Shandongkid Posted July 14, 2022 at 07:01 AM Report Posted July 14, 2022 at 07:01 AM I've been slowly reading works from 古文觀止 (wiki for those unfamiliar). However there are over 220 works and each one is quite a slog to get through, particularly as I like to not only read and understand the text, but also learn about the author, when and why they wrote the piece, historical context around what the piece is about, etc etc. I tried reading them in order but quickly found it pretty dry.. So I started picking out the most famous pieces, either mentioned on this forum (thanks to Grand 文言文 Reading Project!) or part of Chinese high school readings. I've listed some of these below, perhaps this might be helpful for future readers. If anyone has any recommendations of other well-known or interesting passages from this book, would be keen to hear! Or any related resources/discussion.. seems like quite a few people have a copy of this book so would be interested to know what approach others have taken to reading it. Selected well-known 古文觀止 texts: 《前出师表》，《后出师表》by 诸葛亮 (previous thread; wiki) 《兰亭集序》 by 王羲之 (previous thread) 《桃花源记》 by 陶渊明 (wiki; also in Fuller's Introduction to Literary Chinese (ILC) chapter 29) 《滕王阁序》 by 王勃 (wiki) (quite difficult as it's written in 骈文; but very famous and the pavilion is quite a tourist attraction) 《原道》 by 韩愈 (also in Fuller's ILC chapter 32) 《师说》 by 韩愈 (previous thread) 《祭鳄鱼文》 by 韩愈 (previous thread) (a fun read, I enjoyed this one) 《岳阳楼记》 by 范仲淹 (memorial to Yueyang Tower) 《醉翁亭记》 by 欧阳修 (previous thread) 《留侯论》 by 苏轼 (an essay on Zhang Liang, advisor to Liu Bang from Chu-Han contention) 《前赤壁赋》，《后赤壁赋》 by 苏轼 (previous thread) 《贾谊论》 by 苏轼 (also in Fuller's ILC chapter 34) (an essay on Jia Yi, a talented official in Western Han Dynasty who was banished for a while and died young) 《过秦论》 by 贾谊 (a piece on the reasons for the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, written early in Han Dynasty. 上篇 is best known) 《郑伯克段于鄢》 from 左传 (previous thread) 《子鱼论战》from 左传 (previous thread) 《屈原列传》from 史记 (biography of Qu Yuan) High school readings that I haven't gotten to yet include 陋室铭，阿房宫赋，陈情表，石钟山记.. as well as some of the early stuff (左传，战国策), and some 列传 from 史记. Although I'm currently enjoying the essays on historical figures, so might have a squiz at 范增论，豫让论 next.. 1 1 Quote
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