Illustration:
ill. 3.3
Date:
1917
Genre:
illustration, textbook
Material:
scan, paper, black-and-white; original source: print on paper, black-and-white
Source:
Huitu zengzhu lishi sanzijing绘图增注历史三字经 (Illustrated three character classic of history with commentaries), Nanchang: Guangyi shuju yinhang, 1917:6.
Keywords:
Republican Period, Three Character Classics, Confucius, intertextuality, parody, reaction, Confucian morality, sage, studying, studying history, Confucian values

Illustrated Three Character Classic of History with Commentaries (Huiti zengzhu lishi Sanzijing 繪圖增注曆史三字經)

Many of these republications of the original Three Character Classic during the Republican Period may be read intertextually as reactions to other alternative Three Character Classics. The heavy emphasis on the use of teaching and Confucius as a teacher in this early (and very sloppily produced, containing many typos and errors) undated illustrated Republican version of the Sanzijing, the Huitu zengzhu lishi Sanzijing 绘图增注历史三字经 HTZZLSSZJ appears to talk back to “secular” parodies such as the Three Character Classic of New Learning.

Here, Confucius and Confucian morality are prominent and doubled up in illustrations and commentaries. The sage himself appears in 4 out of the 12 picture-commentaries (1, 5, 6, 10) alone and almost all other illustrations contain depictions of Confucian morals at work, such as filial piety, brotherly love (3, 4) and devotion to learning rather than making selfish profit (2, 11, 12). The remaining pictures laud the victories of Han over Qin (7), Tang over Jin (8) and the revolutionaries over the Qing (9), stressing in each case the return to (Han-) Confucian order and stability. The commentary also emphasizes the use and necessity of studying history (left completely untouched in the Three Character Classic of New Learning, for example). As if in spite, it argues that one must study history in order to know the causes for the rise and fall of governments (必须于历史之实录古今之事迹详加考核).