Interesting talk about the title of ancient books

The title of the book is the window of the book, through which we can get a glimpse of the author's thoughts and themes. When pre-Qin philosophers wrote books, they only wrote the title of the article at first, but not the title of the whole book. Most of their books are published in the form of single articles. Therefore, when Historical Records quoted the works of Guan Zi, Zhuangzi, Qu Yuan and others, there were only titles but no titles. For example, Historical Records, Lao Tzu's Biographies of Han Feizi said that Han Feizi wrote Indignation, Wu Zhu, Internal and External Existence, Lin Shuo and Nan Shuo, with more than 10,000 words. Most of the pre-Qin philosophers' works were compiled by later scholars, often with the title of "XXX", such as Laozi and Zhuangzi.

At the end of the warring States period, the title of the book was gradually valued. At present, the earliest known book claiming its title is Lv Chunqiu edited by Qin Xiang Lv Buwei. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang and Liu Xin sorted and catalogued books for the first time in China, and the titles of books received systematic attention, but some ancient books still had no titles. After Sima Qian wrote this brilliant masterpiece, there was no title. Dong Fangshuo called it Taishi Gong, and people at that time also called it Taishi Gong Ji or Taishi Gong Shu. Taishigong is an honorific title for Sima Qian's official position, which cannot be called the title of the book. It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that the word "Historical Records" appeared many times in the book and was finally named "Historical Records".

After the Han and Wei Dynasties, private writing became a common practice, and scholars wrote books with their own titles. These titles can be roughly divided into two categories: one is related to the author and the other is related to the content.

Book titles related to authors mostly express the relationship between authors and works, which are widely used in ancient books:

One is named after the author's surname, first name, word and number. For example, the poems of Du Fu and Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty were called "Du Ji" and "Li Shangyin Ji" respectively. In the Qing Dynasty, Yuyang Mountain was the name of Wang Shizhen, so his poetry talk was named "Yu Yang Poetry Talk".

The second is named after the official position or title that the author once held and posthumous title. Cai Yong was a corps commander in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his anthology was named Cai Zhonglang Collection. Wei Jikang is a doctor in a middle school. His poetry collection is called San Ji in the Middle School. Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, was named Lu Gong, and his collection of works was named Yan Lu Gong Ji. This is a naming method used by the ancients to raise the author's worth, which occupies a certain proportion in ancient books.

The third is named after the author's birthplace, place of life and place of study and writing. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu's ancestral home was in Changli (now Yixian County, Liaoning Province), so his book was called "Han Changli Collection"; In the Song Dynasty, Lu You was an official in Sichuan for ten years, and he loved Sichuan very much, so he named his collection of poems "Jiannan Poetry Draft". In the Qing Dynasty, Pu Songling built a pavilion on the roadside and named it Liaozhai. Passers-by can enjoy tea by telling stories and rumors. Pu Songling compiled the anecdotes he heard into a book called Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio.

The fourth is named after the time related to the author. For example, the poems of Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen in the Tang Dynasty were collected during the Changqing period, so they were named Bai Changqing Collection and Yuan County Changqing Collection respectively. During the Jiayou period in Song Renzong, Ouyang Xiu promoted Su Xun's poems and made Su Xun famous all over the world, so Su Xun named his collection of poems and essays "Jiayou Collection" to commemorate his past experience of appreciating Ouyang Xiu, a literary master.

The fifth is to express the author's feelings with the title of the book. For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang named the poem he wrote on his way home from Yuan Yingnan as "A Guide to the Southern Tour", which indicated that his patriotism would always be like a compass and he would be loyal to the Southern Song Dynasty court. Xiong, an Amin, went to Yiwu, Zhejiang Province as an official after the disaster and served the people in Daiyue. He compiled the words he wrote during this period into Xing Yan Cao, expressing his love for the people.

It is also common to name titles according to the content of works. This title directly reveals the content of the book, which can facilitate readers to read through the book:

One is named after the meaning of the book. There is a saying in The Analects that the Son is silent about strange, powerful, chaotic and divine things. Many people read The Analects of Confucius in ancient times. When they saw the word "son is silent", they knew that Machamp was confused. In Qing Dynasty, Yuan Mei named his own book describing strange things about ghosts and gods Zi Wu Yu. Liu Xie, the author of Wen Xin Diao Long, broke the core of the book by explaining Wen Xin and Diao Long in Preface to Wen Xin Diao Long.

The second one is named after the main characters in the book. For example, the novel "Jin Ping Mei" in the Ming Dynasty, the title of which is the combination of Pan Jinlian's gold, her vase and Pang Demei. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a number of novels with talented people and beautiful women emerged, and quite a few of them were named after Jin Ping Mei, such as Yu Jiao Li, Hirayama Leng Yan and Jin Qiao Yun Chuan.

The third one is named after the time and place of the events in the book. For example, The West Chamber is named after the place where the love story between Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying took place. History books such as History of Song Dynasty and History of Ming Dynasty are all named after the time when the events happened.

In addition, cultural development has also had an important impact on book naming:

One is named after the literary genre. Fu is the most representative style in Han Dynasty, which can best reflect the spirit of the times. Jia Yi's Fu of Hanging Qu Yuan, Sima Xiangru's Fu of Shanglin and Zhang Heng's talent of returning are all named after genres.

The second is named after poetry and academic schools. The works of Han Wo, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, are called "Xiang Ji" because he is one of the representative writers of "Xiang Shi School" and has many comments on the continuation of the frontier. Poets in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Yang Yi and Liu Yun, are representatives of Kunxi Poetry School, and their singing collections are called Kunxi Appreciation Collection. Chen Qi, a calligrapher in the Southern Song Dynasty, published and engraved a collection of works by Jianghu poets in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is called Jianghu Collection.

The third is named after allusions. There is a saying in Yan Zhitui's Yan Family Instructions in the Northern Qi Dynasty that learning is a dime a dozen and learning is like a forest corner. In the Tang Dynasty, Wang Bai borrowed this code name and named his collection "Lin Jiao Ji". Zhuangzi Autumn Water has a plan of China in the sea, which is different from the algae rice in Taicang. Based on this, Zhou Zizhi in Song Dynasty named his collection "Taicang Rice Collection".

The titles of many ancient books in China are unique and intriguing. From the titles of ancient books handed down from ancient times, we can clearly see the track of the spiritual development of the ancients and touch the pulse of ancient culture. (knowledge of literature and history)