The Guodian Chu Slips () were unearthed in 1993 in Tomb no. 1 of the Guodian tombs in

Jingmen Jingmen () is a prefecture-level city in central Hubei province, People's Republic of China. Jingmen is within an area where cotton and oil crops are planted. The population of the prefecture is 2,873,687 (2010 population census). The urban area ...

Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

and dated to the latter half of the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

. The tomb is located in the Jishan District's tomb complex, near the Jingmen City in the village of Guodian, and only nine kilometers north of

Ying Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

, which was the ancient Chu capital from about 676 BC until 278 BC, before the

State of Chu Chu, or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou hea ...

was overrun by

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

. The tomb and its contents were studied to determine the identity of the occupant; an elderly noble scholar, and teacher to a royal prince. The prince had been identified as Crown Prince Heng, who later became

King Qingxiang of Chu King Qingxiang of Chu (, died 263 BC) was from 298 to 263 BC the king of the state of Chu during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was born Xiong Heng () and King Qingxiang was his posthumous title. Xiong Heng's father, King Huai ...

. Since King Qingxiang was the Chu king when Qin sacked their old capital Ying in 278 BC, the Chu slips are dated to around 300 BC.

Content

There are in total about 804

bamboo slips Bamboo and wooden slips () were the main media for writing documents in China before the widespread introduction of paper during the first two centuries AD. (Silk was occasionally used, for example in the Chu Silk Manuscript, but was prohibit ...

in this cache, including 702 strips and 27 broken strips. The bamboo slip texts consist of three major categories, which include the earliest manuscripts of the received text of the ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

'', one chapter from the ''

Classic of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book o ...

'', content from the ''

Classic of History The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...

'' and other writings. After restoration, these texts were divided into eighteen sections, and have been transcribed into standard Chinese and published under the title ''Chu Bamboo Slips from Guodian'' in May 1998. The slip-texts include both

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

and

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

works, many previously unknown, and the discovery of these texts in the same tomb has contributed fresh information for scholars studying the history of philosophical thought in ancient China. According to Gao Zheng from the Institute of Philosophy of the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

, the main part could have been teaching material used by the Confucianist Si Meng scholars of the

Jixia Academy The Jixia Academy or Academy of the Gate of Chi Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China', Vol. 1, pp. 95 f. Cambridge University Press, 1956. , 9780521057998. Accessed 2 Nov 2012. was a scholarly academy during the Warring States period ...

in the

State of Qi Qi, or Ch'i in Wade–Giles romanization, was a state of the Zhou dynasty-era in ancient China, variously reckoned as a march, duchy, and independent kingdom. Its capital was Linzi, located in present-day Shandong. Qi was founded shortly ...

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the Chu (state), State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to Classical Chinese poetry, classical poetry and verses, ...

, who was sent as an envoy to Qi, might have taken them back to Chu. Recent scholarship has questioned the value of categorizing works that date prior to pre-

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

as strictly Confucian or Taoist. These categories only appeared during the Han and do not relate in any meaningful way to Guodian. The diversity of views represented in the tomb is a perfect example of the blurring of these lines.

References

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External links

Ancient script rewrites history
Harvard University Gazette *
Database of Selected Characters from Guodian and Mawangdui Manuscripts
Matthias Richter *{{in lang, zh}
欢迎您光临简帛研究网站
BambooSilk.Org website for research on the Guodian texts

4th-century BC manuscripts 3rd-century BC manuscripts 1993 archaeological discoveries Bamboo and wooden slips Archaeological artifacts of China Chu (state) History of Hubei

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External links