The Analects: Cast Metal Type Edition

Author: Guangling Shushe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: The Analects is a collection of-style prose approximately compiled in the early Warring States period. It was put together by Confucius's disciples after his death, recording and organizing his words and deeds. According to the "Yiwen Zhi" in the Han Shu by Ban Gu, the Analects consists of dialogues between Confucius and his disciples, as well as words believed to have been spoken by him and heard by his followers. At that time, each disciple had their own records. After Confucius's death, his disciples believed and compiled these records, hence the name "Analects." The entire book consists of twenty chapters, four hundred ninety-two sections, and over twelve thousand seven hundred characters.
The Confucian doctrine was the orthodox ideology of the ancient Chinese ruling class, and the Analects became the main classic of Confucianism. Its content covers various aspects such as political philosophy, moral thought, and more. It is also the earliest educational monograph in Chinese history. Its core principle is "ren" (benevolence), advocating self-restraint and the restoration of rituals in education. In terms of education, it proposes ideas such as "education for all," teaching according to aptitude, and heuristic teaching, emphasizing the combination of learning and thinking, and "reviewing the old to know the new." During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Confucian scholar Zhu Xi combined the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, collectively known as the "Four Books." During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial examinations required the composition of eight-legged essays to be based on the Four Books, as a way to express the words of the sages. Due to its significance, countless versions of the Analects have been published since its inception. During the Han Dynasty, there were three different versions of the Analects: the Lu Analects, the Qi Analects, and the Gǔwen Analects. By the late Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Yu of Anchang combined the Lu and Qi versions into one, known as the "Zhang Hou Lun." The edition used in the Xiping Stone Classics of the Eastern Han Dynasty was the "Zhang Hou Lun," which later became the standard version in use today.