Book of Documents - Dating of The New Text Chapters

Dating of The New Text Chapters

Although the New Text chapters are generally accepted as pre-Qin documents, not all of them are believed to be contemporaneous with the events they describe, which range from the legendary emperors Yao and Shun to early in the Spring and Autumn period. Six of these chapters concern figures prior to the first evidence of writing, the oracle bones dating from the reign of the late Shang king Wu Ding. Moreover, the chapters dealing with the earliest periods, e.g., the Canons of Yao and Shun, are very similar in language to the classical works of the Warring States period such as The Mencius.

The five announcements (誥 gào) in the Documents of Zhou feature the most archaic language, closely resembling inscriptions found on Western Zhou bronzes in both grammar and vocabulary. Together with associated chapters such as Lord Shi and the Testamentary Charge, the announcements are considered by most scholars to record speeches of King Cheng of Zhou, as well as the Duke of Zhou and Duke of Shao, uncles of King Cheng who were key figures during his reign (late 11th century BC). They provide insight into the politics and ideology of the period, including the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven, explaining how the once-virtuous Xia had become corrupt and were replaced by the virtuous Shang, who went though a similar cycle ending in their replacement by the Zhou. A minority of scholars, pointing to differences in language between these documents and Zhou bronzes, argue that they are products of a commemorative tradition in the late Western Zhou or early Spring and Autumn periods.

Other Zhou chapters, and the chapters dealing with the late Shang, use less archaic language. They are believed to have been modelled on the earlier speeches by writers in the Spring and Autumn period, a time of renewed interest in politics and dynastic decline. Chapters relating to earlier periods are thought to be the products of philosophical schools of the late Warring States period. They are written in familiar classical language and present idealized rulers, with the earlier political concerns subordinate to moral and cosmological theory. The Pan Geng chapter (later divided into three parts) seems to be intermediate in style between the latter two groups.