Editing Book of Documents (section)

==Textual history==
The history of the various versions of the ''Documents'' is particularly complex, and has been the subject of a long-running literary and philosophical controversy.

=== Early references ===
According to a later tradition, the ''Book of Documents'' was compiled by [[Confucius]] (551–479&nbsp;BC) as a selection from a much larger group of documents, with some of the remainder being included in the ''[[Yi Zhou Shu]]''.{{sfnp|Allan|2012|pp=548–549, 551}} However, the early history of both texts is obscure.{{sfnp|Allan|2012|p=550}} Beginning with Confucius, writers increasingly drew on the ''Documents'' to illustrate general principles, though it seems that several different versions were in use.{{sfnp|Nylan|2001|p=127}}

Six citations to unnamed chapters of the ''Documents''  appear in the ''[[Analects]]''. While Confucius invoked the pre-dynastic emperors [[Emperor Yao|Yao]] and [[Emperor Shun|Shun]], as well as figures from the [[Xia dynasty|Xia]] and [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] dynasties, he complained of the lack of documentation prior to the Zhou. The ''Documents'' were cited increasingly frequently in works through the 4th century&nbsp;BC, including in the ''[[Mencius (book)|Mencius]]'', ''[[Mozi]]'' and ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]''. These authors favoured documents relating to Yao, Shun and the Xia dynasty, chapters now believed to have been written in the [[Warring States period]]. The chapters currently believed to be the oldest—mostly relating to the early Zhou—were little used by Warring States authors, perhaps due to the difficulty of the archaic language or a less familiar worldview.{{sfnp|Lewis|1999|pp=105–108}} Fewer than half the passages quoted by these authors are present in the received text.{{sfnp|Schaberg|2001|p=78}} Authors such as [[Mencius]] and [[Xunzi (philosopher)|Xunzi]], while quoting the ''Documents'', refused to accept it as genuine in its entirety. Their attitude contrasts with the reverence later shown to the text during the Han dynasty, when its compilation was attributed to Confucius.{{sfnp|Nylan|2001|pp=127–128}}

=== Han dynasty: Modern and Old Scripts ===
[[File:Wang Wei 001.jpg|thumb|alt=Elderly Chinese man, seated at a low writing desk and holding a scroll|''Fu Sheng expounding on the Classic'', attributed to [[Wang Wei (Tang dynasty)|Wang Wei]] (8th century)]]
Many copies of the work were destroyed in the [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|Burning of Books]] during the [[Qin dynasty]].
[[Fu Sheng (scholar)|Fu Sheng]] reconstructed part of the work from hidden copies in the late 3rd to early 2nd century BC, at the start of the succeeding [[Han dynasty]]. The texts that he transmitted were known as the "Modern Script" ({{lang|zh|今文}} {{tlit|zh|jīn wén}}) because it was written in the [[clerical script]].{{sfnp|Nylan|2001|p=130}}{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=381}}
It originally consisted of 29 chapters, but the "Great Speech" 太誓 chapter was lost shortly afterwards and replaced by a new version.{{sfnp|Nylan|1995|p=26}} The remaining 28 chapters were later expanded into 30 when Ouyang Gao divided the "Pangeng" chapter into three sections.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Liu Qiyü 劉起釘.|title=Shangshu xue shi 尚書學史|publisher=Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局|year=1996|pages=153}}</ref>

During the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]], renovations of the home of Confucius are said to have uncovered several manuscripts hidden within a wall, including a longer version of the ''Documents''.
These texts were referred to as "Old Script" because they were written in the pre-Qin [[seal script]].{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=381}}
They were transcribed into clerical script and interpreted by Confucius' descendant [[Kong Anguo]].{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=381}}
Han dynasty sources give contradictory accounts of the nature of this find.{{sfnp|Nylan|1995|pp=28–36}} According to the commonly repeated account of the ''[[Book of Han]]'', the "Old Script" texts included the chapters preserved by Fu Sheng, another version of the "Great Speech" chapter and some 16 additional ones.{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=381}}
It is unclear what happened to these manuscripts. According to the ''Book of Han'', [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]] collated the Old Script version against the three main "Modern Script" traditions, creating a version of the ''Documents'' that included both groups. This was championed by his son [[Liu Xin (scholar)|Liu Xin]],{{sfnp|Nylan|1995|p=48}}
who requested in a letter to Emperor Ai the establishment of a ''boshi'' position for its study.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hanshu 漢書 |pages=36.1967–1970}}</ref> But this did not happen. Most likely, this edition put together by the imperial librarians was lost in the chaos that ended the Western Han dynasty, and the later movement of the capital and imperial library.

A list of 100 chapter titles was also in circulation; many are mentioned in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'', but without quoting the text of the other chapters.{{sfnp|Brooks|2011|p=87}}

The ''shu'' were designated one of the [[Five Classics]] when Confucian works made official by [[Emperor Wu of Han]], and {{tlit|zh|jīng}} ('classic') was added to its name.
The term {{tlit|zh|Shàngshū}} 'venerated documents' was also used in the Eastern Han.{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2000|pp=475–477}}
The [[Xiping Stone Classics]], set up outside the imperial academy in 175–183 but since destroyed, included a Modern Script version of the ''Documents''.{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=383}}
Most Han dynasty scholars ignored the Old Script version, and it disappeared by the end of the dynasty.{{sfnp|Brooks|2011|p=87}}

=== Claimed recovery of Old Script texts ===
A version of the ''Documents'' that included the "Old Script" texts was allegedly rediscovered by the scholar [[Mei Ze]] during the 4th century, and presented to the imperial court of the [[Jin dynasty (265-420)|Eastern Jin]].{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=383}}
His version consisted of the 31 modern script texts in 33 chapters, and 18 additional old script texts in 25 chapters, with a preface and commentary purportedly written by Kong Anguo.{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|pp=376–377}} This was presented as ''Guwen Shangshu'' 古文尚書, and was widely accepted. It was the basis of the {{tlit|zh|Shàngshū zhèngyì}} ({{lang|zh|尚書正義}} 'Correct interpretation of the ''Documents''') published in 653 and made the official interpretation of the ''Documents'' by imperial decree. The oldest extant copy of the text, included in the [[Kaicheng Stone Classics]] (833–837), contains all of these chapters.{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|1993|p=383}}

Since the [[Song dynasty]], starting from Wu Yu ({{lang|zh|吳棫}}), many doubts had been expressed concerning the provenance of the allegedly rediscovered "Old Script" texts in Mei Ze's edition. In the 16th century, Mei Zhuo ({{lang|zh|梅鷟}}) published a detailed argument that these chapters, as well as the preface and commentary, were forged in the 3rd century AD using material from other historical sources such as the ''[[Zuo Commentary]]'' and the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''. Mei identified the sources from which the forger had cut and pasted text, and even suggested [[Huangfu Mi]] as a probable culprit. In the 17th century, [[Yan Ruoqu]]'s unpublished but widely distributed manuscript entitled ''Evidential analysis of the Old Script Documents'' ({{zhi|c=尚書古文疏證|p=Shàngshū gǔwén shūzhèng}}) convinced most scholars that the rediscovered Old Script texts were fabricated in the 3rd or 4th centuries.{{sfnp|Elman|1983|pp=206–213}}

=== Modern discoveries ===
New light has been shed on the ''Book of Documents'' by the recovery between 1993 and 2008 of caches of [[Bamboo and wooden slips|texts written on bamboo slips]] from tombs of the [[state of Chu]] in [[Jingmen, Hubei]].{{sfnp|Liao|2001}} These texts are believed to date from the late Warring States period, around 300 BC, and thus predate the burning of the books during the Qin dynasty.{{sfnp|Liao|2001}} The [[Guodian Chu Slips]] and the Shanghai Museum corpus include quotations of previously unknown passages of the work.{{sfnp|Liao|2001}}{{sfnp|Shaughnessy|2006|pp=56–58}} The [[Tsinghua Bamboo Slips]] includes a version of the transmitted text "Golden Coffer", with minor textual differences, as well as several documents in the same style that are not included in the received text.  The collection also includes two documents that the editors considered to be versions of the Old Script texts "Common Possession of Pure Virtue" and "Command to [[Fu Yue]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=First Research Results on Warring States Bamboo Strips Collected by Tsinghua University Released |publisher=[[Tsinghua University]] |work=Tsinghua University News |date=May 26, 2011 |url=http://news.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/newsen/6057/2011/20110304172109458964142/20110304172109458964142_.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725180238/http://news.tsinghua.edu.cn/publish/newsen/6057/2011/20110304172109458964142/20110304172109458964142_.html |archive-date=2011-07-25 }}</ref> Other authors have challenged these straightforward identifications.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Li Rui 李銳|date=2013|title=清华简《傅说之命》研究.|journal=Shenzhen Daxue Xuebao. Shehui Kexueban. 深圳大学学报(人文社会科学版) Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities & Social Sciences)|volume=30|issue=6|pages=68–72}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Edward L. Shaughnessy|date=2020|title=A Possible Lost Classic: The *She Ming, or *Command to She.|journal=T'oung Pao|volume=106.3–4|pages=266–308}}</ref>