The Book of Documents, Shu King, is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, and served as the foundation of Chinese political philosophy for over 2,000 years.

Excerpt from The Shu King: Or the Chinese Historical Classic, Being an Authentic Record of the Religion, Philosophy, Customs and Government of the Chinese From the Earliest Times On this point there can be little doubt whatsoever. For although the book appears to bear marks of derange ment, there can be no question as to the authenticity of the record; and whether it be identical with the work ascribed to Confucius, or a work otherwise derived by compilation, it is certainly based upon authentic information, and constitutes the most ancient historical writing which exists in China. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Shu King: Or the Chinese Historical Classic, Being an Authentic Record of the Religion, Philosophy, Customs and Government of the Chinese From the Earliest Times The classic known as the Shu king has come down to us from the text compiled by Confucius, or Kong-fu-tse as he was known in China, about the year 500 B. C. The burning of the Books under Che-hwang-ti (B. C. 220), and the wholesale massacre of the Mangwan or Literati by that Nero of the Far East, demolished for a time the records of this priceless work. But on the accession of Wan-ti of the Han dynasty (B. C. 179), the revival of the literature of China was in part accomplished by recourse to those elders of the people who held the historical classic in memory. Such an one was Fuh-sang, an old man of ninety years who lived at Tse-nan-foo in Shantung, who had escaped death by feigning insanity and by the terrible expedient of putting out his own eyes. He was one of the old literati to whom the Shu king of Confucius was familiar and mostly known by heart. From him the modern text was chiefly obtained. But in the year B. C. 140, when Kung Wang, one of the princes of the Lu State, was demolishing one of the former abodes of Confucius, he came upon a large number of books, among which was the Shu king, written in the ancient character. Kung-gan-kwo, a relative of Confucius, deciphered and transcribed this book, which was subsequently published by him, together with a commentary. All editions of the Shu king are based upon this ancient relic. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.