Guan Zhi of Ancient Prose is a collection of China's prose in past dynasties. Edited by Wu Chucai and Wu Tiaohou in Qing Dynasty, approved by Wu Xingzuo. A Reader for Academic Literature, compiled during the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty. The word "Guanzhi" means "the articles included in the anthology represent the highest level of classical Chinese". Wu Jun, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, founded the library for a long time. This book is a textbook for students. In addition to this book, Erwu also wrote the Outline of Lu. China Ancient Literature was written by Wu Xingzuo in Qing Dynasty. In the preface, it is said that it is "to be edified before learning", which is the enlightenment reading for scholars at that time. In the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi (1695), it was officially printed. The title of the book "The View of Classical Chinese" means that the articles included in this anthology represent the highest level of classical Chinese, so learning classical Chinese ends here. There are also some improper selections in this book, because the selections mainly focus on the formulation strategies during the imperial examination, but as an introduction to ancient Chinese prose, it still has its existence value.
In the past 300 years, Guanzhi of Ancient Prose has been widely circulated and has a great influence, and it is unique among many ancient prose anthologies. Mr. Lu Xun, when commenting on The View of Ancient Chinese Literature, thought that it was the same as Zhao Ming's Selected Works, "both of them have the same influence on literature."
After the founding of New China, especially in recent ten years, many translated versions of the ancient official system in China are based on Zhonghua Book Company. There are two kinds of books published by Zhonghua Book Company: one is 1959 edition. This is a book transferred from the original ancient books publishing house. This book "breaks sentences according to Xue Ying Tang Ben's viewpoint and corrects some obvious typos". The second version is 1987, which is Anping Autumn School. Although this edition is based on 1959, it has been checked with the original edition of Yingxuetang, with Wenfutang Edition, Hu Aijing Edition and Hong Wen Hall Edition, and has been collated with ancient prose collected from relevant historical books, collections and other books, supplementing the preface to the 25 th Five-Year Plan and examples written by Cheng Quan. So the latter is the best version you can see.
The ancient prose selected in this book is mainly prose, and both verse and parallel prose are accepted. Zuo Zhuan in the pre-Qin period was selected the most, and Historical Records in the Han Dynasty and articles by Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi in the Tang and Song Dynasties were selected the most. Stylistically, the book selected 13 rhymes, such as Supplement to Chu Ci, Poem of Tao Yuanming's Returning Home, and Fu of Tu Mu's Epang Palace. These works are "extremely beautiful and extremely poor" and are good at description. Although rhyme is mostly used for description, it is different from poetry in that it is combined with rhyme and scattered to enhance the beauty of sound and emotion. Prose means taking notes, telling fables and so on. The book is rich in selected articles, short in length, concise in language and easy to read, many of which are famous articles that have been told for a hundred years.