The Counsels of Gao Yao
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- University students in literature and history majors studying the Shangshu and ancient political thought
- Philosophy and history researchers who need to cite original Confucian classical texts
- Traditional culture enthusiasts interested in pre-Qin people-oriented thought and the concept of rule by virtue
Not a good fit for
- General leisure readers lacking a foundation in classical Chinese who wish to read easily
- Readers who only want narrative storytelling and have no patience for political dialogue
Reading tips
- First read through the unannotated text once, marking institutional terms and function words you do not understand
- Consult annotated editions of the Shangshu to sort out sentence by sentence the specific referents of Gaoyao's "Nine Virtues"
- After reading, make brief comparative notes between "Heaven's intelligence and clear-sightedness come from my people's intelligence and clear-sightedness" and later people-oriented discussions
About the publisher
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.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 虞书·皋陶谟第四
FAQ
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About the 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.
