In ancient China, the writing and transmission of texts was a difficult chore. Paper had not yet been invented (although it was the Chinese who invented paper shortly thereafter) and most texts were inscribed on one of two media: silk cloth or bamboo strips. The latter form was by far the more common and durable. To create a bamboo text, the long shafts of bamboo sections were split lengthwise into narrow strips and pierced with a hole at one end. Writers used ink and brush to write characters down the length of the strip. Many strips were required for even short texts, and as each bundle of strips was filled with characters, they were tied together with strings at the hole.

This sort of book was difficult to produce and subject to disruption by the disintegration of the string and the subsequent disordering of the strips (which no one ever thought to number!). It was also unbelievably bulky. Scholars of the late Classical period were known to travel with a train of wagons following behind, filled only with texts.

Naturally, with production and shipping so time consuming and expensive, books were relatively rare and only a few copies of major texts existed at any one time. To copy and transport a major text could take weeks of time and physical effort – and of course one had first to travel to some place where a copy of the text existed. Texts were precious. In many cases, much scholarly tradition was simply preserved in oral form – sometimes for centuries. Sooner or later, though, if it did not find a textual form it was lost.

Most students of China presume that we have lost the great majority of ancient Chinese texts; it is certainly true that the texts we now possess frequently refer to texts that we do not know. But we nevertheless do have a wide variety of ancient texts, and in many cases their value is so readily apparent that we can understand why ancient readers chose to expend the effort necessary to preserve them.

What follows here is a list of some of the most valuable ancient textual sources for studying the history of Classical China. Most of these texts will be available in some form at the Library.

Histories

1. The Zuozhuan左傳, or Zuo’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals

The Zuozhuan is the richest of all Classical histories. The main text is an enormous compendium of stories concerning the era 722-468. These tales have been collated to correspond to a different text, a bare-bones chronicle of events of the years 722-481 as recorded by the court scribes of the state of Lu (we will discuss this text, The Spring and Autumn Annals, later in the course). The Zuozhuan was traditionally said to have been compiled by a disciple of Confucius named Zuo Qiu-ming, but in fact the text probably had multiple authors. Its overall perspective seems to indicate that it originally derived from the region of the state of Chin in north central China. It most likely assumed a coherent form about 400 B.C.

The Zuozhuan is both a rich source of facts about early Classical China and a rich source of fictional romance. The text was heavily influenced by the Confucian school and reflects the notion that history is a narrative that reveals human character and morality. Nevertheless, the authors seem to have had recourse to a large number of relatively accurate written or oral records of the past, and the text is valuable as history as well as entertaining as literature.
A full translation of the Zuo zhuan exists in a nineteenth century edition by James Legge, but this is very difficult to use (an edition is housed on the East Asian Collection Reference Shelves, Library, 8th floor [O.C. PL 2461 .M43 1985]). A recent translation done in the PRC is titled Zuo’s Commentary, and consists of two volumes (the Chinese text and translation is included, but the Annals text is not included [PL 2470 .K5 1996]). The translation is awkward, but not inaccurate. Burton Watson’s The Tso Chuan is a particularly readable partial translation [PL 2470 .K8 1989].

2. The Zhanguo ce 戰國策, or “Intrigues of the Warring States”

This anonymous collection of anecdotes and court speeches brings together a wide variety of anecdotes concerning the Warring States era (453-221; the period takes its name from the text). The tales are arranged geographically, that is, state by state, in rough chronological order within each section. Although there is much historical information in this text, which is a witty and entertainingly amoral book, its principal nature seems to have been as a source book for the study of diplomatic rhetoric, and this has greatly affected its factual accuracy. Large sections of anecdotes appear to be little more than fictional accounts, sometimes of fictional people (although many scholars continue to treat the text as substantially accurate).
A full translation by J.I. Crump is available [DS 747.2 .C3753 1996].

3. The Shiji 史記, or “Records of the Grand Historian,” by Sima Qian

This post-Classical work, dating from about 100 B.C., is by far the most ambitious history written by a single individual in ancient China. Sima Qian was the official historian of the Imperial Han court, and his lifelong ambition was to tell the history of the world, as he knew it, up to his own time in the Western Han, a project his historian-father had urged upon him. The Shiji incorporates large portions of the preceding two works, but Sima Qian had access to the Imperial Archives, and explored far more sources than are now available to us.
He arranged his history in a novel order. First appear chronicles of the various kings and emperors of China, then very extensive tables that clarify chronology. These tables are followed by a series of monographs concerning such topics as the histories of calendrics, astronomy, economics, water conservation, and so forth (the sources of much of our data on the social history of early China). Next come independent chronologies of the patrician states of the Classical period, followed finally by a lengthy series of biographies of interesting and outstanding individuals.
So rich and sophisticated is Sima Qian’s book that it is only in recent times that historians have come to detect the biases, omissions, and constraints that mark the text. Despite its defects, the Shiji will be an essential resource for us throughout the term.

Although there is no complete English translation of the Shiji, one is currently underway: The Grand Scribe’s Records, edited by William Nienhauser. Four volumes have appeared so far (1, 2, 5 [pt. 1], and 7 [DS 741.3 .S6813 1994]). The sections of the book pertaining to the Qin and Han Dynasties are available in translation by Burton Watson, entitled Records of the Grand Historian (Qin, 1 vol.; Han, 2 vols.) [Qin: DS 747.5 .S67813 1993; Han: DS 741.3 .S68213 1993b].

The “Classics”

Certain texts of ancient China came to be viewed as repositories of undying sage wisdom, and these came to be isolated into a sacred “canon” of the most studied works in traditional China. A number of these will be important source materials for us.

4. The Book of Documents(Shang shu尚書), also called the Book of History

This text purports to include twenty-nine documents preserving the words and deeds of the ancient sage kings of the distant and near past. They are arranged chronologically and represent a Confucian presentation of history through the “words of the ancients.” The “oldest” of the texts, recording the words of mythical culture heroes, are actually products of the Warring States era and serve only to illustrate how authors of that age envisioned the founders of Chinese culture. But some of the later texts, recording speeches and events near the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, do appear to have an early Zhou date, and many historians accept them as genuine.
A significant number of chapters from the Book of Documents appear in G380 online readings. In addition, a semi-readable translation by Clae Waltham is available, Shu Ching: Book of History [PL 2478 .E5]; it is an updating of two 19th century translations by James Legge.

5. The Book of Poetry (Shi jing詩經), also called the Book of Songs or Book of Odes

This wonderful collection of 305 poems, probably written over the period from the Zhou founding to the seventh century, is discussed several times in these readings. It includes a wide variety of poems, from love songs and battle odes to political laments and solemn temple liturgies. Many of the poems provide us with the most intimate picture available of life in the early and mid-Zhou, although in many cases, the distortions of millennia of Confucian interpretive tradition make it difficult for us to recapture the poems’ original ideas.
The fine literary translation by Arthur Waley is available [PL 2478 .F9 1960].

6. The Liji 禮記, or Records of Ritual

This is a huge compendium of ritual texts and discussions of ritual that was probably edited about 100 B.C., but that include a great deal of older material. It is somewhat difficult to use because it is hard to distinguish between reports of ancient ritual practices and chapters that are little more than a ritual prescription for the future. For the purposes of research, in this course the ritual texts may be considered to be generally accurate Warring States recollections of mid-Zhou practices.
The Liji is one of a series of books about “li” (ritual), which was an aspect of culture central to the ancient Chinese world. The reading on ritual later in this course also discusses the Yili, or “Ceremonies of Ritual,” which is a collection of actual scripts for selected ritual occasions.

There is a two volume translation of the Liji (Li Chi: Book of Rites), originally by James Legge, updated by Ch’u Chai and Winberg Chai [PL 2478 .G4].

-- Other classics

Two remaining central classics, the Yi jing易經and the Spring and Autumn Annals(Chunqiu 春秋), will be discussed towards the end of our course, in connection with their roles in the Han Dynasty.

The Texts of the Schools of Learning

The largest number of extant ancient texts are composed of the products of schools of learning, or “philosophical schools,” of which the oldest is Confucianism. These schools generated texts that were meant to persuade, and they often recount “facts” about the past to illustrate their polemical points. While these “historical” elements of the texts must be read with an understanding that each has an ax to grind and will willingly bend the past to any shape that will fit its needs, they do provide an enormous amount of information both about the Classical period and about Classical views of the past. In a sense, no texts speak to us more directly from the past than these.

Space does not allow a detailed description of each of these. Some will discussed much more fully in later online readings, and in several cases you will read substantial extracts. Below is a listing of those texts that will be available on Library Reserve.

-- Confucian texts

7. The Analects of Confucius(Lunyu論語). (c. 5th - 4th centuries) Selections will appear in online readings, and a full online translation is linked to the G380 Supplements list.

8. The Mencius (Mengzi孟子). (c. 300 B.C.) The best published translation is probably D.C. Lau’s [B128.M33 E59 1970]. Books I and V are particularly rich in discussions of history. A partial online translation is linked to the G380 Supplements list.

9. Xunzi 荀子. (c. 230 B.C.) Two translations of this philosophically erudite text are available. A partial translation by Burton Watson [B 128.H68 E5 2003] and a three-volume scholarly translation by John Knoblock [B 128.H66 E5 1988] are available.

-- Mohist text

10. Mozi 墨子. (c. 5th - 3rd centuries) An anti-Confucian utilitarian thinker with highly conventional views of history. Burton Watson’s partial translation is adequate and fluidly rendered [B 128 .M79 E5 2003].