Teach you to understand the Song Dynasty's notes and fiction.

Author: Gao Tan Culture
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Notebooks were articles written spontaneously by people of the time, with scattered but all-encompassing themes, covering various aspects such as political systems, social news, and extraordinary events. Do you want to learn about the techniques of cockfighting in ancient times? Do you want to know how ancient people addressed their parents? Do you want to glimpse the face of secret religions in the Song Dynasty? "Notebooks" mean "spontaneous records," a casual and non-fixed-format style of writing. They vary in length and content, with few restrictions, and over the nearly five thousand years of cultural evolution in China, the number of notebooks passed down is immeasurable. In the Song Dynasty, which valued literature over martial arts and was weak and declining, active scholars left their "pens" everywhere. According to the Art and Literature Records in the History of the Song Dynasty, Song Dynasty notebooks were quite extensive in both and, ranging from serious and formal political commentaries to humorous and satirical portrayals of official life, as well as practical and astonishing technological knowledge, demonstrating the rich and diverse content of notebooks. The notebooks selected and translated in this book are broadly categorized into six units based on their nature: Food, Clothing, and Entertainment; Recognizing Remarkable People; Observing Strange Phenomena; Appreciating Objects; Being Amazed by Various States; and Poking Fun at Current Issues. It includes the works of famous Song Dynasty scholars such as Ouyang Xiu, Lu You, Sima Guang, and Shen Kuo, aiming to allow readers to piece together some aspects of Song Dynasty society by reading their writings. The book includes: Food, Clothing, and Entertainment; Recognizing Remarkable People; Observing Strange Phenomena; Appreciating Objects; Being Amazed by Various States; and Poking Fun at Current Issues.