100 Books of Chinese History You Should Read in a Lifetime: 100 Books of World History You Should Read in a Lifetime

Author: Bi Ling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features:
． Don Quixote – A satirical novel about a knight【Click author】Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), born in a poor family near Madrid, was a great Spanish writer, dramatist, and poet during the Renaissance. Cervantes' own life was a typical portrayal of the adventurous life of a Spanish man. 【Plot Summary】In La Mancha, Spain, there lived an almost 50-year-old bachelor named Alonso Quijano. He was completely immersed in knightly adventure novels, dreaming of becoming a brave knight, traveling, exploring the world, helping the poor and oppressed, eliminating injustice in the world, and gaining fame. So, he patched together a set of incomplete armor inherited from his great-grandfather and spent four days naming his thin, bony horse a noble and loud name. He also named himself Don Quixote de la Mancha and chose a pig-keeping village girl from the neighboring village as his beloved, determined to serve her for life. Once everything was ready, he put on his armor, picked up his shield, and rode his old, thin horse, leaving home to pursue his adventures. Don Quixote embarked on three expeditions in total. The first adventure was to rescue a shepherd boy who was being beaten by a landlord and tied to a tree. He ordered the landlord to release the boy and pay him the wages he owed, and the landlord, terrified, complied. But after Don Quixote left, the landlord tied the boy to the tree again and beat him severely. Later, he encountered a merchant and demanded that he acknowledge his beloved as a peerless beauty. The merchant refused, and they fought. As a result, Don Quixote was badly injured and was carried home on an ass by a passerby. His family and friends were heartbroken that he had been so deeply corrupted by knightly novels. They burned all the knightly novels he had accumulated in his house. But Don Quixote was still stubborn. He secretly persuaded the honest neighbor Sancho Panza to become his follower and embark on adventures, offering him the promise of becoming a governor of an island one day.
P2116. The Collected Works of Tao Yuanming – The spiritual home of the scholar-officials【Click author】Tao Yuanming (365–427), a literatus of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was born into a declining official family. His name was Yuan, courtesy name Yuanliang, and was widely known as Mr. Jingjie. He was from Chaisang, Xunyang (now southwest of Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province). He wrote The Collected Works of Tao Yuanming. 【Plot Summary】Tao Yuanming's poetry and prose had a profound influence on literary history. Today, 125 poems and 12 essays remain, most of which were written after he retired from official life. His pastoral poetry is his main achievement in literary creation and a pioneering work in the history of Chinese poetry. In his pastoral poems, Tao Yuanming sang the praises of labor life. These poems are simple and sincere in feeling, filled with the rich atmosphere of daily life. For example, in the third poem of Retirement to the Countryside, he writes: "Planting beans at the southern foot of the mountain, the grass is lush, but the bean sprouts are sparse. Rising early to clear the weeds, I return home with the moon on my back, holding a hoe. The path is narrow, overgrown with grass and trees, and the evening dew dampens my clothes. It doesn't matter if my clothes are wet, but only that my wishes are not violated." This expresses the poet's true feelings and his determination to endure poverty and hardship. Tao Yuanming also wrote many reflective poems, including Drinking, Miscellaneous Poems, Ode to the Poor Scholars, and Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas. These poems reflect the poet's understanding of society and his reflections on life, showing his aversion to the mundane and his contempt for corrupt rulers. In some poems,