Editing Book of Documents (section)

{{Short description|One of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature}}
{{redirect|Shang Shu|the ruler of the state of Jin|Shang Shu (Jin)}}
{{redirect|Shangshu|the place in Anji, Zhejiang|Shangshu Township}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2023}}
{{Cleanup|reason=use of chinese-language text needs to be pared down or edited to conform with |date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Book of Documents
| image = Guwen Shangshu TNM.jpg
| image_size = 315px
| caption = A page of an annotated ''Book of Documents'' manuscript from the 7th century, held by the [[Tokyo National Museum]]
| author = Various; {{trad.}} compiled by [[Confucius]]
| title_orig = {{langn|lzh|書}}
| country = China
| language = [[Old Chinese]]
| subject = Compilation of rhetorical prose
}}
{{Infobox Chinese|showflag=p
| pic = Shujing (Chinese characters).svg
| piccap = "Book of Documents" (''Shujing'') written using traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) characters
| picupright = 0.4
| t = 書經
| s = 书经
| l = "Classic of Documents"
| p = Shūjīng
| w = {{tonesup|Shu1-ching1}}
| h = {{tonesup|Su1-gang1}}
| tl = Tsu-king
|poj=Chu-keng
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|u|1|.|j|ing|1}}
| gr = Shujing
| j = Syu1-ging1
| y = Syū-gīng
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|s|yu|1|.|g|ing|1}}
| mc = sho-geng
| oc-bs = &ast;{{IPA|s-ta k-lˤeng}}{{sfnp|Baxter|Sagart|2014|pp=327-378}}
| t2 = {{linktext|尚書}}
| s2 = {{linktext|尚书}}
| l2 = "Venerated Documents"
| p2 = Shàngshū
| w2 = {{tonesup|Shang4-shu1}}
|poj2=Siōng-su
| tl2 = Siōng-su
| h2 = {{tonesup|Song4-su1}}
| mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|ang|4|.|sh|u|1}}
| j2 = Soeng6-syu1
| y2 = Seuhng-syū
| mc2 = {{IPA|dʒjàng-sho}}
| oc-bs2 = &ast;{{IPA|dang-s s-ta}}
| t3 = {{linktext|書}}
| s3 = {{linktext|书}}
| l3 = "Documents"
| poj3 = Chu
| tl3 = Tsu
| p3 = Shū
| w3 = {{tonesup|Shu1}}
| mi3 = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|u|1}}
| j3 = Syu1
| y3 = Syū
| mc3 = {{IPA|ʃo}}
| oc-bs3 = &ast;{{IPA|s-ta}}
| kanji = 書経
| romaji = Shokyō
| qn = Kinh Thư
| hangul = 서경
| hanja = 書經
| rr = Seogyeong
| hn = 經書
}}

[[File:Lineage of editions of the Shangshu during the Han dynasty .png|thumb|Lineage of editions during the Han dynasty]]
The '''''Book of Documents''''' ({{lang-zh|p=Shūjīng|c=書經|w=Shu King}}) or the '''''Classic of History''''',{{efn|Or simply as the '''''Shujing''''' or '''''Shangshu''''' ({{zhi|c=尚书|p=Shàngshū|l=Venerated Documents}})}} is one of the [[Five Classics]] of ancient [[Chinese literature]].  It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of [[ancient China]], and served as the foundation of Chinese [[political philosophy]] for over two millennia.

The ''Book of Documents'' was the subject of one of China's oldest literary controversies, between proponents of different versions of the text. A version was preserved from [[Qin Shi Huang]]'s [[burning of books and burying of scholars]] by scholar [[Fu Sheng (scholar)|Fu Sheng]], in 29 chapters ({{tlit|zh|piān}} {{lang|zh|篇}}). This group of texts were referred to as "Modern Script" (or "Current Script"; {{tlit|zh|jīnwén}} {{lang|zh|今文}}), because they were written with the script in use at the beginning of the Western Han dynasty.

A longer version of the ''Documents'' was said to be discovered in the wall of [[Confucius]]'s family estate in [[Qufu]] by his descendant [[Kong Anguo]] in the late 2nd century&nbsp;BC. This new material was referred to as "[[Ancient Script Texts|Old Script]]" ({{tlit|zh|gǔwén}} {{lang|zh|古文}}), because they were written in the script that predated the standardization of Chinese script during the Qin. Compared to the Modern Script texts, the "Old Script" material had 16 more chapters. However, this seems to have been lost at the end of the Eastern [[Han dynasty]], while the Modern Script text enjoyed circulation, in particular in {{ill|Ouyang Gao's|zh|歐陽高}} study, called the ''Ouyang Shangshu'' ({{lang|zh|歐陽尚書}}). This was the basis of studies by [[Ma Rong]] and [[Zheng Xuan]] during the Eastern Han.<ref>{{Cite book |trans-title=Book of Later Han |title-link=Book of Later Han |script-title=zh:後漢書 |publisher=Dingwen shuju |location=Taipei |year=1981 |pages=79.2556 |language=zh}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Qiyu |author-mask=Liu Qiyu (劉起釪) |script-title=zh:尚書學史 |publisher=Zhonghua shuju |year=2018 |edition=2nd |pages=7 |language=zh}}</ref>

In 317&nbsp;AD, [[Mei Ze]] presented to the [[Eastern Jin]] court a 58-chapter (59 if the preface is counted) ''Book of Documents'' as Kong Anguo's version of the text. This version was accepted, despite the doubts of a few scholars, and later was canonized as part of [[Kong Yingda]]'s project. It was only in the 17th century that [[Qing dynasty]] scholar [[Yan Ruoqu]] demonstrated that the "old script" were actually fabrications "reconstructed" in the 3rd or 4th centuries&nbsp;AD.

In the transmitted edition, texts are grouped into four sections representing different eras: the legendary reign of [[Yu the Great]], and the [[Xia dynasty|Xia]], [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] and [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]] dynasties. The Zhou section accounts for over half the text. Some of its modern-script chapters are among the earliest examples of Chinese prose, recording speeches from the early years of the Zhou dynasty in the late 11th century&nbsp;BC. Although the other three sections purport to record earlier material, most scholars believe that even the New Script chapters in these sections were composed later than those in the Zhou section, with chapters relating to the earliest periods being as recent as the 4th or 3rd centuries&nbsp;BC.{{sfnp|Lewis|1999|p=105}}{{sfnp|Nylan|2001|pp=134, 158}}