Translation of the preface to the Xuetao Pavilion Collection, translation of The Harmonious History

The article cannot but undergo changes from ancient times to contemporary times, and it is the development of the times that makes it like this. Its good or ugly qualities are formed not by following the eyes of a few, but by following the changing tide of time. Therefore, even the flowers and trees that have no emotion must be mutated, and the varieties such as the red and the crane feather in the peony flowers cannot but show the different appearance of the Zuo Zi and Xifei varieties.

Only those who have a clear understanding of the current situation can prevent the article from decaying in the same way as they prevent the river embankment from collapsing, and thus understand the law of article changes. Ancient times have ancient times, and contemporary times have contemporary times, imitating the way the ancients speak to pretend to be Gao Gu, which is as ridiculous as wearing summer kudzu cloth clothes in the harsh winter.

Modern literati began to advocate the use of retro theories to surpass their predecessors. Retro is right, but they have reached the point where they regard plagiarism as retro, simulating the words and phrases of their predecessors, pursuing a reluctant fit with the ancients, giving up what they are looking for and not writing, and picking up the trite and distorted words of their predecessors. Talented people are subjugated by the old asanas and do not dare to display their talents; People who are not talented can also pick up one or two unrealistic words and piece them together into a poem.

The wise man is constrained by this habit, and the foolish man likes this easy approach, and one person advocates the response of billions of people, and even the laity such as the good man and the attendant talk about the tastes of elegance. Alas, poetry is written to such an extent that it is a shame! Then the drawbacks from poetry creation to prose creation can probably be seen.

Since Jinzhi and I have been dating in Wu County, every time we get together, we must use poetry to encourage each other, intending to correct the current trend of simulated plagiarism. Only by entering can he highlight his far-sightedness, and what he writes and says has formed certain rules, and what he says is what people can't say and dare not say now. Some people say:

His prose is elegant, crisp and clear, and his language is solid and long-pitched, and in this respect he is undoubtedly one of the most talented people of his time. His poems are very innovative and varied, and the things he writes can fully express their feelings, but sometimes one or two sentences in them are close to plain, slang, and funny, what is the reason? I think:

This is a work that corrects bad habits, and he believes that this is not enough to correct the ills of superficiality and broaden the horizons of the people of the time. However, in ancient times, there were also such verses, and some were circulated because of their simplicity, such as "the eyelashes are in front of you, and the people are gone"; There are those that circulate because of slang, such as "a hundred forgiveness, ninety-nine hits" and so on; There are those that circulate because they are funny, such as "embarrassed and poor" and so on. Ancient and modern literati were troubled by the creation of poetry, so otherworldly people appeared one after another, in order to get rid of the constraints in poetry creation and to release the shackles therein.

If this were not the case, what could the talented people of ancient times not write, why should they choose one or two simple words that could not be given up by themselves, so as to attract the ridicule of the world? Looking at the poems from this point of view, he is undoubtedly the master of poetry. There are several volumes of poetry and several volumes of prose in this collection.

This collection was compiled, and he named it "Xuetao Pavilion Collection". Shi Gong Yuan Zi wrote a preface to this collection.

A native of Chu who had never known Jiang by birth said, "This is from a tree." "Someone told him:

This is generated from the earth. The man stubbornly insisted on his opinion, and said, "I will go with you and ask ten men to make a bet on the donkey on which they ride."

Later, I asked 10 people, and they all said, "It was born from the earth." The man said with a pale face

The donkey is yours, but the ginger still grows from the tree. There are people in the north who were born without knowing water chestnut, and when they are officials in the south, they eat water chestnut at wine banquets, and eat it in their mouths along with the shell. Some people say:

To eat water chestnut, you must first remove the shell. The man wanted to hide his shortcomings and said, "It's not that I don't know why I want to remove the shell, but I want to use it to clear the fire!"

Someone asked, "Is there water chestnut in the north too?" He said

The front mountain and the back mountain (both on it), ** are there places that are not planted? Ginger produces from the earth, but it says that it bears fruit on the tree; Water chestnut is an aquatic product, but it is said to be a local product, this is because they don't know (ginger is a native product, water chestnut is an aquatic product). The truth of all things is infinite, and the development and reproduction of the natural world are also endless, but if you want to use a simple rule to measure all things, what a chicken!

Urn chicken (i.e., midge, a small insect that grows in a wine urn, used as a metaphor for a person with a small vision).

Explanation: 1 Attacking the traces of the language of the ancients and pretending to be ancient is a harsh winter and attacking the summer.

Paraphrasing: Imitating the way the ancients spoke to pretend to be Gao Gu is as ridiculous as wearing summer kudzu cloth clothes in the bitter cold winter.

2 Every meeting will encourage each other with poetry and writing, so as to correct the trend of the present generation.

Paraphrase: Every time we get together, we must use poetry to encourage each other, intending to correct the current trend of simulated plagiarism.

3 Ancient and modern literati were trapped by poetry, so there were many scholars who released their shackles in order to get rid of their stickiness.

Paraphrase: Ancient and modern literati were troubled by the creation of poetry, so otherworldly people appeared one after another in order to get rid of the constraints in poetry creation and to release the shackles therein.