The Kaicheng Stone Classics (開成石經) or Tang Stone Classics are a group of twelve early Chinese classic works carved on the orders of Emperor Wenzong of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

in 833–837 (Kaicheng era) as a reference document for scholars. The works recorded are: * '' Book of Changes'' or ''I Ching'' (易經 ''Yìjīng'') * ''

Book of Documents The ''Book of Documents'' ( zh, p=Shūjīng, c=書經, w=Shu King) or the ''Classic of History'', is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, a ...

'' (書經 ''Shūjīng'') * '' Book of Songs'' (詩經 ''Shījīng'') * ''

Rites of Zhou The ''Rites of Zhou'' (), originally known as "Officers of Zhou" (), is a Chinese work on bureaucracy and organizational theory. It was renamed by Liu Xin to differentiate it from a chapter in the '' Book of History'' by the same name. To rep ...

'' (周禮 ''Zhōulǐ'', originally part of the ''Book of Rites'') * '' Ceremonies and Rites'' (儀禮 ''Yílǐ'', originally part of the ''Book of Rites'') * ''

Book of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The '' ...

'' (禮記 ''Lǐjì'') * '' The Commentary of Zuo'' (左傳 ''Zuǒzhuàn'') on the '' Spring and Autumn Annals'' * '' The Commentary of Gongyang'' (公羊傳 ''Gōngyáng Zhuàn'') on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' * '' The Commentary of Guliang'' (穀梁傳 ''Gǔliáng Zhuàn'') on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' * '' The Analects'' (論語 ''Lúnyǔ'') * '' Classic of Filial Piety'' (孝經 ''Xiàojīng'') * '' Erya'' (爾雅 ''Ěryǎ'') The classics, with more than 650,000 characters engraved double-sided on 114 stone tablets, are preserved in the

Stele Forest The Stele Forest or Beilin Museum is a museum for steles and stone sculptures in Beilin District in Xi'an, Northwest China. The museum, which is housed in a former Confucian Temple, has housed a growing collection of Steles since 1087. By 1 ...

Museum in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, China. Widely regarded as the world's heaviest books, these tablets are also among the most complete copies of these key documents of Chinese culture to ever have existed.

Other stone Confucian classics

CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - fragment of Xiping stone classics

The Confucian classics have been engraved on stone tablets several times. The Xiping Stone Classics or Han Stone Classics were set up at the Imperial Academy outside

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

in 175–183. Around 200,000 characters were inscribed on 46 stelae, comprising the text of the seven classics recognized at the time: the ''Book of Changes'', ''Book of Documents'', ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Rites'', ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', ''Classic of Filial Piety'' and ''Analects''. Only a few fragments of these tablets have survived. The Zhengshi () classics in 241 recorded three classics in three scripts, but these have since disappeared. Later stone classics are Guangzheng () (944), Jiayou () (1061) and Taixue (1131). During the

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 Fiv ...

, the ''

Mencius Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...

'' was also recognized as part of the Confucian canon, making thirteen classic works. It was also included in tablets engraved in 1789 during the reign of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

in the

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 ...

, adding a further 30,000 characters on 17 tablets. The complete set of 190 tablets containing over 630,000 characters is kept in the Beijing Temple of Confucius.国图收藏的汉魏石经
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References

{{reflist

External links

* Chinese stone rubbings database at East Asian Center for Informatics in Humanities,

Kyoto University , or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan. The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...

Tang tablets
9th-century Chinese books 9th-century inscriptions Tang dynasty literature Chinese classic texts Chinese inscriptions Xi'an Confucianism in China Series of Chinese books