Wu Jingzi 吳敬梓 (1701-1754) used this novel called "Unofficial history of the scholars" to describe with a good portion of irony the ideals of a the Confucian scholarship and their dedication to study and eremitic life. The author himself gave up his career and began a life of dissipation. His work is a mirror for his own disrespect for the intellectual decay of the middle Qing time 清 upper class. The sources for his novel are undeniable popular stories about remarkable scholars that loved more to live a quiet life instead of pursuing the traditional way to become an official. The langage of the Scholars is a vernacular prose that exhausts in detail descriptions and builds up a mixture of folk and belletristic work. Source:

translation: Translated by .