Library

The beauty of essays lies in their complexity. You can say whatever you want to say, from the mountains to the south and the sea to the north, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, poetry and song, desire for power, and jumping thoughts. The subject matter is also relatively broad. As for the compilation of essays, it's even more incredible. It's like you go hunting for treasure, and you come to a large deep mountain and old forest, with rough stones everywhere. After rummaging through it, you may find a piece of jade, maybe a diamond, maybe an artificial gemstone, or you may not find anything. However, the process is very enjoyable.

Combining historical stories with modern times, talking about the past and the present.

I think the person who was best at living in ancient times was Li Yu. Although he lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and experienced troubled times, he finally retired to seclusion. It is indeed rare to be able to go back to seclusion unscathed after going through troubled times. He wrote a book called "Xian Qing Ou Ji", which is a classic work on health preservation. It discusses various phenomena in art and life such as opera, singing and dancing, clothing, grooming, gardens, architecture, flowers, utensils, maintenance, and diet. Li Yu's lifestyle is enviable and conforms to the living standards of most literati. The life of ancient literati was nothing more than three parts: studying, being an official, and living in seclusion. If you don't succeed in the middle steps, just go to the last step. Therefore, whether you are an official or not, ancient literati would read, and they would eventually spend their lives reading, writing, and entertainment. I collected the articles I wrote in my spare time and compiled them into a volume. In order to pay tribute to the ancients, it was named "Idle People's Gossip".