Chapter 26 Section 2 Han Shi Jing and Wei Shi Jing

The ages of these two books of stone are not far from each other, both were established in the Taixue in Luoyang, and there are some connections between the two, and their fate is similar, so they are introduced together. The Han Stone Classics, commonly known as "Xiping Stone Classics", were published by Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty.It took nine years from the fourth year of Lingdi Xiping (AD 175) to the sixth year of Lingdi Guanghe (AD 183). This stone scripture was initiated by Cai Yong (Zi Bojie), a scholar and calligrapher of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and personally participated in the writing of the scriptures.This is the beginning of China's stone scriptures. "Book of the Later Han·Cai Yong Biography" says:

Yong used the scriptures to go to the sage for a long time, and the writing is absurd.The vulgar Confucianism penetrates, doubts and mistakes, and learn later.In the fourth year of Xiping, he played with Tang Xidian, a doctor of the five senses, Yang Ci, a doctor of Guanglu, Ma Ri [mi Mi] [di Low], a doctor of advice, Zhang Xun of Yilang, Han Shuo, and Taishi Ling Shan Yang. Asking to correct the text of the Six Classics, Emperor Ling promised it, and Yong Nai wrote it on the stele (written with a red pen), engraved it by envoys, and stood outside the gate of Taixue. However, judging from the unearthed remnants of the Han Shijing, Cai Yong was not the only one who wrote the inscriptions at that time, but Ma Ridun and many others.There are also many other deacons.What is rare is that the name of an engraver was also found, and his name is Chen Xing.

According to the catalog of stone scriptures contained in "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", there are seven scriptures engraved in Han Stone Classics.They are: "Zhouyi", "Shangshu", "Lu Poetry", "Yili", "Spring and Autumn" (scriptures), "Gongyang Zhuan", and more.Although it was not included in the scriptures in the Han Dynasty, it was an important Confucian teaching material, so it was also engraved with a stele. The Eastern Han Dynasty emphasized modern literature, so the Stone Classics are all engraved with modern literature.Each scripture in Jinwen has its own text due to different schools of thought.The Han Shi Jing carved stones for each family that stood in the school and officials, and marked the different characters of other families at the end.For example, "Poetry" has three schools of Qi, Lu and Han.

All Han Stone Classics are written in official script (that is, modern text), and there are 46 inscriptions on the front and back of the stele.Shi Jing stands in the tile house on the east side of the Taixue Lecture Hall outside Kaiyang Gate in the south of Luoyang City, and is guarded by special personnel. This stone scripture was incomplete during the Three Kingdoms period.After wars, relocations, and destruction from the end of the Western Jin Dynasty to the end of the Sui Dynasty, it was completely destroyed in the early Tang Dynasty.According to statistics, a total of more than 9,000 words have been obtained so far.

The stone scriptures of the past dynasties did not have a specific name at the time of publication.Because the stone scriptures of the Han Dynasty were first engraved during the Xiping period, later generations used to call them "Xiping Stone Classics" to distinguish them from the stone scriptures carved in other dynasties.In addition, there are also "one-character stone scriptures" or "one-character stone scriptures" or "modern-character stone scriptures".That's because the Hanshijing is only written in Lishu (modern characters), which is different from Weishijing, because Weishijing is written in Guwen, Zhuan, and Lishu.

Wei Shijing is commonly known as "Zhengshi Shijing".It was published in the Zhengshi period (AD 240-248) of Wei Feidi (Qi Wang Cao Fang) during the Three Kingdoms period. "Book of Jin·Wei Heng Biography" says: "At the beginning of Wei Zhengshi, the three-character stone scripture was established." But there is no clear text in the history when it was established.It was not until June 1957 that the inscription "the second year of Zhengshi" was found on the remnant stone of the Wei Shijing unearthed in Xi'an (the Wei Shijing moved to Chang'an in the Sui Dynasty).Wei Shijing also stands in Luoyang Taixue, but it is on the west side of the lecture hall, opposite to Han Shijing, with a total of 35 steles.

In the Wei Dynasty, the study of ancient texts and classics flourished, so the ancient texts and stones were established in addition to the present Han Dynasty.According to the catalog of stone scriptures contained in "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", Wei Shi Jing has two classics, "Shangshu" and "Spring and Autumn".However, according to the relics of Wei Shijing recorded in "Li Xu" written by Hong Shi of the Song Dynasty, in addition to the above two classics, there are nine characters passed down in the seventh year of Duke Huan and 26 characters passed down in the seventeenth year of Duke Huan.It can be seen that there is also "Zuo Zhuan".However, according to Wang Guowei's textual research, "Zuo Zhuan" was only engraved to the middle of Zhuang Gong ("Wei Shi Jing Kao").

Because it is established as the ancient scriptures, the characters of the scriptures are written in ancient script, seal script, and official script for comparison.Therefore, later generations called it "Three Body Stone Classic" or "Three Character Stone Classic".The people who wrote the scriptures have different opinions, so we can't be sure, but the so-called "ancient script", as far as the script is concerned, may not be the original appearance of the pre-Qin script. The base version of Wei Shijing's ancient text "Shangshu" uses Zheng Xuan's annotations and refers to Ma Rong and Wang Su's theory.As far as the scriptures are concerned, this is the authentic ancient text "Shangshu" discovered in the Han Dynasty, not a fake version after the Eastern Jin Dynasty.It's a pity that this precious historical document, even though it was engraved on a stone tablet, has not been preserved!

Wei Shijing had been relocated several times, plus man-made destruction, and by the early Tang Dynasty, there was no one in ten.A number of incomplete steles were unearthed in the Song Dynasty.Later, in the last years of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, remnants of stones were unearthed in Luoyang, including "Shangshu" and "Spring and Autumn".In modern times, it was discovered in Luoyang in 1922 and 1923, and in Xi'an in 1945 and 1957.A total of more than 3,000 characters of scriptures have been unearthed in total.