Excavating the genealogy of classical studies in the western Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-8 C.E.).

• Author: Cai, Liang
• Position: Essay

Before the founding of the Han dynasty, thinkers of every stripe cited the Five Classics to legitimate their ideas. But the transmission of the Zhou's cultural heritage was not clearly documented until Sima Qian [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (second century B.c.E.) traced the study of the Five Classics back to Confucius. (1) Although Confucius's disciples--and later Mencius and Xun-zi--all distinguished themselves by textual expertise, Sima Qian claimed that the study of the Five Classics generally declined during the Warring States and Qin periods. During this chaotic time scholars in the states of Qi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and Lu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] were said to have saved the classics from destruction, but none of their names was recorded and little is known about their social backgrounds.

The ambiguity of these beginnings seems to dissipate with the dawn of the Western Han dynasty. From that point on Sima Qian's efforts provide us with a line of transmission for each classic. Following suit, later scholars relied on genealogies as the basic framework to map the history of classical studies and Confucian communities. They documented an unbroken line of transmission that survived wars and plagues, extended through social and economic change, and shaped four hundred years of intellectual and political history from the establishment of the Western Han till the end of the Eastern Han. (2)

In this paper I question the alleged continuities in those seemingly well-documented genealogies, contending that the accepted account of textual transmission often conflated multiple historical narratives. Unfolding these different layers, I present a more complex and challenging history. Instead of a seamless narrative, there emerges a story of fragmented learning communities buffeted by political and social change under Emperors Zhao ba, Xuan A, and Yuan t. The era essentially transformed classical studies as various interpretive schools were established, enormous scholarly works produced, and new hermeneutics formulated, all of which set an intellectual tone for centuries to come. During the subsequent flourishing of classical studies, Confucians sought to refashion their obscure past, a project that culminated with Ban Gu in the first century of the Common Era and which continues to shape perceptions of Han Confucianism to the present.

THE FIRST 120 YEARS OF THE WESTERN HAN:

FRAGMENTED SCHOLARLY LINEAGES

In around 90 B.C.E. Sima Qian finished writing "The Collective Biographies of Confucians (Rulin liezhuan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII])," an essay that summarizes classical learning from the beginning of the Western Han to the end of the reign of Emperor Wu. (3) When we look closely at this narrative, it becomes evident that the Five Classics were not passed from master to disciple in a smooth and unbroken chain. According to the essay, the first scholars who applied themselves to the study of these works were all obscure figures, their family backgrounds unclear and their scholarly credentials dubious. Six of those ten figures are known only by their nicknames or surnames.

Scholar Fu (Fusheng [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), a man whose full name is unknown, is said to have lived for more than ninety years and to have been solely responsible for the transmission of the Documents during the chaotic transition from the Qin to the Han dynasty. As to the study of the Records of Rites (Li ji [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), it originated with Scholar Gaotang [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and Scholar Xu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] of Lu, whose full name, like that of Scholar Fu, was not recorded. Scholar Huwu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] was said to have taught the reading of the Spring and Autumn Annals approved by the Gong yang [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] tradition in the Qi area, while Scholar Jiang of Xiaqiu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] was the first person in the Han to specialize in the Guliang [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] tradition. Virtually nothing is known about any of these scholars (Shiji 122.3124; 3126-29).

Before the Han, the work most studied among elites was the Songs (Shijing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]). But Sima Qian's description of the transmission of this work lacks detail. Three founding masters are listed--Shen Pei [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], Scholar Han iit, and Yuan Gu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--and while Simi Qian recounted some famous anecdotes about these masters and traced their official careers, he kept silent about their education and family backgrounds (Shiji 122.3120; 3124).

Of the learning of the Five Classics in the Western Han, the only one that appears to have a glorious origin is the Changes: its transmission can be traced directly back to Confucius and his disciple Shang Qu [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. A composite text, the Changes is made up of several strata, the earliest of which can be dated to the Western Zhou dynasty, or approximately 900 B.C.E. (4) Legends attributed its creation to the primeval ruler Fu Xi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and later emendations were ascribed to forebears of the Zhou dynasty, King Wen [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and the Duke of Zhou [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Sima Qian seems to have been the first to attribute the Changes' appendices, known as the Ten Wings, to Confucius, saying that the sage loved this work in his old age and was devoted to elucidating [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (the hexagram statement), xiang [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (the image), xici [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (the great commentary), and other content. Repeatedly reading it, he wore out three copies of the book ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], Shiji 47: 1937). The depiction is vivid, but no one knows whether it is accurate; whether Confucius knew the Changes or taught it to his students has long been shrouded in doubt. (5) In the standard edition of the Analects, the only relevant passage quotes Confucius as saying "Give me a few more years so that I may study Yi (the Changes) when I am fifty, and I should be able to avoid gross errors [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]." (6) Whereas Sima Qian indicated that Confucius 1: had been familiar with the classic for some time, only to fully appreciate it in old age, the Analects indicates that even while in his forties Confucius had not made much headway. Sima Qian portrayed Confucius as an expert on the Changes and ascribed some of the most important comments on this difficult text to the sage, but the Analects assumes a hypothetical tone and does not say whether Confucius ever studied the text.

Some scholars contend that the passage from the Analects has nothing to do with the Changes, suggesting that the character yi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--translated as 'the Changes'--should be read as yi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], meaning 'also'. Then the sentence would mean "Give me a few more years, and I may [start to] learn when I am fifty, so that I, too, will avoid gross errors [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]." This reading is supported by a number of ancient editions, including the Lu version of the Analects and the one excavated in Dingzhou [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], Hebei province. (7)

It is not only Confucius's relationship with the Changes that is controversial, but also that of one of his lesser disciples, Shang Qu, ostensibly charged with teaching the work to the next generation. Why did Confucius choose an obscure disciple to transmit one of the Five Classics? Scholars have been puzzled by this question for centuries. (8)

The scholarly lineages associated with the Five Classics not only started with men who amount, by and large, to ciphers, they also exhibit significant gaps. Regarding the Changes, Sima Qian said that Confucius transmitted it to Shang Qu and after five generations it was handed down to Tian He [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]--but he could not name any of the individuals from the intervening period and could only identify three persons who took part in this textual tradition during the first 120 years of the Western Han dynasty: Tian He, who flourished at the beginning of the era, transmitted the text to Wang Tong [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], who in turn transmitted it to Yang He [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], who achieved a middle-level bureaucratic position under Emperor Wu. (9) Sima Qian also listed five other experts on the classic who achieved positions ranked as "two thousand bushels," concluding that all of the discussions about the Changes that took place later in the dynasty were indebted to Yang He. Still, he did not connect any of those five officials to Yang He directly, nor did he identify their masters or disciples.

From the time of Confucius until Emperor Wu's rule, according to Sima Qian, more than four hundred years had passed, and the transmission of the Changes stretched over nine generations. This means that the average age difference between a master and a disciple would have been more than forty-five years. Given what we know about life expectancy in the premodern era, this is hardly possible. (10)

Similar patterns are found in the transmission of the other Five Classics. Sima Qian claimed that Scholar Fu, who was active even in his nineties, taught the Documents in the areas of Qi and Lu, and scholars there were all familiar with the work. Yet only three generations of experts, altogether six men, are listed in the Shiji for the 120 years of the Western Han dynasty. Again attribution is a problem, as among those six only two were provided with full names. Three other experts on the Documents from the reign of Emperor Wu were also mentioned, but no connection between them and Scholar Fu was specified.

For the Rites, another of the Five Classics, Sima Qian identifies two generations of experts during the first 120 years of the Western...