清华简《行称》
Warring States · c. 300 BCE
Overview
A political text among the Tsinghua slips, using the balance as a figure for weighing conduct, and touching on the seasons.
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Collection | Tsinghua University Warring States bamboo slips |
| Period | Middle to late Warring States |
| Length | Over ten slips |
| Nature | Political discourse, touching on the seasons |
| Publication | Volume 13 of the Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Slips |
Contents
The text takes the balance as a figure for the measure to be kept in action, joining the seasons and human affairs in one argument, and urging that one act according to the time and measure one’s strength.
Its link to the learning of the seasons
Though chiefly political, the argument rests on the seasons — acting according to the time is its premise.
Read with “Four Seasons” and “Directing the Year,” it shows the link between seasons and government taking several forms among the Tsinghua slips.
Value
Purely political texts are rare among excavated documents. “Weighing Conduct” gives an instance of Warring States thought whose manner of argument is close to certain chapters of the Lüshi Chunqiu and can be compared with them.
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.
III · Excavated Texts and Objects
← The Tsinghua bamboo manuscript “Directing the Year”
The Peking University bamboo manuscripts “Nodes” and “Book of Rain” →
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