Shang Shu
Shang Shu was originally the official in charge of documents and memorials. There were no six ministries in the Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the six ministries were identified as officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and workers. Each ministry had Shangshu and Shilang as chief and deputy officials. For example, "The Biography of Zhang Heng": "Send a letter to beg for the bones and seek worship from the minister." Another example is that the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing once served as the minister of the Ministry of official affairs, the poet Bai Juyi once served as the minister of the Ministry of punishment, and Shi Kefa once served as the minister of the Ministry of war.
lt;Shangshugt; also known as lt;Shu Jinggt;, is a batch of ancient historical records handed down before the Warring States Period. Most of what is recorded in it are political remarks and historical events, and some are published. Some of the records recorded by historians at that time were based on historical materials. Because it is an ancient book, it is called Shangshu. (Editor-in-chief Zhu Dongrun, Selected Chinese Literary Works of the Past Dynasties)
《 "Shang Shu" is one of the Confucian classics. It was originally called "Shu" and was renamed "Shang Shu" in the Han Dynasty, which means the book of the previous generation. This is my country's first compilation of ancient historical documents and some works tracing ancient deeds. It preserves some important historical materials of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, especially the early Western Zhou Dynasty. It is said that "Shangshu" was compiled by Confucius, but some chapters were added by later Confucians. There are 28 chapters preserved in the early Western Han Dynasty. Because they were copied in the official script of the Han Dynasty, they are called "Jinwen Shangshu". It is also said that the "Guwen Shangshu" was discovered from the wall of Confucius's residence during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (now only the chapters and a few lost texts remain) and the pseudo "Guwen Shangshu" presented by Meiji in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (16 more chapters than the "Jinwen Shangshu") . The "Commentaries on the Thirteen Classics" version of "Shangshu" currently in use is the combined edition of "Jinwen Shangshu" and the pseudo "Guwen Shangshu".
Reference materials
The Third Book of Shangshu
Author: Zhu Ziqing
"Shangshu" is the oldest recorded history in China. The so-called recording of words is actually also recording of events, but it is just a special way. Notes are more indirect, while words are more direct. Most of the notes are written exactly as they were said, although they need to be slightly trimmed, but there is no need to put too much thought into them. Notes need to be transformed into self-titles and other names, and tailoring is difficult, so it naturally takes a lot of effort.
Chinese narrative writing developed before narrative writing. Most of the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty are questions, and few are written to record events. The two-week bronze inscriptions are also mainly about recording words. It was not until the Warring States Period that chronicles made significant progress. Ancient Chinese language is probably unified, and everything spoken and written can be called "ci". We call oracles "ci", and most of "Shangshu" is actually "ci". We believe that these words were the "elegant language" of the time, which was the Mandarin or Mandarin of the time. However, when it was passed down to later generations, this kind of Mandarin or Mandarin became an ancient saying of Jiqu Naiya.
"Shangshu" covers the Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Most of them are orders, which are words announced to the public, and a small part are words told by the emperor and his ministers. There are also some chronicles, but according to recent reports, most of the chronicles were written by people in the late Warring States period and should be read separately. Those orders were often called "oath" or "gao", and later generations used the names "oath" and "gao" to represent this category. Normal orders are called "Gao", and military orders are called "Oath". The words from the king to the ministers are often called "ming"; the words from the ministers to the king do not seem to have a name, and occasionally they are called "mo"②. Some of these words were recorded by contemporary historians, and some were recounted by later generations of historians. Contemporary historians may rely on news, but future historians can only rely on hearsay. It turns out that these words were just words spoken, not written proclamations; the records of historians were intended to be kept as archives for later reference. There are a lot of ancient archives like this, but very few remain. There is a "Preface to the Book" handed down in the Han Dynasty, the origin of which is unknown. It may have been written by people between Zhou and Qin. Some people say that Confucius reduced the "Book" to a hundred chapters, and each chapter was in order to explain his composition. This lacks credible evidence. It is true that among the classics Confucius taught his students was "The Book of Books". It is impossible to know what the "Book" looked like at that time. "Book" originally means record ③; probably the so-called "book" only refers to some ancient archives that were preserved at that time; those archives were probably in pieces and not compiled into a book. The book may have been written in the hands of Han people. At that time, there were fewer of these archives, they were older and rarer; the Han people compiled them and renamed them Shangshu.
Probably scholars in the north still believe more in Ma and Zheng, while scholars in the south believe more in Pseudo-Confucius. When the Sui Dynasty unified the world, Southern learning prevailed over Northern learning, and there were fewer and fewer followers of Ma and Zheng's "Shang Shu". During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Kong Yingda and others were ordered to compile the "Five Classics of Justice" due to the complexity of chapters and sentences. In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozong's Yonghui reign (653 AD), it was promulgated throughout the world and must be used in examinations. "Justice" became the standard official book, and Confucian classics were unified from then on. The "Shang Shu Zhengyi" used the pseudo "Guwen Shangshu" Confucius Chuan. The pseudo-Kong was determined to be one, and Ma and Zheng were ignored. As time went by, they naturally became incomplete and were almost considered dead since the Song Dynasty. The fake "Gu Wenshang Shu" Confucius passed on in this way for a thousand years, until the early Qing Dynasty.
During this thousand years, there were also people who suspected that the fake "Guwen Shangshu" was a biography of Confucius. Wu Yan of the Southern Song Dynasty was the first to attack. He had thirteen volumes of "Shu Pi Zhuan"⒃, but it is a pity that it is no longer passed down. Zhu Zi also felt suspicious because the words and sentences in Kong Anguo's "ancient prose" were complete and smooth and easy to read. But none of them seem to have found conclusive evidence yet. At least Zhu Xi was not free from doubts and mixed beliefs; he also used the words "human heart" and "dao heart" in the pseudo "Dayu Mo" to explain the Four Books and establish a Taoist system. Wu Chengcai of the Yuan Dynasty categorically separated Fu Sheng's modern texts from the pseudo-ancient texts; his "Shang Shu Compilation" only annotated the modern texts and excluded the pseudo-ancient texts. In the Ming Dynasty, Mei Ji wrote "Shangshu Kaoyi", which tried his best to exclude pseudoholes and found considerable evidence. But those who can strictly examine and determine doubts and deceptions have to wait for the scholars of the Qing Dynasty. Three honorable names should be mentioned here. The first is Yan Ruochu in the early Qing Dynasty, who wrote "Explanation of Ancient Wen Shangshu", and the second is Hui Dong, who wrote "An Examination of Ancient Wen Shangshu". The two books have detailed analysis and conclusive evidence. The false teachings are complete and the truth is exposed. But it would be unfair to put the charge of forgery on Mei Zhen. The third was Ding Yan in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, who wrote "Shang Shu Yu Lun" and pointed out the real sinner Wang Su. The millennium public case can be concluded from now on. What is waiting to be done after this is to collect and compile the Han's Fu Sheng's "Shangshu" Shuohe Ma and Zheng's annotations. A lot of efforts have been made in this area, and the results have been impressive; however, all that can be done is to work on the basis of incompleteness. Fu Sheng's "Shang Shu" has resurfaced from the mist of thousands of years, and the achievements of the masters of the Qing Dynasty are immortal. However, the twenty-nine chapters are definitely authentic, and they should be read separately. According to the opinions of recent people, most of the "Book of Zhou" was recorded by historians at that time, and only one or two chapters seemed to be written by people in the Warring States Period. It is still doubtful whether "Shang Shu" was recorded by historians at that time or was recorded by Zhou historians. The "Book of Yu and Xia" was probably written by people in the late Warring States period, and only the "Gan Oath" was probably recorded by later generations of historians. In this way, there is a distinction between authenticity and authenticity in "Jinwen Shangshu".
Notes
① "Yayan" can be found in "The Analects of Confucius·Shuer".
②The words of "Shuowen": "Mo means planning."
③Book part of "Shuowen": "Book, author."
④"Lunheng·Zhengshuo Chapter".
⑤ "Encouraging Learning".
⑥Pei Piao's "Historical Records Annotation" quoted Zhang Yan as saying: "Fusheng is a famous place, "Fushi Stele" says."
⑦"Lunheng·Zhengshuo Chapter".
⑧The original biography of "Hanshu".
⑨ See Zhang Xuecheng's "Tongyi of Literature and History· Yan Gong".
⑩ "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Yang Lun".
⑾ "Family Language" is named after Kong Anguo, and "Kong Congzi" is named after Kong Yu.
⑿ Huan Tan's "New Theory" is numbered fifty-eight, and "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi" self-note is numbered fifty-seven.
⒀See Zhen Dexiu's "Extensions of the University". The so-called sixteen characters are: "The human heart is only in danger, the Taoist heart is only subtle, the essence is only one, and the permission is in the center." In the pseudo "Dayu Mo", these are Shun's words to Yu.
⒁The above quotes Gu Jiegang's "Modern Translation of Pan Geng Zhongpian" (the second volume of "Ancient History").
⒂ "Book of Jin·Biography of Xunsong".
⒃Chen Zhensun's "Explanations of Zhizhai Shulu" IV.
⒄See "Zhu Xi Yu Lei" 78.
(Zhu Ziqing's "Classics", Fudan University Press, 2004.)