Chapter 6 Section 1 Production of Formal Books

As mentioned earlier, the so-called regular books refer to works written, engraved, or printed on certain forms of materials after compilation or creation for the purpose of disseminating knowledge, introducing experience, expounding thoughts, and promoting ideas.Using this scale to measure the production of official books in our country, there are the following statements. The "Shangshu" pseudo-Confucian "Preface" is naturally not really written by Kong Anguo in the early Western Han Dynasty, but it will not be later than the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Meizu (ze Ze).This preface says: "The ancient Fuxi clan, the king of the world, began to draw gossip, make book contracts, and replace the government of knotting ropes. From this, Chinese classics were born." It seems that Chinese classics have already been produced as early as Fuxi's era. It's unbelievable.This preface also specifically stated: "The books of Fuxi, Shennong, and Huangdi are called...the books of Shaohao, Zhuanxu [zhuanxu Zhuanxu], Gao Xin, Tang, and Yu are called "Five Classics"...the theory of gossip , call it "Basuo", and seek its meaning. The aspirations of Kyushu are called "Nine Hills"... It is said that all Kyushu, born of the land, and suitable for the atmosphere, are all gathered in this book." According to this statement, it is early In the primitive society of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, formal books were produced in China.And this is impossible in practice.The Pseudo-Confucian "Preface" continued to add: "Confucius, the first king, was born on the weekend. He read the troublesome texts of historical books, and he was afraid that those who read them would be different, so he decided to make "Li" and "Le" clear the old chapters; delete "Poetry" into three. Hundreds of articles; compiling "Spring and Autumn" based on historical records; praising "Yi" and Dao to dismiss "Basuo"; describing "Zhifang" to eliminate "Jiuqiu"; discussing and "Dian" from Tang Yu to Zhou Dynasty. The barbarians are in a state of disarray, and cut off the floating speeches, citing their grand outlines and summarizing their secrets, which are enough to pass on to the world and establish a religion." This also shows that after Confucius' research and arrangement, the books of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors have lost their original appearance, and all the books that have been handed down are passed down by Confucius. Polished.Therefore, we can conclude that before the end of the Spring and Autumn Period when Confucius lived, China had indeed produced regular books. "Shangshu Toshi Pian" said: "Only you know, only the ancestors of Yin, there are books and codes, and Yin revolutionized Xia Ming." The remnants migrated westward.The adherents didn't understand its meaning, and they were full of complaints and discussions.So Zhou Gong came out to lecture, saying that you should know that your ancestors had books and classics, which explained the principles of Yin Ge and Xia Ming.Now that the Yin Dynasty has been overthrown, it is also the destiny to revolutionize Yin, which is the same as when Yin revolutionized Xia.I hope you will not disobey the destiny and obey the migration.If this interpretation of this passage is correct, it also proves that formal books had already been produced in the early Yin Dynasty.

Confucius, whose name is Qiu and styled Zhongni, was born in Qufu, State of Lu (now Qufu, Shandong).He was born in 551 BC and died in 479 BC, and he lived in the late Spring and Autumn Period.In addition to teaching, Confucius spent his whole life sorting out ancient books.The so-called deletion and revision of the "Six Classics" is an important content of his sorting out ancient books. The name "Six Classics" did not exist when Confucius deleted it, and after Confucius deleted it, it was only called "Six Arts". It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "abolished all schools of thought, and only respected Confucianism" that the name "Six Classics" was established. "Six Classics" refers to "Yi", "Poetry", "Rituals", "Le" and "Spring and Autumn". The "Book of Music" was lost later, so it is also known as the "Five Classics".Since it is said that Confucius deleted and revised the "Six Classics", as the name suggests, it is not a creation, but a compilation.Since it is compiled and ordered, it means that these books had a foundation long before Confucius and have been popular for a long time.Otherwise, what would Confucius use as the basis for deletion and determination?The fact is exactly the same. It is said that Confucius liked to study the "Book of Changes" in his later years. Due to frequent reading, the ropes that even made up the bamboo slips of "Zhouyi" were worn out many times. The allusion of "Wei Bian Sanjue" comes from this.This shows that the "Book of Changes" had already been written and handed down before Confucius, otherwise Confucius would have no "Book of Changes" to read.It is a monograph that records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples. In this book, Confucius quoted the words of "Shangshu" and Shangshu many times as arguments, expounding a certain thought and explaining a certain truth.It shows that before the end of the Spring and Autumn Period when Confucius lived, "Shangshu" had already been published in the world, otherwise Confucius would have no way to quote it.In the first year of King Zhou Jing (544 BC), Wu Jizha once went to the state of Lu to watch music.The "Poetry" sung by Wu Jizha in the State of Lu, according to "Zuo Zhuan", its classification titles, sequence, etc., are almost the same as the current version.In the year when Wu Jizha went to Lu Guanle, Confucius was only eight years old, which shows that books had been written and popular long before Confucius.As for the "Spring and Autumn", according to Sima Qian's "Historical Records: The Preface to the Chronicle of the Twelve Princes", Confucius once publicized his political views and ideas for establishing a country to many princes, but they were all rejected and not adopted. "Thus looking at the Zhou Dynasty in the west, discussing the old news of historical records, it was popular in Lu and followed by "Spring and Autumn." The second is the compilation, and since it is a compilation, it means that "Spring and Autumn" has already been written before Confucius, otherwise Confucius would not care about the compilation. .In fact, the state of Lu already had a national history, and the name was "Spring and Autumn", and Confucius just added and deleted according to it.All these examples can eloquently prove that formal books were indeed produced long before the end of the Spring and Autumn Period when Confucius lived.

As for who wrote these official books before Confucius, although we cannot determine the specific editors, we can generally infer.In the early days of the Yin, Shang and Zhou dynasties, it was still the era of "learning in the government". The central emperor and the princes of the kingdom were surrounded by historians. They were responsible for recording words and deeds, and keeping documents and files.Therefore, at that time, the right to collect books, read books, and even compile and write books belonged only to these historians and the few ruling class nobles they served.Ordinary people other than these people have no right to care.Therefore, historians can be said to be the earliest senior intellectuals in our country.They not only had knowledge, but also lived around the aristocratic rulers, and at the same time had a wealth of documents and archives, which created excellent conditions for them to compile and write books.Some of the original works of the "Six Classics" edited by Confucius probably came from the hands of these historians.

The emergence of formal books means the progress of human civilization and the wider and more general dissemination of knowledge.Therefore, in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the situation of "the emperor lost his official position and learned from Siyi" appeared.The monopoly of knowledge by a few people in the past was gradually broken, and a new idea was conceived and sprouted within the society.When Confucius stepped onto the stage of history as an educator, he further put forward the slogan "Education without discrimination", indicating that knowledge has broken through the shackles of a few upper-class figures and has flown to a wider class of scholars.The intellectual class is the intellectual class, and the emergence of the intellectual class means that book creation needs to be further developed.