Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s5.t10.20

v1.c7.s5.t10.20

Ed. Chavannes’ version is better in these two versions of Western languages. Although S. Beal’s version is only selected translation, there are many mistakes. There are some mistakes in Ed. Chavannes’ version but he made large efforts and carried out meticulous study on annotations so his book was of higher level. One of the most obvious mistakes in Ed. Chavannes’ book is that he misunderstood the notes in Yi-Jing’s book as being made by descendants and he believed they were added by scholars in Later Zhou Dynasty (955-960 CE). He did not realise that all “Zhou” in Yi-Jing’s book refers to the times under Empress Wu Zetian’s reign instead of that in Later Zhou Dynasty. Because the translation and annotated time was early, Ed. Chavannes could not utilise some later research results including materials found in archaeological excavations. This limitation was caused by times. In addition, Ed. Chavannes’ version was based on the version in Chinese he could find at that time, not a checked copy so there were often some problems on words.