Dai Zhen "poetry" Studies

This paper sums up Dai Zhen's ideas and methods about "Shi Jing" on the base of analyzing his books comprehensively. Dai Zhen's works about "Shi Jing" include "Mao-Shi-Bu-zhuan" which still needs improvement, "Mao-Zhen-Shi-Kao-Zheng" which puts away textual researches in "Mao-Shi-Bu-Zhuan", and a finished book "Gao-Xi-Shi-Jing-Bu-Zhu". Although "Mao-Shi-Bu-Zhuan" is an unfinished book written in his early years, it is the most completed work. This paper examines this book in stlye and arranging methods. From the comparament among the three works, we can find his serious study process that has gone from "not very mature" to "very mature". During his study of "Shi Jing", Dai Zhen seeked truth from facts, never believed old ideas blindly, was never limited by his own ideas and was never constrained by sectarian bias. The concrete method is that "a word can be understood better by letter and the doctrines can spread word by word", "He verified words and meanings after every chapter and didn't use the meanings of 'Shi Jing' to support his own opinions." Therefore it create a new road to the study of "Shi Jing" and exerted a positive influence.