian, whether you are an impatiens or a radish, whether you are a towering tree or an attached climbing flower, determines your fate and the direction of your life. Therefore, the most important thing is not whether you have met your Mr. Right, your Lady Luck, or your Noble Person, but who you are. After finishing "Fortress Besieged", I have a lot of thoughts in my mind. Only now do I understand that "Besieged City" refers to the whole life. The same is true for career, the same is true for marriage, and the same is true for life. There are many things that we long for day and night. When we don't have them, we think about them deeply, but after we get them, our interest wanes. It's hard to ask for nothing, but it's also hard to ask for something. How to solve this dilemma, I think, should be to maintain curiosity and exploration of the world, always have a heart of contentment and gratitude, and get out of the siege of your life in thinking and action.

This book is so interesting. I especially like the part where Fang Hongjian and his friends go to Sanlv University. A lot of funny things happened along the way. Moreover, Mr. Qian Zhongshu is very good at sarcasm. He wrote out all the weaknesses of intellectuals, which reminded me of "The Scholars". But this book is better than "The Scholars". I think it is the greatest novel!

I feel like I've been scolded for a whole book. But I want to defend myself but I don't know where to start. Uh-huh. Mr. Qian Zhongshu is really fun to talk to. He has the same Buddhist and lovely writing style as Ms. Yang Jiang. They are worthy of being a couple. The clock at the end really shocked my heart. I thought it was just like the previous small foreshadowing, just to set off the character's personality, but it turned out that this inaccurate clock actually became the record and echo of their conflict an hour ago. This gave people a sense of fatalistic absurdity and ridiculousness, and it was the most exciting stroke.

Although Fang Hongjian had good luck with love affairs, he was always restless and cowardly. He was always disconnected from other women or had tacit understandings with other women, but he never said it clearly. His love was very complicated. But as the book says, love before marriage is the most interesting (sorry I can't remember the original sentence, but the meaning is similar). After getting married, his personality was also exposed. He was irritable, suspicious, and hesitant. He wanted to make a decision but felt that others were hindering him from making a decision. Overall, he is a tragic figure. The descriptions of ambiguity, love, and marriage in the book all have certain practical significance. Now it seems that it is still worthy of us to think about our own views on love. The metaphors and ridiculing sentences in the book are very novel and make people laugh.

Classic masterpieces really stand the test of time and will never go out of style no matter how long they last. This book is suitable for reading in the early stages of college, and can provide some reference for college students who have just entered college to establish their views on love and marriage.

I feel that in the process of describing, the most ordinary language can depict human nature in an extremely real way. They do not say it on the surface, but their actions everywhere allow us to get a glimpse of the story behind this human skin. There is no so-called hero, everyone is so real, people are just like this, there is no such thing as One party, good or evil, I admit that this is also true, my own interests tend to come first. This novel is about the country, about love, about marriage, about being a human being. It covers many topics. Everyone is a contradiction, but it seems to be logical and interesting.

A ship in the Indian Ocean. Beginning of a classic It is really well written. It can be said to be a complete satirical novel. Everyone has something worthy of satire. The male protagonist is a coward and a person who cannot be reused. It would definitely be a dissatisfaction point in other novels, but there is no way. The writing is so good that I can ignore these dislikes. The scene where a group of five people struggled to walk with a flashlight in the middle of the night impressed me the most, and I wanted to copy this entire paragraph, haha. The characters in this book are fluid, especially Zhao Xinmei. My likes and dislikes of the characters are completely controlled by the author. I thought this book was very new when I looked at it, but I found out that it has been almost 50 years since it was edited for the second time.

I finished reading it on January 23, 2025. I have heard about the name of this work for a long time, but now I get to read this excellent work. I would like to write some personal opinions. There is no doubt that this is a good book with depth, connotation and interest. It is worth reading repeatedly.

Life is full of sieges. People inside want to escape, and people outside are trying every possible means to get in. The fact is that no matter what we do, we will envy others, but in fact, life is full of scenery. Spending your life full of love and hope under the same time and space constitutes a colorful world. Each of us is an indispensable existence in this world. Only when your heart is free can your life be free. So, read more and do more things you like.

The people who surrounded the city wanted to escape, People outside the city want to rush in, Whether it's marriage or career, Most of the wishes in life are like this. The besieged city is more like a city of life, besieging many people. The reason why many people are angry is more like Fang Hongjian's dissatisfaction. But dissatisfaction is not the normal state of most people. Because of dissatisfaction, there will never be a moment of happiness and satisfaction in life. The siege in career is not willing to accept the newspaper office, and the siege in marriage is The quarrel with Sun Roujia is the embodiment of Fang Hongjian's siege in life. In this process, we gradually disenchant marriage and career. Behind the ideal is more of a pile of chicken feathers. Qian Zhongshu satirizes this life situation with humorous and ironic pen and ink, making people laugh while thinking. It is worthy of being a new scholar's foreign history.

After reading this book, I realized that Hongjian's emotions were very tortuous. From originally attaching great importance to emotions to later not caring about them, his mental journey can only be said to have changed a lot. In fact, Jianhong doesn't like Miss Sun, and his feelings for Miss Sun are just coping. I just don't think he likes Miss Sun very much. They always quarreled after they got married. It reminded me that China is a family, and it is the same. I really saw the shadow of an ordinary family. I think whether it was in the past or now, family disputes are undoubtedly related to the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and the issue of money. I can say that money can solve many things. Without money, there are really many, many, countless family conflicts. As for the title of this book, "The Siege of the City. Those who want to enter cannot get in, and those who want to enter cannot get out." I thought of Hongjian and Miss Su. They both studied abroad and received investment from the Zhou family. One of them went abroad at his own expense, but the two people's education levels were completely different. A person who is narrow-minded and caressing, even immature and unwise. But, miss, although he is scheming, he is transparent and has a high emotional intelligence. He is not as feudal and old-fashioned as Hongjian. One of my favorite characters in this book is I was deeply impressed by Zhao Hsin-mei's transparency. Although he argued and fought with Hongjian when he was pursuing his childhood sweetheart, when he knew that Miss Su didn't like him, and after he didn't pursue Miss Su, he generously forgave Hongjian and provided a lot of help to Hongjian in his later career. No matter what it was, he helped. Even in a city far away, Hongjian did not forget to give generous gifts at his wedding. I think he is a person who is accomplished in learning, flexible in dealing with things, and is more in line with his generational values. He has inherited the academic style of his family, but he is not like a playboy. He is low-key and has no tricks. He even makes me suspect that he is just a person born in an ordinary family.

It is indeed a classic, so beautiful. This book is very information-dense, and the author uses many metaphors, which are vivid and interesting. Many of the dialogues in the article need to be read many times before one can understand the underlying meaning, and the underlying meaning is generally interesting. The story line of this book is very simple. There are mainly three stages. The first stage is Hongjian's love. His love partners are Miss Bao and Miss Tang, both of which ended in failure. It seems that Hongjian was dumped. Miss Bao is pretty and flirty, so I guess all the boys will like her. Miss Tang has a spiritual resonance and we can talk to each other. But they are not together. I thought they would meet again and renew their relationship after separation. I didn't expect that we would never see each other again after separation. The second stage is to work and make a living. When I first entered society, I experienced the dark side of human nature, met annoying people, and had trouble at work. This stage of writing is actually quite long. It just describes their journey from Shanghai to Hunan to take up their posts, the hardships on the road, and the people and things they encountered. It feels like it takes up 1/2 of the book. As I read it, I thought: Isn't it about a city under siege? The book is already halfway through, and has it written about marriage yet? The third stage is entering into marriage. He and Miss Sun got engaged by accident. They had no proposal or love before, so they went from friends to husband and wife. It feels like they have reached their age, they went on a blind date, plus other people gossiped and teased them, and they got together. Life after marriage is very different. When we were friends, we felt that we got along very harmoniously. After marriage, we just quarreled and quarreled. It felt like there was never a moment without quarrels. In fact, the reason why they quarreled was not that the other party was bad, but because their parents and relatives did not agree with each other. Or maybe the two families were incompatible with each other. Or maybe it was due to inferiority complex. Neither family looked down upon the other, the parents-in-law looked down upon the daughter-in-law, and the father-in-law's family looked down upon the son-in-law. No one likes to be hated. Knowing that you are hated by others will naturally make you feel uncomfortable. However, the description is very realistic, and this is what reality is like. My parents also often quarreled. The reason for the quarrel was either that the other party did not do what they wanted, or that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were in conflict. Family conflicts are caused by outsiders' displeasure. Especially the fights, quarrels, and disagreements between the second and third daughters-in-law in the book are exactly like reality. The book says that before you get married, you are one person, but after you get married, you become another person. I feel like life and work have consumed a lot of my energy and emotions, and they explode when something goes wrong. The book also says that the advantage of getting married is that one's emotions before marriage are kept in one's heart, with nowhere to vent, because parents and friends are not suitable for each other, and there are always concerns. And you can have someone to vent your emotions after marriage, because of course, the cost of divorce is too high, or you won't get divorced, so it doesn't matter and you don't have to worry. This book should be very profound. I only understood the parts related to my life experience. There are other aspects of human nature that I probably didn't understand. What impressed me most was that Sun Roujia stayed away from Xinmei after her marriage. I wonder if it was because Xinmei had said before that she looked weak on the outside but was actually very complicated on the inside, and Hongjian had to pay careful attention to her. This last small part describes life in the besieged city, and the previous large parts are all foreshadowing. I feel that their married life is very heavy, that is, they cannot do many things according to their own wishes. They are always disrupted by each other, and they hesitate because of each other, which seems to be each other's hindrance. But when I saw the last paragraph, I actually felt a full sense of warmth. The clock rang. Five hours ago, Hongjian was thinking about treating Roujia well on his way home. Roujia also wanted to talk to Hongjian about his work. The result is... This is probably the great reversal between heaven and earth. After reading this book, are you still willing to get married? Life after marriage is the same as the life of parents, grandparents, grandparents, quarreling, raising children, getting old, being rejected by children, living alone... Life is always unsatisfactory, what should we do? Even if you know a lot, it is still difficult to do it. Maybe there is a wall of fate that isolates us in our own life trajectory. The same is true for doing nothing, but some people are good at intimacy, some are good at verbal expression, some are good at mathematical logic, and some are good at being silent. I always feel that many things will not turn into what I want due to my own efforts. What to do? Let nature take its course, leave it alone, let it grow freely, and become whatever you want it to be, it doesn't matter. I just take some time off from my busy schedule. Maybe I shouldn't have any expectations. Because this is beyond my control After reading the last preface, I feel that the relationship between the author and his wife must be particularly good. The wife has not experienced the author's childhood, but she seems to know his childhood experience very well. It can be seen that they talk about everything. I feel that the childhood of those famous characters was very interesting and funny, and they were different from other children and very unique.

Mr. Qian Zhongshu's description of the characters is lifelike, as if the characters are living around us, and his depiction of human nature is very vivid. He must have carefully observed the details in life. The whole article is awe-inspiring. It makes me feel sorry for the story and at the same time it arouses thoughts about society. It is a very good literary novel.

Classics have their own truth

A classic, read carefully

People inside the city want to escape, and people outside the city want to rush in. Where am I, and where are you?

The first part was a bit boring in midsummer, but it became exciting after arriving at Sanlv University. The intrigues and jealousies of principals and professors such as Gao, Wang, Li, and Liu are still not out of date now.

After reading it, I just felt helpless. It is recommended that people with certain social experience and psychological maturity read it through. It is a small world that satirizes various social examples and has really sharp views. The emotional line is also not lacking, and in the end Fang and Sun have a breakup, ugh... It's really helpless and heartbreaking. Everyone has their own path, and no one is right. Such a decline is really unexpected and makes people sigh and cry. At the end, it is not clear whether the future development of the two people will be like ordinary couples in society, going around and tormenting each other for decades, and finally sitting in a rocking chair together and lamenting the past. I feel very regretful.

I believe that you have all heard of this book or have read it. It is very interesting and I don't need to say more about it. After reading it, I just feel that compared to a few decades ago, some things are still the same and not much has changed. If we push back to ancient society, the feeling is also similar. I am more convinced that except for technology, the life of ancient people is similar to the life of modern people. 2024, 12, 25, Finished reading

Good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, very good, very good, very good. Years and months pass, sun and time pass, everything comes together. Heaven and earth help each other and people help each other. All wishes come true. Heaven's door opens. Earth's door opens. Five ways, the God of Wealth comes in.

On September 23, 2025, I read "Fortress Besieged" for the second time. My mood when reading this book again after so many years was very different from the first time. People of different ages can have a pleasant experience in this book and increase their knowledge. At different times, the content I like is different.

Because I have always been curious about the love-hate relationship between men and women written by others, I bought the physical book. After reading it, I felt that it was really complicated. Personally, I quite like Tang Xiaofu.

A book tells the whole story of a person's life, and I couldn't help but laugh while reading it. You and I are both Fang Hongjian, muddle along and deceive ourselves. Look at my past, look up to the spring with me, know that I am gloomy, and promise me a spring dynasty. Put down this book and start a new chapter.

After reading the book, it often reminds me of my own life. Some unspeakable feelings and unclear truths have been explained clearly. The relationship in marriage is explained very thoroughly. Men and women who want to get married can read it first, study in advance, and make mental preparations to avoid making mistakes and encountering unnecessary troubles.

A classic among satirical novels, Qian Lao's illustrations are always to the point. I am amazed by the novelty, aptness and appropriateness of his metaphors. He thoroughly analyzes human nature and the thoughts of encountering troubles. It also has the highlights of Xinmei and Roujia. From it, you can learn a lot about how to deal with people. Life is indeed in a "siege" all the time, entering and leaving the city, one city to another, but in this process we are always making progress, gaining a deeper understanding of people and things, and becoming more comfortable with ourselves and the world. Fang Hongzhe is the silhouette of an ordinary person in ordinary life. However, he obviously did not do well. He was trapped in the siege, and some of his advantages were wiped away by life, so he was no longer an adult. Take "Besieged City" to learn about everything.

A classic is worthy of being a classic

A little interesting, a little boring It's because I'm boring and don't understand what's interesting