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A study on the loss and compiled versions of Zheng Xuan’s 鄭玄 “Annotations to Shangshu 尚書注”
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Citation
Wang, L. (14 May 2025). A study on the loss and compiled versions of Zheng Xuan’s 鄭玄 “Annotations to Shangshu 尚書注”. The 16th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH2025), Tokyo, Japan,
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 once annotated the “Ancient Text Shangshu 古文尚書”. According to bibliographic records from the Sui and Tang dynasties, this book consisted of nine volumes. However, in the bibliographies of the Song dynasty, this book was no longer mentioned.
Furthermore, the majority of the references to Zheng Xuan’s “Annotations to Shangshu 尚書注” by Song scholars can be found in fundamental works such as “Shangshu Zhengyi 尚書正義”. There are only three exceptions, namely “Taiping Yulan 太平御覽”, “Hongfan Zhengjian 洪範政鑒” by Emperor Renzong 宋仁宗, and “Lisao Caomu Shu 離騷草木疏” by Wu Renjie 吳仁傑. However, each of these three sources has its own issues. Based on this, it can be inferred that the book “Annotations to Shangshu” by Zheng Xuan was lost or disappeared around the transition from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. Perhaps it was still preserved in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, but only in the imperial library. According to legend, Wang Yinglin 王應麟 of the Southern Song Dynasty collected
the lost texts of Zheng Xuan’s “Annotations to Shangshu”. Scholars of the Qing Dynasty reorganized these texts, and to this day, more than 10 compiled books of this lost book have been preserved, becoming the most important textual basis for the study of Zheng Xuan’s
“Shangshu” studies.
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