The Philological Study Of Liji Zuanyan

Liji Zuanyan is a book of rites compiled by Wu Cheng,a great scholar in Yuan Dynasty.This book,which is adapted from The Book of Rites,is the representative work of the study of The Book of Rites in the Yuan Dynasty and plays an important role in the history of the study of The Book of Rites.However,the academic research on Wu Cheng in the past mainly focused on neo-confucianism and paid little attention to the study of rites.As a result,the existing research on Liji Zuanyan is very limited and needs to be further studied.This paper studies Liji Zuanyan from the perspective of philology,hoping to explore Wu Cheng’s thought and system of rites.First of all,this paper sorts out the five editions of Liji Zuanyan and clarifies the source and course relation of the five editions.Through comparison,it can be confirmed that the edition of Zhengde and the edition of Jiajing are both from the edition of Yuantong,while the edition of Chongzhen is from the edition of Jiajing.The original version of Siku Quanshu by Wenyuan Pavilion should be Zhengde edition,not Jiajing edition or Chongzhen edition.Secondly,through textual research,the writer confirmed the Liji Zuanyan quoted eighty-six kinds of predecessors’ theories,67 works,and confirmed that most of the text of Liji Zuanyan came from Wei Shi’s Liji Jishuo,and a small part came from Liji Zhengyi and some works of Song people.These texts were further compiled by Wu Cheng,which formed a new system of interpretation of Classics,representing Wu Cheng’s own thought of ritual study.Finally,this paper investigates the adaptation of The Book of Rites from two levels.The first level is the rearrangement and classification of the articles in Liji Zuanyan.This system of classification had a profound influence on later scholars and played a connecting role in the history of The Book of Rites.The second level is the adaptation of the text in the Liji Zuanyan.The adaptation of the text can be divided into two levels:one is the rearrangement of the sequence of the text,and the other is the modification of the text.Through the adaptation of The Book of Rites,we can see Wu Cheng’s understanding of the lection of The Book of Rites,his understanding of the system of rites and his thoughts of rites.