The Spread And Evolution Of Analects In Han Dynasty

This paper presents a thorough study of the circulation of Analects( ) in Han Dynasty. It was a required classical that time, which status was lower than Five Classicals ( ). In early Han Dynasty, Analects was spread by mouth and ear here and there, the bamboo-slip analects founded in Dingzhou ( ) in 1972 may be one of the handwritten copies of this kind. It was the discovery of Ancient Analects ( ) in the period of Jing Emperor that made Qilun ( and Lulun ( ) appear, which were the two different explanatory editions of Ancient Analects. Lulun had a official status, and it is difficult for us to explore Qilun. There are some differences in Chinese character among the three kinds of copies. In later Western Han Dynasty, with the rise of Confusion of ancient Chinese character( ) and the decline of the current kind( ), the three kinds of Analects began to merge, as the beginning of the mergence, Zhanghou Analects ( ) was based on Lulun and the interpretation for Qilun ( ) , which enjoyed tremendous popularity in that time. The Annotation of Analects by Zhengxuan ( ) marked the end of the mergence . Differing from Heyan's Annotation of Analects ( ) ,it actually reoccurred the historical Confucius image, not the deified one.