A comprehensive study of the relevant chapters of Shangshu in Tsinghua Manuscripts I = 《清華簡(壹)》中所見《尚書》相關篇章綜合研究

Abstract

There have been more than 100 discoveries of bamboo and silk manuscripts in China since the 20th century, unearthing over 300,000 strips which contain substantial content. In 2008, Tsinghua University was collected a bacth of remarkable bamboo slips, donated by Tsinghua alumni, named Tsinghua bamboo strips. The contents of Tsinghua bamboo strips are mainly books, including " Confucian classics" (經) and "history" (史) books. It has an extremely and distinctly important role in exploring early China and traditional culture. Moreover, Tsinghua bamboo strips offer exciting new materials that promise to significantly advance the study of philology and Chu State Characters.

The Book of Documents (Shang Shu) has been one of the most important classics of ancient Chinese literature and Confucian scriptures for more than two millennia. The author(s) and dating of Shang Shu, however, have long been debated. The transmission process of various versions of Shang Shu was particularly complex, and has long been a subject of controversy since the Han Dynasty. Due to the limited research materials, the pervious research on Shang Shu was based on existing version. Several texts in the Tsinghua bamboo strips can be correlated to the extant version of Shang Shu, including the “Jinteng”（〈金縢〉）, “Yingao”（〈尹誥〉）, “Yinzhi” （〈尹至〉）, “Baoxun” （〈保訓〉）, and “FuYue zhi ming” （〈傅說之命〉）, providing substantial and new resources and evidence for further researches on Shang Shu. By comparing the textual variations between the existing version of “Jinteng”（〈金縢〉）, “Yingao”（〈尹誥〉）, “Yinzhi” （〈尹至〉）, “Baoxun” （〈保訓〉） with its excavated counterpart, my study aims to illustrate the value and significance of the Tsinghua bamboo strips in the studying of Shang Shu from historical, exegetical and philological perspectives.