The Sketches of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Going Abroad

-Preface to the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"

趙麗宏

Zhao Lihong

“處世三奇書”是中國古典文學的漢英對照本。在中國傳統文化的出版物中，這是一套體例新穎的雙語讀本。這個讀本，不僅向讀者展現了中國古典文學一方迷人的天地，也為對中國文化有興趣的英語讀者提供了一個學習的園圃。讀者可以由中文而英文，也可以由英文而中文。研習英文的中國讀者，學習中文的外國讀者，都可以在其中獲得閱讀的樂趣。

"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"is a Chinese-English version of Chinese classical literature. In the publications of Chinese traditional culture, this is a set of bilingual readings with new style.It not only shows the charming world of Chinese classics, but also provides a learning garden for English readers who are interested in Chinese culture.Readers can read the canons in two ways, either from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese.Both Chinese readers who are learning English and foreign readers who are learning Chinese are enabled to get the pleasure of reading them.

《菜根譚》《小窗幽記》和《圍爐夜話》是明清時期流傳下來的三本以修身養性、勸善勵志為中心話題的清言體小品集，作者分別是洪應明、陳繼儒和王永彬。因其在同類書中出眾的地位和影響力，被世人譽為“處世三奇書”，頗受文人墨客和普通百姓的喜愛。

The Roots of Wisdom, Meditative Notes in Solitude and Fireside Talk at Night are the three famous books successively appearing in the Ming Dynasty(1368—1644)and the Qing Dynasty(1644—1911),with subjects mainly on moral cultivation and inspirational exhortations on doing good and working hard, and therefore known as the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"out of their unparalleled status in books of the same kind and infiuence among the intellectuals and ordinary people.

華夏文化的發展，每個歷史時期都有創造性的文學形態，并在各自領域中登峰造極，成為一個時代的文化標記。明清兩朝也不例外，在前后五個多世紀里，小說顯然是明清時期的一個主要文化特色，其次就是那些飽蘊著智慧才情、展示著世態風情的輯錄和承載著先人學說和思想的格言體小品集了。通過這些作品，我們可以清楚地了解到：優秀的文學家，是中國傳統文化的脊梁，他們那些形諸文字的精神與情感結晶是中華文明最有生命力的一部分。世風日下依然能倡導并堅持孝悌，物欲橫流依然能淡泊名利，仕途得意依然能心存憂患意識，遭遇不測依然能泰然處之，國家危亡依然能竭盡忠誠，溫飽之余依然能不忘勞作之苦，生活清貧依然能寄情山水，凡此種種，都是這些優秀文人留給后世的寶貴精神財富。

In the long history of China, cultural development of each era has its own creative literary form and insurmountable height, thus becoming a cultural mark of the time, the same those of the dynasties of Ming and Qing. During more than five centuries, the novels and flctions are of course the primary literary identity of the dynasties, and the collections brimming with human wits and revealing the ways of the world and the compilations of previous classical works, ancestors'quotes and their developed writings must be the next.Through these works and writings, we see clearly that the excellent literati are really the backbone of Chinese classical culture, and that the crystallization of spirit and emotion they created in words is one of the most vivid parts of Chinese civilization.As the breeders of the civilization of that times, even when the general moves were getting worse and worse they would remain faithful to fllial piety and fraternal duty;even when in an acquisitive time they would remain indifferent to fame and wealth;even when content with their offlcial careers they would remain preoccupied with the misery consciousness;even when coming across unexpected occurrences they would remain unruffied and take them calmly;even when the state was in peril they would remain loyal;even when having enough food and clothing they would remain concerned about the pain of labor;even when living a poor life they would remain disposed to bask in the poetic mood between mountains and rivers.-All these refined qualities are the precious spiritual wealth the excellent literati handed down to us later generations.

“處世三奇書”所收納的短句小品均為清言體，風格相似，讀起來朗朗上口，既有詩歌的韻律又有散文的流暢。這些編輯成集、主題鮮明的短句小品，是被柔美化了的格言，似詩非詩，似文非文，是小品文的一種，形式上是介于箴言警句和散文之間的文體，通常由前后對仗或排比的兩句或兩段組成，以達到均衡與和諧之美。由清言匯集而成的書籍叫清言集或清言體小品集，有分編和不分編兩種，題材自由，體例松散，所收清言小品數量少則近百則、多則數百則不等，每則小品的篇幅少則七八個字，多則逾百。內容涵蓋古賢經典和民俗文化，其中尤以演繹儒道釋三家之言為多，形式短小精致，文風飄逸清雅，具有“小品中的小品（林語堂語）”的美稱。

The short sketches contained in the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"are all with distinctive themes, clear-spoken, similar in style, easy to read, and full of the rhythm of poetry and fiuency of prose. So far as the form is concerned, these sketches belong to a kind of maxims literarily beautifled with a manner of seemingly like but actually not a poem or seemingly like but actually not a prose, normally composed of two sentences or two paragraphs adorned with antitheses, couplets and other rhetoric devices to achieve the beauty of balance and harmony, and with its writing style lying between maxim and prose.The collections with such writings are called clear-and-upright sketches, usually there being two ways of compilation, classified or non-classified, either freely with subject matter or loose in layout, in which the pieces collected vary from nearly one hundred to several hundreds, and Chinese characters used in different pieces vary from seven or eight to more than a hundred, and the contents arranged cover Chinese classics and folk culture, mostly related to the sayings derived from the theories of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.They are short in length, vivid in format and elegant in expression, and therefore praised by Mr.Lin Yutang(a famous modern Chinese scholar)as"a mini-sketch of sketches".

“處世三奇書”的可貴之處在于：三位作者皆以其豐富的學養、淵博的知識、明敏的思辨、冷雋的文字、促人深省的儆誡、益人心智的啟迪，以及豁達如禪的覺醒，從古賢經典和民俗文化中擷取菁華但又不簡單地復述這些原文，而是在賦予它們一定的情景襯托后將其鍛造成一個個既養眼又養心的段子，于寥寥雋語中將經典所含的意旨優雅地展現在讀者面前，充分詮釋了中國傳統文人的文化底蘊和人文情懷，為世人展現了一幅古人修身養性的清晰圖景，讓讀者在誦讀這些金科玉律時多了一份愉悅感和親近感。

The praiseworthiness of the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"is as obvious as this:instead of simply quoting the original sayings, the three authors, by applying their rich learning and cultivation, profound knowledge, dialectical thinking, grave and stern expressions, thought-provoking warning, meditative enlightenment and self-awareness, turned out their sketches in the least paradoxes to exemplify the extracts from the classical works and folk culture, and gave prominence to the pieces well matched with relevant scene, sight, circumstances, background or landscape, thus achieving the effect of being pleasant to readers'eyes and minds. Their endeavors fully annotate the cultural deposits and humanistic sensibilities of the traditional literati, and thus enable us to have the opportunity to see a clear picture of the personal cultivation of the ancients, and make us feel more pleasure and intimacy than ever in reading the famous aphorisms of ancient classics.

十年前，周文標先生在上海人民出版社出版發行《菜根譚》漢英對照本時，我曾為他寫過一篇序。據我所知，十余年來，他一直不懈地致力于用英文翻譯和編撰中國傳統典籍，并在呈現方式上做了積極的探索。這次他與百花洲文藝出版社共同成套推出“處世三奇書”漢英對照本，足見他這些年在這方面所傾注的時間和精力。周文標先生是上海市作家協會的會員，我為我們作協有這么一位孜孜不倦向世界推廣中國傳統文化的同仁感到驕傲。衷心祝賀他的“處世三奇書”漢英對照本成功出版，這是明清小品走向世界的一次積極嘗試。期待他有更多新著在不久的將來問世。

10 years ago, when Mr. Zhou Wenbiao's The Roots of Wisdom in Chinese-English version was about to be published by Shanghai People's Publishing House, I wrote a preface for him.As I know, Mr.Zhou has been unceasingly spending most of his spare time on translating and compiling Chinese classics in English for more than ten years, and has made an active scrutiny into the modes of presentation.This time, he and Baihuazhou Literature and Art Press jointly plan to issue the"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation"in the form of three-in-one packing, which shows how much time and energy he has devoted in this respect.Mr.Zhou is a member of Shanghai Writers Association, and I am proud to have such a colleague who has been working so tirelessly to introduce Chinese traditional culture to the world.Here I'd like to extend my hearty congratulations on his successful publication of the Chinese-English"Three Canons of Personal Cultivation",thinking that it is a positive attempt for the sketches of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to go abroad.Furthermore, I'll look forward to seeing his more new works to be published in the near future.

是為序。

It's my pleasure to write this preface as above.

2018年7月31日于四步齋

Four-Pace Study in Shanghai

July 31st，2018