Prose · LT505

Letters & Prefaces

Personal correspondence, anthology prefaces, and colophons.

166works

9dynasties

50authors

Song

42 works

960–1279

  1. Letter to Secretariat Drafter OuyangZeng GongOnly one who has stored up the Way and virtue and can write well can do it.
  2. Preface Presented to the Two Scholars Li and AnZeng GongI know to trust the ancients but not how to fit the age; I know to set my mind on the Way but not how to go along with custom.
  3. Fellow Learners: A Farewell to ZiguWang AnshiThey simply learn from the sages!
  4. Preface to the Bibliographic Treatise of the Tang HistoryOuyang XiuThrough the rise and decline of the ages, literature has risen and fallen with its times.
  5. Preface to the Treatise on Administrative Geography in the History of the Five DynastiesOuyang XiuIf one grasps the essentials, even ten thousand states can be governed.
  6. Preface to the Biographies of Men of Singular Conduct in the History of the Five DynastiesOuyang XiuI have held that loyal ministers and righteous men mostly come from ages of disorder.
  7. Preface to the Catalogue of the Collected Records of AntiquityOuyang XiuStrength is not as good as love, and love is not as good as single-minded love.
  8. Preface to the Collected Writings of Su ZimeiOuyang XiuThis writing is gold and jade.
  9. Preface to the Collected Writings of Jiang LinjiOuyang XiuNot only are good men hard to find and easy to lose; my friends have fallen away like this.
  10. Preface to the Collected Writings of the Monk WeiyanOuyang XiuBecause I do not befriend reckless men, I can win the gentlemen of the realm.
  11. Preface to the Table of Contents of the Stratagems of the Warring StatesZeng GongLaw is what adapts to change, and need not be the same; the Way is what establishes the root, and must be one.
  12. Preface to the Table of Contents of New NarrativesZeng GongThose of old who governed the realm made morality one and customs the same.
  13. Preface to the Table of Contents of the Biographies of Exemplary WomenZeng GongThe gentlemen of old always transformed others by their own example.
  14. Preface to the Table of Contents of Xu Gan's Balanced DiscoursesZeng GongHe examined the Six Arts and set out the meaning of Confucius and Mencius.
  15. Preface to the Collected Memorials of Fan GuanzhiZeng GongTo rely on others and not on oneself is the way of Heaven.
  16. Postface to the Collected Works of My Late GrandfatherZeng GongHis utter loyalty and the emperor's acceptance of his words: why look to the ancients?
  17. Preface to the Academicians' Farewell Poems for Qian Chunlao Going to Govern WuzhouZeng GongIt shows the refined ways of gentlemen, earnest in putting one another first.
  18. Written after the Biography of Wei Zheng, Duke of ZhengZeng GongThe loss of their ministers' remonstrance only exposes these rulers' wickedness the more.
  19. Introduction to the Su Clan GenealogySu XunWhoever looks at my genealogy may feel filial and brotherly love spring up in him.
  20. Later Record to the Su Clan GenealogySu XunAll the Su take Fan of Kunwu as their ancestor.
  21. Preface to the Yuanyou State AccountsSu ZheWithout virtue there is no security, and without law there is no duration.
  22. Preface to the Section on the People's TaxesSu ZheThose who run a state should attend to reality and not seek the name.
  23. Preface to the Meaning of the Rites of ZhouWang AnshiTo regulate and use it lies in the law; to extend and carry it out lies in men.
  24. Preface to the Meanings of the Book of DocumentsWang AnshiThis honour serves only to shame me.
  25. Preface to the Meanings of the Book of OdesWang AnshiWhat we have learned is a torch-flame: how could it add to the light of sun and moon?
  26. Written after the Collected Works of Li WengongWang AnshiWengong's excess: was it not the very thing that made him worthy?
  27. Preface to the Linggu PoemsWang AnshiHe carves the myriad things and adorns them with colour: who but a skilled poet could do this?
  28. Letter of Thanks to Chancellor DuZeng GongThe only way I can repay you is with the righteousness of the realm.
  29. Letter to Privy Councillor HanSu XunSoldiers are the unrighteous men of the world gathered together, handed the instruments of inhumanity and taught the business of killing.
  30. Letter to Hanlin Academician OuyangSu XunMaster Han's prose is like the Yangzi and the Yellow River, vast and rolling onward, with fish, turtles, krakens and dragons, ten thousand marvels bewildering the eye.
  31. Letter to Minister Wang of the Ministry of WarSu Shi It is not only princes and dukes who choose scholars; scholars too have their choices.
  32. Letter in Reply to Li DuanshuSu Shi A tree has its burls, a stone its halos, a rhinoceros horn its veins, and they win people's admiration by them, yet all are flaws of the things.
  33. Reply to Palace Assistant Zhang of ShaozhouWang AnshiSo the good is not all handed down, and what is handed down cannot all be believed.
  34. Preface Seeing Off Xu Wudang on His Return SouthOuyang XiuWhat makes them sages and worthies is cultivation in themselves, application in affairs, and expression in words: these three are what make them imperishable and enduring.
  35. Preface Seeing Off Zhou of the State Farms BureauZeng GongNot dwelling in honour, what danger has he of disgrace?
  36. Preface Seeing Off Jiang RenZeng GongOf men of the nine provinces each employed in their own lands, who comes closer than this?
  37. Preface Seeing Off Fu Xianglao to Be Magistrate of Rui'anZeng GongThe ancient way has hardly any use today, so what he holds to will be hard to fit.
  38. Preface Seeing Off Shi Changyan as Envoy to the NorthSu XunA great man who never becomes a general may be content to win his battles as an envoy.
  39. A Sigh: Seeing Off Qin ShaozhangSu Shi A scholar is like fine gold or jade: the market has its fixed price.
  40. The Parable of the Sun, for Wu YanlüSu Shi The Way can be brought, but cannot be sought.
  41. Preface Seeing Off Sun ZhengzhiWang AnshiAffirming what the times affirm makes a common man; affirming by oneself, a gentleman.
  42. Preface to the Map of Mirror Lake in YuezhouZeng GongThe laws are not enforced, and the habit of making do prevails.

Ming

10 works

1368–1644

  1. Preface Presenting to Student Ma of DongyangSong LianIn the bitter cold, when the inkstone froze hard and my fingers could not bend or straighten, I did not slacken.
  2. Reply to Master LiuZong ChenThis is what the world calls superiors and inferiors in mutual trust. Do you, sir, think I could manage it?
  3. Letter in Reply to Li YuanshanYuan HongdaoWith syntax, diction and cadence all flowing from one's own breast—that is true novelty.
  4. Instructions for the Students at LongchangWang ShourenIf the will is not set, nothing in the world can be accomplished.
  5. Jinggao Collected DraftsGu XianchengThe Donglin society is where this bookish scholar's foolish heart has not yet given up
  6. Preface Seeing Off Chen Tingxue of TiantaiSong LianOf all the landscapes of the southwest, those of Sichuan are the most extraordinary.
  7. Preface to the Collected Works of Master QingxiaMao KunEnough to chill the hearts of treacherous ministers and spur the horses of frontier soldiers.
  8. Birthday Preface for Zhou XianzhaiGui YouguangLooking between past and present, seeing how affairs change and how hard it is for life to last
  9. Birthday Preface for Lady Gu, Mother of the Wangs, at SixtyGui YouguangLooking back twenty years, it is like a dream, like sleep, like pain that has just eased.
  10. Birthday Preface for the Lady of the Gu House at EightyGui YouguangOnly then does one know that the lord had the most complete good fortune under heaven.

Qing

14 works

1636–1912

  1. Zhengshi, from Record of Daily KnowledgeGu YanwuPreserving All-under-Heaven is a responsibility in which even the humblest common man has his share.
  2. Fourth Letter Sent from the Fan County Magistracy to Brother MoZheng Xie (Zheng Banqiao)I think the first rank of people in the world is the farmers, while scholars are last of the four classes.
  3. Family Letters of Zeng GuofanZeng Guofanlooking at books is like attacking cities and seizing territory to extend one's lands; reciting is like digging deep moats and building strong ramparts to hold what one has won.
  4. Letter to Shi KefaDorgon (traditionally attributed)Our dynasty's pacification of the Yan capital was taken from the rebel Chuang, not from the Ming.
  5. Complete Tang PoemsKangxi Emperor (comp.)Poetry reached the Tang with every form complete and every method present.
  6. Complete Library of the Four TreasuriesJi Yun (Ji Xiaolan), Qianlong Emperor (comp.)Now is the time to collect them and send them to the capital, to display the glory of a common script through a thousand ages.
  7. Annotated Catalogue of the Complete Library of the Four TreasuriesJi Yun (Ji Xiaolan) (comp.)Though some disorder and alteration of words and sentences is unavoidable, the work as a whole is still Qian's original.
  8. Letter to SomeoneDai ZhenTo study the classics, first examine the meanings of the words, then understand the sense of the text.
  9. Miscellaneous Selections from the Classics, Histories and Hundred SchoolsZeng Guofan (comp.)Each category is always headed by the Six Classics: trickling streams take the sea as their home.
  10. Essence of Tang and Song Poetry (Imperially Selected)Qianlong Emperor (comp.)Having a Prose Essence, we cannot be without a Poetry Essence.
  11. Written after the Poems on Madam Wei, a Filial Daughter-in-LawFang BaoWith wifely duty neglected everywhere, only an extraordinary deed can rouse it.
  12. Preface Seeing Off Liu HansanFang BaoWhy fear the fools of today, and not the sages and worthies of old?
  13. Preface Seeing Off Zuo Weisheng on His Return SouthFang BaoSince antiquity none has lived without dying, and none has gathered without parting.
  14. Preface Seeing Off Li YucangFang BaoIf their learning differs they blind each other to the right; if it agrees, to the wrong.