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Sex, Ritual, and Virtue in the?Book?of?Odes

The?Book?of?Odes?(Shijing?詩經) is the earliest surviving anthology?of?Chinese poetry, whose contents mostly date to the Zhou dynasty (1045–221 BCE), but it contains many works?of?interest to modern readers. In particular, many?of?the poems in the anthology are love songs, composed in both male and female voices, evoking visceral emotions such as jealousy, loneliness, anger, and longing. In premodern China the anthology was normally read in tandem with several traditional commentaries, which interpreted the poems?of?love and longing in terms?of?Confucian concepts?of?ritual and propriety. Modern scholars, however, have frequently criticized this tradition?and asserted that these poems are simply innocent love songs without any moral import. Though this dispute may seem to be?one?of?literary interpretation?(hermeneutics), it is also grounded in moral and political assumptions that deserve scrutiny. After all, the Confucian commentators were not wrong to think that love and desire are matters?of?profound sociopolitical significance. Rather than choosing between straightforward love songs or moralizing allegory, the poems are engaged in both domains at?once; they revolve around dynamic oppositions?of?sexual desire and sexual constraint, ritual propriety and ritual violation, innocence admired and innocence abused. Early commentaries, though erring?on?some details, remain a valuable guide to the way that these poems engage with multiple dimensions?of?ancient Chinese culture.