Theme: Our environment shapes our character, and our character determines our fate. Kindness is always rewarded. Complete, 1.01 million words.
Concept: A blend of mythology and reality, set in the Southern Song dynasty and a country overseas.
Story: Set during the Southern Song dynasty, the novel follows Zhou Feiyang. His mother prefers girls and raises him as one, shaping him into a girl in temperament. After he starts school, the influence of boys helps him regain his masculine nature. Later, while traveling, the influence of a close friend makes him rougher and more boorish. Fleeing war, he is swept away by a great wind and lands in the Land of Women, where he is seized and brought into the palace to be made a consort. Forced to bind his feet and pierce his ears, he first resists and fights to the death, then has no choice but to submit and adapt, until the atmosphere around him eventually makes him willingly embrace life as a woman with bound feet. His changing character demonstrates the power and influence of one's environment, and how different surroundings shape different standards of beauty and ugliness. He puts down Empress Wu Meier's rebellion, suppresses the Prince of Zhennan's revolt, and reunifies the Flower-Crazed Kingdom, which had been divided for two hundred years. He supports the crown prince's accession and the abolition of the barbaric practice of foot binding, helping implement a new, people-centered policy. This further highlights the lasting imprint of the Confucian education he received as a child, and illustrates how one's environment shapes a person, as well as the lesson of Mencius's mother moving three times to find a suitable home. Alongside this, a subplot focuses on treating others with honesty. The story traces Zhou Feiyang's transformation from a boy into a simple, kind, loyal, honest, lively, and beautiful young woman. To bring this character into sharper relief, it also portrays all kinds of people who are fickle, deceitful, self-serving, and jealous, showing that harming others is harming yourself, that evil is repaid with evil and good with good, and that honesty, open-mindedness, tolerance, and living with integrity bring their own rewards.
It truly and vividly depicts the fate and struggles of women with small feet. Compared with the past, we are really so happy!
Although this book is structured, it is very closely integrated with reality and points out the common problems existing in today's society. After reading it, people will benefit a lot and get enlightenment. Good book, good book!