Libmonster ID: UK-1515

Podgot. ancient Chinese. texts and illustrations, transl., note. and preface by V. M. Mayorov; afterword by V. M. Mayorov and L. V. Stezhenskaya, Moscow, IDV RAS, 2014, 1149 p.

In 2014, the first complete translation into Russian of the Shu Jing (Canon of Records) or Shang Shu (Revered Book), one of the most important written monuments of Chinese civilization1, was published. This publication also contains a translation of the Preface to the Scriptures (Shu xu ), which was not previously mentioned in Russian Sinology.2 At the same time, one of the authors of this article, G. S. Popova, prepared a review of this book, so below we will focus on those important issues that were not addressed in it [Popova, 2014(1)].

We should add that after the publication of this book, the authors published the manuscript of the translation of Fr. Iakinfa (N. Ya. Bichurina) (1777-1853) [Ancient..., 2014] 3. Accordingly, two translations appeared in 2014: one is modern and complete, and the second, which dates back almost 200 years (completed in 1822), is rough (in manuscript) and incomplete.

The publication of the first complete translation of Shu Jing into Russian, as well as an incomplete translation of one of the founders of Russian Sinology, is a significant event that cannot but be welcomed. Thanks to this work, it became possible to get acquainted with the content of the monument's text, learn about the history of its preservation and commentary, and the tradition of its translations into European languages. Its significance also lies in the fact that it forces us to formulate a number of issues that are important for the further development of Russian sinology. The significant advantages and obvious omissions of this book, in our opinion, reflect a number of cultural phenomena characteristic of the professional environment in which it was written.

The volume of 1,149 pages is the result of a lot of work. But the point, of course, is not the size of the book or the scope of the work done, but its results. Judging by the form of the publication, the volume of notes and the research part, the book was conceived by the authors as a fundamental scientific work. And they have undoubtedly made great efforts to get closer to this.

The main part of the work was done by V. M. Mayorov: he is the author of the preface, translation and notes to it. L. V. Stezhenskaya took part in the project as a co-author on the "Afterword" and as a compiler of indexes. Both authors work at the Center for Comparative Studies of North-East Asian Civilizations of the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Specialists of this center have already published translations of classical monuments, first of all Confucian canons:" The Four Books "(Sha-xue "The Great Teaching", Zhong-yong "The Teaching of the Middle", Lunyu "Conversations and Judgments", Meng-tzu ) [Confucian..., 2004], a separate edition of two translations of Lunyu [Conversations... 1999; Perelomov, 1998] and the Zhong-yong treatise [Confucian..., 2003], separate works from the Shi Jing ("Canon of Songs"), performed by V. P. Abramenko [Shi Jing, 2015], as well as research

Galina S. POPOVA-Junior Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gmercury@rambler.ru.

ULYANOV Mark Yuryevich-Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Department of Chinese Philology, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University, ulm@mail.ru

1 Here is the translation option proposed by the authors. The word shan has many meanings. Since all the works included in the canon were revered, we believe it would be more accurate to translate the second title of this work (Shang Shu) like "Ancient Records". This point of view is based on the idea of the goals that the authors of the chapters included in the Shu Jing could pursue. Most likely, they were created as an imitation of the official court records of the Western Zhou period, their language was deliberately archaized, and they contain whole phrases typical of the ritual texts of bronze vessels of the second half of the Western Zhou period [Popova, 2012 (2)]. This should have led readers of these chapters back in the Chunqiu period to consider them quite ancient, perhaps synchronous with the events that were mentioned in them.

2 We are grateful to V. M. Mayorov for drawing our attention to this and encouraging one of the authors to conduct their research (see [Popova, 2015 (1)]).

3 A rough translation of almost the entire text of the Shu Jing was made by N. Ya. Bichurin in 1822. The translation ends at the 18th chapter of the Zhou section, the total volume of the translated text is 75.4% of the entire text. [Popova, 2016, p. 192].

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I Ching ("The Canon of Changes") and Tao te ching ("The Book of Path and Grace") by A. E. Lukyanov (Tao te ching, 2008; Yijing, 2005), A. A. Krushinsky (Krushinsky, 1999). All of them took an active part in the creation of the six-volume encyclopedia "Spiritual Culture of China". In other words, this publication is in line with the scientific interests and specialization of the Center, around which a whole field of Russian Sinology has developed.

Shu Jing occupies a special position in the cultural tradition, which is partly comparable to the books of the holy scriptures of other world civilizations. This work is part of the Confucian "Five-Canon" ( Wu Jing) and "Thirteen-Canon" ( Shi san jing), it reflects the fundamental ideas of power and management. Its special significance in antiquity is indicated by numerous citations in many written monuments of the second half of the 1st millennium BC [Popova, 2014 (3); Chen Mengjia, 1985, pp. 11-35], as well as a rich tradition of commenting, using it as one of the fundamental texts in school education and in the framework of the Russian language. traditional Chinese exam system.

All this imposes a great responsibility on the authors of translation and research, and requires them to have a good knowledge of ancient Chinese history and culture, as well as skills in translating and publishing ancient monuments. The fact that the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing used to do this is quite understandable: one of their tasks was to study the sacred books of the people who were supposed to be initiated into the Orthodox faith. V. M. Mayorov, for the first time since the time of N. Ya. Bichurin, ventured to undertake a complete translation of this, without exaggeration, one of the most complex written monuments of the Chinese Orthodox Church. cultures. When a modern sinologist takes on such a task, he must have a good reason for it. In the past, several Russian researchers who were specifically engaged in antiquity (history, language, literature) translated only a small number of chapters of monument 4.

Previously, V. M. Mayorov studied translations of Mencius into European languages [Mayorov, 2005, pp. 275-288]. As a compiler of the index, he participated in the publication of the translation of Mencius made by P. S. Popov (1842-1913) and first published in 1904. [Popov, 1998]. V. M. Mayorov previously published, as far as we know, two articles based on the results of reviewing the manuscript of the translation of Shu Jing by N. Ya. Bichurin [Mayorov, 2011(2)], as well as chapters from the same monument (Hong Fan) translated by N. Ya.Bichurin [Mayorov, 2011]. L. V. Stezhenskaya is a specialist in early Medieval poetics, studying and translating the treatise of Liu Xie Wen Xin diao lun ("Carved Dragon of Belles lettres") [Stezhenskaya, 2010].

This work begins with a brief preface, in which the authors tried to describe the monument, show its place in traditional Chinese culture, and talk about the problems associated with its translation and study. This is followed by a translation, accompanied by Chinese illustrations from the 1905 edition, and notes. The book ends with an "Afterword", which includes four large chapters, each of which consists of several paragraphs. The work is provided with two indexes: the first contains geographical names, the second contains names, titles, names of dynasties and ethnonyms (so in the text)5.

The authors would help the reader if at the very beginning they defined the genre of their work and the intended audience: This is an academic publication of translation and research of the monument, designed for a professional environment, or a popular science book designed for the general reader. The place of work of the authors and the place of publication of the IDV RAS, as well as the content of their work, including the translation of the source, the original, comments, research, indexes, make us think that this is an academic work. But not all work performed by an employee of an academic institute is academic. Academic status is given to it not by the author's place of work, but by what tasks he sets and how he solves them.

At the beginning of the Preface, an attempt is made to show the place of the monument in the Chinese cultural tradition. The authors write that it "represents the political and state doctrine of Confucianism" (p. 3). It is difficult to argue with this, but at the same time the reader has the right to expect the translator to briefly let you know what elements of the monument's content allow you to use it.

4 From what was published before 2014, according to our information, S. M. Georgievsky translated most of all in the book "The First Period of Chinese History": 1.3, 2.1, 3.6, 4.1, 4.6, 4.23 (1885). A. M. Karapetyants published a translation of only five chapters: 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 4.1, 4.2 (1981), other authors: L. D. Pozdneeva, S. I. Kucher, M. V. Kryukov, T. V. Stepugina - 1-2 chapters each [Popova, 2012(1), pp. 251-252].

5 For example, in the Shi Ji translation of Historical Notes Sima Qian, made by R. V. Vyatkin and others, is accompanied by separate indexes of names, geographical names, ethnic names, and Chinese terms (Sima Qian, 2001, pp. 373-401).

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this is to assert. Further, the number and power of epithets showing the significance of Shu Jing increases. For example, the authors write: "Shang Shu to a certain extent made the ancestors of the Chinese Chinese" (p. 4). We agree with this statement, but we still need to explain what made this possible. Strong epithets and generalizations of this kind will not replace the conceptual characterization of the content features of the monument text as a subject of study.

The authors touch upon the important topic of the final written fixation of the monument text (using their concept of "text stabilization"), referring it to the period from the seventh to the tenth centuries. This is exactly the case when it would be appropriate to refer to the special literature from which they drew this information.

The tasks of the paper are formulated fragmentary and blurry. According to the authors, they tried to give a" modern and standard " translation of the monument. Modern - in the sense that it "focuses on understanding the texts of the Shang Shu in China and Taiwan at the very end of the XX century and the beginning of the present century" (p. 7). Here two difficult tasks are combined: translating the monument and revealing the "modern and standard understanding" of its content in the PRC and in the Russian language. Taiwan. The first task is quite academic, and the second is purely social science. Usually, such tasks are solved separately.

Already at the very end of the "Afterword" V. M. Mayorov explains: "We thought it was more important to present the ancient Chinese text as it is perceived by a modern Chinese person when reading it directly" (p. 1051). The problem formulated in this way requires a description of the features of the "perception of the modern Chinese". If the authors themselves do not state what it is for representatives of modern intellectual and bureaucratic circles in China and Taiwan and how it differs from the ancient and medieval ones, then it will not become clear from reading the translation. We dare to assume that the perception of the monument's content in Chinese culture remains the same as it was before, only now it is presented in modern language and in an accessible form.

Nevertheless, the translation of a work is made taking into account its understanding in a particular historical era. Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve unity of style, unification of the interpretation of basic concepts and understanding of the content. For example, academician V. M. Alekseev sought to do this when he translated the Lunyu with a commentary by the Sung neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (1130-1200), relying on the understanding of the text of the fundamental Confucian source not during its creation or its early existence, but during the heyday of neo-Confucianism in the XI-XII centuries (Lunyu, 2001).

It is hardly fortunate that the Shu Ching editions, "which were used as the original text of the Shang Shu and its commentaries in the work on our translation," are mentioned twice, not at the beginning of the book, but in different places in the Afterword. On page 951 (at the end of the second chapter of the "Afterword", in the section on contemporary publications of the monument), it is reported that the basis is taken from the Taiwanese reprint of the corresponding volume in complex characters from the Beijing publication of the monument in the mass series Shisan ching zhu shu ("Thirteen Canons with Commentaries"), published by Peking University in 1999 [Shisan ching... , 1999]. And at the very end of the " Afterword "(pp. 1049-1050), three editions "used by us for translation"are described.

It turns out that two of the three books are translations of Shu Jing into modern Chinese (Baihua), which obviously do not belong to the academic category, since they are not originally intended for scientific tasks. The first book is from a multi-issue series of translations of works of classical Chinese literature into modern Chinese with commentary by Qian Zongwu and Jiang Hao, employees of Yangzhou University (prov. Jiangsu). It was reprinted in Taiwan in 1996 [Jin Guwen..., 1990]. The second is a translation with commentary by the Taiwanese expert Qu Wanli [Shang shu..., 2009 (2)]. And only the third can be classified as academic, this is Shang Shu and Zhu ("Shang Shu with translation and notes"), since it was published in the Shanghai Guji Academic Publishing House in 2009. [Shang shu..., 2009(1)].

As you can guess, they were mentioned in the Preface, where it was reported that in the course of the work, the translator compared "three versions of academic texts, finding very minor discrepancies in them "(p. 9). But then the question arises: how do the authors understand the meaning of the words" version "and"academic text"? It turns out that here we are referring to the three publications of Shu Jing used in the translation, i.e., not different "versions", but different "editions". What are these "texts"? Moreover, in the "Conclusion" exactly after 1040 pages of text, it is explained: "We turned only to those that were the newest and were published on the eve and at the beginning of the XXI century" (p.1049). And they were chosen because "they were published in due time as part of a large book series of Chinese classic books" (ibid.). Everything falls into place when it turns out,

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that two concepts are mixed up: "academic" and "scientific" publication. The term "scientific publication" means only that it is made in a scientific environment and for scientific purposes. These include not only purely academic, but also scientific, educational and even popular works. These same publications, although prepared by specialists, are mass-produced and popular in their tasks, i.e. they solve introductory, rather than academic tasks.

Translation of the monument allows you to get acquainted with the content of the Shu Jing. Thanks to it, you can find out the general meaning of all the chapters of the monument. Nevertheless, the translation is uneven, sometimes it is close to the original, sometimes it is not; sometimes it is read in Russian, sometimes it has a completely unreadable appearance.

Note the successful form of publication of the translation of Shu ching and Shu-xu, namely the presence of the original; paragraph numbering makes it easier to find matches.

The most important feature of the entire publication is the redundancy of tasks that the authors are trying to solve. This is also noticeable in the design of the translation - the original is provided with graphic references to seven (!) translations of the monument into Western European languages at once: into French by A. Gobil 1770 and S. Couvreur 1897, into English by W. Medhurst 1846, J. Legg 1865, W. Old 1904, B. Karlgren 1950. Curiously, the authors do not use this markup for textual research. The redundancy lies not only in the fact that the already complex hieroglyphic text is graphically overloaded, but also because these translations, in addition to Legg and Karlgren (partly by Couvrer), are out of wide scientific use. On the contrary, references in the translation notes to the variants of understanding and interpretation of the most difficult passages in different translations would be of great value.

The translator also had his own guidelines for translating complex fragments: "... to reflect the inconsistency of this modern interpretation, we chose a multi-valued and therefore neutral version of the Russian translation... " (p.629). It requires an explanation of what the "neutral version" is and why it is the most accurate way to convey the meaning of what is being translated.

Thinking about the style of translation, the author tried to follow the traditions of Chinese canonology. According to traditional views of Chinese canonology, the monument consists of two groups of texts: gu-wen (the version of "ancient scripts") and jin-wen (the version of"modern scripts").

The first chapter includes: Da Yu mo, Wu zi zhi ge, Yin zheng, Zhong hui zhi gao, Tan gao, Yi xun, Tai jia, Hsien yu yi de, Yue ming, Tai shi, Wu cheng, Lu ao, Wei zi zhi ming, Tsai zhong zhi ming, Zhou guan, Jun chen, Bi ming, Jun ya, Jun min.

To the second: Yao dian, Shun dian, Gao yao mo, Yi ji, Yu gong, Gan shi, Tan shi, Pan geng, Gaozong rong ji, Si-bo kan li, Wei tzu, Mu shi, Hong fan, Jin sheng, Da gao, Kang gao, Jiu gao, Zi cai, Zhao gao, Luo gao, Do shi, Wu yi, Jun shi, Do fan, Li zheng, Gu ming, Kang-wang zhi gao, Lu xing, Wen-hou zhi ming, Bi shi, Qin shi.

The translator, having adopted the traditional Chinese approach to dividing chapters, decided to beat this by translating them in different styles-rhythmized prose and neutral syllable.

Text of the chapters of the first group of gu-wen (version of "ancient writings") stylized as deliberately archaic rhythmized speech. It is worth remembering that any stylization is technically extremely difficult. It is not available to every translator, even if they speak their native language very well. Stylization, in our opinion, is acceptable when translating a literary work, but when translating a monument of public thought, its use is very controversial. The Russian language is flexible, but it is permissible to use it within certain limits, regulated primarily by the author's taste and language sense. Rhythmization is fraught with many pitfalls, it is easy to get lost, which is exactly what happened in this case.

Such a translation makes it much more difficult to understand the content of these chapters, sometimes you can only catch their general content. When translating the chapters of this group, the author sometimes neglected the structure of sentences, omitted significant words or added missing ones in the original [Popova, 2014(1), pp. 431-432].

For example, the phrase from the chapter of Da Yu mo ("The Reasoning of the Great Yu"):"...Transfiguration by enlightenment within the reach of the four seas, the monarch follows [the will] to the smallest detail" (p. 62). Here, perhaps, you will need another translation - this time into literary Russian. Or in the third part of the Yue Ming chapter ("Command for Yue") read: "When you keep in mind the beginnings and ends, so that they do not violate the teachings... "(p. 225). It is not clear from the translation what the "beginnings and ends" refer to. We can offer a different translation of this phrase, which is more consistent with the context: "remember that the end and beginning of [your cultivation] depend on [unceasing] teaching."

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Here are some examples from the Wei-tzu zhi ming chapter V. M. Mayorov translated the sentence as follows: "You followed it, implementing it." For a long time you have been guided by all your reverence and attention, you honor the duty of your son and are respected by people and spirits." It would be more accurate to translate: "You carry out and perfect his plans, have long had a great reputation, respectfully and diligently show filial piety, show respect to spirits and [ordinary] people."

In another passage, V. M. Mayorov writes: "Be a guest of the ruling house and with [our] state [share] all the mercies [from Heaven], [and may your heirs] last forever indefinitely" (). When translated in a neutral style, it turns out: "Be a guest at the court of Van, along with enjoy the blessing of your inheritance, which is eternal from generation to generation. inexhaustible."

As is known, a characteristic feature of Wenyang is its conciseness, which allows omissions of the previously mentioned words (Karapetyants, 2001, p. XLII). The task of the translator is to establish semantic links between sentences. To do this, you need to carefully think about the context, achieve a competent translation into Russian, and only then stylize the text, if this is, of course, necessary when translating such a monument.

The chapters of the second group of jin-wen (the version of "modern writing") are translated close to the text and with the same sentence structure. The text is perceived more easily, it does not have the ostentation and pomposity introduced by stylization.

But here, too, the translation's shortcomings were revealed. Here is a typical example from the chapter of Zhao gao ("Appeal to [keep the heavenly command]"), translation of the sentence : "Family fathers with swaddled [babies] in their arms, supporting their wives and concubines..." (p. 382). If you re-read this phrase and look at the whole context, it turns out that a strange picture is emerging. It was mentioned above about the wise and vicious, and suddenly out of nowhere there are some "family fathers", and even with "swaddled [babies] in their arms" (more precisely, of course, "swaddled", from the word "swaddling").

Indeed, if the question arises how to translate the character fu at the beginning of a sentence (as "husband", as the initial particle, as the demonstrative pronoun "this"), then the latter option is clearly preferable in the context. Especially since the word zhi here means "sage". Moreover, it also occurs in the previous sentence as zhi , which the author translated as " wise [people]". As a result, the combination fu zhi can be translated as "these sages". Further, the author translated the word Tzu not as "child", but for some reason as "concubine". As a result - soft-boiled boots. The translation of this passage could have read as follows:"These sages, [removed during the reign of Di-xin], supporting and holding the hand of their wives and children...".

In another case, a fragment of the chapter of Jun Shi ("Ruler of Shi") is translated more than descriptive: "Don't we [therefore] know that the beginning of the royal cause [of a dynasty] is always laid by the grace [of Heaven]?!" (p.420). It can be translated as :" We dare not know [the motives of Heaven, but] say that its (i.e., heavenly command) source is constantly [dependent on] the favor of [Heaven]."

The question suddenly arose as to which words should be placed in square brackets and which should not. It is obvious that significant words that are missing from the original and necessary for understanding should be enclosed in such brackets. For example, a sentence from the chapter of Tzu Tsai is translated as: "Since ancient times, the Wangs [did] this, [and] among the appanage rulers there were no evil-minded people" (p. 368). The original text does not contain the phrase "appanage rulers". The union "and"does not require parentheses. We can offer the following translation :" Since ancient times, the Vanir [acted] like this. [Of those] who [wang] was looking at, there were no ones who [had to] be stopped."

As you know, the transmission of historical realities is one of the most difficult tasks. When translating the Shu Jing, one has to deal with a large set of cultural realities of various eras, primarily the periods of Western Zhou (1027-771 BC) and Chunqiu (771-453 BC), related to positions, administrative divisions, titles of nobility, etc.

In general, in our opinion, the author coped with this task: he offers a variant of translating the concept or its transmission in the text, and most often describes them in the notes. But at the same time, he developed his own system of translating them: taibao - the great guardian (p. 374), dasitu - the chief minister of national development (p. 505), sikun-the manager of public works, etc.

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Since these are stable realities, and the number of them is relatively small, in our opinion, it is preferable to keep the transcription in the translation, and provide explanations in the notes and, if necessary, the translation, referring to one of the variants that exist in historiography. Russian science has experience in translating monuments that contain similar concepts, for example, each volume of Sima Qian's "Historical Notes", which were translated by R. V. Vyatkin and others, contains an index of Chinese terms and concepts. Along with him, K. V. Vasiliev, M. V. and V. M. Kryukov, S. Kucher, V. S. Taskin and other historians also faced this problem. Your own translation option is offered when the translator is not satisfied with any of the existing options. In this case, it is very important to explain the reasons. However, not all concepts can be translated directly, so it is often enough to limit yourself to explaining them.

The translation of some of them is not unified, for example, the title gong is rendered as "prince", "prince-gong" and simply transcribed within one chapter (pp. 309-317). The translation of the term sikun is not uniform: it is translated as "Minister of Land Management" (p. 267, 701, 708), "chief Minister of Land Management" (p.652), "manager of public works" (p. 51, 559), "minister of Public Works" (p. 708). Not all concepts were translated, for example, the word wang is rendered in transcription, and the word di is translated as "emperor".

The notes to the translation are voluminous (pp. 547-758), detailed, and their presence is a great merit of the author. They are written with the involvement of Chinese, European and domestic literature. The author has done a lot of work on describing historical realities, explaining information about mythical characters, geographical objects, etc.

The "Afterword" has developed a unified system of references to the literature used, but for some reason the author has abandoned the system of page-by-page footnotes in the notes.

A significant part of the notes contains comments from Chinese publications that are addressed to a native speaker of Chinese culture. Many of them have references to the commentator tradition, however, without specifying specific commentator works: "some commentators and translators believe..." (p. 569), "all commentators agree..." (p. 572), "Chinese commentators agree...", "most Chinese commentators believe..." (p. 697), "the following is the traditional Chinese commentator's interpretation..." (p. 699), "Chinese commentators tend to see here..." (p.703), "some old Chinese commentators believed..." (p. 704). Often, the text of a note is entered in vague phrases: "it is considered that...", " as it is considered...".

In some fragments, the author shows a vague idea of ancient history. For example, "the last Yin Emperor Di Xin" (p. 631, note. 1) or "the Yin Empire" (p. 630, note. 2), or: "wang here refers to the ruler of the entire state, i.e., in fact, the emperor" (p. 626, note 2). The use of the concept of "empire" is unacceptable in relation to this period of ancient Chinese history (the second half of the 2nd millennium BC). Shang Wang cannot be equated with to the emperor. Historians consider Qin Shi-huang (III century BC) to be the first emperor.

Another similar example is note. 9 on page 611: "... the Shang State as part of the Xia Empire (Confederation)". If we assume that Russia is still a legendary state, then the concepts of historical science " empire "and even more so" confederation " are out of place here.

Some comments are characterized by careless wording. For example, note. 200 on page 596: "In other ancient Chinese monuments there are other similar, but not identical, ideal schemes of territorial organization of the ancient Chinese state." But where and what, it is not said. Or a note. 4 on page 618: "This character is found in the legends describing the events of the much older period of the Five Emperors and Emperor Yao."

Sometimes historical realities are accompanied by superficial explanations: "The blind beat the drums. Musicians in ancient China were usually blind" (p. 606). Without explanation, this generalization sounds strange. The context itself (a solar eclipse, panic among people) indicates the degree of seriousness of the situation, in which entertainment music is hardly appropriate. It is clear that here we are referring not to musicians in general, but to blind priests-musicians (gu) who performed not any, but ritual music [Ulyanov, 2015, p. 14].

Explanations of translation fragments by means of obscure and little-known Russian sayings are hardly successful, for example, in the note. 42 on page 576 it says: "The feet and hands play. By analogy with the Russian proverb "The middle is full, the ends are playing". The rooms are decorated in the same style. 3 on p. 623, note 8 on p. 625, note 42 on page 649.

"Afterword", according to the authors ' plan, is a research part of the work (p. 13). However, the title of the section may be misleading, since it is not a short summary at all

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a very significant section of several hundred pages. Such a detailed collection of data on the history of Shu Ching is presented for the first time in Russian historiography. Here is the structure of the "Afterword":

1. Scientific problem "Shang Shu". The problems of forming, transmitting and understanding the text of the book are discussed. Paragraphs: 1. Introduction; 2. Title "Shang shu": 2.1. Ancient Chinese records "shu", 2.2. Book "Shang shu", 2.3. Two versions of the book "Shang Shu".

2. History of the text "Shang Shu". Various aspects of the existence, written transmission and publication of Shu Jing texts from the Zhanguo period to the beginning of the XXI century are discussed. Paragraphs: 1. "Shang Shu" in pre-Imperial antiquity; 2." Shang Shu " in Imperial China.

3. Comments on "Shang Shu". The most significant medieval commentaries of the monument and the circumstances of their creation are mentioned. Paragraphs: 1. "Han Teaching" and "Sung Teaching"; 2. Official Song Commentaries (X-XIII centuries); 3. Zhu Xi's Commentary Tradition; 4. Tsai Chen's Neo-Confucian Commentary: 4.1. Official "Summary Commentary" (ji zhuan) Tsai Chen, 4.2. Other commentaries of the XIV-early XX centuries; 5. Illustrated "Shang Shu": 5.1. Illustrations in this edition.

4. Translations of "Shu Jing" into European languages. Brief descriptions of all available translations of both individual chapters and the full version of the monument into European languages are given. Paragraphs: 1. Early incomplete translations of the XVI-XVIII centuries; 2. European translations of the "Honored Book" of the XVIII-XX centuries; 3. Conclusion. Russian translations of the "Honored Book".

The "Afterword" deals with many important issues of Shu Jing's origin, transmission, and commentary, which are certainly worthy of attention. This information allows you to get a general picture of this. In the course of describing the history of the monument, the authors relied mainly on Chinese historiography (primarily on the works of Li Qiyuan, Ma Shiyuan, Cheng Yuanmin), but since they did not conduct any substantive, source-based, or textual studies, criticism of the data presented by them is most often absent.

The most important contradiction of the "Afterword" is that, having touched upon many issues of the monument's history, the authors did not say anything about its structure and content(!)6. In part, this topic can only correspond to the description of the genres of chapters by their name: gao - the appeal of the ruler to the subject, mo -the advice of the subject to the ruler, ming -commands, orders and orders of the ruler, etc. But even here we are not talking about the ideas inherent in their content, but only about the form of chapter titles without taking into account their content (appeal, advice, command, etc.) (p. 773). On the contrary, our study of the content of chapters has shown that it is illegal to assign any of the chapters to a certain genre only based on its name [Popova, 2015 (2)]. V. M. Mayorov expressed the opinion that even if the title of a chapter does not indicate its genre, then "it will not be very difficult to assign them to one or another of the mentioned genres" (p. 773). But he didn't give any examples. As for the chapters that do not fit into these genres (the Yu Gong chapter was cited as an example), "this is usually seen as a sign of its later inclusion in the Shang Shu "(p. 773), but there is no information in the author's text about how late this inclusion could have been.

The list of references is quite large, but the research part does not contain a separate historiographical review - a necessary component of the scientific description of the monument. A number of fundamental studies of Chinese specialists were left out of the authors ' field of view. For example, the classic work of Chen Meng-jia Shang Shu tung-lun ("Introduction to the study of Shang Shu"), which, in fact, begins the modern and scientific study of the monument, and not only its history, but also its content.7 As well as the work of Jiang Shanguo Shang shu tsung shu ("Summary description of Shang Shu"), which just says a lot about the content and ideological content of the comments on the monument.

Due to the lack of a full-fledged historiographical review, many problems of the monument's research were covered one-sidedly. As an example, we can give a description of the problem of dating individual chapters of the monument and the problem of dividing its chapters into two versions.

The issue of dating the monument remains one of the most complex and important [Popova, 2012(2); Popova, 2013(4)]. It requires separate research, and the author of an academic translation is not obliged to conduct it himself, unless he sets such a research task. But very much

6 This topic was covered in an article by G. S. Popova [Popova, 2012].

7 The bibliography lists one of Chen Mengjia's works, "Description of Divinatory Bones of the Shang Hillfort" (1956), but it is devoted to a different topic - the study of the Shang State (c.1300-1027 BC).

page 219
it is advisable to show the available points of view. In Russian, European, and Chinese historiography, there are many ways to date individual chapters. In general, researchers divide chapters into groups according to certain periods: Western Zhou (1027-771 BC), Chunqiu-Zhanguo (771-221 BC), Zhanguo (453-221 BC), Qin and Han.

The authors of the" Afterword "give the dating of individual chapters proposed by M. Nailan in the work" The Five 'Confucian' Canons" ("The five' Confucian 'classics"), which is not a specialized work on this monument and especially on the question of the time of its formation, but it contains general information about the" five canons". In addition, it concerns only 29 chapters of the monument. M. Nailan divided these chapters into separate layers, the dating of which was determined by her from the XI to the second half of the III century BC (pp. 766-769). Some of its conclusions can be questioned (see [Popova, 2014(3), p. 436]).

There are relatively many specialists who have studied the history of dividing the monument chapters into two groups and their dating, for example: Jiang Shanguo [Jiang Shanguo, 1988, p. 136], Gu Jiegang [Gu Jiegang, 1982, vol. 1, p. 201], Zhang Xitang [Zhang Xitang, 1958, p. 136]. 198-203], L. S. Vasiliev [Vasiliev, 1995, p. 19-20], K. V. Vasiliev [Vasiliev, 1998, p. 127]. But V. M. Mayorov chose only one author, thus depriving himself of the opportunity to bring other points of view.

In other parts of the book, the author has dealt with this problem several times. For example, he suggested that the chapters of the fourth radel of the Zhou Scriptures (Zhou Shu) should be used as an example.: "At least according to the peculiarities of the language and in comparison with synchronous epigraphic texts, the writing of such chapters can be attributed to the XI century. B.C." (p. 3-4). But arguments are very important here.

It is worth recalling that V. M. Kryukov studied this issue, and after comparing the Shu Ching language with the language of West and East Zhou epigraphy, he came to the conclusion that the earliest chapters of the monument could have been written no earlier than the eighth century BC (Kryukov, 2000, p.322). The XI century is the beginning of the Western Zhou period (1027-771 BC), and the VIII century is the beginning of the Chunqiu period (771-453 BC), i.e. they are different eras. V. M. Kryukov's conclusions, despite the presence of his work in the bibliographic section, were not taken into account.

The problem of treating two groups of chapters as belonging to two different versions of the monument is also one of the most complex and controversial. Moreover, traditional canonology has been exploiting the view that a whole part of the monument's chapters are fake for two millennia. The author writes that the chapters of the second group, " according to historical evidence, were included in the canonical text of the Shang Shu only at the beginning of the IV century AD. Traditional Chinese canon studies and modern Chinese textual studies have long doubted the authenticity of these chapters" (p.10).

As a counter-argument, we can cite the following information: in the monuments of an earlier time (the Zhanguo period), there are numerous quotations from this group of chapters, which casts doubt on the version of their late origin [Popova, 2014 (3)]; fragments of many chapters of this group were cited by Sima Qian in Shi ji [Popova, 2012 (1); Popova, 2014 (3)], i.e. long before the fourth century AD.

By referring to "doubts about the authenticity of these chapters", the author has touched on a very important issue, but has not disclosed it. What is meant when the question of their authenticity is raised? Either these are texts written in different epochs of antiquity; then they remain monuments of social thought. Either it is a "fake", i.e. they were written outside the framework of any tradition in order to gain commercial benefits or mislead readers. Even if we assume that they were incorporated into the Shu Ching only in the fourth century A.D., since then they also became monuments of public thought, since all this time they were in intensive cultural circulation. However, if the doubts about their authenticity are so great, then what are they based on and, if this is proven, why then publish their translation?

It seems that such a division may be a consequence of the polemic between the schools of the Western Han period on the eve of the codification of the text. There is nothing surprising in the fact that representatives of one of the schools could call the opponent's version "fake". However, this now requires serious justification. When the researcher does not have his own point of view on a particular complex problem, it is enough to mention it and refer the reader to the special literature.

In general, regarding the dating of ancient monuments, it is necessary to distinguish between the time of creation of the work or, as in this case, its individual parts, the time of their existence in oral and written form.

page 220
in writing, the time of their written fixation; the time of their codification as a result of inclusion in the canon, as well as the stages of the written transfer of the monument, during which it could have been lost and then "restored". In our opinion, the following periods can be distinguished in the history of Shu Ching:: 1) the time of creation and primary recording of most chapters: the end of Western Zhou and Chunqiu (VIII-VI centuries BC) 8; 2) its existence within the philosophical schools of the Zhanguo period (V-III centuries BC); 3) the period of its existence within the schools of canonology (from the II century BC). AD and later).

Chapter three of the Afterwords was intended to cover the history of Shu Jing's commentary for almost two millennia. It describes the most famous medieval commentaries. In listing them, the authors ignored the specifics of their content - the ideas and approaches of the authors of classical commentaries. Much attention has been paid to the early commentaries; on the contrary, the commentary tradition of modern times (late Ming and Qing) is described briefly, although it is these commentaries that are of the greatest interest from the point of view of the beginning of scientific study of the content of the monument 9. It would be unfair to ignore the fourth chapter of the "Afterword", which seems to be the most complete and complete, the author's voice sounds most confident here. It contains the first review in Russian historiography of information about translations of the Shu Jing into European languages.

The publication of the complete translation of Shu Jing, and then the manuscript of the translation by N. Ya. Bichurin, is a demonstration of a request to study the classics and preserve the memory of the works of their predecessors in Russian sinology. Comparing these two works, we can see how far Russian Sinology has advanced in two hundred years and what remains to be done.

With the publication of this book, it became necessary to return to the question of what is an academic publication of classical works of Chinese culture and what are its criteria. Russian science, including sinology, has accumulated extensive experience in translating and publishing classical monuments. The form of publication of a classic monument of ancient Chinese social thought was found back in 1936. The first modern academic publication of translation and research of such a work can be considered the work of A. A. Petrov " Wang Bi (226-249). From the History of Chinese Philosophy "(Petrov, 1936). This is a fundamental work of one of the representatives of the school V. M. Alekseev, which was written under the scientific supervision of Yu. K. Shchutsky. This monograph, which became the prototype of sinological publications in the post-war series "Monuments of Oriental Writing", contains research, translation of the monument, scientific commentary and auxiliary equipment: indexes of terms and names, as well as facsimiles of the original text. Its volume, by the way, is small - 136 pages. Later, the tradition of academic translation and commentary of monuments was continued by R. V. Vyatkin, V. S. Taskin, Yu. L. Crawl and many others. As an example of a recent academic translation, we can cite the translation and research of Huainanzi by L. E. Pomerantseva. It is no coincidence that this work is dedicated to her teacher, L. D. Pozdneeva, who, in turn, was one of V. M. Alekseev's students [Huainanzi, 2016].

There are academic series that publish monuments of historical thought and fiction. First of all, these are "Monuments of Oriental Writing" and "Monuments of World Literature". Any of the books in these series could become a model for authors. But the authors went a different way, taking as a model mainly not their direct predecessors, Soviet and Russian sinologists of the XX - beginning of the XXI century, but Chinese specialists who largely rely on culturally determined traditions of canonology. Of course, this is the right and choice of the authors. But there is some interdependence between the cultural significance of the monument and the form of its introduction into scientific circulation. The greater the importance of a work, the higher the requirements for its translation and research. The most significant classical monuments require a rigorous academic approach.

The task of academic translation is both simple and complex: to provide a translation as close as possible to the content of the original work. Academic translation is characterized by the desire to preserve the original structure of phrases and sentences within the limits that are acceptable to the author.-

8 The results of research on the time of creation of the main part of the monument's chapters are reflected in [Popova, 2014 (2); Popova, 2014 (3), pp. 58-59].

9 The commentary works of the Ping period, which were published by the Zhonghua Shuju Academic Publishing House as part of the Shisan Jing Qing Ren Zhushu book series ( "Commentaries on the 13 Qing Canons"), and others, have not lost their significance.

page 221
legal norms of the literary Russian language. At the same time, it is necessary to convey not only the letter, but also the spirit of the work, while preserving its stylistic and content features as much as possible.

Scientific translation and research of a monument of this level implies a clear designation of the field of knowledge within which they were carried out. Its translation is accompanied by a presentation of the results of the author's own research, i.e. new information obtained by the author himself as a result of studying some aspect related to the content features of the translated work. This is the research part. And it usually corresponds to the author's specialization and is explicitly stipulated in the preface - a literary critic formulates conclusions related to the history of literature, a historian - to the study of history, a linguist describes the specifics of the monument's language, and a philosopher - the fundamental ideas of social thought of his time embedded in it. Written monuments are translated by literary critics as literary works, historians as historical sources, and philosophers as monuments of social thought.

V. M. Mayorov took up the translation of Shang Shu, without deciding whether he translates this monument as a historical source, as a work of public thought (a philosophical work) or as a work of fiction (a monument of historical or philosophical prose). In terms of approaches to translation, it is rather the third, but the Notes and "Afterword" are written under the strong influence of the modern Chinese scientific tradition, which is characterized by descriptiveness and almost complete absence of what is commonly called research (analysis) in the European tradition. Of all the aspects of studying the monument, the authors focused on presenting the history of the Shu Ching: the written transmission of its text, the tradition of commenting and translating it into European languages, but did not touch on the specifics of its content. This is by far the most difficult aspect of studying the Shu Jing, but it is also the most necessary aspect when it comes to publishing a translation of it.

Taking into account the inaccuracies that we noticed earlier in the translation, we can conclude that it can be useful for the most general acquaintance with the content of the monument, but it is unlikely to be suitable for special literary, historical and philosophical studies.

The book would have greatly benefited if its text had been more carefully edited. Literary editing was extremely necessary, since authors do not always have sufficient knowledge of the expressive capabilities of the Russian language. When reading, the eye constantly "clings" to interspersed literalisms characteristic of translations from Chinese or English, stylistic roughness and such word usage that requires unraveling the meaning of the words used. Scientific editing would make it possible to clearly formulate the purpose and objectives of the work, to unify the translation of the same terms; to identify conflicting information (for example, on the dating of individual chapters of the monument); to more accurately title some sections ("The scientific problem of Shang Shu", "Modern scientific interpretation of the problem of pre-imperial Shang Shu") and distribute the material more consistently.

All of this does not detract from the importance of the work in question. As the first translation in Russian historiography and a large-scale description of various problems of Shu Jing research, this work is of undoubted value. However, at the same time, this book makes us think about the current state of Russian sinology and the ways of its development. There are new translations, commentaries, and research ahead, and this work gives you an understanding of how important the academic approach is and what can happen if it is ignored in any way.

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Vasiliev K. V. Istoki kitayskoi tsivilizatsii [The Origins of Chinese Civilization], Moscow, 1998.

Vasiliev L. S. Drevny Kitay [Ancient China], Vol. 1, Moscow, 1995.

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The Tao te ching. Prozorhythmic translation from Ancient Chinese and research by A. E. Lukyanov, poetical translation by V. P. Abramenko, Moscow, 2008.

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I Ching (The Canon of Change): Translation and Research. Comp. by A. E. Lukyanov, Moscow, 2005.

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Mayorov V. M. "Hong Fan" in Bichurin's translation / / XVII scientific conference of the cycle "Philosophies of the East Asian region (China, Japan, Korea) and Modern Civilization" May 23-24, 2011. Moscow, IDV RAS, 2011(1).

Mayorov V. M. Rukopisia Bichurinskogo perevoda Shang shu [The manuscript of the Bichurinsky translation of Shang shu]: XLI Scientific Conference, Issue 3, Moscow, 2011(2), pp. 385-390.

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Popova G. S. Some results of comparing Shu Ching texts with epigraphy of Western Zhou (1027-771 BC) / / "Society and State in China". XLII nauchnaya konferentsiya [XLII Scientific Conference], Moscow, 2012 (2), part 3, pp. 40-52.

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