Texts compiled as part of the Six Classics form the canon of Confucian thought. Multiple versions exist of the Book of Odes, Book of Documents, Book of Rites, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Annals, though no extant copies remain of the sixth and final classic the Book of Music.
Believed by some scholars to have been partially written and edited by Confucius (551–479 BCE), many of the works in the Six Classics actually existed long before the time of Confucius, while others were not composed until the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE–24 CE), as part of the state’s official adoption of Confucianism.
Another series of foundational texts include discourses on the Six Classics. This online exhibition explores one particularly intriguing example held by the Fung Ping Shan Library at HKUL—a clean manuscript copy of the Qing dynasty scholar Lu Xuan’s Meanings in the Book of Documents, handwritten and bound in 1787 by his amanuensis and concubine Shen Cai.
Material for this platform is based on HKU Professor YANG Yuanzheng's developing manuscript on Confucian music and rites. Additional research was carried out by Lesley Liu and Jody Beenk in the Preservation and Conservation Division of HKUL.
