Yesterday morning, the report on the eighth edition of the Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period Collected by Tsinghua University was released. Among the eight newly sorted important documents lost for two thousand years, one of "Taking Life" is a life document of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is speculated that it should be the true ancient text original of the long lost "Yiming" in the "Shangshu", proving that "Yiming" in the current "Shangshu" is a "pseudo ancient text", while "State Family Policy" Seven short articles, including "The Position of the State Family" and "The Way of Governing the State", recorded the ancient people's thoughts of governing the country.

"Life Taking" falsifies "Life Taking"

The eighth edition of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips published 107 pieces of bamboo slips and 8 articles, all of which are unprecedented lost books of the Warring States Period, namely, "Taking Life", "The Politics of the State Family", "The Position of the State Family", "The Way of Governing the State", "Heart is the Middle", "The Way of the World", "The Family of Eight Spirits, Five Tastes, Five Sacrifices, and Five Elements", "The Governance of Yu Xia, Yin and Zhou Dynasties".

Among them, "Sheming" is an official document of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is speculated that it is the long lost "Yiming" in the "Shangshu" (the "Yiming" in the current "Shangshu" is a "pseudo ancient text"), and "Bo" and "Bo" in the "Shuxu" are the errors of "Bo" in this article.

According to the Book Preface, this article was written when King Mu of Zhou appointed Bo Xi as his servant, and the Records of the Historian · Zhou Benji is believed to have been written in the early years of King Mu of Zhou's accession to the throne. According to the clues that reveal the identity of "photography" and the king of the time in the Jane, researchers speculate that "photography" should be the prince of Yi Wang Xie, the prince of Yi, and the emperor of Zhou in this article is the founder of Xiao Wang. This article records the order of the Emperor of Zhou to appoint Bo to accept Wang Yan, take charge of the prison, and educate Bo to obey the king's teachings and benefit the people. The Son of Heaven ordered the photographer to "pay the cashier as the cashier", and cooperated with the imperial officials in the area and the four small states outside the area to warn him to be diligent in government affairs, intimidate the people, and not dare to be lazy and drink too much, which shows the high standard of the book. This article belongs to the category of "books", which is of great significance to the study of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the spread of Shangshu.

Huang Dekuan, Executive Deputy Director of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Documents of Tsinghua University, said that the ancient and abstruse wording, rich connotation and elegant style of "Taking Life" have nothing in common with the ancient text "Life" handed down from generation to generation. It should be the true ancient text original of the so-called "Life" in the Han Dynasty. The ancient text "Life" handed down from generation to generation is not only wrong in title, but also false in content. Qinghua Bamboo Slips once again found the lost ancient text Shangshu, adding another example of falsification of the ancient text Shangshu,

It is reported that most of the slips in Qinghua are classics and historical books. The slips that have been interpreted before reproduce many lost articles in Shangshu, such as Yin Zhi, Yin Gao, Cheng Wu, Bao Xun, Huangmen, Ji Gong, Jin Teng, Shuo Ming, Hou Fu, Feng Xu's Ming, Ming Xun and She Ming, which prove that the so-called ancient text Shangshu in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is forged, It provides an important historical basis for ancient history disputes, and its recovery has a profound impact on the history of Confucian classics.

Enriched with the ancient thoughts of governing the country

In addition to "Taking Life", the other seven articles are a series of documents rich in ideas of governance, many of which are still enlightening today.

In the form of a dialogue between Confucius and a public official, The Politics of the State elaborates the concept of governing the country. The first paragraph describes the method of making the country stable and stable from the front, and the second paragraph reveals the reasons for the decline of the country from the back.

Bangjia Chuwei emphasizes that the tributes select the talents, advocates that the government should be governed by good people, analyzes the different consequences of different ways of employing people in a positive and negative way, and believes that "taking power with degree" means that "politics is the guide".

"The Way of Governing the State" focuses on how to govern the country and secure the state. Many of its discussions are closely related to the thoughts of Mozi, involving such contents as upholding virtue, saving money, saving burial, and unnatural life. It is valuable for the study of Mohist theory and its dissemination in the Warring States Period.

"Heart is the Middle" is an important document of the study of life in the Warring States Period. It emphasizes that people are capable of doing something, and they should be prudent in planning. It deals with the relationship between "heart" and "body", "body" and "destiny".

"The Way of the World" is a political comment, which believes that the way of the world is to defend and attack, and the key of the way of attack and defense is to win the hearts of the people, and explains the method of winning the hearts of the people and the importance of examining the hearts of the people.

"Eight Qi, Five Tastes, Five Sacrifices and Five Elements" reflects the five elements thought in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

"The Rule of Yu Xia Yin Zhou" discusses the characteristics of the rites and music of Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and elucidates the thought of governing the country with respect to thrift and extravagance, which has a certain literature value for the study of the rites and music system of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. The publication of these documents will provide new research materials for pre Qin history, philology, ideological history and other fields.

The ninth series of sorting work has started

Tsing Hua Jian joined Tsing Hua in Tibet in 2008. It has been ten years since then. On the basis of preliminary reading and joint arrangement, since 2010, Tsinghua Bamboo Sorting Report has been published at the rate of one issue a year, and eight reports have been published so far.

In terms of historical documents, the items represented by "Chronicles", "Chu Ju", "Yue Gong Qi Shi", and "Zheng Wengong Asks Tai Bo" have greatly promoted the research on several major issues of the pre-Qin history, such as the origin of the Qin people, the residences of the kings of the Chu State, the history of the Zheng State at the turn of the two weeks, and the history of Chu and Yue in the early Warring States Period. For example, the Chronicle reveals the historical mystery of the ancestors of the Qin people moving from the east to the west to Gansu, and the mistakes recorded by the well-known King You of Zhou's "Beacon Fire Opera".

In terms of the history of science and technology, Tsinghua Bamboo Slips "Balance Sheet" is the earliest mathematical literature material object retained in China. In 2017, it was independently verified and certified by Guinness World Records as the earliest decimal computing tool in mankind.

At present, the collation of the ninth edition of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips has also started. On the occasion of Tsinghua University's anniversary next year, the 11 year old team of Tsinghua Research and Protection Center for Unearthed Documents will enter the new building. They will not stop reading ancient documents, deciphering the code of civilization, and restoring historical puzzles.

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