MEDHURST, W. H.

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Ancient China. The Shoo King, or the Historical Classic: Rare first edition of the first translation into English of the Book of Documents, one of the Five Confucian Classics. Until the early 20th century, the classics were the cornerstone of Chinese understandings of politics, society, and the self, forming the basis of all scholarly learning and the 2000-year-old imperial examinations system."The more cultured members of society in premodern China, even those who had failed the examinations or had passed but never held office, enjoyed a familiarity with the Classics that afforded them a common store of knowledge. As successive governments throughout East Asia came under the cultural sway of the Chinese system, the Classics came to influence thought and politics in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, so that the collection as a whole once occupied in East Asia a position roughly analogous to that of the Bible in the West" (Nylan, pp. 1-2).Medhurst (1796-1857) was the archetypal missionary-scholar. "His works were numerous, and included thirty-four Chinese and some sixty-two Malay volumes, as well as translations from the Chinese and his English writings. They exhibit unceasing activity of mind, a remarkable gift for languages, and an intellect not shackled by the disciplinary barriers between sacred and secular learning" (ODNB).

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