Shiji. Mozi. Lüshi Chunqiu

Author: Zhen Guanghao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: As Chinese people, how many have read the Four Books and Five Classics? As Americans, how many can recite the Declaration of Independence? Even for a university student specializing in Chinese, how many can memorize the Analects and the Great Learning? And even for Chinese and foreign university students specializing in English, how many can recite the works of Shakespeare and Aristotle? Yet all this can be done by a child of about ten years old, and as a result, they become increasingly knowledgeable, kind, intelligent, optimistic, and broad-minded. Do you believe it? Sima Qian wrote the Records of the Grand Historian as a masterpiece born from adversity and determination, hailed as "the peerless song of the historian, an unrhymed Lament for the State." Here, we selected the Biographies of the Five Emperors from the Records of the Grand Historian, starting with the Yellow Emperor, Xuanxu, Emperor Kui, Emperor Yao, and Emperor Shun. Mozi was once as famous as Confucius, but later almost became a lost art. Here, we selected the Legal Rites, which advocates that "laws that are not benevolent cannot be laws," unifying moral governance and legal governance. The Legal Rites also emphasizes "following the heavens," aligning with the principles of the universe. The All-Mercy is considered even broader than Confucian love. The Exaltation of the Worthy advocates appointing the worthy.