The
Book of Poetry, said to have been edited by
Confucius, was among the texts suppressed during the
Qin dynasty, but survived in four slightly different versions. The version preserved in the Mao family, known as the
Mao shi, is the most complete and best known. The version preserved by the Han family, or "Han School", the
Han shi, edited by Han Ying, reflects the family tradition of producing a quote from the
Shijing to fit particular situations. The
Han shi waizhuan collects stories or quotations to illustrate and interpret these quotes. Han Ying's biography in the
Historical Records of
Sima Qian says that he compiled two commentaries, the
neizhuan (inner) and the
waizhuan (outer), whose interpretations "very much differed" from the Mao School and other schools. The quotations and excerpts in the
Hanshi waizhuan are useful in corroborating or doubting other pre-Qin texts, for instance, the text of the
Xunzi. == References and further reading ==