When "Liuxi" was published, Lin Zhao's unique Lingnan perspective and beautiful textual rhetoric had left a profound influence on many people. Writer Sun Ganlu commented, "Her somewhat trance-like narrative style and the dense content she describes even have an intertextual relat

Reporter | Chen Jiajing

Editor | Huang Yue

"Tidal Map"

This book is the second novel of Lin Zhao after "Liuxi". When "Liuxi" was published, Lin Zhao's unique Lingnan perspective and beautiful textual rhetoric had left a profound influence on many people. Writer Sun Ganlu commented, "Her a bit of a trance-like narrative and the dense content she describes even have an intertextual relationship. The climate, plants, and temperature are all functional because of the characters' behaviors and feelings." "Tidal Map" is more magical than "Flowing Stream", expanding the dimensions of time and space outside of emotions, and continuously expanding Lin Zhao's Lingnan territory and migrating into the depths of history.

novel sets the time background on the eve of Opium War in the 19th century, and Age of Discovery is coming to an end. H, a natural scholar in Scotland, traveled around the world, landed in Guangzhou, encountered a female giant frog in the local reed bamboo forest, successfully trapped it and kept it in the beautiful garden of Macau. The giant frog became the protagonist and narrator of the novel. Curiosity, fickleness, and fear of death are the textures it was originally given, and the amphibious attributes allowed it to fully march between the landforms involved in the story, from underwater to land, from east to west. The giant frog follows the changes of language and culture like a human being, and experiences the test of life and death, which also opens up an adventure that intertwines real history and literary imagination for us.

"Where the World Begins"

American writer Truman Capoter talented and intelligent, started literary creation at the age of 11, and won the Euro Henry novel award in his early 20s, becoming a rookie in the American literary world. What Chinese readers are most familiar with are his famous works " Tiffany's Breakfast " and "Cold Blood". The former was adapted into a movie by Hollywood in 1961, and the latter is regarded as a milestone in the history of non-fiction writing. "Where the World Begins" contains fourteen short stories created by Capote in his teenage years, presenting his unique voice when he first showed his sharpness, which is crucial for readers to understand his creative context. The stories in

are full of violence and injustice, poverty and despair, and are also generous and gentle. The protagonists in the story include women, children, minorities, poor people, etc. They often have complex emotions and desires, struggling on the edge of an unpredictable world, seeking understanding. A writer born deep in the South and experiencing turbulence since childhood, Capote has always seen himself as a member of the marginalized group. He once wrote, "Perhaps some are born lonely, just as some are born blind or deaf," perhaps because he can empathize with the lonely people and write them into his works.

"The Boundary of Civilization"

The content of this book comes from the "Novel Narrative Research" course offered by Ge Fei at , the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. He selected three representative cases from novels since the mid-19th century, namely "Hot Without Personality" by Robert Muzier, , "Hot Without Personality" by Shiga Naoya , and "HotWay" by Melville , and "HotWhale ", through the analysis of the novel, we discuss the changes in social, historical and cultural concepts over the past hundred years. Although these three writers live in different social or time-space relationships and have their own ideological focus, their lives and writing activities have formed a certain degree of kinship or isomorphism. For example, they are both modern hermits or secluded people. The three of them all took an evasive and alienated attitude towards the harshness, sorrow, absurdity and turmoil of survival itself. In addition, the three writers also regard the conflict between nature and modern civilization as the most important theme of their works. Starting from the "uneasy or dangerous present", they try to reconstruct the space-time relationship of modernity in their works.

Ge Fei believes that these three writers are warning us about the crisis of human beings and civilization. These crises have not been eliminated today and have even become more profound and dangerous in some ways.We do not necessarily agree with or accept their opinions and judgments, but their works may help us rethink the relationship between tradition and modernity, nature and civilization in order to deal with the cultural and survival dilemma of today's era.

"The Birth of Izakaya"

Japan Edo Period , the participation in the audition system brought various people such as samurai who came to Beijing. Most of them were men, and they also appeared with them. Taverns and teahouses on the streets of Edo . Customers can buy wine and drink here, but selling wine is not the main business of these stores. Therefore, izakaya , which mainly sells wine, came into being. Izakaya played an important role in Edo's civil society , and also portrayed Edo into a "drunk city". As a crazy song says, "Wine sweeps away the sorrow broom, and gold and silver accumulate like mountains", vividly depicts the situation where guests of that era gathered in Izakaya to relieve their sorrows, and Izakaya flourished.

The author of this book, Ryoichi Iino, is an expert in the history of Japanese food culture , and has written "Four Sips All Over Edo". In "The Birth of Izakaya", he sorted out the development process of Edo Izakaya based on a large number of historical materials, and added illustrations and Kawariya short poems to enrich readers' visual and auditory feelings. Many haiku, haiku, and Kawariaka from the Edo period have made extremely detailed descriptions of how people look drunk after being drunk, and even analyzed the degree of drunkenness. Readers can also learn about the rich details of which wine is the most popular, which dishes can be paired with, and who are frequent guests.

"Digital Labor: Theory Frontiers and Local Experience"

"Digital Labor" problem is caused by the revolution in new communication technology. As a structural force, communication technology is not only embedded in the existing social field, but also reshapes the political and economic environment, labor process, employment model, and even the workers' ideology with its own logic. Compared with previous communication technologies, digital media technology has achieved unprecedented breakthroughs in time and space, changed the basic human interaction and labor behavior, and created the current trend of "laborization" of labor digitalization and digital technology users. On the other hand, by breaking away from material constraints, digitalization can recreate scenes and empower meanings according to human will and imagination or the intelligent logic of digital technology itself. It can be said that in today's era, digital labor is inevitably intertwined with everyone's daily life.

Although classic Marxist theory has a clear definition of issues such as technology and labor, the issues triggered by "digital labor" have far exceeded the scope of explanation of classical labor theory. This book has made a useful supplement to the current digital labor research theory to a certain extent, and through the analysis of local experience, readers can feel the tension between theory and practice, and have a deeper understanding of the multiple and complex connections between capital, technology and labor.

"Singapore: The Incredible Rise"

When Singapore declared independence in 1965, many people believed that this new country could not survive. In the past two years, Singapore had a brief alliance with Malaysia , but the period was full of chaos and eventually collapsed. In the earlier British colonial period, Singapore's economy relied heavily on international markets that it could not control. The devastating trauma in World War II and the barbaric occupation of Japan once again show that Singapore has always been fragile in the face of the attacks from the outside world. After independence, Singapore still faces severe challenges such as resource scarcity, economic stagnation, external attacks, and internal ethnic conflicts, but these have not stopped it from going upstream and becoming the world's leading shipping, trade, finance and education center today.

How did Singapore’s incredible rise be realized? In his book, John Perry, an expert in global marine history, traces Singapore's development history from the 14th and 15th centuries to the present. In his opinion, the ocean is undoubtedly one of the key elements of Singapore's success.Relying on its unique geographical location and a quiet and quiet deep-water port, Singapore has been ranked as the world's largest container loading and unloading port for many years. However, above objective conditions, what is more important is human wisdom and determination. The mentality of survival first created by the government has prompted Singapore to continue to pursue educational achievements, improve military strength, establish a thrifty life philosophy, find a competitive economic field, and hope to play a bigger role on the world stage.

"After a break: China from 1981 to 1984"

Lao An, whose real name is Andrea Cavazzuti, has been involved in photography since the 1970s and has been involved in video. In 1981, he came to China for a short-term study for the first time. The following year, he was the first batch of international students born after the reform and opening up of China. He entered the Fudan University , and formed an indissoluble bond with China. This book contains more than 190 photos he took in China from 1981 to 1984, giving readers the opportunity to return to the "restless era" at the beginning of reform and opening up and rediscover what kind of life the ordinary Chinese people at that time lived.

Lao An witnessed the childhood and adolescence of the Chinese people in the era of global technologicalization through the lens. His photos are correct and simple, and without any modification tells the old China in which each of us is familiar but already unfamiliar. For Lao An at that time, China was a treasure house with mixed stories and chaotic scenes. Standing on a foreign land, he witnessed more than one billion people changing themselves and their living environment with curiosity and strangeness, but he also felt some fundamental experiences in today's world - the era he grew up in was the era of Italian economic prosperity. As he said, "Everything is changing drastically, but if you don't understand China until yesterday, it will be hard to imagine the situation in China tomorrow."

"Telomeres: A New Science of Young, Healthy, and Longevity"

Do you look at the same age as your actual age, or do you look younger or older? Do you doubt you are getting older? The answer to the above questions is related to a special structure called "telomeres" at the end of the chromosome. American biologist Elizabeth Blackburn and her two other colleagues discovered the role of telomeres and telomerase in aging, and was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Research shows that the length of telomeres is closely related to our health and longevity, and more importantly, telomeres are also a way in which the mind affects the body. If your appearance and your own feelings are older than you are, maybe it's because your telomeres age too quickly. These short telomeres may send signals to your cells, starting the aging process.

Many of the most terrifying and inresistant diseases are related to short telomeres and cell aging, but this book also brings good news to readers: aging is reversible. When we adjust our lifestyle, we can not only become younger and longer, but it can even affect the health of future children. The book covers many recipes that are beneficial to telomeres, training guidance for physical and mental exercises, and suggestions for protecting children's telomeres' health, which can help us achieve anti-aging and anti-aging from the cellular level.