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INTRODUCING THE TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY *WU JI 五紀 MANUSCRIPT WITH A FOCUS ON ITS MATERIALITY AND ITS STATUS AS A SOURCE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 February 2024
Abstract
The recently published Tsinghua University bamboo manuscript *Wu ji 五紀 presents a manuscript copy that is riddled with curious irregularities, omissions, and mistakes in its text, punctuation, and the preparation of the slips. Only some of these mistakes were corrected by a proofreader, others reveal errors of misunderstanding by the scribe and/or punctuator. Furthermore, paratext that was included in a previous instantiation of the text was only preserved in paratextual notes in the present copy. An analysis of these aspects of the manuscript helps shed light on its potential status as a source and raises questions about the relationship between unearthed and transmitted texts more generally.
摘要
近期出版的清華大學藏《五紀》簡在文本、標識符號和製作方面充滿有趣的不一致、漏寫和錯誤。這些錯誤能夠反應抄手或句讀者的誤解，然而只有其中一小部分錯誤被校對者修改。其次，母本原有的副文本特徵只通過小題記得以保留。通過分析寫本以上特徵能夠闡明其文本的史料價值，同時使得我們反省出土文獻與傳世文獻的關係。
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Early China
Footnotes
I would like to thank Scott Cook for providing the opportunity to share a first draft of this paper with the fine participants of the “Intertextual Dialogue in Early Chinese Writings” held in Singapore, May 5–7, 2022. I would also like to thank Cheng Hao, Ethan Harkness, Donald Harper, Jia Lianxiang, Matthias Richter, Jens Østergaard Petersen, and the two reviewers, for commenting on earlier versions of this article. This article is a preliminary result of the project “Western Dissemination and Research of Chinese Unearthed Texts” (中國出土文獻的西方傳播與研究) (G1817) supported by the “Paleography and Chinese Civilization Inheritance and Development Program” (古文字與中華文明傳承發展工程).
References
1 Qinghua daxue Chutu wenxian yanjiu yu baohu zhongxin 清華大學出土文獻研究與保護中心 ed., Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian (shiyi) 清華大學藏戰國竹簡（拾壹） (Shanghai: Zhong Xi, 2021).
2 For these similarities, see Ma Nan 馬楠, “Qinghua jian Wu ji pian chushi” 清華簡《五紀》篇初識, Wenwu 9.2021, 80–81.
3 For the previously published volumes 9 and 10, outside experts were also consulted in separate meetings to discuss the manuscript and clarify issues, but because of travel restrictions during the pandemic, this was not possible for the present volume.
4 This was to limit exposure of the fragile slips to light. The images are generally clearer, as these were made under special lighting and because the slips degrade gradually over time. The large amounts of funding, specialized workers, and care required to provide safe and long-lasting storage for the slips gives insight into the reasons why so many (often still unpublished) slips have remained in storage under sub-optimal conditions across the country.
5 Wenwu studies: Ma Nan, “Qinghua jian Wu ji pian chushi”; Shi Xiaoli 石小力, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de ershiba xiu chutan” 清華簡《五紀》中的二十八宿初探, Wenwu 9.2021, 82–86; Cheng Hao 程浩, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de Huang di gushi” 清華簡《五紀》中的黄帝故事, Wenwu 9.2021, 91–94; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de ‘xingxiang’ zhi ze yu ‘tian ren’ guanxi” 清華簡《五紀》 中的“行象”之則與“天人”關係, Wenwu 9.2021, 87–90, 94. Chutu wenxian studies: Cheng Hao 程浩, “Qinghua jian Wu ji sixiang guannian fawei” 清華簡《五紀》思想觀念發微, Chutu wenxian 4.2021, 1–16; Huang Dekuan 黃德寬, “Qinghua jian Wu ji ‘si shen’ shuo” 清華簡《五紀》篇“四冘”說, Chutu wenxian 4.2021, 17–23; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian Wu ji de ‘hai’ ji xiangguan zi de zai taolun” 清華簡《五紀》 的“骸”及相關字的再討論, Chutu wenxian 4.2021, 24–34; Shi Xiaoli 石小力, “Qinghua jian Wu ji de ‘tan’ yu Guodian jian Tang Yu zhi dao de ‘shan’” 清華簡《五紀》 的“壇”與郭店簡《唐虞之道》的“禪,” Chutu wenxian 4.2021, 35–43. Xueshu jie studies: Huang Dekuan 黃德寬, “Qinghua jian Wu ji pian jiangou de tian ren xitong” 清華簡《五紀》篇建構的天人系統, Xueshu jie 285 (2022), 5–13; Cheng Hao 程浩, “Qing-hua jian Wu ji zhong de zhenfa, yizhang yu junwu zhange” 清華簡《五紀》 中的陣法、儀仗與軍舞戰歌, Xueshu jie 285 (2022); 14–19. For suggested revisions to the transcriptions, see Qinghua daxue chutu wenxian dushu hui 清華大學出土文獻讀書會, “Qinghua jian di shiyi ji zhengli baogao buzheng” 清華簡第十一輯整理報 告補正, Qinghua daxue Chutu wenxian yanjiu yu baohu zhongxin wangzhan 清華大學出土文獻研究與保護中心網站, posted December 16, 2021, www.ctwx.tsinghua.edu.cn/info/1081/2749.htm.
6 Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian guanyu Zhanguo shiqi ‘baike quanshu’ de xin faxian” 清華簡關於戰國時期“百科全書”的新發現, Guangming ribao, October 30, 2021, p.11, https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2021-10/30/nw.D110000gmrb_20211030_2-11.htm.
7 For introductions see for example, Cullen, Christopher, “Wu xing zhan 五星占 ‘Prognostics of the Five Planets,’” SCIAMVS 12 (2011), 193–249Google Scholar; Morgan, Daniel P., Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China: Observation, Sagehood, and the Individual (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Kalinowski, Marc, “Diviners and Astrologers under the Eastern Zhou: Transmitted Texts and Recent Archaeological Discoveries,” in Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD) (2 vols.), ed. Lagerwey, John and Kalinowski, Marc (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 341–96Google Scholar. The Daybooks likewise present common ways of integrating specialist knowledge into more accessible formats, see Harper, Donald and Kalinowski, Marc eds., Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China: The Handbook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin and Han (Leiden: Brill, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
8 This may be linked with Donald Harper’s discussion on the emergence of correlative philosophy; see especially his discussion in “Warring States Natural Philosophy and Occult Thought,” in The Cambridge History of Ancient China, ed. Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 813–84, esp. 824–30, for the relation between the spread of technical expertise and the rise of yin-yang thought and Five Phases correlative cosmology, see e.g. p. 825: “If the cosmological knowledge of the natural experts and occultists was primarily an applied knowledge intended to resolve particular situations as they arose (typical of astrology and divination), perhaps Zou Yan fashioned theories that demonstrated the relevance of cosmology to the state and the individual, thereby making it indispensable to philosophy.”
9 Krijgsman, Rens, “A Preliminary Analysis of Rhymed Passages in the Daybook Manuscripts,” Bamboo and Silk 4.2 (2021), 291–335CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
10 Jia Lianxiang, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de ‘xingxiang’ zhi ze yu ‘tian ren’ guanxi,” 89.
11 On the verso, this is particularly visible between slip 73 and 88 (middle binding cord), see also slip 73–94 (top binding cord).
12 See for instance the mark before 后曰 on slip 18. It is of course possible that one of the types was added during production and the other during a reception, but there is not enough data to establish this.
13 See Gansu sheng bowuguan 甘肅省博物館 and Zhongguo kexueyuan kaogusuo 中國科學院考古所 eds., Wuwei Han jian 武威漢簡 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1972), in particular, see Chen Mengjia’s 陳夢家 analysis of the errors and methods of correction therein, esp. 65–71. For general overviews, see Li Junming 李均明 and Liu Jun 劉軍, Jiandu wenshu xue 簡牘文書學 (Nanning: Guanxi jiaoyu, 1999), 60–88; Huang Ren’er 黄人二, “Jianlun xian Qin liang Han shushou chaoxie hou zhi jiaokan dagai” 簡論先秦兩漢書手抄寫後之校勘大概, in Xin chutu wenxian yu gudai wenming yanjiu 新出土文獻與古代文明研究, ed. Xie Weiyang 謝維揚 and Zhu Yuanqing 朱淵清 (Shanghai: Shanghai daxue, 2004), 308–11; Zhang Xiancheng 張顯成, Jianbo Wenxian xue tonglun 簡帛文獻學通論 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2004), 179–214; Li Ling 李零, Jianbo gushu yu xueshu yuanliu 簡帛古書與學術源流 (Beijing: Sanlian, 2008), 121ff; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, Zhanguo zhushu xingzhi ji xiangguan wenti yanjiu: yi Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian wei zhongxin 戰國竹書形製及相關問題研究：以清華大學藏戰國竹簡為中心 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2015), 159, 173–82; Cheng Pengwan 程鵬萬, Jiandu boshu geshi yanjiu 簡牘帛書格式研究 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2017), 132–39; 271–72; for a recent study specifically devoted to errors, see Cai Wei 蔡偉, Wuzi, yanwen yu yongzi xiguan: chutu jianbo gushu yu chuanshi gushu jiaokan de jige zhuanti yanjiu 誤字、衍文 與用字習慣：出土簡帛古書與傳世古書校勘的幾個專題研究 (Xinbei: Hua Mulan wenhua, 2019); on errors of form (“corruption”) see the studies collected in Zhao Ping’an 趙平安 ed., E zi yanjiu lunji 訛字研究論集 (Shanghai: Zhong Xi, 2019). On scribal habits as a preliminary to mistakes, see particularly Richter, Matthias L., “Towards a Profile of Graphic Variation,” Asiatische Studien 59.1 (2005), 169–207Google Scholar; Richter, Matthias L., “Faithful Transmission or Creative Change: Tracing Modes of Manuscript Production from the Material Evidence,” Asiatische Studien 63.4 (2009), 889–908Google Scholar; Daniel P. Morgan, “A Positive Case for the Visuality of Texts in Warring States Manuscript Culture,” (paper presented at the conference “The Rise of Writing,” University of Chicago, October 15–16, 2011); for a study of the use of a practice manuscript involving corrections, see Morgan, Daniel P. and Chemla, Karine, “Writing in Turns: An Analysis of Scribal Hands in the Bamboo Manuscript Suan shu shu 筭數書 (Writings on Mathematical Procedures) from Zhangjiashan Tomb No. 247.” Bamboo and Silk 1.1 (2018), 152–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for comparative material from Dunhuang, see Galambos, Imre, “Correction marks in the Dunhuang manuscripts,” in Studies in Chinese Manuscripts: From the Warring States Period to the 20th Century, ed. Galambos, Imre (Budapest: ELTE Institute of East Asian Studies, 2013)Google Scholar; for a study with a strong methodological discussion and review of scholarship including on transmitted texts, see Williams, Crispin, “Scribal Variation and the Meaning of the Houma and Wenxian Covenant Texts’ Imprecation Ma Yi Fei Shi 麻夷非是,” Early China 37 (2014), 101–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 135–46. On collation in the early empire, see Fölster, Max Jakob and Staack, Thies, “Collation in Early Imperial China: From Administrative Procedure to Philological Tool,” in Exploring Written Artefacts: Objects, Methods, and Concepts, ed. Quenzer, Jörg B. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021), vol. 2, 889–912CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 Here Richter’s call to establish a “profile of graphic variation” in order to establish, for instance, the range of variation and susceptibility of a scribe to mistakes that can be expected within a manuscript is crucial, see his “Towards a Profile of Graphic Variation,” 170. Compare for instance the San bu wei 參不韋 manuscript in volume 12 of the Tsinghua manuscripts. That manuscript is comparable in genre, scope of content, and sheer size (124 slips), but features only a handful of clearly identifiable mistakes. For a set of introductory studies, see Shi Xiaoli 石小力, “Qinghua jian San bu wei gaishu” 清華簡《參不韋》概述, Wenwu 2022.9, 52–55+97+1; Ma Nan, “Qinghua jian San bu wei suo jian zaoqi guanzhi chutan” 清華簡《參不韋》所見早期官制初探, Wenwu 2022.9, 56–58; Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian San bu wei de daosi ji youguan sixiang wenti” 清華簡《參不韋》的禱祀及有關思想問題, Wenwu 2022.9, 59–63; Cheng Hao 程浩, “Qinghua jian San bu wei zhong de Xia dai shishi” 清華簡《參不韋》 中的夏代史事, Wenwu 2022.9, 64–67.
15 In general, for the position of the middle binding, more distance is left preceding the binding cord than at the start of the next character after the cord, suggesting that the scribe planned out the placement of the graphs based on the presence of the cords. Nevertheless, especially as the manuscript progresses, graphs draw in closer to the middle binding cord position and graphs are also spaced out less widely.
16 As can be seen from a different execution of strokes (for example, straight ends vs. tapered ends on you 右), different writing of components (compare, for example, the crossing of the final two strokes of dong 東 on slip 82 with the curled, single stroke variety on the top of slip 82, the execution of zhu 柱, etc.), and in general, a more horizontal, less upward slanted alignment of the writing in the corrections.
17 Conceptually, we need to distinguish between the copyist, punctuator, and proofreader responsible for the production of this manuscript, and note that the punctuation could have been supplied by copyist and proofreader alike. For a discussion, see Krijgsman, Rens, “An Inquiry into the Formation of Readership in Early China: Using and Producing the *Yong yue 用曰 and Yinshu 引書 Manuscripts,” T’oung Pao 104.1–2 (2018): 2–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
18 The simple composition of the graphs makes it hard to compare their execution with other examples, and it is unclear whether a separate proofreader added these.
19 On variation in writing in the *Wu ji see Shi Xiaoli 石小力, “Qinghua jian Wu ji xin yong zi xianxiang juli” 清華簡《五紀》新用字現象舉例, in Chutu wenxian zonghe yanjiu jikan (di shiwu ji) 出土文獻綜合研究集刊 (第十五輯), ed. Xi’nan daxue chutu wenxian zonghe yanjiu zhongxin 西南大學出土文獻綜合研究中心 and Xi’nan daxue Hanyu wenxian yanjiu suo 西南大學漢語言文獻研究所 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 2022), 117–27; and Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de yuzhou lun yu Chu boshu deng tushi de fangxiang wenti” 清華簡《五紀》中的宇宙論與楚帛書等圖式的方向問題, Qinghua daxue xuebao 2023.5, 134–44. Both note numerous examples of the single scribe responsible for writing the manuscript using differently structured graphs to write key terms. Jia Lianxiang suggests that it is likely that the scribe copied, rather faithfully, the different forms from a rather eclectic range of source texts.
20 For a similar instance, see the discussion in Richter, “Faithful Transmission,” 897–900.
21 For reading zhong 忠 as “loyal” here, see the arguments in Cheng Hao, “Qinghua jian Wu ji sixiang guannian fawei,” 15–16.
22 To minimize clutter, only readings that differ from the source publication are annotated, all others are written out in interpretive transcription straight away. Numbers between square brackets indicate the slip-numbers assigned by the editors.
23 See slips 57–58.
24 Donald Harper, quoted in Richter, “Faithful Transmission or Creative Change,” 892n4.
25 Richter, “Towards a Profile of Graphic Variation.”
26 For the use of punctuation as “attention marks” to make sure the reader correctly parses the text, especially in light of similar changes within items in a list, see Richter, Matthias, “Textual Identity and the Role of Literacy in the Transmission of Early Chinese Literature,” in Writing and Literacy in Early China: Studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar, ed. Feng, Li and Prager, David Branner (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011), 223–27Google Scholar.
27 The ending in a verb–object structure, yuan yu 圓欲, likewise breaks up the pattern textually to indicate to the reader that the list is over. Compare also Guodian *Yucong 語叢 2 where the arrangement on the bamboo is used to highlight the structure of the anadiplosis, see Krijgsman, Rens, Early Chinese Manuscript Collections: Sayings, Memory, Verse, and Knowledge (Leiden: Brill, 2023), 49–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
28 I thank Matthias Richter, personal correspondence of 23 October 2022, for helping me clarify this section of the argument.
29 A repetition mark is also dropped after wei 畏 on slip 109, as noted by Jia Lianxiang. “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de yuzhou lun yu Chu boshu deng tushi de fangxiang wenti,” 4
30 Often quoted are two examples, from Dunhuang and Turfan, for reduplication; see Li Junmin and Liu Jun, Jiandu wenshu xue, 67. Three other examples can be found in the Shanghai Museum Ziyi 緇衣, slip 1; Tsinghua University *Baoxun 保訓, slip 8, and a hook-shaped ligature mark in the Hou Fu 后父, slip 5; for the latter, see Jia Lianxiang, Zhangguo zhushu xingzhi ji xiangguan wenti yanjiu, 154, 157. The reason it stands out in these manuscripts and the *Wu ji is the isolated or irregular occurrence of a single-dash shaped mark to indicate repetition. By comparison, the Guodian *Wuxing 五行 manuscript uses a single dash to indicate repetition consistently throughout the text. I agree with Matthias Richter, personal correspondence of 23 October 2022, that these indicate a convention or a habitual usage instead.
31 I thank reviewer two for their valuable suggestions on how to read this difficult section. For discussions on this section, see also Zi Ju 子居, “Qinghua jian shiyi Wu ji jiexi zhi san” 清華簡十一《五紀》解析之三, http://www.360doc.com/content/22/0210/21/34614342_1016773314.shtml, February 10, 2022; Cheng Hao “Qinghua jian Wu ji sixiang guannian fawei,” 7–8; Jia Lianxiang, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de ‘xingxiang’ zhi ze yu ‘tian ren’ guanxi,” and Huang Dekuang, “Qinghua jian Wu ji pian ‘si yin’ shuo.”
32 Because of the epithet in this same line, I chose to read yin following the Shuo wen gloss “appearance of walking” 行貌. These four moving elements probably contrast to the stable pillars zhu 柱 mentioned below.
33 There are a number of ink blots in this section positioned in the middle or to the left-hand side of the slip. In general, punctuation is placed on the right-hand side and it seems likely that these are drops of ink or smudges, and are not necessarily meaningful. See for example, the light mark to the left, after yue 曰 here; there is likewise a mark to the left after the following shang jia 上甲 and what appears to be a partial impression after the following yue.
34 It is possible that there is a faint mark after yin 寅, closing off this list, but it is too vague to say for certain.
35 See for example the usage in the Yi li zhushu 儀禮注疏, Shisan jing zhushu 十三經註疏, ed. Ruan Yuan 阮元 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1980), 25.1128 (“Shi sangli” 士喪禮); 44.1180 (“Texing kuishi li” 特牲饋食禮).
36 Jia Lianxiang, “Qinghua jian Wu ji zhong de ‘xing xiang’ zhi ze yu ‘tian ren’ guanxi,” 87, 89.
37 For a collection of studies on the interplay between visuality and text, see Drège, Jean-Pierre and Moretti, Costantino, ed., La Fabrique du Lisible: La Mise en Texte des Manuscrits de la Chine Ancienne et Médiévale (Paris: Collège de France, Insitut des hautes études chinoises, 2014)Google Scholar.
38 The reconstruction of cheng 乘 is not certain. Given the use of lie 列 “columns” it could indicate that a column and row arrangement was perhaps intended.
39 Compare Chen Songchang 陳松長, “Three Research Notes on the Silk Manuscript *Tianwen qixiang zazhan 天文氣象雜占,” Bamboo and Silk 2.2 (2019), 274–89.
40 As such, an alternative reading has the comment refer to an arrangement of ten columns with five rows, where the five types of evil influences sui 祟 mentioned in the text may have been related with the ten stem days, but this cannot be established with any certainty. The text preceding the tabular notes five types of evil influences (tian gui sui 天鬼祟; di gui sui 地鬼祟; zu meng sui 詛盟祟; ren gui sui 人鬼祟; wangliang buzhuang si sui 亡良、不壯死祟), and notes that these had corresponding cyclical dates: “There appeared myriad evil influences … with branch and stem dates” 作有百祟 [ … ] 有辰與日.
41 For a discussion on this frame narrative structure in light of other technical materials which likewise “sandwich” the complex, drier, technical content in between essayistic or narrative sections, see Rens Krijgsman, “Framing Discourse and the Suggestion of Similarity in Collections: the Tsinghua University *Wuji 五紀 manuscript,” paper presented at the International Conference on Intertextual Dialogue in Early Chinese Texts, Yale-NUS College, May 5–7, 2022.
42 I have benefitted immensely from a prolonged conversation with Donald Harper on this issue in personal correspondence, especially 20 September and 4 October 2022. Don is in the process of translating the *Wu ji for The Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Manuscripts: Studies and Translations series edited by Edward L. Shaughnessy and Huang Dekuan. He suggests reading the text as a ring composition. From that perspective, the framing narrative discusses the establishment of a diagram by Hou / the Yellow Emperor to subjugate chaos. The text in between (concluded by the paratextual remark) is then the content of that diagram. To read the text as a whole as a diagram in ring composition is a very promising and stimulating angle into the intellectual underpinnings of the text.
43 See note 13 above.
44 See note 14 above.
45 Compare also the considerations in Hilgert, Markus, “‘Text-Anthopologie’: Die Erforschung von Materialität und Präsenz des Geschriebenen als hermeneutische Strategie,” in Altorientalistik im 21. Jahrhundert: Selbstverständnis Herausforderungen, Ziele. Beiträge zur altorientalischen Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft 1, ed. Hilgert, Markus (Berlin: Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, 2010), 1–31Google Scholar.
46 For well-studied examples of practice copies, compare for example the doubles from the Shanghai Museum collection, e.g., Richter, “Faithful Transmission or Creative Change,” and Morgan, “A Positive Case for the Visuality of Texts.” For a possible teacher’s involvement in scribal practice, see Morgan and Chemla, “Writing in Turns.”
47 For an early but still relevant discussion on why manuscripts may have been deposited in graves, see Giele, Enno, “Using Early Chinese Manuscripts as Historical Source Materials” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003), 409–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar, compare especially his discussion on “selection” and “mingqi,” 428–33.