Riding the wind of rebirth

In the author's writing, the vast Gobi Desert and the desolate Gobi are also a pure sea, which can make people forget the cold, overcome suffering, and elevate their souls.

The book is a tapestry woven with travelogues, narratives, descriptions of scenery, expressions of aspirations, and lyrical sentiments, where poetry and prose complement each other. It encompasses everything from natural landscapes and folk customs to current events, history, geography, military affairs, diplomacy, painting, calligraphy, antique appreciation, and even stocks. Furthermore, its insights into character and scholarship are remarkably profound. Readers will find resonance while appreciating the beauty of its prose.

However, this person and his work are still little known. As a child of XJ, Xu Gang's choice to write a study on this person and his work is quite meaningful.

Similarly, there are Tong Xiaolin's "Searching for the Architectural and Road Patterns of Datong City in Ancient Cultural Works", Li Yijia's "The Status of the Center of the Gorge and the Node of Wu and Shu in Cultural History", Lu Qiao's "The Many Cultural Intentions of Shu Porcelain and Shu Tea", and Qi Xinyan's "The Relationship Between Pingtan and the Ci Poetry of the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties".

In short, the thesis topics chosen by Zhouzhi for everyone are related to their birth background and hometown. It is equivalent to the locals exploring their own culture. They have a great advantage in terms of resources. For example, during the holidays, they can go to the county history office or county library to find some materials. As long as they tell people that they are college graduates about to graduate and are preparing to do a research project related to their hometown, they will generally get the green light all the way in this era where undergraduate education is still highly valued.

Moreover, these research topics are of considerable significance to the local area. For example, Tong Xiaolin's "Searching for the Architectural and Road Patterns of Datong City from Ancient Cultural Works" perfectly aligns with Datong's application for World Intangible Cultural Heritage status and the need for the restoration of the ancient city of Datong. Lu Qiao's "The Numerous Cultural Intentions of Shu Porcelain and Shu Tea" also conforms to Jiaozhou's vigorous promotion of the tea and porcelain industry layout, as well as the cultural relic protection application for multiple porcelain kiln sites.

Through these projects, at least everyone here will leave some impression on the relevant local organizations. Zhou Zhi's requirement for everyone is that the papers not only have to become quite impressive "model papers" in the department, but also have to be submitted for publication, at least in provincial-level professional or literary journals.

After all, most of you here will be returning to your hometown provinces to work. Having such a presentable article and a good conduct record in various cultural institutions is a significant advantage when taking your first step into the workplace.

At the very least, it will leave employers with the first impression that "this college student not only has ideas, but also has a good pen, no wonder he is a Chinese literature major."

Of all the people, Lu Qiao was the first to taste this sweetness, because her paper exploring the porcelain kilns around her hometown gradually became known, and the Meizhou County Committee had already locked her in. The old secretary who led everyone to open up the tea garden in Qingshen recommended her to his subordinates, and she would start as a secretary of the county committee after graduation.

Rumors are circulating that Meizhou is going to be upgraded to a city, and everyone thinks that Lu Qiao is really lucky. Little do they know that Zhou Zhi knew about Lu Qiao's plans as early as last year.

The vision and scope of these topics far surpass those of typical undergraduate theses. Most undergraduate theses in Chinese literature departments are still confined to topics like "An Appreciation of the Style of Certain Poems and Prose," which are limited to desks and textbooks. Even if they do extend beyond these topics, the extent is limited and cannot be compared to the interdisciplinary, literature and history-based, and locally appropriate topics chosen by Zhou Zhi.

Everyone knew the significance of these topics, and therefore greatly admired Zhou Zhi's guidance.

These topics are themselves very interesting attempts, and it can even be said that they provide a new direction for thinking and exploration, which can benefit people for a lifetime.

The only problem was that he was afraid he wouldn't do a good enough job, but Zhou Zhi told them not to worry, as he was also very interested in these topics and they could discuss them together later.

Among the classmates in the same year, probably those present know best what level Zhou Zhi is at now. With this great figure as their backer, everyone feels much more confident. Tong Xiaolin said, "I've already called my parents and told them the book list, asking them to use their connections to borrow the books."

“Me too.” Li Yijia laughed. “My parents were stunned. They mobilized family connections to find the books in Yichang, but the list of books that Zhouzi asked them to look at is still not complete. Some of them we have to ask my uncle in Chongqing to help us find.”

After saying that, he added with a smug look, "But they all praised me, saying that after studying for so many years, this is the first time I've asked my family to help me with the literature. Suddenly I feel like my undergraduate degree wasn't wasted, and my image has become much more impressive."

Speaking of this, Du Wenxin laughed so hard she almost fell over: "We both asked our families to find a book list, but Monkey didn't get the same treatment."

"Why?" Zhou Zhi asked curiously, "Is it because your family doesn't care about studying?"

“No, at first, my uncle and aunt refused to believe that Monkey would have any ‘intention’ to study. They always thought he had ulterior motives.” Du Wenxin laughed. “Later, they were frightened by Old Yang’s reputation and called to keep asking what big trouble Monkey had caused.”

At this point, everyone burst into laughter.

Only Zhao Xing was indignant: "I was planning to have some fun in the last semester! But Zhouzi pushed me into such a big pit."

“This is really not my fault.” Zhou Zhi laughed uncontrollably, then waved his hands repeatedly: “How was I supposed to know that your little undergraduate thesis would alarm the person in charge? Your family must have too much influence, hahahaha…”

This whole thing was actually a huge misunderstanding. The thesis topic that Zhou Zhi chose for Zhao Xing was actually an easy task, called "Annotations on the Cantonese Dialect and Folk Customs in the Context of the Era of 'A Generation of Elegance'".

The Mr. Yang mentioned by Du Wenxin is Yang Fengqi, pen name Ouyang Shan. He was born in 1908 and was once known as one of the "Four Great Talents of Lingnan" along with Yang Yingbin, Wu Youheng, and Du Ai. His most famous work is the epic novel "A Generation of Elegance", which took fifteen years to conceive and began to be written in 1957.

Ouyang Shan began writing his monumental work, "A Generation of Eminent Figures," in 1957. The book consists of five long novels and was completed in 1985.

The novel reflects the course of modern Chinese history through the life experiences of Zhou Bing, an intellectual who rose from humble beginnings as a blacksmith. Through the changes, conflicts, and struggles of the Zhou, Chen, and He families, and the intricate relationships among relatives and friends, the novel realistically, vividly, and historically portrays the rise and fall of various political forces, the changes in the spiritual world of different classes and individuals, and especially the choices young people make regarding their respective life paths.

The work artistically recreates many significant historical events of modern China to varying degrees, thus recording the lessons learned from that period of China's modern development. It also depicts a broad panorama of social life. (End of Chapter)