Further Investigation on the Authority of Confucian Classics from the Perspective of Classicization

Further investigation on the authority of Confucian classics, we can find the uniqueness of the canonization process. The door of Confucian classics system has always been closed but never fully closed. The reason lies in two facets: the one is the imperfection of classics themselves since Han Dynasty, the other is that Confucianism itself contains the composite features of Jing (“经”) and Zi (“子”) intrinsically. Imitating Confucian sages, absolute adherence to classics, both of them are opposite but unified, conflicting but harmonious, together promoting the development and reform of Confucianism.When the Zi side over the Jing side, we can find many creations of new classics, mock classics, Continuations of classics, even more, Confucian scholars began to change the structure and the words of classics according to themselves’ understanding of Confucian sages, and some of them turned out to be new saints. The classic order is adjusted, as a result, the status of The Four Books surpassed The Five Classics. Profit by this characteristic of Confucianism, the system of Confucian classics has been in a semi open state, whose authority and modality shows a state of fluctuation.