Below is a preface of a book titled: Insights and Observations on the Thirteen Confucian Classics, by our last updating, each of these classics was uploaded to this website. Dr. Ross Colquhoun from Australia has kindly worked on this book as a co-author. It is time to give a summary and it is also appropriate to use the preface as our summary.
This book aims to provide some insights and make some observations on the thirteen Confucian Classics. These books are comprised of ancient and diverse records, both oral and textual, that form the Confucian canon. A general understanding of the thirteen Confucian Classics in an accessible form will undoubtedly help readers better understand Chinese culture, Chinese history, Chinese thoughts, the Chinese people and China as a whole.
The thirteen Confucian Classics are:
“The Book of Changes”, the first of the thirteen classics that introduced the earliest concepts and symbols the Chinese people used to analyze changes--yin and yang, the eight trigrams and the sixty-four hexagrams, which were initially applied in divination and later formed the basis of Chinese philosophy.
“The Book of Documents” (or “Documents of History)”is the earliest collection of Chinese historical documents and contains much data about political thinking and historic and cultural aspects of Pre-Qín society.
“The Book of Songs”is the earliest collection of Chinese poetry, which dates from the 11th to the 7th Centuries BC.
“The Rites of the Zhou”is a book that recorded the structure of the government, political, economic, cultural and ritual systems in the Pre-Qin period.
“Etiquette and Rites”is a book that recorded rites and etiquette practiced by officials in the Zhou Dynasty.
“The Record of Rites and Ceremonies”is a book of annotations of the above two books of rites and contains much data for the study of history before the Western Han period.
“The Spring and Autumn Annals with commentary by Zuo Qiuming”, “The Spring and Autumn Annals with commentary by Gongyang” and “The Spring and Autumn Annals with commentary by Guliang”are three books of annotations of the Spring and Autumn Annals edited by Confucius.
“Analects of Confucius”is a highly influential book containing the thoughts, comments and behavior of Confucius as recorded by his disciples. It has had the most impact on Chinese cultural traditions and Chinese ethical thinking. Some people compare its influence to the Bible in the West.
“The Classic of Filial Duty”elaborated, in simple and plain words, on ways of filial duty, which the ancient Chinese took as the foundation of all virtue. Ancient scholars viewed the book as a reservoir of the Six Confucian Classics, and used it as a primer for children for many generations. The Classic has eighteen chapters and each chapter is summarized and discussed.
The “Erya Dictionary”is the earliest surviving book of its kind in China that dates from at least the 3rd Century BC with parts of it compiled as early as the 6th century BC. The Eryǎ is China’s first comprehensive dictionary compiled according to semantic groups. The chapter describes the structure and rationale for the compiling of the dictionary, it briefly talks about the history and then takes words from each section to illustrate the nature of the book.
“The Book of Mencius”defended and developed Confucian thoughts on Heaven and destiny, man’s innate good nature, ethics, values, the role of morality and ideals and the self-cultivation of morality and the idea that people are the foundation of stable government based on benevolent governance. The book was accepted among the list of Confucian classics in the Song Dynasty. We should mention at the outset that before the Han Dynasty, Confucian thought was not the main philosophical influence. As a matter of historical fact, most rulers during a period of more than 3,000 years before Confucius were guided by numerous famous philosophers and the Yi Jing (Book of Changes) during a period of intellectual fervor. China made great strides in terms of humanistic, non-theosophical philosophy recorded within the ancient myths of the Three Sages and Five Emperors who epitomized the perfect and wise leader and were considered to be moral exemplars by Confucian scholars. While the earliest written records dated from around 1250BC and emanated from the Zhou dynasty as evidenced by the ‘Oracle Bones’ of Anyang it is reputed that Confucius edited and wrote numerous commentaries to the Book of Changes and the other Classics. In this sense Confucius was the first man to develop a system of beliefs based on personal morality and benevolent governance. Thanks to the decision of Emperor Wu of Han who introduced the policy of “Only Respecting the Confucian School”, twelve Confucian classics were included as must-read books in the official curriculum of royal schools and became the most important content in the national examinations for the purpose of enlisting civil servants. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that “The Book of Mencius” was officially added to the list. Since then the ideas of Confucius have formed the guiding principles for Chinese civilization. (Hart, 1990)
Although Confucianism has been interpreted in many ways in different periods of Chinese history, most notably it has gone through two major phases since the period of the Southern Song to the present: Neo-Confucianism from the Southern Song to the end of the Qing Dynasty and modern Neo-Confucianism (New Confucianism) from the early 20th century to now. In both phases the thirteen Confucian Classics remained the foundation of the different schools and the main subject of study. For example, take Ma Yifu (1883-1967), a representative of the modern Neo-Confucianism and a master of China studies. It was said he could recite from memory each of the thirteen classics, and he might be the only one who had read every word of the Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature (四库全书)，which was 36,000 volumes and eight hundred million Chinese characters. Ma gave lists of books his students must read at the School of Restoration, he established in 1939. His students were in two categories：the intensive researchers of Confucianism and the extensive researchers of Confucianism. Both would have to delve into 3 titles on “The Classic of Filial Duty”, 11 titles on “The Books of Songs”, 10 titles on “Documents of History”, 15 titles on the three “Rites”, 5 titles on “The Book of Music” (the original was lost but there were studies on the book at the time), 19 titles on “The Book of Changes”, 11 titles on “Spring and Autumn Annals” and commentaries, 11 titles on the “Erya Dictionary” and 35 titles in the Confucian School as a whole. Of course, few scholars would be required to make such an effort today, however, the Classics are taught in schools throughout China and it is not unusual for today’s school students to be able to recite sections of them and to have a thorough knowledge of them.
When answering questions as to why the Chinese attach importance to the Confucian Classics and why the Chinese seek and follow the thoughts contained in these classics, Wang Ronghua in his annotations to his book “The Three Character a Line Chant” (2020) said: “The Book of Songs” is the first anthology of songs and poems in China; “The Documents of History” is China’s first collection of historic documentation; “The Book of Changes” is the first canon in China; “The Rites of the Zhou” is the first book explaining government organization, decrees and systems; “The Record of Rites and Ceremonies” is China’s first collection of cultural data; “The Spring and Autumn Annals” is China’s first historical chronicle. It is held that all kinds of writings originated from the above mentioned six classics. The decree type originates from “The Documents of History”; the narrative type from “The Book of Changes”; the eulogy type from “The Book of Songs”; the condolence type from “The Record of Rites and Ceremonies” and the admonition type from “The Spring and Autumn Annals.” Chen Yinke (陈寅恪，1890-1969), a most famous master of China Studies, made these remarks on these classics: “The Book of Songs” and “The Document of History” embody the wisdom of our ancestors, and should be read by everybody regardless of personal inclination...”The Rites of the Zhou” is the one that most comprehensively recorded ancient legal acts and codes. Thus, the book must be read no matter if it is authentic or false (some say this book is not authentic). Another master of China Studies Wang Guowei (王国维，1877-1927) said, “The Book of Songs can teach people to be gentle and honest; the Documents of History enable people to know of things that happened long before; The Book of Music (which was originally one of the Six Classics and was lost and then replaced by The Rites of the Zhou) can make people broad minded and kind hearted; The Book of Changes can make people calm and gentle; The Record of Rites and Ceremonies can guide people to be respectful and dignified, and everyone should study the Spring and Autumn Annals if they want to analyze or compare historical events.” (“The Pandect” of “The Conspectuses of Classics”; Wang Guowei, 1925) With the revival of traditional Chinese culture, the thirteen Confucian Classics have come back into the lives of the Chinese people, as they were officially banned in 1912 from every level of school by the Nationalist government. The International Confucian Association, founded in 1994 with members from the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany, Singapore, Vietnam and other countries besides China, not only carried out academic studies and research, but also tried very hard to popularize Confucian thought in China and world-wide. There are several societies for the study of The Book of Changes, as well as The Book of Songs. There have been seminars on all the thirteen classics almost every year, both domestic and international. The “Erya Dictionary” seems to be the least read among the thirteen, yet one can easily find on websites studies of the classic from the perspective of exegetics, philology and phonology.
While Chinese metaphysics identifies with the laws of nature manifest in the notion of Heaven (tian, 天) and is non-theological, it might be interesting to note that the legal content in the three classics on rites, which specified quite a number of behavioral norms, has similarities to the Book of Exodus where Moses received the Ten Commandments; while“The Spring and Autumn Annals” described the history of the states of the time, the Books of Joshua, Samuel and Kings also described the history of the Jewish nation; just as“The Book of Songs” is the earliest collection of Chinese poetry, in the Old Testament there are also collections of poetry, for instance the Book of Psalms and Song of Songs; the “Analects of Confucius”, which recorded the sayings and actions of Confucius, might be compared to the Four Gospels in the New Testament; the sayings and deeds of some ancient saints, like Yao, Shun, Yu, the Duke of Zhou, among others can be found in the thirteen classics; similarly the sayings and deeds of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel can be found in “Isaiah” and the Book of Malachi. We can find the concept of love, benevolence, forgiveness, the deity and man are as one and other similar thoughts in both the Bible and the Thirteen Confucian Classics. However, the Bible is a religious text, thought to be the word of God and is far more popular worldwide and, in this regard the thirteen classics are books of philosophy, are comparable to the works of Plato and Aristotle and are not as well known or revered.
So, as far as we know the following among the thirteen classics have not been translated into English: “The Rites of the Zhou”, “Etiquette and Rites”, “Spring and Autumn Annals with Commentary by Gongyang”, “Spring and Autumn Annals with Commentary by Guliang” and the “Erya Dictionary.” But we might be mistaken, however you can find English editions for the other eight classics. Each piece of writing has been uploaded onto the website: www.readchina8.com. This book now brings them together with additions, revisions and corrections.
This book intends to provide a very general picture of each of the thirteen classics and in doing so provide some insights into the profound impact they have had on contemporary Chinese culture and society. Just as the Bible has had a far-reaching influence on Western culture, art, history, thought and society, so too, but perhaps more influential today, do the writings of Confucius have on Chinese society. To adequately understand the Chinese people and their motivations and thinking it is essential to understand Confucian philosophy. We sincerely hope more people outside the Chinese speaking communities will read this book, for the history, concepts, culture and wisdom they contain should be shared by all. Indigenous as the they are, they are part of the world’s heritage. We hope that this new book will not only provide a convenient way of learning about the thoughts contained in the Thirteen Classics, but in doing so readers will gain some insights into the philosophy that guides the nation and therefore enhance an understanding of China and enhance international relationships.
