Mouvance in Medieval Chinese Textual Culture: Lunyu 論語 in a Dunhuang Florilegium

• Published in: Journal of Chinese literature and culture 2022-04, Vol.9 (1), p.170-194
• Main Author: Nugent, Christopher M. B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asian Studies; East Asia; Literary Criticism; Literature And Literary Studies; Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Pre-Modern Studies
• ISSN: 2329-0048; 2329-0056
• DOI: 10.1215/23290048-9681202

This essay applies the approaches of the “new medievalism,” or “mutability” in particular, to medieval textual materials purporting to contain parts of the classics, focusing on 論語 (Analects), 尚書 (Documents), and 孝經 (Classic of Filial Piety). Using Dunhuang manuscripts of the florilegium titled 新集文詞九經抄 (New Compilation of Phrases Excerpted from the Nine Classics), the essay shows that the texts of these classics presented by such compilations differed substantially from the “official” texts of the time as represented by the versions carved in stone during the Kaicheng reign period (836–841). The essay further argues that such florilegia as were likely widely used, implying that many readers in the period may have had a different conception of the contents of the classics from what we might assume they had. This has implications for our understanding of intertextuality in literary works from the period.