On Sinology, Four Books and Five Classics

Sinology is a term that came into being in the 1920s. Needless to say, the historical background at that time, the academic theme of the times is the spread of western learning to the east. Before this, China's old school was defeated in the face of modern civilization. Zeng Guofan inherited the tradition of Confucianism in Ming Dynasty and put it into practice. Later, Zhang Zhidong put forward that "middle school is the body and western learning is the use", trying to reconcile the relationship between tradition and reality. Later, an upsurge of "sorting out national heritage" arose in academic circles. Although seemingly incompatible with the historical conditions at that time, it actually has profound historical rationality. Wei Yuan, who proposed to learn from the West and "learn from foreigners to control foreigners", not only proposed to learn from western civilization at that time, but also proposed to restore Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty. This seems extremely contradictory, but in fact it is Wei Yuan's superior. It is on this basis that the reasonable principles of communication between China and the West are established.

Chinese studies should be divided into philosophy, history, religion, literature, customs, textual research, ethics, edition and so on. , with Confucian philosophy as the mainstream; Ideologically, it should be divided into three schools: pre-Qin philosophers, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Confucianism runs through and dominates the history of China's thoughts, and everything else is subordinate. Sinology is divided into four parts: classics, history, philosophy and history, but the classics and philosophers are the main ones, especially the classics.

Sikuquanshu is the largest series of books in ancient China. It was compiled in Qianlong period and was completed by first-class scholars Ji Xiaolan, Wang Niansun and Dai Zhen at that time. "Four Treasures of the Study" refers to classics, history, books and collections, and "Daquan" refers to all the collected books. "Sinology" refers to the abbreviation of academic essence that combines the essence of China traditional culture with the essence of contemporary culture. It is one of the knowledge that the new generation should know.

Generally speaking, Sinology refers to the traditional culture and scholarship of China with Confucianism as the main body. Since Sinology is a traditional culture and academic in China, it undoubtedly includes medicine, drama, calligraphy and painting, astrology, mathematics, etc. It certainly belongs to the category of Sinology, but it can also be said to be an extension of Sinology.

The four books are The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, The Doctrine of the Mean and The University.

The Analects of Confucius is a book that records the words and deeds of Confucius and his students. The content involves philosophy, politics, economy, education, literature and art, etc. It is very rich and is the most important classic of Confucianism. In terms of expression, The Analects of Confucius is a model for recording prose, with concise language and vivid images. In terms of arrangement, The Analects has no strict compiling style, each article is a chapter, and each chapter is a chapter. Articles and chapters are not closely related, but are roughly classified and repeated chapters appear. By the Han Dynasty, there were three editions of The Analects of Confucius (20), The Analects of Confucius (22) and The Analects of Classical Chinese (2 1). At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan compiled and annotated a new book based on The Analects of Lu with reference to The Analects of Qi and The Analects of Ancient Chinese. After Zheng Xuan's annotations were circulated, The Analects of Confucius and The Analects of China Ancient Literature gradually disappeared. The later editions of The Analects of Confucius mainly include: The Analects of Confucius by Wei in the Three Kingdoms Period, On Shu Shu by Liang Huang Kan in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, The Analects of Confucius by Zhu, The Analects of Confucius by Liu Baonan in the Qing Dynasty, etc.

Da Xue was originally an article in the Book of Rites, which had never been published separately before the Southern Song Dynasty. It is said that it was written by Zeng Shen, a disciple of Confucius (505-434 BC). From the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu and Li Ao praised the university (and the golden mean) to maintain orthodoxy, to the Northern Song Dynasty, Cheng Er praised and publicized it in various ways, and even called it "the university", the suicide note of Confucius, and the introduction of morality. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu inherited the thought of Cheng Er, and extracted Da Xue from The Book of Rites, and compared it with The Analects of Confucius and Mencius. Zhu and Cheng Yi, another famous scholar in Song Dynasty, believed that Da Xue was a suicide note left by Confucius and his disciples, and an introductory reading of Confucianism. Therefore, Zhu listed it as the first of the "four books".

The Doctrine of the Mean was originally one of The Book of Rites, which was never published separately before the Southern Song Dynasty. It is generally believed that it was written by Confucius' grandson Zi Si (483-402 BC), and Confucian historians call Zi Si the golden mean. From the Tang Dynasty when Han Yu and Li Ao advocated the doctrine of the mean (and the university) to maintain orthodoxy, to the Northern Song Dynasty when Cheng Er advocated and publicized the doctrine of the mean in various ways, and even thought that the doctrine of the mean was "a way to teach the mind through Confucius", and then to the Southern Song Dynasty when Zhu inherited Cheng Er's thought, he took out The Book of Rites and compared it with The Analects of Confucius, Mencius and the University. Judging from the basic viewpoints of The Doctrine of the Mean and Mencius, they are basically the same. The existing The Doctrine of the Mean was revised by Confucian scholars in Qin Dynasty, and was written roughly shortly after Qin unified the whole country. So every article is different from "University". It does not take the two words at the beginning of the article as the title, but the central content of the article as the title.

Mencius is a book that records the words and deeds of Mencius and his students. Mencius (about 372 ~ 289 BC), whose real name was Ke, was born in Zouguo (now Zoucheng, Shandong Province) in the middle of the Warring States Period, not far from Qufu, Confucius' hometown. He is a famous thinker, politician, educator and the successor of Confucius' theory. By the time of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty, four books compiled by Zhu were included in Mencius, which officially raised Mencius to a very high position. After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it became the content of the imperial examination and was a must-read for scholars.

Mencius is a book that records the words and deeds of Mencius and his students. Like Confucius, Mencius once led students to travel to Wei, Qi, Song, Lu, Teng, Xue and other countries, and once served as a guest minister. Because his political views were not as important as those of Confucius, he returned to his hometown to call his disciples to give lectures, and wrote a book with Zhang Wan and other students, saying, "Preface a poem book, understand Zhong Ni's meaning, and write seven pieces of Mencius." (Historical Records Biography of Mencius and Xun Qing) Zhao Qi compared Mencius with The Analects of Confucius in Mencius' copybook, and thought that Mencius was "imitating a saint". Therefore, although the History of Literature and Art of Han Dynasty only regards Mencius as a sub-book, in the eyes of Han people, it has actually been regarded as a "biography" book to assist the classics. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty named The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Filial Piety, Mencius and Er Ya as "Biographers". At the end of the Five Dynasties, Meng Changjun, the master of the post-Shu Dynasty, ordered people to carve stones on eleven classics such as Mencius, which may be the beginning of Mencius' being included in the Classics. By the time of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty, four books compiled by Zhu were included in Mencius, which officially raised Mencius to a very high position.

The five classics in the four books and five classics refer to:

Zhouyi, Shangshu, Book of Songs, Book of Rites, Zuo Zhuan.

The Book of Changes, also known as the Book of Changes and the Book of Changes, ranks first among Confucian classics. Zhouyi is a book of divination, its outer layer is mysterious and its inner philosophy is profound. The author should be an official, completed by many people. The content extensively records all aspects of the Western Zhou society, including historical value, ideological value and literary value. In the past, people's understanding mode of nature and the changing law between man and saint never went beyond the thinking framework of yin and yang gossip. According to legend, Long Matuo's River Map appeared in the Yellow River, and Fuxi, an ancient sage, began to gossip. Historical Records is also called "King Jia Wen's arrest", but he acted in Zhouyi (when Fuxi emphasized divination, some said Shennong) and made comments (or Duke Zhou); Later, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius wrote "Ten Wings", saying that "people are more sacred and the world is three ancient" ("Han Shu Literature and Art"). Zhouyi includes two parts: classics and biography. The text of Jing consists of sixty-four hexagrams and their corresponding names, hexagrams, hexagrams, hexagrams, hexagrams and hexagrams. There are seven kinds of ten biographies, including Xun, Xiang, classical Chinese, cohesion, divination, miscellaneous divination and virtual divination. The ancients called the ten-part tradition "Ten Wings", which means that biographies are wings attached to the classics, which is used to explain the contents of the classics.

Shangshu in the Four Books and Five Classics: it was called Shu in ancient times and Shangshu in Chinese. "Shang" means "Shang" and "ancient times". This book is the earliest compilation of historical documents in ancient China. Records can be traced back to the legendary Yao and Shun period to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (mid-Spring and Autumn Period), about 1500 years. The basic content is the records of ancient imperial edicts and conversations between monarch and minister, so the author should be a historian. Historical Records Confucius Family said that Confucius' "Biography of Preface Book was compiled from Tang Yu to Qin Miao", which is said to be compiled by Confucius. There are two versions of Shangshu, one is Jinwen Shangshu, and the other is Guwen Shangshu. At present, the popular version of Notes to Thirteen Classics is a co-editor of Jinwen Shangshu and Pseudo-Guwen Shangshu. Ancient people praised "reading a lot of poetry books", referring to the Book of Songs and Shangshu respectively.

The Book of Songs in the Four Books and Five Classics: It was called The Book of Songs in the pre-Qin period, or The Three Hundred Poems, which was the first collection of poems in China. Collected 305 poems (original poems 3 1 1) from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, which is a collection of poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. "There are more than 3,000 poems written by the ancients, which are related to Confucius, but none of them are important ..." (Historical Records Confucius Family) is said to be compiled by Confucius. Poetry is divided into three parts: wind, elegance and ode. "Wind" is a folk song, "Elegance" is the official elegant music of Wang Ji in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and "Ode" is a dance music for the upper class to sacrifice to the ancestral temple. This book widely reflects all aspects of social life at that time, and is known as the encyclopedia of life in ancient society, which has a far-reaching impact on future generations. Friends who like poetry believe that they have all read it.

The Book of Rites in the Four Books and Five Classics: An anthology of articles on the Book of Rites by Confucian scholars from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties. The Book of Rites is a compilation of Confucianism. Although the Book of Rites is only a book to explain the Book of Rites, its influence is beyond the Book of Rites and the Book of Rites because of its wide coverage. There are two versions of The Book of Rites. One is edited by Dade, with 85 articles, and 40 articles have been preserved so far, which is called Da Dai Li. The other book, the Book of Rites that we are seeing now, is 49 articles selected by Dai Deqi's nephew Dai Shengxuan, and it is called The Book of Rites for Little Dai.

Zuo Zhuan in the Four Books and Five Classics: also known as Zuo's Chunqiu, Chunqiu Guwen and Chunqiu Zuoshi Zhuan, is an ancient chronological historical work. Historical Records called the author Zuo Qiuming in the Spring and Autumn Period. Scholars in the Qing Dynasty think that it was adapted by Liu Xin, and some people think that it was compiled by people in the early Warring States period according to historical materials of various countries (it is also said that it was written by Lu's Shi Guanzhi). Its sources include royal archives, Japanese books and the history of vassal states. The chronicle basically follows the order of the twelve princes in the Spring and Autumn Annals, including wars, alliances, conquests, weddings, funerals, usurpations, etc. , had an important influence on later history and literature. Although Zuo Zhuan is not a Confucian classic, it was written by self-learners and attached to Chunqiu, which was gradually regarded as a classic by Confucianism.