The Song of Tianma: The Life of Chen Chi

Chen Chi was a renowned modern-era thinker, a key to unlocking the history of the late Qing. This heavenly steed from the banks of the Meijiang River in southern Jiangxi devoted himself to realizing his soaring dream of genius: writing books, founding societies, advocating reform, and strengthening the nation. Sadly, the skies of the late Qing gave him no chance to take flight. Free-ranging as a heavenly steed, his life was an enigma. Generations of students regarded him as a model, yet he left behind many mysteries about his life: As a prodigy from southern Jiangxi, why did he take the imperial examinations before the provincial ones? Why did he return home and take five or six years of leave after becoming an official in the capital at such a young age? With such lofty ambitions, why could he never rise to prominence? Faced with the unprecedented upheaval in Chinese civilization in three thousand years, where could he set down his inkstone? How could the Confucian classics he had absorbed help him find his footing amid the clash between Chinese and Western civilizations? How could he preserve his cultural confidence and patriotism as his country fell into decline? With the fate of the empire on his mind, what would he leave behind, both in life and after death?