Chinese Secret Manuscript (Complete 12 Volumes)

Author: None
Publisher: China Printing Industry Press
Publishing Time: None
Features: "Secret Books" are an exceptionally unique cultural phenomenon and cultural landscape, as well as a significant means of cultural dissemination and inheritance in Chinese culture. Throughout Chinese history, oppressive censorship policies have been enforced. A history of written records is, in fact, a history stained with blood. The suppression and execution of scholars for their writings have been a recurring practice among both virtuous and tyrannical rulers. Statistics show that from the "Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars" by Qin Shi Huang to the late Qing Dynasty, there have been over 20,000 documented cases of literary persecution. Secret Books emerged under such brutal and terrifying circumstances. Since publishing them openly would invite great calamity, authors could only write and print them in secret—hiding them in secluded mansions, locked chambers, or passed down in private households, away from the eyes of outsiders. They could be called "underground literature." Due to their resemblance to today's "illegal publications," they can also be referred to as ancient China's "black books."
From a content perspective, "Secret Books" fall into two categories: political and moral. Politically, they were deemed extremely "subversive" by the ruling class but highly "precious" to the authors and those who concealed them. Morally, they were considered extremely "degenerate" by society but deeply "useful" to the authors and concealers. Thus, Secret Books are not ordinary books; they are "extraordinary works." They are the "spirits" of books, the "beasts" of books, the "monsters" of books. They are "demons of books," "ghosts of books." They represent the highest of the high, the lowest of the low, and the most unconventional of all. They are the "transcendent" books in the fire of book-burning, the "escaped" books amidst the flames.