Selected Works (Upper and Lower)

Author: (Liang) Xiao Tong (Editor), (Tang) Li Shan (Commentator)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-09-01
Features: The Selections of Literature (Wen Xuan) is one of the most influential literary anthologies in ancient China and continues to hold great value to this day. The editor, Xiao Tong (501–531), styled De Shi, was from Nan Lanh (now Changzhou, Jiangsu). He was the eldest son of Emperor Xiaozong of Liang and was designated as crown prince. He passed away before ascending the throne and was posthumously titled Zhaoming, hence the world knows him as the Zhaoming Prince. He was an early-blooming scholar and writer. Historical records state that he could read the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects by the age of three, and had already studied all the Five Classics by the age of five. Even after participating in state affairs, he remained diligent in his studies, reading extensively from "widely,," (("Preface to Wen Xuan")) whenever he had time, thus reading a great deal. At the age of only thirty, he left behind a collection of twenty volumes [1]. He compiled thirty volumes of Wen Xuan, ten volumes of Rectified Preface, thirty volumes of Glorious Writings of Literature, and nineteen volumes of Glorious Writings of Ancient and Modern Poetry, but only Wen Xuan has survived to this day. Xiao Tong's Wen Xuan has managed to remain the sole surviving anthology among so many others to this day, not solely due to luck, but because it has withstood the test of history. It has at least two striking features: , its selection angle is innovative, reflecting progressive literary concepts of the time; second, it compiles famous works by renowned authors, with a rich variety of categories, providing a valuable anthology for later generations to study and research.