The Charge to Bi

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

3.8

Word count: 665 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Bi Ming, meaning to end one's life, often referring to a violent death. See "Treatise on Yao Hong" in the *Book of Jin*: "He fostered fraternal affection to harmonize with his kin, made clear rewards and punishments to govern his subordinates; the talented all fulfilled their integrity, and his claws and fangs all met their end."

Editor's review

This book offers a thing-and-name style explication of the term "biming," belonging to the genre of traditional lexical studies. Starting from the meaning of the word, the author points out that "biming" means to end one's life, often implying a violent death, and then cites phrases such as "yingmao jinjie, zhuanya biming" from the "Jin Shu: Zai Ji of Yao Hong" as textual evidence, allowing readers to see the word's actual usage and emotional coloring in historical discourse. The book is short in length, focusing not on storytelling but on clarifying the boundaries of meaning, contexts of use, and stylistic tendencies, so as to prevent modern readers from misreading classical texts through colloquial habits. For readers who frequently read histories and skim over such terms, it serves to fill gaps; for teachers of classical Chinese vocabulary, it can serve as a model of lexical explication. When reading, it is advisable to consult the cited sources alongside the text to appreciate how meaning is determined by specific context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who regularly read classical Chinese histories and need to build up their vocabulary of ancient Chinese
Teachers of classical Chinese looking for sample materials of lexical explication
General readers interested in traditional studies of ancient terms and things
Students writing annotations for classical texts or doing word discrimination, usable as a reference

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for a complete historical narrative or character stories
Professional researchers expecting lengthy theoretical discussions in linguistics
Readers seeking only light entertainment and unwilling to engage with classical citations

Reading tips

First read through the explanation of meaning, then return to the "Jin Shu" citation to appreciate the weight of "biming" in the sentence.
Prepare a word card noting the definition, textual evidence, and emotional coloring for future reference.
After reading, compare with near-synonyms such as "jinjie" and "yunting" to distinguish differences in usage contexts.
When encountering similar terms in historical texts, use the book's approach to explication to work through them on your own.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
周书·毕命第二十六

FAQ

Do "biming" and "biming" (毙命) mean the same thing?

Both mean to lose one's life, but they differ in register and coloring. "Biming" (毕命) is a classical term, mostly found in historical biographical evaluations and connected with contexts of martyrdom and service, carrying a certain solemn or tragic tone; "biming" (毙命) is more colloquial and narrative, often meaning a violent or accidental death. The book emphasizes the sense that "biming" (毕命) often implies a violent death, and context must be considered when using it.

Is this book about historical stories?

No. This book is a lexical explication of the term "biming," focusing on definition and textual evidence; the citation from the "Jin Shu: Zai Ji of Yao Hong" serves to illustrate the word's actual usage, not to narrate the deeds of Yao Hong. Those who want historical stories should turn to the original histories or related historical works.

Is such a short book worth reading?

Its value lies in focusing on resolving the understanding of one specific term, making it suitable as a small reference booklet. For those who often read classical Chinese, this kind of explication helps build language intuition and avoid taking words too literally; if you need to clarify this word's meaning and usage, its brevity is actually an advantage, allowing quick consultation and repeated review.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.