Editing Chinese classics (section)

===Han imperial library===
[[File:Liu Xiang (Han scholar).PNG|thumb|The Han-era scholar [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]] edited the text of many Chinese classical works such as the ''[[Book of Rites]]'', and compiled the ''[[Biographies of Exemplary Women]]''.]]

In 26 BCE, at the command of the emperor, [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]] (77–6&nbsp;BC{{sfn|Twitchett|Loewe|1986|p=192}}) compiled the first catalogue of the imperial library, the ''Abstracts'' ({{zhi|first=t|t=別錄|s=别录|p=Bielu}}), and is the first known editor of the ''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]'', which was finished by his son.<ref>E.L. Shaughnessy, ''Rewriting Early Chinese Texts'', pp. 2–3.</ref> Liu also edited collections of stories and biographies, the ''[[Biographies of Exemplary Women]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reading ''Lienüzhuan'' (''Biographies of Women'') through the life of Liu Xiang |first=Bret |last=Hinsch |journal=Journal of Asian History |volume=39 |number=2 |year=2005 |pages=129–157 |jstor=41933413 |publisher=Harrassowitz}}</ref> He has long erroneously been credited with compiling the ''[[Biographies of the Immortals]]'', a collection of Taoist hagiographies and hymns.<ref name="lxzck">{{citation |contribution-url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Daoists/liexianzhuan.html |contribution=Liexianzhuan |title=China Knowledge |url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de |last=Theobald |first=Ulrich |date=24 July 2010 |location=Tübingen}}.</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2024}} Liu Xiang was also a poet, being credited with the "[[Nine Laments]]" that appears in the ''[[Chu Ci]]''.<ref>Hawkes, 280</ref>

The works edited and compiled by Liu Xiang include:
{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|
*''[[Book of Documents]]''
*''[[Classic of Rites]]''{{sfn|Riegel|1993|p=295}}
*''[[Classic of Filial Piety]]''{{sfn|Boltz|1993b|p=144}}
*''[[Yi Zhou Shu]]''{{sfn|Shaughnessy|1993b|p=239}}
*''[[Strategies of the Warring States]]''{{sfn|Tsien|1993|p=1}}
*''[[Analects]]''{{sfn|Cheng|1993|p=315}}
*''[[Xunzi (book)|Xunzi]]''{{sfn|Loewe|1993b|p=178}}
*''[[Shen Dao#Text|Shenzi]]''{{sfn|Thompson|1993|p=400}}
*''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]]'' 
*''[[Liezi]]''{{sfn|Barrett|1993|p=299}}
*''[[Huainanzi]]''{{sfn|Le Blanc|1993|p=190}}
*''[[Guanzi (text)|Guanzi]]''{{sfn|Rickett|1993|p=246}}
*''[[Yanzi Chunqiu]]''{{sfn|Durrant|1993|p=484}}
*''[[Shuoyuan]]''{{sfn|Knechtges|1993c|p=443}} (initial compilation)
*''[[Xinxu]]'' ({{lang|zh|新序}}; ''New Prefaces''){{sfn|Nylan|1993b|p=155}} (authorship)
}}

This work was continued by his son, [[Liu Xin (scholar)|Liu Xin]], who finally completed the task after his father's death. The transmitted corpus of these classical texts all derives from the versions edited down by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin. Michael Nylan has characterised the scope of the Liu pair's editing as having been so vast that it affects our understanding of China's pre-imperial period to the same degree as the Qin unification does.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nylan |first=Michael |title="Empire" in the Classical Era in China (304 BC–AD 316) |journal=Oriens Extremus |volume=46 |year=2007 |pages=48–83 |publisher=Harrassowitz |jstor=24047664}}</ref>{{rp|51}}