Research On Ma Ruichen's "Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi"

In Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty,Ma Ruichen,a well-known scholar of Tongcheng school on "The Classic of Poetry ",devotes his life to his research."Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi" is the representive of his masterpieces.Ma Ruichen’s father,Ma Zonglian,is a renowned scholar of Confucian classics and has friendly relations with other scholars,who all belong to one of schools of research on Confucian classics—Qianjia school.Ma Ruichen grew up under the nurture of his family.The teaching of his father,under which he began to adopt the unique writing style in Tongcheng known as Tongcheng school of prose and engage in Confucian classics,laid a cornerstone for his academic attainments.Tongcheng school is characterized by strong literary ethos and enlightened and open-minded academic pursuit to gain deep understanding of the classics,which prompts Ma Ruichen to persist in independent and realistic academic style tracing back to Song and Hang dynasties and employ philological approach known as "Xiao Xue" in his research on The Classic of Poetry with a focus on its literary value.As a result,Ma Ruichen grew into a scholar with a broader academic vision.When he grew up,he went to Beijing for further study and succeeded in the Imperial Examination,during which he could directly learn from experts of Qianjia school.This contributes to his academic tradition and his Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi.Therefore,the family,the local academic school and the scholars of Confucian classics produce great influence on his academic achievement.It is his father’s and other scholars’ tutorials that lay the conditions for his masterpiece Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi.Ma Ruichen’s time is the period of the great development of Chinese Confucian classics.Before that,the academic peak of textology in the Qing Dynasty is exemplified in Qianjia school which has attempted various excellent research methods and produced a large number of outstanding works.At the same time,the research on The Classic of Poetry has reached its height.These objective social factors constitute the necessary conditions for his writing of Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi.Therefore,under the joint influence of subjective and objective factors,Ma Ruichen commenced Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi in twenty-fifth-year during the reign of Emperor Jia Qing of the Qing Dynasty(1820)and spent sixteen years accomplishing it.This book,along with the other two masterpieces of The Classic of Poetry—Hu Chenggong’s Mao Shi Hou Jian and Chen Huan’s Shi Mao Shi Chuan Shu,represents the highest achievement in the study of The Classic of Poetry in the Qing Dynasty.Ma Ruichen’s exegetical study of The Classic of Poetry carries forward the tradition of Qianjia school incisively and vividly,and forms his own academic characteristics.First,Ma Ruichen found that the three masterpieces—Mao Zhuan,Zheng Jian,Kong Shu,which produced in the study of The Classic of Poetry in the past,utilized different exegetical approaches and thus proposed different arguments.He made a careful and thorough analysis of the differences among the three writings and in view of their deficiencies or mistakes,he made a large amount of detailed supplementation or correction,aiming at the accurate exegesis of The Classic of Poetry.Second,Ma Ruichen conducted textual criticism of the Mao Shi,the origin of The Classic of Poetry,by taking full advantage of the Three-School Poetry,the three schools of poetry in the ancient time,and made innovative accomplishments in terms of textual collation,differentiation of interchangeable characters,and verification of literal meaning and poetic meaning.Ma Ruichen believed that the Three-School Poetry and Mao Shi have the same origins,though they constitute the two different schools of poetry:Jinwen Classics-Study and Guwen Classics-Study.Consequently,Ma Ruichen,being open-minded,employed the methodologies from the two schools to make textual criticism of Mao Shi,with intention to break down the boundary of the two schools and achieve the united exegesis.Third,Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi concentrates on the analysis and discussion of interchangeable characters in Mao Shi,Mao Zhuan and Zheng Jian.Interchangeability of characters can be judged by discerning relations between their sounds and shapes,comparing their variants and exploiting syntactic analysis.Therefore,novel insights can be usually attained.Fourth,Ma Ruichen is adept at generalizing rules from various nominal terms with meticulous annotation and deep connotation by using various methods.Fifth,Ma Ruichen has a deep understanding of relations between sounds and meanings of Chinese characters.He utilized the prosodic method of"meaning-inferred-from-sound" throughout his exegesis of Mao Shi.Being sensitive to the method,Ma Ruichen used it in many aspects of exegesis such as rectifying errors in text,judging interchangeable characters,identifying alliterative two-syllable words and cognates,clarifying indirect and direct speech,interpreting function words,and explicating poetic meanings.This results in rich creation.He kept up the practice of Qianjia School—meaning-inferred-from-sound regardless of Chinese character scripts,and attained perfection in the exegesis.Sixth,in the light of various syntactical terms,context,and similar syntactical structures in text employed in the practice of exegesis,we can find that Ma Ruichen had developed the explicit knowledge of syntax in classics and professionally applied it into the detailed exegesis of The Classic of Poetry Sixth,Ma Ruichen also employed the bronze inscriptions in the Zhou Dynasty to annotate words and conduct textual research on historic figures and nominal terms.However,studies on The Classic of Poetry in the Qing Dynasty seldom utilized the method of the bronze inscription.Among the three masterpieces of The Classic of Poetry,it is only Ma Ruichen who has applied it into textual criticism.The method has great inspiration for next generation scholars though it is imperfect and needs to be further improved.Ma Ruichen made a detailed textual research on historical events and places,and etiquette mentioned in The Classic of Poetry.He also made accurate textual criticism of the historical events,the historical figures and the historical places in the Book of Poetry.In addition,Ma Ruichen conducted textual criticism of ancient rituals in The Classic of Poetry y such as sacrifice rites,the official system,the royal ritual,the ancient costume,the military system,the ancient archery,the carriage system,the ancient wedding ceremony,the banquet system,the music system,etc.In the practice of textual research,Ma Ruichen took advantage of historical documents,used various quotations,and presented repeated argument,which brought about great achievements.Tongcheng traditional academic culture is characterized by harmonizing the Han school of research on Confucian classics with a focus on practical aspects and applying its essence into the Song school of research on Confucian classics with a focus on philosophic aspects.This academic tradition affected Ma Ruichen deeply.As a result,Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi,as one research masterpiece of The Classic of Poetry,also explores some philosophic argumentation in it.Since The Classic of Poetry came into being,the basic issues such as poetry education,poem collection system,poem-styled-music,lascivious poem-styled-music in Zheng State during the Spring and Autumn Period,arrangement of poems about national customs during the Spring and Autumn Period,Zhounan and Shaonan sections of The Classic of Poetry,etc,have aroused considerable controversy among great scholars.Ma Ruichen,arguably and sometimes insightfully,responded to the issues in the exegesis.In Mao Shi Chuan Jian Tong Shi,there are some general remarks used to explicate the common theme among poems in one section about the custom in one state during the Spring and Autumn Period and some poetic meanings and main subjects discovered in some specific poems.This proves that Ma Ruichen has explored the argumentation in the Book of Poetry.This also exposes Ma Ruichen’s thought about politics,society,etiquette and morality,and at the same time his great concerns about the nation and people during an eventful period of domestic strife and foreign aggression in the Qing Dynasty.Ma Ruichen keeps a keen eye on the literariness of The Classic of Poetry,First,he attached great importance to the study of metaphor and metonymy in The Classic of Poetryalthough his study is not completely beyond the constraints of Confucian classics.He often appreciated metaphor and metonymy as literary techniques.Second,he could skillfully immerse himself in the connotation and implication of words in poems and thus,his textual criticism mostly presented the flavor of literary criticism.As a result,he drew many conclusions exhibiting literary features of The Classic of Poetry.Third,Ma Ruichen devoted his attention to the stylistic features of The Classic of Poetry.He made use of the stylistic features and rhetoric repetition in The Classic of Poetry to analyze poems and interpret poetic meaning.Fourth,Ma Ruichen was adept at appreciating situational creation The Classic of Poetry.He could discern situational description and the expression of characters’ emotions and moods,figured out poets’intention,and savored the lyric features of poems.Fifth,it is about literary acceptance of The Classic of Poetry.When Ma Ruichen immersed himself in the connotation and implication of The Classic of Poetry he was often connecting it with subsequent literary works unconsciously,by which he could reflect on its profound influences on subsequent literary works in terms of diction and theme.Actually,he began to step into the exploration of literary acceptance,literary motif and literary image.Sixth,it concerns the literary revival of The Classic of Poetry.He paid attention to social customs and historical mythology in the practice of exegesis,which,although occasionally,reveals the true colors of The Classic of Poetry and thus,is significant for exploration into its original meaning.In a word,Ma Ruichen often relishes The Classic of Poetry as poems because it is a collection of poems in itself.Therefore,its literariness is one basic attribute and no one can afford to neglect it whenever they study it.In addition,Ma Ruichen grew up under the influence of literary atmosphere in his hometown—Tongcheng,by which he could develop his literary quality.As a result,he has sharp appreciation of literary works.Although Ma Ruichen,unconsciously rather than consciously,devote his attention to the literariness of The Classic of Poetry,to a great extent,his study of literariness result in more novelty and less pedantry in his academic achievements of the exegeses of The Classic of Poetry.Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi is representative of the greatest achievement in the study of The Classic of Poetry in the Qing Dynasty.Among the three famous masterpieces of The Classic of Poetry,Ma Ruichen’s book Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi has a distinctive academic style and goes down in history by virtue of his academic pursuit beyond boundaries of different schools and critical research.Beyond limitations of "Old-Learning",the book makes a greatest breakthrough in textual exegesis.In addition,there is no lack of exploration into argumentation in The Classic of Poetry.Ma Ruichen emphasizes the literariness of The Classic of Poetry and thus,broke through the restriction of political and religious explanations of poems in a certain way and the barrier to the study of Confucianism classics.This book reveals Ma Ruichen’s open-mindedness and broad vision in academy and even now has great reference value we cannot afford to ignore in the study of The Classic of Poetry.