Dragon Bed (Six Chinese Emperors from the 14th to the 17th century)

Author: Li Jiefei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: The content, approach, style, and writing method of this book are largely unconstrained by conventions. The author never intended to disguise himself as a professional historian, imitating their methods and formats. Additionally, there are writers in the literary world who create historical novels using history as their material for literary creation—but the author is not of this persuasion. The author feels that he is actually the opposite, bringing the spirit and perspective of literature into historical writing. This will manifest in two aspects: narrative and reflection.
As for narrative, it involves carefully studying historical materials, thoughtfully considering their relationships and various possibilities, organizing them, and presenting them anew. Reflection, on the other hand, is quite simple: in the face of historical figures and events, the author cannot merely be a copyist of the texts, nor can he become a mouthpiece for past opinions, perspectives, and judgments. Instead, he must strive to offer deeper and more unique personal insights and views, otherwise, he will be (ashamed) to those readers who are willing to spend money and time on this book.
Introducing the spirit and perspective of literature into historical writing is not an excuse to arbitrarily manipulate history. On the contrary, the more one does so, the more one must adhere strictly to principles. In the use and understanding of materials, creativity and depth should be pursued, but the sources of the materials must be clear and reliable. During the writing process, some suggested reducing direct citations of ancient texts and translating them into modern language for easier reading. The author considered this suggestion carefully but ultimately did not adopt it. Since all the cited materials are basic primary sources, they should be left in their original form in the book, serving as a reference to verify the author's use and interpretation. However, the issue of understanding unfamiliar or difficult sentences for ordinary readers does indeed need to be addressed. Footnotes are the usual practice, but finding them can be tedious, and the author often lacks the patience for it. After deliberation, the author decided to try the following method—adding marginal notes directly after the relevant sentences, distinguished from the original text by square brackets. Here is a special note:
(1) In the book, any text in brackets printed in a different font is a note on the citation;
(2) These notes mainly fall into two categories: one is a direct translation of the original meaning, and the other appropriately extends, comments on, or reinterprets it to aid readers in understanding and enhance reading interest.