The book is one of the few academic essay collections by Professor Mao Haijian as a historian who always remains true to his original aspirations. It includes a group of essays on the cultural life of the late Qing Dynasty derived from some details in the author’s vast research materials. These evidence-based and readable essays cover the culture of Hunan, the stories of poet Gong Zizhen, textbooks for emperors of the times, gifts for senior officials which demonstrates the changes in upper class life, among other topics.