Among so many literary works in ancient China, the collections that the foreigners who learn Chinese in China should know is the Three Volumes of Words, namely, Yu Shi Ming Yan, Jing Shi Tong Yan and Xing Shi Heng Yan. We called them as San Yan in Chinese.

As a matter of fact, the works collected in the Three Volumes of Words were added or deleted and decorated by Feng Menglong in different degrees. One thing that the foreigners who study Chinese in China should know is that the themes of the works are wide and the contents are complex. Some of them condemn the feudal bureaucrat or praise the upright officials. When you study Mandarin in China, you may be told that some are about the friendship and love, more importantly, many works describe the living situations of the common people.

All of those works emphasize that people’s emotion and value should be respected. When you learn Chinese in China, you may be told that the moral standards and marriage principles in the Three Volumes of Words were in contradiction with the feudal ethical codes and traditional notions.