Hu Chenggong And

Hu Cheng Gong is a well known expert of the Qing Dynasty. His , along with Ma Rui Chen's < Mao Shi Zhuan Jian Tong Shi> and Chen Huan's < Shi Mao Shi Zhuan Shu > are the three most influential Qing Dynasty works on Shi Jing, and have an important place in the histoty of Shi Jing research.Hu, Ma, and Chen all influenced each other in their work. However, most later scholars paid great attention only to Ma and Chen's research while paying very little to Hu's. This is clearly not in keeping with the academic value of Hu's . Therefore, this paper seeks to research the ideological influences of , and to give an objective appraisal of its academic value.Hu Cheng Gong's greatest achievement was in his annotation of Shi Jing. He was dissatisfied with both Zheng Xuan and Kong Ying Da's interpretations, and criticized them where he thought they were wrong. He created to expound Mao's original meaning. At the same time, however, he did not completely deny the accomplishments of Zheng Xuan and Kong Ying Da. In fact, he at times used there annotation to correct mistakes made by Mao. This is a testament to the objective and fair attitude he adopted in his academic research. Another example of this is that he even incorporated Song Dynasty works into his book.With the help of such scholars as Wang Nian Sun, Wang Yin Zhi, and Duan Yu Cai, textology and traditional Sinology came to its zenith in the Qing Dynasty, with a particular emphasis on the annotation and glossing of ancient texts. Hu Cheng Gong used the research of scholars before him and his contemporaries to create his own masterpiece of textual criticism in his .Most people have always considered to be a feat of annotation, but few refer to its collative achievements. With his broad knowledge and great acumen, Hu Cheng Gong spent much effort collating Shi Jing as well as trying to elucidate its original meaning, and was very successful on both accounts.During the Qian Jia period, many of the most famous scholars, such as Duan Yu Cai and Wang Nian Sun, over-emphasized the annotation of individual words, while losing sight of the larger meaning of the text that they were researching. Hu Cheng Gong however did not make this mistake; rather, his scholasticism is similar to the traditional Han Dynasty "classicists", in that he paid due attention to both aspects.In short, Hu Cheng Gong's is an important work in the history of Shi Jing study, but at the same time the reader should approach it discerningly, learning from its accomplishments and avoiding its mistakes.