Title

New Evidence for the Authorship of Jingyi Shuwen and Jingzhuan Shici

Author

Cheung, Kam-siu  

Genre

Article  

Pages

299-334  

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

Wang Nian-sun, Wang Yin-zhi, Jingyi Shuwen, Jingzhuan Shici, Authorship, Intectual History of Qing Dynastylle

Abstract

         This paper revisits the authorship of Jingyi Shuwen 經傳述聞 and Jingzhuan Shici 經傳繫辭 by looking at new sources of evidence. The first set of evidence comes from comparing the annotations of Wang Yin-zhi 王引之 (1766-1834) in Lüshi Chunqiu Zazhi 呂氏春秋雜志with the original version of Wang Nian-sun 王念孫 (1744-1832)’s collated Lüshi Chunqiu 呂氏春秋, now in the Fu Ssu Nien Library of Academia Sinica. The findings, together with the arguments made by other scholars, lead us to doubt Liu Pan-sui’s theory that it was Wang Nian-sun who wrote Jingyi Shuwen. The next evidence comes from reviewing Wang Nian-sun’s collated Guanzi 管子, now preserved in the Shanghai Library, and it confirms that Wang Yin-zhi’s annotations in Guanzi Zazhi 管子雜志 are undoubtedly his own. This finding proves that, although Wang Yin-zhi’s classical research is mainly focused on Confucian classics, other texts were not excluded. He sometimes made his own annotations, and some were even cited by his father in Dushu Zazi 讀書雜志. This indicates that Wang Yin-zhi’s Shangshu Xungu 尚書訓詁, now preserved at the National Central Library, is an important resource for Jingyi Shuwen and Jingzhuan Shici. The paper concludes that Wang Yin-zhi is the author of Jingyi Shuwen and Jingzhuan Shici.