Research On Zhao Deyong’s Commentary On The Book Of Odes

Zhao Deyong was a famous scholar in the Joseon Dynasty.His work Commentary on The Book of Odes based on the study of the Book of Songs takes Zhu Zi’s A Collection of Poetry as the criterion to give a comprehensive interpretation of the Book of Songs comprehensively.As one of the Confucian classics,the Book of Songs is widely spread across the Korean peninsula.And its interpretation has also become a required course for the literati and scholars of the Joseon Dynasty to study the Confucian classics.Zhao Deyong,historically known as an official minister of Joseon Dynasty,had narrated the Book of Songs to King Jeongjo Li Suan at the Classics Mat lectures and compiled their Q & A into a book called Commentary on The Book of Odes.This book contains a large quantity of articles on answers to the emperor’s inquiries one by one in interpreting the Book of Songs,which had a significant impact not only on King Jeongjo’s understanding of the Book of Songs at that time and but also on the spread of the Book of Songs around the Joseon Dynasty.To sum up,this paper contains four chapters and each chapters is interrelated to each other.All the four Chapters combined together will let the reader and related scholars have a deep understanding of this topic.For the following part will be an thorough introduction of each chapter with the level of detail for each chapter’s introduction varying slightly depending on the importance and length of the chapter.To get an whole comprehension of this article in the first chapter and the reaching orientation of this paper,the first chapter gives the introduction,which mainly introduces the purpose and significance,the overview at home and abroad and methods of this research.And then deeper analysis is done in the next chapter.The second chapter begins with a more detailed account of Zhao Deyong’s family background.Besides that,an overall condition of his literary creation and academic research is also conducted by the writer of this paper.From what the writer has done,it is found that Zhao’s works are closely related to his life experiences,and the thirteen literary genres included in his Collections of Zhao Deyong has given detailed account of some of the even more important aspects of Zhao’s life,as well as his ideas on his own study.The Manuscript of Zhao Deyong is a collection of his writings from the time of his participation in the Classics Mat activities.It consists of three parts: Commentary on The Book of Odes,the Lectures on the Great Learning,and the Lectures on the Analects of Confucius.And the main object of this study,Commentary on The Book of Odes,is an important part of the three.And then,it is an introduction to the background of creating Commentary on The Book of Odes,both in terms of the book of songs spread eastward to North Korea and its relationship to the Classics Mat activities.The third chapter mainly investigates the content of the Commentary on The Book of Odes,which is divided into five parts.The first part is explanations of words in ancient books.The second is the interpretation of poetic meaning.The third is the research and verification of the name and the forth is the characteristics of things,the ancient rules and regulations.The fifth chapter contains the others things needed or related to that book.All of those are to collate and analyze the contents of the Commentary on The Book of Odes.By comparing it with that of the writing official ministers who have also participated in the Classics Mat activities from 1789 to 1790 and thus have written a book on the interpretation of these articles,this paper has summarized the main characteristics of Zhao Deyong’s articles on answers to the emperor’s inquiries one by one.The fourth chapter is the focus and what makes this paper of academic value.So,it expounds the relationship and similarities and differences between the Commentary on The Book of Odes and A Collection of Poetry by Zhu Xi in China.Starting from the origin of the the Commentary on The Book of Odes and A Collection of Poetry and the differences between the two,this paper analyzes the relevance of Zhao Deyong’s Commentary on The Book of Odes and Zhu Zi’s A Collection of Poetry in interpreting the Book of Songs.Most of the articles on answers to the emperor’s inquiries one by one contained in Commentary on The Book of Odes are subject to A Collection of Poetry.Although the idea of Zhao Deyong’s book conforms to that of the latter,he is never superstitious and has blind obedience.Taking his own knowledge system as a reference,and based on the researching of various schools of thoughts on King Jeongjo’s inquiries one by one and the interpretations given by A Collection of Poetry,Zhao Deyong finally draws the conclusion.Through the analysis and research on the Commentary on The Book of Odes,this paper discusses the influence of Zhu Xi’s thought of Confucian classics on Zhao Deyong,and finds the uniqueness of Zhao Deyong’s interpretation of the book of songs in comparison with the articles on answers to the emperor’s inquiries one by one of the other writing official ministers.The Commentary on The Book of Odes is the product of the Classics Mat activities.And the latter is not a common teaching and learning activity,but a platform for the communication between the ruler and his ministers.Zhao Deyong has used the Book of Songs as the medium to impart his thoughts on studying the Confucian classics and his political ideas to King Jeongjo in order to achieve the goal of enlightening the monarch.It can be seen from this that the Commentary on The Book of Odes is not only an academic work,but also an ideological work related to self-cultivation and management of state affairs.