Suiyuan Poetry Talks, Part One
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Scholars and graduate students researching Qing poetics and Yuan Mei
- Readers of literature and history interested in the literary and official circles of the Qianlong era
- Enthusiasts of poetry talks and essays who are willing to read annotated documents closely
- Those engaged in the collation and textual criticism of classical texts for reference
Not a good fit for
- Beginners seeking pure poetry appreciation who dislike the intrusion of annotations
- General readers impatient with Qing-dynasty classical Chinese and the shihua format
- Readers who want only a quick grasp of Yuan Mei's poetic thought and no textual scholarship
Reading tips
- Read Yuan Mei's main text first, then return to the annotations, so as not to be prejudiced by the annotator's standpoint.
- Keep pen and paper to note the volume, page, and entry cited by each annotation, and read them against the main text.
- For annotations touching on official personnel, consult Qing historical sources separately for verification.
- Read one or two juan a day, jotting down differences between the poetic discussions and the annotations to form reading notes.
About the publisher
Founded in 1989, Qunyan Publishing House has long been committed to publishing academic and educational books for mid- and high-level readers, and has built up a certain presence in Eastern philosophy, classical literature, and classic works. Representative titles available in the database include Records of the Grand Historian, Dream of the Red Chamber, Selections of Refined Literature, Complete Song Ci, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Record of Daily Knowledge, Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang, and The Collected Works of Wang Yangming, covering common categories such as ancient poetry, medicine, and examinations. Its author resources include Sima Qian, Cao Xueqin, Xiao Tong, Li Shan, Pu Songling, and Gu Yanwu. The press also offers distinctive series such as the Biographical Series of the China Democratic League and the Historical Documents Series of the China Democratic League, and publishes research on historical documents, biographies, memoirs, and textbooks and academic works by League members. Public information is limited, and its overall publishing scale and complete catalogue require further verification.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 序
- 卷一
- 卷二
- 卷三
- 卷四
- 卷五
- 卷六
- 卷七
- 卷八
FAQ
Were the annotations at the back written by Yuan Mei himself?
If the annotator was not highly learned, why print the annotations?
What conveniences does this edition offer in its format?
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
Yuan Mei (1716–1798), courtesy name Zicai and pseudonym Jianzhai, was a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang, and a Qing-dynasty poet, essayist, literary critic, and gastronome. A jinshi of 1739, he served as a county magistrate in Jiangning and elsewhere before retiring in midlife to Suiyuan in Nanjing. He championed the "xingling" theory of poetry, which stresses genuine feeling and individual expression, and was known together with Zhao Yi and Jiang Shiquan as one of the "Three Masters of the Qianjia Era." His works range widely: Suiyuan shihua comments on poetry, Suiyuan shidan records the art of cooking and eating, and Zi buyu collects tales of the strange. His writing is fresh and natural, and Suiyuan shidan combines practical guidance with literary value. This library holds 46 of his works, spanning poetry criticism, food writing, prose miscellanies, and classical literature.
Li Yu (1611–1680) was a writer, playwright and drama theorist of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Styled Liweng, he was born in Rugao, Jiangsu, and came from Lanxi, Zhejiang. Failing repeatedly in the imperial examinations, he made a living by his writing after the Qing conquest and later moved to Jiezi Garden in Nanjing, where he ran a bookshop and organized a family troupe that toured various regions. His works span drama, fiction and prose, including Ten Plays of Liweng, Twelve Towers and Silent Opera. Xianqing ouji discusses both playwriting and the art of living, while Liweng duiyun served as a primer for learning verse and parallel couplets. Valuing stage practice, he built a systematic theory of structure, diction and prosody, and is regarded as a key founder of Chinese drama theory.
Wang Hui is an author whose work spans a notably wide range of fields. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life and identity are not available in existing records. Judging from the thirty-seven works held in the collection, his writing covers medicine, law, management, classical poetry, and food culture, reflecting a strong ability to integrate specialized knowledge across disciplines. In medicine, his works include illustrated references on contrast-enhanced abdominal ultrasound and a PET/CT atlas of childhood tumors; in law, he has written two volumes analyzing difficult points in the conviction and procedural defense of duty-related crimes. He has also worked on classical poetic criticism such as Suiyuan Shihua and on food history in The Banquets of the Qin and Han: The Vigorous Age of Chinese Cuisine, and has contributed to textbooks on organizational behavior and on traditional Chinese medicine formulas. His books are largely practical and reference-oriented, aimed at professional readers or teaching needs, combining academic rigor with readability.
