On the Nature of the Tsinghua Bamboo-Slip Manuscript Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu

The nature of the Tsinghua bamboo-slip manuscript Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu is different from that of the Yi Yin shuo, which is recorded in the ‘Zhuzi lüe’ of the Han shu ‘Yiwen zhi’. This manuscript is also not a story fabricated by people in the Warring States period. It is possible that what is presented in this manuscript was a legend passed from generation to generation within Yi Yin’s lineage. Unlike Yin zhi and Yin gao, this manuscript does not belong to the Shangshu category.

A Preliminary Analysis of Rhymed Passages in the Daybook Manuscripts

The daybook manuscripts are miscellanies in that they gather together a range of different forms of text onto a single manuscript carrier. This article focuses on passages of rhymed text, analyzing in particular the forms, patterns, and functions of the rhymes. On this basis, I provide a number of preliminary observations on the use and context of the daybook manuscripts. The article focuses on the use of rhyme in material from the Kongjiapo 孔家坡 and Shuihudi 睡虎地 daybook manuscripts in particular, while also paying attention to related hemerological, astrological, and divinatory material from Mawangdui 馬王堆, Fangmatan 放馬灘, and the Beida 北大 manuscripts among others. These materials have a penchant for using especially Yang-group 陽部 rhymes marking the (auspicious or otherwise) results of actions and divinations, in this regard they can be further compared to genres such as prayers and philosophical sayings for instance, raising the possibility of a shared discursive practice.

A Brief Description of the Anhui University Shi Jing Manuscript

In 2015, Anhui University acquired a valuable batch of bamboo manuscripts from the Warring States period. The Anda slips have received wide attention both abroad and in China, in particular the Shi jing manuscript contained therein. This article discusses the sequence, number, and variants of the songs, titles, wording, and phrasing in the Shi jing manuscript. The final section of this article introduces the philological value of this find.

Using Excavated Slips to Look at Effective Governance of the Northern Frontier during the Han Dynasty—The Lelang Commandery in Han Slips

By analyzing “The Record of the Increase and Decrease in the Number of Households in Lelang Commandery by County in Year Four of Chuyuan” 樂浪郡初元四年縣别户口多少[集] 簿 from Han tomb #364, located in Jeongbaekdong 정백동 (貞柏洞), Pyeongyang, this paper shows how population and territory were fundamental to the exercise of power. Complete population figures for Lelang Commandery 樂浪郡 are evidence of the existence of a governing mechanism of commanderies and counties in this region during the Western Han. Furthermore, an assortment of excavated seals in the area are symbols of different levels of official authority. The discovery of impressions on clay from seals of government officials from commandery level to county level, essentially covering every county in Lelang Commandery, indicates the effectiveness of various administrative bodies and officials of all levels in exercising their functions and powers. Wooden slips that refer to Lelang, which were excavated in the Juyan 居延 area, show that Lelang commandery and all other border commanderies were effectively governed during the Western Han down through Wang Mang to the Eastern Han.

The Sui Chapter of the Zhoujiazhai Daybook

The Sui 歲 chapter of the Zhoujiazhai 周家寨 Daybook (rishu 日書) is a type of divination text with a focus on “timing,” including the formation of heaven and earth, five elements 五行, five colors 五色, five sounds 五音, and their relationships. It develops the concepts of “five periods” 五時, “four seasons” 四時 and “the engagement (and disengagement) of four seasons” 四時結（解）, and tells of the seasonal ordinances and climate of the twelve months in sequence. This kind of literature first appeared in the Daybook from Kongjiapo 孔家坡, but the text was incomplete. The Sui chapter in the Daybook from Zhoujiazhai introduced in this paper was excavated from a site adjacent to the Kongjiapo tomb, and the two daybooks are akin in terms of dating and content. Through comparison and collation, this paper proposes a translation and annotation superior to that of the published brief report, and presents a preliminary study on some problems related to the text. The paper demonstrates that there was a rule of collocation among the twelve branches in the second part of the chapter. The paper further suggests that texts like Sui ought to be classified as “theories of day selection,” and that a daybook should be classified as a combination of the techniques and the theories of day selection.

Misplacement, Re-Edition or Funerary Object: On the Textual Features of the Anhui Shijing Manuscript and Its Value

There are numerous discrepancies between the Anhui University Shijing Manuscript and Mao Shi 毛詩. These discrepancies are not due to misplacement or re-editing, but result from the use of the Anda Shijing as a funerary object. However, this is not to discredit the significance of the Anda Shijing, which still has exegetical, philological, hermeneutical and paleographical value.

Some Minor Insights from Reading the Anhui University Warring States Bamboo Slips of the Classic of Poetry

This article discusses three topics. First, it discusses the line “I could not fill my slanting basket” 不盈頃筐 in the poem “Juan er” 卷耳. The Anhui University Bamboo Slip version’s qing 頃 (slanting) is written . This, as with the Chu Silk Manuscript character, should be explained as qi 攲 (lopsided). Second, regarding the line “Do you not understand me?” 不諒人只 in the poem “Bai zhou” 柏舟 of the Yong Airs 鄘風 section, the Anhui University Bamboo Slip version of liang 諒 (understanding) is written jing 京. This character should be understood as qiang 強 in the sense of “coerce/force” 強迫. In the line “Supporting King Wu” 涼彼武王 in the poem “Da ming” 大明 of the Major Elegantiae 大雅, liang 涼 is similarly explained as 強 in the sense of “coerce” 威強. These two characters have always been traditionally glossed as either “trust” 信 or “assist” 佐. Third, regarding the line “… it cannot be recited” 不可讀也 of the poem “Qiang you ci” 牆有茨, du 讀 (reciting) in the Han Poetry 韓詩 is glossed in the sense of “record and narrate” 記述, which is superior to the traditional gloss.

A Reconstruction of the Text of the Poem “You Bi” of the Liturgies of Lu Section of the Classic of Poetry

When ancient texts copied repeated words, they commonly used the notation = to represent it; successive repeated words written as A=B= could be read as either AABB or as ABAB. In Pre-Qin manuscripts unearthed in recent years, there have been examples in which these duplication marks can also be read multiple times. Referring to this usage of duplication marks, I raise several hypotheses regarding the poem “You bi” 有駜 (There are Stout Steeds) in the Liturgies of Lu section of the Classic of Poetry, suggesting that the lines 振振鷺，鷺于下 and 振振鷺，鷺于飛 in the first two stanzas of the poem would have been written in early manuscripts as 振=鷺=于下 and 振=鷺=于飛. 振= 鷺=于下 should be read as 振鷺振鷺，振鷺于下 “Flapping egrets, flapping egrets, Flapping egrets are there below,” and 振=鷺=于飛 should be read as 振鷺振鷺， 振鷺于飛 “Flapping egrets, flapping egrets, Flapping egrets are taking flight.” On the basis of this, I attempt a reconstruction of the original text of “You bi.”

Reading from, Reading into: The Challenge of the Bamboo Odes

One of the great fascinations of excavated Chinese texts is the promise of recovering the formative stage of works that later became classics: we might then learn what later editors and interpreters have done to them, and rewrite the intellectual history of early China. But little is inevitable in the history of texts. This paper takes a single short poem from the Anhui Shijing manuscript and reads it both with and against the transmitted Mao edition, using it to imagine various scenarios for the “wonderful life” (Gould) of early Chinese literature.