Classic of Documents
Also known as: Book of Documents, Shujing, Shangshu, Classic of History, Documents Classic
A foundational Confucian classic compiling royal speeches, edicts, and admonitions from mythic sage-kings through early Zhou, articulating moral rulership and the Mandate of Heaven.
Description
The Classic of Documents (Shujing, Shangshu) gathers proclamations, counsels, and declarations attributed to legendary rulers Yao, Shun, and Yu and to historical Shang and Zhou kings. The anthology preserves political rhetoric on just kingship, virtue, and ritual, framing Heaven’s favor as conditional upon moral governance. Early sections elevate the sage-kings as paradigms; later Zhou materials narrate conquest and consolidation. Across layers, the text codifies admonitory discourse: ministers remonstrate, rulers accept charge, and dynastic legitimacy is argued through virtue rather than blood alone. As one of the Five Classics, it shaped Chinese statecraft, education, and historiography for millennia.
Historiography
Transmitted as a school classic by the Warring States period, the received text became entangled in the Han-era "New Text" (modern script) vs. "Old Text" (purportedly archaic script) controversy. In the 17th century, Yan Ruoqu demonstrated that many Old Text chapters were later fabrications, a view that influenced Qing evidential scholarship. Archaeological bamboo manuscripts from the 20th–21st centuries corroborate the antiquity of some Zhou materials while revealing alternative versions, refining our understanding of composition and redaction.
Date Notes
Composite text: early Zhou proclamations with later Warring States and Han redactions; "Old Text" chapters surfaced in Han and were later challenged as forgeries.
Themes
Major Characters
- Emperor Yao
- Emperor Shun
- Yu the Great
- Tang of Shang
- King Wu of Zhou
- Duke of Zhou
Myths
- Counsels of Yao and Shun
- Great Yu Controls the Flood
- Mandate of Heaven
- Oaths and Charters of the Zhou
Facts
- One of the Five Classics central to the Confucian curriculum.
- Articulates the Mandate of Heaven as a moral basis for dynastic legitimacy.
- Tradition counted 100 chapters; the received text preserves roughly 58.
- Han-era "Old Text" chapters were later exposed as forgeries by Yan Ruoqu in the 17th century.
- Core layers likely derive from Western Zhou proclamations and admonitions.
- Influenced Chinese political theory, ritual discourse, and imperial rhetoric for over two millennia.
- Bamboo manuscripts discovered in the 20th–21st centuries attest to early versions and variant readings.
- Often studied with the Classic of Poetry, Rites, Spring and Autumn Annals, and Analects.
- Legge’s 19th-century English translation helped shape Western reception of the work.
- Served as a model for historiographical style mixing narrative with normative admonition.