The Tsinghua Bamboo Slips (Chinese: 清华简, pinyin: Qīnghuá jiăn) refers to a collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, that were acquired in 2008 by Tsinghua University (清华大学), China. The texts originated through illegal excavation, probably of a tomb in the area of Hubei (湖北) or Hunan (湖南), and were donated to the university by an alumnus soon after. The very large size of the collection and the significance of the texts for scholarship make it one of the most important discoveries of early Chinese texts ever.[1][2]
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The Tsinghua Bamboo Slips (TBS), were deposited at Tsinghua University in July 2008 by a donor, an alumnus of the university. The precise location(s) and date(s) of the illicit excavation that yielded the slips remain unknown. An article in the Guangming Daily named the donor as Zhao Weiguo (赵伟国), stating that the texts were bought at "a foreign auction",[3] but without naming either an auction house, a location or a sum. The director of the conservation and research project, Prof. Li Xueqin, has stated that the wishes of the alumnus to conceal his identity will be respected.[4]
Similarities with previous discoveries, such as the manuscripts from the Guodian tomb, indicate that the TBS came from a mid-to-late Warring States period (480BC-221BC) tomb in the region of China culturally dominated at that time by the Chu (楚) state. A single radiocarbon date (305±30BC) and the style of ornament on the accompanying box are in keeping with this conclusion. By the time they had reached the university, the slips were badly afflicted with mold. Conservation work on the slips was carried out, and a Center for Excavated Texts Research and Preservation (出土文献研究与保护中心) was formally established at Tsinghua on April 25, 2009. There are 2388 slips altogether in the collection, including a number of fragments.[5][6]
A series of articles discussing the TBS, intended for an educated but non-specialist Chinese audience, appeared in the Guangming Daily during late 2008 and 2009. The first volume of texts (photographic reproductions, transcriptions, and commentary) was published by the Tsinghua team in 2010.[7]
Several of the TBS texts are similar to the received Shang Shu (尚书), a diverse miscellany of documents from various dates in the first millennium BC that were transmitted as a canonical collection since the Han period. In some cases a TBS text can be found in the received Shang Shu, with only variations in wording, title or orthography. Such examples include versions of the "Jin Teng" (金滕), "Kang Gao" (康诰) and "Gu Ming" (顾命) chapters of the Shang Shu. The majority of Shang Shu-style TBS texts, however, are not found in the received Shang Shu, either having been "lost" in the process of transmission, or else never having been incorporated into the canonical collection.
An annalistic history (编年体的史书) recording events from the beginning of the Western Zhou (mid 11th c. BC) through to the early Warring States period (mid 5th c.) is said to be similar in form and content to the received Bamboo Annals.[8]
Another text running across 14 slips recounts a celebratory gathering of the Zhou elite in the 8th year of the reign of the Zhou king Wu Wang (武王), prior to their conquest of the Shang dynasty. The gathering takes place in the ancestral temple to Wen Wang (文王), Wu Wang's father, and incorporates beer drinking and the recitation of hymns in the style of the received Shi Jing 诗经.[9]
Among the TBS texts in the style of the received Shang Shu, is one that has been titled "The Admonition of Protection" ("Bao Xun" 保训). This was the first text for which anything approaching a complete description and transcription was published. The text purports to be a record of a deathbed admonition by the Zhou king Wen Wang to his son and heir, Wu Wang. Although the team working on the text refers to it as "The Admonition of Protection" (or "Protector's Admonition", 保训), their transcription of the text refers to a "Precious Admonition" (Bao Xun 宝训) and that may be the more appropriate editorial title. [10] The content of the king's speech revolves around a concept of The Middle (Zhong 中) which seems to refer to an avoidance of extremes and an ability to consider diverse points of view. The king narrates a story of the sage-king Shun (舜) acquiring The Middle by living a modest, thoughtful life, and a more puzzling second tale which describes the Shang (商) ancestor Wei (微) "borrowing The Middle from the River." [11] [12] [13]
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, Shanghai: Zhongxi Shuju 中西書局, 2010.
Li, Xueqin; Guozhong Liu (2010). "The Tsinghua Bamboo Strips and Ancient Chinese Civilization". Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37: 6–15. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6253.2010.01615.x. ISSN 0301-8121.