Sayings of the World: The Clear Talk of the Six Dynasties

Author: Cai Zhizhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-01-01
Features: Although this book, like the first four works, presents wisdom "spoken" by someone, in the first four works, the "speakers" were often only one main character. However, in The New Stories of the World (Shishuo Xinyu), the "celebrated speakers" number as many as hundreds, giving readers access to a great diversity of voices. The first four works, due to their clear rationality, carry a significant amount of the author's own value judgments. The author's of truth, falsehood, good, and evil are often explicitly revealed in the words and pictures. But the author of Shishuo Xinyu remains calm, simply fulfilling the role of a storyteller, leaving all value judgments to the readers to form themselves. As a result, readers can enjoy the pleasure of "pursuing self" and "independent thinking." Because of these characteristics, I believe Shishuo Xinyu will also be a "beneficial and interesting" comic work that everyone will compete to read.
Content of the Book: Shishuo Xinyu, consisting of three volumes, was compiled by Liu Yiqing of the Southern Dynasties of Song and annotated by Liu Xiaozhu of the Liang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, it was called Xin Shu (New Book), and during the Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, it was renamed Xin Yu (New Language). The Eastern View Residual Arguments suggest that the name Shishuo originated from Liu Xiang, but his book is now lost. Therefore, the collection compiled by Liu Yiqing is named Shishuo Xin Shu. In the Song Dynasty, Lu You had the book reprinted, and the title only referred to Shishuo, adding the words "Xin Yu," but its origin remains unclear. The book is divided into thirty-six categories, recording anecdotes and trivial conversations from the Eastern Han to the Eastern Jin Dynasties. Liu Xiaozhu's annotations correct the errors in Liu Yiqing's compilation, but the books he cited have been mostly lost, so they are often referenced by scholars for research.