A Study On The Version Of Wang Tong’s Zhong Shuo

Zhong Shuo,also known as Wen Zhong Zi or Wen Zhong Zi Zhong Shuo,is an important work in the study of the words and deeds of the Sui Confucian scholar Wang Tong,and although it was formerly titled " written by Wang Tong",it was actually compiled by his disciples after the Confucian Analects.The book was compiled by Wang Ning,the second brother of Wang Tong,and his sons,Wan Fushi and Wang Fujiao,and has been recorded in bibliographies throughout the ages,with numerous editions extant today.This paper is divided into three chapters.The first chapter is on the edition of Zhong Shuo through the ages.There are many entries in the official and private bibliographies on the editions of Zhong Shuo,but they have not been examined in a more comprehensive and systematic manner.Therefore,this chapter consolidates 46 official and private bibliographies(including three extra-territorial Chinese bibliographies),and makes up for any incompleteness in the entries,as well as summarising and collating them in terms of the edition’s annotators and volume numbers,derivative texts,and repertory texts,in order to clarify the situation of the editions of Zhong Shuo.The second chapter is devoted to the extant editions of Zhong Shuo.Since the Song dynasty,the academic status of The Middle Sayings has been rising,and it has been inscribed in many editions,and Deng Xiaojun has clearly delineated three major systems of editions of The Middle Sayings,namely:1.The Baiwen without commentary system;2.The Northern Song Ruan Yi commentary system(four subsystems:1.Northern Song Ruan Yi commentary system;2.The Song and Yuan compilation of the phonetic commentary system;3.Ming and Qing abridged Baiwen system;4.Yuan and Ming selected text system);3.Song and Ming redaction system.Therefore,the author has carried out an examination of the editions according to their systematic divisions,summarizes the layout information of 43 editions,clarified the situation of the edition collection,and made further discussion and examination of the unknown and doubtful editions,so as to present the situation of the editions of Zhong Shuo in more detail.The third chapter is devoted to the examination of the editions.This chapter focuses on two main points:firstly,an analysis of three controversial editions,namely,the characterisation of the large-and small-character Song texts in the National Library and the small-character Song texts in the Gongnei Hall,the present-day survival of the Ming Jianyang Bookshop edition,and the transmission of the Wang Xian Tang text;Secondly,a comparison of the basic information of the important editions in the form of charts and graphs to further grasp and clarify the differences and connections between the edition systems,and to produce a flow chart of the editions of each system.