Zeng Juan
Zeng Juan is Zeng Juan is one of the key protagonists in this narrative, emerging as a young scholar and pragmatic thinker navigating the turbulent political and social shifts brought by Australia’s military occupation of Hainan. Initially shaped by his disciplined upbringing at the Community School, where rigid academic decorum stifled physical freedom—such as the strict prohibition against rough play—the boy develops an early awareness of broader world influences, particularly through exposure to Australian films and magazines like War History Research, which challenge traditional Ming-era philosophies. His intellectual curiosity, fueled by these materials, contrasts sharply with his family’s traditional expectations; while his father is bound by the constraints of a garrison life, Zeng Juan grapples with existential dread—
Context from Novel
"Chapter 1639 - Students of the Community School However, when he turned into Yongqing Street, Zhang Yu could not help pausing to linger. A vacant lot here hosted hawkers selling every manner of food and entertainment—especially the hawkers showing Australian films. Recently, Australian films had been produced at a remarkable pace. Originally, after a new film was released, at least half a year would pass before another. Now, astonishingly, a new film appeared nearly every month. It was almost mo"
"Chapter 1713 - The People in Guangzhou City Liu San said no more. Since Zhang Yikun hadn't sensed his meaning, it was better not to elaborate. That evening followed the usual routine of a welcome dinner, and the next day Liu San began preparing for medical and health work in Guangzhou. As more transmigrators arrived to prepare for the takeover of power, the atmosphere inside Guangzhou World's "Inner World" grew steadily heavier. Troops already on site were quietly billeted in temporary barracks,"
"Chapter 1714 - Entering the City The friends thought about it but came up with no good ideas. They talked idly, wandering aimlessly through the streets. It was still early. Guangzhou's leisure class was still sleeping in, and shops along the streets hadn't fully taken down their shutter boards. Only the street food stalls were steaming hot, already selling various snacks and refreshments to the laborers who had come out early to work. "What are we doing today?" Li Ziyu asked. "If not studying, h"
"Chapter 1746: Household Census From reading "Australian Military Science" magazines like War History Research , Zhang Yu and his friends knew that Australians valued the "soldier's sense of honor" above almost all else. They critiqued the "valuing civil over military" philosophy and the practice of "controlling military with civil" that had prevailed since the Song Dynasty, reserving particular criticism for the Great Ming's extreme depreciation of military officers' status—a sentiment that even"
"Chapter 1756 - Meng Xian The confiscation ledgers compiled by the Enterprise Institute's Special Requisition Team alone contained over forty subcategories of items from the prefectural and county storehouses. If you added the seizure records from officials, clerks, and other private assets, the categories ran into the hundreds. Simply skimming through them was enough to exhaust Liu Xiang. Hainan had always been a frontier backwater—a place of exile, a "remote and pestilent military prefecture."
Appearances
Appears in chapters: 1640, 1714, 1715, 1747, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1781, 1813, 1814, 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1823, 1830, 1834, 1837, 1840, 1841, 1843, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2030, 2048, 2049, 2051, 2052, 2062, 2063, 2064, 2397, 2401, 2585, 2640.