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 said that she looked like a fairy and had a peerless appearance, while others said that she was ugly and comparable to Sister Feng.

Why is there such a big controversy?

Because the surviving photos are very different, all the photos of her wearing formal attire in the Qing court all have dull eyes and a stiff expression, coupled with the thick foundation on her face, it is really scary. But if you look at the photos of her life in regular clothes and western clothes, with only a little makeup, she is a delicate 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 Especially the outdated hairstyle and lipstick, completely unacceptable to modern people who are used to makeup and PS.

Wanrong, standing in front of Zhou Hexuan at the moment, is about 1.63 meters tall, and she is slightly better than Puyi in high heels. Her waist was strangled so thin that she could hold it tightly, and her body looked a little thin. She has a soft oval face, and her facial features are fairly beautiful. Although she can't make people feel amazing, she still belongs to the attractive type.

With Zhou Hexuan's modern eyes, Wanrong can probably score 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.

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

Among the three Asian faces, one is Yoko Yamashita, wife of the Japanese consul. The other two are very young. They are Lu Jingyan, the daughter of Lu Zongyu, a former member of the Beiyang Government's Provisional Senate, and Xu Ziquan, the son of Kunqu opera celebrity Xu Lingyun. Lu Jingyan and Xu Ziquan had a marriage contract, and they were sitting together lovingly at the 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. And Wanrong was acquainted with Lu Jingyan, and the two women in their early 20s soon started whispering - three years later, the emperor and queen couldn't pay the rent, and were evicted from Zhang Yuan, and they moved into Lu's house Ganyuan (later renamed Jingyuan).

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

Soon, several foreign devils came in one after another, both men and women, among them, Peter Pan, a reporter from "Zi Lin Xi Bao", was a handsome guy.

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

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

The young man smiled shyly: "My name is Chen Shaomei, a painter."

Although Zhou Hexuan can only do simple sketches, he still knows a little about 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, and made his mark in Beiping at the age of 16. At the age of 17, he became the backbone of the Hu Society Painting Association. leader.

Chinese painting genius!

After all the guests arrived, Marion clapped her hands and said, "Today I would like 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 "" "Legend of the Condor Heroes" is very popular in North China, he once spent ten years traveling around the world, and has unique insights into the social history, culture and art of Eastern and Western countries."

"Papa papa!" There was a burst of sparse applause.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and waved to everyone.

Marion pointed to Chen Shaomei again and said, "This young man is Mr. Chen Shaomei. Even though he is only 17 years old, Mr. Chen has already taught students in Beiping. His paintings are of a very high artistic level."

Chen Shaomei immediately got up and greeted everyone with fists.

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

The French consul's wife obviously liked Chen Shaomei very much and made up her mind to help him make a name for himself in the foreign circles in Tianjin. Then 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 do not understand Chinese, Marion said this sentence in English, and everyone gathered here.

It's a pity that foreign devils generally don't like Chinese paintings. Only the young Italian painter Giuseppe Giuseppe exclaimed, and said happily: "I visited China this time to study Chinese painting art. Mr. Chen's works amazed me as the peak of perfection."

Puyi also has some art appreciation ability, he nodded and said: "This painting combines rigidity and softness, quite in the northern style."

The discussion on the appreciation of Chen Shaomei's works basically ends here, because other foreigners can't get in the way. Marion seemed a little frustrated, she failed to stir up a popular topic, which made the opening of today's salon a bit deserted.

Pan Peter, a handsome reporter from Linxi Daily, had a keen eye and took the initiative to change the topic from Chinese painting to oil painting, and the scene gradually became lively.

Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Rembrandt... one after another famous Western masters popped up, and the crowd surrounded them talking loudly, as if they all turned into masters of art appreciation.

Zhou Hexuan didn't bother to get involved, he had no research on this, and he could only talk in general terms when asked, why bother to make a fool of himself.

Seeing that he was silent all the time, Marion asked, "Mr. Zhou, besides Futurism, which school do you admire?"

"Cubism," Zhou Hexuan said, "Picasso is the greatest painter today, and the 20th century will definitely be Picasso's century."

Sure enough, as soon as this remark came out, everyone looked at him in surprise.

Zhu Saibai frowned and said: "I admit that Picasso is indeed a genius. His works created the Cubist painting school, but I don't think Picasso is as great as you said."

"Let's wait and see, I believe in my own vision." Zhou Hexuan said with a mysterious smile.

Zhu Saibai pursed his lips and didn't want to talk anymore, because the two people's views were too different, and he didn't like those damn cubism either.

The Russian lady Nia Ivanova asked suddenly: "Mr. Zhou, you said that you have traveled around the world, but have you ever been to Russia?"

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

Ivanova asked: "What do you think of the Russian rebellion? Now it seems that most Chinese people agree with that rebellion."

The rebellion this lady spoke of naturally refers to the October Revolution.

"The root of the Russian revolution has to start with Peter the Great 200 years ago..." Zhou Hexuan began to play tricks again.