今文

jīnwén

noun

Meanings

1 New Text: the Confucian classics as written down in Han clerical script
2 clerical script, the everyday script of the Han dynasty

Characters

script; writing

Examples

HSK 7-9

汉代人把当时通用的隶书叫做今文。

Hàndài rén bǎ dāngshí tōngyòng de lìshū jiàozuò jīnwén.

People in the Han dynasty called clerical script, the script then in everyday use, 'the current script'.

HSK 7-9

汉代的经学分为今文和古文两派。

Hàndài de jīngxué fēnwéi jīnwén hé gǔwén liǎng pài.

Classical scholarship in the Han dynasty split into New Text and Old Text schools.

Tips

history

After the Qin burned the books in 213 BC, Han scholars wrote the classics down again, from memory and surviving copies, in the script of their own day: these were the 今文 (New Text) versions. Copies in the older pre-Qin script, later found hidden in walls such as that of Confucius's house, were the 古文 (Old Text) versions, and the quarrel between the two schools (今古文) ran for centuries.

Stroke Order

今 jīn

文 wén