Ruyuan Shi Hua (Volume 1 and 2)

Author: Yuan Mei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The annotated copy of "Suiyuan Shi Hua" was originally kept in the home of a Qing dynasty official's son. Modern scholar Mao Guangsheng, based on the postscript in the sixteenth volume, identified the author as Wu Lana, son of the Manchu governor of Fujian, and edited and published it. Deng Zhicheng further suspected that the author of the annotations was Shu Shifang's older brother Zhongshan, adding annotations and several references in the margins. This edition is printed based on the annotated copy by Deng and Zhang, preserved by Wang Lij. The original annotator lived around the same time as Yuan Mei, slightly later, and shared a close connection with him. As the son of a high-ranking official, he had a deep understanding of the contemporary bureaucracy, literary circles, social customs, and Yuan Mei's personal relationships and the background of "Shi Hua." Although the annotations are extremely crude and the author's knowledge is not highly sophisticated, they remain a valuable historical and literary reference for studying the Qianlong era, Yuan Mei, and "Shi Hua." Therefore, during the republication of "Shi Hua," the annotations have been appended to the end of the book, with each item referenced by volume, page, and line for easy reference. Errors, omissions, and redundancies have all been corrected. As for the introduction to Yuan Mei and "Shi Hua," it has already been included in the postscript after editing and will not be repeated here.