The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of
Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernacular forms of the language, its poetry ...
, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BCE. It is one of the "
Five Classics
The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism.
Four Books
The Four Books () are ...
" traditionally said to have been compiled by
Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
, and has been studied and memorized by scholars in China and neighboring countries over two millennia. It is also a rich source of ''
chengyu'' (four-character classical idioms) that are still a part of learned discourse and even everyday language in modern Chinese. Since the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
, its rhyme patterns have also been analysed in the study of
Old Chinese phonology.
Name
Early references refer to the anthology as the ''300 Poems'' (''
shi''). ''The Odes'' first became known as a ''jīng'', or a "classic book", in the
canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
sense, as part of the
Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
official adoption of
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
as the guiding principles of Chinese society. The same word ''shi'' later became a generic term for poetry. In English, lacking an exact equivalent for the Chinese, the translation of the word ''shi'' in this regard is generally as "poem", "song", or "ode". Before its elevation as a canonical classic, the ''Classic of Poetry'' (''Shi jing'') was known as the ''Three Hundred Songs'' or the ''Songs''.
Content
The ''Classic of Poetry'' contains the oldest chronologically authenticated Chinese poems. The majority of the ''Odes'' date to the
Western Zhou
The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong n ...
period (1046–771 BCE), and were drawn from around provinces and cities in the
Zhongyuan
Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centere ...
area. A final section of 5 "Eulogies of Shang" purports to be ritual songs of the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
as handed down by their descendants in the
state of Song
Song (; Old Chinese: *') was a state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China, with its capital at Shangqiu. The state was founded soon after King Wu of Zhou conquered the Shang dynasty to establish the Zhou dynasty in 1046 BC. It was conquered ...
, but is generally considered quite late in date. According to the Eastern Han scholar
Zheng Xuan
Zheng Xuan (127– July 200), courtesy name Kangcheng (), was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer near the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was born in Gaomi, Beihai Commandery (modern Weifang, Shandong), and was a student of Ma R ...
, the latest material in the ''Shijing'' was the song "Tree-Stump Grove" () in the "Odes of Chen", dated to the middle of the
Spring and Autumn period ( 600 BCE).
The content of the ''Poetry'' can be divided into two main sections: the "Airs of the States", and the "Eulogies" and "Hymns".
The "Airs of the States" are shorter lyrics in simple language that are generally ancient folk songs which record the voice of the common people. They often speak of love and courtship, longing for an absent lover, soldiers on campaign, farming and housework, and political satire and protest. The first song of the "Airs of the States", "Fishhawk" ( ), is a well-known example of the category. Confucius commented on it, and it was traditionally given special interpretive weight.
On the other hand, songs in the two "Hymns" sections and the "Eulogies" section tend to be longer ritual or sacrificial songs, usually in the forms of courtly
panegyrics and dynastic hymns which praise the founders of the Zhou dynasty. They also include hymns used in sacrificial rites and songs used by the aristocracy in their sacrificial ceremonies or at banquets.
"Court Hymns" contains "Lesser Court Hymns" and "Major Court Hymns". Most of the poems were used by the aristocrats to pray for good harvests each year, worship gods, and venerate their ancestors. The authors of "Major Court Hymns" are nobles who were dissatisfied with the political reality. Therefore, they wrote poems not only related to the feast, worship, and epic but also to reflect the public feelings.
Style
Whether the various ''Shijing'' poems were folk songs or not, they "all seem to have passed through the hands of men of letters at the royal Zhou court". In other words, they show an overall literary polish together with some general stylistic consistency. About 95% of
lines in the ''Poetry'' are written in a four-syllable
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
, with a slight
caesura
300px, An example of a caesura in modern western music notation
A caesura (, . caesuras or caesurae; Latin for " cutting"), also written cæsura and cesura, is a metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begin ...
between the second and third syllables. Lines tend to occur in
syntactically related
couplets, with occasional parallelism, and longer poems are generally divided into similarly structured
stanzas.
All but six of the "Eulogies" consist of a single stanza, and the "Court Hymns" exhibit wide variation in the number of stanzas and their lengths. Almost all of the "Airs", however, consist of three stanzas, with four-line stanzas being most common. Although a few rhyming couplets occur, the standard pattern in such four-line stanzas required a rhyme between the second and fourth lines. Often the first or third lines would rhyme with these, or with each other. This style later became known as the "''
shi''" style for much of Chinese history.
One of the characteristics of the poems in the ''Classic of Poetry'' is that they tend to possess "elements of repetition and variation". This results in an "alteration of similarities and differences in the formal structure: in successive stanzas, some lines and phrases are repeated verbatim, while others vary from stanza to stanza". Characteristically, the parallel or syntactically matched lines within a specific poem share the same, identical words (or characters) to a large degree, as opposed to confining the parallelism between lines to using grammatical category matching of the words in one line with the other word in the same position in the corresponding line; but, not by using the same, identical word(s). Disallowing verbal repetition within a poem would by the time of
Tang poetry
Tang poetry () refers to poetry written in or around the time of or in the characteristic style of China's Tang dynasty, (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907, including the 690–705 reign of Wu Zetian) and/or follows a certain style, often considered ...
be one of the rules to distinguish the
old style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
poetry from the
new, regulated style.
The works in the ''Classic of Poetry'' vary in their
lyrical qualities, which relates to the musical accompaniment with which they were in their early days performed. The songs from the "Hymns" and "Eulogies", which are the oldest material in the ''Poetry'', were performed to slow, heavy accompaniment from bells, drums, and stone chimes. However, these and the later actual musical scores or choreography which accompanied the ''Shijing'' poems have been lost.
Nearly all of the songs in the ''Poetry'' are rhyming, with end rhyme, as well as frequent internal rhyming. While some of these verses still rhyme in modern varieties of Chinese, others had ceased to rhyme by the
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
period. For example, the eighth song ( ''Fú Yǐ'') has a tightly constrained structure implying rhymes between the penultimate words (here shown in bold) of each pair of lines:
The second and third stanzas still rhyme in modern
Standard Chinese, with the rhyme words even having the same tone, but the first stanza does not rhyme in Middle Chinese or any modern variety. Such cases were attributed to lax rhyming practice until the late-
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
scholar
Chen Di
Chen Di / Chʻen Ti () (1541–1617), courtesy name: Jili (), was a Chinese philologist, strategist, and traveler of the Ming dynasty. A native of Lianjiang County, Fuzhou, Fujian, China, he was versed in both pen and sword. As a strategist, he s ...
argued that the original rhymes had been obscured by
sound change.
Since Chen, scholars have analyzed the rhyming patterns of the ''Poetry'' as crucial evidence for the reconstruction of
Old Chinese phonology.
Traditional scholarship of the ''Poetry'' identified three major literary devices employed in the songs: straightforward narrative (''
fù'' ), explicit comparisons (''bǐ'' ) and implied comparisons (''xìng'' ). The poems of the ''Classic of Poetry'' tend to have certain typical patterns in both rhyme and rhythm, to make much use of imagery, often derived from nature.
Authorship
Although the ''Shijing'' does not specify the names of authors in association with the contained works, both traditional commentaries and modern scholarship have put forth hypotheses on authorship. The "Golden Coffer" chapter of the ''
Book of Documents'' says that the poem "Owl" () in the "Odes of Bin" was written by the
Duke of Zhou
Dan, Duke Wen of Zhou (), commonly known as the Duke of Zhou (), was a member of the royal family of the early Zhou dynasty who played a major role in consolidating the kingdom established by his elder brother King Wu. He was renowned for acting ...
. Many of the songs appear to be folk songs and other compositions used in the court ceremonies of the aristocracy. Furthermore, many of the songs, based on internal evidence, appear to be written either by women, or from the perspective of a female
persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatr ...
. The repeated emphasis on female authorship of poetry in the ''Shijing'' was made much of in the process of attempting to give the poems of the women poets of the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
-
Qing period canonical status. Despite the impersonality of the poetic voice characteristic of the ''Songs'', many of the poems are written from the perspective of various generic personalities.
Textual history
![EN-WesternZhouStates](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/EN-WesternZhouStates.jpg)
According to tradition, the method of collection of the various ''Shijing'' poems involved the appointment of officials, whose duties included documenting verses current from the various states which constituted the empire. Out of these many collected pieces, also according to tradition, Confucius made a final editorial round of decisions for elimination or inclusion in the received version of the ''Poetry''. As with all great literary works of ancient China, the ''Poetry'' has been annotated and commented on numerous times throughout history, as well as in this case providing a model to inspire future poetic works.
Various traditions concern the gathering of the compiled songs and the editorial selection from these make up the classic text of the ''Odes'': "Royal Officials' Collecting Songs" () is recorded in the ''
Book of Han
The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. ...
'', and "Master
Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
Deletes Songs" () refers to Confucius and his mention in the ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'', where it says from originally some 3,000 songs and poems in a previously extant "''Odes''" that Confucius personally selected the "300" which he felt best conformed to traditional ritual propriety, thus producing the ''Classic of Poetry''.
In 2015 the Anhui University purchased a group of looted manuscripts, among which the
oldest extant version of the ''Classic of Poetry'' (at least part of it). The manuscript has been published in the first volume of this collection of manuscripts, ().
Compilation
The Confucian school eventually came to consider the verses of the "Airs of the States" to have been collected in the course of activities of officers dispatched by the
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...
court, whose duties included the field collection of the songs local to the territorial states of Zhou. This territory was roughly the
Yellow River Plain
Zhongyuan (), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centere ...
,
Shandong, southwestern
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...
, eastern
Gansu, and the
Han River region. Perhaps during the
harvest. After the officials returned from their missions, the king was said to have observed them himself in an effort to understand the current condition of the common people. The well-being of the people was of special concern to the Zhou because of their ideological position that the right to rule was based on the benignity of the rulers to the people in accordance with the will of
Heaven, and that this
Heavenly Mandate would be withdrawn upon the failure of the ruling dynasty to ensure the prosperity of their subjects. The people's folksongs were deemed to be the best gauge of their feelings and conditions, and thus indicative of whether the nobility was ruling according to the mandate of Heaven or not, accordingly the songs were collected from the various regions, converted from their diverse regional dialects into standard literary language, and presented accompanied with music at the royal courts.
Confucius
The ''Classic of Poetry'' historically has a major place in the
Four Books and Five Classics
The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism.
Four Books
The Four Books () a ...
, the canonical works associated with
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
. Some pre-Qin dynasty texts, such as the ''
Analects'' and a recently excavated manuscript from 300 BCE entitled "Confucius' Discussion of the ''Odes''", mention Confucius' involvement with the ''Classic of Poetry'' but Han dynasty historian
Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'' was the first work to directly attribute the work to Confucius. Subsequent Confucian tradition held that the ''Shijing'' collection was edited by
Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
from a larger 3,000-piece collection to its traditional 305-piece form. This claim is believed to reflect an early Chinese tendency to relate all of the
Five Classics
The Four Books and Five Classics () are the authoritative books of Confucianism, written in China before 300 BCE. The Four Books and the Five Classics are the most important classics of Chinese Confucianism.
Four Books
The Four Books () are ...
in some way or another to Confucius, who by the 1st century BCE had become the model of sages and was believed to have maintained a cultural connection to the early Zhou dynasty. This view is now generally discredited, as the ''
Zuo zhuan'' records that the ''Classic of Poetry'' already existed in a definitive form when Confucius was just a young child.
In works attributed to him, Confucius comments upon the ''Classic of Poetry'' in such a way as to indicate that he holds it in great esteem. A story in the ''Analects'' recounts that Confucius' son
Kong Li told the story: "The Master once stood by himself, and I hurried to seek teaching from him. He asked me, 'You've studied the Odes?' I answered, 'Not yet.' He replied, 'If you have not studied the Odes, then I have nothing to say.'"
Han dynasty
According to Han tradition, the ''Poetry'' and other classics were targets of the
burning of books in 213 BCE under
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...
, and the songs had to be reconstructed largely from memory in the subsequent Han period. However the discovery of pre-Qin copies showing the same variation as Han texts, as well as evidence of Qin patronage of the ''Poetry'', have led modern scholars to doubt this account.
During the Han period there were three different versions of the ''Poetry'' which each belonged to different
hermeneutic traditions. The Lu ''Poetry'' ( ''Lǔ shī''), the Qi ''Poetry'' ( ''Qí shī'') and the Han ''Poetry'' ( ''Hán shī'') were officially recognized with chairs at the Imperial Academy during the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BCE). Until the later years of the Eastern Han period, the dominant version of the ''Poetry'' was the Lu ''Poetry'', named after the
state of Lu, and founded by Shen Pei, a student of a disciple of the
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
philosopher
Xunzi.
The Mao Tradition of the ''Poetry'' ( ''Máo shī zhuàn''), attributed to an obscure scholar named Máo Hēng () who lived during the 2nd or 3rd centuries BCE, was not officially recognized until the reign of
Emperor Ping (1 BCE to 6 CE). However, during the Eastern Han period, the Mao ''Poetry'' gradually became the primary version. Proponents of the Mao ''Poetry'' said that its text was descended from the first generation of Confucius' students, and as such should be the authoritative version.
Xu Shen
Xu Shen ( CE) was a Chinese calligrapher, philologist, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-189). He was born in the Zhaoling district of Run'an prefecture (today known as Luohe in Henan Province). During his own lifetime, ...
's influential dictionary ''
Shuowen Jiezi
''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the ''Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give t ...
'', written in the 2nd-century CE, quotes almost exclusively from the Mao ''Poetry''. Finally, the renowned Eastern Han scholar
Zheng Xuan
Zheng Xuan (127– July 200), courtesy name Kangcheng (), was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer near the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was born in Gaomi, Beihai Commandery (modern Weifang, Shandong), and was a student of Ma R ...
used the Mao ''Poetry'' as the basis for his annotated 2nd-century edition of the ''Poetry''. Zheng Xuan's edition of the Mao text was itself the basis of the "Right Meaning of the Mao ''Poetry''" ( ') which became the imperially authorized text and commentary on the ''Poetry'' in 653 CE.
By the 5th-century, the Lu, Qi, and Han traditions had died out, leaving only the Mao ''Poetry'', which has become the
received text
''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant denomi ...
in use today.
Only isolated fragments of the Lu text survive, among the remains of the
Xiping Stone Classics
The Xiping Stone Classics () are a collection of Han dynasty stone carved books on various Confucian classics. Named for the Xiping reign era (AD 172–178) of Emperor Ling of Han, the stone classics were carved over an eight-year period from AD ...
.
Legacy
Confucian allegory
![Manuscript from Shanghai Museum 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Manuscript_from_Shanghai_Museum_1.jpg)
The ''Book of Odes'' has been a revered Confucian classic since the Han Dynasty, and has been studied and memorized by centuries of scholars in China. The individual songs of the ''Odes'', though frequently on simple, rustic subjects, have traditionally been saddled with extensive, elaborate allegorical meanings that assigned moral or political meaning to the smallest details of each line. The popular songs were seen as good keys to understanding the troubles of the common people, and were often read as allegories; complaints against lovers were seen as complaints against faithless rulers, "if a maiden warns her lover not to be too rash... commentators promptly discover that the piece refers to a feudal noble whose brother had been plotting against him...".
The extensive allegorical traditions associated with the ''Odes'' were theorized by
Herbert Giles
Herbert Allen Giles (, 8 December 184513 February 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist who was the professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge for 35 years. Giles was educated at Charterhouse School before becoming a British ...
to have begun in the
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
as a justification for
Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
' focus upon such a seemingly simple and ordinary collection of verses. These elaborate, far-fetched interpretations seem to have gone completely unquestioned until the 12th century, when scholar Zheng Qiao (, 1104–1162) first wrote his scepticism of them. European sinologists like Giles and
Marcel Granet
Marcel Granet (29 February 1884 – 25 November 1940) was a French sociologist, ethnologist and sinologist. As a follower of Émile Durkheim and Édouard Chavannes, Granet was one of the first to bring sociological methods to the study of ...
ignored these traditional interpretations in their analysis of the original meanings of the ''Odes''. Granet, in his list of rules for properly reading the ''Odes'', wrote that readers should "take no account of the standard interpretation", "reject in no uncertain terms the distinction drawn between songs evicting a good state of morals and songs attesting to perverted morality", and "
iscardall symbolic interpretations, and likewise any interpretation that supposes a refined technique on the part of the poets".
[, cited in , p. 20.] These traditional allegories of politics and morality are no longer seriously followed by any modern readers in China or elsewhere.
Political influence
''The Odes'' became an important and controversial force, influencing political, social and educational phenomena. During the struggle between Confucian,
Legalist, and other schools of thought, the Confucians used the ''Shijing'' to bolster their viewpoint. On the Confucian side, the ''Shijing'' became a foundational text which informed and validated literature, education, and political affairs. The Legalists, on their side, attempted to suppress the ''Shijing'' by violence, after the Legalist philosophy was endorsed by the
Qin Dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
, prior to their final triumph over the neighboring states: the suppression of Confucian and other thought and literature after the Qin victories and the start of
Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars
The burning of books and burying of scholars (), also known as burning the books and executing the ru scholars, refers to the purported burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE by the Chinese emperor ...
era, starting in 213 BCE, extended to attempt to prohibit the ''Shijing''.
As the idea of allegorical expression grew, when kingdoms or feudal leaders wished to express or validate their own positions, they would sometimes couch the message within a poem, or by allusion. This practice became common among educated Chinese in their personal correspondences and spread to
Japan and
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
as well.
Modern scholarship
Modern scholarship on the ''Classic of Poetry'' often focuses on doing linguistic reconstruction and research in
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 ...
by analyzing the rhyme schemes in the ''Odes'', which show vast differences when read in modern
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
. Although preserving more Old Chinese syllable endings than Mandarin, Modern
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
and
Min Nan
Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan ...
are also quite different from the Old Chinese language represented in the Odes.
C.H. Wang refers to the account of
King Wu's victory over the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
in the "Major Court Hymns" as the "Weniad" (a name that parallels ''
The Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Ody ...
''), seeing it as part of a greater narrative discourse in China that extols the virtues of ''wén'' ( "literature, culture") over more military interests.
Contents list
''Summary of groupings of poems from the Classic of Poetry''
Note: alternative divisions may be topical or chronological (Legge): Song, Daya, Xiaoya, Guofeng
Notable translations
*
Part 1Part 2 rpt. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press (1960).
*
*
* Latin translation.
* ; rpt. New York: Paragon (1969).
*
* Translated into English by E. D. Edwards (1932), ''Festivals and Songs of Ancient China'', New York: E.P. Dutton.
* Rpt. New York: Grove Press, 1996, with a Preface by Joseph Allen. .
* Reprint of
**
**
*
*
* Cheng Junying 程俊英 (1985). ''Shijing Yizhu'' 诗经译注 ''
hijing, Translated and Annotated'. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe and
* Cheng Junying 程俊英 (1991). ''Shijing Zhuxi'' 詩經注析 ''
hijing, Annotation and Analysis'' Zhonghua Publishing Hous
* Mekada, Makoto 目加田誠 (1991). ''Shikyō'' 詩経. Tokyo: Kōbansha.
See also
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Chinese classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confuci ...
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Classical Chinese poetry
Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...
*
Geese in Chinese poetry
* "
Guan ju
Guan may refer to:
* Guan (surname), several similar Chinese surnames
** Guān, Chinese surname
* Guan (state), ancient Chinese city-state
* Guan (bird), any of a number of bird species of the family Cracidae, of South and Central America
* Guan ( ...
"
*
Chengyu
*
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...
Notes
References
Citations
Works cited
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External links
Bilingual Chinese-English searchable editionat Chinese Text Project
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Shi Ji Zhuan' from the Chinese Text Initiative, University of Virginia: Chinese text based on
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...
's edition; English translation from
James Legge
James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator
who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...
, with Chinese names updated to pinyin.
''The Book of Odes''at ''Wengu zhixin''. Chinese text with James Legge and
Marcel Granet
Marcel Granet (29 February 1884 – 25 November 1940) was a French sociologist, ethnologist and sinologist. As a follower of Émile Durkheim and Édouard Chavannes, Granet was one of the first to bring sociological methods to the study of ...
(partial) translations.
Legge translation of the ''Book of Odes'' at the Internet Sacred Text Archive.(Chinese text)
at Chinese Notes; Chinese and English parallel text with matching dictionary entries.
{{Confucian texts
Chinese classic texts
Confucian texts
Chinese poetry collections
Chinese folk songs
Chinese poetry anthologies
Old Chinese
Zhou dynasty texts
11th-century BC literature
1st-millennium BC books
Four Books and Five Classics
Thirteen Classics