The title of the book is the window of the book. Through this window, you can get a glimpse of the author's thoughts and interests. When the scholars of the Pre-Qin Dynasty wrote books, they only wrote the title of the chapter at first, and did not give the title of the whole book. Most of their books were circulated in the world in the form of single chapters. Therefore, when "Historical Records" cites the works of Guanzi, Zhuangzi, Qu Yuan and others, it only has chapter titles but no book titles. For example: "Historical Records: Biography of Laozi and Han Fei" says that Han Feizi wrote "Gu Ang", "Five Beetles" and "Five Beetles". "Inner and Outer Storage", "Shuo Lin", "Shuo Nan", more than 100,000 words. Most of the works of the pre-Qin scholars were edited by later scholars, and they were often titled as such and such a disciple, such as Laozi, Zhuangzi, etc.
In the late Warring States period, book titles gradually received more attention. The earliest known book with a self-titled title is "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" compiled by Lu Buwei, Prime Minister of the Qin Dynasty. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang and Liu Xin and their sons collated and organized books, and carried out the first book arrangement and cataloging work in my country. The titles of books received systematic attention, but some ancient books still did not have titles. For example, after the brilliant masterpiece written by Sima Qian was completed, there was no title. Dongfang Shuo called it "Tai Shi Gong", while people at that time also called it "Tai Shi Gong Ji" or "Tai Shi Gong Shu". Tai Shi Gong is the honorific title given to the official position held by Sima Qian and cannot be called the title of the book. It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that the book was finally named "Historical Records" because the word "Shiji" appeared many times in the book.
After the Han and Wei dynasties, private writing became a common practice, and scholars all wrote their own titles. These book 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 the author mostly indicate the relationship between the author and the work, and are commonly used in ancient books:
First, the author’s surname, first name, alias, and serial number are used. named. For example, the collections of Du Shenyan and Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty were called "Du Shenyan Collection" and "Li Shangyin Collection" respectively. Yuyang Shanren was the nickname of Wang Shizhen in the Qing Dynasty, and his poetry was named "Yuyang Poetry".
The second is named after the official position, title or posthumous title the author has held. Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty was a general of Zhonglang, and his collection of essays is called "Collection of Cai Zhonglang"; Ji Kang of Wei State was a doctor of Zhongsan, and his collection of poems and essays is called "Collection of Ji Zhongsan"; Yan Zhenqing, a great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty His title was Lu Gong, and his collected works were named "Collections of Yan Lu Gong", etc. This is a naming method used by the ancients to increase the author's status, and it accounts for a certain proportion in ancient books.
The third one is named after the author’s place of origin, place of life, and place of reading and writing. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu's ancestral home was in Changli (now Yixian, Liaoning), so his book was called "Han Changli Collection"; in the Song Dynasty, Lu You served as an official in Sichuan for ten years and loved Shu very much, so he named his collection of poems "Jiannan". "Poetry Manuscript"; in the Qing Dynasty, Pu Songling built a thatched pavilion on the roadside and named it Liaozhai. Passers-by could enjoy tea just by telling stories and rumors. Pu Songling compiled the anecdotes and strange things he heard into a text, which is "Strange Stories from a Liaozhai Studio". 》.
The fourth is named after the time related to the author. For example, the poetry collections of Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen in the Tang Dynasty were both compiled during the Changqing reign of Mu Zong of the Tang Dynasty, so they were named "Bai's Changqing Collection" and "Yuan's Changqing Collection" respectively; during the Jiayou reign of Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu once strongly recommended Su Xun's poems and essays made Su Xun famous all over the world, so Su Xun titled his collection of poems and essays "Jiayou Collection" to commemorate his past experience of meeting and admiring Ouyang Xiu, the leader of the literary world.
Fifth, the title of the book embodies the author's emotions. For example, Wen Tianxiang of the Southern Song Dynasty named the collection of poems he wrote on his way back to the South after escaping the Yuan camp as "Guide Lu", indicating that his patriotism would always be like a compass and loyal to the court of the Southern Song Dynasty; Xiong Renlin, a man of the Ming Dynasty, went to work as an official in Yiwu, Zhejiang after the disaster. He worked for the people all over the world, and he collected the words he wrote during this period into "Xingyancao", expressing his love for the people.
It is also common to name books based on the content of their works. This type of book title reveals the content of the book straight to the point, making it easier for readers to read the whole book:
First, it is named after the purpose of the book. "The Analects of Confucius" has a saying that the words "Zi Bu Yu" are about monsters, power, chaos and gods. Many people in ancient times have read "The Analects". When they see the three words "Zi Bu Yu", they know that what is hidden behind them is the strange power, chaos and gods. Yuan Mei in the Qing Dynasty said He named his book about the weird things of gods and ghosts "Zi Buyi"; Liu Xie, the author of "Wen Xin Diao Long", wrote in "Wen Xin Diao Long · Preface" that the carefulness of the text and the perfection of the carvings To explain Wenxin and Diaolong, the core of the book is revealed in one sentence.
The second is named after the main characters in the book.
For example, the title of the Ming Dynasty novel "Jin Ping Mei" is composed of the heroine Pan Jinlian's gold, Li Ping'er's bottle, and Pang Chunmei's plums. A number of novels about gifted men and beauties emerged in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and quite a few of them The titles of the books are imitated from "Jin Ping Mei", such as "Yu Jiao Li", "Pingshan Leng Yan", "Jin Yunqiao Biography", etc.
The third is named after the time and place where the events in the book occurred. For example, "The Romance of the West Chamber" is named after the place where the love story between Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying took place; and "History of the Song Dynasty" and "History of the Ming Dynasty" are named after the era in which the recorded events occurred.
In addition, cultural development has also had an important impact on the naming of books:
First, naming according to literary genres. Fu is the most representative literary style in the Han Dynasty that best reflects the spirit of the times. Jia Yi's "Fu in Diao Qu Yuan", Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu", Zhang Heng's "Guitian Fu", etc. are all named after genres of.
The second is to name them according to poetry and academic schools. The work of the Tang Dynasty poet Han Xie is called "Collection of Xianglian" because he is one of the representative writers of the Xianglian style poetry school with many eloquent words; the poems of Northern Song Dynasty poets Yang Yi, Liu Yun and others pursue the pursuit of vocabulary. Gorgeous and full of allusions, they are representatives of the Xikun style poetry school, so their collection of singing and singing is called "Xikun Huo Sing Collection"; the calligrapher Chen Qi of the Southern Song Dynasty published a collection of works by the poets of the Jianghu Poetry School of the Southern Song Dynasty, which is called "Jianghu". set".
The third is named after allusions. In "The Family Instructions of the Yan Family" written by Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there is a sentence that learning is like an ox's hair and success is like a lin horn. Wang Qi of the Tang Dynasty borrowed this allusion and named his collection "Lin Jiao Collection"; in "Zhuangzi Qiu Shui" China's plans are in the sea, unlike rice and rice in Taicang. Zhou Zizhi in the Song Dynasty took this example and named his collection of works "Taicang Rice and Rice Collection".
The titles of many ancient books in my country are clever and interesting. From the titles of ancient books handed down from ancient times, we can clearly see the spiritual development trajectory of the ancients and feel the beating pulse of ancient culture. ("Knowledge of Literature and History")