This book uses "patch life" as the core metaphor, and through Li Hongzhang's life trajectory of more than seventy years, shows the entire process of the late Qing empire from internal and external troubles to its final collapse. The whole book takes Li Hongzhang's perspective as the main line, and intersperses it with the observation perspective of the fictional character Lin Yifeng (a young journalist who returned from studying abroad), forming a dual narrative of "the authorities are obsessed" and "the onlookers are clear". The core theme is to explore how an intellectual elite who is clearly aware of systemic problems but unable to change them moves forward with a heavy burden in the cracks of history.
