| The twentieth century is one that witnessed a wealth of academic discoveries, among which is the unearthing of large amounts of materials that are intimately correlated with the pre-Ch'in literature, and some of which are assumed to have long been extinct. The unearthed literature, while adding to our possessions for research, greatly broadens our view and claims new grounds for study. More importantly, it has begun to exert a felt influence on our mode of thinking and our methodology to research.This dissertation, taking Mister Wang Guowei's "Twofold Evidence" approach and adopting the perspective afforded by the new findings, explores into a few problems concerning the study of Shi-jing, a significant literary work of pre-Ch'in period, on the basis of some relevant literature handed-down from the ancient times as well as the achievements made by former brilliant researchers in this respect.The layout of the dissertation is as follows.The introductory part briefly mentions the use to which the unearthed literature, represented by the recovered bamboo slips and bronzes, could be put, related to the study of the pre-Ch'in Shi-jing. It also addresses the problem of in what way the unearthed literature could be put to the best use possible.The bulk of the dissertation comprises eight chapters. Chapters 1 and 2 choose to cut in from the perspective of bronzes. Chapter 1, specifically choosing the perspective of the bronze organized-bell (bian-zhong), discusses the relationship between the changes of the system of the normal music (ya-yue) that occurred over time and the four-word style of Shi-jing. Based on gu-ci that appears in the bronze inscriptions and utilizing the results achieved throughout the history with respect to the dynastic attribution of bronzes, Chapter 2 makes a comparative study of the distribution of gu-ci in the bronze inscriptions on the one hand, and in Shi-jing on the other; furthermore, this chapter is also involved in the job of proving and confirming the specific year in which a specific poem was composed, and it also discusses some issues concerning the history of the study of Shi-jing, the investigation of the written year of Shang-song being just one of them.Chapter 3 deals with the interpretation of the pre-Ch'in Shi-jing. Considering that the ceremonial symbol can also serve as an interpretive device, this chapter presents an analysis of the interpretive function of this device, followed by a discussion of the relationship between the "category" (lei) and the interpretation of the study of the pre-Ch'in Shi-jing. The chapter ends up with an evaluation of the belief related to the interpretation of Shi-jing that to quote a poet implies to choose a certain part from the whole.Chapters 4 to 7 center on the bamboo slips of the Shanghai Museum on which Confucius Poetics are recorded. Chapter 4 advances the author's personal opinion as to the organization of the Confucius Poetics bamboo slips,together with an explanatory account for some key words and expressions in the pandect of the slips. Chapter 5 dwells on the connection of Confucius with the Confucius Poetics bamboo slips, holding that the principal part of Confucius Poetics consists in Confucius's remarks upon Shi-jing. Chapter 6 states the connection of Zi-you and his posterity with the Confucius Poetics bamboo slips. The last chapter but one compares Confucius Poetics with the Shi-jing study conducted in the Han Dynasty, arriving at the conclusion that since there exists many a divergence between Confucius Poetics and Mao-shi representing the Han Dynasty study of Shi-jing, they do not pertain to the same system.Chapter 8, the final one, utilizes the Confucius Poetics bamboo slips of Shanghai Museum as well as the Han Dynasty Shi-jing bamboo slips of Fu-yang for the discussion of the relationships holding between the text of the pre-Ch'in Shi-jing and the text of Shi-jing now extant. |
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