Dragon and Phoenix Shadow

Author: Xu Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-02-01
Features: This book is an ancient Chinese primer for young students. The dragon is a noble horse, and the shadow of the whip refers to the shadow of the whip. Combined, it means that without the need to whip, it gallops swiftly. The implication is to encourage students to study diligently. Like many other ancient classics, this book contains numerous negative elements, such as promoting ghosts and gods, superstition about fate, blind loyalty and filial piety, and chasing novelty. This book was compiled by the Ming Dynasty scholar Pu Liangyou and revised by his contemporary Yang Chenzheng. It draws extensively from ancient classics, histories, philosophies, and even anecdotal tales, involving over a thousand historical figures and facts, making its content rich. The writing style uses four-character phrases as pauses and eight-character lines as sentences, following the rhythm of the text, which is easy to recite and demonstrates considerable skill. Due to its ease of recitation, it was widely adopted by young students and remained popular for many years. It is a cultural heritage left to us by the ancients. Reading this book helps to understand the historical events, intellectual trends, rituals, cultural artifacts, and social customs of ancient China, and greatly benefits the improvement of reading and appreciation skills in classical Chinese.