A Re-examination of the Controversy over the Oral and Written Nature of the Classic of Poetry’s Early Transmission, Based on the Anhui University Manuscript

Abstract

Abstract Based on the newly discovered Anhui University manuscript, the paper re-examines the controversy over the oral and written nature of the Classic of Poetry’s early transmission. The paper argues that the Anda Shi jing serves to prove, first, that at the time of the manuscript (mid-Warring States period), or even earlier, the Shi jing was already not only an independent text, but had already been written down, and second, that the Anda Shi jing is a “manuscript,” and what is more there are various traces showing that it was a “copy,” such that it could not have been produced in an oral context.