TheKaicheng Stone Classics (開成石經) orTang Stone Classics are a group of twelve early Chinese classic works carved on the orders ofEmperor Wenzong of theTang dynasty in 833–837 (Kaichengera) as a reference document for scholars. The works recorded are:[1]
- Book of Changes orI Ching (易經Yìjīng)
- Book of Documents (書經Shūjīng)
- Book of Songs (詩經Shījīng)
- Rites of Zhou (周禮Zhōulǐ, originally part of theBook of Rites)
- Ceremonies and Rites (儀禮Yílǐ, originally part of theBook of Rites)
- Book of Rites (禮記Lǐjì)
- The Commentary of Zuo (左傳Zuǒzhuàn) on theSpring and Autumn Annals
- The Commentary of Gongyang (公羊傳Gōngyáng Zhuàn) on theSpring and Autumn Annals
- The Commentary of Guliang (穀梁傳Gǔliáng Zhuàn) on theSpring and Autumn Annals
- The Analects (論語Lúnyǔ)
- Classic of Filial Piety (孝經Xiàojīng)
- Erya (爾雅Ěryǎ)
The classics, with more than 650,000 characters engraved double-sided on 114 stone tablets, are preserved in theStele Forest Museum inXi'an, China. Widely regarded as the world's heaviest books, these tablets are also among the most complete copies of these key documents of Chinese culture to ever have existed.[2]
Other stone Confucian classics
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The Confucian classics have been engraved on stone tablets several times. TheXiping Stone Classics or Han Stone Classics were set up at theImperial Academy outsideLuoyang in 175–183. Around 200,000 characters were inscribed on 46 stelae, comprising the text of the seven classics recognized at the time: theBook of Changes,Book of Documents,Book of Songs,Book of Rites,Spring and Autumn Annals,Classic of Filial Piety andAnalects. Only a few fragments of these tablets have survived. The Zhengshi (正始) classics in 241 recorded three classics in three scripts, but these have since disappeared.[3][4][5]
Later stone classics are Guangzheng (廣政) (944), Jiayou (嘉祐) (1061) and Taixue (1131). During theSong dynasty, theMencius was also recognized as part of the Confucian canon, makingthirteen classic works. It was also included in tablets engraved in 1789 during the reign of theQianlong Emperor in theQing dynasty, adding a further 30,000 characters on 17 tablets. The complete set of 190 tablets containing over 630,000 characters is kept in theBeijing Temple of Confucius.[6][7]
References
edit- ^Wilkinson, Endymion (2000).Chinese history: a manual (2nd ed.). Harvard Univ Asia Center. pp. 475–476.ISBN 978-0-674-00249-4.
- ^Wilkinson (2000), p. 443.
- ^Wilkinson (2000), pp. 439, 475.
- ^"Remains of the Old Luoyang".CCTV-9. 26 August 2011. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved12 January 2012.
- ^Xiping Stone Classics (熹平石经)Archived 2012-03-02 at theWayback Machine (in Chinese)
- ^Wilkinson (2000), p. 439.
- ^国图收藏的汉魏石经
External links
edit- Chinese stone rubbings database at East Asian Center for Informatics in Humanities,Kyoto University:Tang tablets,Han stone fragments