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Financial Times
Paper Tiger’s subtitle could well have been: ‘It’s not just about the economy, stupid’. Great political and moral questions loom, and it is not just ‘hostile foreign forces’ asking them. As Xu’s essays make clear, many Chinese people are doing so as well.
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Beijing News
Knowledge makes people attractive, freer and more expansive. It is absolutely highly related to emotion and curiosity. That he understands the world, the changes of the world, and becomes such an intellectual, is what a wonderful thing. They wanted to give the young generation of writers a different standard of writing and literature. ‘We should always be together with those voices that are marginalized and isolated. We really have no interest in choruses.’ He hopes that these things can really enter and influence the spiritual life of generation after generation.
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《VOGUE》 (Chinese Version)
As one of the earliest cultural figures in the 21st century in China, he has lived the life of most writers' dreams: taking the world as his home, writing as his body, and using contemporary China as a grand writing background, setting those ‘died giants’ as ideological standards, taking ‘the great, lofty, grand, profound’ as his creative goal. He is with the elite, and coexists with popularity.
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《GQ》
He understands the mediocrity of this era, but he must also face this historical condition. For young people, he always maintains a good vision: ‘Each young person should face the status quo in a more brave manner and be willing to break through the comfort in front of him.’
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《Southern Weekly》
Xu Zhiyuan has a very rare and valuable ability — ‘thinking power’: His vision is very broad, knowledge is very good, and most importantly, he has the ability to think. In addition, he has previously worked as a reporter, who has a strong curiosity, and sufficient understanding. These are all very important qualities as a communicator
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Character
Xu Zhiyuan is eager to pursue greatness. This is a consistent image that he emerged as an intellectual in front of the public which has never changed. When he was 25 years old, he clearly stated in his book's preface that he was‘an intellectual who likes to speak widely to the world. Standing in front of me are John Stuart Mill and Bertrand, Russell, Edmund Wilson, Walter Lipman, Jean-Paul Sartre...’
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