Library

Wang Yongbin, whose courtesy name was Yishan and known as Mr. Yishan, experienced five periods in his life: Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng and Tongzhi. He didn't like the imperial examination, so he was awarded the title of Gongsheng Examination very late, and became a Xiuzhilang, and later he was a candidate for teaching. He studied extensively throughout his life and was diligent in writing. He mentioned the origin of this book at the beginning of "Night Talk around the Stove": Wailing around the stove on a cold night is the fun of the Tian family. Isn't it a wasted night to be silent or to laugh and have fun? I was a barely literate peasant, and when I got together with my family in the evening to roast sweet potatoes over a charcoal fire, I had an idea and told my son about it. I asked my son to write it down and save it, titled "Night Talk Around the Fire". He described a rather warm scene: at the end of the year and in the cold weather, he and his family gathered around the fire to talk at night, while roasting sweet potatoes, he told his children and grandchildren what he had gained and felt in life. Perhaps it is this atmosphere that sets the natural and friendly tone of the book. It's not a sermon or a nonsense article, it's just an elder telling you his philosophy of life. This philosophy is Confucian, literati, rural, and the most Chinese.