Selected Materials on the History of Chinese Social Thought - Pre-Qin Volume

Author: Lu Xueyi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-12-01
Features:
1. The positioning of the selected materials in this volume is not as a reference book but as a reference for teaching and research on the history of Chinese social thought, aiming to help readers expand their research horizons.
2. This volume is primarily intended for professionals specializing in the study of Chinese social thought, as well as undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in sociology, and other professionals or laypersons interested in the history of Chinese social thought. Readers are expected to have intermediate to advanced reading abilities in classical Chinese and a basic theoretical foundation in sociology and the history of Chinese social thought.
3. The selected materials in this volume focus on classic texts and the works of classic thinkers as the subject of Chinese social thought research. Through the social thought reflected in these classic writings, researchers and other readers are guided to explore broader social thought within the selected documents.
4. The arrangement of the documentary materials is generally in chronological order, with disputes over the birth dates of thinkers resolved based on the majority view. This aims to reflect a sense of historical context and present the evolution of Chinese social thought within a larger framework.
5. To facilitate readers' comprehension, we provide brief introductions to the authors' biographies, historical backgrounds, and major academic achievements before each section of the original text. We also offer summaries of the social thought of each thinker. While these introductions may seem incomplete, our purpose is to guide readers in understanding how the compilers approached the interpretation of the works or the social thought of these thinkers.
6. Social thought is a product of social life practices. Social thought from the same era arises from differences in the social strata or values of the thinkers. Due to space constraints, we cannot systematically introduce or select the historical context or related content of social thought formation. If readers wish to study the deeper causes of a particular social thought or the intellectual background of certain ideas or doctrines, they must refer to the history of the relevant era, especially the history of social life.
7. For content from distant historical periods that is archaic and difficult to understand, we have provided necessary annotations. These annotations aim to be concise and accurate. We have included phonetic and interpretive notes for obscure characters and provided explanations for obscure sentences. In annotating, we do not adhere strictly to any single previous commentary but draw from multiple sources, selecting the best interpretations.
8. When selecting materials on social thought, we strive to maintain the completeness of the ideas. All selected materials are annotated with the author's name, the title of the work, and the title of the chapter. If a section of a document is omitted before a cited passage, no ellipsis is added.
9. Pre-Qin classics are relatively difficult to understand and exist in different versions. We have selected the best available editions as our working basis and noted their versions. Different versions may vary in punctuation and the interpretation of main ideas. For textual differences between versions, we follow the basis of the edition used in this volume.
1. This series, Selected Materials on the History of Chinese Social Thought, aims to comprehensively reflect the basic features of Chinese social thought from ancient times to the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The book is divided into six volumes: Volume 1 (Pre-Qin Period), Volume 2 (Qin, Han, Wei-Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, and Tang Dynasties), Volume 3 (Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties), Volume 4 (Modern Period), and Volumes 5 and 6 (Contemporary Period).
2. All materials in this selection are excerpted from original documents. If a collated edition is available, it is used as the basis; if multiple collated editions have been published, the collated edition published by Zhonghua Book Company or another version widely recognized as authoritative is preferred. For works without collated editions (e.g., Tan Qiao's Huashu), we have collated them ourselves.
3. To assist readers, we provide brief introductions to the authors' biographies and the basic characteristics of their social thought before each selected work. Since different versions of ancient texts may vary slightly in wording, we also specify the edition used for this selection. Some materials in the modern section are excerpted from journal articles, and the original sources are noted for further reference. To preserve the original form, the selected texts are not altered.
4. Due to scholarly disputes over the authors of Pre-Qin texts, such as the Zhuangzi, where the "Inner Chapters" are generally attributed to Zhuangzi and the "Outer Chapters" and "Miscellaneous Chapters" to his followers, or the Mozi, where most chapters are attributed to Mozi while some (e.g., Xiaochu) are considered later Mozi texts. To avoid disputes, the Pre-Qin volume selects materials by work rather than by author, such as grouping Mozi social thought materials under the title Mozi without distinguishing between Mozi himself and later Mozi schools. For works after the Qin and Han dynasties, titles follow the format "Author: Work" (e.g., "Dong Zhongshu: Chunqiu Fanlu," "Wang Fu: Qianfu Lun"). Works with unknown authors (e.g., Taiping Jing) are titled solely by their book names. Under these titles, the selected materials do not include the book title but only the chapter title.
5. When selecting original documents, we adhere to the principle of maintaining the relative completeness of each chapter, avoiding-style excerpts. Short but important chapters are included in full, while longer ones are appropriately excerpted. If a section is omitted from within a chapter, quotation marks are added. However, if a section is omitted before or after the selected passage, quotation marks are not used.
6. To facilitate reading for students, we have provided concise annotations. Volumes 1 and 2 have more detailed annotations, Volume 3 has fewer, and the modern and contemporary sections are relatively easy to understand and thus lack annotations. Annotations primarily explain terms rather than interpreting the meaning of social thought.
7. China has a long history and a rich tradition of social thought, which can be classified into schools such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Mohism, and Buddhism, or by social strata into elite and folk social thought. We strive to reflect the full picture of various social thought systems, but due to the overall scope of this selection, we can only choose representative parts from the four million words of original materials we have. In fact, even beyond the materials we possess, much remains to be discovered and compiled. We strongly urge readers not to limit their study of the history of Chinese social thought to the materials included in this selection.