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The Confucian Classics are said to have been thoroughly composed by the great social thinker Confucius (Kongzi 孔子) himself, at least the so-called Five Classics. Indeed, only a small part of the whole canon is from his time, the late Spring and Autumn period 春秋. Parts of the Book of Documents, the Book of Poetry (or Songs), the Book of Changes and the Spring and Autumn Annals existed already during the Zhou Dynasty. But the main part of the corpus was written or at least compiled under the Han Dynasty 漢, when Confucianism became the official state philosophy and thinking.
The books are divided in the Wujing 五經 "Five Canonical Works", including the Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes", the Shujing 書經 (or Shangshu 尚書) "Book of Documents", the Shijing 詩經 (or Maoshi 毛詩) "Book of Poetry" , the Liji 禮記 "Records of Rites" and the Chunqiu 春秋 "Spring and Autumn Annals" (widened by the so-called "Commentary" to the Annals by Zuo Qiuming 左丘明, the Zuozhuan 左傳), and the Sishu 四書 "Four Books", including the teachings of the four philosophers Kongzi 孔子 (the Lunyu 論語 "Analects"), his disciple Zeng Shen 曾參 (the Daxue 大學 "Great Learning"), Kong Ji 孔伋, a grandson of Confucius (the Zhongyong 中庸 "Doctrine of the Mean"), and the book Mengzi 孟子.
The six classics
Traditional texts tell us of the “Six Classics” (Liujing 六經 or Liuyi 六藝), inlcuding a classical book about music that has vanished. This book about music could now be part of the Liji Classic as Yueji 樂記 "Record of Music". If it ever existed as a separated classic is not sure. Other interpretations say that the term Liujing has to be understood as the “Six Arts” (like the middle-age Artes Liberales): the Shangshu representing speeches, the Chunqiu representing historiography, the Shijing representing poetry, the Yijing representing divining, the Liji (or Yili) representing ritus, and finally the Ars Musica.
The nine classics
Later scholars count nine Canonical Works (Jiujing 九經) which additionally include the other writings on rites, the "Rites of the Zhou" Zhouli 周禮 and the Yili 儀禮 "Etiquette and Rites", and the two commentaries to the "Spring and Autumn Annals", the commentary by Gongyang Gao 公羊高; and Guliang Xi 穀梁喜. During the reign of Emperor Tang Taizong 唐太宗, the "smaller classics" were added and thus formed the corpus of the Thirteen Confucian Classics (Shisanjing 十三經). The smaller classics are the Xiaojing 孝經 "Book on Filial Piety", the Lunyu, the Mengzi, the "Doctrine of the Mean", the "Great Learning", and the semantical dictionary Erya 爾雅. Not counting the Doctrine and the Great Learning, because they are both part of the Liji, the canon of thirteen classics is full.
The first to view, collect and compile the classical books were the Han time scholar Liu Xiang 劉向 and his son Liu Xin 劉歆. Xin composed a catalogue of existant writings of the six literary categories, the Liuyilüe 六藝略. This catalogue lists many different versions of one single classic and thus shows how complicate it was to find out the orthodox version of a text and to what quarrels it eventually led. The books that were written on bamboo tablets have been partially destroyed by war and other catastrophs. Until the end of the Han Dynasty, the orthodox version had won through and was cut into slabs of stone in 175 AD (Xiping Stone Classics 熹平石經). A second cutting was undertaken during the Three Kingdoms period 三國 under the guidance of the emperor of Wei 魏 in 245 AD (Zhengshi Stone Classics 正始石經). It was cut in three different forms of characters. The third stone cutting (Kaicheng Stone Classics 開成石經) was made in 836 by the Tang emperor.
The Confucian Classics have been like the bible to the Western world. Scholars attempting to graduate in the state examination had to learn, to explain and to exegete the most important of these books. For the Confucian society, these classical writings contained the basic knowledge for the state system as well as for the conduct at home.
The following table gives an overview of the Classics and some writings that belong to the same field of interest like the classics but are not included in the canon:
The new text and old text schools
The difference between the so-called old texts and the new texts of the Confucian classics developed at the end of the Former Han dynasty. Until that date there was only one tradition which operated with a text corpus of Confucian classics which was transmitted first more or less orally and then written down in the second century BCE in the then usual chancery script (lishu 隸書). Only with the discovery of older texts written in the seal script (zhuanshu 篆書) during the first century BCE Confucian scholars began making a difference between the modern texts used until that date (jinwen 今文) and the old texts (guwen 古文) newly discovered.
In the mid-Former Han period when Confucianism was made state doctrine and the government set up professorships (boshi 博士 "erudites") for each of the classics the following versions and traditions were known:
The "Book of Songs", the Shijing, was available in three different versions, the Lu 魯 version transmitted by Shen Gong 申公 (Shen Pei 申培), the Qi 齊 version transmitted by Master Yuan Gu 轅固生, and the Han 韓 version transmitted by Han Ying 韓嬰. For the Qi and Han versions professors were already appointed during the reign of Emperor Wendi 漢文帝 (r. 180-157 BCE), a professor for the Qi version only during the reign of Emperor Jingdi 漢景帝 (r. 157-141 BCE).
The "Book of Documents", the Shangshu, existed in the versions of Master Ouyang 歐陽氏, Xiahou Sheng 夏侯勝 (Xiahou Senior 大夏侯) and Xiahou Jian 夏侯建 (Xiahou Junior 小夏侯). All three versions were transmitted by Fu Sheng 伏勝. A professorship for the Ouyang version was founded under the reign of Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE), such for the two versions of Xiahou father and son during the reign of Emperor Xuan 漢宣帝 (r. 74-49 BCE).
Of the ritual classics there were likewise three versions transmitted, two by Dai De 戴德 (Dai Senior 大戴) and Dai Sheng 戴聖 (Dai Junior 小戴), father and son, and a third by Qing Pu 慶普. All versions were transmitted by Gao Tangsheng 高堂生. Emperor Han Wudi set up a professorship for the ritual classic, and the discipline was divided into the field of Dai Sen. and that of the Dai Jun. rituals. If a professorship for the Qing Pu version was set up is not known.
The "Book of Changes", the Yijing, was transmitted in four different versions, all four handed down by Tian He 田何: Shi Chou 施讐, Meng Xi 孟喜, Liangqiu He 梁丘賀, and Jing Fang 京房. Emperor Wu set up a general professorship for the Yijing, Xuandi had them divided into three, and the Jing Fang version was only given a professorship during the reign of Emperor Yuan 漢元帝 (r. 49-33 BCE), but this is not sure.
The Gongyang commentary to the Chunqiu annals was transmitted by Yan Pengzu 嚴彭祖 and Yan Anle 顔安樂. They had been handed down by Master Humu 胡毋生 and Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒. Emperor Wudi set up one professorship, Xuandi one for both versions each. The Guliang commentary had been transmitted by Master Jiang from Xiaqiu 瑕丘江公, and it is not known if there was a professorship for it. It might also have been that the Guliangzhuan was an old text classic.
The scholarly approach of the new text school was to use the classics with a practical purpose in government and social behaviour. It was deeply influenced by correlative thinking which saw Yin and Yang and the Five Phases acting in nature, society and government. Minuscule events and statements were therefore interpreted as of enormous meaning and influence. Everything was seen as interconnected and centered on the ruler. Terms and names were seen as crucial points in the whole universal system. It was especially the teachings of Dong Zhongshu that were held in high esteem. His book Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露 "Rich dew of Spring and Autumn" is therefore treated as a semi-classic. With the power of the central government and the emperor vanishing in the later part of the Former Han dynasty the new text interpretations lost their attraction and the apocryphal interpretations (chenwei 讖緯) were en mode.
In the first third of the Former Han period more and more versions of Confucian classics were dug out from different sources: From hidings in the walls of the manour of the family Kong (Kongbi 孔壁), from secret libraries, or from among the populace. Those were the old texts with the following versions:
The Yijing by Fei Zhi 費直, the old-text "Documents" (Guwen Shangshu 古文尚書), the "Songs" by Mao (Maoshi), the so-called "lost rites" (Yili 逸禮) and the "Rites of the Zhou" (Zhouli), and the Zuozhuan as a version of the Chunqiu annals. While the new texts were more oriented to the present the old texts were focused on a more interpretive or even philological approach, without the large theoretical framework that tried to bind together the new texts. For this reason the old text school produced a lot of philological work, like the Erya thesaurus and the character dictionary Shuowen jiezi 說文解字.
During the reign of Emperor Ai 漢哀帝 (r. 7 -1 BCE) the scholar Liu Xin 劉歆 suggested setting up professorships for the new texts and thus initiated the competitive atmosphere of the Confucian texts. Liu's argument against the prevailing new text tradition was that their base was not complete, wrong or defective, and advocated the use of the purportedly more reliable old texts. The academic dispute between the two school should last for the next two hundred years. During the usurpation of Wang Mang 王莽 (r. 8-22 CE), who preferred the old texts, professorships for the old texts were finally set up, including one for the lost (?) classic of music (Yuejing 樂經). When he was overthrown and the Han dynasty refounded emperor Guangwudi 漢光武帝 (r. 25-57 CE) reestablished the fourteen professorships of the new text school. But he also had - at least for a certain time - established a chair for the old text Zuozhuan. This was also done by emperor Zhangdi 漢章帝 (r. 75-88) who established chairs for the Gongyangzhuan and Guliangzhuan, the Zuozhuan, Guwen Shangshu and the Maoshi. Under the scholar Jia Kui 賈逵 the old text school won more and more ground and produced famous teachers as Fu Qian 服虔, Ma Rong 馬融 and Zheng Xuan 鄭玄. These were able to gradually merge the interpretations and focal points of the two schools with the result that at the end of the Later Han period the antagonisms of the two schools had disappeared. Scholars of that time, like Zhou Fang 周防 or Lu Zhi 盧植, are not any more clearly classifiable as belonging to one school or the other.
Source: Wang Xuhua 王煦華 (1992). "Jing jin-gu wenxue 經今古文學", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo lishi 中國歷史, vol. 1, pp. 489-90. Beijing/Shanghai.
The apocryphal or prophesy classics (chenwei 讖緯)
The aprocryphal texts of the Han period are commentaries to the Confucian classics used to establish prophecies on the base of natural and supernatural phenomena recorded in the basic texts. Such phenomena were interpreted as an expression of Heaven's will towards the ruler and the state. Many of the texts are written in a mystic language hardly to understand. These commentaries were seen as filling threads (wei 緯) to the warp threads of the classics (jing 經).
The oldest mentioning of such prophesy texts (chen 讖) is laid into the reign of Duke Mu of the state of Qin 秦穆公 (r. 659-621) but this might be too early. During the reign of the First Emperor of Qin 秦始皇帝 (r. 246/221-210) the magician Lu Sheng 盧生 might have been the first author of a chen text. The most popular apocryphal texts are the famous Hetu 河圖 "River chart" and the Luoshu 洛書 "Book from the River Luo" which were said to have been detected on the back of a turtle living the the Yellow River resp. on the flanks of a fabulous Qilin beast coming out of the River Luo. Both texts are actually constellations of different hexagrams interpreted by many scholars through the ages.
The oldest actual apocryphal classic texts are Fu Sheng's Shangshu dazhuan 尚書大傳, the "Large commentary to the Shangshu", and Dong Zhongshu's Chunqiu yinyang 春秋陰陽, which is lost. From the time of emperor Han Wudi on for virtually all classics of the canon apocryphal texts appeared. Those are called the apocryphals to the seven classics (qijing wei 七經緯). Together with the above-mentioned Hetu and Luoshu and the apocryphals to the Lunyu there was a corpus of 81 chapters of such texts, of which that to the seven classics consisted of 36 chapters, the Hetu texts of 9, the Luoshu texts of 6 chapters, both types allegedly from the times from the Yellow Emperor down to king Zhou Wenwang, and 30 chapters of both types dating from the times of Confucius. Other apocryphal texts of this corpus were called Shangshu zhonghou 尚書中侯, Luozuiji 洛罪極, Wuxingzhuan 五行傳, Shitui duzai 詩推度災, Fanlishu 氾曆樞, Hanshenwu 含神務, Xiaojing gouming jue 孝經勾命訣, Yuanshenqi 援神契, and Zachen 雜讖. At the end of the Han period Xi Meng 郗萌 collected various prophecies basing on charts and compiled the Chunqiu zaiyi 春秋災異 in 50 chapters.
The philosophy behind those book is mainly derived from Yin-Yang thought and correlative thinking. In this respect the apocryphal commentaries are very important for the understanding of how people living in the Han period thought about cosmology and metaphysics. Chen texts were willingly adapted by rulers to introduce new reign eras, and the usurper Wang Mang even based the legal foundation of his government of such texts. The same did emperor Guangwudi on the restauration of the Han dynasty. The use of apocryphal texts became so popular that they even overshadowed the study of the proper classics. While the study of the apocryphals was called the "inner teaching" (neixue 内學) that of the classics was called the "outer teaching" (waixue 外學). During the famous conference of Confucian professors in the White Tiger Hall 白虎觀 inner and outer teaching were even officially given the same status. Inspite of its popularity serious scholars like Huan Tan 桓譚, Yin Min 尹敏, Zheng Xing 鄭興, Zhang Heng 張衡 and, above all, Wang Chong 王充, opposed this unreflected kind of studying the apocryphal texts and criticised them as irrational and meaningless. Zhang Heng's request to prohibit such texts was declined. Apocryphals were only prohibited centuries later, in 460. Their popularity and practicality nevertheless helped them surviving into the Tang period, when it was still common to justify rule with forged texts containing prophecies, as under Empress Wu Zetian who even had forged the Buddhist Mahāmegha Sutra (Datanjing 大曇經) to justify her reign. Even the Tang standard commentaries to the classics, the Jiujing zhengyi 九經正義, quote from the apocryphals. Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 and Wei Liaoweng 魏了翁 (Jiujing yaoyi 九經要義) therefore revised the standard commentary and cleared away such quotations. From then on the chenwei texts lost their high standing and were virtually forgotten until the Ming period scholar Sun Jue 孫瑴 (Guweishu 古微書) and the Qing period scholars Yin Yuanzheng 殷元正 (Weishu 緯書) and Ma Guohan 馬國翰 started digging them out again for academic purposes. Ma Guohan assembled fragments of such texts in his collectaneum Yuhanshanfang jiyishu 玉函山房輯佚書, Huang Shi 黃奭 did the same in his collectaneum Hanxuetang congshu 漢學堂叢書. Zhao Zaihan 趙在翰 published the collection Qiwei 七緯, and Qiao Songnian 喬松年 compiled a last collection of apocryphal texts, the Weiju 緯. A complete collection of surviving apocryphal texts has been published by the Japanese scholars 安居香山 and 中村璋八 called Weishu jicheng 緯書集成.
Source: Wang Xuhua 王煦華 (1992). "Jing jin-gu wenxue 經今古文學", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo lishi 中國歷史, vol. 1, p. 99. Beijing/Shanghai.
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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