Complete Works of Xie Zhen with Annotations (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: (Ming) Xie Zhen / Li Qingli edited and annotated
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In the late autumn of the year Si Si, an uninvited guest came by. Upon seeing him, he was a humble and dignified gentleman. After exchanging greetings and learning each other's names, I realized that the visitor was Mr. Li Qingli, who was well-known in Shandong and Liaocheng Normal University (now Liaocheng University). In the previous year Ding Mao, I had published an article titled "A Supplement to the 'Discussions on the Four Seas' Poetic Dialogues," and that same year, Mr. Li Qingli and others published the "Annotated Notes on the 'Direct Sayings of Poets'," which spanned over four hundred thousand words. Due to our shared interests, we thus formed the bond of "Discussing and Resolving Doubts." Mr. Li Qingli is five years older than me, making him my elder brother; if we consider the order of understanding the Way, Mr. Li Qingli graduated from university in Ding Wei, fifteen years earlier than me, making him my teacher. Both teacher and friend, as in cutting and polishing jade, "Having seen the gentleman, how can one not rejoice?" The ancients certainly spoke of this first. This book is based on the twenty-fourth-year Zhao Fu Bingyu Tang edition of the "Complete Works of the Four Seas Mountain Man," which was revised and completed by Yu He and Cheng Zhaoxiang in the thirty-second year of the Wanli reign (1604) and published in the thirty-sixth year (1608). It has been supplemented and compiled using various existing versions, selected editions, and separate collections, general collections, local gazettes, and series of books from the Ming and Qing dynasties and beyond. The search for completeness has been pursued, hence the name "Complete Works." However, the ocean of books is boundless, and there may still be scattered pearls and jade fragments that remain uncollected.