Mencius Selected Annotations

Author: Liu Huifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The development of Confucian prose has undergone a process from short to long, from simplicity to exploration, and from aphoristic style to argumentative style. From The Analects to Mencius, it has evolved from a form—wherein essays and language are combined, and narration and argumentation interweave, or manifest as concise and succinct maxims—to become lengthy and elaborate prose. The emergence of Mencius marked a revolutionary work in the transition of classical prose from chapters to complete essays. Before the Song Dynasty, Mencius was classified under the category of (Confucian and other schools), but it was only in the Song Dynasty that it was placed in the (Classics). During the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi included it in the Four Books and wrote a commentary on it, which led to an increase in the number of scholars studying Mencius. The book consists of seven chapters, and currently available annotated editions include the Annotations on the Thirteen Classics and Zhu Xi's Collected Annotations on the Four Books. In the Qing Dynasty, Dai Zhen criticized Zhu Xi's school for distorting the original meaning of the text, engaging in empty discussions on mind and nature, and producing overly abstract theories, and he wrote Explanations of the Meanings of Mencius's Terms. Jiao Xun's Correct Interpretation of Mencius appropriately applied textual methods and research to elucidate Zhao Ji's annotations. Today, there is Yang Bojun's Translation and Annotations of Mencius.