SHANG SHU: CLASSIC OF DOCUMENTS

EALC 36650
SPRING 2016
Edward L. Shaughnessy
This is intended to be a reading course in the Shang shu or Venerated
Documents, also known as the Shu jing or Classic of Documents, traditionally
considered to be the second of the Chinese classics (no matter how many classics are
included). The contents run the gamut from royal proclamations to ministerial advice, and
purport to date from the time of Yao through the early Eastern Zhou period. For more
than two millennia, the text has been the focus of Chinas most celebrated textual
scholarship, both because of the interest of its content and also because of its inclusion of
two different types of documents: what are termed New Text chapters and Old Text
chapters. In the first week, we will consider the difference between these two types of
documents. Thereafter we will focus on reading the text. Since it will not be possible for
us to read all of the text, I have selected three chapters that may be more or less
representative:

Xi bo kan Li or The Elder of the West attacked Li (a New Text

chapter)
Wu cheng or The Completion of War (an Old Text chapter)
Jin teng or Metal-bound Coffer (a New Text chapter with a Warring
States manuscript)

If time permits, we will also read one text that apparently belonged to the Yi Zhou shu
or Leftover Zhou Documents:

Cheng wu or Awakening at Cheng

The readings are available on the courses CHALK site (both in the Shisan jing
zhushu edition and in James Legges translation), but students are
encouraged to explore other editions and commentaries, scores of which can be found in
the East Asian Collection of Regenstein Library.
As a reading course, it is essential that students have a sound knowledge of classical
Chinese (completion of first-year Classical Chinese or its equivalent). Attendance is
mandatory. Students may choose to do a guided translation in lieu of a final examination.