Mei Ze (Chinese:
Mei Ze | |
---|---|
Other names | Mei Yi |
Academic background | |
Influences | Fu Sheng Kong Anguo |
Academic work | |
Era | Ancient philosophy |
Discipline | Chinese philosophy |
School or tradition | Confucianism |
Main interests | Shangshu |
Notable works | Old Text Shangshu (received) |
Influenced | Kong Yingda |
Background
editThe Shangshu, a collection of documents written in the Zhou dynasty, is one of the Five Classics of Confucianism. Most copies of the book were destroyed in 213 BC, when the First Emperor of Qin ordered a large-scale burning of books. The scholar Fu Sheng hid a copy in the wall and later recovered 29 chapters of it, which is known as the "New Text" Shangshu.[2] During the early Western Han dynasty, another copy was accidentally discovered hidden in the walls of the mansion of Confucius, which contained 16 more chapters than Fu Sheng's version. Scholar Kong Anguo compiled and wrote a commentary of the document, and presented it to the emperor. This version is called the "Old Text" Shangshu, which was however lost during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD).[2]
"Rediscovery" of the Old Text Shangshu
editAfter the Yongjia Disturbance ended the Western Jin dynasty in 311 AD, the Jin court fled southeast to Jiankang. Emperor Yuan, the first emperor of Eastern Jin, asked the public to submit books to the court in order to replenish the imperial library which had been destroyed in the war.[1] Mei Ze presented a "rediscovered" copy of Kong Anguo's Old Text Shangshu to the emperor, along with a preface purportedly written by Kong.[3] Explaining the discovery, Mei Ze claimed that he acquired the documents from a certain Zang Cao (臧曹), who had previously obtained them from Liang Liu (
Mei Ze's version of the Shangshu includes Fu Sheng's New Text, which was redivided into 33 chapters, along with 25 extra chapters purportedly from Kong Anguo's lost Old Text, for a total of 58 chapters.[5]
Legacy
editMei Ze's Old Text Shangshu became highly influential. In the seventh century, during the early Tang dynasty, scholar Kong Yingda oversaw the imperial Correct Meanings of the Five Classics (
Notes
edit- ^ a b "Mei Ze". Chinaknowledge.de. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e f Underhill 2013, p. 454.
- ^ a b Declercq 1998, p. 169.
- ^ a b Declercq 1998, p. 170.
- ^ a b c
伏 胜 [Fu Sheng] (in Chinese). Guoxue.com. 2012-06-25. Retrieved 2013-05-21. - ^ Ed Zhang (2012-08-15). "Oldest Confucian classic is fake in parts". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
References
edit- Declercq, Dominik (1998). Writing Against the State: Political Rhetorics in Third and Fourth Century China. Brill. ISBN 9789004103764.
- Underhill, Anne P. (2013). A Companion to Chinese Archaeology. Wiley. ISBN 9781118325728.