The ''Mao Commentary'' () is one of the four early traditions of commentary on the ''

Classic of Poetry 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, co ...

''. The ''Mao Commentary'' is attributed to either Mao Chang 萇 or Mao Heng 亨 (both pre 221 BCE; dates unclear). The "

Yiwenzhi "Yiwenzhi" (), or the "Treatise on Literature", is the bibliographical section of the ''Hanshu'' (''Book of Han'') by the Chinese historian Ban Gu (32–92 AD), who completed the work begun by his father Ban Biao. The bibliographical catalog is the ...

" of the '' Book of Han'' refers to the Mao Commentary under the title ''Maoshi guxun zhuan'' 毛詩故訓傳 as one of two works by Mao on the ''Classic of Poetry''.

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 Ro ...

wrote a jian 箋 ("annotation") on the basis of the Mao commentary, a sub-commentary. This commentary was not officially recognized until the reign of Emperor Ping (1 BC to 6 AD). 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's influential dictionary '' Shuowen Jiezi'', written in the 2nd century AD, quotes almost exclusively from the Mao ''Poetry''. Finally, the renowned Eastern Han scholar

used the Mao ''Poetry'' as the basis for his annotated edition of the ''Poetry''. 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 ...

. Zheng Xuan's edition of the Mao text became the imperially authorized text and commentary on the ''Poetry'' in 653 AD. Duan Yucai's (1735–1815) in his ''Maoshi guxun zhuan dingben'' 毛詩故訓傳定本 (preface 1784), includes the Mao commentary, the Zheng sub-commentary, and other commentarial material by

Lu Deming Lu Deming (; 556(?)–630) was Tang dynasty Chinese scholar, author of the Jingdian Shiwen, which provides annotations on the classics, including alternate pronunciations of characters in specific contexts. In addition to authoring this work, Lu ...

(556-627) and Kong Yingda (574-648). Duan's produced this edition because previous editions confused the main text, the commentary, and the sub-commentary.

References

* * {{citation , title = Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide , editor-first = Michael , editor-last = Loewe , location = Berkeley , publisher = Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley , year = 1993 , ISBN = 978-1-55729-043-4 , chapter = ''Shih ching'' 詩經 , first = Michael , last = Loewe , pages = 415–423 , postscript = .

External links

Maoshi guxun zhuan dingben 毛詩故訓傳定本 by Duan Yucai
Han dynasty texts Chinese classic texts Confucian texts Classic of Poetry Chinese Classical Studies