Tai Xuan Ji Zhu - Xin Bian Zhu Zi Ji Cheng

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-09-01
Features: Some parts of the Zishu books are forgeries or suspected forgeries. Those that were produced earlier, had a certain historical impact, and still have some reference value for studying certain issues are tentatively selected. The New Collection of Zishu: Annotations to Tai Xuan and the second and third volumes are planned to be published first as paperback editions, each priced separately and released, with a hardcover combined edition to be published after all volumes are completed. Each paperback edition will include a tentative list of contents for that volume to help readers understand the overall scope of the collection.
Zishu books are an important part of China's ancient classics. The earliest handwritten manuscripts emerged during the Hundred Schools of Thought in the late Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, many of which are precious crystallizations of ancient Chinese thought and culture. Throughout the feudal society after the Qin and Han dynasties, numerous thinkers and scholars wrote similar works, including many outstanding ones. In the 1950s, Zhonghua Book Company revised and reprinted the Zishu Collection published by the original Shijie Bookstore before the founding of the People's Republic of China. This series compiled the results of Qing Dynasty scholars' collation and annotations of Zishu books, making it relatively suitable for academic research needs. However, it did not include the new achievements of scholars in the past few decades, especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, nor did it cover a wide variety of Zishu books. There were also many errors in punctuation and typesetting, so it was decided to create a new Collection of Zishu.
The New Collection of Zishu includes Zishu books from the pre-Qin to the Tang Dynasty, with a focus on those closely related to the study of philosophy and intellectual history. Some books that do not belong to the Zishu category, such as Ban Gu's White Tiger Commentaries (Bai Hu Tong Yi), are tentatively included because they are closely related to the study of philosophy and intellectual history (using the annotations by Chen Li from the Qing Dynasty). The entire collection will be published in two volumes.
The first volume includes Zishu books similar to those in the old Collection of Zishu, which are frequently read or consulted by general researchers. Each book selects the best available annotated edition to date. For a very few that still lack annotations, new annotations will be created. Some books include multiple annotated editions, each with its own strengths. To maintain consistency in style, except for a few exceptions, only annotated editions written in classical or colloquial classical Chinese are included. Both the main text and annotations of each book will be punctuated with modern-style punctuation and corrected for printing or typesetting errors.
The second volume collects Zishu books outside the first volume. Most of these lack existing annotated editions, so those that require annotations will be annotated. The rest will be selected from better versions for collation and annotation. Many of the books in this volume are incomplete or fragmented, and during the collation process, different approaches will be taken depending on the situation: some will use existing collated editions, while others will require supplementary or re-collation.
Some Zishu books are forgeries or suspected forgeries. Those that were produced earlier, had a certain historical impact, and still have some reference value for studying certain issues are tentatively selected. The first and second volumes of this collection are planned to be published first as paperback editions, each priced separately and released, with a hardcover combined edition to be published after all volumes are completed. Each paperback edition will include a tentative list of contents for that volume to help readers understand the overall scope of the collection.