Classics Anthology - Miscellaneous Selections from Confucian Classics, Histories, and Scholars (Volumes 1-3)

Author: Tan Guoqing, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: Yao Jituan's compilation of classical prose is divided into thirteen categories. I slightly modified it into eleven categories:
- Treatises
- Poems and Prose
- Prefaces and Postfaces
- Imperial Edicts
- Memorial Essays
- Letters
- Eulogies
- Biographies and Genealogies
The first nine categories are the same as Yao's.
- Complimentary Prefaces: Yao included these, but I did not.
- Narratives and Records: These are included by me but not by Yao.
- Odes and Eulogies: Yao included these, but I attached them to the lower part of Poems and Prose.
- Epitaphs and Biographies: Yao included these, but I attached them to the lower part of Biographies and Genealogies.
In village schools, some select Zuo Zhuan for classical studies, and the discerning may mock them. In recent times, a few knowledgeable scholars compiling classical texts no longer go back to the Six Classics, claiming to respect them. However, tracing the origin of classical prose's name, it was established by discarding the parallel prose of the Six Dynasties and returning to the Three Dynasties and the Han Dynasty. Now, to abandon the Classics and seek them elsewhere is like someone who speaks of filial piety but respects only their father and grandfather while forgetting their great-grandparents, or someone who speaks of loyalty and says, "I am merely a minister—how dare I know about the state?" Is this acceptable?
When I compile this collection, each category must begin with the Six Classics. A small stream seeks the vast sea; there is no room for compromise. Yao Jituan compiled classical prose without including historical records, believing that history had too much to record to include.