Youmengying 幽夢影

Youmengying 幽夢影 "Dreams shadows” is a brush-note-style (biji) book written during the early Qing period by Zhang Chao 張潮, who is also known as the author of the book Yuchu xinzhi 虞初新志. 張潮的著作有《心齋聊復集》、《花影詞》、《筆歌》等. He also compiled the series Zhaodai congshu 昭代叢書 and Tanji congshu 檀几叢書 A manuscript was acquired in 1936 by Zhang Yiping 章衣萍 on a market in Huizhou 徽州, Anhui. Zhang edited the text and published it in the Shanghai Zhongyang Shudian 上海中央書店 (reproduced in Guoxue zhenben wenku 國學珍本文庫). It was immediately translated into English by Lin Yutang 林語堂, who had supported the first publication. The book of 2 juan length consists of 219 brief chapters. Its style is broad-minded and insightful, able to discover subtle beauty in ordinary things. It mainly discusses self-cultivation, interpersonal relationships, romantic affairs, landscapes and gardens, reading and writing, social customs and human nature. In terms of literary skills and rhetorical techniques, it is rich in imagination and association, skillfully employing metaphors, parallelisms, and antitheses. The Youmengying mainly focuses on discovering beautiful things with an elegant mind and perspective. It does, therefore, not contain intense or sharp criticisms and instead offers subtle sarcasm without losing grace. Zhang Zhongxing’s 張中行 Fuxuan suohua 負喧瑣話 was probably influenced by the Youmengying. The text can also be found in the series Xiaoyuan congshu 嘯園叢書 (1875) and Chenfengge congshu 晨風閣叢書 (1908) and as a modern print by the Guoxue Fulunshe 國學扶輪社 in Shanghai (1911) which is reproduced in the series Gujin shuobu congshu 古今說部叢書. Another modern print was produced in 1936 by the Qianqiu Press 千秋出版社. The Zhonghua shuju 中華書局 2008. A continuation of the book, Youmeng xuying 幽夢續影, was written by Zhu Xishou 朱錫授 (1819–1870).