Flowers of Literature Series - Ancient Part - Selected Prose of Liu Ji

Author: Liu Mingjin, editor
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Liu Ji (1311–1375), styled Boyun, posthumously titled Wencheng, was a native of Nantian in Wencheng County, Wenzhou (formerly part of Qingtian County). He was a military strategist, statesman, and poet during the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, well-versed in classics, astronomy, and military tactics. He gained fame for assisting Zhu Yuanzhang in completing his imperial ambitions, founding the Ming Dynasty, and striving to maintain national stability, earning comparisons to Zhuge Liang in later generations. Liu Ji was a renowned statesman, thinker, and litterateur in Chinese history. He demonstrated profound expertise in politics, military strategy, astronomy, geography, and literature, with notable works including Yuli Ziyi (The Book of Yuli), Fuguji (The Collection of Rejected Pitchers), Xinqingji (The Collection of Expressing Feelings), Limigongji (The Collection of Li Mige), Chunqiumingjing (The Clearing of the Spring and Autumn Annals), Bai Zhan Qiliue (The Hundred Battles Miracle Strategy), Shenji Zhili Bingfa Xinyao (The Essential Principles of Military Strategy), and Huolong Shijizhenfa (The Fire Dragon Spirit Array Method), a work discussing military equipment and firearms. Additionally, numerous folk novels are associated with Liu Boyun. Some tales depict him often traveling incognito to understand the people's sentiments. Others claim he was skilled in divination, authoring Shaobingge (The Baked Cake Song), which supposedly foretold events in the Ming Dynasty, including occurrences hundreds of years after its fall. However, since Liu Ji passed away in the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), the veracity of these stories and prophecies remains questionable.
Ancient Chinese prose has a long and rich history, with deep roots and lush branches. Like poetry, it is one of the most important and distinctive literary forms in ancient Chinese literature, as well as a magnificent cultural treasure in the history of human civilization. To promote the fine culture of the Chinese nation, inherit the excellent traditions of ancient prose, and foster the prosperity and improvement of contemporary prose creation while providing readers with references for appreciation, this series of Ancient Chinese Prose has been compiled as part of the Hua Bai Prose Series.
The scope of prose has evolved over time, differing between ancient and modern periods. This series selects works primarily focused on lyrical and narrative prose, with authors ranging from the pre-Qin era to the Qing Dynasty, each volume dedicated to a single writer. The arrangement of essays in each book follows the chronological order of composition, allowing readers to trace the development and evolution of prose writing.
Each book in the series consists of two parts: one is an essay, which, in addition to introducing the author's life and literary activities, emphasizes the analysis and evaluation of their prose creation philosophy, particularly artistic features, the development of prose writing, and its influence. The other is the prose itself, with each piece accompanied by a title explanation and annotations. The essay section aims to complement and reinforce the prose section, helping readers achieve a rational understanding of the selected prose through essays, while the prose works deepen readers' intuitive grasp of the essays. This mutual reinforcement not only makes the series suitable for reading outstanding prose selections but also, to some extent, serves as a treatise on writers and a history of ancient prose, distinct from general prose anthologies and traditional histories of ancient prose, with its unique characteristics.
The selected prose in each book includes representative masterpieces of the authors but also considers works from different periods, themes, and styles to reflect the evolution of the author's prose writing. The title explanations not only clarify relevant terms, specialized names, writing dates, and sources but also provide concise evaluations of the background, ideological value, artistic features, and techniques of the works. Annotations primarily focus on explaining difficult characters, words, allusions, official titles, artifacts, names, and places, with references to sources or examples for important or uniquely used terms, enabling readers to understand not only what but also why.