Mei Ze (; fl. 4th century), also known as Mei Yi (梅頤), was a

Confucian 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 Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

scholar and government official of the

Eastern Jin Dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...

of ancient China. A native of Runan (汝南, present-day

Wuchang District Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the rig ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

province), Mei Ze served as governor of Yuzhang Commandery (豫章, present-day

Nanchang Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province). After the establishment of the Eastern Jin, he presented a purported copy of

Kong Anguo Kong Anguo (; ca. 156 – ca. 74 BC), courtesy name Ziguo (), was a Confucian scholar and government official of the Western Han dynasty of ancient China. A descendant of Confucius, he wrote the ''Shangshu Kongshi Zhuan'', a compilation and comme ...

's lost compilation of the Old Text ''

Shangshu The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...

'' (''Book of Documents'') to the emperor, which became officially recognized as a

Confucian classic 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-Confucian ...

for over a millennium. However, Mei Ze's version of the ''Shangshu'' has been proven a forgery.

Background

The ''

'', a collection of documents written in 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 th ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

. Most copies of the book were destroyed in 213 BC, when the

First Emperor of Qin 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 Emperor ( ...

ordered a large-scale

burning of books Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...

. The scholar Fu Sheng hid a copy in the wall and later recovered 29 chapters of it, which is known as the "New Text" ''Shangshu''. During the early

Western 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 war ...

, another copy was accidentally discovered hidden in the walls of the mansion of

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 ...

, which contained 16 more chapters than Fu Sheng's version. Scholar

compiled and wrote a commentary of the document, and presented it to the emperor. This version is called the "Old Text" ''Shangshu'', which was however lost during the

Eastern 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 ...

(25-220 AD).

"Rediscovery" of the Old Text ''Shangshu''

After the Yongjia Disturbance ended the

Western Jin Dynasty Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

in 311 AD, the Jin court fled southeast to

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

. Emperor Yuan, the first emperor of Eastern Jin, asked the public to submit books to the court in order to replenish the imperial library which had been destroyed in the war. Mei Ze presented a "rediscovered" copy of Kong Anguo's Old Text ''Shangshu'' to the emperor, along with a preface purportedly written by Kong. Explaining the discovery, Mei Ze claimed that he acquired the documents from a certain Zang Cao (臧曹), who had previously obtained them from Liang Liu (梁柳), a cousin of the famous physician-scholar

Huangfu Mi Huangfu Mi (215–282), courtesy name Shi'an (), was a Chinese physician, essayist, historian, poet, and writer who lived through the late Eastern Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms period and early Western Jin dynasty. He was born in a poor farming fam ...

, and that he had salvaged the text from destruction in the warfare that ended the Western Jin. Zang Cao and Liang Liu had both been dead by the time Mei Ze presented the scripture to the emperor. The Jin court accepted Mei's version as authentic, and it became widely disseminated throughout the empire. Mei Ze's version of the ''Shangshu'' includes Fu Sheng's New Text, which was redivided into 33 chapters, along with 25 extra chapters purportedly from Kong Anguo's lost Old Text, for a total of 58 chapters.

Legacy

Mei Ze's Old Text ''Shangshu'' became highly influential. In the seventh century, during the early

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, scholar

Kong Yingda Kong Yingda (; 574 – 648), courtesy names Chongyuan () and Zhongda (), was a Chinese philosopher during the Sui and Tang dynasty. An amorous Confucianist, who is considered one of the most influential Confucian scholars in Chinese history. H ...

oversaw the imperial ''Correct Meanings of the Five Classics'' (五經正義) project, and Mei Ze's Old Text became the official version of the Confucian classic. The ''Shangshu Zhengyi'', likely authored by Kong, provided the official interpretation of the text. Although many scholars had questioned the authenticity of Mei's version over the centuries, it maintained its official status and was the most influential version of the ''Shangshu'' for more than 1,000 years until 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-speak ...

, when the 17th-century scholar

Yan Ruoqu Yan Ruoqu (; November 11, 1636 – July 9, 1704) was an influential Chinese scholar of the early Qing dynasty. He was born to a scholarly family in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Yan Ruoqu is most famous for proving that the "Old Text" chapters of the Confucia ...

devoted much of his lifetime to the study of the ''Shangshu'' and conclusively proved that Mei Ze's version was a forgery. Analyses of the recently discovered

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips The Tsinghua Bamboo Strips () are a collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, that were acquired in 2008 by Tsinghua University, China. The texts were obtained by illegal excavation, pr ...

have further bolstered Yan's now widely accepted conclusion.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Ze Ancient Chinese philosophers Chinese Confucianists Jin dynasty (266–420) writers Jin dynasty (266–420) politicians 4th-century writers 4th-century Chinese people