Classic of History
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The Classic of History (Chinese: 書經/书经; pinyin: Shūjīng) is a compilation of documentary records related to events in ancient history of China. It is also commonly known as the Shàngshū (Chinese: 尚書/尚书, literally: Esteemed Documents), or simply Shū (Chinese: 書/书, colloquially: Documents).
Contents |
[edit] Compilation
The book consists of 58 chapters (including eight subsections), of which 33 are generally considered authentic works of the 6th century BC. The first five chapters of the book purport to preserve the sayings and recall the deeds of such illustrious emperors as Yao and Shun, who reigned during legendary age; the next 4 are devoted to the Xia Dynasty, the historicity of which has not been definitively established; the next 17 chapters deal with the Shang Dynasty and its collapse. The blame for this is placed on the last Shang ruler, who is described as oppressive, murderous, extravagant, and lustful. The final 32 chapters cover the Zhou Dynasty until the reign of Duke Mu of Qin. It contains examples of early Chinese prose, and is generally considered one of the Five Classics, it also has been translated as the Classic of Documents or the Book of History. The Shujing is possibly the earliest narrative of China, and may predate the Historiai of Herodotus as a history by a century. Many citations of the Shangshu can be found in the bamboo slips texts from the tombs of Guodian, in Hubei, dated to the 300 BC.
[edit] Transmitting of texts
In the transmission of the book, there are in the gross of three directions; New Text version, Old Text version, and the forged Old Text version. The first, transmitted by Fu Sheng after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, was a New Text version in 33 chapters (originally 29 or 28, but some chapters have been divided by Du Lin during the 1st century), which had lost more than 72 chapters of the original. The second version was an Old Text version found by Prince Liu Yu and transmitted by Kong Anguo during the last half of the 2nd century BC, which added some 16 new chapters and were part of the Old Text Classics later championed by the scholar Liu Xin during the beginning of 1st century, the chapters were lost during the later times. The third, was a forged version of the Old Text with 26 chapters (including one preface), which had been allegedly rediscovered by the scholar Mei Ze during the 4th century, and presented to the imperial court of the Eastern Jin. His version consists of 59 chapters which stemmed from both 33 extended chapters (originally Fu Sheng's 29 chapters, if including The Great Speech) and the final 26 chapters added. By then most of the versions of Old Text had been lost since then.
Since the Song Dynasty, starting from Zhu Xi, many doubts had been expressed concerning the provenance of the existing Old Text chapters of the book, but it was not until Yan Ruoju's research and the definitive conclusions he drew in his unpublished but widely distributed manuscript entitled Evidential analysis of the Old Text Documents that the question was considered settled by the 17th century.
[edit] Contents
| ## | Chinese | Translation New Text version; forged Old Text version |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 (01) | 虞書 | 堯典 | Document of Yu [Shun] | The Canon of Yao |
| 02 (02) | 舜典 | The Canon of Shun (originally a section under Yao) |
||
| 03 (01) | 大禹謨 | The Counsels of Great Yu | ||
| 04 (03) | 皋陶謨 | The Counsels of Gaotao | ||
| 05 (04) | 益稷 | Yi and Ji (originally a section under Gaotao) |
||
| 06 (05) | 夏書 | 禹貢 | Document of Xia [Dynasty] | The Tribute of [Great] Yu |
| 07 (06) | 甘誓 | The Speech at [the Battle of] Gan | ||
| 08 (02) | 五子之歌 | The Songs of the [King Taikang's] Five Brothers | ||
| 09 (03) | 胤征 | The Punitive Expedition [on King Zhongkang] of Yin | ||
| 10 (07) | 商書 | 湯誓 | Document of Shang [Dynasty] | The Speech of [King] Tang |
| 11 (04) | 仲虺之誥 | The Announcement of Zhonghui | ||
| 12 (05) | 湯誥 | The Announcement of [King] Tang | ||
| 13 (06) | 伊訓 | The Instructions of Yi [Yin] | ||
| 14 (07-09) | 太甲上中下 | King Taijia Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 15 (10) | 咸有一德 | The Common Possession of Pure Virtue | ||
| 16 (08-10) | 盤庚上中下 | King Pangeng Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 17 (11-13) | 說命上中下 | The Charge to Yue [of Fuxian] Part 1, 2 & 3 | ||
| 18 (11) | 高宗肜日 | The Day of the Supplementary Sacrifice of King Gaozong [Wuding] | ||
| 19 (12) | 西伯戡黎 | The Chief of the West [King Wen]'s Conquest of [the State of] Li | ||
| 20 (13) | 微子 | Prince Weizi | ||
| 21 (14-16) | 周書 | 泰誓上中下 | Document of Zhou [Dynasty] | The Great Speech Part 1, 2 & 3 |
| 22 (14) | 牧誓 | The Speech at [the Battle of] Muye | ||
| 23 (17) | 武成 | The Successful Completion of the War [on Shang] | ||
| 24 (15) | 洪範 | The Great Plan [of Jizi] | ||
| 25 (18) | 旅獒 | The Hounds of [the Western Tribesmen] Lu | ||
| 26 (16) | 金滕 | The Golden Coffer [of Zhou Gong] | ||
| 27 (17) | 大誥 | The Great Announcement | ||
| 28 (19) | 微子之命 | The Charge to Prince Weizi | ||
| 29 (18) | 康誥 | The Announcement to Prince Kang | ||
| 30 (19) | 酒誥 | The Announcement about Drunkenness | ||
| 31 (20) | 梓材 | The Timber of Rottlera | ||
| 32 (21) | 召誥 | The Announcement of Duke Shao | ||
| 33 (22) | 洛誥 | The Announcement Concerning Luoyang | ||
| 34 (23) | 多士 | The Numerous Officers | ||
| 35 (24) | 無逸 | Against Luxurious Ease | ||
| 36 (25) | 君奭 | Lord Shi [Duke Shao] | ||
| 37 (20) | 蔡仲之命 | The Charge to Cai Zhong | ||
| 38 (26) | 多方 | The Numerous Regions | ||
| 39 (27) | 立政 | The Establishment of Government | ||
| 40 (21) | 周官 | The Offices of Zhou | ||
| 41 (22) | 君陳 | Lord Chen | ||
| 42 (28) | 顧命 | The Testamentary Charge | ||
| 43 (29) | 康王之誥 | The Announcement of King Kang (originally a section under Testamentary) |
||
| 44 (23) | 畢命 | The Charge to the Duke of Bi | ||
| 45 (24) | 君牙 | Lord Ya | ||
| 46 (25) | 冏命 | The Charge to Jiong | ||
| 47 (30) | 呂刑 | Marquis Lu on Punishments | ||
| 48 (31) | 文侯之命 | The Charge to Marquis Wen [of Jin] | ||
| 49 (32) | 費誓 | The Speech at [the Battle of] Fei | ||
| 50 (33) | 秦誓 | The Speech of [the Duke Mu of] Qin | ||
[edit] References
- Liao Mingchun (2001). A Preliminary Study on the Newly-unearthed Bamboo Inscriptions of the Chu Kingdom: An Investigation of the Materials from and about the Shangshu in the Guodian Chu Slips. Taipei: Taiwan Guji Publishing Co.. ISBN 957-0414-59-6.
[edit] External links
- Shu Jing (Full text in Chinese)
- Shu Jing (Books of History)
| The Four Books and Five Classics (四書五經) | |
| The Four Books: |
The Great Learning (大學) | The Doctrine of the Mean (中庸) | The Analects (論語) | The Mencius (孟子) |
|---|---|
| The Five Classics: |
Classic of Changes (易經) | Classic of Poetry (詩經) | Classic of Rites (禮記) | Classic of History (書經) | Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋) |
 |
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