Rong Zhai

Author: Hong Mai (Southern Song Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features: Record of the Yue Studio was compiled by the Southern Song scholar Hong Mai over more than 40 years of effort. Its content is vast and profound, covering a wide range of topics such as the rise and fall of dynasties, strategic wisdom, social conduct, literary anecdotes, and historical curiosities, and has long been cherished by rulers. The book is incredibly comprehensive, encompassing everything from Confucian classics, historical records, philosophical texts, and poetry to rituals, institutions, medicine, divination, and astronomy. Its meticulous research and analysis, as well as its insightful commentary and evaluations, are highly praised. The academic rigor and readability of this work are no less than any history book, with its coverage of political history, anecdotes of figures, literary classics, and institutional practices of various dynasties, making it a comprehensive encyclopedia of the pre-Song era. Hong Mai (1123–1202) was a renowned Southern Song Dynasty litterateur, styled Jinglu, and known by the sobriquet Rongzhai. He was from Poyang (now in Jiangxi Province). He passed the imperial examinations during the Shaoxing era and rose to the position of Academician of the Dongming Hall. Hong Mai was a highly learned scholar who extensively studied classical texts throughout his life, earning the title of a "learned and erudite master." In addition to Record of the Yue Studio, he also wrote the supernatural collection Yijian Zhi and compiled Ten Thousand Tang Poems.