Chapter XI: Classical Literature of the Chinese (3)

[313] Compare _Confucii Chi-king sive Liber Carminum, ex latina_ P. Lacharme _interpretatione edidit_ J. Mohl, Stuttgart, 1830; _Essai sur le Chi-king, et sur l’ancienne poésie chinoise_, _par_ M. Brosset jeune, Paris, 1828; _Bibliothèque orientale_, Vol. II., p. 247 (1872). _Chi-king, ou Livre des Vers_, Traduction de M. G. Pauthier; _China Review_, Vol. VI., pp. 1 ff. and 166 ff. _Journal N. C. Br. R. As. Soc._, Vol. XII., pp. 97 ff.

[314] _Li-ki ou Mémorial des Rites_, _traduit pour la première fois du chinois, et accompagné de notes, de commentaires et du texte original, par_ J. M. Callery. Turin et Paris, 1853.

[315] _Le Tcheou-Li ou Rites des Tcheou_, _traduit pour la première fois du chinois, par_ Feu Édouard Biot. 2 Tomes. Paris, 1851.

[316] _Chinese Repository_, Vol. V., pp. 306-312.

[317] This somewhat fanciful explanation of the title is from the Han commentators. Dr. Legge (_Classics_, Vol. V., Prolegomena, p. 7) observes that “not even in the work do we find such ‘censures’ and ‘commendations;’ and much less are they trumpeted in the title of it.” His interpretation that Spring and Autumn are put by synechdoche for all four seasons, _i.e._, the entire record of the year, appears to be a more natural account. The same writer declares that “the whole book is a collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers as there are guessers.” The interesting chapters of his _prolegomena_ to this translation, and his judicious criticisms on these early records, should tempt all sinologues to read them throughout.

[318] The same writer adds, in summing up the merits of the _Tso Chuen_: “It is, in my opinion, the most precious literary treasure which has come down to posterity from the Chow dynasty.”--_Classics_, Vol. V., Proleg., p. 35.

[319] To this the Kung Yang commentator adds: “This he said in joke.”

[320] Compare _Tchun Tsieou, Le Printemps & l’Automne, ou Annales de la Principauté de Lou, depuis 722 jusqu’ en 481_, etc. _Traduites en françois, par_ Le Roux Deshauterayes. 1750. Dr. E. Bretschneider, in the _Chinese Recorder_, Vol. IV., pp. 51-52, 1871.

[321] Collie’s _Four Books_, pp. 6-10.

[322] _Ib._, p. 28.

[323] _The Works of Confucius; containing the original text, with a Translation_, by J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, 1807.

[324] _Chinese Repository_, Vol. XI., p. 421. Pauthier, _La Chine_, Paris, 1839, pp. 121-184.

[325] Compare Dr. Legge’s _Religions of China_; Prof. R. K. Douglas, _Confucianism and Taouism_, London, 1879; S. Johnson, _Oriental Religions: China_, Boston, 1877; _A Systematical Digest of the Doctrines of Confucius, according to the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean_, etc., by Ernst Faber. Translated from the German by Möllendorff, Hongkong, 1875; _Histoire de Confucius_, par J. Sénamaud, Bordeaux et Paris, 1878.

[326] It may here be remarked that the terms _tsz’_ or _fu-tsz’_ do not properly form a part of the name, but are titles, meaning _rabbi_ or _eminent teacher_, and are added to the surnames of some of the most distinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction; and in the words Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with Măng and Kung, names of the persons themselves, into one word. The names of other distinguished scholars, as Chu fu-tsz’, Ching fu-tsz’, etc., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Chingfucius; but usage has now brought the compellation for these two men into universal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the term _venerable_ applied to Bede.

[327] Rémusat, _Nouveaux Mélanges_, Tome II., pp. 115-129.

[328] _Chinese Classics_, Vol II. Hongkong, 1862.