First, the pre-Qin period.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, 300 poems were first circulated, applied and edited, and Confucius founded Confucian poetry teaching. His theory of poetry teaching, the methodology put forward by Mencius during the Warring States Period and the Confucian literature (academic culture) concept founded by Gou Zi laid a theoretical foundation for the study of the Book of Songs in later generations.
Second, the sinology period (Han to Tang).
In the early Han Dynasty, The Book of Songs became a classic. Poems handed down from the four schools of Lu, Qi, Han and Mao reflect the struggle between modern Confucian classics and ancient Confucian classics within Sinology. Based on Mao's poems, Zheng Xuan's Biography of Mao's Poems realized the confluence of modern and ancient prose, which was the first milestone in the study of The Book of Songs. There are four schools of * * * who taught the Book of Songs in the early Han Dynasty, namely, Qi Zhiyuan's drums, Lu Pei, Yan Zhiyi's Han Ying, Zhao Zhimao Heng, and, for short, Qi's, Lu's, Han Shi's and Shi Mao's (the former two are named after the country, while the latter two are named after the family). The poems of Qi, Lu and Han were established as doctors and became official schools in the Western Han Dynasty. Although Mao's poems came out late and were not established as official schools in the Western Han Dynasty, they were widely read among the people and eventually prevailed in the world. Later, three poems died one after another, and the Book of Songs seen in modern times is a replica of the "Mao Poetry" school.
However, the poetry teaching in these four academic centers in the early Han Dynasty was by no means limited to the four ancestors of Qi, Han, Lu and Mao. "History of the Scholars" said: "Han Xing ... said" Poetry ",Lu has Shen Peigong, Qi Yuan has Gu Sheng, Yan has Han Taifu." This just shows that Shen, Yuan and Han are masters of Lu, Qi and Yan. His study of "Poetry" only formed regional characteristics, and there was no clear division of factions. Only with the intervention of political forces can the spread of "poetry" move from disorder to order. The epoch-making event in the history of the dissemination of Poetry is the establishment of Dr. Poetry.
During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the internal development of Sinology was the dispute between Zheng Xue and Wang Xue, and the dispute between southern learning and northern learning. Beixue basically inherited the study of chapters and sentences in Han Dynasty, while Nanxue inherited the study style of Metaphysics and Confucianism since Wei and Jin Dynasties. Every teacher has his own basis, which not only leads to ideological confusion and theoretical differences, but also makes the country lack unified standards in the imperial examination.
Confucian classics in the early Tang Dynasty continued the relationship between teachers and students since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Obviously, the situation of "teachers talk about many things" does not meet the requirements of the unified thought in the early Tang Dynasty. Politically and ideologically, it has become a top priority to unify the Confucian classics and style of study between the North and the South. Confucius' Mao Shi Zheng Yi completed the unification of various schools of Sinology and became the second milestone in the study of The Book of Songs.
Third, the Song Dynasty (Song Zhiming).
In order to solve the contradictions in the later feudal society, the Song Dynasty reformed Confucianism, raised a speculative style of study based on free textual research and argumentation, and criticized and argued the study of The Book of Songs, which overwhelmed Sinology. Zhuxi's Biography of Poems is a masterpiece of the study of the Book of Songs in the Song Dynasty. Based on Neo-Confucianism, it focuses on the research results of exegesis and textual research of Song people, and initially notes that the literary characteristics of The Book of Songs are the third milestone in the study of The Book of Songs.
Yuan and Ming Dynasties are the continuation of Song studies. Biography of Poetry has an authoritative position that must be followed for hundreds of years, and the last stream of Song studies is rigid and empty. It was not until the end of the Ming Dynasty that achievements were made in the phonology and textual research of famous things in The Book of Songs. There is also a literary study of the Book of Songs in the poetry talks of the Ming Dynasty.
Fourth, the New Sinology Period (Qing Dynasty).
Qing people advocated the revival of Chinese studies, liberated Chinese studies by restoring ancient ways, and demanded to get rid of the shackles of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. The Book of Songs Song Xuexue in the early Qing Dynasty is a general work. After this struggle, sinology overwhelmed Song. The political pressure in the period of Ganjia produced a school of textual research based on Confucian classics, which conducted extensive textual research on the words, phonology, exegesis and famous things of The Book of Songs. The social crisis after Daoxian gave birth to modern literary schools. They searched and studied these three poems and promoted social reformism by giving full play to the principle of justice. Within the new sinology, the struggle between modern literature and ancient literature began again. In the Qing Dynasty, there were independent thinkers such as Yao Jiheng, Cui Shu, Fang Yurun, etc.
With the rapid transformation of China society to semi-feudal and semi-colonial, under the impact of modern democracy and scientific thought, the remaining ancient literature of the Qing Dynasty, modern literature of the Qing Dynasty and Song studies all declined.
Modern Times
As an important turning point in the study history of The Book of Songs, the study of The Book of Songs in the first half of the 20th century was different from that before and after. The 1920s and 1930s was a special historical period, with social transformation, cultural replacement and academic turning point. Everything is in a state of mixing the old and the new. As early as the period of the old democratic revolution before the May 4th Movement, the democratic revolutionaries represented by Lu Xun studied the Book of Songs with revolutionary democratic ideas.
In the research field of The Book of Songs, there are not only traditional scholars such as Zhang Taiyan, Wu Kaisheng and Lin Yiguang, but also modern scholars with high comprehensive quality such as Hu Shi and Wen Yiduo.
Judging from the research results, under the control of Confucian classics, traditional scholars continued their traditional research on annotation and sparse, and achieved certain results, represented by Wu Kaisheng's Poetry and Lin Yiguang's interpretation of The Book of Songs. Although it is a continuation of Confucian classics, there are quite a few enlightened actions, which coincide with the research principles of the modern Book of Songs and are a manifestation of the research situation of old and new hybrids.
Under the guidance of modern research ideas, the academic achievements made by new scholars under the new research mode were the mainstream of the study of the Book of Songs in this period, which represented the level that the study of the Book of Songs could reach at that time. Hu Shi is the pioneer of the modern study of the Book of Songs. Gu Jiegang's position in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Zhu Ziqing's theory of prosperity, Zhu Dongrun's theory of poetry and Wen Yiduo's Song and Poetry are far superior to traditional poetry works for their systematic, coherent and meticulous features. The most representative is Wen Yiduo, who put forward many novel ideas in his rich works on the study of the Book of Songs, combined with the methods of folklore, literary analysis and textual research, revealed the content and artistry of the Book of Songs, and founded a new study of the Book of Songs.
The study of The Book of Songs in the Republic of China was in a special period when the old and new academic paradigms alternated, which determined that its academic thought must be absolute and one-sided. This generation of scholars are eager to overthrow the traditional research mode of Confucian classics, open up a new situation in the study of the Book of Songs, and pay more attention to the disadvantages of the traditional study of the Book of Songs, especially to reject the orthodox view of the study of the Book of Songs. This kind of understanding has distinct color of the times and specific historical value and significance, but its defects and deficiencies are also beyond doubt. In the long run, it will inevitably lead to historical nihilism and hinder the objectivity, fairness and depth of research.
Guo Moruo, the founder of modern translation of The Book of Songs, put forward a scientific research system that applied the Book of Songs to the study of ancient history. 1930 published "Research on Ancient Society in China", which made extensive use of historical documents such as poems, books, the Book of Changes, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze, and began to explore the ancient social forms in China. Ten Criticism Books and Bronze Age published by 1945 further developed the previous viewpoints, revised some arguments, and accurately established the slave society theory of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Songs is widely quoted as an argument in two books. 1952 published the Slavery Age, which collected the research papers after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Many articles in the book have talked about the Book of Songs, especially the discussion of the society of the Zhou Dynasty and simply talking about the Book of Songs, and made a comprehensive evaluation of the historical and literary value of the Book of Songs.
The literary research of The Book of Songs in the 20th century completely surpassed the traditional research mode of exegesis, deconstruction, understanding and appreciation, and made great breakthroughs in terms of concepts and methods, as well as in depth and breadth. On the basis of grasping the essential characteristics and development law of literature, modern literary interpretation should pay attention to the combination of demonstration, sentiment and theory, analyze in the unity of work content and historical environment, image and understanding, form and content, emotion and thought, excavate its profound connotation through the surface of the work, and observe it from the ideological and cultural spirit of the times; In art, we should pay attention to summarizing his methods of shaping artistic image and creating poetic artistic conception, and reveal his artistic creation personality, style characteristics, specific means of expression and its influence on literary development.
As can be seen from the outline of the above development, the research on the Book of Songs for more than two thousand years mainly focuses on four aspects:
1. Study on the nature, times, compilation, system, teaching school and research school of The Book of Songs;
Second, study the content and artistic form of each article;
Third, the study of historical materials;
Fourthly, the textual research of characters, phonology, exegesis and famous things, and the collation and compilation of chivalrous materials.
In these four aspects, a wealth of research data has been accumulated. From Confucius to the present age, we should give a scientific summary and criticize inheritance.