Complete collection of wisdom

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Features: Zhinang (The Wisdom Treasury) is a (he xin zuo) (heart-and-soul creation) by Feng Menglong, the renowned Ming Dynasty literary figure who also authored Xingshi Hengyan () (Worldly Wisdom), Jingshi Tongyan () (Worldly Caution), and Yushi Mingyan () (Worldly Wisdom). It is a monumental work by Feng Menglong in the study of ancient Chinese strategy. Guided by the principle of "focusing not only on the person but on the event, and not only on the event but on the wisdom," Feng collected over 2,000 cases from the pre-Qin period to the late Ming Dynasty, encompassing history, classics, folk tales, and legends where wisdom triumphed. The collection includes examples from emperors and generals to all walks of life. The Qing Dynasty scholar Li Yu praised the book, stating, "fearing to lose any wise person or fail to include any insightful saying." The strategies described in the book are divided into ten sections and twenty-eight volumes, with general introductions, commentaries, and annotations. Due to Feng Menglong's natural and accessible writing style, the language is vivid and humorous, with engaging and intriguing stories, making it highly readable. As a result, it has been called a "small treatise on governance."
This book was discovered and compiled by experts in ancient texts. Using the edition printed in the seventh year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1634) as the blueprint, it was systematically edited over several years by dozens of experts in history, linguistics, paleography, military science, and strategy. The compilers translated and annotated the original classical Chinese, providing a bilingual (classical and vernacular) edition. Based on the original ten sections and twenty-eight volumes, over 1,000 additional cases that were beyond the scope of the original due to the limitations of the era have been added, significantly enriching and supplementing this monumental work on strategy. In the current global trend of studying ancient Chinese strategy, the publication of the Zhinang Quanjie (Complete Wisdom Treasury) – a comprehensive collection that blends the extraordinary wisdom of ancient Chinese strategists with the unique insights of modern scholars – is a great fortune for readers in China's political, military, business, and literary communities.