The Xiping Stone Classics () are a collection of

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

stone carved books on various

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

classics. Named for the Xiping reign era (AD 172–178) of

Emperor Ling of Han Emperor Ling of Han (156 – 13 May 189), personal name Liu Hong, was the 12th and last powerful emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty. Born the son of a lesser marquis who descended directly from Emperor Zhang (the third Eastern Han emperor), ...

, the stone classics were carved over an eight-year period from AD 175 to 183 into stone

stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

set up at the Imperial Academy outside

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang ...

. The project was overseen by

Cai Yong Cai Yong (Chinese: ; 132–192), courtesy name Bojie, was Chinese astronomer, calligrapher, historian, mathematician, musician, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty. He was well-versed in calligraphy, music, mathematics and astrono ...

and a group of affiliated scholars who "petitioned the emperor to have the Confucian classics carved in stone in order to prevent their being altered to support particular points of view." The stelae contained 200,000 characters across 46

, and covered the seven classics recognized at the time: the ''

Book of Changes The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...

'', '' Book of Documents'', '' Book of Songs'', ''

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 ''Book ...

'', ''

Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. The ''Annals'' is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 241-year period from 722 to 48 ...

'', ''

Classic of Filial Piety The ''Classic of Filial Piety'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Xiaojing'', is a Confucian classic treatise giving advice on filial piety: that is, how to behave towards a senior such as a father, an elder brother, or a ruler. The t ...

'' and '' Analects''.Xiping Stone Classics (熹平石经)
(in Chinese) Each stele was about high and wide. Cai and other scholars like

Ma Midi Ma Midi (died 194), courtesy name Wengshu, was an official who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Life Ma Midi was from Maoling County (茂陵縣), Youfufeng Commandery (右扶風郡), which is located northeast of present-day ...

, Han Yue, Lu Zhi, Yang Bao, Li Xun, and Zhao You would write text onto the stone using

cinnabar Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the bri ...

, which was then engraved. When completed, 28 stela containing the ''Changes'', ''History'', ''Chunqiu'', and the Gongyang commentary, were arranged on the western side of a roughly "U" form. The 15 stela with the ''Ritual'', including the names of Cai Yong and Ma Midi, were placed on the southern side, while the 5 stela containing the ''Analects'' were on the eastern side. Scholars could then take rubbings, besides studying the texts. The stelae were mostly destroyed in the fighting following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 207, and only a few fragments have survived.

References

External links

{{commons category
Stone fragments from the Xiping reign
in the Chinese stone rubbings database at East Asian Center for Informatics in Humanities, Kyoto University, including two fragments of the classics
61A
an

2nd-century books 2nd-century inscriptions Chinese classic texts Han dynasty literature Chinese inscriptions Luoyang 175 Chinese Classical Studies Series of Chinese books

See also

References

External links