Abstract:

 Despite the fact that Annotations to the Plants and Animals in Mao Poetry is an important work of annotations to Mao Poetry, there are still unsettled problems and mysteries. Based on the literatures quoted in Qi Min Yao Shu(Important Arts for the People’s Welfare), Jing Dian Shi Wen (Interpretations of Confucian Classics), Mao Shi Zheng Yi (Commentaries of Mao Poetry), Yi Wen Lei Ju (References to Arts and Literatures) and Tai Ping Yu Lan (Taiping Imperial Encyclopedia), the paper explores the textual relations among the quotations as well as the form of textual compilation. The quotations from Shi Yi Shu/ Mao Shi Yi Shu (Annotations to Mao Poetry) are different from those from The Annotations of the Plants and Animals in Mao Poetry. The quotations by books such as Qi Min Yao Shu and Yi Wen Lei Ju from Shi Yi Shu/ Mao Shi Yi Shu come from a collected edition, while either Lu Ji’s Mao Shi Shu Yi or Annotations of the Plants and Animals in Mao Poetry is a single, separate edition of annotations. As Lu’s Annotations have been further quoted by all types of annotations, references and agricultural references to Mao Poetry with different versions interinfluencing each other, nowadays it is hard to discriminate and testify which is the original version.

Key words:  , Annotations to the Plants and Animals in Mao Poetry｜ Shi Yi Shu｜ Qi Min Yao Shu｜ textual evolution