Mandarin Chinese Language Guide: Classical Chinese Texts

This guide provides supplemental electronic readings and resources for learners of Mandarin Chinese

Confucian philosophical texts

Daoist

Books and eBooks of different schools

 

儒家 Confucian
  1. Confucius 孔子
  2. Mencius 孟子
  3. Xunzi, 340 B.C.-245 B.C. 荀況:  荀子 (XunzieBooks.
  4. Yang, Xiong, 53 B.C.-18 A.D. 揚雄:  法言Fa yan)
  5. Liu, Xiang, 77 B.C.-6 B.C. 劉向,刘向: 新序 (Xin xu), 说苑 (Shuo yuan

道家 Daoist

  1. Zhuangzi 庄子, 莊子  (南华经 or 南華經 Nanhua jing )   eBooks.
  2. Guanzi 管仲, d. 645 B.C

雜家 Eclectic

墨家 Mohist

  1. Mozi 墨: 墨子(Mozi,and an example of a good edition) eBooks.

名家 School of Names

醫家 Medicine
  1. Bianque, active approximately 255 B.C.
  2. Huangdi nei jing 黃帝内經
  3. Jin gui yao lue
  4. Su wen 素問
  5. Wu, Pu, active 220-264. Shen nong ben cao jing 

兵家 School of the Military

  1. Military art and science--China--Philosophy.
  2. Sunzi, active 6th century B.C.
  3. Sunzi bing fa. English.
  4. 孫子, active 6th century B.C. 孫子兵法.

 

School of the Military 兵家

Chinese e-Texts (searchable full-text)

CHANT-ChineseAncientText DBChinaAncientText (CHANT)

HanJi-Academia Sinica

wenyuange

Notes

Han da wen ku (CHANT): this course focuses on the Pre-Han and Han

philosophical works:儒家 釋家 道家 法家 雜家 小說家 墨家 名家; literature: 選集 個人作品 classics: 易經類, 書經類  詩經類,禮經類, 春秋類, 四書類, 孝經類: history: 正史 編年史 古史 傳記 別史雜史 政治史制度史

Chinamaxx or Chaoxing: search by title, author or keywords. You can browse by the ssreader or just use the IE browser. 

Notes on Finding Books

Search tips:

  • Search under author's name. In some cases, author's name and title are the same. Ex. Laozi can be both author and title.
  • "limit" by language in search to either Chinese or English to have direct results.
  • Use title in Pinyin when search by title and follow the UNIFORM TITLE hot link.  Uniform title may lead to the original title of original text, or original title in translation, or commentaries, concordances, or criticism of the original title.
  • In general, the earlier date edition is considered a better edition since the work was produced close to the original writing, and fewer mistakes.
  • Many modern date reprints kept the original formats and they are the same as the original date.  Exceptions are in certain edition, few  characters in text might have been changed to avoid using the emperor's honorary name or dynasty name which was a taboo for printing. 
  • Shang wu yin shu guan and Zhong hua shu ju editions are good editions collected in the library.    

Legalist

Mohist

Eclectics

Chinese Medicine