Texts of Confucianism, Part I: The Shû King, the Religious Portions of the Shih King, the Hsiâo King — SBE Vol. 3 (trans. James Legge, 1879)

She deposits what she gathers, In her square baskets and round ones. She boils it, In her tripods and pans.

She sets forth her preparations, Under the window in the ancestral chamber’. Who superintends the business ? It is (this) reverent young lady.

1 «The ancestral chamber’ was a room behind the temple of the family, dedicated specially to the ancestor of the officer whose wife is the subject of the piece. The princes of states were succeeded, as a rule, by the eldest son of the wife proper. Their sons by other wives were called ‘other sons.’ The eldest son by the wife proper of one of them became the ‘great ancestor’ of the clan descended from him, and ‘the ancestral chamber’ was an apartment dedicated to him. M4§o and other interpreters, going on certain statements as to the training of daughters in the business of sacrificing in this apartment for three months previous to their marriage, contend that the lady spoken of here was not yet married, but was only undergoing this’ preparatory education. It is not necessary, however, to adopt this interpretation. The lady appears doing the same duties as the wife in the former piece.

BOOK III. 4. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 433

Book III. Tue Opes or PuHEt.

Wuen king W0 overthrew the dynasty of Shang, the domain of its kings was divided into three portions, the northern portion being called Phei, the southern Yung, and the eastern Wei, the rulers of which last in course of time absorbed the other two. It is impossible to say why the old names were retained in the arrangement of the odes in this Part of the Shih, for it is acknowledged on all hands that the pieces in Books iii and iv, as well as those of Book vy, are all odes of Wei.

Ove 4, Tue Zan YUEH.

SUPPOSED TO BE THE COMPLAINT AND APPEAL OF KWANG XIANG, A MARCHIONESS OF WEI, AGAINST THE BAD TREATMENT SHE RECEIVED FROM HER HUSBAND.

All the Chinese critics give this interpretation of the piece. A wang Xiang was a daughter of the house of XAi, about the middle of the eighth century 3.c., and was married to the marquis Yang, known in history as ‘duke Awang, of Wei. She was a lady of admirable character, and beautiful; but her husband proved faithless and unkind. In this ode she makes her subdued moan, appealing to the sun and moon, as if they could take cognizance of the way in which she was treated. Possibly, however, the addressing those bodies may simply be an instance of prosopopoeia.

O sun, O moon, Which enlighten this lower earth! Here is this man, Who treats me not according to the ancient rule. How can he get his mind settled ?. Would he then not regard me?

O sun, O moon, Which overshadow this lower earth! Here is this man, Who will not be friendly with me. How can he get his mind settled? Would he then not respond to me ?

O sun, O moon, Which come forth from the east! Here is this man, With virtuous words, but really not good. How can he get his mind settled ? Would he then allow me to be forgotten ?

[1] Ff

How can he get his mind settled? Would he then not respond to me ?

O sun, O moon, Which come forth from the east! Here is this man, With virtuous words, but really not good. How can he get his mind settled ? Would he then allow me to be forgotten ?

[1] Ff

p. 434

F

O sun, O moon, From the east that come forth!
O father, O mother, There is no sequel to your
nourishing of me. How can he get his mind settled?
Would he then respond to me contrary to all reason?

Ope 15, Stanza 1. Tue Per MAn.

AN OFFICER OF WEI SETS FORTH HIS HARD LOT, THROUGH DISTRESSES AND THE BURDENS LAID UPON HIM, AND HIS SILENCE UNDER IT IN SUBMISSION TO HEAVEN.

I go out at the north gate, With my heart full of sorrow. Straitened am I and poor, And no one takes knowledge of my distress. So it is! Heaven has done it! ;—What then shall I say ?

Book IV. Tue Opss or YuNG.
See the preliminary note on p. 433.

Ove 1. Tue Pai KAv.

PROTEST OF A WIDOW AGAINST BEING URGED TO MARRY AGAIN, AND
HER APPEAL TO HER MOTHER AND TO HEAVEN.

Tuts piece, it is said, was made by Kung Xiang, the widow of Kung-po, son of the marquis Hsf of Wei (B.c. 855-814). Kungpo having died an early death, her parents (who must have been the marquis of Ai and his wife or one of the ladies of his harem) wanted to force her to a second marriage, against which she protests. The ode was preserved, no doubt, as an example of

1 The ‘Complete Digest of Comments on the Shih’ warns its readers not to take ‘Heaven’ here as synonymous with Ming, ‘what is decreed or commanded.’ The writer does not go on to define the precise idea which he understood the character to convey. This appears to be what we often mean by ‘ Providence,’ when we speak of anything permitted, rather than appointed, by the supreme ruling Power.

p. 435

what the Chinese have always considered a great virtue,—the refusal of a widow to marry again.

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There
in the middle of the Ho. With his two tufts of
hair falling over his forehead*, He was my mate;
And I swear that till death I will have no other.
O mother, O Heaven*, Why will you not understand me?

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There by the side of the Ho. With his two tufts of hair falling over his forehead, He was my only one; And I swear that till death I will not do the evil thing. O mother, O Heaven, Why will you not understand me?

Ope 8, Stanza 2. Tue Aiin-8z—E Aten LAo.

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE BEAUTY AND SPLENDOUR OF HSUAN XIANG
AND HER VICIOUSNESS.

Hsiian Kiang was a princess of Ai, who, towards the close of the seventh century B.c., became wife to the marquis of Wei, known as duke Hstian. She was beautiful and unfortunate, but various things are related of her indicative of the grossest immoralities prevailing in the court of Wei.

How rich and splendid Is her pheasant-figured

She was beautiful and unfortunate, but various things are related of her indicative of the grossest immoralities prevailing in the court of Wei.

How rich and splendid Is her pheasant-figured

1 These allusive lines, probably, indicate the speaker’s widowhood, which left her like ‘a boat floating about on the water.’

2 Such was the mode in which the hair was kept, while a boy or young man’s parents were alive, parted into two tufts from the pia mater, and brought down as low as the eyebrows on either side of the forehead.

® Mao thought that the lady intended her father by ‘Heaven ;’ while Af held that her father may have been dead, and that the mother is called Heaven, with reference to the kindness and protection that she ought to show. There seems rather to be in the term a wild, and not very intelligent, appeal to the supreme Power in heaven.

Ff2

436 THE SHIH KING. BOOK Iv. 6.

robe!! Her black hair in masses like clouds, No false locks does she descend to. There are her earplugs of jade, Her comb-pin of ivory, And her high forehead, so white. She appears like a visitant from heaven! She appears like a goddess ?.

Ope 6, Stanzas1anp2. Tue TING 1H FANG AUNG.

CELEBRATING THE PRAISE OF DUKE WAN ;—-HIS DILIGENCE, FORESIGHT,
USE OF DIVINATION, AND OTHER QUALITIES.

The state of Wei was reduced to extremity by an irruption of some northern hordes in B.c. 660, and had nearly disappeared from among the states of Kau. Under the marquis Wei, known in history as duke W4n, its fortunes revived, and he became a sort of second founder of the state.

When Ting culminated (at night-fall)*, He began to build the palace at KA#i*, Determining over there was no Tf ff) in the sense of imperator then in

1 The lady is introduced arrayed in the gorgeous robes worn by the princess of a state in the ancestral temple.

* P. Lacharme translated these two concluding lines by ‘Tu primo aspectu coelos (pulchritudine), et imperatorem (majestate) adaequas,’ without any sanction of the Chinese critics ; and more-

China. The sovereigns of Kau were wang or kings. AQ Hstf expands the lines thus :—‘Such is the beayty of her robes and appearance, that beholders are struck with awe, as if she were a spiritual being.’ Hst Ahien (Yuian dynasty) deals with them thus: —‘ With such splendour of beauty and dress, how is it that she is here? She has come down from heaven! She is a spiritual being !

* Ting is the name of a small space in the heavens, embracing a Markab and another star of Pegasus. Its culminating at night-fall was the signal that the labours of husbandry were over for the year, and that building operations should be taken in hand. Great as was the urgency for the building of his new capital, duke Wain would not take it in hand till the proper time for such a labour was arrived. .

* Kd, or KAd-kAit, was the new capital of Wei, in the present district of KAAng-wh, department 3/40-Aau, Shan-tung.

BOOK V. 4. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 437

.

* Kd, or KAd-kAit, was the new capital of Wei, in the present district of KAAng-wh, department 3/40-Aau, Shan-tung.

BOOK V. 4. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 437

its aspects by means of the sun. He built the palace at KAd. He planted about it hazel and chesnut trees, The f, the Thung, the 8ze, and the varnish tree. Which, when cut down, might afford materials for lutes.

He ascended those old walls, And thence surveyed (the site of) A#t. He surveyed KA and Thang?, With the lofty hills and high elevations about. He descended and examined the mulberry trees. He then divined by the tortoise-shell, and got a favourable response?; And thus the issue has been truly good.

Book V. THE Opes or WEIL.

Ir has been said on the title of Book iii, that Wei at first was the eastern portion of the old domain of the kings of Shang. With this a brother of king W4, called Khang-shf, was invested. The principality was afterwards increased by the absorption of Phei and Yung. It came to embrace portions of the present pro- — vinces of Xih-If, Shan-tung, and Ho-nan. It outlasted the dynasty of Ku itself, the last prince of Wei being reduced to the ranks of the people only during the dynasty of Xhin.

Ope 4, Stanzas 1 AND 2. THe MANa.

AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN, WHO HAD BEEN SEDUCED INTO AN IMPROPER
CONNEXION, NOW CAST OFF, RELATES AND BEMOANS HER SAD CASE.

An extract is given from the pathetic history here related, because it shows how divination was used among the common people, and entered generally into the ordinary affairs of life.

A simple-looking lad you were, Carrying cloth

1 Thang was the name of a town, evidently not far from AQ. 2 We have seen before how divination was resorted to on occasion of new undertakings, especially in proceeding to rear a city.

p. 438

to exchange it for silk. (But) you came not so to purchase silk ;—You came to make proposals to me. I convoyed you through the KAi}, As far as Tun-A/ih?, ‘It is not I,’ (I said), ‘who would protract the time; But you have had no good gobetween. I pray you be notangry, And let autumn be the time.’

I ascended that ruinous wall, To look towards Fd-kwan*; And when I saw (you) not (coming from) it, My tears flowed in streams. When I did see (you coming from) Fd-kwan, I laughed and I spoke. You had consulted, (you said), the tortoiseshell and the divining stalks, And there was nothing unfavourable in their response*. ‘Then come,’ (I said), ‘with your carriage, And I will remove with my goods.’

Book VI. Tue Opes or THE RoyaL Domain.

Kine Win, it has been seen, had for his capital the city of Fang, from which his son, king WO, moved the seat of government to Hao. In the time of king KAing, a city was built by the duke

1 The XAt was a famous river of Wei.

* Tun-éAit was a well-known place —‘the mound or height of Tun’—south of the Wei.

In the time of king KAing, a city was built by the duke

1 The XAt was a famous river of Wei.

* Tun-éAit was a well-known place —‘the mound or height of Tun’—south of the Wei.

5 Ffi-kwan must have been the place where the man lived, according to AQ. Rather, it must have been a pass (Fd-kwan may mean ‘ the gate or pass of FQ’), through which he would come, and was visible from near the residence of the woman.

‘ Ying-t@ observes that the man had never divined about the matter, and said that he had done so only to complete the process of seduction. The critics dwell on the inconsistency of divination being resorted to in such a case:—‘ Divination is proper only if used in reference to what is right and moral.’

p. 439

of Xéu, near the present Lo-yang, and called ‘the eastern capital.’ Meetings of the princes of the states assembled there ; but the court continued to be held at Hao till the accession of king Phing in B.c. 770. From that time, the kings of Kau sank nearly to the level of the princes of the states, and the poems collected in their domain were classed among the ‘ Lessons of Manners from the States,’ though still distinguished by the epithet ‘royal’ prefixed to them.

Ope 1, Stanza 1. Tue Sut Li.

AN OFFICER DESCRIBES HIS MELANCHOLY AND REFLECTIONS ON SEEING THE DESOLATION OF THE OLD CAPITAL OF KAU, MAKING HIS MOAN TO HEAVEN BECAUSE OF IT.

There is no specific mention of the old capital of X4u in the piece, but the schools of M4o and @ are agreed in this interpretation, which is much more likely than any of the others that have been proposed.

There was the millet with its drooping heads;
There was: the sacrificial millet coming into blade.
Slowly I moved about, In my heart all-agitated.
Those who knew me_ Said I was sad at heart.
Those who did not know me, Said I was seeking
for something. O thou distant and azure Heaven?!
By what man was this (brought about) *?

1 That is, there where the ancestral temple and other grand buildings of H4o had once stood.

2 *He cried out to Heaven,’ says Yen 3an, ‘and told (his distress), but he calls it distant in its azure brightness, lamenting that his complaint was not heard.’ This is, probably, the correct explanation of the language. The speaker would by it express his grief that the dynasty of Kau and its people were abandoned and uncared for by Heaven.

8 Referring to king YQ, whose reckless course had led to the destruction of Hao by the Zung, and in a minor degree to his son, king Phing, who had subsequently removed to the eastern capital.

440 THE SHIH KING, BOOK x.

Ope 9, Stanzas 1 anp 8. Tue TA XU.

A LADY EXCUSES HERSELF FOR NOT FLYING TO HER LOVER BY HER FEAR OF A SEVERE AND VIRTUOUS MAGISTRATE, AND SWEARS TO HIM THAT SHE IS SINCERE IN HER ATTACHMENT TO HIM.

His great carriage rolls along, And his robes of rank glitter like the young sedge. Do I not think of you? But I am afraid of this officer, and dare not (fly to you).

His great carriage rolls along, And his robes of rank glitter like the young sedge. Do I not think of you? But I am afraid of this officer, and dare not (fly to you).

While living we may have to occupy different apartments; But, when dead, we shall share the same grave. If you say that I am not sincere, By the bright sun I swear that I am}.

Book X. Tue Obes oF THANG.

Tue odes of Thang were really the odes of 3in, the greatest of the fiefs of Xu until the rise of KAin. King AA&ng, in B.c. 1107, invested his younger brother, called ShQ-yii, with the territory where Y40 was supposed to have ruled anciently as the marquis of Thang, in the present department of Thai-ytian, Shan-hsi, the fief retaining that ancient name. Subsequently the name of the state was changed to 3in, from the river in in the southern part of it.

Ope 8, Stanza 1. THE PAo Yu.

THE MEN OF 3IN, CALLED OUT TO WARFARE BY THE KING'S ORDER, MOURN OVER THE CONSEQUENT SUFFERING OF THEIR PARENTS, AND . LONG FOR THEIR RETURN TO THEIR ORDINARY AGRICULTURAL PUR- SUITS, MAKING THEIR APPEAL TO HEAVEN.

Sd-sQ go the feathers of the wild geese, As

1 In the ‘Complete Digest’ this oath is expanded in the following way :—' These words are from my heart. If you think that they are not sincere, there is (a Power) above, like the bright sun, observing me ;—how should my words not be sincere?’

p. 441

they settle on the bushy oaks’. The king’s affairs must not be slackly discharged, And (so) we cannot plant our millets;—What will our parents have to rely on? O thou distant and azure Heaven?! When shall we be in our places again ?

Ope 11. Tue Ko SuH&nc.

A WIFE MOURNS THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, REFUSING TO BE COM- FORTED, AND DECLARES THAT SHE WILL CHERISH HIS MEMORY TILL HER OWN DEATH.

I

- is supposed that the husband whose death is bewailed in this piece had died in one of the military expeditions of which duke Hsien (.c. 676—651) was fond. It may have been so, but there is nothing in the piece to make us think of duke Hsien. I give it a place in the volume, not because of the religious sentiment in it, but because of the absence of that sentiment, where we might expect it. The lady shows the grand virtue of a Chinese widow, in that she will never marry again. And her grief would not be assuaged. The days would all seem long summer days, and the nights all long winter nights; so that a hundred long years would seem to drag their slow course. But there is not any hope expressed of a re-union with her husband in another state. The ‘abode’ and the ‘chamber’ of which she speaks are to be understood of his grave; and her thoughts do not appear to go beyond it.

The dolichos grows, covering the thorn trees ;
The convolvulus spreads all over the waste *. The

The ‘abode’ and the ‘chamber’ of which she speaks are to be understood of his grave; and her thoughts do not appear to go beyond it.

The dolichos grows, covering the thorn trees ;
The convolvulus spreads all over the waste *. The

* Trees are not the proper place for geese to rest on; and the attempt to do so is productive of much noise and trouble to the birds. The lines would seem to allude to the hardships of the soldiers’ lot, called from their homes to go on a distant expedition.

2 See note 2 on ode 1 of Book vi, where Heaven is appealed to in the same language.

» These two lines are taken as allusive, the speaker being led by the sight of the weak plants supported by the trees, shrubs, and tombs, to think of her own desolate, unsupported condition. But they may also be taken as narrative, and descriptive of the battleground, where her husband had met his death.

p. 442

man of my admiration is no more here ;—With whom can I dwell? I abide alone.

The dolichos grows, covering the jujube trees ; The convolvulus spreads all over the tombs. The man of my admiration is no more here ;—With whom can I dwell? I rest alone.

How beautiful was the pillow of horn! How splendid was the embroidered coverlet!! The man of my admiration is no more here ;—With whom can I dwell? Alone (I wait for) the morning.

Through the (long) days of summer, Through the (long) nights of winter (shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his abode.

Through the (long) nights of winter, Through the (long) days of summer (shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his chamber.

Book XI. Tue Opes or Kun.

Tuk state of XAin took its name from its earliest principal city, in the present district of AAing-shui, in KAin Kau, Kan-sf. Its chiefs claimed to be descended from Yi, who appears in the Shi as the forester of Shun, and the assistant of the great Yi in his labours on the flood of Y4o. The history of his descendants is very imperfectly related till we come to a Fei-3ze, who had charge of the herds of horses belonging to king Hsifo(B.c. gog- 895), and in consequence of his good services was invested with

1 These things had been ornaments of the bridal chamber ; and as the widow thinks of them, her grief becomes more intense.

p. 443

the small territory of Kin, as an attached state. A descendant of his, known as duke Hsiang, in consequence of his loyal services, when the capital was moved to the east in B.c. 770, was raised to the dignity of an earl, and took his place among the great feudal princes of the kingdom, receiving also a large portion of territory, which included the ancient capital of the House of Xau. In course of time XAin, as is well known, superseded the dynasty of Kau, having gradually moved its capital more and more to the east. The people of K/in were, no doubt, mainly composed of the wild tribes of the west.

In course of time XAin, as is well known, superseded the dynasty of Kau, having gradually moved its capital more and more to the east. The people of K/in were, no doubt, mainly composed of the wild tribes of the west.

Ope 6, Stanza 1. Tue Hwane Nido.

LAMENT FOR THREE WORTHIES OF XHIN, WHO WERE BURIED IN THE
SAME GRAVE WITH DUKE MO.

There is no difficulty or difference in the interpretation of this piece ; and it brings us down to B.c. 621. Then died duke Mf, after playing an important part in the north-west of China for thirty-nine years. The 30 Awan, under the sixth year of duke Wan, makes mention of M(’s requiring that the three brothers here celebrated should be buried with him, and of the composition of this piece in consequence. Sze-m4 Xfien says that this barbarous practice began with M(’s predecessor, with whom sixty-six persons were buried alive, and that one hundred and seventy-seven in all were buried with MQ. The death of the last distinguished man of the House of X/in, the emperor I, was subsequently celebrated by the entombment with him of all the inmates of his harem.

They flit about, the yellow birds, And rest upon the jujube trees’. Who followed duke MQ in the grave? 3ze-4ii Yen-hsi. And this Yen-hsi Was a man above a hundred. When he came to the

1 It is difficult to see the relation between these two allusive lines and the rest of the stanza. Some say that it is this,—that the people loved the three victims as they liked the birds; others that the birds among the trees were in their proper place,—very different from the brothers in the grave of duke Ma.

444 THE SHIH KING. BOOK Xv.

grave, He looked terrified and trembled. Thou azure Heaven there! Could he have been redeemed, We would have given a hundred (ordinary) men for him},

Book XV. Tue Obes or Pin.

Duke Lif, an ancestor of the K4u family, made a settlement, according to its traditions, in B.c. 1797, in Pin, the site of which is pointed out, go If to the west of the present district city of San-shui, in Pin A Au, Shen-hsf, where the tribe remained till the movement eastwards of Than-f, celebrated in the first decade of the Major Odes of the Kingdom, ode 3. The duke of X4u, during the minority of king AKA&ng, made, it is supposed, the first of the pieces in this Book, describing for the instruction of the young monarch, the ancient ways of their fathers in Pin ; and subsequently some one compiled other odes made by the duke, and others also about him, and brought them together under the common name of ‘the Odes of Pin.’

Ope 1, Stanza 8. THE Axzt YUE.

DESCRIBING LIFE IN PIN IN THE OLDEN TIME } THE PROVIDENT ARRANGE- MENTS THERE TO SECURE THE CONSTANT SUPPLY OF FOOD AND RAIMENT,— WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY FOR THE SUPPORT AND CON- FORT OF THE PEOPLE.

THE Axzt YUE.

DESCRIBING LIFE IN PIN IN THE OLDEN TIME } THE PROVIDENT ARRANGE- MENTS THERE TO SECURE THE CONSTANT SUPPLY OF FOOD AND RAIMENT,— WHATEVER WAS NECESSARY FOR THE SUPPORT AND CON- FORT OF THE PEOPLE.

If the piece was made, as the Chinese critics all suppose, by the duke of Kau, we must still suppose that he writes in the person of an old farmer or yeoman of Pin. The picture which it gives of the manners of the Chinese people, their thrifty, provident ways, their agriculture and weaving,,nearly 3,700 years ago, is

1 This appeal to Heaven is like what we met with in the first of the Odes of the Royal Domain, and the eighth of those of Thang.

p. 445

full of interest ; but it is not till we come to the concluding stanza that we find anything bearing on their religious practices.

In the days of (our) second month, they hew out the ice with harmonious blows!; And in those of (our) third month, they convey it to the ice-houses, (Which they open) in those of (our) fourth, early in the morning A lamb having been offered in sacrifice with scallions*. In the ninth month, it is cold, with frost. In the tenth month, they sweep clean their stack-sites. (Taking) the two bottles of spirits to be offered to their ruler, And having killed their lambs and sheep, They go to his hall, And raising family which keeps its stores of ice does not rear cattle or sheep,’ meaning that the possessor of an ice-house must be supposed to be very wealthy, and above the necessity of increasing his means in the way described. Probably, the having ice-houses by high ministers and heads of clans was an innovation on the earlier custom, according to which such a distinction was proper only to the king, or the princes of states, on whom it devolved as ‘the fathers of the people,’ to impart from their stores in the hot season as might be necessary. The third and fourth lines of this stanza are to be understood of what was done by the orders of the ruler of the tribe of Kau in Pin. In the Official Book of Kau, Part I, ch. 5, we have a description of the duties of ‘the Providers of Ice,’ and the same subject is treated in the sixth Book of ‘the Record of Rites,’ sections 2 and 6. The ice having been collected and stored in winter, the ice-houses were solemnly opened in the spring. A sacrifice was offered to ‘the Ruler of Cold, the Spirit of the Ice,’ and of the first ice brought forth an offering was set out in the apartment behind the principal hall of the ancestral temple. “A sacrifice to the same Ruler of Cold, it is said, had also been offered when the ice began to be collected. The ceremony may be taken as an illustration of the manner in which religious services entered into the life of the ancient Chinese.

* They went for the ice to the deep recesses of the hills, and wherever it was to be found in the best condition.

* It is said in the last chapter of ‘the Great Learning,’ that ‘ the

446 THE SHIH KING. BOOK Xv.

“A sacrifice to the same Ruler of Cold, it is said, had also been offered when the ice began to be collected. The ceremony may be taken as an illustration of the manner in which religious services entered into the life of the ancient Chinese.

446 THE SHIH KING. BOOK Xv.

the cup of rhinoceros horn, Wish him long life,— that he may live for ever’.

1 The custom described in the five concluding lines is mentioned to show the good and loyal feeling of the people of Pin towards their chief. Having finished all the agricultural labours of the year, and being now prepared to enjoy the results of their industry, the first thing they do is to hasten to the hall of their ruler, and ask him to share in their joy, and express their loyal wishes for his happiness.

THE HSIAO KING

OR

CLASSIC OF FILIAL PIETY.

THE HSIAO KING

OR

CLASSIC OF FILIAL PIETY.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE NAME OF THE CLASSIC; ITS EXISTENCE BEFORE

THE HAN DYNASTY; ITS CONTENTS, AND BY WHOM
IT WAS WRITTEN.

1. The Chinese character pronounced Hsi4o, which we translate by ‘ Filial Piety,’ and which may also perform the part of an adjective, ‘ filial,’ of a verb, ‘to be filial,’ or of Meaning of the 22 adverb, ‘ filially,’ is one of the composite character § characters whose meaning is suggested by the

Hsiao. meanings of their constituent parts combined together. It is made up of two others,—one signifying ‘an old man’ or ‘old age,’ and beneath it the character signifying ‘a son.’ It thus, according to the Shwo W4n, the oldest Chinese dictionary (A.D. 100), presents to the eye ‘a son bearing up an old man,’ that is, a child supporting his parent. Hsi4o also enters as their phonetical element into at least twenty other characters, so that it must be put down as of very early formation. The character King has been explained in the Introduction to the Shad King, p. 2; and the title, Hsido King, means ‘the Classic of Filial Piety.’

2. Many Chinese critics contend that this brief treatise was thus designated by Confucius himself, and that it received the distinction of being styled a King before

[1] Gs

p. 450

2; and the title, Hsido King, means ‘the
Classic of Filial Piety.’

2. Many Chinese critics contend that this brief treatise was thus designated by Confucius himself, and that it received the distinction of being styled a King before

[1] Gsp. 450 any of the older and more important classics. For the Was the treatise preservation of the text as we now have it, we . called the Hsiao are indebted to Hsiian Sung (A. D. 713-755), King by Son one of the emperors of the Thang dynasty. In the preface to his commentary on it there occurs this sentence :—‘ The Master said, “‘ My aim is seen in the Khun Khid; my (rule of) conduct is in the Hsiao King.”’ The imperial author quotes the saying, as if it were universally acknowledged to have come from the sage. It is found at a much earlier date in the preface of Ho Hsif (A.D. 129-182) to his commentary on the Kun Khid as transmitted and annotated by Kung-yang. The industry of scholars has traced it still farther back, and in a more extended form, to a work called Hsiao King Kii-ming Kiieh,—a production, probably, of the first century of our era, or of the century before it. It was one of a class of writings on the classical books, full of mysterious and useless speculations, that never took rank among the acknowledged expositions. Most of them soon disappeared, but this subsisted down to the Sui dynasty (A.D. 581-618), for there was a copy of it then in the Imperial Library. It is now lost, but a few passages of it have been collected from quotations in the Han writers. Among them is this :— ‘ Confucius said, “If you wish to see my aim in dispensing praise or blame to the feudal lords, it is to be found in the Khun Khid; the courses by which I would exalt the social relations are in the Hsiao King.”’ The words thus ascribed to Confucius were condensed, it is supposed, into the form in which we have them,—first from Ho Hsid, and afterwards from the emperor Hsiian 3ung. Whether they were really used by the sage or not, they were attributed to him as early as the beginning of our Christian era, and it was then believed that he had given to our classic the honourable name of a King.

3. But the existence of the Hsiao King can be traced several hundred years farther back ;—to within less than a The Hsifo King Century after the death of Confucius. Sze-ma ; hte! before Khien, in his history of the House of Wei,

"one of the three marquisates into which thep. 451 great state of Kin was broken up in the fifth century B.C.,, tells us that the marquis Wan received, in B.C. 407, the classical books from Pf 3ze-hsia, and mentions the names of two other disciples of Confucius, with whom he was on intimate terms of friendship. There remains the title of a commentary on the Hsidéo King by this marquis Wan ; and the book was existing in the time of 3hai Yung (A. D. 133-192), who gives a short extract from it in one of his treatises.

There remains the title of a commentary on the Hsidéo King by this marquis Wan ; and the book was existing in the time of 3hai Yung (A. D. 133-192), who gives a short extract from it in one of his treatises.

4. The recovery of our classic after the fires of Ain will be related in the next chapter. Assuming here that it was recovered, we look into it, and find a con- The contents of : the classic, and Versation, or memoranda, perhaps, of several by whom it conversations, between Confucius and his diswas written. : : ciple 34ng-;ze. The latter, however, is little more than a listener, to whom the sage delivers his views on Filial Piety in its various relations. There are two recensions of the text ;—one in eighteen chapters, and the other in twenty-two. As edited in eighteen chapters, each of them has a very brief descriptive heading. I have given this in the subjoined translation, but the headings cannot be traced back beyond the commentary of the emperor Hsiian.

The saying attributed by Ho HsiQ and others to Confucius would seem to indicate that he had himself composed the work, but the reader of it sees at once that it could not have proceeded from him. Nor do the style and method of the treatise suggest a view which has had many advocates,—that it was written by 34ng-3ze, under the direction of the master. There is no reason, however, why we should not accept the still more common account,—that the Hsiao came from the school of 3ang-jze. To use the words of Hd Yin, an author of the first half of our twelfth century :—‘The Classic of Filial Piety was not made by 3ang-3ze himself. When he retired from his conversation (or conversations) with AKung-ni on the subject of Filial Piety, he repeated to the disciples of his own school what (the master) had said, and they classified the sayings, and formed the treatise.’ Gg2

p. 452

CHAPTER II.

THE RECOVERY OF THE Hs1A0 KING UNDER THE HAN DYNASTY, AND ITS PRESERVATION DOWN TO THE PUBLICATION OF THE COMMENTARY OF THE THANG EMPEROR HSUAN 3UNG.

1. The Hsiao King suffered, like all the other Confucian books except the Yi, from the fires of KAin. Its subsequent recovery was very like that of the Sha, described on pp. 7, 8. We have in each case a shorter and a longer copy, a modern text and an ancient text.

In the Catalogue of the Imperial Library, prepared by Lid Hin immediately before the commencement of our Recovery of the Christian era, there are two copies of the

7, 8. We have in each case a shorter and a longer copy, a modern text and an ancient text.

In the Catalogue of the Imperial Library, prepared by Lid Hin immediately before the commencement of our Recovery of the Christian era, there are two copies of the

Hsido King. Hsi4o:—‘the old text of the Khung family,’ which was in twenty-two chapters, according to a note by Pan Ka (died A.D. 92), the compiler of the documents in the records of the western Han; and another copy, which was, according to the same authority, in eighteen chapters, and was subsequently styled ‘the modern text.’ Immediately following the entry of these two copies, we find ‘ Expositions of the Hsiao by four scholars,—whose surnames were Kang-sun, Kiang, Yi, and Hau. ‘They all,’ says Pan K4, ‘had laboured on the shorter text.’

The copy in eighteen chapters therefore, we must pre- The shorter or sume, had been the first recovered; but of modem text. how this came about we have no account till we come to the records of the Sui dynasty. There it is said that, when the KAin edict for the destruction of the books was issued, his copy of the Hsi4do was hidden by a scholar called Yen Kih, a member, doubtless, of the Yen family to which Confucius’ favourite disciple Yen Hui had belonged. When the edict was abrogated in a few years, Kan, a son of Xih, brought the copy from its hidingplace. This must have been in the second century B.C., and the copy, transcribed, probably by Xan, in the form of the characters then used, would pass into the charge of the board of ‘great scholars’ appointed to preserve thep. 453 ancient books, in the reigns of the emperors Wan and King, B.C. 179-141.

The copy in the ancient text was derived from the tablets found in the wall of the Confucian house in the

The oldor time of the emperor Wd (B.C. 140-87), and longer text. is commonly said to have been deciphered, _as in the case of the tablets of the Sha, by Khung An-kwo. An-kwo wrote a commentary himself on the Hsiao, which does not appear in Hin’s Catalogue, just as no mention is made there of his commentary on the Sha. We find it entered, however, among the books in the Sui Library with the following note :—‘ The work of An-kwo disappeared during the troubles of the Liang dynasty (A. D. 502-556), and continued unknown till the time of Sui, when a copy was found in the capital, and came into the possession of a scholar called Lia Hsiian.’ Hsiian made his treasure public, and ere long it was acknowledged by the court, while many scholars contended that it was a forgery of his own, and ascribed by him to An-kwo. Whatever opinion we may form on this matter, the discovery of the old text, and the production of a commentary on it by Khung An-kwo, can hardly be called in question.

Whatever opinion we may form on this matter, the discovery of the old text, and the production of a commentary on it by Khung An-kwo, can hardly be called in question.

It might be argued, indeed, that another copy in the old text was found in the first century B.c. In a memorial addressed about the Shwo WaAn dictionary to the emperor An, in A.D. 121, by Hsii Kung, a son of the author, he says

Was another that the Hsiao King which his father used was copy in the old a copy of that presented, by ‘a very old man text discovered? Of TQ? to the emperor Kao (B.C. 86-74)}. Many Chinese critics, and especially Wang Ying-lin

1 The language of the memorial is: —‘The Hsiao King’ (used by my father in the composition of his dictionary) ‘was what San lfo of LQ presented in the time of the emperor Kao.’ The San !4o most readily suggests to the reader the idea of ‘three old men ;’ but the characters may also mean, in harmony with Chinese idiom, ‘the three classes of old men,’ or ‘an individual from those three classes.’ The classical passage to explain the phrase is par. 18 in the first section of the sixth Book in the Lt Xi, where it is said that king Wan feasted the San 140 and WQ kang, ‘the three classes of old men and five classes of men of experience,’ in his royal college. The three classes of old men were such as were over 80, 90, and 100 years respectively. It was from a man of one of these classes that the emperor received the Hsiao in the old

p. 454

(better known as Wang Po-hu, A. D. 1223-1296), say that this is a different account of the recovery of the old text from that with which the name of Khung An-kwo is connected. It is difficult to reconcile the two statements, as will be seen on a reference to the note below!; and yet it text. According to the account given in the next note this man was Khung $ze-hui; and in the Books of Sui that is given as the name of the individual of the Khung family, who had hidden the tablets on the appearance of the Khin edict for the destruction of all the old books.

According to the account given in the next note this man was Khung $ze-hui; and in the Books of Sui that is given as the name of the individual of the Khung family, who had hidden the tablets on the appearance of the Khin edict for the destruction of all the old books.

1 The Catalogue Raisonné of the Imperial Libraries commences its account of the copies of the Hsiéo with a description of ‘the Old Text of the Hsiao with the Commentary of Khung An-kwo,’ obtained from Japan ; but the editors give good reasons for doubting its genuineness. There is a copy of this work in the Chinese portion of the British Museum, an edition printed in Japan in 1732, which I have carefully examined, with the help of Professor R. K. Douglas and Mr. A. Wylie. It contains not only the commentary of Khung An-kwo, but what purports to be the original preface of that scholar. There it is said that the bamboo tablets of the copy in ‘ tadpole characters,’ found in the wall of Confucius’ old ‘ lecture hall, in a stone case,’ were presented to the emperor by Khung 3ze-hui, ‘a very old man of LQ” The emperor, it is added, caused two copies to be made in the current characters of the time by ‘the great scholars,’ one of which was given to 3ze-hui, and the other to General Ho Kwang, a minister of war and faveurite, who greatly valued it, and placed it among the archives of the empire, where it was jealously guarded.

This account makes the meaning of the phrase ‘the San ldo of Li’ quite clear; but there are difficulties in the way of our believing that it proceeded from Khung An-kwo. No mention is made of him in it, whereas, according to the current narrations, the tablets with the tadpole characters were first deciphered by him; nor is the name of the emperor to whom Khung 3ze-hui presented the tablets given. No doubt, however, this emperor was KAo, with whom Ho Kwang wasa favourite. “If the preface were genuine, of course Ankwo was alive after 3ze-hui went to court with the tablets. Now, the tablets were discovered in the period Thien-han, 8, c. 100-97, and Kao reigned from B.c. 86 to 74. An-kwo died at the age of sixty, but in what year we are not told. He had studied the Shih under Shin Kung, whose death can hardly be placed later than in s.c. 135. If An-kwo were bom in B.c. 150, he would have been more than sixty years old—the age assigned to him at his death— at the accession of Kao. I cannot believe, therefore, that the preface in the Japanese Hsiao was written by him; and if we reject the preface, we must also reject the commentary before which it stands.

150, he would have been more than sixty years old—the age assigned to him at his death— at the accession of Kao. I cannot believe, therefore, that the preface in the Japanese Hsiao was written by him; and if we reject the preface, we must also reject the commentary before which it stands.

The text of the Hsiao in the work is nearly identical with that of Sze-m& Kwang, mentioned below on p. 458; but to the chapters there are prefixed the headings (which Kwang did not adopt), that cannot be traced farther back than the Thang dynasty. This might be got over, but the commentary throws no new light on the text. ‘It is shallow and poor,’ say the editors of the Catalogue Raisonné, ‘and not in the style of the Han scholars.’ I must think with them that Khung An-Kwo’s commentary, purporting to have been preserved in

Japan is a forgery.

p. 455

is possible that the difficulty would disappear, if the details of the discovery and the subsequent dealing with the tablets had come down to us complete.

Certainly, in the first century B.C. there were two copies of the Hsiao King in the Imperial Library of Han. If those copies, catalogued by Lid Hin, were the actual text, presented by Yen X4n, and a faithful transcript in the current Han characters of the ancient text discovered in the wall of Confucius’ old lecture hall, we should be able to say that

Can we rely the evidence for the recovery of the Hsiao, as fully on the it had existed during the KAu dynasty, was copies cata- : : logued by Lia aS Satisfactory as we could desire; but there Hin? are some considerations that are in the way of our doing so.

According to the records of Sui, after the old text came into the possession of the court, and the differences between it and the text earlier recovered were observed, Lid Hsiang (B.C, 80-9), the father of Hin, was charged by the emperor (Khang, B.C. 32-7) to compare the two. The result of his examination of them was that ‘he removed from the modern text what was excessive and erroneous, and fixed the number of the chapters at eighteen.’ It does not appear that previously there was any division of Kn’s copy into chapters. What Hsiang did in the case of the old text we are not told. A note by Yen Sze-k0 of the Thang dynasty, appended to Hin’s Catalogue, quotes from him that ‘ one chapter of the modern text was divided into two in the old, another into three, and that the old had one chapter which did not appear in the other.’ This missing chapter, it is understood, was the one beginning, ‘Inside the smaller doors leading to the inner apartments,’ which I have appended, from the current old text, to my translation of the classic as published by Hsiian 3ung ; and yet the Sui account says that that chapter was in the Hsiao of Kang-sun, one of the four early commentators on the modern text.

The copies catalogued by Hin were made after the examination and revision of the two texts by his father. There are suspicious resemblances between the style and method of the present classic and those of the original works of

p. 456

Hsiang that have come down to us. It is impossible to say, from the want of information, what liberties he took with the documents put into his charge. The differences between the two texts as we now have them are trivial. I believe that the changes made ‘in them by Hsiang were not important; but having them as they came from his revision, we have them at second hand, and this has afforded ground for the dealing with them by Kd Hsi and others in the manner which will be described in the next chapter.

2. I have said above (p. 450) that for the text of the classic.—the modern text, that is,—as we now have it, we are indebted to the labours of the emperor Hsiian 3ung of the Thang dynasty. Kd f-tsun, of the K/ien-lung period (1736-1795), in his work on the classics and the writings

From Khung on them, has adduced the titles of eighty-six

An-kwoto different works on our classic, that appeared

Ae sn Bune. between Khung An-kwo and Hsiian 3ung.

Not a single one of all these now survives ; but the enumeration of them shows that the most distinguished scholars during the intervening centuries exercised their powers on the treatise, and would keep a watch on one another in the preservation of the text. Moreover, several of the works continued through the Thang dynasty, and on into that of Sung. The Catalogue of the Sui Library contains the titles of nineteen in its list.

The emperor Hsiian says, in his preface, that in the

Hsiian 3ung’s Making of his commentary he had freely used work. the commentaries of six earlier writers, whom he names. They were, Wei K4o, Wang Sd, Yii Fan, and Lid Shao, all of our second and third centuries; Lid Hsiian, of our sixth century, who laboured on the commentary of Khung An-kwo, which, as I have already stated, is said to have been discovered in his time and presented to him; and La Khang, rather earlier than Lid, who dealt critically with the commentary attributed to Kang Khang-éAang. ‘ But,’ says the imperial author, ‘if a comment be right in reason, why need we enquire from whom it came? We have therefore taken those six writers, considered whereinp. 457 they agreed and differed, and decided between their interpretations by reference to the general scope of the five (great) King. In compendious style, but with extensive examination of the subject, we have made the meaning of the classic clear.’

p. 457

they agreed and differed, and decided between their interpretations by reference to the general scope of the five (great) King. In compendious style, but with extensive examination of the subject, we have made the meaning of the classic clear.’

The emperor says nothing himself about the differences between the ancient and modern texts, though we know that that subject was vehemently agitated among the scholars of his court. The text as commented on by him is in eighteen chapters, which do not include the chapter to which I have referred on p. 455 as having been in the copy of Kang-sun in the first century B.c. It is said, and on sufficient authority, that this chapter was excluded through the influence of the scholar and minister Sze-ma Kan. To each of his chapters the emperor prefixed a brief heading or argument, which I have retained in the translation. These headings, probably, were selected by him from a variety proposed by the scholars about the court.

The text employed in this imperial commentary might now be considered as sufficiently secured. It was engraved, in less than a century after, on the stone tablets of Thang, which were completed in the year 837, and set up in Hsi-an, the Thang capital, where they remain, very little damaged, to this day’. And not only so. The emperor was so pleased with the commentary which he had made, that he caused the whole of it to be engraved on four large tablets or pillars of stone in 745. They are still to be seen at Hsi-an, in front of the Confucian College.

4 These tablets are commonly said to contain the thirteen classics (Shih-san King). They, contained, however, only twelve different works,—the Yi, the ShQ, the Shih, the Kau Lt, the { Li, the Lt Kt, and the amplifications of the Khun Khiu,—by 30 Khiti-ming, by Kung-yang. and by K(-liang. These form ‘the nine King.’ In addition to these there were the Lun Yii, the Hsido King, and the R Ya. According to Ki Yen-wf (1613-1682), the characters on the tablets were in all 650,252, Mr.T.W. Rhys Davids (Buddhism, p. 19) estimates that our English Bible contains between go0,000 and 950,000 words. The first Psalm, in what is called the Delegates’ version, very good and concise, contains 100 Chinese characters, and in our English version 130 words. The classics of the Thang tablets, if the translator were a master of both languages, might be rendered in English so as to form a volume not quite so large as our Bible.

p. 458

It is hardly necessary to say more on the preservation

The work of Of the Hsi4o King. In A.D. 996 the second

Hsing Ping. emperor of the Sung dynasty gave orders for an annotated edition of it to be prepared. This was finally completed in 1001, under the superintendence of Hsing Ping (932-1010), with a large critical apparatus, and a lengthened exposition, both of the text and of Hsiian 3ung’s explanation. This work has ever since been current in China.

CHAPTER III.
CRITICISM OF THE HsIAO SINCE THE THANG DYNASTY.

This work has ever since been current in China.

CHAPTER III.
CRITICISM OF THE HsIAO SINCE THE THANG DYNASTY.

1. Notwithstanding the difficulty about one chapter which has been pointed out on p. 455, Hsiian 3ung’s text was generally accepted as the representative of that in modern characters, recovered in the second century B.C. There were still those, however, who continued to advo-

Works on the Cate the claims of ‘the old text.’ Sze-ma Poe A Kwong Kwang, a distinguished minister and scholar and Fan Of the Sung dynasty (1009-1086), presented 8a-yi. to the court in 1054 his ‘ Explanations of the Hsiéo King according to the Old Text,’ arguing, in his preface and in various memorials, for the correctness of that text, as recovered by Lid Hsiian in the sixth century. Fan 3f-yii (1041-1098), a scholar of the same century, and in other things a collaborateur of Kwang, produced, towards the end of his life, an ‘ Exposition of the Hsi4o King according to the Old Text.’ He says in his preface :— ‘Though the agreement between the ancient and modern texts is great, and the difference small, yet the ancient deserves to be preferred, and my labour upon it may not be without some little value!’

1 In the Hsifio King, as now frequently published in China, either separately by itself, or bound up with KO Hst’s Hsiao Hsio, ‘the Teaching for the Young,’ we find the old text, without distinction of chapters. The commentaries of Hsiian 3ung and Sze-m4 Kwang, and the exposition of Fan 3{-yii, however, follow one another at the end of the several clauses and paragraphs.

p. 459

2. But our classic had still to pass the ordeal of the scep- Sceptical criti- tical criticism that set in during the Sung cism. Views dynasty. The most notable result of this ofkd Hs. was ‘the Hsido King Expurgated? published by KO Hst in 1186. He tells us that when he first saw a statement by HQ Hung (a minister in the reign of K4o 3ung, 1127-1162), that the quotations from the Book of Poetry in the Hsiao were probably of later introduction into the text, he was terror-struck. Prolonged examination, however, satisfied him that there were good grounds for Hd’s statement, and that other portions of the text were also open to suspicion. He found, moreover, that another earlier writer, Wang Ying-#/an, in the reign of Hsiao 3ung (1163-1189), had come to the conclusion that much of the Hsido had been fabricated or interpolated in the Han dynasty. The way was open for him to give expression to his convictions, without incurring the charge of being the first to impugn the accepted ‘text.

The way was open for him to give expression to his convictions, without incurring the charge of being the first to impugn the accepted ‘text.

The fact was, as pointed out by the editors of the Catalogue Raisonné ofthe Imperial Library of the present dynasty, that A had long entertained the views which he indicated in his expurgated edition of the Hsiao, and his references to Hd and Wang were simply to shield his own boldness. He divided the treatise into one chapter of classical text, and fourteen chapters of illustration and commentary. But both parts were freely expurgated. His classical text embraces the first six chapters in my translation, and is supposed by him to form one continuous discourse by Confucius. The rest of the treatise should not be attributed to the sage at all. The bulk of it may have come from ang-;ze, or from members of his school, but large interpolations were made by the Han scholars. Adopting the old text, KG discarded from it altogether 223 characters.

Attention will be called, under the several chapters, to

Some portions also are in a different order from the arrangement of Hsiian 3ung and Hsing Ping, which I have followed in my translation. As has been already said, the difference between its text and that of the Thang emperor is slight,—hardly greater than the variations in the different recensions of our Gospels and the other books of the New Testament.

p. 460

As has been already said, the difference between its text and that of the Thang emperor is slight,—hardly greater than the variations in the different recensions of our Gospels and the other books of the New Testament.

p. 460

some of the passages which he suppressed, and to the reasons, generally satisfactory, which he advanced for his procedure. Evidently he was influenced considerably by the way in which KAaing f (1033-1107), whom he called ‘his master,’ had dealt with the old text of ‘the Great Learning ;’ but he made his innovations with a bolder pencil and on a more extensive plan, not merely altering the arrangement of paragraphs, and supplementing what was plainly defective, but challenging the genuineness of large portions of the treatise, and removing them without scruple. Under the Yiian dynasty, WO KAang (1249-1333), the Viewsof greatest of its scholars, followed in the wake Wa Khang. of AKO Hsi, yet with the independence characteristic of himself. As AQ had preferred the old text, WO decided—and, I believe, more correctly—in favour of the modern, arguing that the copy of Khung An-kwo’s text and commentary, said to have been recovered and published in the sixth century by Lid Hsiian, was a fabrication. He adopted, therefore, Hsiian 3ung’s text as the basis of his revision, which appeared with the title of ‘the Hsiao King, in paragraphs and sentences.” He adopted X(’s division of the treatise into classical text and commentary. The chapter of classical text is the same as K(’s; the chapters of commentary are only twelve. He discarded, of course, the chapter peculiar to the old text, which has been referred to more than once, united Hsiian 3ung’s eleventh chapter with another, and arranged the other chapters differently from AQ. His revision altogether had 246 characters fewer than the old text. 3. Ko f-tsun gives the titles of nearly 120 works on our classic that appeared after the volume of Wd Kang, Later works bringing its literary history down to the end on the Hsifo. of the Ming dynasty. The scholars of the present dynasty have not been less abundant in their labours on it than their predecessors. Among the col-

} The title of this work in the Catalogue of the Imperial Libraries is ‘ Settlement of the Text of the Hsiao King.’

p. 461

lected works of Mao KAi-ling (1623-1713) is one called ‘Questions about the Hsiao King,’ in which, with his usual ability, and, it must be added, his usual acrimony, he defends the received text. He asserts—and in this he is correct—that there is no difference of any importance between the ancient and modern texts; when he asserts further that there never was any such difference, what he affirms is incapable of proof. He pours scorn on X( Hsi and Wa Kang ; but he is not so successful in defending the integrity of the Hsiao as I have allowed him to be in vindicating the portions of the Shd that we owe to Khung An-kwo.

He pours scorn on X( Hsi and Wa Kang ; but he is not so successful in defending the integrity of the Hsiao as I have allowed him to be in vindicating the portions of the Shd that we owe to Khung An-kwo.

The Hsiao King has always been a favourite with the emperors of China. Before Hsiian 3ung took it in hand, the first and eighth emperors of the eastern Kin dynasty (317-419), the first and third of the Liang (502-556), and the ninth of the northern Wei (386-534) had published their labours upon it. The Manchdu rulers of the present dynasty have signalised themselves in this department. In 1656 the first emperor produced in one chapter his ‘ Imperial Commentary on the Hsiao King,’ and in 1728 the third published a ‘ Collection of Comments’ on it. Between them was the long reign known to us as the Khang-hsi period (1662— 1722), during which there appeared under the direction of the second emperor, the most distinguished of his line, his ‘Extensive Explanation of the Hsiao King,’ in 100 chapters. The only portion of the text which it gives in full is KO Hsi’s chapter of Confucian text; but most of the topics touched on in ’s supplementary chapters, added, as he supposed, by some later hand, are dealt with in the course of the work, the whole of which will amply repay a careful study.

4. It will have been seen that the two great scholars, Kd

Conclusion Hst and Wa Aang, who have taken the regarding the preatest liberties with the text of our classic, genuineness . ° os and integrity allow that there is a Confucian element in it, of the Hsido. and that more than a fifth part of the whole, containing, even as expurgated by Kj, about 400 characters, may be correctly ascribed to the sage. I agree with themp. 462 in this. All the rest of the treatise, to whomsoever it may be ascribed, from 3ang-3ze, the immediate disciple of Confucius, down to Lid Hsiang (B.C. 80-9), took its present form in the first century before our Christian era. The reader will fail to see in it a close connexion between the different chapters, and think that the author or authors try to make more of Filial Piety than can be made of it. The whole, however, is a valuable monument of antiquity, and an exhibition of the virtue which Chinese moralists and rulers, from the most ancient times, have delighted to celebrate as the fundamental principle of human yirtue, the great source of social happiness, and the bond of national strength and stability.

NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION.

In preparing the translation of the Hsiao King for the present work, I have made frequent reference to four earlier translations.

Two of them were made by myself ;—the one about thirty years ago, simply as an exercise for my own improvement in Chinese; the other four years ago, when I was anxious to understand fully the Confucian teaching on the subject of Filial Piety, but without reference to my earlier version.