Shijing

Author: Jin Qihua, Zhu Yiqing, Cheng Zixin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The Book of Songs is a collection of Chinese poetry and one of the earliest poetry collections in the world. This book features commentaries written by renowned scholars, classical literature experts, and professional writers in China. While there is no single definitive interpretation of poetry, the articles in this book offer diverse perspectives. The translations and annotations strive for accuracy and vividness. The Book of Songs is a collection of Chinese poetry comprising approximately 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, spanning over 500 years. It is divided into three parts: Feng, Ya, and Song. The Feng section includes fifteen Guofeng (regional folk songs) with 160 poems; the Ya section is further divided into Daiya (major airs) and Xiaoya (minor airs), with 105 poems; the Song section consists of Zhousong (Zhou hymns), Lusong (Lu hymns), and Shangsong (Shang hymns), with 40 poems. The Guofeng are the essence of The Book of Songs, shining like brilliant pearls in the treasure trove of ancient Chinese literature. The folk songs of the Zhou Dynasty in the Guofeng reflect the real lives of laborers through vibrant imagery, expressing their discontent with exploitation and oppression, as well as their longing for a better life. These songs are the origin of Chinese realistic poetry. In Qiyue, we witness the blood-stained lives of slaves, and in Fatan, we feel the awakening class consciousness of the exploited, as resentful slaves boldly question the leeches and vampires who live off their labor: "Who does not plow or reap, yet takes three hundred sheaves of grain? Who does not guard or hunt, yet sees your courtyard filled with hanging badgers?" Some poems depict laborers directly fighting against the ruling class to secure their right to survival, and in this regard, Sheshu is profoundly moving. There are also many poems in the Guofeng that reflect the immense suffering caused by military and corvée duties, such as Yinqi Lei, Boqi, and Junzi Yu Yi, which are representative works of this genre. The Guofeng also contains a significant number of love poems. The main themes of these poems include the immense pain caused by unreasonable marriages and the longing and pursuit of happy unions by young men and women. Poems like Meng and Gufeng depict such life scenes, while Bai Zhou carries a clear and strong sense of rebellion. The healthy and optimistic love songs (such as Jing Nu and Mupua) add a harmonious and joyful sentiment to the love poems. All of these are genuine expressions of the thoughts and emotions of the working people. Many folk songs in the Guofeng also offer sharp satire and criticism of the licentiousness and shamelessness of the ruling class, with Xintai, Nanshan, and Zhulin being notable examples. The realistic creative method, which uses simple language to depict objects and reflects social reality through vivid scenes of daily life, is well-illustrated in the Guofeng and has become one of its distinctive artistic features. In terms of character portrayal, the Guofeng also exhibits realistic artistic characteristics. The authors convey the joys and sorrows of the lyrical protagonists through their inner voices, portraying their actions and character traits. In form, the Guofeng is mostly four-character lines with alternate rhymes, but it is not rigidly uniform. It often breaks the four-character rule, mixing lines of two, three, five, seven, or eight characters, such as Fatan, which is a mixed-meter poem. These emotionally expressive and rhythmically distinct lines are highly musical and read with clarity. The language of the Guofeng is precise, beautiful, and rich in imagery. The skillful use of double sounds, reduplicated rhymes, and reduplicated words further enhances its artistic charm. The artistic techniques of Fu, Bi, and Xing greatly enhance the expressive power of the Guofeng. The Ya and Song poems were used as musical pieces in specific occasions by the ruling class. In terms of ideological content, they cannot compare to the Guofeng in terms of realism and popular spirit, but they do reflect certain aspects of social life to some extent, thus retaining some social significance and value. The Book of Songs marks the glorious beginning of Chinese literature and is a sign of its early development. The realistic spirit it embodies—"the hungry sing of their hunger, the weary sing of their toil"—has had a profound influence on later literature. The Book of Songs holds an extremely high position in both Chinese and world cultural history.