The Oath at Mu
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Beginners who want to approach the Book of Documents through a single chapter
- Students and enthusiasts studying pre-Qin history and the founding of the Western Zhou
- Readers interested in collating variants in transmitted texts
- Teachers who need pre-Qin oath texts as teaching materials
Not a good fit for
- General readers seeking vernacular stories and strong plot
- Readers without Classical Chinese who are unwilling to consult annotations
Reading tips
- Read the original text through once, then compare it with the corresponding passage in the Annals of Zhou in the Records of the Grand Historian.
- Check the annotations sentence by sentence, making separate cards for place names, official titles, and artifact names.
- Read with the historical background of the early Western Zhou in mind to understand why the oath emphasizes heaven's mandate and popular sentiment.
- After reading, try restating in your own words the crimes King Wu lists and the military discipline he requires.
About the publisher
Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 正文一
- 正文二
- 正文三
FAQ
Can I read "Mu Shi" without any Classical Chinese?
How does the received text differ from the version in the Records of the Grand Historian?
What materials should I read alongside this chapter?
Comments
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About the author
Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.
