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Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Collection | Tsinghua University Warring States bamboo slips (acquired 2008) |
| Period | Middle to late Warring States (c. 300 BCE) |
| Length | About 130 slips, nearly 3,000 characters |
| Publication | Volume 11 of the Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Slips (2021) |
| Nature | A general framework of the learning of heaven and man |
What the “five norms” are
The text takes sun, moon, stars, seasons and the year as the five norms, making astronomy and the order of time the frame of the whole.
From there it lays out calendrical numbers, ritual, the five agents, pitch, and sacrifice in layers, forming one complete set of correspondences.
At nearly 3,000 characters it is the longest text among the Tsinghua slips.
Relation to transmitted texts
The system of correspondences it presents is close in approach to the “Monthly Ordinances” of the Book of Rites and the twelve纪 of the Lüshi Chunqiu, but more elaborate.
Its discovery gives new material for the shape of the “heaven and man respond to one another” idea in the Warring States.
Editing and publication
The text is long and full of scribal error, and took years to edit; it was published in 2021 with a separate collation and commentary.
Newly found material usually takes years of debate before its face becomes clear, and this is a case in point.
Full text
No electronic full text of this work is available here. This is an archaeological find or artefact, for which no transmitted full text exists.
The title, date, summary and index structure compiled here are offered under CC BY 4.0 (attribution: Chujia Kuang · kuangchujia.com).
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.