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Mao Heng
Early Western Han master of the Book of Songs, called the Greater Master Mao, whose Mao commentary is the only one of the four Han schools to survive.
Mural of the cultural record “Sung Shijing and Chu Verse”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Greater Master Mao
Mao Heng's dates are unknown; tradition makes him a man of Zhao (some say Lu), known as the Greater Master Mao, whose learning in the Book of Songs went back to Zixia. He wrote the Mao Shi Gu Xun Zhuan and passed it to Mao Chang, the Lesser Master Mao. The Han History records a Master Mao of Zhao who taught the Songs as erudite to Prince Xian of Hejian, though which Mao is meant is disputed. Zheng Xuan annotated the Mao text and Kong Yingda wrote its Tang subcommentary; the Qi, Lu and Han schools were lost and only the Mao Songs survive. The Hejian song tradition is traditionally traced to this line.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the early Western Han, in the time of Prince Xian of Hejian (155–130 BCE)