New Things Heard

郑仲夔Jun 2024

Rating 2.8

Word count: 29K words
Chapters: 44

Summary

The intellectual tradition of China has a long history and is marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality. Its early forms are highly distinctive, and the contents of religious theology, classical texts of traditional Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and the Hundred Schools of Thought, feng shui and metaphysics, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography are broad and profound. This series, "Essential Classics of Chinese Culture: Original Texts," preserves the appearance of the original books and focuses on preserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their temperament and subtly appreciate the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Er Xin records observations and hearsay in the note-style form; its writing is concise and full of interest, making it a handy reader for understanding ancient social life and the ways of thinking of literati. Its contents involve anecdotes about people, rumors of customs, and everyday observations. It can serve both as an introductory reader in classical literature and as casual reading for readers interested in traditional note-style literature. This edition preserves the original book's appearance without excessive rewriting, so readers can directly experience the ancients' narrative rhythm and the texture of their language. Its value lies not in a grand system but in the atmosphere of the times and the details of life revealed in fragmentary records. It is suitable for reading in fragmented time and also for accumulating writing material or cultural common knowledge. There is no need to try to finish it in one sitting; readers may choose several entries each day and use annotations to understand allusions and background, which allows them to appreciate the interest of note-style literature more fully. For readers who wish to enter the world of national learning through light texts, this book offers a relatively low-threshold entry point.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in ancient note-style literature and literati anecdotes
Middle school students and extracurricular readers who need light readers in national learning
Readers who like fragmentary reading and casual browsing to accumulate material
Culture enthusiasts interested in ancient customs, observations, and details of life

Not a good fit for

Researchers seeking systematic academic textual criticism or in-depth annotation
Readers who prefer long continuous narratives and are not comfortable with the note style

Reading tips

Read three to five entries a day and jot down entries that resonate, accumulating over time.
Mark allusions or unfamiliar names and objects first, and look up the background in a concentrated way after finishing.
Read in comparison with similar note-style works to appreciate the narrative interests of different authors.

版权信息
序
卷一
令德
蔼吉
经国
卷二
正气
立言
博赡
卷三
集雅
懿好
惠济
卷四
神应
仙踪
卷五
梵胜
同声
知遇
矜奇
谐艳
卷六
陈风
纪土
正缪
异述
时令
今文
卷七
志怪
说鬼
奸恣
丑媚
灾变
孽召
卷八
物表
兆先
命相
艺术
宝遗
人瑞

FAQ

Is Er Xin suitable for readers with no foundation in classical Chinese?

This book preserves the original book's appearance; its language is concise but still poses a classical Chinese threshold. Readers are advised to have basic classical Chinese reading ability or to read with annotations and reference works. If they have no foundation at all, they can start with short entries and need not insist on reading it through.

Does this book need to be read from beginning to end?

The entries in a note-style work are relatively independent, so it need not be read through in order. Readers can jump-read according to interest or choose several entries a day and browse in fragmented time, which actually makes it easier to maintain interest.

What can readers gain from reading Er Xin?

Mainly an appreciation of the narrative interest of ancient note-style literature, an understanding of social observations and the literati's perspective, and an accumulation of cultural common knowledge and writing material. It is not strong in systematic knowledge and is better suited as light cultural reading.

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

郑仲夔 Author

Zheng Zhongkui has left no clear record of his life, native place, or dates of birth and death, and public information about him is limited. Existing catalog data show that a single work, Er Xin, is attributed to him and is classified among classic works. Judging from its title and usual categorization, Er Xin appears to be a collection of notes and miscellaneous records, dealing largely with anecdotes, hearsay, and incidental observations. Its style is concise and essayistic, in the manner of casual jottings kept by a traditional man of letters. Works of this kind were often undervalued beside formal literary collections, yet they preserve fragments of social custom and everyday observation that can be of some reference value for understanding what people of the time noticed and how they told it. Because other biographical materials on Zheng Zhongkui are lacking, his associates, teachers, and full body of writings cannot be reliably established; readers and researchers can gain only a partial view of his writing and choice of material through Er Xin, and further details await the discovery and collation of new sources.