Zhang Dai

Zhang Dai (1597–1689), courtesy names Zongzi and Shigong, art name Taozan, was a native of Shanyin in Zhejiang (present-day Shaoxing) and a late Ming to early Qing writer and historian. Born into an official family, he lived in seclusion in the mountains after the fall of the Ming dynasty and continued to write in poverty, producing works such as Reminiscences of Taozan, Seeking the West Lake in Dreams, Night-Boarding Boat, and The Book of Stone Casket. His prose often recalls past daily life, landscapes, and scenes of urban life; its clear, graceful style and deep feeling reveal a sense of dynastic rise and fall in ordinary details, earning him the name “master of the minor essay.” This library holds 32 of his works, spanning prose miscellanies and classic works, commonly classified under prose miscellanies, classic works, and culture, showing his lasting influence on the Chinese prose tradition.