Code King: "Tang Code with Annotations" and Chinese Culture: "Tang Code with Annotations" and Chinese Culture

Author: Xu Yongkang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: The dialectics of history repeatedly reveal that development is not merely simple growth and increase; it often does not follow a straight-line progression but rather achieves its realization through a series of spiral layers. In this way, "return" does not always mean repeating the past but can be an upward form, a way of "awakening" the potential that was already latent at the beginning of things. As culture, created by conscious human beings, it vividly demonstrates a spiral trajectory of development. For example, Europe's "Renaissance," which revered ancient Greece, and the "Reformation," which adhered to the Bible, were both developments and recreations of the "spirit of the canonical texts." It was through such "returns" that European culture achieved historical progress. This phenomenon of drawing inspiration from "cultural canonical texts" to gain a foundation for advancement has also appeared multiple times in China. The famous "Classical Prose Movement" is a typical example. Examining the history of modern Chinese thought and culture, one finds this tendency—reverting to the original to innovate, or "emancipating through retrogression"—to be ubiquitous. Of course, modernization is a cultural transition process full of changes and new beginnings. Modern life is like a massive filter, allowing or blocking elements of past cultural traditions, and navigating the ups and downs through selection and rejection. Modern Chinese people, standing at the crossroads of civilization transformation and the struggle to save the nation, chose the adaptable philosophy, sense of crisis, distinction between Chinese and foreign, concept of revolution, and people-centered thought from the spirit of Chinese canonical texts. They then engaged in dynamic interaction and fusion with relevant aspects of Western learning, thereby forging theories that played a significant role in modern China, such as social transformation theory, theory of national salvation, theory of the nation-state, theory of social revolution, and democracy. It is evident that the selective promotion and creative transformation of the spirit of canonical texts are an inherent part of modern and contemporary culture. This theme is one that the present and future generations must repeatedly explore and strive to practice. The Interpretation of the Tang Code is one of the representative feudal legal codes of ancient China and also the earliest legal code preserved to this day. Whether in ancient times or now, it holds a unique position. Many read it in ancient times, but due to its great distance from our era, its language is relatively obscure, and its content profound, making it difficult for most people today to understand easily. This book introduces and explains it to readers in plain language for this very reason. The book begins with the story of its creation.