Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t2.7

v1.c7.s10.t2.7

Ever since the times of Emperor Wu, Confucianism had gradually taken a domineering position in the realm of Chinese thought, and the Analects also exerted a wide ranging profound influence on the Chinese society. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty combined the Analects, the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, and Mencius into The Four Books. And in the Yuan Dynasty, this collection of books were taken as officially assigned required book for students who intend to appear and pass the imperial examination, thus further expanding the influence of the Analects. As for annotation for this classic, there were several annotators even in the Han Dynasty, and more were on the increase in the ensuing dynasties; out of them, the important and influential annotators are He Yan of the Three Kingdoms Period, with works entitled Concentrated Explanation of Analects, Xing Bing of the Song Dynasty, with works entitled Paraphrasing Analects, Zhu Xi’s Concentrated Annotation of Analects, and Liu Baonan’s Full Connotation of Analects.