Chinese Traditional Story: The Story of Dongfang Shuo

Dongfang Shuo was a scholar during the Western Han Dynasty. He was also knowledgeable about the Yin Yang, the Five Elements, and the Calendar. At the beginning period of Emperor Wu's reign of the Western Han Dynasty, he suggested seeking talents regardless of their status. He asked the officials to publicly put up a poster to recruit talents from all over the world and allowed them to recommend themselves. Dongfang Shuo wrote a letter to Emperor Wu by using 3,000 pieces of bamboo slips to introduce himself. He said that he could recite about 400,000 characters of the Book of Songs and Confucius Classics at the same time he had also memorized the Art of War and knew how to deploy troops. The young Emperor Wu spent a long time reading his letter and thought that Dongfang Shuo was the one he wanted, so he met with him and appointed him as an imperial official.