Book of Documents: Annotations and Translation Discourse (Complete Four Volumes)

Author: Gu Jiegang et al. (compiled by Liu Qiyuan)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: The earliest historical document in China is the Shangshu (Book of Documents). It is a collection of speeches, oaths, and recorded conversations from the political activities of the highest rulers of the three earliest dynasties in Chinese history—the Xia, Shang, and Zhou—during the period when China entered the era of written records. Written by historians, it has undergone a tumultuous and complex transmission process. Only a few fragments have been miraculously preserved from the vast body of contemporary literature. Although most of the chapters, except for a few words and oaths from the Western Zhou period, have been influenced to varying degrees by later textual revisions during transmission, the Shangshu remains the earliest historical witness to the political activities of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. Additionally, it preserves a wealth of important materials on ancient Chinese humanities and natural sciences.
This book provides specialized interpretations of the 28 chapters of the Jinwen Shangshu (Confucian Canon Shangshu), using the Tang Kaicheng Stone Classics edition as the primary text. It incorporates relevant materials from literature before the Tang Dynasty, unearthed artifacts, and stone inscriptions, while also drawing on the research findings of scholars such as Duan Yucai, Chen Qiaozong, and Pi Xirui. The text has been meticulously compared, collated, and revised. Each chapter includes three sections: annotations, modern translations, and discussions. The book comprehensively gathers nearly all achievements in textual research and specialized studies on the Shangshu, making it a definitive work of annotations for the Jinwen Shangshu and an encyclopedic reference on Shangshu studies.