| Chinese Text Project |
Indexing rationale
Because this site contains a considerable number of texts written over many hundreds of years of Chinese history, some system of indexing is required to make it possible to find a particular text. The texts on this site are primarily arranged by date of composition - however, this method of indexing is greatly complicated by the fact that no uncontroversial dates of composition exist for many of the early texts which are the core focus of the site. Since this problem primarily affects pre-Qin and to a lesser extent Han texts, texts on the site are divided into two groups: pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts, and texts composed after the fall of the Han dynasty. Pre-Qin and Han texts are then subdivided by "school of thought", which separates these texts into groups on the basis of their content. Note that this does not imply the existence of an actual "school", institution, teaching tradition, or any relation between the authors of texts in a particular category, but merely that texts in the same category appear exhibit some common characteristics. Post-Han texts, for which the date of composition is generally better known, are indexed chronologically.
Because of their cultural and historical prominance, several groups of texts are particularly well-known and studied; to make it easier to locate them in the database, links to them are provided below.
Four books and five classics (四書五經)
Four books: The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and The Mencius.
Five classics: The Classic of Poetry, The Classic of History, The Classic of Rites, The Classic of Changes (Yi Jing / I Ching), and The Spring and Autumn Annals.
Thirteen classics (十三經)
The Classic of Changes (Yi Jing / I Ching), The Classic of History, The Classic of Poetry, The Rites of Zhou, The Ceremonies and Rites, The Classic of Rites, The Commentary of Zuo, The Commentary of Gongyang, The Commentary of Guliang, The Analects of Confucius, The Classic of Filial Piety, The Erya, and The Mencius.