Li Zongwu · Thick and Black School

Author: Li Zongwu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-09-01
Features: First published based on the complete manuscript of "The Thick Black Book" as the treasure of the Taipei Library. Truly grasp the essence of Li Zongwu's original "The Thick Black Book" through the words. Renowned Taiwanese historian Xu Zhuoyun personally wrote the preface for this book. The publication also includes prefaces written by Lin Yutang, Baoyang, and Nan Huaijin for this book. "To have read books from all over the world, ancient and modern, but not read Li Zongwu's 'The Thick Black Book,' is indeed a regret in life!" — Lin Yutang "The excellence of this book lies in telling the Chinese people how heavy the grief and suffering in the heart of a genius are towards the declining world." — Baoyang "The morality of the Thick Black Book master is not at all thick or black; on the contrary, it is very sincere and upright." — Nan Huaijin "Our Li family's four eccentric geniuses — Laozi (Lǐ Yǐ), Li Zhuowu, Li Zongwu, and Li Ao." — Li Ao
I wrote an article titled "The Thick Black Book" in the first year of the Republic of China. After that, I wrote some texts, and in the sixteenth year, I compiled them into a book titled "Zongwu Yi Tan," which included an article titled "My Views on Solving Social Problems." In the seventeenth year, I expanded it into a separate book titled "Discussion on Social Problems." In recent years, I had some new thoughts, so I scattered the texts I had written over the years and combined them with my new thoughts in a style, titled "The Thick Black Book Conversations." Starting from August 1, 1929, I wrote one or two paragraphs every day and published them in Chengdu's "Huaxi Daily." Each volume contained about 20,000 words, and every two volumes were printed as a separate book. Now, I have completed six volumes.
I originally wrote these texts out of boredom for leisure. I had no fixed plan on how long to write or when to stop. If I was happy, I would write for a long time; if not, I could stop at any time. However, the wording was too scattered, which might bore readers. What most people liked was listening to me talk about the Thick Black Book. Therefore, I slightly revised the 1923 edition of "The Thick Black Book" and reprinted it for everyone to read. Many people advised me to reprint "Zongwu Yi Tan" and "Discussion on Social Problems." I felt that there were many places in the two books that needed, and modifying them one by one would be troublesome. So, I wrote them down as I pleased in the conversations, and readers only needed to read the conversations, no longer needing to read the two books, as their content and the points that should be were already integrated into the conversations.
In the sixteenth year, when "Zongwu Yi Tan" was published, Li Chengbo and Zhou Yancang wrote prefaces. In the seventeenth year, when "Discussion on Social Problems" was published, Wu Yujiang, Hao De, Yao Qinru, and Yang Zaiyun all wrote prefaces. They were all listed at the beginning of the book, as a brief introduction to "The Thick Black Book Conversations," so that readers could understand the general content. If they had no time, they didn't need to read the conversations.
I had already sent two copies of "Zongwu Yi Tan" and "Discussion on Social Problems" to the Sichuan Library. Remembering that there were still several copies at home, I collected them and mailed them to Nanjing, Beijing, and other libraries for storage, so that the "The Thick Black Book Conversations" I wrote now would still be consistent with my past thoughts.