Classic of History

Book of Documents

Title page of annotated Shujing edition printed in 1279, held by Taiwan's National Central Library
Author	Various; compilation traditionally attributed to Confucius
Original title	Shū 書
Country	Zhou China
Language	Old Chinese
Subject	Compilation of rhetorical prose

Book of Documents
"Classic of Documents (Shujing)" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	書經
Simplified Chinese	书经
Literal meaning	"Classic of Documents"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shūjīng Gwoyeu Romatzyh Shujing Wade–Giles Shu1-ching1 IPA [ʂú.tɕíŋ] Hakka Romanization Su1-gang1 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Syū-gīng Jyutping Syu1-ging1 Southern Min Tâi-lô Tsu-king Middle Chinese Middle Chinese sho-geng Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *s-ta k-lˤeng
Shangshu
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaning	Esteemed documents
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shàngshū Gwoyeu Romatzyh Shanqshu Wade–Giles Shang4-shu1 IPA [ʂâŋ.ʂú] Hakka Romanization Song4-su1 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Seuhng-syū Jyutping Soeng6-syu1 Southern Min Tâi-lô Siōng-su Middle Chinese Middle Chinese dʒjàng-sho Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *dang-s s-ta
Shu
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaning	Documents
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shū Wade–Giles Shu1 IPA [ʂú] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Syū Jyutping Syu1 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese ʃo Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *s-ta

The Book of Documents (Shujing, earlier Shu-king) or Classic of History, also known as the Shangshu, is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorical prose attributed to figures of ancient China, and served as the foundation of Chinese political philosophy for over 2,000 years.

The Book of Documents was the subject of one of China's oldest literary controversies, between proponents of different versions of the text. The "New Text" version was preserved from Qin Shi Huang's burning of books and burying of scholars by scholar Fu Sheng. The longer "Old Text" version was supposedly discovered in the wall of Confucius' family estate in Qufu by his descendant Kong Anguo in the late 2nd century BC, lost at the end of the Han dynasty and rediscovered in the 4th century AD. Over time, the "Old Text" version of the Documents became more widely accepted, until it was established as the imperially sanctioned edition during the early Tang dynasty. This continued until the late 17th century, when the Qing dynasty scholar Yan Ruoqu demonstrated that the additional "Old Text" chapters not contained in the "New Text" version were actually fabrications "reconstructed" in the 3rd or 4th centuries AD.

The chapters are grouped into four sections representing different eras: the semi-mythical reign of Yu the Great, and the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. The Zhou section accounts for over half the text. Some of its New Text chapters are among the earliest examples of Chinese prose, recording speeches from the early years of the Zhou dynasty in the late 11th century BC. Although the other three sections purport to record earlier material, most scholars believe that even the New Text chapters in these sections were composed later than those in the Zhou section, with chapters relating to the earliest periods being as recent as the 4th or 3rd centuries BC.