Distinguishing the ritual systems of the Han Dynasty's Old and New Texts: Liao Ping's 'Jin Gu Xue Kao' as a focus for discussion

In Jin Gu Xue Kao (sic) modem scholar Liao Ping views the essential difference 7 between the New Text and the Old Text of the Han Dynasty as a question of ritual system: the New Text emphasizes the ritual system of the ancient sage sovereigns, while the Old Text emphasizes the Rites of Zhou. In addition, Liao uses Wangzhi (sic) and Zhouli (sic) as the general principle for the New and Old Texts respectively. This understanding is based on Liao's research of Xu Shen's explication of Differences between the Five Classics (sic) (sic), Guliangzhuan (sic), and Wangzhi, and has greatly influenced the study of Confucian classics of later generations. However, Liao Ping's view of Guliangzhuan as unofficial commentaries of Chunqiu (sic), the book on Confucian reforms, and theories about Wangzhi contain various logical problems, the main reason being that He Xiu's Gongyang (sic) rites are not viewed as representative of the New Text ritual rites. This paper compares Jin Gu Xue Kao, Xu Shen's Differences between the Five Classics and He Xiu's Gongyang rites. On one hand, the author believes that Liao Ping's use of ritual forms to distinguish between the Old and New Texts is profoundly original. On the other hand, the author also believes that the distinction between the ritual forms of the Old and New Texts is not merely that the New Text emphasizes the rites of the ancient sovereigns while the Old Text emphasizes the Rites of Zhou: the New Text also emphasizes the Rites of Zhou. The distinction between the Old and New Texts concerning their views on the Rites of Zhou is a phenomenon which must not be overlooked. Furthermore, using the Gongyang rites as a foundation, this article re-analyzes Xu Shen's Differences between the Five Classics, clearly indicating that the Old and New Text studies should use He Xiu's Gongyang rites as textual evidence. Finally, this article explores how the Old and New Text scholars of the Han Dynasty viewed the ritual system of the ancient sage sovereigns and the Rites of Zhou. This approach opens a new path for understanding the essential differences between the Old and New Text studies of the Han Dynasty.HistoryAsian StudiesLanguage & LinguisticsA&HCI0ARTICLE33-777