The Research Of Dunhuang Confucian Literature

The discovery of Dunhuang literature is one of a great discovery of 20^th century at home and aboard. Chinese academician clean up and investigate Dunhuang literature since 1909. An emerging new subject—Dunhuangology has appeared and has become an important academic topic worldwide. In spite of Confucian texts which are an extremely small amount in Dunhuang literature, it has not only lots of volumes and miscellaneous species but also its characteristics showing Dunhuang Confucius literature concentrate on manuscript. From Six Dynasties, Northern Dynasty, SUI-TANG Five Dynasties to the Early Song Dynasty, the time span is five and six hundreds years and it is earlier than rare books of Song and Yuan Dynasties we used. It also provides lots of rare documentations for the research of Confucius and Chinese traditional culture and is of the upper academic and historical value. Dunhuang Confucius literature is of full-bodied Dunhuang regional features. It holds not only scholastic material but also historical literatures obviously showing Dunhaung regional characteristic and editorial characteristics. These literatures supply abundant source material for the research of Dunhuang regional history, education, language character and social custom.In recently years, the special topic of Dunhuang Confucius literature, such as: Confucian Classics, initiatory documents, Shuyi, promote a set of valuable research achievements. Actually, as a whole classificatory research, it is not deeply discussed and is short of the unitary understanding. The theory tries to probe into Dunhuang Confucius literature systematically and from a new a historical angle to discuss the spread, source, classification, collection and research, historical data and importance of Confucius literatureAs a place of interaction between Chinese and western cultures, Dunhuang Area is dominated by Central Plain Cultures which is based and presented by Confucianism, although it is influenced by western culture. Dunhuang's special historical and geographic environment, ruler's Policies and Measures aand some scholars' efforts, all of this advanced the prosperity and development of Dunhuang Area. A great number of Confucian literatures are popularized in Dunhuang Area through the local Confucians' historiography, government's spreading and folk distribution. This popularity profoundly affects local Classics-Learning, historiography, astronomy and calendar, literature and arts.The presupposition of analysis, understand and research of Dunhuang Confucian literatures is categorizing. However, there is not its technical research of category until now. This paper's creation is categorizing Dunhuang literatures as a whole. That is on the basis of others' category of Dunhuang literatures in general, it tries to classify Dunhuang Confucian literatures into four classes: classics, history, heuristic education and essays. This category is still rough and it is only the writer's attempt. As the constant deepening of research of Dunhuang Confucian literatures, it must be concluded more scientific and precise methods of classifying. The paper also poses the new opinion on the source of Dunhuang Confucian literatures. That is they originated from local historiography and introduction from other places.