The Cipher of Fables -- Exploring the Roots of Chinese Thought in the Axial Age

Author: Zhang Yuanshan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Approaching the study of Chinese history and culture from the perspective of pre-Qin philosophers' fables, delving deeply into the origins of its earliest thought. The Code of Fables—Exploring the Roots of Chinese Thought in the Axial Age is the result of the author's twenty-five years (1980–2005) of repeated study of pre-Qin philosophers' classics and related research works of past generations. Taking pre-Qin philosophers' fables as a starting point, the book conducts a comprehensive exploration of the origins of Chinese history and culture. Two-thirds of the fables selected in the book were picked out by the author from the vast ancient texts and were summarized for the first time in the form of four-character idioms.