Before Confucius: Studies in the Creation of the Chinese Classics

Edward L. Shaughnessy

Nov 1997 · State University of New York Press

About this ebook

Edward L. Shaughnessy examines the original composition of China's oldest books, the Classic of Changes, the Venerated Documents, and the Classic of Poetry. By describing the original contexts in which these books were written and what they meant to their original authors and readers, this work sheds light on both the degree to which Chinese culture already was literate by 1000 BC, and also on how the later classical tradition eventually diverged from these origins.

About the author

Edward L. Shaughnessy is Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He coauthored Ritual and Reverence: Chinese Art at the University of Chicago; coedited The Cambridge History of Ancient China; edited New Sources of Early Chinese History: An Introduction to Reading Inscriptions and Manuscripts; and authored Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels and The I Ching.