a lot of what they do know out of fear. I'm so isolated here, I have no means of finding out the truth. Tell me, how" did it all begin?' Gu Yanwu sighed. 'We've all seen this Ming History. There are, inevitably, passages in it which are not very complimentary to the Tartars. It was written by Zhu Guozhen, who, as nike air max 1 you know, was a former Chancellor at the Ming Court. When he came to write about the "antics of the Paramount Chief of the Jianzhou tribe", which is how the Ming Court used to refer to the Tartars, it's a bit hard to see how he nike air max plus could have been polite.' Lu nodded: 'I heard somewhere that a member of the Zhuang family of Huzhou paid one of Chancellor Zhu's heirs a thousand taels of silver for the manuscript and published it under his own name— never dreaming, of course, that it would lead to such terrible consequences.' Gu went on to tell him the whole story. cheap nike air max 90 The Ming History Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, the three prefectures of Zhejiang Province around the southern shores of Lake Taihu, are situated on flat, low-lying, and extremely fertile soil. It is an area which produces rice and silk in abundance. Huzhou has always been a great cultural centre, the home of many artists and men of letters. The poet Shen Yue in the sixth century, who first gave names to the four tones of the Chinese language, and Zhao Mengfu in the thirteenth, equally famous for painting and for calligraphy, were both Huzhou men. Huzhou is also famous for its writing-brushes. The brushes of Huzhou, the ink-sticks of Huizhou, Xuancheng paper, and the inkstones of Zhaoqing and Duan are celebrated as the writer's Four Most Precious Things. Nanxun in the prefecture of Huzhou, though it has only the status of a market town, is actually larger than the average county town or district capital. Among the richest and most distinguished of its many wealthy families was the Zhuang family, whose most opulent representative at the time we are writing of was one Zhuang Yuncheng. This Zhuang Y cheap nike air max uncheng had several sons. The eldest of them, Zhuang Tinglong, was devoted to literature from his early youth and had many friends and acquaintances among the Southern intelligentsia. Some time during the reign of the first Manchu Emperor Shun Zhi, in sixteen forty something, Zhuang Tinglong, probably because of excessive reading, lost his sight. The best doctors to be had were called in to treat him, but their efforts proved unavailing, leaving him not only permanently blind but in a chronic state of depression. Then one day a young man called Zhu suddenly turned up in the Zhuangs' neighbourhood with a manuscript, written, he said, by his grandfather the Ming Chancellor, which he offered as security for a loan of several hundred taels. Zhuang Yuncheng was a generous man and in any case well-disposed towards anyone claiming relationship with the famous Chancellor. He agreed at once to the loan but waived the need for a security. However, the young man insisted on depositing the manuscript. He said he was going on his travels as soon as he had the money and feared it might get lost if he took it with him. On the other hand he was n nike air max 2009 ervous about leaving it at home. So Zhuang fere took the manuscript and, after young Zhu had gone, gave it to his retainers—to read from it by way of a diversion to his blind son. :..-.,.,.. The greater part of Zhu's Ming History had by this time found its way into print and was already in circulation. T nike air max light his manuscript that his grandson had given the Zhuangs as security was the final, still unpublished, part consisting of individual biographies. After listening for some days to the retainers' readings f nike air max shop rom it with growing interest, Zhuang Tinglong suddenly had an idea. 'Among the ancients Zuo Qiuming was blind like me, yet a book of history, The Chronicles of Zuo, has made him famous for all time. Because of my blindness I've got nothing to do and I'm bored. Why don't I too write a history that will live on after I have gone?' The very rich have few problems about getting things done. No sooner was the wish expressed than amanuenses were engaged to read through the manuscript, paragraph by paragraph, to the blind man, deleting or correcting whatever he thought should be suppressed and taking down at his dictation whatever he wanted to add. But because of his blindness he had no means of checking references or Nike Online USA doing any wide-ranging research. He reflected, with dismay, that if the work he had just completed should prove full of errors, Buy Nike USA he would not only fail to win the fame he coveted, but would become an object of derision. And so, in order that the book might be as perfect as possible, more large sums of money were spent on engaging the services of distinguished specialists to revise and edit it. In the case of those very learned scholars whose services were not to be had for money, Zhuang Tinglong used whatever connections he had to woo them with humbly worded invitations. The area round Lake Taihu has always been a great place for scholars. Partly because they pitied Tinglong for his blindness and admired his singleness of purpose, and partly because they felt the editing of a Ming history to be an intrinsically worthwhile thing to do, nearly all of those who received invitations made their way to the Zhuang residence and spent a week or two as guests of the family, correcting mistakes, making improvements, or even adding a chapter or two to the text. The new Ming History in its completed form was now a collective work by a number of very distinguished hands. Then shortly after its completion Zhuang Tinglong died. Grief for the death of his beloved son prompted Zhuang Yuncheng to undertake the printing of the book without delay. In the Manchu period getting a book printed was no simple matter. Before the actual printing could begin, engravers had to be found to cut the many, many wooden blocks each representing a double page of the text. And since this Ming History was a large work in many chapters, the cost of engraving and printing it would be vast. Fortunately the Zhuangs had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of money. They set aside several spacious rooms to serve as workshops, engaged large numbers of printers and engravers, and in the course of several years succeeded in getting the whole work into print. It was entitled An Epitome of Ming History. Zhuang Tinglong was named on the title page as the book's author, and a distinguished scholar, Li Lingxi, was invited to write a preface. In it the names of the scholars who had helped in the production of the book were listed, eighteen of them in all. There was also a statement to the effect that the book had been based on an original manuscript by a Mr Zhu. As a former Chancellor at the Ming Court, Zhu Guozhen's name was too well-known to be mentioned in full. 'Mr Zhu's manuscript' was deemed the least dangerous way in which the book's origin could be referred to. After undergoing the improvements of so many gifted scholars, this Epitome of Ming History was, needless to say, immaculate in the organization and presentation of its ma nike air max 2003 terial; its historical narratives, though rich in detail, were of commendable clarity; and the whole of it was written in the most elegantly beautiful prose. Its publication was greeted with acclaim by the learned world. It should be added that the Zhuangs, being more interested in fame than in profit, had, to encourage circulation, released the book for sale at a very reasonable price. In its treatment of the period when the Manchus play a part in the story, the original manuscript had frequently had occasion to make critical or damaging allegations. These had all been carefully removed by the scholarly editors. Inevitably, though, some passages in which the Ming Court was presented in a favourable light remained untouched. This was not long after the fall of the Ming, and educated readers still felt a patriotic nostalgia for the old regime. The book therefore had an enormous circulation as soon as it was published and Zhuang Tinglong's name was on everyone's lips, both north and south of the River. Grieved though he was for the loss of his eldest son, Zhuang fere could take some comfort from the fact that the young man had become famous after his death. But these were bad times when bad men came into their own and the good were often persecuted. In the Gui'an district of Huzhou prefecture the District Mag- istrate, one Wu Zhirong by name, had earned the fierce hatred of all the local people by his corrupt and oppressive practices. In the end someone denounced Nike USA Store him to the higher authorities and an order arrived from Court commanding his instant dismissal. During his tenure of the Gui'an magistracy this Wu Zhirong had, by his nefarious extortions, accumulated a sum of more than ten thousand taels; but in order to avert the dreaded Search and Confiscation Order which might otherwise have followed his dismissal, he found it necessary to spend a great deal of money on bribes—so much, indeed, that by the time he had finished, not a tael of the ill-gotten ten thousand remained. The circle of dependants who had accompanied him on his tour of duty had by this time melted away. Alone, jobless, and penniless, he was reduced to knocking on rich men's doors and soliciting 'subscriptions' to pay his way back home. He presented himself as a poor but honest official who had lost his job through misfortune and lacked the money even to return to his hometown. At some of the houses he visited they fobbed him off with small sums of eight or ten taels to save themselves further trouble, but when he came to the residence of the Zhu family, the master of the house, Mr Zhu Youming, a rich and very upright gentleman and a great sti nike air max light ckler for morality, not only refused to make any contribution but gave him a dressing-down into the bargain. 'During your period of office you did a great deal of harm to the people in this area,' he said. 'If I had any money to give away, I would sooner give it to the poor people you despoiled.' Wu was furious, but there was nothing he could do about it. Now that he had been cashiered, he no longer had the power or authority to try consequences with wealthy local magnates. Instead, he decided to go and visit Zhuang Yuncheng. As an assiduous patron and cultivator of impoverished men of learning, Zhuang had the profoundest contempt for venal officials like Wu. When the latter arrived with his request, he laughed disdainfully and handed him a packet containing a single tael of silver. 'When I consider the sort of person you are,' he said, 'I'm not sure I ought to be giving you this. However, the people of Huzhou are longing to see the back of you, so, insofar as this single tael may slightly hasten your departure, I suppose it will do some good.' While he struggled to conceal his fury, Wu's eye chanced to light on a copy of the Epitome of Ming History lying on the sitting-room table. This Zhuang fellow likes to be flattered,' he thought. 'You've only got to say what a wonderful job they've made of this Ming History, and he'll be handing out the white and shiny without so much as batting an eyelid.' He smiled ingratiatingly. 'It would be discourteous of me to refuse your contribution, Mr Zhuang,' he said, 'but actually my big regret in leaving Huzhou now is that I can't take a copy of the Treasure of Huzhou with me. It would have been an eye-opener to the provincial folk back home.' 'What do you mean by the Treasure of Huzhou?' asked Zhuang. Wu smiled. 'You are being modest, Mr Zhuang. In educated company one is constantly hearing that the Epitome of Ming History from the brush of your late son, whether from the point of view of historical genius, command of material, or style, is an achievement rarely paralleled in any age. Already they speak of the Four Great Historians, Zuo, Ma, Ban, and Zhuang. The Treasure of Huzhou is, of course, the Ming History from the brush of your late son.' These repeated references to 'the brush of you women nike air max r late son' brought a glow of pleasure to the parental bosom of Zhuang Yuncheng. He knew that his son had not literally written the whole History himself and the knowledge was a source of some regret. The words used by Wu had therefore struck a responsive chord, prompting the following favourable reflection: This man is certainly corrupt, and, as they all say, a sordid money-grubber; but he is, after all, educated and can be credited with some discernment. So they are calling Longie's book the Treasure of Huzhou now, are they? I must admit, it's the first I've heard of it.' In spite of his wish to be severe, a broad smile suffused his face. This expression you just referred to, the Four Great Historians, Zuo, Ma, Ban, and Zhuang,' he said: 'I don't quite understand it, Mr Wu. You will have to elucidate.' The sudden change of expression on the old man's face from sternness to one of affability showed that his vanity had been tickled. Wu observed it and rejoiced. 'You really are too modest, Mr Zhuang,' he said. The Chron-