The authors select 20 pieces of fragments from The Scholars – the Chinese literary classic in the period of Ming and Qing dynasties, and then reinvent them into 20 pieces of new articles which vividly depict 20 styles of ancient Confucian scholars. Each story is independent, but somewhat related; the plot is more enriched and the conception is more sophisticated; and the text is written in a modern vernacular language which is smooth, lively, interesting and readable. In the book there are 20 illustrations which are actually original Chinese paintings and 20 calligraphy works (regular scripts in small characters). The paintings, either in thick or light color, bring out the best in the text and show their own aesthetic value. The calligraphy works are written in traditional Chinese characters in vertical columns. The marking method in ancient Chinese books about sentence and clause is exhibited, which underlines the classic and elegant style of this book.

Jin Yue, Master of Arts from Nanjing University, is a part-time teacher for international students of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Tsinghua University; and a full-time worker on early childhood education and picture book creation. Jin is mainly dedicated to children’s literature and education.

Qi Weiwei is Master of Fine Arts from Renmin University of China and majored in traditional Chinese painting. He is now a professional dedicated to painting creation.

Xiao Jianjun is PhD in Aesthetics from Renmin University of China, and holding a postal-doctoral position at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy Of Social Sciences. He is mainly engaged in calligraphy theory and creation.