The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

  In later generations, people have two extreme views on the appearance of Empress Wanrong. Some people say that she looks like a fairy and has a peerless beauty, while others say that she is ugly and comparable to Sister Feng.

  Why is there such a big controversy?

  Because the photos that have survived are very different, all the photos of her wearing a formal dress in the Qing court, all have dull eyes, stiff expressions, and thick foundation on her face, which is really frightening. But if you look at her in regular clothes and dresses, with only a few photos of her life, she is a beautiful and graceful woman.

   This is the difference caused by the aesthetics of the times, not to mention the late Qing Dynasty, even the photos of many female stars in the Republic of China are very bad. Especially the outdated hairstyles and lipsticks are completely unacceptable to modern people who are accustomed to makeup and PS.

  Wanrong, who is standing in front of Zhou Hexuan at this moment, is about 1.63 meters tall, and wearing high heels is slightly better than Puyi. Her waist was so thin that she could hold her tightly, and her body looked a little thin. With a soft oval face and pretty facial features, although it can't make people feel amazing, it also belongs to that kind of attractive type.

   With Zhou Hexuan's modern vision, Wan Rong would probably be given 85 points.

   A French butler led them in. Zhou Hexuan, Puyi and Wanrong all entered the living room, while Li Shuanzhu and Puyi's entourage stayed in the side room to drink tea.

   Several people have gathered in the living room, five foreign devils and three Asian faces.

  Introduced by Marion, the owner of the salon, Zhou Hexuan finally figured out their identities. The five foreign devils are Catherine, wife of the British consul, Marianne, daughter of the head of Meifeng International in Tianjin, Leonard, deputy editor of the Beijing-Tianjin Times, Giuseppe, a young Italian painter, and Nia Ivanova, a Russian noblewoman in exile in China. .

   Among the three Asian faces, one is Yoko Yamashita, the wife of the Japanese consul. The other two are very young, namely Lu Jingyan, the daughter of Lu Zongyu, the former interim Senate member of the Beiyang government, and Xu Ziquan, the son of Kunqu opera celebrity Xu Lingyun. Lu Jingyan and Xu Ziquan have a marriage contract, and they are sitting together lovingly at this moment.

   After Puyi and Wanrong entered, they quickly sat down separately.

  Puyi seemed to have a good relationship with Zhu Saibai and sat directly beside Zhu Saibai. Wanrong, on the other hand, was acquainted with Lu Jingyan, and the two women in their early 20s soon began to whisper - three years later, the emperor and the queen could not pay the rent and were kicked out of Zhangyuan, which is why they moved into the Lu family. Garden (later renamed Jingyuan).

   Zhou Hexuan didn't know anyone well. After shaking hands with Marion, he found a seat by himself.

   Several foreign devils, both male and female, came in one after another. Among them, Peter Pan, a reporter from Linxi Daily, was a handsome guy.

   There is also a Chinese who is too young, only 16 or 17 years old. Holding a few scrolls in his arms, he seemed a little restrained. Seeing that Zhou Hexuan's place was relatively empty, he went straight to Zhou Hexuan and sat down.

   "Hello, my name is Zhou Hexuan, I write novels." Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to greet him.

  The teenager smiled shyly: "My name is Chen Shaomei, I paint."

   Although Zhou Hexuan can only draw simple sketches, he still has some knowledge of well-known painters at home and abroad, and he immediately remembered who Chen Shaomei was. This gentleman joined the Chinese Painting Research Association at the age of 15. At the age of 16, he emerged in Peiping. At the age of 17, he became the backbone of the Hushe Painting Association. At the age of 21, he won the Silver Award of Fine Arts in the Belgian International Exposition. leader.

   Chinese painting genius!

After all the guests came, Marion clapped her hands and said, "Today I want to introduce two new friends to you, one is Mr. Zhou Hexuan, a famous novelist." Marion smiled and pointed at Zhou Hexuan, "Mr. Zhou's" "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is extremely popular in North China, he has spent ten years traveling around the world and has unique insights into the social history, culture and art of Eastern and Western countries."

   "Clap!" A sparse applause sounded.

   Zhou Hexuan smiled and waved to everyone.

  Marion pointed to Chen Shaomei again and said, "This young man is Mr. Chen Shaomei. Don't think he is only 17 years old, but Mr. Chen has already taught apprentices in Peiping, and his artistic level of painting is very high."

  Chen Shaomei immediately got up and greeted everyone with a fist.

  The servant brought coffee and tea, Marion put a record into the gramophone herself, and soothing light music soon played in the living room.

  The French consul's wife obviously likes Chen Shaomei very much, and she made up her mind to help him make his name in the foreign circle in Tianjin. She opened the painting brought by Chen Shaomei and said, "This is Mr. Chen's work this year, everyone come and appreciate it."

  Because some guests did not understand Chinese, Marion said this sentence in English, and everyone gathered here.

  Unfortunately, foreigners generally don't like Chinese painting. Only the young Italian painter Julius Saibai sighed and said with joy, "I'm visiting China this time to study the art of Chinese painting. Mr. Chen's works amaze me."

  Puyi also has some artistic appreciation ability. He nodded and said, "This painting combines hardness and softness, and it is quite the style of the Northern School."

   The discussion on the appreciation of Chen Shaomei’s works basically ends here, because other foreigners can’t get in at all. Marion looked a little frustrated, and her failure to provoke a popular topic made today's salon a bit deserted.

   The handsome reporter of Linxi Daily, Pan Peter, was very discerning and took the initiative to shift the topic from Chinese painting to oil painting, and the scene gradually became lively.

   Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Rembrandt... One by one, famous Western masters jumped out, and people talked about them around them, and they all seemed to be masters of art appreciation.

   Zhou Hexuan is too lazy to mix it up, he has no research on it, and when asked, he can only talk in general terms, why bother to show ugliness.

  Marion saw that he had been silent, and asked: "Mr. Zhou, besides the Futurist school, which school do you admire?"

   "Cubism," Zhou Hexuan said without being astonished, "Picasso is the greatest painter today, and the 20th century will definitely be Picasso's century."

   Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, everyone looked at him in surprise.

  Ju Saibai frowned: "I admit that Picasso is indeed a genius. His works created the cubism school, but I don't think Picasso is as great as you say."

   "Let's wait and see, I trust my vision." Zhou Hexuan smiled mysteriously.

   Giuseppe pouted and didn't want to talk anymore, because their views were too different, and he didn't like those **** cubism.

   Russian noblewoman Nia Ivanova suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, you said you have traveled around the world, have you been to Russia?"

   "Of course," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "I admire Tolstoy very much, and I specially visited his former residence."

  Ivanova asked: "What do you think of the rebellion in Russia? It seems that most Chinese people now agree with that rebellion."

   The rebellion this lady was talking about was, of course, the October Revolution.

   "The roots of the Russian revolution have to start with Peter the Great 200 years ago..." Zhou Hexuan started to play tricks again.