From Liaozhai, it depicts the loyal friendship between two scholars. Cheng risks everything to rescue wrongfully‑imprisoned Zhou. Later Cheng becomes an immortal, swapping bodies with Zhou and revealing worldly illusions before they transcend mortal life.
From Liaozhai, set after the Xie‑Qian rebellion’s massacre, this tale tells how official Wang Qixiang’s house gets haunted. Ghosts mock his worldly power; only a Buddhist Water‑and‑Land ritual pacifies these aggrieved spirits.
Disciple He Ji grieves over widespread slander. Mencius consoles him that such gossip harms nothing, citing two Book of Songs verses: even Confucius and King Wen endured petty men’s resentment yet retained their noble reputations.
Mencius states gentlemen practice the Dao when the world is upright, and sacrifice themselves to defend it amid chaos. He firmly rejects compromising moral truth to cater to worldly interests, stressing the Dao’s supreme dignity.
Prince Dian asks scholars’ core pursuit. Mencius answers elevating aspirations, rooted in benevolence and righteousness. Never kill innocents or seize others’ goods; dwell in benevolence and walk righteously to fulfill a noble person’s mission.
Zizhang lays four core standards for a true scholar: sacrifice life amid danger, weigh gains against righteousness, hold reverence in sacrifices, and feel sincere grief at funerals. These form the minimal moral baseline for Confucian intellectuals.
There was a scholar in Binzhou, Shandong Province. One day,he was reading in his studio when there was a knock at the door. He answered it and saw a white-haired old man in plain clothes. The scholar let him in and asked his name.
In the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Qingzhou and Yanzhou areas of Shandong Province were infested with swarms of locusts. The locusts gradually moved to Yixian County. The county magistrate was very worried about the matter.