The Textual Research Of Shuo Yuan Written By Liu Xiang

Liu Xiang was a famous scholar, catalogues expert, writer of Western Han Dynasty. He compiled the Shuo Yuan with series of historical events and legends from the pre-Qin to Han Dynasty. In this book, Liu Xiang conveyed his main idea point by appending remarks in a few historical stories. He clarified the Confucian ethical perspective to the political and ideological thoughts. This paper researches the changes which the Shuo Yuan has generated during the course of future generations circulation, and illuminates the compiling-thoughts of the author, as well the nature,the arrangement and the value of the book.Except the preface and epilogue, this paper is divided into three parts.The first part focuses on the Shuo Yuan's items and the classification theory . In the course of generation handing down, great changes have taken place in the original text. From Han to Song Dynasty, this book has lost a few volumes. Though the Shuo Yuan we see today is complete in the number of volumes, the whole book lost the initial chapters ,and the chapters lost the initial sentences. The source of this book's materials is very extensive, but all these materials are under the guide of Confucianism. Liu Xiang subsumed many school's ideology into the Confucian system. It represents the typical Confucian thoughts and should be a Confucian book.The second part researches the condition that the documents quote the Shuo Yuan. This chapter consists of two parts: One is about the standard of distinguish. Since the source of materials is extensive, it is a necessity to discern where these materials come from. The other part demonstrates how these documents quote the book according to their classification.The third part illuminates the value of the book. It embodies four sides: the value of collating, value of compiling the rare materials, value of historiography and literature.