Lives of Lofty Scholars

Not all the heroes of old China were ministers and generals. Huangfu Mi, an invalid scholar who refused every official appointment, collected the lives of those who, like him, turned their backs on power: the hermit Xu You who washed his ears after being offered the throne, the farmer who would not give his name to Confucius, the fisherman who sang to Qu Yuan, and the recluses of Han who preferred poverty and the mountains to rank. These short biographies, ninety or so, are full of wit, stubbornness and quiet dignity. This complete new English translation gives the whole collection, with its preface, the classic portrait gallery of the Chinese tradition of eremitism. Names are given in modern pinyin, offices and titles are rendered plainly, and the narrative runs as continuous English prose, so the book can be read straight through by anyone curious about China's past, not only by specialists.