International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2025

 

 

Benoit Vermander

 

The Book of Odes (Shijing) has been continually rediscovered and reshaped through the interaction between the Chinese exegetical tradition and Western sinological scholarship. In traditional Chinese studies, the interpretive system represented by Confucius’s poetic pedagogy and the Han commentary tradition of the Maozhuan endowed the Book of Odes with profound moral and political significance. In the Song dynasty, Zhu Xi moved the focus from authorial intention to the reader’s interpretive engagement. In the early 20th century, the French sinologist Marcel Granet broke free from the moralizing framework of the text, situating the Book of Odes within the ritual contexts of ancient seasonal festivals. His approach revealed its character as a form of “performative” oral literature. Through the interplay between Chinese and Western scholarship, further discussions have emerged concerning the Book of Odes’ value as a source for the history of religion and mythology, the aesthetic standards established by its structural rhetoric, and its philosophical attention to themes such as “wisdom” and “desire.”