Autobiography of Xu Yuanchong, one of the best renowned and most productive Chinese-English/French translators, whose principle of poetic translation, that is, from rhythmic poems to rhythmic poems, made him unparallel in this circle. Relating his youth spent with those figures who had profound influences in various realms during last century in China, to name a few, the Neo-Confucian Fung Yu-lan, famous poet Wen Yiduo and Bian Zhilin, and Nobel Prize winner Yang Zhenning; Side-by-side version.

追忆陈寅恪、闻一多、冯友兰、吴宓、朱自清、钱锺书、沈从文、卞之琳等大家风采，怀想杨振宁、朱光亚、何兆武那一代联大人的家国理想与激扬青春，于狂狷意趣与民族精神中重现那个独一无二的年代；作者精选发表在各类作品中的篇章，并补充了大量新材料，由编者按主题和时间顺序重组、修订而最终成书，附赠的英文版是作者在1998 年撰写的英文自传基础上增补修订而成，可与中文版互为补充印证。