《诗经中英文对照版》.doc

Shi Jing (Book of Odes) Introduction Chinese literature begins with ShiJing (Book of Odes), an anthology of songs, poems, and hymns. It consists of 311 poems (6 without text) dating from the Zhou Dynasty (1027-771 BC) to the Spring Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Geographically, these poems were collected from the area which is now central China and the lower HuangHe (Yellow River) Valley of north China where Chinese civilization began and flourished. The area covers what are today抯 ShanXi, ShanXi, ShanDong , HeNan, and HuBei provinces. The collection is divided into four main sections: GuoFeng (Lessons from the States): poems or folk songs from ordinary people. XiaoYa (Minor Odes of the Kingdom): poems or songs concerning life of the nobility. DaYa (Greater Odes of the Kingdom): poems or songs of praise of the rulers and their life. Song (Odes of the Temple and the Altar): hymns written for religious ceremonies of the court. In spite of the many interpretations and commentaries written generations later, ShiJing抯 influence on Chinese literature is overwhelming and undeniable by any one at any time. ShiJing not only lays the foundation for the formation of style and rules for Chinese classical poems, it is also frequently quoted in other canonical Chinese texts and has always been referred to as moral truth and lessons. It is no coincidence that the number of poems selected by Sun Zhu in 1763 for his popular 300 Tang Poems was an exact match with that of the ShiJing. This is just an example of how influential ShiJing is on Chinese literature even in the most trivial way. Poems collected in the anthology touch and reflect on all aspects of Chinese life at the time. Some describe emotion, feelings and situations of people from different classes of society, some report events and matters of state, some depict the harmonious rule of nature. There is record of about one hundred kinds of plants and trees and ninety kinds of animals and insects in ShiJing. Different ki