The Chou Rituals, The Book of Ceremony and Ritual and The Book of Rites, which settles the moral principles in Chinese traditional society, are called the “Three Etiquettes.” The Chou Rituals collects the bureaucratic establishments in Zhou Dynasty and various states’ systems in the Warring States Period; The Book Ceremony and Ritual records the etiquette system of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods; The Book of Rites compiles the works about various etiquettes before the Qin and Han dynasties. The Zuo’s Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals, The Gongyang Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals and The Guliang Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals, which are formed around “The Spring and Autumn Annals,” are called the “Three Records of the Spring and Autumn Annals.” The Spring and Autumn Annals is the history book of annalistic style based on the book of the Lu State by Confucius.
The Zuo’s Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals focuses on the historical events in The Spring and Autumn Annals. It also aims to elucidate the arguments in The Spring and Autumn Annals. The Analects of Confucius, the most widely read Confucian classic in ancient China, is the records of the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples which is the most magisterial account of Confucianism.
The Book of Filial Piety, is based on the idea of ruling the world with filial piety. It discusses feudal filial duty. It is the only Confucian classic in The Thirteen Classics, Annotated and Explicated annotated by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Erya, an interpretation book that explains word meanings and annotates names and descriptions, is the only ancient lexicon regarded as a classic in ancient China for scholars of Confucian classics.
Mencius is devoted to Mencius’ words, thought and deeds, whose central idea is promoting a policy of benevolence.
The History of the Twenty-five Dynasties
Worship of the past and an emphasis on history is a notable feature of Chinese culture. Generations of rulers in China attached great importance to the continuity and succession of ancient history and had a tradition of recording the history of the previous dynasty. The system ensured the consistence and continuity of history books. Privately written history books were also very popular. History books rank below Jing but far exceed them in terms of total number, type, variety and style.
History books from ancient China come mainly in three types: Character-centered biographies, chronological records of history and event-centered chronicles. Among them, The Records of the Grand Historian is regarded as an official edition. Emperor Qianlong designated it and other histories of 23 dynasties, including the History of the Ming Dynasty completed in 1739 as the Histories of Twenty-four Dynasties, making them official. The completion of the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty in 1927 added the 25th to this collection. Together, they include 3,795 volumes, recording non-stop history from the legendary Yellow Emperor to 1911 and making it an unparalleled encyclopedia of Chinese history.
The History of Twenty-five Dynasties is presented as a series of biographies that chronicle historical events. In terms of style, the history book presented in a series of biographies can be divided into “Benji,” “Shijia,” “Liezhuan,” “Shuzhi” and “Shibiao.”
The Earliest Biogrophical Work of Ancient History in China: The Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian,the earliest biographical work of ancient histor y in China, written by Sima Qian (145–90B. C.), a famous Western Han historian, is also the finest historical book in China. Leading the “Twenty-four Histories,” The Records of the Grand Historian, also called Tai Shi Gong Shu, covering a history of 3,000 years ranging from the legendary Huang Di, or Yellow Emperor, to the first year of Yuanshou Period of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (122 B.C.) consists of 130 pieces with 520 thousand words. With the biographical historiography originated in the book followed by the later official history and a farreaching influence on the later development of history and literature, The Records of the Grand Historian, as an excellent work of literature, occupies an impor tant position in Chinese literary history.
Benji refers to the chronological record of imperial deeds; Shijia to histories of noted families; Liezhuan to biographies; Shuzhi to other histories of diverse institutions, systems, nature, society and etc; and Shibiao to a historical lists of intricate social circumstances and figures that are not included in other biographies. These four sections interact and combine to form the whole of a history book.
Yongle Encyclopedia
Leishu or reference books are also special. These books collect all the materials related to a certain category and compile them by category or rhythm to facilitate searching and citing. Because of the wide coverage and rich information these were known as the encyclopedias of ancient times. The first reference book, The Imperial Reader, was compiled in 220 A.D. It included more than 40 categories with more than eight million words. By the end of the 19th century, over 700 reference books had been put together. The largest was the Yongle Encyclopedia and the most complete was The Compendium of Works of the Past and the Present.