Essential Works for Governance (5-Volume Set) [Volume 4]

Essentials of Governance from Diverse Books is a monumental work compiled by Wei Zheng and others under the orders of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, a great ruler of his generation, for the purpose of governance. It categorizes the contents into three major sections: Classics, Histories, and Philosophical Writings, covering materials from pre-Qin period to the Jin Dynasty. It compiles the essential articles on self-cultivation, family harmony, statecraft, and world peace from the Six Classics, various histories, and various philosophical works into fifty volumes, totaling over 500,000 Chinese characters. The book features a clear structure, a definite purpose, a practical orientation, a balance of literary merit, and precise selection. Articles were chosen closely adhering to the compilation goal of "e;governance and statecraft"e;. It retains the original structure of the source books while allowing readers to understand the whole by examining the part and trace the development of events from beginning to end. Meanwhile, the selected articles were appropriately edited and combined to make the essays more concise and the arguments clearer. The "e;Three Complete Versions"e; of Essentials of Governance from Diverse Books is based on the Japanese Tenmei edition of Wanyubei Zang included in the Continued Compilation of the Four Libraries' Complete Collection of Books, and provides annotations and vernacular translations for both the main text and the small-font ancient annotations. In particular, the annotation and translation of the ancient annotations in the book are unique to this annotated and translated version of Essentials of Governance from Diverse Books.