Time On The "book Of Songs"

The attitudes to time are very different between the western and Chinese cultural traditions. From the point of western traditional philosophy, many researchers argue that there is no time dimensionality in Chinese thought. However, it leads to an improper conclusion if one uses a kind of thought as the sole standard to judge another kind of thought. In fact, Chinese have paid attention to the problem of time for a long time according to the classic texts. The Chinese time is non-linear, compared to the linear time in western traditional philosophy. Mainly based on the text of Book of Odes, this thesis explores the problem of time in early china within four parts.The first part focuses on the time representation in the text of Book of Odes. Time exists in the forms of natural objects and space. The way of representing time in texts reveals the unique experience to time of Chinese ancient people, which has close relation to Chinese time idea. Therefore, the second part of this thesis discusses Chinese time idea in the age of Book of Odes, that is, the circulatory time idea and the Yin-Yang(阴阳) time idea. The circulatory time idea means that time, like the season, is continuous, repeating and renewing, which is a different time idea from the western traditional linear time. While the Yin-Yang time idea ensures that time is changing due to the alternation of Yin and Yang. Hence, unlike some western researchers' thought, Chinese time is not absolutely quiescent. There is new content in the circulatory time. After discussing the Chinese time ideas, the thesis goes on to explore how these time ideas affect the axiology and philosophy of Chinese ancient people. Thus, the third part of this thesis analyses some core concepts in Chinese traditional thought from the point of time, that is, harmony, opportuneness and eternalness. Besides, Chinese time ideas also affect the formation of unique Chinese literature tradition. As a great and classic literature text, the literary value of Book of Odes could not be overlooked. The fourth part of this thesis concentrates on how time affects this classic literature text. It contains the subjects' feelings of time in the poems, and discusses how time affects the language of Book of Odes as well as the relationship between time and "evoking"(兴).