Book of Songs

Author: Huaxia Publishing House
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The Book of Songs is a collection of Chinese poetry. In the pre-Qin era, it was referred to as "poetry" or "the 300 poems," and Confucius compiled it. During Emperor Wu of Han, following Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to "abandon the hundred schools of thought and uphold Confucianism exclusively," "poetry" was elevated to the status of a classic and named The Book of Songs. The extant Book of Songs includes 305 poems, covering folk songs and temple hymns from the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn period over a span of over 500 years. Traditionally, it is divided into three categories: Feng, Ya, and Song. With a history of over 2,500 years, understanding the Book of Songs today requires not only familiarity with its historical and cultural background but also clarity about its language. The language of the Book of Songs belongs to ancient Chinese, which differs significantly from modern Chinese in terms of phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar. The differences in phonetics are evident in many poems that no longer rhyme when read in modern Chinese, whereas they did in the era of the Book of Songs—a result of the evolution of Chinese phonetics. The differences in vocabulary are even more apparent, and this is one of the key aspects this book addresses. It strives to explain the meanings of different words in the Book of Songs using clear and fluent modern Chinese. The differences in grammar are also, and the book has made efforts in this regard. It explains special ancient Chinese sentence structures, such as negative sentences, interrogative sentences with the object placed before the verb, and others. Additionally, it clarifies certain grammatical words like "yu," "yu," "yan," and "qi," aiming to help readers understand the original text. As a classic, the Book of Songs has been studied by scholars throughout the ages, yielding rich achievements. This book incorporates many annotations from previous scholars but does not blindly follow ancient interpretations or blindly imitate them.