This continuing seminar is held at the School of Oriental and Afr ican Studies, Univers i ty of L... more This continuing seminar is held at the School of Oriental and Afr ican Studies, Univers i ty of London, and v i s i t i n g scholars are welcome to pa r t i c ipa te . These short versions of three papers are included here rather than as b r i e f abstracts under "Meetings." Other papers of in te res t to readers of Early China were presented by: Katrina MacLeod (Univers i ty of Chicago), "The Making of History in the Tso Chuan: Historiography and the Early Confucian Community of Learning"; Francesco Sisci (S.O.A.S.), "The Usage of Example and Analogy in the Mozi"; and Andrew Lo (S.O.A.S.), "Late Ming Prose: the Qin-Han Model or the Tang-Song Model."
... NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allan, Sarah, The way of water an... more ... NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allan, Sarah, The way of water and sprouts of virtue / Sarah Allan, p ... The Confucianists, whose major works were the Analects of Confucius, the Mencius, and the Xun-zi, provided the political and ethical foundations ...
With this issue, Early China reaches volume 40 (2017). 1 The journal was founded by David N. Keig... more With this issue, Early China reaches volume 40 (2017). 1 The journal was founded by David N. Keightley (1932-2017), who died on February 23 of this year. This volume is dedicated to his memory. Keightley, a specialist in oracle-bone inscriptions and Shang dynasty history, taught in the History Department at the University of California at Berkeley from 1969 to 1998. I was a graduate student in what was then called the Department of Oriental Languages from 1966 to 1972. I had already finished my coursework when Keightley began teaching, but, in 1970-1971, he offered graduate seminars on reading oracle bone and bronze inscriptions that I attended. They were the perfect complement to Boodberg's philology and this experience was critical to the direction of my later research. Indeed, Keightley's focus on ancient inscriptions as a source material for the study of Chinese history influenced the trajectory of the entire field of early China studies in the West and gave this journal its particular character. Thus, in this volume's "Letter from the Editor," I would like to take the opportunity to reminisce a little about the period when the journal was founded and to make some personal observations about the future of the field.
On August 5, 2015, Science published an article by Wu Qinglong and a team of distinguished archae... more On August 5, 2015, Science published an article by Wu Qinglong and a team of distinguished archaeologists that reported on the discovery of evidence for a massive outburst flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River c. 1920 bce. The archaeologists identified this flood with the one brought under control by Yu 禹, who was traditionally regarded as the founder of the Xia dynasty. They further argue that since Erlitou culture originated around 1900 bce, the coincidence of date serves to confirm the identification of Xia and Erlitou culture. This article argues against the historical interpretation of this evidence for an ancient flood. In the early texts, Yu did not control a flood along the Yellow River; he dug all the riverbeds throughout the world so that the waters could flow into the sea. Moreover, the story of Yu controlling the waters and the foundation of the Xia dynasty were not linked in the earliest accounts. This story originated as part of a cosmogonic myth in which the ...
“When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang&am... more “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang's House” (Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu 赤之集湯之屋) is a Warring States period bamboo manuscript written in the script of the Chu state. It concerns figures that are well known in historical legend: Tang湯, the founder of the Shang dynasty; his wife; his minister Yi Yin伊尹, here called by the titlexiaochen 小臣[minor servitor]; and the last king of the Xia dynasty, here called simply the Xia Lord (xia hou 夏后). These figures have their familiar identities, but the tale recorded in the manuscript is unique and has no apparent political or philosophical import. The protagonist, Xiaochen, is Tang's cook, but he does not play the role of founding minister raised up by a future king. Moreover, he is associated with a nexus of motifs associated with shamans, including spirit possession. He acquires clairvoyance after eating a soup of magic red birds (jiu 鳩, [pigeons] orhu 鵠[cranes]) intended for Tang. After fleeing from an angry Tang, he is possessed by a spirit-medium raven. He then cures the illness of the Xia Lord by having him move his house and kill the yellow snakes and white rabbits under his bed. One rabbit escapes and the story concludes that this is why parapets are placed on houses, suggesting that the context of the story was the construction of a building. Thus, it may have been similar to a historiola, narrated in a ritual to sanctify houses after the placement of the parapet, thus preventing illness among the inhabitants.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1984
Was there a Xia Dynasty? By the mid-nineteen thirties, the works of Henri Maspero and other schol... more Was there a Xia Dynasty? By the mid-nineteen thirties, the works of Henri Maspero and other scholars in the West and of Gu Jiegangand his compatriots in China had clearly established the originally mythological character ofthe founder of the Xia Dynasty (traditionally ca. 2200–1760 B.C.) and of the rulers who preceded him in traditional Chinese historiography. The excavations near Anyang of late Shang palaces, tombs and inscribed oracle bones had also established the authenticity of the Shang Dynasty which followed the Xia, or at least of the latter part of it. In 1936, Chen Mengjiapublished an article in which he related the Xia king list to the Shang and argued that the two periods were the same. For the next forty years, the question of the authenticity of the Xia was left largely in abeyance although most scholars did continue to assume that the Xia Dynasty, which was hereditary like the Shang, would some day be authenticated by archaeological excavation.
for a description of these texts and the circumstances of their excavation. Many of the ideas pre... more for a description of these texts and the circumstances of their excavation. Many of the ideas presented in the present article were first broached at the Dartmouth conference. Earlier versions have also been presented at seminars held at Harvard University (1999), Wuhan University (1999), and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (2002). I have received many valuable suggestions from the participants at these meetings, as well as from the anonymous T'oung Pao readers. 2 Sarah Allan et al., eds., Xin chu jianbo yanjiu: Xinchu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji
The fifteen volumes planned for this project w i l l reproduce i n photographic facsimile the ent... more The fifteen volumes planned for this project w i l l reproduce i n photographic facsimile the entire corpus of Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang i n British collections, other than the Buddhist scriptures. It is a collaborative effort of four institutions: the British L i brary, the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Dunhuang-Turfan Academic Society of China, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. The editorial committee consists of eleven scholars: Sarah Allan, Cai Jisheng, Zhang Gong, Beth McKillop, N i n g Ke, Sha Zh i , Song Jiayu, Wang Tao, Francis Wood, Zhang Gong, and Zhou Shaolian. The main features of this project are: (1) The reproductions are of extremely high quality. New photography has been used throughout. Over 7,000 plates, carefully photographed on 120mm fi lm, are printed two to a page. Printing is also of the highest standard. Where necessary, indistinct or particularly small text is double-enlarged—i.e., 20 x 31 cm. to a page. Over 400 color plates are also included, to convey an accurate sense of the original, primarily texts where color is particularly important or which are otherwise indistinct. (2) Books are printed on high-quality paper (Cartography paper 106, made i n China), chosen after consultation w i t h the Preservation Service of the British Library. This is a long-life paper: acid-free, non-reflective, and insect-resistant. (3) The manuscripts are shot w i t h a scale to give readers an impression of the dimensions of the original. The plates are to scale and binding forms are noted. The physical formats of Dunhuang texts include scrolls, butterfly-bound, thread-bound, and backbound books. Examples of the various formats are included, provid-
This paper offers an alternative paradigm to dynastic history and state formation with which to u... more This paper offers an alternative paradigm to dynastic history and state formation with which to understand the formation of Chinese civilization: cultural hegemony. It argues that an elite culture first crystallized in the early second millennium BCE at Yanshi Erlitou in Henan Province in which bronze was associated with a set of religious practices centered on ancestral offerings. It established a cultural hegemony over the Chinese continental region by the middle of the millennium (early Shang Dynasty). Archaeologically, its primary markers are bronze vessels with a common set of motifs and ritual forms. Although cultural diversity and local political authority remained, it was unlike the previous Neolithic cultures because it had no challenger in range or influence. Moreover, it anticipated the later common elite culture, which in Confucius's time was defined in terms of shared rites. Thus, we may legitimately call it an early stage of “Chinese civilization.”
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2012
In light of the recent discovery of Warring States period bamboo slips, now in the collection of ... more In light of the recent discovery of Warring States period bamboo slips, now in the collection of Tsinghua University, inscribed with texts described as shu, “documents” or “similar to shu”, this article explores the question of “what were shu?” It suggests that shu can be understood as a literary form apart from the history of the Confucian classic, the Shang shu 尚書 (Ancient Documents) or Shu jing 書經 (Book of Documents) and the Yi Zhou shu 逸周書. Formal characteristics include: shu were – or pretended to be – contemporaneous records; and shu include formal speeches by model kings and ministers from ancient times. Many shu include the expression wang ruo yue 王若曰, which is also found in bronze inscriptions, where it indicates that a royal speech was read aloud by an official. Thus, the literary form originated with the practice of composing speeches in writing before they were read out in formal ceremonies, with a bamboo slip copy presented to the officials addressed. Later shu were fic...
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2009
This article includes a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of the Warring States perio... more This article includes a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of the Warring States period Chu script bamboo slip manuscript, Zigao 子羔. It argues that the manuscript differs from the transmitted Confucian tradition, but would have been considered a ru 儒 (“Confucian”) text. Unusual features include: (1) The disciple is Zigao, who is described negatively in the Lun yu. (2) The term tian zi 天子, “son-of-sky/heaven” is used literally, to refer to the divinely conceived progenitors of the three royal lineages. (3) The term san wang, “three kings”, refers to these progenitors rather than the founding rulers. (4) Confucius advocates abdication. (5) The progenitors of the dynastic lineages, rather than the founding rulers, are juxtaposed to Shun 舜, who received the rule from Yao because of his merit. A Chinese edition, with direct transcriptions and alternative readings of the Chu script graphs, is appended.
This continuing seminar is held at the School of Oriental and Afr ican Studies, Univers i ty of L... more This continuing seminar is held at the School of Oriental and Afr ican Studies, Univers i ty of London, and v i s i t i n g scholars are welcome to pa r t i c ipa te . These short versions of three papers are included here rather than as b r i e f abstracts under "Meetings." Other papers of in te res t to readers of Early China were presented by: Katrina MacLeod (Univers i ty of Chicago), "The Making of History in the Tso Chuan: Historiography and the Early Confucian Community of Learning"; Francesco Sisci (S.O.A.S.), "The Usage of Example and Analogy in the Mozi"; and Andrew Lo (S.O.A.S.), "Late Ming Prose: the Qin-Han Model or the Tang-Song Model."
... NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allan, Sarah, The way of water an... more ... NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Allan, Sarah, The way of water and sprouts of virtue / Sarah Allan, p ... The Confucianists, whose major works were the Analects of Confucius, the Mencius, and the Xun-zi, provided the political and ethical foundations ...
With this issue, Early China reaches volume 40 (2017). 1 The journal was founded by David N. Keig... more With this issue, Early China reaches volume 40 (2017). 1 The journal was founded by David N. Keightley (1932-2017), who died on February 23 of this year. This volume is dedicated to his memory. Keightley, a specialist in oracle-bone inscriptions and Shang dynasty history, taught in the History Department at the University of California at Berkeley from 1969 to 1998. I was a graduate student in what was then called the Department of Oriental Languages from 1966 to 1972. I had already finished my coursework when Keightley began teaching, but, in 1970-1971, he offered graduate seminars on reading oracle bone and bronze inscriptions that I attended. They were the perfect complement to Boodberg's philology and this experience was critical to the direction of my later research. Indeed, Keightley's focus on ancient inscriptions as a source material for the study of Chinese history influenced the trajectory of the entire field of early China studies in the West and gave this journal its particular character. Thus, in this volume's "Letter from the Editor," I would like to take the opportunity to reminisce a little about the period when the journal was founded and to make some personal observations about the future of the field.
On August 5, 2015, Science published an article by Wu Qinglong and a team of distinguished archae... more On August 5, 2015, Science published an article by Wu Qinglong and a team of distinguished archaeologists that reported on the discovery of evidence for a massive outburst flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River c. 1920 bce. The archaeologists identified this flood with the one brought under control by Yu 禹, who was traditionally regarded as the founder of the Xia dynasty. They further argue that since Erlitou culture originated around 1900 bce, the coincidence of date serves to confirm the identification of Xia and Erlitou culture. This article argues against the historical interpretation of this evidence for an ancient flood. In the early texts, Yu did not control a flood along the Yellow River; he dug all the riverbeds throughout the world so that the waters could flow into the sea. Moreover, the story of Yu controlling the waters and the foundation of the Xia dynasty were not linked in the earliest accounts. This story originated as part of a cosmogonic myth in which the ...
“When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang&am... more “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang's House” (Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu 赤之集湯之屋) is a Warring States period bamboo manuscript written in the script of the Chu state. It concerns figures that are well known in historical legend: Tang湯, the founder of the Shang dynasty; his wife; his minister Yi Yin伊尹, here called by the titlexiaochen 小臣[minor servitor]; and the last king of the Xia dynasty, here called simply the Xia Lord (xia hou 夏后). These figures have their familiar identities, but the tale recorded in the manuscript is unique and has no apparent political or philosophical import. The protagonist, Xiaochen, is Tang's cook, but he does not play the role of founding minister raised up by a future king. Moreover, he is associated with a nexus of motifs associated with shamans, including spirit possession. He acquires clairvoyance after eating a soup of magic red birds (jiu 鳩, [pigeons] orhu 鵠[cranes]) intended for Tang. After fleeing from an angry Tang, he is possessed by a spirit-medium raven. He then cures the illness of the Xia Lord by having him move his house and kill the yellow snakes and white rabbits under his bed. One rabbit escapes and the story concludes that this is why parapets are placed on houses, suggesting that the context of the story was the construction of a building. Thus, it may have been similar to a historiola, narrated in a ritual to sanctify houses after the placement of the parapet, thus preventing illness among the inhabitants.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1984
Was there a Xia Dynasty? By the mid-nineteen thirties, the works of Henri Maspero and other schol... more Was there a Xia Dynasty? By the mid-nineteen thirties, the works of Henri Maspero and other scholars in the West and of Gu Jiegangand his compatriots in China had clearly established the originally mythological character ofthe founder of the Xia Dynasty (traditionally ca. 2200–1760 B.C.) and of the rulers who preceded him in traditional Chinese historiography. The excavations near Anyang of late Shang palaces, tombs and inscribed oracle bones had also established the authenticity of the Shang Dynasty which followed the Xia, or at least of the latter part of it. In 1936, Chen Mengjiapublished an article in which he related the Xia king list to the Shang and argued that the two periods were the same. For the next forty years, the question of the authenticity of the Xia was left largely in abeyance although most scholars did continue to assume that the Xia Dynasty, which was hereditary like the Shang, would some day be authenticated by archaeological excavation.
for a description of these texts and the circumstances of their excavation. Many of the ideas pre... more for a description of these texts and the circumstances of their excavation. Many of the ideas presented in the present article were first broached at the Dartmouth conference. Earlier versions have also been presented at seminars held at Harvard University (1999), Wuhan University (1999), and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (2002). I have received many valuable suggestions from the participants at these meetings, as well as from the anonymous T'oung Pao readers. 2 Sarah Allan et al., eds., Xin chu jianbo yanjiu: Xinchu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji
The fifteen volumes planned for this project w i l l reproduce i n photographic facsimile the ent... more The fifteen volumes planned for this project w i l l reproduce i n photographic facsimile the entire corpus of Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang i n British collections, other than the Buddhist scriptures. It is a collaborative effort of four institutions: the British L i brary, the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Dunhuang-Turfan Academic Society of China, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. The editorial committee consists of eleven scholars: Sarah Allan, Cai Jisheng, Zhang Gong, Beth McKillop, N i n g Ke, Sha Zh i , Song Jiayu, Wang Tao, Francis Wood, Zhang Gong, and Zhou Shaolian. The main features of this project are: (1) The reproductions are of extremely high quality. New photography has been used throughout. Over 7,000 plates, carefully photographed on 120mm fi lm, are printed two to a page. Printing is also of the highest standard. Where necessary, indistinct or particularly small text is double-enlarged—i.e., 20 x 31 cm. to a page. Over 400 color plates are also included, to convey an accurate sense of the original, primarily texts where color is particularly important or which are otherwise indistinct. (2) Books are printed on high-quality paper (Cartography paper 106, made i n China), chosen after consultation w i t h the Preservation Service of the British Library. This is a long-life paper: acid-free, non-reflective, and insect-resistant. (3) The manuscripts are shot w i t h a scale to give readers an impression of the dimensions of the original. The plates are to scale and binding forms are noted. The physical formats of Dunhuang texts include scrolls, butterfly-bound, thread-bound, and backbound books. Examples of the various formats are included, provid-
This paper offers an alternative paradigm to dynastic history and state formation with which to u... more This paper offers an alternative paradigm to dynastic history and state formation with which to understand the formation of Chinese civilization: cultural hegemony. It argues that an elite culture first crystallized in the early second millennium BCE at Yanshi Erlitou in Henan Province in which bronze was associated with a set of religious practices centered on ancestral offerings. It established a cultural hegemony over the Chinese continental region by the middle of the millennium (early Shang Dynasty). Archaeologically, its primary markers are bronze vessels with a common set of motifs and ritual forms. Although cultural diversity and local political authority remained, it was unlike the previous Neolithic cultures because it had no challenger in range or influence. Moreover, it anticipated the later common elite culture, which in Confucius's time was defined in terms of shared rites. Thus, we may legitimately call it an early stage of “Chinese civilization.”
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2012
In light of the recent discovery of Warring States period bamboo slips, now in the collection of ... more In light of the recent discovery of Warring States period bamboo slips, now in the collection of Tsinghua University, inscribed with texts described as shu, “documents” or “similar to shu”, this article explores the question of “what were shu?” It suggests that shu can be understood as a literary form apart from the history of the Confucian classic, the Shang shu 尚書 (Ancient Documents) or Shu jing 書經 (Book of Documents) and the Yi Zhou shu 逸周書. Formal characteristics include: shu were – or pretended to be – contemporaneous records; and shu include formal speeches by model kings and ministers from ancient times. Many shu include the expression wang ruo yue 王若曰, which is also found in bronze inscriptions, where it indicates that a royal speech was read aloud by an official. Thus, the literary form originated with the practice of composing speeches in writing before they were read out in formal ceremonies, with a bamboo slip copy presented to the officials addressed. Later shu were fic...
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2009
This article includes a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of the Warring States perio... more This article includes a line-by-line translation and textual analysis of the Warring States period Chu script bamboo slip manuscript, Zigao 子羔. It argues that the manuscript differs from the transmitted Confucian tradition, but would have been considered a ru 儒 (“Confucian”) text. Unusual features include: (1) The disciple is Zigao, who is described negatively in the Lun yu. (2) The term tian zi 天子, “son-of-sky/heaven” is used literally, to refer to the divinely conceived progenitors of the three royal lineages. (3) The term san wang, “three kings”, refers to these progenitors rather than the founding rulers. (4) Confucius advocates abdication. (5) The progenitors of the dynastic lineages, rather than the founding rulers, are juxtaposed to Shun 舜, who received the rule from Yao because of his merit. A Chinese edition, with direct transcriptions and alternative readings of the Chu script graphs, is appended.
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