Riding the wind of rebirth

Zhou Zhi has a sense of ownership when it comes to the collections at Shuda University. He doesn't consider what others consider precious as valuable. For example, even though there are so many rare items on display in the museum, he has recently become more fascinated with elementary studies, so he is more interested in the manuscript of Zhang Taiyan's "Questions and Answers on Elementary Learning" from the modern era.

"Questions and Answers on Elementary Learning" is an academic work by Zhang Taiyan, a renowned scholar of modern Chinese studies, who used a question-and-answer format to examine the original characters in the "Shuowen Jiezi" (Explaining Simple and Complex Characters) and explore the laws of language development. Because it was a handwritten, privately transmitted work, it also bears the seals of Zhang's disciples, including Chen Sihuang, Li Weifen, and Xiang Chu. This exhibit offers a glimpse into the style of the master scholar's handwritten manuscript and reveals the influence of Zhang's scholarship on modern Sichuan scholarship. It is also of great importance to Zhouzhi County, where Elementary Learning is a core discipline.

"Aren't you a phonologist?" Jiang Tianxi asked. "Zhang Taiyan's book is more inclined towards philology, isn't it?"

“Oracle bone script is also a form of philology,” Zhou Zhi said. “Who says I can’t do philology while studying phonology? I’m also quite familiar with the history of the Song Dynasty.”

"Look how capable you are!" Jiang Tianxi then remembered that this kid was an expert in oracle bone script, the kind of person who could teach it at a university. Although it was an elective course, it took some skill to be so popular with the students and to explain things in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

Speaking of which, something suddenly came to mind: "Speaking of which, there are quite a few more students this semester who are writing their graduation theses on the Song Dynasty. I heard it's all because of the influence of your novel 'Su Cuisine.' Students have been asking you when the novel will be published. They want your signed copies."

"Isn't that an exaggeration?" Zhou Zhi expressed disbelief: "Don't they really like to criticize me online?"

"Have you no shame? Didn't you just shut down all those who insulted you? Or, to use your popular term, you should call it a slap in the face, right?"

"Old Jiang, you're active on forums too? Which sections do you like to frequent?" Zhou Zhi asked with a smile.

“There are quite a few talented people in the history section,” Jiang Tianxi said. “There are several authors who have started reposting, such as ‘The Glorious Blood Age’ about the Northern and Southern Dynasties, ‘Battle of Tianjing’ about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as well as general history ‘Several Times the East Wind Blows and the World Changes’ and notes-style ‘The Record of Boiling Wine’, all of which are of very high quality.”

“There’s also ‘Understanding Suzhou Cuisine’,” Yuan Dongjue said with a smile. “Because the author stirred things up, readers of ‘Suzhou Cuisine’ often got into arguments in the comments section. When they weren’t satisfied with the arguments, they would come to the history section to start their own threads. So the moderator simply created an index thread, which is an index thread of the discussion threads related to ‘Suzhou Cuisine’. That’s called ‘Understanding Suzhou Cuisine’.”

“I’ve seen that.” Zhou Zhi nodded. “The most impressive one of them wrote a ‘Collection of Anecdotes about Su Dongpo,’ which uses Su Shi’s life as a thread. It organizes and processes the notes and historical materials left by the literati of that time, as well as the materials left by Su Dongpo, Su Xun, and Su Zhe. It extracts all the records related to Su Shi, compiles them into a collection, and even makes its own revisions. It also points out that when I quoted the poems, some of them did not match the era in which Su Shi created them. That level of expertise must be professorial.”

Jiang Tianxi chuckled and said, "Thank you for your praise. 'Spring Night' was written by Su Shi in the fifth year of the Xining era of Emperor Shenzong of Song. He requested to leave the capital because he disagreed with Wang Anshi's reforms. He was serving as the Vice Prefect of Hangzhou. You moved it to the poetry competition he attended with Zhang Fangping shortly after his marriage. Although the plot is very interesting, it doesn't match the era in which it was written."

"Did you write that post? Is it really meaningful for the Dean of the History Department to personally nitpick a novel's flaws?"

“It’s quite interesting.” Jiang Tianxi said without any politeness, “It’s because he got carried away with his research that he ended up compiling ‘A Collection of Anecdotes about Su Dongpo’!”

"Awesome!" Zhou Zhi had to give a thumbs up. The post was of extremely high quality, and it was something Zhou Zhi had been following for a while: "Speaking of publishing, this is the one that should be published! I want to collect it too!" "Our school has its own publishing house, so publishing a book is very easy," Jiang Tianxi said. "I heard that there was some book award they wanted to give you last time, but you refused because it wasn't published and wasn't finished? This kind of novel, which popularizes historical knowledge and is also very popular, should be properly published so that more people can read it!"

“In the past, it was because the book wasn’t published or completed. But now…” Zhou Zhi said, “Piracy is rampant, and you can read it online for free. I’m afraid the publishing house will lose money.”

“If you agree, I’ll go talk to them and see what happens,” Jiang Tianxi said. “What if they’re willing too?”

The key to publishing is the ISBN. However, nowadays, university presses usually have a few reserved ISBNs. In another two years, even tricking big shots into publishing autobiographies can become a business for the publishing house. So publishing a book is really not a difficult thing.

Whether it's profitable or not is another matter entirely.

Zhou Zhi was indifferent; since Jiang Tianxi was willing to do it, he was happy to take the easy way out.

This exhibition was the highest-level event in Sichuan in terms of both scale and exhibits. Zhou Zhi was unaware that this exhibition was the only time that the Sichuan Normal University and Shuda University's "Complete Library of the Four Treasuries" met, and also one of the very few times that the "Yongle Encyclopedia" was publicly displayed. In fact, all the books on display were later included in the "National List of Precious Ancient Books", and ranked very high.

This exhibition is actually the only opportunity for this batch of classic books to be gathered together and displayed together; it will never be possible to have them all together again.

"Is Xiao Miao finding it boring?" Jiang Tianxi asked with concern when he saw Mai Xiaomiao staying obediently beside Zhou Zhi without saying much.

"No, I think it's quite interesting," Mai Xiaomiao said. "The city in this painting looks just like the ones we've seen before!"

"Have you ever seen a city like this before?" Jiang Tianxi asked. "Where did you see it? Langzhong? Or Guangyuan?"

“Huili,” Mai Xiaomiao said, “is also a large city to the north with a barbican in front of its city gate, just like the Lizhou city in this picture.”

Jiang Tianxi then realized and laughed, "This map shows Lizhou. In the third year of Yuanqin of the Western Wei Dynasty, General Yuchi Jiong attacked and captured Xiyizhou and then Chengdu. Taking the meaning of 'smooth sailing,' he renamed it Lizhou. During the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to a prefecture twice. During the Northern Song Dynasty, it was promoted to Lizhou Circuit, becoming one of the four circuits in Sichuan, which is also the origin of the name 'Sichuan.' Its seat was located in what is now the old city of Guangyuan in Sichuan. However, the old city of Guangyuan is quite different from what is shown on the map. On the other hand, the old city of Huili is well preserved and still looks the same as it did back then."

"The South Gate of Huili has already been demolished; a new city is being built there," Zhou Zhi said. "The old city half of the North Gate area is still quite well preserved; hopefully, it can be preserved." (End of Chapter)