Ancient Script Texts: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:08, 4 June 2021

Revision as of 22:40, 5 June 2021

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: These alternate versions of the classics were found after the New Texts were compiled. Some came from the Confucian family manor while others were found in the imperial archives or in private collections. The ''[[Rites of Zhou]]'' and the ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'' commentary are Old Texts.

; Forged Old Texts

: This only concerns the rediscovered version of ''[[Classic of History]]''. During the [[Jin Dynasty (265–420266–420)]], [[Mei Ze]], a minor official discovered a preface by [[Kong Anguo]] and 25 chapters that he claimed were the Old Texts. Suspicions emerged during the [[Song dynasty]] but it was not proven until [[Yan Ruoju]] circulated his thesis in the [[Qing dynasty]]. Recent archaeological recoveries of ancient classics have backed Yan. [[Huangfu Mi]], [[Wang Su]], or Mei Ze himself is suspected as the forger.

; Received Texts

: The version that has been transmitted to the present. It includes the Old Text version of ''[[I Ching|Changes]]'' and ''[[Classic of Poetry|Poetry]]'', the New Text version of the ''Yili'', a combined version of the ''Analects'', and the New Text version of ''History'' with the 25 forged chapters.

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The “old texts” had a peculiarly archaist bent. They emphasized the sage-like as opposed to the prophet-like characteristics of Confucius, thereby making him look more like the earlier sages who founded and ruled [[Zhou Dynasty]] or even the still more archaic states which preceded it. And yet, these archaic sage-kings are shown ruling China with a bureaucratic apparatus peculiarly like that available to Han Dynasty rulers, and hence by methods which strikingly echoed those of putative enemies of [[Wang Mang]], the modernists. The Former Han (206 BC-AD 8), prior to Wang Mang, had favored New Text. When Wang seized power, he declared the Old Texts to be the state orthodoxy. After the Han restoration, the New Texts became orthodox again.

Later Han (AD 25-22025–220) scholars began favoring the Old Text versions. Old Texter [[Zheng Xuan]] synthesized the teachings of both schools. While he was very influential, he was unable to unseat the New Text orthodoxy though the issue became moot when both schools disappeared after the collapse of the Han. Zheng became the mainstream source of interpretation until the appearance of [[Neo-Confucianism]] in the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty|Song dynasties]]. The controversy was forgotten until it was rediscovered during the [[Qing]] dynasty by [[Han Learning]] scholars.

== Modern interpretations ==