Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai (Chinese: 白先勇; pinyin: Bái Xiānyǒng; Wade–Giles: Pai Hsien-yung), born July 11, 1937) is a writer who has been described as a "melancholy pioneer." He was born in Guilin, Guangxi, China at the cusp of both the Second Sino-Japanese War and subsequent Chinese Civil War. Pai's father was the famous Kuomintang (KMT) general Bai Chongxi (Pai Chung-hsi), whom he later described as a "stern, Confucian father" with "some soft spots in his heart." Pai was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of seven, during which time he would have to live in a separate house from his siblings (of which he would have a total of nine). He lived with his family in Chongqing, Shanghai, and Nanjing before moving to the British-controlled Hong Kong in 1948 as CPC forces turned the tide of the Chinese Civil War. In 1952, Pai and his family resettled in Taiwan, where the KMT had relocated the Republic of China after Japan's defeat in 1945.
I appreciate this book because it was perfect for when I was too sleepy or too full or too tried to read anything more demanding. It’s highly readable (and very long). I also appreciate the unpopular opinions and the careful reasoning behind them. It definitely gave me a new outlook on the source material (tho I only read a few chapters years ago).
This book was incredibly repetitive, with some key points being reiterated a dozen times throughout. The frequent use of "rational/rationality" and "logical/logic" in place of "sensible" or "conformity" became a bit grating. There’s also a tiny bit of casual misogyny.
All in all, it’s hard to believe this was an undergraduate course spanning 3 semesters.