Ancient Theory of Reading

Author: Zeng Xiangqin, Zhang Weikun, Huang Guoquan (editors)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1992-06-01
Features: "To read, one must know the method of entering and exiting. At the beginning, one should seek the way to enter; at the end, one should seek the way to exit. To understand intimately, this is the method of entering; to apply it skillfully, this is the method of exiting. If one cannot enter the book, they will not know the ancient authors' intentions; if one cannot exit the book, they will be trapped in the words. Only by knowing both entering and exiting can one fully grasp the art of reading." - Chen Shan, New Words on Scratching Fleas
This book is a research material on ancient Chinese reading studies, selected from the discussions on reading by famous scholars and thinkers from the pre-Qin period to the late Qing Dynasty over a span of more than 2,500 years, hence the title Discussions on Ancient Reading. It is the fourth volume in the "Reading Studies Series." The selection criteria for this book are the reading theories of famous scholars and thinkers. Whether they are linguists, literary scholars, historians, philosophers, educators, scientists, politicians, or even lesser-known scholars in history, as long as their reading perspectives hold special value, significant influence, and reflect academic debates, they are included. To appropriately distinguish reading discussions from writing, essays, poetry, education, and learning discussions, we have extracted remarks on "reading principles" and "reading methods" from various classical texts such as Confucian classics, historical records, philosophical works, and literary collections, regardless of whether they are classical or experiential. The reading comprehension in this book is presented in excerpts. The history of ancient Chinese reading studies is divided into four stages: the pre-Qin period as the pioneering stage; the period from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties as the developmental stage; the period from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Song dynasties as the mature stage; and the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties as the climax stage. Before each stage, the editors provide an overview of the reading theories of that period, highlighting the achievements and characteristics of reading comprehension, demonstrating the developmental thread of "history," and enabling readers to grasp the overall picture at a glance. The arrangement of this book follows the chronological order of historical dynasties, with scholars or works as individual units, organized by birth years or chronological order of books. The four stages of ancient reading history are further divided into several sub-periods based on their content. For scholars whose birth and death years are unknown, or whose works lack clear dating, they are placed in their customary positions based on majority opinion. This book selects the reading views of over 200 scholars, organized in three layers: author, selected text, and annotations. The author introductions include birth and death years, style names and origins, life positions, with a focus on summarizing their reading careers, reading theories, and the characteristics, value, and influence of their reading thoughts. The selected texts are as complete as possible, with emphasis on key points, all sources are noted, and punctuation is added. Appropriate titles are added to the selected discussions to reflect the editorial perspective and prevent readers from being confused. Annotations are provided where necessary for reader comprehension, and those not needed are omitted.