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This collection includes the texts of 12 books, namely "the Book of Changes", "the Book of History", "the Book of Songs", "Account of the Rite of the Zhou Dynasty", "the Book of Ceremony", "the Book of Rites", "Zuo Qiuming's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals", "Gongyang's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals", "Guliang's Commentary on Spring and Autumn Annals", "the Analects of Confucius", "the Canon of Filial Piety" and "the Erya". The 12 classics containing altogether 650,252 characters were thus engraved on both sides of 114 pieces of stones. In the Qing Dynasty another classic "Mencius" was engraved on 17 pieces of stones with 30,000 characters, It is also displayed here. This and 12 others are together called Thirteen Classics". These 12 classics were required readings for intellectuals of feudal society. Because printing was quite backward, in order to avoid errors made in copying the classics by men of letters, and to keep them forever, these 12 classics were thus engraved on stones as standard copies. These tablets were erected in the imperial college in Chang'an for the proof of private copies. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty the classics had been , successfully engraved seven times. The "Kaicheng Stone Classics is the only complete set of such classics passed down in good condition. |
