The Rites of Zhou (simplified Chinese: 周礼; traditional Chinese: 周禮; pinyin: Zhōulǐ), also known as Zhouguan, is one of three ancient ritual texts listed among the classics of Confucianism. It was later renamed Zhouli by Liu Xin to differentiate it from a chapter in the Classic of History which was also known as Zhouguan.
Though tradition ascribed the text of the Rites of Zhou to the Duke of Zhou or to its first editor Liu Xin, the work is considered by modern scholars to have been an anonymous utopian construct. For many centuries this book was joined with the Liji "Record of Rites" and the Yili "Etiquette and Rites" as the Three Rites of Chinese literature.
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The book appeared in the middle of the 2nd century BC, when it was found and included in the collection of Old Texts (Chinese: 古文经; pinyin: Gǔwén Jīng) in the library of Prince Liu De (劉德) (d. 130 BC), younger brother of Emperor Wu of Han. From at least the Song Dynasty, the book was thought to be the work of its first editor, Liu Xin (ca. 50 BC – 23 AD), librarian and astronomer to the emperor Wang Mang. Liu Xin was the first known scholar who ascribed the work to the Duke of Zhou. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries AD, following the famous scholar Kang Youwei, the book was often seen as a forgery by Liu Xin. A few holdouts in the scholarly community continue to insist on a Western Zhou date for the classic, but the majority follow Qian Mu and Gu Jiegang in assigning The Rites of Zhou to about the 3rd century BC. Present-day scholars, such as Yu Yingshi, are converging on the late Warring States period as the time of compilation of the book, some basing their hypothesis on a comparison of official titles in the text with extant bronze inscriptions, others on the knowledge of calendars that appears implicit in the text.
The book is divided into six chapters:[1][2]
In the 12th century, it was given special recognition by being placed among the Six Classics as a substitute for the long-lost Classic of Music.
A part of the Winter Offices, Kaogong ji 考工記 ("Record of Trades") contains important information on technology, architecture, city planning etc. A passage records that 'The master craftsman constructs the state capital. He makes a square nine li on one side; each side has three gates. Within the capital are nine north-south and nine east-west streets. The north-south streets are nine carriage tracks in width'.
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