On Confucianism In Qing "yellow Emperor" Melody Exegetical Study

This paper explores the facts, methods and achievements of scholars in the Qing Dynasty concerning their research done onto the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, especially in the aspects of their understanding and explanation of the Chinese characters, speech sounds and semantic meanings of the literatures. The survey of this paper may provide reference materials for modern people to read and understand the ancient Classic. It may also serve to accumulate source materials for compiling textbooks of Chinese medical history and Chinese language etc.This paper is mainly divided into three parts. The first part deals with a phonetic study of the Classic done by scholars of the Qing Dynasty. These experts came to understand that there were many sentences mutually rhymed with each other. They conducted investigation on the basis of these sentences as language material to prove their own classification system of the rhymes of the early ancient Chinese characters. This way of research is of great help for us to make sure both the time of writing and publishing the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine and differentiate some mistaken characters due to different copies from the past. The Qing scholars studied the Classic usually by means of extensive examples and citations from the ancient literatures to acquire sufficient proof for illustration. The first scholar to devote time and energy to the study of the Classic was Gu Yanwu, whose way of study was of great importance and really set example for others to follow. Scholars later on such as Jiang Youhao, Zhu Junsheng, and Wang Niansun etc. all adopted his method in their own studies, and carried out their research in a much more detailed way. Gu, Jiang and Zhu believed that the Classic was a work of the pre-Qin days, while Wang Niansun held that it was a production of the Han Dynasty. Presently modem experts have investigated on the basis of the Qing ancestors, and tended to think that the phonetic system of the Classic is characteristic of the Han Dynasty. The Qing scholars also did much in differentiating mistaken characters in the Classic by studying the positions of the rhymed words in given sentences on the one hand, and the relationship between sentences on the other.The second part of this paper deals with a semantic study of the Classic done by the scholars of the Qing Dynasty. The most important method to investigate semantic meaning of ancient Chinese characters is believed to break the limit set on the exterior shape and form of the characters, to consider a character as a combination of both speech sound and semantic meaning. It is suggested to find out the source Chinese characters from the clue of their speech sounds in ancient literatures so as to gain the correct understanding of the Classic. Many of the Qing scholars did their research in this way, for example, Shen Tong, Duan Yucai, Zhu Junsheng, Gu Guanguang, Hu Shu, Yu Yue and so on. They did a careful research of the Classic and provided enough explanation. Therefore their conclusions were largely reliable.The third part of this paper deals with a study of the role of the Qing scholars played ininfluencing the latter generation in their research of the Classic. In Japan, as early as in the 18th century of the times of Commanding Generals, there appeared the school of textual criticism of medical literatures. The research books by Danbo and Sen Lizhi etc. have now become a must for modern people to do research onto the Classic. Their way of research is generally the same as the Qing scholars'. In China, the experts even today still follow the Qing scholars' way of making investigation with a scientific attitude. Among them, the most prestigious modern expert is Prof. Qian Chaochen, who has done a systemic and comprehensive study of the language and characters of the Classic. His works have become fundamental books for students in this area. The research methods and academic achievements of the Qing scholars concerning the investigation of the Classic will definitely have an...