The Book of Songs was finalized in Confucius' time at the latest.
Historical Records Confucius Family first put forward the theory that Confucius deleted poems:
There are more than 3,000 poems written by the ancients. When it comes to Confucius, the key points should be removed and the righteousness should be applied. In Houji, the prosperity of Yin and Zhou Dynasties, the lack of seclusion and perfection began with banquets. Therefore, some people say: "The Guanluo Rebellion started with the wind, but Luming Literature did.". The 350 "Confucius" are all string songs, in order to combine the voices of Shao, Wu, Ya and Song. Rites and music can be described from now on, preparing for the king and becoming the six arts.
According to Sima's theory, the last editor of The Book of Songs should be Confucius, and the music used to play is also decided by Confucius. This theory was doubted by most researchers in later generations. Zuo Zhuan "Twenty-nine years of Duke Xiang of Lu" (544 BC), the son of Wu was hired by the State of Lu, and musicians played in the order of national style, elegance and praise. Except that the order in Guo Feng is slightly different, its core system is the same as the Book of Songs today, when Confucius was only 8 years old. In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius mentioned the Book of Songs many times, including twice as many articles as the Book of Songs: "The Book of Songs is 300. In a word, it is said that' the mind is not guilty'. " [8] "Reciting 300 Poems, giving them to politics, which is unattainable; Make it all-round, not exclusive. Although a lot, what do you think? " [9] It can be seen that the Book of Songs read by Confucius and used to teach his disciples is consistent with the number of popular Mao poems today; There are 128 poems quoted and mentioned in Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu, but only10/poem can be identified as an escape poem (excluding controversial works such as River Water and Flying Pigeons), which is 12 compared with the number of poems handed down today. These fugitive poems may not be included in the collection of poems, such as Ji Gong's poems [10] and his poems [1 1]. If, as Sima Qian said, Confucius deleted one tenth of the poems circulating at that time, then the situation of people writing poems at that time was by no means like this. At that time, Master Zhou composed music for poems, and musicians from vassal countries also composed music for poems of their own countries, which spread in the society and became a stereotype. It is impossible for Confucius to overthrow all the popular tunes and compose 300 pieces again. We have reason to believe that The Book of Songs was compiled in the era of Confucius, even before Confucius, and its number of articles is roughly equal to that of Shi Mao.
2. In the era of Confucius, The Book of Songs was sorted according to abundance, elegance and song.
This edition of Shi Mao divides The Book of Songs into three categories according to style, elegance and ode, and then follows the national customs (Nan Zhou, Zhao Nan, Longfeng, Yan Feng, Feng Wei, Feng Wang and Song Dynasty). Is the classification of this version of Shi Mao the same as that of the final version in the pre-Qin era? With the publication of Chu Bamboo Books Collected in Shanghai Museum, people have a dispute about its compilation order. In August 2000, Shanghai Museum published 100 bamboo slips of the Warring States Period. /kloc-in August of 0/6, the first edition of Wen Wei Po published a report entitled "Decryption of Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period in Shanghai", written by reporter Shi Xuanyuan. The article said: "This edition of The Book of Songs includes national style, Xiaoya, elegance and ode. This is reversed in the Confucian poetics of bamboo slips, and it is called litigation, great summer, Xiao Xia, and state style (Han Confucianism avoided Liu Bang, and state changed to state). On the order of poetry, the order is also contrary to the grand order in the Book of Songs. " Mr. Ma Chengyuan pointed out in Notes on Poetry: "The twenty-nine bamboo slips of On Poetry may have the order of national style, Xiaoya and Ya Song, which is different from that of Shi Mao." [12] Jiang Lin wrote: "According to the arrangement of bamboo slips, the second bamboo slip first leads to litigation (ode), and then to the hero (elegance). Only the last sentence discusses the bamboo slips of young Xia, and finally leads the list. It can be seen that the bamboo book On Confucius' Poems arranges the contents of The Book of Songs in the following order: litigation (ode), chivalrous man (elegance), young Xia (Xiaoya) and national style (national style). The order of editors in this poem is unprecedented. " [13] Some scholars, such as Li Xueqin, Li Ling, Jiang Guanghui and Fan Yuzhou, tried their best to maintain the traditional ranking of The Book of Songs, arguing that there was no other ranking method for Confucius' poetics. Fan Yuzhou thinks: "This explanation ignores that the fourth and fifth bamboo slips of the original book still follow the order of national style, Xiaoya, elegance and fu in this edition of Shi Mao when discussing the overall characteristics of each part. Moreover, according to our understanding of the logical relationship of the internal articles in On Poetry, it is difficult to find out the views put forward in the explanation before the interpretation of Chu Bamboo Slips of Warring States Collected in Shanghai Museum (I). " [14] Mr. Li Xueqin wrote the article "Explanations of Chapters of Chu Bamboo Books Collected in Shanghai Museum" [15], and rearranged the bamboo slips of Confucius' poetics according to this book to prove that the order of Confucius' poetics is consistent with this book. We agree with Mr. Li Xueqin and others that the version of The Book of Songs seen by Confucius is the same as the current version, and the order of The Book of Songs on which Confucius' poetics is based is still wind, elegance and praise. There are three main reasons: First, according to the records in Zuo Zhuan, in the era of Confucius, or before Confucius, the Book of Songs was sorted by richness, elegance and fu. "Zuo Zhuan Lu Yingong Three Years" quoted a gentleman as saying: "Wind includes picking an apricot and an apple, elegance includes walking on reeds and thinking deeply, which is a sign of loyalty and loyalty." It is called "elegance" here. Of course, it can't prove that the Book of Songs appeared in Lu Yingong for three years (720 BC) according to the elegant order, but at least it can show that the order of the Book of Songs seen by the author of Zuo Zhuan may be "elegance" first; The most telling thing is the sequence of the Book of Songs sung by Lu when Wu entered Lu Guanle in the 29th year of Duke Xiang of Lu (544 BC). Musicians played in the order of abundance, elegance and praise, which should reflect the basic order of the Book of Songs at that time. In order to prove the different versions of Confucius' poetics, some scholars boldly denied the authenticity recorded in Zuo Zhuan, arguing that "Zuo Zhuan we are seeing now is not the original record of Ji Zha's viewing of music, and the content of Ji Zha's viewing of music has been tampered with by later generations." There is no evidence for this hypothesis. Secondly, in the Analects of Confucius, Confucius said, "I guard against Lu, and then I am happy, and elegance and fu are in their proper places." Elegant ode should refer to the poem of elegant ode in The Book of Songs. According to the custom at that time, Confucius also praised elegance first. Thirdly, the second and third slips of Confucius' poems seem to have the order of litigation (Fu), great summer (elegance) and finally national style, but this does not prove that the books on which Confucius' poems are based are Fu, elegance, Xiaoya and national style. For example, in the Book of Rites, Zi Gong asked Teacher B, and Teacher B replied, "People who are gentle, gentle and honest should sing Ode; Those who are broad, quiet, open-minded and convinced should sing "Elegance"; Those who are diligent and polite should sing Xiaoya; Honest and quiet, honest and modest, all want to sing "Wind". " Teacher B said that the order of poetry is also from the voice of the temple to the elegant music, and finally to the pop music, which only reflects the level of poetry and has nothing to do with arrangement. More importantly, judging from the overall content of the bamboo slips "On Confucius' Poetry", Confucius and his disciples asked the right questions from "national style" to "Xiaoya", "elegance" and then to "ode", which is the same as the order of the Book of Songs now.
Confucius' theory of deleting poems is an important exposition on the editing of The Book of Songs. This statement has a great influence, but the textbook believes that there are many powerful arguments to prove that although Confucius has made great contributions to the perfection, dissemination and preservation of the Book of Songs, he never deleted poems. The last editor of The Book of Songs should be the Yue Guan of Zhou Dynasty.