Language

Classical Chinese

Sacred & Content Languages

Classical Chinese is the literary written language, largely detached from spoken vernacular Chinese for most of its history, in which the core texts of Confucianism, Daoism and Chinese Buddhism were composed and transmitted, including the Analects, the Dao De Jing, the I Ching and a vast body of Chan Buddhist commentary. Its terse, character based grammar allowed a single written standard to serve as the shared scholarly and religious language across China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam for centuries, even where local spoken languages differed completely. It remains distinct from the separate modern Chinese (Simplified) interface entry, which reflects contemporary spoken and written usage rather than this classical literary register. The atlas holds Classical Chinese as the primary source language behind the Confucian, Daoist and Chinese Buddhist material it catalogs.

Facts

Origins

Language Family

Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family; the literary written standard of China from roughly the Warring States period through the early twentieth century, distinct from spoken vernacular Chinese. 2

Place of Origin

Classical Chinese originated in the Yellow River basin and Central Plains of China, the literary standard descending from the language of the Zhou dynasty court and the Warring States philosophers. 2

Practice

Liturgical and Scriptural Role

Carries the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics, core Taoist texts including the Tao Te Ching, and the Chinese Buddhist canon translated from Sanskrit by figures including Kumarajiva and Xuanzang. 3

Identity

Native Script

Chinese characters in their traditional forms, logographic rather than phonetic, which is why the written language could serve readers whose spoken languages were mutually unintelligible. 1

Learn More

Classical Chinese: The Literary Language of Confucius and Laozi

Classical Chinese is the written literary language used across China from roughly the Warring States period through the early twentieth century, based grammatically on the spoken Chinese of the Zhou dynasty's later centuries but increasingly diverging from spoken vernacular Chinese over the subsequent two millennia, functioning much like Latin in medieval Europe as a stable, prestige literary standard largely detached from everyday speech.

Classical Chinese belongs to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and its extremely terse, allusive grammar, often omitting explicit subjects and relying heavily on context, produced a distinctive commentary tradition in which later scholars wrote extensive explanatory glosses on canonical texts to clarify meanings that later readers could no longer parse without assistance.

Classical Chinese carries the entire foundational canon of Confucianism, including the Analects attributed to Confucius and the other Four Books and Five Classics that structured Chinese education and civil service examinations for centuries, as well as core Taoist texts including the Tao Te Ching attributed to Laozi and the Zhuangzi, and the Chinese Buddhist canon, translated into Classical Chinese from Sanskrit and other source languages beginning in the first centuries CE.

Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist Canons in Classical Chinese

Classical Chinese functioned as East Asia's primary scholarly and religious lingua franca for centuries, read and written not only across China but by educated elites in Korea, Japan and Vietnam, who could communicate in writing across mutually unintelligible spoken languages through shared literacy in Classical Chinese texts, a situation comparable to Latin's role connecting educated readers across medieval Europe's many vernaculars.

James Legge's nineteenth-century English translations of the Confucian Classics, still influential in Western sinology today, made this vast body of Classical Chinese religious and philosophical literature accessible outside China for the first time at scale, and Neo-Confucianism, a major philosophical and religious synthesis developed by scholars including Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty, produced its own substantial body of Classical Chinese commentary reinterpreting the ancient Confucian classics for a later era while incorporating Buddhist and Taoist metaphysical concepts. Classical Chinese Buddhist translation, undertaken over centuries by figures including Kumarajiva and Xuanzang, rendered enormous Sanskrit Buddhist textual corpora into a Classical Chinese idiom that itself shaped the vocabulary and conceptual framework of East Asian Buddhism as it developed distinct from its Indian origins.

Connections

Showing the first 400 of 495 connections.

Associated With

Book of Documents (Shujing)

This source names Classical Chinese directly: "Its transmission is unusually contested even by classical Chinese standards: a text destroyed in the Qin book burning was partly reconstructed from memory in the early Han as the twenty-nine chapter..."

Source The Shoo King, or the Book of Historical Documents (James Legge)James Legge, translator

Chinese Folk Religion

Chinese folk religious texts, almanacs and temple inscriptions are composed in Classical Chinese, already associated with Taoism and Confucianism.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Confucianism

Classical Chinese is the language of the Analects and the Five Classics that anchor Confucian teaching.

Source The Chinese Classics, vol. 1: Confucian AnalectsJames Legge

Taoism

Classical Chinese is the language of the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi and the wider Taoist canon.

Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)

Attested in Region

China

Classical Chinese is documented in use as a written language in China. The claim is where the language is documented in use as a written, literary or liturgical language. It is not a claim about the full extent of its speakers, and it is not a claim about where the language originated.

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Japan

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Korea

Source The World's Writing SystemsPeter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.)

Language Of

Baopuzi

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Book of Documents (Shujing)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Classic of Mountains and Seas

Confucian Ancestral Invocation

Confucian Prayer to Heaven

Confucian School Invocation

Dao Jing

Daoist Pure and Tranquil Prayer

Daoist Three Refuges

Daozang

De Jing

Hun

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

I Ching

I Ching (Book of Changes)

Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Keun Nan Mun

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Kojiki

Kuí Xiù Wǔ

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Li (Propriety)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Liji (The Classic of Rites)

Mencius

Namo Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Nihon Shoki

Platform Sutra

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Ren (Benevolence)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Shijing (Classic of Poetry)

Shuo Gua

Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu)

Surangama Sutra

Tao Te Ching

The Analects

The Doctrine of the Mean

The Great Learning

The Liezi (Book of Master Lie)

The Secret of the Golden Flower

The Ten Wings

Vimalakirti Sutra

Wuzhen Pian (Awakening to Reality)

Xiaojing (Classic of Filial Piety)

Xin (Trustworthiness)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Xugua (Sequence of the Hexagrams)

Yi (Righteousness)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Zhi (Wisdom)

Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.

Zhuangzi

Liturgical Language Of

Buddha's Light International Association

Plum Village Tradition

Pure Land

Quanzhen (Complete Reality)

Rinzai

Shangqing (Highest Clarity)

Shingon

Soka Gakkai

Soto

Tendai

Tiantai

Zen

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity)

Named or Composed in This Language

Abundance

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

After Completion

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Approach

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Ba Zi

Source Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the StarsHo Peng Yoke

Báilù

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Before Completion

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Beidou (Northern Dipper)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Bi (Net)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Bi (Wall)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Bing

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Biting Through

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Bladder

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Book of Documents (Shujing)

Source The Shoo King, or the Book of Historical Documents (James Legge)James Legge, translator

Breakthrough

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Chapter 1

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 10

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 11

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 12

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 13

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 14

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 15

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 16

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 17

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 18

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 19

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 2

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 20

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 21

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 22

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 23

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 24

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 25

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 26

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 27

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 28

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 29

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 3

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 30

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 31

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 32

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 33

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 34

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 35

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 36

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 37

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 38

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 39

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 4

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 40

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 41

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 42

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 43

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 44

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 45

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 46

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 47

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 48

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 49

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 5

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 50

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 51

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 52

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 53

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 54

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 55

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 56

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 57

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 58

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 59

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 6

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 60

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 61

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 62

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 63

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 64

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 65

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 66

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 67

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 68

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 69

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 7

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 70

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 71

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 72

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 73

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 74

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 75

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 76

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 77

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 78

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 79

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 8

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 80

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 81

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chapter 9

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Chen

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Chinese Astrology

Source Chinese Mathematical Astrology: Reaching Out to the StarsHo Peng Yoke

Chinese Luni-Solar Calendar

The Chinese calendar and its almanac literature are transmitted in Classical Chinese. The language in which the calendar's own terminology is framed. Every one of these calendars is used today by communities working in many other languages, and the link records the technical language rather than the languages of its users.

Source Calendrical Calculations: The Ultimate EditionEdward M. Reingold and Nachum Dershowitz

Chinese Numerology

Source Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in ChinaRichard J. Smith

Chou

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Chūnfēn

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Chǔshǔ

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Classic of Mountains and Seas

Source A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways through Mountains and SeasRichard E. Strassberg

Coming to Meet

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Conception Vessel

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Conflict

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Confucian Ancestral Invocation

The prayer is transmitted in Classical Chinese.

Confucian Prayer to Heaven

The prayer is transmitted in Classical Chinese.

Confucian School Invocation

The prayer is transmitted in Classical Chinese.

Contemplation

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Da Cheng Hymn

Source Divinity Atlas Entity Records, First Edition

Dàhán

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Dao Jing

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Daoist Pure and Tranquil Prayer

Source Taoism: Growth of a ReligionIsabelle Robinet (trans. Phyllis Brooks)

Daoist Three Refuges

Source Taoism: Growth of a ReligionIsabelle Robinet (trans. Phyllis Brooks)

Daozang

Source The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the DaozangKristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen (eds.)

Darkening of the Light

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Dàshǔ

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Dàxuě

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

De Jing

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Decrease

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Deliverance

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Development

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Di (Root)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Difficulty at the Beginning

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Ding

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Dispersion

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Dog

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Donggyeong Daejeon

Source Eastern Learning and the Heavenly Way: The Tonghak and Chondogyo Movements and the Twilight of Korean IndependenceCarl Young

Dōngzhì

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Dou (Dipper)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Dragon

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Dui

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Duration

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Earth

Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan

Engishiki

Source Encyclopedia of Shinto (Shinto Jiten)Kokugakuin University

Enthusiasm

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Fang (Room)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Fellowship

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Feng and Shan Sacrifices

Source Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian)Sima Qian

Feng Shui

Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)

Fire

Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan

Five Classics

Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan

Following

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Gallbladder

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Gathering Together

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Gen

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Geng

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Girdle Vessel

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Goat

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Governing Vessel

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Grace

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Great Possession

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Great Power

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Great Preponderance

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Great Taming

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Gui

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Gui (Ghost)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Gǔyǔ

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Hai

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Han Chinese

Classical Chinese carried the canon of the three teachings for two millennia.

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Hánlù

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Heart

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Heavenly Market Enclosure

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Holding Together

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Horse

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Huainanzi

Huangquan

Source Chinese Mythology: An IntroductionAnne Birrell

Hun

Source Daoism HandbookLivia Kohn (ed.)

I Ching

Source I Ching: The Classic of Changes, translated with an introduction and commentary, the first English translation of the newly discovered second-century BC Mawangdui textsEdward L. Shaughnessy (trans.)

I Ching (Book of Changes)

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Increase

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Influence

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Inner Truth

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Innocence

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Ji (Winnowing Basket)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Jia

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Jiao

Source The Taoist BodyKristofer Schipper (translated by Karen C. Duval)

Jiao (Horn)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Jing (Well)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Jiutian Yingyuan Leisheng Puhua Tianzun

Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)

Jongmyo Jerye

Source Royal ancestral ritual in the Jongmyo shrine and its music, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityUNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Kan

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Kang (Neck)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Keeping Still

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Keun Nan Mun

Source Star Names: Their Lore and MeaningRichard Hinckley Allen

Kidney

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Kojiki

Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator)

Kui (Legs)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Kuí Xiù Wǔ

Source Star Names: Their Lore and MeaningRichard Hinckley Allen

Kun

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Large Intestine

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Lìchūn

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Lìdōng

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Liji (The Classic of Rites)

Source The Book of Rites (Li Chi), Sacred Books of the East vols. 27-28Translated by James Legge

Limitation

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Lìqiū

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Liu (Willow)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Liver

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Lìxià

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Lou (Bond)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Lung

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Mángzhòng

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Mao

Source Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age ChinaDavid N. Keightley

Mao (Hairy Head)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Mencius

Source MenciusMencius, trans. D. C. Lau

Metal

Source The Five "Confucian" ClassicsMichael Nylan

Modesty

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Monkey

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Namo Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun

Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)

Nihon Shoki

Source Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697W. G. Aston (translator)

Niu (Ox)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Nourishment

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Nu (Girl)

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Obstruction

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Onmyodo

Source A New History of ShintoJohn Breen and Mark Teeuwen

Opposition

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Oppression

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Peace

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Penetrating Vessel

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Pericardium

Source Medicine in China: A History of IdeasPaul U. Unschuld

Pig

Source A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and ThoughtWolfram Eberhard

Platform Sutra

Source Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan BuddhismJohn R. McRae

Source Daoism HandbookLivia Kohn (ed.)

Progress

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Purple Forbidden Enclosure

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

Pushing Upward

Source Zhouyi: The Book of ChangesRichard Rutt (trans.)

Qian

Source The I Ching, or Book of ChangesRichard Wilhelm (trans.); Cary F. Baynes (English trans.)

Qigong

Source The Encyclopedia of TaoismFabrizio Pregadio (ed.)

Qingmiao (Hallowed Temple)

A Zhou Song ancestral hymn from the Shijing, dated among the oldest strata of the anthology (eleventh to ninth centuries BCE).

Source Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds)

Qīngmíng

Source Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the EarthJoseph Needham

In the Other Atlases

Also in Language Atlas: Sinitic, in branch there.
Also in Language Atlas: Sino-Tibetan, in branch there.

Sources

1. The World's Writing Systems

Peter T. Daniels and William Bright (eds.), Oxford University Press, 1996View the Source

2. Ethnologue: Languages of the World

David M. Eberhard, Gary F. Simons and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), SIL International, 2024View the Source

3. The Chinese Classics, vol. 1: Confucian Analects

James Legge, Trubner / Internet Sacred Text Archive, 1861View the Source

Wikidata: Tao Te Ching

Named or Composed in This Language: Tao Te Ching, Infobox, language field

Quote, Named or Composed in This Language: Tao Te Ching, Infobox, language field

Classical Chinese

View the Source

Wikipedia: Analects

WikipediaNamed or Composed in This Language: The Analects, Infobox, language field

Quote, Named or Composed in This Language: The Analects, Infobox, language field

Classical Chinese

View the Source

Taoism: Growth of a Religion

Isabelle Robinet (trans. Phyllis Brooks), Stanford University Press, 1997

Named or Composed in This Language: Daoist Three Refuges, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese
Named or Composed in This Language: Daoist Pure and Tranquil Prayer, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

View the Source

Chinese Mythology: An Introduction

Anne Birrell, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993Named or Composed in This Language: Huangquan, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

The Encyclopedia of Taoism

Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.), Routledge, 2008Named or Composed in This Language: Zhuangzi, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

I Ching: The Classic of Changes, translated with an introduction and commentary, the first English translation of the newly discovered second-century BC Mawangdui texts

Edward L. Shaughnessy (trans.), Ballantine Books, 1996Named or Composed in This Language: I Ching, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Five "Confucian" Classics

Michael Nylan, Yale University Press, 2001Named or Composed in This Language: Five Classics, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

Kojiki

Donald L. Philippi (translator), University of Tokyo Press, 1968Named or Composed in This Language: Kojiki, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697

W. G. Aston (translator), Kegan Paul, 1896Named or Composed in This Language: Nihon Shoki, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

Mencius

Mencius, trans. D. C. Lau, Penguin Books, 1970Named or Composed in This Language: Mencius, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition

Daniel K. Gardner, Hackett Publishing, 2007

Named or Composed in This Language: The Great Learning, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese
Named or Composed in This Language: The Doctrine of the Mean, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

View the Source

The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang

Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen (eds.), University of Chicago Press, 2004Named or Composed in This Language: Daozang, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

The Book of Rites (Li Chi), Sacred Books of the East vols. 27-28

Translated by James Legge, Clarendon Press, 1885Named or Composed in This Language: Liji (The Classic of Rites), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

John R. McRae, University of California Press, 2003Named or Composed in This Language: Platform Sutra, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume 1

Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (eds), Columbia University Press, 1999Named or Composed in This Language: Shijing (Classic of Poetry), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

Eastern Learning and the Heavenly Way: The Tonghak and Chondogyo Movements and the Twilight of Korean Independence

Carl Young, University of Hawai'i Press, 2014Named or Composed in This Language: Donggyeong Daejeon, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Vimalakirti Sutra (Burton Watson)

Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, 1997Named or Composed in This Language: Vimalakirti Sutra, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence: A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing (Rosemont and Ames)

Henry Rosemont Jr. and Roger T. Ames, translators, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2009Named or Composed in This Language: Xiaojing (Classic of Filial Piety), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Shoo King, or the Book of Historical Documents (James Legge)

James Legge, translator, Trubner and Co, London (The Chinese Classics, Vol III), 1865Named or Composed in This Language: Book of Documents (Shujing), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Ch'un Ts'ew, with the Tso Chuen (James Legge)

James Legge, translator, Trubner and Co, London (The Chinese Classics, Vol V), 1872Named or Composed in This Language: Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

The Surangama Sutra (Charles Luk)

Charles Luk (Lu K'uan Yu), translator, Rider and Company, London, 1966Named or Composed in This Language: Surangama Sutra, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning

Richard Hinckley Allen, G. E. Stechert, 1899

Named or Composed in This Language: Kuí Xiù Wǔ, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese
Named or Composed in This Language: Keun Nan Mun, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

View the Source

A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways through Mountains and Seas

Richard E. Strassberg, University of California Press, 2002Named or Composed in This Language: Classic of Mountains and Seas, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chinese

Encyclopedia of Shinto (Shinto Jiten)

Kokugakuin University, Kokugakuin University, 2006Named or Composed in This Language: Engishiki, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: classical-chineseView the Source

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