RELATED TOPIC:
The Book of Songs and China's Literary Tradition

RELATED TOPIC:
The Han Dynasty Codification

RELATED TOPIC:
"The Great Preface" and Five Notions about Poetry

RELATED TOPIC:
Individual Voices in the Book of Songs

Robert Oxnam :: Here in the Book of Songs**we also find an early statement of the Chinese notion of the Mandate of Heaven, in another poem that tells how King Wen, the founder of the Zhou dynasty, overthrew the Shang dynasty and its capital city of Yin because its leaders failed to follow Heaven's charge to be upright rulers and to carry out the rituals.

Excerpt from "Mighty is God on High," from the Book of Songs

King Wen said, "Come!
Come, you Yin and Shang!
It is not that God on high did not bless you;
It is that Yin does not follow the old ways.
Even if you have no old men ripe in judgment,
At least you have your statutes and laws.
Why is it that you do not listen, But upset Heaven's great charge?"

Stephen Owen :: The earthly ruler misbehaves, and Heaven gets angry and destroys the earthly ruler. The earthly ruler behaves, he is the counterpart of Heaven, is the way the Classic of Poetry** says. So that there is this resonance between the behavior of the high god or maybe perhaps the collective ancestors and the king on earth.

** The Book of Songs is also known as the Book of Poetry, the Classic of Poetry, and sometimes the Book of Odes. These are all possible translations of the Chinese title, Shi jing [Shih-ching in Wade-Giles romanization].