Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨), born in 1946 in Yuyao, Zhejiang, is one of the well-known contemporary Chinese cultural and literary figures. With an enormous readership in China and overseas, his cultural explorations link China with the rest of the world and his bold and direct criticisms of certain cultural phenomena make him loved and detested in equal measure. In 1985, Yu became the youngest full professor in China at the age of 39, and later became the president of the Shanghai Theater Academy.
It's a courageous and important undertaking to rediscover the lifeline of Chinese culture, after it has been ignored for so long and has been damaged so much.
I like the idea that we need to reestablish the coordinates and landmarks of Chinese culture, to interpret the classics in light of our current era, to do something similar to what the Renaissance has done to the West.