The Book of Songs: The Court Hymns (Ya)

AnonymousNov 2014

Rating 4.4

Word count: 43K words
Chapters: 76

Summary

The Shijing (Book of Songs) is the earliest collection of poetry in China, compiled around the Spring and Autumn Period. In pre-Qin times it was called the Shi (Poems), also known as the 'Three Hundred Poems,' collecting 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, a span of more than five hundred years. In the Western Han Dynasty it was honored as a Confucian classic and began to be called the Shijing, a name still used today. This book presents the second part of the Shijing, the 'Ya' (Court Hymns), which were mainly musical songs for court banquets and audiences. According to differences in music, the 'Ya' is divided into 31 pieces of the 'Daya' and 74 pieces of the 'Xiaoya,' 105 pieces in total. Except for a small number of folk songs in the 'Xiaoya,' most are works of aristocratic literati.

Editor's review

Between the folk-song flavor of the Guofeng and the temple ceremonies of the Song, the Ya section of the Shijing contains 31 pieces of Daya and 74 of Xiaoya, mostly songs for court banquets, audiences, and aristocratic life. Daya leans toward narrative and political instruction, often touching on the rise of the Zhou clan and admonition between ruler and minister; Xiaoya ranges more widely, with banquet exchanges as well as longing and separation from military service, and a few pieces come close to the plainness of folk song. This section is relatively balanced in readability within the Shijing: it has both ceremonial gravity and turns of human feeling, and its language is more relaxed than the Song and more refined than the rest. To understand the inner world of pre-Qin aristocrats and the function of poetry on ritual and musical occasions, the Ya poems are the crucial middle ground. Readers may begin with short, clearly situated Xiaoya pieces, then return to the long Daya poems and proceed gradually.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Classical literature readers who want a systematic understanding of the Ya poems in the Shijing
History enthusiasts studying pre-Qin ritual, banquet culture, and aristocratic life
Chinese department students and teachers who need complete texts beyond anthologies
General readers who enjoy refined narrative and are willing to read piece by piece

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light short pieces and resistant to longer classical poems
Readers with no classical Chinese experience who do not consult annotations
Those who want only famous love poems and have no interest in banquet or court audience subjects

Reading tips

Start with short, clearly situated Xiaoya pieces to build a feel for the language
Before reading Daya, learn the historical outline of the Zhou clan to reduce background obstacles
Read in Daya and Xiaoya groups, comparing differences in subject and tone
Keep pen and paper to note recurring ritual terms and formulaic phrases for easy review

版权信息
目录
公版书总序
世相人情风雅颂，一言蔽之思无邪——《诗经》
正文
小雅26篇
鹿鸣之什
鹿鸣
四牡
皇皇者华
常棣
伐木
天保
采薇
出车
桑扈之什
頍弁
车辖
青蝇
宾之初筵
鱼藻
采菽
角弓
菀柳
都人士之什
都人士
采绿
黍苗
隰桑
白华
绵蛮
瓠叶
渐渐之石
苕之华
何草不黄
大雅
文王
大明
绵
棫朴
旱麓
思齐
皇矣
灵台
下武
文王有声
生民
行苇
既醉
凫鹥
假乐
公刘
泂酌
卷阿
民劳
板
荡
抑
桑柔
云汉
嵩高
烝民
韩奕
江汉
常武
瞻卬
召旻
如是我闻
一、中国古代宫廷舞
二、中国古代礼乐机构及官员
三、《诗经》中的盛事
四、《诗经》中的乐器
五、《诗经》中的喜怒哀乐
六、《诗经》中的山水意象
七、《诗经》中你不知道的生僻字
编辑手记

FAQ

Should I read Daya or Xiaoya first?

Xiaoya is recommended first. It has more pieces and varied subjects, and many are concrete in situation and moderate in length, making them easy to enter; Daya consists mostly of long poems involving Zhou history and political instruction, so it reads more smoothly after you are familiar with the language.

Are all the Ya poems aristocratic works?

Not entirely. The sources indicate that Daya was basically written by aristocratic literati, and Xiaoya, apart from a small number of folk songs, is also mostly aristocratic work; the Ya poems thus generally carry a court and aristocratic perspective, while still retaining some folk flavor.

What was the purpose of the Ya poems at the time?

The Ya poems were mainly songs performed at court banquets or audiences, used for ceremonies, exchanges, and admonition; they thus had a ritual function and also carried aristocratic expression on politics and life, and should not be read merely as desk-top lyric poetry.

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About the author

Anonymous 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.