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Book of Documents
The Book of Documents (Shangshu) is one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature, a collection of speeches, proclamations and records attributed to the legendary sage kings and to rulers and ministers of the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou. Its oldest chapters, probably composed in the Western Zhou, set out the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. Many chapters of the transmitted text were later shown to be forgeries of the fourth century CE.
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- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Book of Documents. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/book-of-documents
- MLA
- “Book of Documents.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/book-of-documents. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Book of Documents.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/book-of-documents.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Book of Documents’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/book-of-documents (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻