Abstract:

After the examination of the formation of ZHANG Xue-cheng's celebrated doctrine that six classics are history, the article argues that in his later year this doctrine is really based on the proposition that six classics are political documents. The inference goes as following: (1) In the ancient times there were no private works and no pure theoretical works isolated from daily life so that the traditional opinions that Confucius personally created six classics and they are theoretical works are not true. (2) Dao and qi (concrete utensils and instruments) are inseparable from each other and so are li (principles) and shi (issues). Since qi and shi were created or conducted by previous kings, six classics are political documents of previous kings. (3) Six classics are history because political documents are history.

Key words: ZHANG Xue-cheng, six classics are history, political documents, historiography