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Конфуцианское каноноведение эпохи Суй и судьба северной экзегетической школы (IV–нач.VII вв.)
Confucian Classical studies during the Southern and Northern dynasties period,
as well as during the short period of the rule of the Sui dynasty, are often considered as a
decline of traditional Classical scholarship. In the North Confucianism acquired an instrumental
function as a guide to ritual practice and, in general, took a course towards preserving the
Eastern Han scholarship. By the end of the 6th century when China, finally, was reunified after
centuries of political disunity, a struggle between different political and scholarly factions began.
Confucian exegesis of this period rarely receives special attention, since it looks like a transitional
phenomenon that did not last long and only preceded the exegetical reforms of the Tang period.
At the same time, an analysis of the features of interpretive practice and the reasons for the
decline of the Northern school is necessary to understand the further development of Confucian
exegetical thought. This article traces the formation of the Northern school, the interaction of
northern and southern scholars in the first years after the unification of China, and studies the
reasons why did northern exegetes quit the stage of Classical studies. Scholarly disagreements,
personal grievances and the lack of necessary intellectual connections led to the fact that in the
first half of the 7th century the northern line of teaching succession lost official support and the
historical choice was made in favour of the southern commentaries. This choice marked the end
of Early Medieval Confucian exegetics and largely determined its future development.