Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Xu Shishuo
Go deeper: the whole of Xu Shishuo
About 8 h 30 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who enjoy short true stories, Chinese history, and the character of rulers, officials and scholars. It suits anyone curious about honesty, wit, courage and ambition.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Picture a market where an old woman sells oak leaves. She hears that the magistrate, Le Yu of Yongshi, has died in office. She weeps, throws her whole load into a stream, and says that lonely old women like her have no one left. Everyone in the market weeps with her.
Xu Shishuo is a collection of short anecdotes about officials, generals, scholars, emperors, hermits and remarkable women. Kong Pingzhong, a writer of the Song dynasty, compiled it as a sequel to the older Shishuo Xinyu. Each story gives a place, a person, a gesture and a few words. The reader draws the lesson unaided.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Real virtue shows in small, costly choicesFree
- 2A single sentence can change a ruler's mind
- 3Good officials are remembered in songs and tears
- 4Literary talent is a gift that can run dry
- 5Upright officials refuse even the emperor
- 6Quick wit and sharp eyes read people early
- 7Excess, flattery and slander end badly
Punkt 1 von 7
Real virtue shows in small, costly choices
The book opens with virtue, and it measures virtue in small, concrete acts. Ming Shanbin of Liang sells the ox he rides because he is short of money. After taking the payment, he tells the buyer that the animal once had a hoof ailment that may return. The buyer comes straight back and demands his money. The recluse Ruan Xiaoxu hears of it and sighs that such words could restore people to simplicity and honesty.
Other entries repeat the pattern with gold. Zhen Bin of Song pawns a bundle of hemp at a temple storehouse. When he redeems it, he finds five taels of gold wrapped in a handkerchief. He returns the gold. The monk offers him half, but Zhen refuses. He says he wears a sheepskin coat in the fifth month and carries firewood on his back, yet he cannot take money that was left behind.
Family love and mercy form other threads. Chen Shuda is given grapes at the emperor's table and does not eat them, because his mother has a dry mouth. Tang Lin, an assistant magistrate, sends prisoners home to sow their fields and makes them promise to return. Every one comes back when the farming is done.
The collection sometimes praises these people with elaborate speeches, as in the heir’s tribute to Liu Zun. It simply shows what they give up. Real virtue shows in small choices where nobody would know if you chose otherwise.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Xu Shishuo
About 8 h 30 min to read.Questions about Xu Shishuo
What is Xu Shishuo about?
It is a collection of short anecdotes about officials, emperors, generals, scholars, hermits and women from the southern dynasties through the Tang and Five Dynasties. Entries are grouped by theme, such as virtue, speech, government, wit, flattery and regret.
Who wrote Xu Shishuo and when?
Kong Pingzhong, a Song dynasty writer who died in 1111, compiled it. He modeled it on the earlier Shishuo Xinyu, drawing on dynastic histories and older records to collect stories of notable people.
Is Xu Shishuo a true story?
It gathers anecdotes about real historical figures such as Taizong, Wei Zheng and Di Renjie. Some stories, especially those about dreams, omens and divination, follow older traditions, so they show what people of the time believed.
What does the title Xu Shishuo mean?
Xu means continuation or sequel. Shishuo refers to accounts of the talk of the age; Shishuo Xinyu is the earlier collection of sayings and deeds. This book carries that tradition forward.
Is Xu Shishuo worth reading today?
Its entries are short, vivid and easy to follow, one scene at a time. They offer a lively view of honesty, courage, wit and ambition that still speaks to anyone interested in leadership and character.
Cite this edition
Kong, Pingzhong. Xu Shishuo. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/xu-shishuo.
Kong, P. (2026). Xu shishuo. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/xu-shishuo (Original work published ca. 1100)
Kong, Pingzhong. Xu Shishuo. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/xu-shishuo.
@book{kong2026xu,
author = {Kong, Pingzhong},
title = {Xu Shishuo},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/xu-shishuo},
note = {First published ca. 1100}
}
