Book of History

The Classic of History (Traditional Chinese: 書經; Simplified Chinese: 书经; Pinyin: Shūjīng; Wade-Giles: Shu-ching) is a compilation of documentary records related to events in the ancient history of China. It is also commonly known as the Shàngshū (Traditional Chinese: 尚書; Simplified Chinese: 尚书, literally: Esteemed Documents), or simply Shū (Traditional Chinese: 書; Simplified Chinese: 书, colloquially: Documents). The title is translated in western texts variously as "Classic of History", "Classic of Documents", "Book of History" and "Book of Documents".
==Compilation==
The book consists of fifty-eight chapters (including eight subsections), of which thirty-three are generally considered authentic works from the Warring States or earlier. The first five chapters of the book purport to preserve the sayings and recall the deeds of such illustrious emperors as Yao and Shun, who reigned during legendary age; the next four are devoted to the Xia Dynasty, the historicity of which has not been definitively established; the next seventeen chapters deal with the Shang Dynasty and its collapse. The blame for this is placed on the last Shang ruler, who is described as oppressive, murderous, extravagant, and lustful. The final thirty-two chapters cover the Zhou Dynasty until the reign of Duke Mu of Qin.
The Classic of History contains some of the earliest examples of Chinese prose, and is considered one of the Five Classics. Many citations of the Shangshu can be found in the bamboo slips texts from the tombs of Guodian, in Hubei, dated to the 300 BCE.
The language is archaic and differs in grammar and vocabulary from that typical of prose from the classical age of Chinese literature (e.g., The Analects or The Mencius). This reflects an early date of composition in some chapters or deliberate use of archaism in others. The five announcements (誥 gào) in the Documents of Zhou closely resemble inscriptions found on Western Zhou bronzes and are generally regarded as authentic products of the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty (late 11th century BCE). On the other hand, chapters that are purported to date from high antiquity (e.g., the Canons of Yao and Shun) likely date from the Spring and Autumn or Warring States periods.
In July 2008, Zhao Weiguo, an alumnus of Tsinghua University donated a collection of 2100 bamboo slips to his alma mater after obtaining them through auction in Hong Kong. The previous owner and whereabouts of the slips have not been revealed. The Classic of History is one of the historical books in the collection. According to Li Xueqin, leading the team studying the scripts, the collection dates from the Warring States Period and is written in the script of the state of Chu.
==Transmission of texts==
In the transmission of the book, there are three main variations:
* The New Text version, transmitted by Fu Sheng after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, consists of thirty-three chapters (originally twenty-nine or twenty-eight, but some chapters have been divided by Du Lin during the 1st century), which had lost more than seventy-two chapters of the original.
* The Old Text version was said to have been found by Prince Liu Yu in the last half of the 2nd century BCE and transmitted by Kong Anguo. This version added some 16 new chapters and was part of the Old Text Classics later championed by the scholar Liu Xin at the beginning of 1st century. The Old Text version was lost at the end of the Han Dynasty.
* A version of the Old Text was allegedly rediscovered by the scholar Mei Ze during the 4th century, and presented to the imperial court of the Eastern Jin. His version comprised fifty-nine chapters, consisting of the thirty-three chapters of the New Text version with an additional twenty-six chapters (including a preface).
Since the Song Dynasty, starting from Zhu Xi, many doubts had been expressed concerning the provenance of the additional Old Text chapters of the book, but it was not until Yan Ruoju's research in the 17th century and the definitive conclusions he drew in his unpublished but widely distributed manuscript entitled Evidential analysis of the Old Text Documents that they were shown to be forged.
==Contents==
Part 	Chapter: 	Chapter: 	Chapter:
虞書Document of Yu [Shun] 	01 (01) 	堯典 	The Canon of Yao
虞書Document of Yu [Shun] 	02 (02) 	舜典 	The Canon of Shun (originally a section under Yao)
虞書Document of Yu [Shun] 	03 (01) 	大禹謨 	The Counsels of Great Yu
虞書Document of Yu [Shun] 	04 (03) 	皋陶謨 	The Counsels of Gaotao
虞書Document of Yu [Shun] 	05 (04) 	益稷 	Yi and Ji (originally a section under Gaotao)
夏書Document of Xia [Dynasty] 	06 (05) 	禹貢 	The Tribute of [Great] Yu
夏書Document of Xia [Dynasty] 	07 (06) 	甘誓 	The Speech at [the Battle of] Gan
夏書Document of Xia [Dynasty] 	08 (02) 	五子之歌 	The Songs of the [King Taikang's] Five Brothers
夏書Document of Xia [Dynasty] 	09 (03) 	胤征 	The Punitive Expedition [on King Zhongkang] of Yin
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	10 (07) 	湯誓 	The Speech of [King] Tang
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	11 (04) 	仲虺之誥 	The Announcement of Zhonghui
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	12 (05) 	湯誥 	The Announcement of [King] Tang
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	13 (06) 	伊訓 	The Instructions of Yi [Yin]
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	14 (07–09) 	太甲上中下 	King Taijia Part 1, 2 & 3
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	15 (10) 	咸有一德 	The Common Possession of Pure Virtue
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	16 (08–10) 	盤庚上中下 	King Pangeng Part 1, 2 & 3
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	17 (11–13) 	說命上中下 	The Charge to Yue [of Fuxian]  Part 1, 2 & 3
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	18 (11) 	高宗肜日 	The Day of the Supplementary Sacrifice of King Gaozong [Wuding]
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	19 (12) 	西伯戡黎 	The Chief of the West [King Wen]'s Conquest of [the State of] Li
商書Document of Shang [Dynasty] 	20 (13) 	微子 	Prince Weizi
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	21 (14–16) 	泰誓上中下 	 The Great Speech Part 1, 2 & 3
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	22 (14) 	牧誓 	The Speech at [the Battle of] Muye
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	23 (17) 	武成 	The Successful Completion of the War [on Shang]
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	24 (15) 	洪範 	The Great Plan [of Jizi]
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	25 (18) 	旅獒 	The Hounds of [the Western Tribesmen] Lu
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	26 (16) 	金滕 	The Golden Coffer [of Zhou Gong]
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	27 (17) 	大誥 	The Great Announcement
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	28 (19) 	微子之命 	The Charge to Prince Weizi
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	29 (18) 	康誥 	The Announcement to Prince Kang
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	30 (19) 	酒誥 	The Announcement about Drunkenness
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	31 (20) 	梓材 	The Timber of Rottlera
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	32 (21) 	召誥 	The Announcement of Duke Shao
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	33 (22) 	洛誥 	The Announcement Concerning Luoyang
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	34 (23) 	多士 	The Numerous Officers
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	35 (24) 	無逸 	Against Luxurious Ease
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	36 (25) 	君奭 	Lord Shi [Duke Shao]
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	37 (20) 	蔡仲之命 	The Charge to Cai Zhong
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	38 (26) 	多方 	The Numerous Regions
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	39 (27) 	立政 	The Establishment of Government
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	40 (21) 	周官 	The Offices of Zhou
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	41 (22) 	君陳 	Lord Chen
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	42 (28) 	顧命 	The Testamentary Charge
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	43 (29) 	康王之誥 	The Announcement of King Kang(originally a section under Testamentary)
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	44 (23) 	畢命 	The Charge to the Duke of Bi
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	45 (24) 	君牙 	Lord Ya
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	46 (25) 	冏命 	The Charge to Jiong
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	47 (30) 	呂刑 	Marquis Lü on Punishments
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	48 (31) 	文侯之命 	The Charge to Marquis Wen [of Jin]
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	49 (32) 	費誓 	The Speech at [the Battle of] Fei
周書Document of Zhou [Dynasty] 	50 (33) 	秦誓 	The Speech of [the Duke Mu of] Qin
==References==
==External links==
*Shu Jing (Full text in Chinese)
*James Legge full English translation of the Shu Jing (public domain, extensive background and annotations; authoritative. 1860s version with Legge's own romanization system; no Wade-Giles or Pinyin.)
*Online selections from Legge's Shu Jing, adapted and converted to Pinyin.
Category:Chinese classic texts
Category:Confucian texts
Category:Confucianism