A Study On Zhengxuan's Explanation Of “Zhou Gong Lived In The East”

“Zhou Gong lived in the east”comes from Jin teng, Shang shu. According to Jin teng and some explanatory notes, when King Wu died, his son King Cheng was too young to rule and his uncle, Zhou Gong,(intended to) become regent. At that time,the older brother of Zhou Gong, Guanshu, and other people were suspicious and jealous of Zhou Gong, and spread rumours that Zhou Gong would usurp the throne.Influenced by these rumours, King Cheng, as well as most of courtiers, doubted Zhou Gong, too. “Zhou Gong lived in the east” is significant because it indicates the choice of Zhou Gong to either continue acting as regent or leave his position, while faced by the doubts of King Cheng, the courtiers, Guanshu and others. Zhengxuan interprets “Zhou Gong lived in the east”as “Zhou Gong escaped to the east capital”, and thinks that what Zhou Gong has done demonstrates humility. The purpose of this paper is to try to understand Zhengxuan's explanation, including the questions to which Zhengxuan wants to respond, what the historical documentary evidence of Zhengxuan'sexplanation is, and why Zhengxuan explains “Zhou Gonglived in the east” in this way. In order to answer these questions, this paper is divided into three chapters.In order to answer the first question, i.e., the questions to which Zhengxuan wants to respond by explaining “Zhou Gong lived in the east”, the first chapter is divided into two parts. The first part, by making study on the differences between the explanations made by scholars before Zhengxuan, finds that“Zhou Gong lived in the east” is mainly concerned with the choice of Zhou Gong to either continue acting as regent or leave his position, while faced by the doubts of King Cheng, the courtiers,Guanshu and others.The task of the second part is to discussquestions of theexplanation of “Zhou Gong lived in the east” in the Lu Hereditary,in the Shih chi. As the conclusion, the explanation in the Lu Hereditary has some contradictions in the interpretation of the Classic of Documents, and has risks when it is used in reality.This conclusion explains, at least partly, why Zhengxuan reinterprets the problem of Zhou Gong actingasaregent.In order to answer the second question, i.e., what historical documentary evidence of Zhengxuan'sexplanations exists. The second chapter is also divided in to two parts. The first part, starting with Zhengxuan's attitude toward Shu xu, finds that,the evidence of Zhengxuan's explanation which confines the story of Jin teng before Zhou Gong's eastern-expedition comes from Shu xu. The second part, as a conclusion,by analyzing differences between Zhengxuan and Si Maqian in with respect to what they think about the situation of Zhou dynasty when King Wu of Zhou was dead,finds that, compared with Si Maqian, the judgment of Zhengxuan is better.The third chapter, in order to answer the question of why Zhengxuan emphasizes that what Zhou Gong has done demonstrates humility, is divided into two parts, as well. The first part argues that Zhengxuan's explanation cannot be deduced from Shu xu, and that in order to get a complete understanding of the interpretation of Zhengxuan, one has to analyze the intention of Zhengxuan's interpretation. The second part, by studying the relationship between humility and the will of heaven,finds that what Zhengxuan wants to do is to deal with the relationship between Zhou Gong and King Cheng of Zhou.