Abstract: Zhu Xi (1130-1200) had written three prefaces to The Book of Songs. His "Preface to Annotations to The Book of Songs" was not intended for the book it prefaced but for the aborted earlier book Collected Interpretations of The Book of Songs. This preface was not the later "Prefaces to The Book of Songs," which were generally referred to as The Bigger Preface and The Smaller Preface. The present paper takes "Preface to Annotations" as a transitional critical text in Zhu Xi's thought and tries to explore the dialogic relationship between this preface and the Bigger and Smaller Prefaces. The paper argues that three aspects can be seen in internal change in Zhu Xi's thought concerning the criticism of The Book of Songs. First, the interpretive perspective of human nature (instinct and desire) was placed before the perspectives of social mores and moral teaching maintained by Han dynasty Confucian scholars. Secondly, the perspective of Neo-Confucianism is taking over the perspective of Confucian classic hermeneutics. Finally, Zhu Xi highlighted the tradition of interpreting poetry with poetry and tasting the literariness of the text, and therefore empowered the reader with the interpretative right. The paper claims that the above mentioned changes of critical perspective found in Zhu Xi's "Preface to Annotations to The Book of Songs" imply a shift from political interpretation to literary interpretation in the hermeneutics of The Book of Songs.

Key words: hermeneutics of The Book of Songs, Religeon of Poetry, text, politics, human nature