From December 1941 to 1942, Zhang Henshui opened a column of the same name in the supplement of Chongqing's "Xinmin Daily", using essays to criticize current ills and discuss the past and present.
This book contains more than a hundred column articles, which are based on the flames of the Anti-Japanese War. They talk about "irrelevant matters" with the humble words of "nothing is too high to talk about".
The author uses the past to satirize the present, lashing out at bureaucratic corruption, profiteers' hoarding, and cultural exaggeration;
It also draws lessons from history and calls for national integrity, literati responsibility and social conscience.
His writing style combines the elegance of classical Chinese with the sharpness of vernacular, integrating anecdotes and textual research into market observations, and maintaining the cold-heartedness of intellectuals in the midst of war. It is known as a "little footnote to the great era" and is also an important document for studying the social mentality and cultural trends of thought during the Anti-Japanese War.
