Dictionary of Appreciation of Ancient Essays

This book is one of our Chinese Literature Appreciation Dictionaries (new edition) series. Essays generally refer to short essays with lively and diverse content and informal styles and themes, which are different from long essays with the purpose of applying knowledge to the world. The name of Xiaopin comes from Buddhist scriptures. The more detailed ones are called Dabains, while the shorter ones are called Xiaopins, which have no stylistic meaning. This name began to be used in literature in the late Ming Dynasty, such as Chen Jiru's "Wanxiangtang Essays" and Chen Renxi's "Wumengyuan Essays", which collected some short, light and meaningful articles, with refined thinking and emotional charm. However, although its name originated from the Ming Dynasty, its literary style originated from the pre-Qin Dynasty. Ancient essays are as colorful as other literary styles and have a long history. From a trickle to a grand sight, they have experienced the development process from being free to doing something for themselves. In launching this new edition, we have expanded the selection from the original 681 articles to more than 740 articles, replaced some old articles, added a large number of annotations, and corrected errors; secondly, we have adjusted the layout and fonts, enlarged the format, and re-bound, hoping to win the recognition and love of readers.