The Chinese Classics - James Legge (free novels .txt) 📗

������������������; ������������������; ������������������; ������������; ������������������. These works form together a superb edition of the Five Ching, published by imperial authority

in the K’ang-hsi and Yung-chang reigns. They contain the standard views (���); various opinions (���); critical decisions of the editors (���) ; prolegomena; plates or cuts; and other apparatus for the student.

���������������������, ‘The Collected Writings of Mao Hsi-ho.’ See prolegomena, p. 20. The voluminousness of his Writings is understated there. Of ������, or Writings on the Classics, there are 236 sections, while his ������, or other literary compositions, amount to 257 sections. His treatises on the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean have been especially helpful to me. He is a great opponent of Chu Hsi, and would be a much more effective one, if he possessed the same graces of style as that ‘prince of literature.’

���������������, ‘A Collection of Supplemental Observations on the Four Books.’ The preface of the author, Ts’ao Chih-shang (���������), is dated in 1795, the last year of the reign of Ch’ien-lung. The work contains what we may call prolegomena on each of the Four Books, and then excursus on the most difficult and disputed passages. The tone is moderate, and the learning displayed extensive and solid. The views of Chu Hsi are frequently well defended from the assaults of Mao Hsi-ho. I have found the Work very instructive.

������������, ‘On the Tenth Book of the Analects, with Plates.’ This Work was published by the author, Chiang Yung (������), in the twenty-first Ch’ien-lung year, A.D. 1761, when he was seventy-six years old. It is devoted to the illustration of the above portion of the Analects, and is divided into ten sections, the first of which consists of woodcuts and tables. The second contains the Life of Confucius, of which I have largely availed myself in the preceding chapter. The whole is a remarkable specimen of the minute care with which Chinese scholars have illustrated the Classical Books

������������; ���������������; ������������������; ������������������. We may call these volumes— ‘The Topography of the Four Books; with three Supplements.’ The Author’s name is Yen Zo-ch’u (���������). The first volume was published in 1698, and the second in 1700. I have not been able to find the dates of publication of the other two, in which there is more biographical and general matter than topographical. The author apologizes for the inappropriateness of their titles by saying that he could not

help calling them Supplements to the Topography, which was his ‘first love.’

������������, ‘Explanations of the Classics, under the Imperial Ts’ing Dynasty.’ See above, p. 20. The Work, however, was not published, as I have there supposed, by imperial authority, but under the superintendence, and at the expense (aided by other officers), of Yuan Yuan (������), Governor-general of Kwang-tung and Kwang-hsi, in the ninth year of the last reign, 1829. The publication of so extensive a Work shows a public spirit and zeal for literature among the high officers of China, which should keep foreigners from thinking meanly of them.

������������, ‘Sayings of the Confucian Family.’ Family is to be taken in the sense of Sect or School. In Liu Hsin’s Catalogue, in the subdivision devoted to the Lun Yu, we find the entry:— ‘Sayings of the Confucian Family, twenty-seven Books,’ with a note by Yen Sze-ku of the T’ang dynasty,— ‘Not the existing Work called the Family Sayings.’ The original Work was among the treasures found in the wall of Confucius’s old house, and was deciphered and edited by K’ung An-kwo. The present Work is by Wang Su of the Wei (���) dynasty, grounded professedly on the older one, the blocks of which had suffered great dilapidation during the intervening centuries. It is allowed also, that, since Su’s time, the Work has suffered more than any of the acknowledged Classics. Yet it is a very valuable fragment of antiquity, and it would be worth while to incorporate it with the Analects. My copy is the edition of Li Yung (������), published in 1780. I have generally called the Work ‘Narratives of the School.’

������������������, ‘Sacrificial Canon of the Sage’s Temples, with Plates.’ This Work, published in 1826, by Ku Yuan, styled Hsiang-chau (������, ���������), is a very painstaking account of all the Names sacrificed to in the temples of Confucius, the dates of their attaining to that honour, &c. There are appended to it Memoirs of Confucius and Mencius, which are not of so much value.

������������, ‘The Complete Works of the Ten Tsze.’ See Morrison’s Dictionary, under the character ���. I have only had occasion, in connexion with this Work, to refer to the writings of Chwang-tsze (������) and Lieh-tsze (������). My copy is an edition of 1804.

���������������������������, ‘A Cyclop��dia of Surnames, or Biographical Dictionary, of the Famous Men and Virtuous Women of the Successive Dynasties.’ This is a very notable work of its class; published in 1793, by ��� ������, and extending through 157 chapters or Books.

������������, ‘General Examination of Records and Scholars.’ This astonishing Work, which cost its author, Ma Twan-lin (���������), twenty years’ labour, was first published in 1321. R��musat says,— ‘This excellent Work is a library in itself, and if Chinese literature possessed no other, the language would be worth learning for the sake of reading this alone.’ It does indeed display all but incredible research into every subject connected with the Government, History, Literature, Religion, &c., of the empire of China. The author’s researches are digested in 348 Books. I have had occasion to consult principally those on the Literary Monuments, embraced in seventy-six Books, from the 174th to the 249th.

������������������, ‘An Examination of the Commentaries on the Classics,’ by Chu I-tsun. The author was a member of the Han-lin college, and the work was first published with an imperial preface by the Ch’ien-lung emperor. It is an exhaustive work on the literature of the Classics, in 300 chapters or Books.’

���������������, ‘A Continuation of the General Examination of Records and Scholars.’ This Work, which is in 254 Books, and nearly as extensive as the former, was the production of Wang Ch’i (������), who dates his preface in 1586, the fourteenth year of Wan-li, the style of the reign of the fourteenth emperor of the Ming dynasty. Wang Ch’i brings down the Work of his predecessor to his own times. He also frequently goes over the same ground, and puts things in a clearer light. I have found this to be the case in the chapters on the classical and other Books.

������������, ‘The Twenty-four Histories.’ These are the imperially-authorized records of the empire, commencing with the ‘Historical Records,’ the work of Sze-ma Ch’ien, and ending with the History of the Ming dynasty, which appeared in 1742, the result of the joint labours of 145 officers and scholars of the present dynasty. The extent of the collection may be understood from this, that my copy, bound in English fashion, makes sixty-three volumes, each one larger than this. No nation has a history so thoroughly digested; and on the whole it is trustworthy. In preparing this volume, my necessities have been confined mostly to the Works of Sze-ma Ch’ien, and his successor, Pan Ku (������), the Historian of the first Han dynasty.

���������������, ‘The Annals of the Nation.’ Published by imperial authority in 1803, the eighth year of Ch’ia-ch’ing. This Work is invaluable to a student, being, indeed, a collection of chronological tables, where every year, from the rise of the Chau dynasty, B.C. 1121, has a distinct column to itself, in which, in different compartments, the most important events are noted. Beyond that date, it ascends to nearly the commencement of the cycles in the sixty-first year of Hwang-ti, giving — not every year, but the years of which anything has been mentioned in history. From Hwang-ti also, it ascends through the dateless ages up to P’an-ku, the first of mortal sovereigns.

���������������, ‘The Boundaries of the Nation in the successive Dynasties.’ This Work by the same author, and published in 1817, does for the boundaries of the empire the same service which the preceding renders to its chronology.

���������������, ‘The Topography of the Nation in the successive Dynasties.’ Another Work by the same author, and of the same date as the preceding.

The Dictionaries chiefly consulted have been:—

The well-known Shwo Wan (������������), by Hsu Shan, styled Shu-chung ( ������, ���������), published in A.D. 100; with the supplement (������) by Hsu Ch’ieh (������), of the southern Tang dynasty. The characters are arranged in the Shwo Wan under 540 keys or radicals, as they are unfortunately termed.

The Liu Shu Ku (���������), by Tai T’ung, styled Chung-ta (������, ���������), of our thirteenth century. The characters are arranged in it, somewhat after the fashion of the R Ya (p. 2), under six general divisions, which again are subdivided, according to the affinity of subjects, into various categories.

The Tsze Hui (������), which appeared in the Wan-li (������) reign of the Ming dynasty (1573-1619). The 540 radicals of the Shwo Wan were reduced in this to 214, at which number they have since continued.

The K’ang-hsi Tsze Tien (������������), or Kang-hsi Dictionary, prepared by order of the great K’ang-hsi emperor in 1716. This

is the most common and complete of all Chinese dictionaries for common use.

The I Wan Pi Lan (������������), ‘A Complete Exhibition of all the Authorized Characters,’ published in 1787; ‘furnishing,’ says Dr. Williams, ‘good definitions of all the common characters, whose ancient forms are explained.’

The Pei Wan Yun Fu (������������), generally known among foreigners as ‘The Kang-hsi Thesaurus.’ It was undertaken by an imperial order, and published in 1711, being probably, as Wylie says, ‘the most extensive work of a lexicographical character ever produced.’ It does for the phraseology of Chinese literature all, and more than all, that the Kang-hsi dictionary does for the individual characters. The arrangement of the characters is according to their tones and final sounds. My copy of it, with a supplement published about ten years later, is in forty-five large volumes, with much more letter-press in it than the edition of the Dynastic Histories mentioned on p. 133.

The Ching Tsi Tswan Ku, ping Pu Wei (���������(������������)������������), ‘A Digest of the Meanings in the Classical and other Books, with Supplement,’ by, or rather under the superintendence of, Yuan Yuan (p. 132). This has often been found useful. It is arranged according to the tones and rhymes like the characters in the Thesaurus.

SECTION II.

TRANSLATIONS AND OTHER WORKS.

CONFUCIUS SINARUM PHILOSOPHUS; sive Scientia Sinensis Latine Exposita. Studio et opera Prosperi Intorcetta, Christiani Herdritch, Francisci Rougemont, Philippi Couplet, Patrum Societatis JESU. Jussu Ludovici Magni. Parisiis, 1837.

THE WORKS OF CONFUCIUS; containing the Original Text, with a Translation. Vol. 1. By J. Marshman. Serampore, 1809. This is only a fragment of ‘The Works of Confucius.’

THE FOUR BOOKS; Translated into English, by Rev. David Collie, of the London Missionary Society. Malacca, 1828.

L’INVARIABLE MILIEU; Ouvrage Moral de Tseu-sse, en Chinois et en Mandchou, avec une Version litt��rale Latine, une Traduction Fran��oise, &c. &c. Par M. Abel-R��musat. A Paris, 1817.

LE TA HIO, OU LA GRANDE ��TUDE; Traduit en Fran��oise, avec une Version Latine, &c. Par G. Pauthier. Paris, 1837.

Y-KING; Antiquissimus Sinarum Liber, quem ex Latina Interpretatione P. Regis, aliorumque ex Soc. JESU PP. edidit Julius Mohl. Stuttgarti�� et Tubing��, 1839.

M��MOIRES concernant L’Histoire, Les Sciences, Les Arts, Les M��urs, Les Usages, &c., des Chinois. Par les Missionaires de P��kin. A Paris, 1776-1814.

HISTOIRE G��N��RALE DE LA CHINE; ou Annales de cet Empire. Traduites du Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou. Par le feu P��re Joseph-Annie-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, Jesuite Fran��oise, Missionaire �� Pekin. A Paris, 1776-1785.

NOTITIA LINGU�� SINIC��. Auctore P. Pr��mare. Malacc��, cura Academi�� Anglo-Sinensis, 1831.

THE CHINESE REPOSITORY. Canton, China, 20 vols., 1832-1851.

DICTIONNAIRE DES NOMS, Anciens et Modernes, des Villes et Arrondissements de Premier, Deuxi��me, et Troisi��me ordre, compris dans L’Empire Chinois, &c. Par ��douard Biot, Membre du Conseil de la Soci��t�� Asiatique. Paris,