History
The Confucian classics, such as the Book of Rites, have had a significant influence on Chinese history. During the Warring States Period from the 5th to the 3rd century BC, China was forced to face a time of brutal wars and political upset. Immediately this, during the reign of Qin Shihuang, many of the Confucian classics were destroyed during the 213 BC "Burning of the Books." A year later, 460 Confucian scholars were buried alive for criticizing the emperor. Fortunately for the preservation of this work, the Qin dynasty collapsed within the decade: Confucian scholars who had memorized the classics recompiled them amid the Chu-Han contention and the early Han dynasty. The Book of Rites was said to have been fully reconstructed, but the Classic of Music could not be recompiled and fragments principally survive in the "Record of Music" (Yueji) chapter of the Book of Rites.
Since then, other scholars have attempted to redact these first drafts. Dai De reworked the text in the 1st Century BC, reducing the original 214 books to 85; his younger brother Dai Sheng reduced this to 46 books. To this three were added towards the end of the Han Dynasty, bringing the total to 49.
Dai De's copy of the text was thought lost until 1993, when a copy of a Dai De's chapter "Black Robes" was found in Tomb 1 of the Guodian Tombs in Jingmen, Hubei.
Read more about this topic: Book Of Rites
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