Note 4 — THE SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS

The hidden meaning of this saying is made clear by the context to be found in Ssŭ-ma Ch‘ien's biography of Confucius. The Prince of Wei at this time was the young man mentioned on p. 128 as holding the throne against his own father. By so doing he had in some sort inverted the relationship which should have subsisted between them, and each was in a false position, the father being deprived of his proper parental dignity, and the son no longer "doing his duty as a son" (see p. 41). Confucius then is administering a veiled rebuke to the young ruler, for in saying that the first reform necessary is the correct definition of names, he implies in effect that the terms "father" and "son," among others, should be made to resume their proper significance. An alternative rendering of chêng ming as "rectification of the written character," though backed by the great authority of M. Chavannes, can only be described as feeble and far-fetched, and has been ably confuted by Herr Franke in the T'oung Pao for July, 1906.