Ancient Script Texts

In <a href="/facts/Chinese_language/771ruUY1">Chinese</a> <a href="/facts/Philology/5u0xzd5g">philology</a>, the Ancient Script Classics refer to some versions of the <a href="/facts/Five_Classics/NY6VKIY6">Five Classics</a> discovered during the <a href="/facts/Han_dynasty/hanfxS9D">Han dynasty</a>, written in a script that predated the one in use during the Han dynasty, and produced before the <a href="/facts/To_burn_the_classics_and_to_bury_the_scholars/oEWGyYuc">burning of the books</a>. The term became used in contrast with "Current Script Classics" (今文經), which indicated a group of texts written in the orthography currently in use during the Han dynasty.
Historical sources record the recovery of a group of texts during the last half of the 2nd century BC from the walls of <a href="/facts/Confucius/HrrVtjJp">Confucius</a>’s old residence in <a href="/facts/Qufu/bnlmhuBc">Qufu</a>, the old capital of the <a href="/facts/State_of_Lu/DxYdx378">State of Lu</a>, when Prince Liu Yu (d. 127 BC) attempted to expand it into a palace upon taking the throne there. In the course of taking the old wall apart, the restorers found versions of the <a href="/facts/Classic_of_History/M4vp7sP4">Classic of History</a>, <a href="/facts/Rites_of_Zhou/XjgEoGJE">Rites of Zhou</a>, <a href="/facts/Yili_(text)/TpdGSNTU">Yili</a>, <a href="/facts/Analects_of_Confucius/hxfarEKL">Analects of Confucius</a> and <a href="/facts/Classic_of_Filial_Piety/LVaHFwcg">Classic of Filial Piety</a>, all written in the old orthography used prior to the reforms of the <a href="/facts/Clerical_script/Cxddv58R">clerical script</a>. Hence, they were called "Ancient Script texts".

Ancient Script Texts open-in-new

Ancient Script Texts