Shan Zhi (Yuan and Ming Historical Materials Notes)

Author: Wang Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book is a collection of the author's reading notes and personal observations. It records materials related to Confucian studies, history, linguistics, calligraphy, painting, and the study of inscriptions and stones, as well as social customs and folk traditions of the time. It holds significant reference value for understanding and researching the social history and academic culture during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The book dedicates considerable space to recording miscellaneous observations, with the author's focus primarily on benefiting society and correcting societal flaws. For instance, in the section on fire prevention regulations, it teaches people how to save themselves after a fire occurs. In the sections on lying on ice and cutting flesh, it rejects the cruel practices of sacrificing children, cutting livers, or cutting flesh in an attempt to seek official commendation. In the sections on paying respects to Buddhist and Daoist figures, it expresses neither approval nor disapproval of Buddhism and Daoism, but maintains that they deserve due respect and that Zhu Xi's criticism is perhaps excessive. In the sections on Qin Shi Huang, technology, and Zoroastrians, it criticizes the harm caused by superstitions such as alchemy and the harmful practices of diviners like Ma Yi. The recorded observations contain very few supernatural or fantastical events and provide rich material for the study of the history of ancient Chinese social life.