THE CHINESE CLASSICS (PROLEGOMENA)
by
James Legge
Part 4 out of 4
their titles by saying that he could not
help calling them Supplements to the Topography, which was his
'first love.'
皇清經解, 'Explanations of the Classics, under the Imperial
Ts'ing Dynasty.' See above, p. 20. The Work, however, was not
published, as I have there supposed, by imperial authority, but
under the superintendence, and at the expense (aided by other
officers), of Yuan Yuan (阮元), Governor-general of Kwang-tung
and Kwang-hsi, in the ninth year of the last reign, 1829. The
publication of so extensive a Work shows a public spirit and zeal
for literature among the high officers of China, which should keep
foreigners from thinking meanly of them.
孔子家語, 'Sayings of the Confucian Family.' Family is to be
taken in the sense of Sect or School. In Liu Hsin's Catalogue, in
the subdivision devoted to the Lun Yu, we find the entry:--
'Sayings of the Confucian Family, twenty-seven Books,' with a
note by Yen Sze-ku of the T'ang dynasty,-- 'Not the existing Work
called the Family Sayings.' The original Work was among the
treasures found in the wall of Confucius's old house, and was
deciphered and edited by K'ung An-kwo. The present Work is by
Wang Su of the Wei (魏) dynasty, grounded professedly on the
older one, the blocks of which had suffered great dilapidation
during the intervening centuries. It is allowed also, that, since
Su's time, the Work has suffered more than any of the
acknowledged Classics. Yet it is a very valuable fragment of
antiquity, and it would be worth while to incorporate it with the
Analects. My copy is the edition of Li Yung (李容), published in
1780. I have generally called the Work 'Narratives of the School.'
聖廟祀典圖考, 'Sacrificial Canon of the Sage's Temples, with
Plates.' This Work, published in 1826, by Ku Yuan, styled Hsiang-
chau (顧沅, 字湘舟), is a very painstaking account of all the Names
sacrificed to in the temples of Confucius, the dates of their
attaining to that honour, &c. There are appended to it Memoirs of
Confucius and Mencius, which are not of so much value.
十子全書, 'The Complete Works of the Ten Tsze.' See
Morrison's Dictionary, under the character 子. I have only had
occasion, in connexion with this Work, to refer to the writings of
Chwang-tsze (莊子) and Lieh-tsze (列子). My copy is an edition of
1804.
歷代名賢列女氏姓譜, 'A Cyclopaeia of Surnames, or
Biographical Dictionary, of the Famous Men and Virtuous Women
of the Successive Dynasties.' This is a very notable work of its
class; published in 1793, by 蕭智漢, and extending through 157
chapters or Books.
文獻通考, 'General Examination of Records and Scholars.' This
astonishing Work, which cost its author, Ma Twan-lin (馬端臨),
twenty years' labour, was first published in 1321. Remusat says,-
- 'This excellent Work is a library in itself, and if Chinese
literature possessed no other, the language would be worth
learning for the sake of reading this alone.' It does indeed display
all but incredible research into every subject connected with the
Government, History, Literature, Religion, &c., of the empire of
China. The author's researches are digested in 348 Books. I have
had occasion to consult principally those on the Literary
Monuments, embraced in seventy-six Books, from the 174th to the
249th.
朱彝尊經義考, 'An Examination of the Commentaries on the
Classics,' by Chu I-tsun. The author was a member of the Han-lin
college, and the work was first published with an imperial
preface by the Ch'ien-lung emperor. It is an exhaustive work on
the literature of the Classics, in 300 chapters or Books.'
續文獻通考, 'A Continuation of the General Examination of
Records and Scholars.' This Work, which is in 254 Books, and
nearly as extensive as the former, was the production of Wang
Ch'i (王圻), who dates his preface in 1586, the fourteenth year of
Wan-li, the style of the reign of the fourteenth emperor of the
Ming dynasty. Wang Ch'i brings down the Work of his predecessor
to his own times. He also frequently goes over the same ground,
and puts things in a clearer light. I have found this to be the case
in the chapters on the classical and other Books.
二十四史, 'The Twenty-four Histories.' These are the
imperially-authorized records of the empire, commencing with
the 'Historical Records,' the work of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and ending
with the History of the Ming dynasty, which appeared in 1742, the
result of the joint labours of 145 officers and scholars of the
present dynasty. The extent of the collection may be understood
from this, that my copy, bound in English fashion, makes sixty-
three volumes, each one larger than this. No nation has a history
so thoroughly digested; and on the whole it is trustworthy. In pre-
paring this volume, my necessities have been confined mostly to
the Works of Sze-ma Ch'ien, and his successor, Pan Ku (班固), the
Historian of the first Han dynasty.
歷代統記表, 'The Annals of the Nation.' Published by imperial
authority in 1803, the eighth year of Ch'ia-ch'ing. This Work is
invaluable to a student, being, indeed, a collection of
chronological tables, where every year, from the rise of the Chau
dynasty, B.C. 1121, has a distinct column to itself, in which, in
different compartments, the most important events are noted.
Beyond that date, it ascends to nearly the commencement of the
cycles in the sixty-first year of Hwang-ti, giving -- not every
year, but the years of which anything has been mentioned in
history. From Hwang-ti also, it ascends through the dateless ages
up to P'an-ku, the first of mortal sovereigns.
歷代疆域表, 'The Boundaries of the Nation in the successive
Dynasties.' This Work by the same author, and published in 1817,
does for the boundaries of the empire the same service which the
preceding renders to its chronology.
歷代沿革表, 'The Topography of the Nation in the successive
Dynasties.' Another Work by the same author, and of the same date
as the preceding.
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The Dictionaries chiefly consulted have been:--
The well-known Shwo Wan (說文解字), by Hsu Shan, styled
Shu-chung (許慎, 字叔重), published in A.D. 100; with the
supplement (繫傳) by Hsu Ch'ieh (徐鍇), of the southern Tang
dynasty. The characters are arranged in the Shwo Wan under 540
keys or radicals, as they are unfortunately termed.
The Liu Shu Ku (六書故), by Tai T'ung, styled Chung-ta (戴侗,
字仲達), of our thirteenth century. The characters are arranged in
it, somewhat after the fashion of the R Ya (p. 2), under six general
divisions, which again are subdivided, according to the affinity of
subjects, into various categories.
The Tsze Hui (字彙), which appeared in the Wan-li (萬歷)
reign of the Ming dynasty (1573-1619). The 540 radicals of the
Shwo Wan were reduced in this to 214, at which number they have
since continued.
The K'ang-hsi Tsze Tien (康熙字典), or Kang-hsi Dictionary,
prepared by order of the great K'ang-hsi emperor in 1716. This
is the most common and complete of all Chinese dictionaries for
common use.
The I Wan Pi Lan (蓺文備覽), 'A Complete Exhibition of all the
Authorized Characters,' published in 1787; 'furnishing,' says Dr.
Williams, 'good definitions of all the common characters, whose
ancient forms are explained.'
The Pei Wan Yun Fu (佩文韻府), generally known among
foreigners as 'The Kang-hsi Thesaurus.' It was undertaken by an
imperial order, and published in 1711, being probably, as Wylie
says, 'the most extensive work of a lexicographical character
ever produced.' It does for the phraseology of Chinese literature
all, and more than all, that the Kang-hsi dictionary does for the
individual characters. The arrangement of the characters is
according to their tones and final sounds. My copy of it, with a
supplement published about ten years later, is in forty-five large
volumes, with much more letter-press in it than the edition of
the Dynastic Histories mentioned on p. 133.
The Ching Tsi Tswan Ku, ping Pu Wei (經籍□(纂上饗下)詁并補
遺), 'A Digest of the Meanings in the Classical and other Books,
with Supplement,' by, or rather under the superintendence of, Yuan
Yuan (p. 132). This has often been found useful. It is arranged
according to the tones and rhymes like the characters in the
Thesaurus.
SECTION II.
TRANSLATIONS AND OTHER WORKS.
CONFUCIUS SINARUM PHILOSOPHUS; sive Scientia Sinensis
Latine Exposita. Studio et opera Prosperi Intorcetta, Christiani
Herdritch, Francisci Rougemont, Philippi Couplet, Patrum
Societatis JESU. Jussu Ludovici Magni. Parisiis, 1837.
THE WORKS OF CONFUCIUS; containing the Original Text,
with a Translation. Vol. 1. By J. Marshman. Serampore, 1809. This
is only a fragment of 'The Works of Confucius.'
THE FOUR BOOKS; Translated into English, by Rev. David
Collie, of the London Missionary Society. Malacca, 1828.
L'INVARIABLE MILIEU; Ouvrage Moral de Tseu-sse, en Chinois
et en Mandchou, avec une Version litterale Latine, une Traduction
Francoise, &c. &c. Par M. Abel-Remusat. A Paris, 1817.
LE TA HIO, OU LA GRANDE ETUDE; Traduit en Francoise, avec
une Version Latine, &c. Par G. Pauthier. Paris, 1837.
Y-KING; Antiquissimus Sinarum Liber, quem ex Latina
Interpretatione P. Regis, aliorumque ex Soc. JESU PP. edidit Julius
Mohl. Stuttgartiae et Tubingae, 1839.
MEMOIRES concernant L'Histoire, Les Sciences, Les Arts, Les
Moers, Les Usages, &c., des Chinois. Par les Missionaires de Pekin.
A Paris, 1776-1814.
HISTOIRE GENERALE DE LA CHINE; ou Annales de cet Empire.
Traduites du Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou. Par le feu Pere Joseph-Annie-
Marie de Moyriac de Mailla, Jesuite Francoise, Missionaire a Pekin.
A Paris, 1776-1785.
NOTITIA LINGUAE SINICAE. Auctore P. Premare. Malaccae,
cura Academiae Anglo-Sinensis, 1831.
THE CHINESE REPOSITORY. Canton, China, 20 vols., 1832-
1851.
DICTIONNAIRE DES NOMS, Anciens et Modernes, des Villes et
Arrondissements de Premier, Deuxieme, et Troisieme ordre,
compris dans L'Empire Chinois, &c. Par Edouard Biot, Membre du
Conseil de la Societe Asiatique. Paris, 1842.
THE CHINESE. By John Francis Davis, Esq., F.R.S., &c. In two
volumes. London, 1836.
CHINA: its State and Prospects. By W. H. Medhurst, D. D., of
the London Missionary Society. London, 1838.
L'UNIVERS: Histoire et Description des tous les Peuples.
Chine. Par M. G. Pauthier. Paris, 1838.
HISTORY OF CHINA, from the earliest Records to the Treaty
with Great Britain in 1842. By Thomas Thornton, Esq., Member of
the Royal Asiatic Society. In two volumes. London, 1844.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: A Survey of the Geography,
Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c., of the
Chinese Empire. By S. Wells Williams, LL.D. In two volumes. New
York and London, 1848. The Second Edition, Revised, 1883.
THE RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE CHINESE. By Rev. Joseph
Edkins, B. A., of the London Missionary Society. London, 1859.
CHRIST AND OTHER MASTERS. By Charles Hardwood, M. A.,
Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge. Part III.
Religions of China, America, and Oceanica. Cambridge, 1858.
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF. CHINESE CHARACTERS. By J.
Edkins, D.D. London, 1876.
THE STRUCTURE OF CHINESE CHARACTERS, under 300
Primary Forms. By John Chalmers, M.A., LL.D. Aberdeen, 1882.
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