Annotations on the Book of Rites
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Scholars or students committed to in-depth study of Confucian classics and ritual studies
- Enthusiasts of traditional culture with a strong interest in ancient Chinese social institutions and intellectual culture
- Professionals engaged in the study of ancient texts, history, or philosophy
- Readers who wish to understand the spiritual essence of "ritual" in Chinese culture at the level of canonical sources
Not a good fit for
- Casual readers seeking only light storytelling or modern popular interpretations
- Beginners with no foundation in classical Chinese or ancient texts and lacking the patience to work through them
Reading tips
- First read through individual chapters of the Book of Rites, then compare them with Zheng Xuan's commentary to understand his explanations and elaborations
- Keep a dictionary of ancient Chinese or related reference works at hand while reading to aid understanding of names, institutions, and difficult words
- Combine with other ritual classics such as the Rites of Zhou and the Ceremonial Etiquette, as well as later commentaries such as Kong Yingda's Correct Meaning of the Book of Rites, to build a more complete knowledge system
About the publisher
The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 叢書序
- 整理説明
- 整理凡例
- 禮記卷第一
- 曲禮上第一
- 曲禮下第二
- 禮記卷第二
- 檀弓上第三
- 禮記卷第三
- 檀弓下第四
- 禮記卷第四
- 王制第五
- 禮記卷第五
- 月令第六
- 禮記卷第六
- 曾子問第七
- 文王世子第八
- 禮記卷第七
- 禮運第九
- 禮器第十
- 禮記卷第八
- 郊特牲第十一
- 内則第十二
- 禮記卷第九
- 玉藻第十三
- 明堂位第十四
- 禮記卷第十
- 喪服小記第十五
- 大傳第十六
- 少儀第十七
- 禮記卷第十一
- 學記第十八
- 樂記第十九
- 禮記卷第十二
- 雜記上第二十
- 雜記下第二十一
- 禮記卷第十三
- 喪大記第二十二
- 禮記卷第十四
- 祭法第二十三
- 祭義第二十四
- 祭統第二十五
- 禮記卷第十五
- 經解第二十六
- 哀公問第二十七
- 仲尼燕居第二十八
- 孔子閒居第二十九
- 坊記第三十
- 禮記卷第十六
- 中庸第三十一
- 禮記卷第十七
- 表記第三十二
- 緇衣第三十三
- 禮記卷第十八
- 奔喪第三十四
- 問喪第三十五
- 服問第三十六
- 閒傳第三十七
- 三年問第三十八
- 深衣第三十九
- 禮記卷第十九
- 投壺第四十
- 儒行第四十一
- 大學第四十二
- 禮記卷第二十
- 冠義第四十三
- 昬義第四十四
- 鄉飲酒義第四十五
- 射義第四十六
- 燕義第四十七
- 聘義第四十八
- 喪服四制第四十九
FAQ
What are the main features and value of Zheng Xuan's Commentary on the Book of Rites?
How difficult is this book to read? What prior knowledge is required?
What are the features of this edition (Commercial Press)?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Zheng Xuan (127–200), courtesy name Kangcheng, was a native of Gaomi in Beihai Commandery (present-day Gaomi, Shandong) during the Eastern Han dynasty and a leading synthesizer of Han-dynasty classical scholarship. He annotated the Confucian classics extensively, integrating the New Text and Old Text traditions and founding the school known as "Zheng Studies"; later generations honored him as the "God of the Classics." Nine of his works are held in this collection, including the Mao Shi Jian, Yili Zhushu, Liji Zhu, Xiaojing Zhengyi, Xiaojing Zhu, and Yiwei Bianzhongbei. His works are commonly classified under ancient poetry, literary appreciation, culture, Eastern philosophy, and classic works. His annotations are distinguished by meticulous glossing of names and things and by their broad incorporation of earlier scholarship, clarifying the meaning of the classics while preserving a wealth of Han-dynasty interpretations. His commentaries on the Three Rites were especially influential and have long been valued in ritual studies and classical education. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so this introduction focuses on the subjects and influence of his writings.
Xu Yuan: publicly available information is limited, and at present we know only that one work, Zuo Ji Zhu (Annotated Records of Ritual), is held in the collection under the category of culture. Commentaries on the Records of Ritual have long served as an important gateway to the study of ritual learning; the very title Zuo Ji Zhu indicates that the work consists chiefly of annotation and explication of the classic, placing it in the tradition of classical exegesis. Works of this kind are generally intended for readers studying ritual institutions, the meaning of ritual, and early Confucian thought, and they typically emphasize glossing words, examining names and institutions, and drawing out the sense of individual chapters, in a plain and rigorous style rather than a discursive one. Because Xu Yuan's life, nationality, and dates are unavailable, his scholarly background and the circumstances of the book's composition cannot be described in detail. Readers approaching ritual studies through this work, whether as an introduction or for deeper study, would do well to read it alongside the original text and other commentaries in order to appreciate its choices and intentions.
