China

Correct Meaning of the Five Classics

Kong Yingda and imperial commission · 653 · Chang'an (China) · philosophy, law

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An imperial commission fixes one authorised commentary on each of the Five Classics, ending centuries of competing exegesis by decree and defining what examination candidates must know.

exegetical disagreement resolved by administrative decision
one authorised reading tied to the examination syllabus
earlier commentators preserved or lost by the commission's selection
canon defined for the education of an entire governing class

The Tang court had a practical problem: candidates could not be examined on texts whose meaning was disputed among schools. The commission selected among existing commentaries, harmonised them into a standard sub-commentary, and promulgated the result. It settled the reading of the classics for the examination system and therefore for the education of the governing class, and its choices determined which earlier scholars continued to be read and which were quietly dropped.

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Descends from

Book of Songs · c. 1000-600 BC (poems composed across the Western Zhou and early Spring and Autumn periods; reached near-final form by the 6th century BC)
Book of Documents · c. 1000-200 BC (composite; the surviving 'New Text' chapters were reconstructed early in the Han from a scholar's memorized recitation, and the 'Old Text' chapters added later are now recognized as a 4th century AD forgery)
I Ching (Book of Changes) · c. 900-200 BC (core hexagram and line texts Western Zhou; the Ten Wings commentarial layer added across the Warring States and Han)
Book of Rites · c. 300-50 BC (Warring States ritual essays compiled into their current form in the Western Han)

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