Zhu Dake

The Burning Papañca is Zhu Dake's first book.[11] In 1991, when published, it attracted attention both among scholars and the public. Xie Mian (谢冕)[12] claimed that it is a book full of wisdom, and it showed Zhu's talent as a critic. In this book, Zhu explained some professional problems involving contemporary poetry, cultural history, religion and myth, movie category. Articles included: An Anxious Generation and Urban Dreams, Inflamed papanca, Sublimation and Vulgarization of Literature, A Dialogue Between Scientism and Religionism, The Process of Cinema, etc.[13] Zhu's unique and radical analysis of cultural phenomena and the suffering in contemporary life aroused broad controversy in the cultural circles. Moreover, owing to this book, the Chinese Writers Association in Australia awarded him a prize as Outstanding Chinese Writer.[14] His statements were released abroad as a miniature of the ideologies of contemporary Chinese young people. As a representative of the young generation in the end of last century, Zhu thought extensively and deeply about the possibility of the existence of culture, inspiring the young readers’ thoughts on some fundamental issues concerning culture and education.[15]

(逃亡者档案).[16] The author is Zhu Dake, this book was published in 1999, (學林出版社), In the field of culture Criticism, Zhu Dake has his own style, that is always creating something new and original. In this book, there are 5 parts.[17] He tried to expose the cultural maze by sharp language. He try his best to find real history by his wisdom, when he faced all kinds of cultural phenomena. He confidently came to the front, pointing the mistakes and correcting it. He claimed that there was something behind the truth. He declared:”I want to try”. This book makes us reflect and let us think about the problems of that ear.

Liumang (流氓) is a word meaning the rovers who have an anxious state of mind and who take a position of social rebellion.[18] In this book, Zhu Dake divides Chinese society into the orthodox society and the Liumang's society where order, faith, authority and ethics don't exist.[19] Examining three aspects, cool words (酷语), sexy words (色语) and abusive words (秽语),[20] Zhu Dake researches, analyzes and elucidates thoroughly the existence of Liumang in all kinds of cultural forms, such as novels, poetry, art, music, etc. Zhu Dake reveals the features of Liumang in a vivid way because in this book, there are a great many of illustrations, including portraits, photos, posters, and paintings. Wei Yingjie (魏英杰), a famous Chinese writer and commentator, said that this book is a sort of history of modern Chinese culture.[21] Before the publication of this book in November 2006, some passages had been published in many newspapers, for example, Dongfang Daily (zh:东方早报).[22]

Review of the 21st Century Chinese Culture, issued under Zhu Dake and Zhang Hong’s (张闳, culture critic and essayist) general editorship and published by Guangxi Normal University Press from 2003 to 2008, is an annual presentation of the cultural achievement of Mainland China.[23] There are 7 volumes up to now. It includes the essence of documents on cultural criticism of the year, popular key words and their explanations, lists of cultural events of the year and so on.[24] To highlight the spirit of humanist culture, the book was edited from with a unique stand and the spirit of criticism as the coordinate system of "culture map": "cultural events" as its meridians to show the important events of different cultural domains, "key words" as its parallels to penetratingly explain the key words in the public cultural space, plus "critical literary selections" to note the annual high mental standard of culture criticism.[25]

In terms of the graphic design, the book is always simple and plain, while every article in it is extremely exclusive and trenchant.[26]

The majority of the theses of cultural criticism that the editors selected, are fruits of folk language. They demonstrate the general popular state of narration through text and maintained the original creation of the language and different critics’ unique styles.[27]

The two editors took a more popular stand and more inclined to free individuals. They strove to break through the style of traditional yearbooks to present a more open state with more perspectives and tightly trace the flowing deformation and the future trend of Chinese culture. It is a significant "memorandum book" to learn local practices and customs.[28]