Response

P r i m a r y S o u r c e D o c u m e n t w i t h Q u e s t i o n s ( D B Q s )

S E L E C T I O N F R O M T H E C L A S S I C O F O D E S : K I N G W E N ( O D E 2 3 5 ) 
 I n t r o d u c t i o n The Classic of Odes (also known as the “Book of Songs”) was compiled around 600 BCE from an oral tradition going back perhaps as long as four centuries earlier. The Odes include court poetry and popular songs and poems. The Ode entitled “King Wen” celebrates the founding king of the Zhou dynasty and the Zhou’s subsequent conquest of the territory of the Shang dynasty in about 1045/40 BCE. The poem refers to a Zhou deity (tian, translated here as “Heaven”) and a Shang deity (di or Shangdi, translated here as “God”). S e l e c t e d D o c u m e n t E x c e r p t s w i t h Q u e s t i o n s From Sources of Chinese Tradition, compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 38. © 1999 Columbia University Press. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Selection
from
the
Classic
of
Odes:
 King
Wen
(Ode
235)



 1

 
 King
Wen
is
on
high,

 Oh,
he
shines
in
Heaven!

 Zhou
is
an
old
people,

 but
its
Mandate
is
new.

 The
leaders
of
Zhou
became
illustrious,

 was
not
God’s
Mandate
timely
given?

 King
Wen
ascends
and
descends

 on
the
left
and
right
of
God.

 
 4

 
 August
was
King
Wen,

 continuously
bright
and
reverent.

 Great,
indeed,
was
the
Mandate
of
Heaven.

 There
were
Shang’s
grandsons
and
sons,

 Shang’s
grandsons
and
sons.

 Was
their
number
not
a
hundred
thousand?



P r i m a r y S o u r c e D o c u m e n t , w i t h Q u e s t i o n s ( D B Q s ) o n S E L E C T I O N F R O M T H E C L A S S I C O F O D E S : K I N G W E N ( O D E 2 3 5 )

A s i a f o r E d u c a t o r s | C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y | h t t p : / / a f e . e a s i a . c o l u m b i a . e d u P a g e 2 o f 2

But
the
High
God
gave
his
Mandate,

 and
they
bowed
down
to
Zhou.

 
 7

 
 The
Mandate
is
not
easy
to
keep;

 may
it
not
end
in
your
persons.

 Display
and
make
bright
your
good
fame,

 and
consider
what
Yin
had
received
from
Heaven.

 The
doings
of
high
Heaven

 have
no
sound,
no
smell.

 Make
King
Wen
your
pattern,

 and
all
the
states
will
trust
in
you.

 
 
 Q u e s t i o n s :

1. Whom is the poet speaking to, and why? 2. According to the poet, why were the Zhou able to take over from the Shang

as rulers? 3. What implications does the idea of the “Mandate” expressed here have for

future rulers? 4. What implications does the idea of the “Mandate” have for future rebels?