The Book of the Stone Chamber the Second Collection of the Book of the Stone Chamber

"Shikui Shu" and "Shikui Shuhou Ji" are historical notes written by Zhang Dai, a famous scholar in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. They were originally intended to supplement the history of the Ming Dynasty, and the name "Shikui" was used to express the historical facts of "secret but not announced". Zhang Dai single-handedly tried to stand up for the collapsed Ming Dynasty, which was the last moment of scholar-bureaucrat culture in troubled times. The book is divided into the first part and the second part. It records important figures, events and changes in the Ming Dynasty in the form of biographies, involving emperors and generals, civil servants and generals, eunuchs and relatives, and even charlatans, magicians and celebrities. Zhang Dai's writing style is broad and horizontal, with both macro-political judgments and delicate characterizations. His language is elegant and melancholy, and sometimes there is cold irony. He neither fully affirms the political affairs of the Ming Dynasty nor blindly criticizes the causes of the defeat. In "The Book of the Stone Chamber", Zhang Dai describes the tragedy of the country's collapse in a plaintive tone; while in "The Later Collection", it shows more personal emotion, mixed with indignation and helplessness about current events. The whole book is not only a personal note-style "Supplement to the History of the Ming Dynasty", but also an elegy for the motherland by a cultural man and a profound reflection on the fate of the sergeants in troubled times.