Ancient Script Texts
   HOME





Ancient Script Texts
In Chinese philology, the Ancient Script Classics (), commonly known as the Old Texts, refer to some versions of the Five Classics discovered during the Han dynasty, written in a script that predated the one in use during the Han dynasty, and produced before the burning of the books. The term became used in contrast with "Current Script Classics" (今文經, commonly called the "New Texts"), which indicated a group of texts written in the orthography currently in use during the Han dynasty. Historical sources record the recovery of a group of texts during the last half of the 2nd century BC from the walls of Confucius’s old residence in Qufu, the old capital of the State of Lu, when Prince Liu Yu (d. 127 BC) attempted to expand it into a palace upon taking the throne there. In the course of taking the old wall apart, the restorers found versions of the ''Classic of History'', '' Rites of Zhou'', '' Yili'', '' Analects of Confucius'' and '' Classic of Filial Piety'', all writt ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chinese Language
Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic languages, Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a Language family, family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin with 66%, or around 800&nb ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Zuo Zhuan
The ''Zuo Zhuan'' ( zh, t=左傳, w=Tso Chuan; ), often translated as ''The Zuo Tradition'' or as ''The Commentary of Zuo'', is an ancient Chinese narrative history traditionally regarded as a commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle the '' Spring and Autumn Annals''. It comprises 30 chapters covering the period from 722 to 468BC, and focuses mainly on political, diplomatic, and military affairs from that era. For many centuries, the ''Zuo Zhuan'' was the primary text through which educated Chinese learned their ancient history. The ''Zuo Zhuan'' does not simply explain the wording of the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', but rather expounds upon its historical background with rich and lively accounts of the history and culture of the Spring and Autumn period (771476 BC). The ''Zuo Zhuan'' is the source of more Chinese sayings and idioms than any other classical work, and its concise, flowing style served as a paragon of elegant Classical Chinese. Its tendency toward thi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Warring States
The Warring States period in Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for greater hegemonic influence among the various autonomous feudal states of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the eventual unification of China by the western state of Qin under Qin Shi Huang, who conquered all other contender states by 221 BC and found the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty in East Asian history. While scholars have identified several different dates as marking the beginning of the Warring States period, Sima Qian's choice of 475 BC, the first year of King Yuan of Zhou's reign, is the most often cited due to the paucity of preceding annals after the Qin Shi Huang's burning of books and burying of scholars. The Warring States era largely corresponds to the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Liu Xin (scholar)
Liu Xin (23 CE), courtesy name Zijun, was a Chinese astronomer, classicist, imperial librarian, mathematician, and politician during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han and Xin dynasty, Xin dynasties. He later changed his name to Liu Xiu () due to the naming taboo of Emperor Ai of Han. He was the son of Imperial librarian Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang and an associate of other eminent thinkers such as the philosopher Huan Tan. Liu was a prominent supporter of the Old Text classics. Early life Liu Xin was the son of Confucian scholar Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE). Liu was a distant relative of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, and was thus a member of the ruling dynastic clan (the Liu (surname), Liu family). Liu Xin's paternal grandfather ranked as a ''hou'' (, roughly 'Ranged Marquis#Han dynasty, marquess'). As a young man, Liu helped his father in cataloguing the contents of the imperial library, and his friendship with the well-connected mi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Burning Of Books And Burying Of Scholars
The burning of books and burying of scholars was the purported Book burning, burning of texts in 213 BCE and live burial of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE ordered by Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. The events were alleged to have destroyed philosophical treatises of the Hundred Schools of Thought, with the goal of strengthening the official Qin governing philosophy of Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Legalism. Modern historians doubt the details of the story, which first appeared more than a century later in the Han dynasty official Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian''. As a court scholar, Sima had every reason to denigrate the earlier emperor to flatter his own, but later Confucians did not question the story. According to the historian Ulrich Neininger, their message was, "If you take our life, Heaven will take the life of your dynasty." Modern scholars agree that Qin Shi Huang gathered and destroyed many works that he regarded as incorrect or subversive. He ord ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Classic Of Poetry
The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, comprising 305 works dating from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. It is one of the " Five Classics" traditionally said to have been compiled by Confucius, and has been studied and memorized by scholars in China and neighboring countries over two millennia. It is also a rich source of '' chengyu'' (four-character classical idioms) that are still a part of learned discourse and even everyday language in modern Chinese. Since the Qing dynasty, its rhyme patterns have also been analysed in the study of Old Chinese phonology. Name Early references refer to the anthology as the ''300 Poems'' ('' shi''). ''The Odes'' first became known as a ''jīng'', or a "classic book", in the canonical sense, as part of the Han dynasty's official adoption of Con ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000–750 BC). Over the course of the Warring States period, Warring States and early imperial periods (500–200 BC), it transformed into a Religious cosmology, cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings. After becoming part of the Chinese Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the ''I Ching'' was the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East and was the subject of scholarly commentary. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, it took on an influential role in Western understanding of East Asian philosophical thought. As a divination text, the ''I Ching'' is used for a Chinese form of cleromancy known as I Ching divination, ''I Ching'' div ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Wang Su (Cao Wei)
Wang Su (195–256), courtesy name Ziyong, was an official and Confucian scholar of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a son of Wang Lang. When Guanqiu Jian started a rebellion in Shouchun, Wang Su advised Sima Shi to lower the rebels' morale by treating their families with respect. Following that, Wang Su entreated Cao Mao to allow Sima Zhao to succeed Sima Shi as regent of Wei. Wang Su's daughter, Wang Yuanji, married Sima Zhao and gave birth to Sima Yan, the first emperor of the Jin dynasty, in 236. Thus, Wang Su became a grandfather himself. Wang Su inherited the title and marquisate of Marquis of Lanling () from his father.''Jin Shu'' vol. 31. Wang Su compiled the extant edition of the '' Kongzi Jiayu'' (''School Sayings of Confucius''), the sayings of Confucius not included in the ''Analects''. Scholars long suspected it was a forgery by Wang Su, but a book discovered in 1977 from the Shuanggudui tomb (sealed in 165 BCE), entitled ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Huangfu Mi
Huangfu Mi (c. 215 – 282), courtesy name Shi'an (), was a Chinese physician, essayist, historian, poet, and writer who lived through the late Eastern Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms period and early Western Jin dynasty. He was born in a poor farming family in present-day Sanli village, Chaona, Pingliang, despite being a great-grandson of the famous Eastern Han general Huangfu Song, via Song's son Huangfu Shuxian. Notable works Between 256 and 260, toward the end of the state of Cao Wei, he compiled the ''Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion'' (), a collection of various texts on acupuncture written in earlier periods. This book in 12 volumes further divided into 128 chapters was one of the earliest systematic works on acupuncture and moxibustion, and it proved to be one of the most influential.''Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion'', 1987 Huangfu Mi also compiled ten books in a series called '' Records of Emperors and Kings'' (). He was also the coauthor of ''Biographies of Exe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China. At its height of power, the empire stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east to the Pamir Mountains in the west, and from the Mongolian Plateau in the north to the South China Sea in the south. Originally emerging from the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin dynasty founded in 1616 and proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, the dynasty seized control of the Ming capital Beijing and North China in 1644, traditionally considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until the Xinhai Revolution of October 1911 led to the abdication of the last emperor in February 1912. The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty Legacy of the Qing dynasty, assembled the territoria ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Yan Ruoju
Yan Ruoqu (; November 11, 1636 – July 9, 1704) was an influential Chinese scholar of the early Qing dynasty. He was born to a scholarly family in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Yan Ruoqu is most famous for proving that the " Old Text" chapters of the Confucian classic ''Book of Documents'' were forgeries (see :zh:尚書古文疏證). He also made observations and theories about the motions of the Moon and the planets. Yan's work on the ''Classic of History'' was independently verified and praised by Hui Dong (1697-1758), the verification work was finished by him and Sun Xingyan. Liang Qichao praised Yan as being "number one textual scholar of the recent 300 years" (approx. translation from the Chinese Wiki quote 不能不認為近三百年學術解放之第一功臣, unreferenced). As such, he became an important precursor of the Doubting Antiquity School The Doubting Antiquity School or Yigupai (Endymion Wilkinson, Wilkinson, Endymion (2000). ''Chinese History: A Manual''. Harvard Un ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period#Ten Kingdoms, Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song frequently came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao dynasty, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China following attacks by the Jin dynasty, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The History of the Song dynasty, dynasty's history is divided into two periods: during the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now East China. The #Southern Song, 1127–1279, Southern Song (; 1127–1279) comprise the period following ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]