Xiping Stone Classics

Named for the Xiping reign era (AD 172–178) of Emperor Ling of Han, the stone classics were carved over an eight-year period from AD 175 to 183 into stone stelae set up at the Imperial Academy outside Luoyang.

The project was overseen by Cai Yong and a group of affiliated scholars who "petitioned the emperor to have the Confucian classics carved in stone in order to prevent their being altered to support particular points of view.

Cai and other scholars like Ma Midi, Han Yue (韓說), Lu Zhi, Tangxi Dian (堂谿典), Yang Ci (楊賜) and his son Yang Biao (楊彪), Zhang Xun (張馴), Li Xun (李巡), and Zhao You (趙祐), Shan Yang (單颺) would write text onto the stone using cinnabar, which was then engraved.

When completed, 28 stela containing the Changes, History, Chunqiu, and the Gongyang commentary, were arranged on the western side of a roughly "U" form.

[5] The stelae were mostly destroyed in the fighting following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 207, and only a few fragments have survived.