content. "The Yingming version shows many more editorial changes and liberties", write Aitken and Kwok, and subsequent versions also exhibit "editorial excisions and additions". "Generally speaking ", say Goodrich and Fang, "the first part of his work counsels integrity in office, whereas the second part describes the joys of living in retirement. Its general spirit is that of the "Golden Mean"." Scholarship tentatively dates the Caigentan between 1588 and 1591. Yu Kongjian's undated preface to the Zicheng version( provides internal evidence. It begins, "Sending [uninvited] visitors away, I am leading a retired life all by myself in a thatched cottage." The preface further says, "One day my friend Hung Tzu-ch'eng appeared with his Ts'ai-ken t'an which he showed to me begging me for a preface." In 1588, the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) demoted many scholar-bureaucrats involved in a scandal, including Yu Kongjian who retired to the lower Yangzi River valley, where he and his fellow exile Hong Zicheng lived. In 1591, the Caigentan was first published as an appendix to Gao Lian's Zunsheng Bajian 遵生八笺 "Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life". Thus, the Caigentan reasonably dates from 1588 to 1591. The classic Caigentan "Vegetable Roots Discourse" remains popular in the present day. Digital editions are freely available on the Internet, and comic book adaptations are offered in both Japanese manga and Chinese manhua. Contents In terms of traditional Chinese literary genres, the Caigentan is a yulu 語錄 (lit. "recorded sayings") "quotations; aphorisms", a subtype of shanshu 善書 ("good book") "moral-instruction; morality" book category. The individual entries are predominantly written in pianwen 駢文 "parallel style", an ornate rhythmical prose marked by parallelism or chiasmus. For instance, 口乃心之門, 守口不密, 洩盡真機; 意乃心之足, 防意不嚴, 走盡邪蹊. (1:220) The mouth is the portal of the mind. If not carefully guarded, it leaks true intents and motives. Feelings are the feet of the mind. If not carefully watched, they will take you onto all kinds of wayward paths. The Caigentan records life lessons from the decadent and corrupt late Ming society, many of which have universal appeal. Take, for example, this warning to partygoers. Those who pick up their coats to depart at the height of festivity are admired as adepts who can halt at the precipice. Those who pursue their night journey after their candle has burned out are ridiculed as ordinary persons awash in the bitter sea. (2:104) Referring to the first of the Buddhist Four