ABSTRACT
Zhu (commentaries) and shu (subcommentaries) have historically been two important formats used by Confucians in interpreting their classics. In fact, due to the close relationship between them, the two terms came to be put together to form the new term zhushu, a general term for the interpretation of the classics. At the same time, however, the relationship between the two types of commentary is extremely complicated. One common view among scholars is that “zhu interprets the text of the classic, while shu interprets the zhu, so the two are lumped together under the category ‘zhushu.’” 1 Others have mistaken zhu for shu, 2 while still others have taken shu to be zhu. 3 In this paper, we shall discuss the historical development from the zhu to the shu in the Confucian hermeneutic tradition and examine the relationship between the two types of interpretation by looking at the extant yishu (explication of the meaning) commentaries from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui dynasty, and the Tang dynasty.
