Conventions
Manuscripts are based on Li Xueqin 李學勤 ed.-in-chief, Qinghua daxue Chutu wenxian yanjiu yu baohu zhongxin 清華大學出土文獻研究與保護中心 ed., Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, Vols. 1-8 (Shanghai: Zhong Xi shuju, 2010-2018) and Huang Dekuan 黄德寬 ed.-in-chief, Qinghua daxue Chutu wenxian yanjiu yu baohu zhongxin清華大學出土文獻研究與保護中心 ed., Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, Vols. 9-15 (Shanghai: Zhong Xi shuju,2019-) as the publication of record. Titles of texts are generally given as in that publication, with the following qualification: when a title is specified on the manuscript, it is rendered as written; when no title is specified on the manuscript, but has been assigned by the modern editors, the title is given as they have it, but preceded with an asterisk (*) to indicate this difference.
The contents of individual volumes follow those of Huang Dekuan 黄德寬 ed.-in-chief, Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian jiaoshi 清華大學藏戰國竹簡校釋 (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2022-), hereafter “Jiaoshi,”and do not necessarily follow the contents of the individual volumes of Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian. These volumes have been reorganized to reflect conceptual coherence. When there is evidence that two or more manuscripts were originally bound together, whether published in a single volume of Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian or not, they are kept together.
Individual volumes of this series are the work of the individual author credited on the title page, who is solely responsible for the contents. Never-theless, all authors would like to express their gratitude to colleagues at Tsinghua University’s Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts, who have been most helpful in sharing their scholarship with us, and also to the authors of the other volumes in the series, who have graciously read and criticized the volumes in draft.
Volumes begin with two General Prefaces by the general editors, followed by a Preface by the author of the individual volume. This is followed in turn by an introductory chapter or chapters discussing general questions concerning the manuscript or manuscripts included in the volume. Each individual manuscript is presented in separate chapters, with the following contents:
A. An introduction that discusses material and codicological features of the manuscript—including its calligraphy and relevant paratextual features—as well as significant historical and/or texual issues.
B. A slip-by-slip transcription and annotated translation. These transcriptions and translations are presented in four registers:
1. Images of the individual graphs on a single bamboo slip, presented horizontally. These have been scanned from high-resolution photographs of the slips, with the background removed, and hand-processed to produce a black-and-white image. These have been prepared for the volumes by colleagues at the Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts of Tsinghua University, to whom we express our heartfelt gratitude for the clarity brought about by this process.
2. Strict or literal transcriptions (generally called yanshi liding 嚴式隸定 in Chinese) of the individual graphs, in which each individual component is rendered into its kaishu 楷書 equivalent, generally in the same position within the character. In almost all cases, these transcrip-tions follow those given in Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian. This transcription includes only punctuation that is explicit on the manuscript. Other conventions in it are as follows:
a) □ indicates a single missing graph
b) indicates an indeterminate number of missing graphs
c) punctuation seen on the manuscript is reflected with formal symbols
(1) duplication marks, whether indicative of the standard ligature (hewen hao 合文號) or repetition (chongwen hao 重文號) marks, are given with subscript equals sign ( = )
(2) heavy black squares or rectangles in the text, which seem to serve to indicate a break in the text or emphasis, are rendered formulaically as,oras appropriate
(3) the 乙-shaped mark routinely used to mark the end of a section or end of a text is given as
3. Interpretive transcriptions (generally called kuanshi liding寬式隸定 or podu 破讀 in Chinese), in which a graph of the manuscript is rendered with a corresponding modern Chinese character (written in standard Chinese characters fantizi 繁體字). In addition, this transcription includes modern punctuation (according to standard Chinese punctuation) indicating the author’s understanding of the grammar. At the end of this line of transcription is given the number of the slip, in Chinese characters inside subscript square brackets ([一]). Other conventions are as follows:
a) □ indicates a single missing graph
b) indicates an indeterminate number of missing graphs
c) []indicates a missing graph or graphs that can be restored on the basis of context
d) < > indicates a character in a received text that can be corrected on the basis of context
e) ,;:?!are used as in English punctuation
f) 、(called dunhao 頓號 in Chinese) separates items in lists
g) 。represents a period (.)
h) “ ” indicates direct quotation (like quotation marks[“ ”] in English)
4. An annotated English translation. Note numbers are given to the English text whether the note concerns matters of transcription or of translation. At the end of this line of translation is given the number of the slip, in Arabic numerals inside subscript square brackets ([1]). Some general comments concerning the translations seem warranted.
a) Every effort has been made to translate and not just to paraphrase the text, though without sacrificing intelligibility in English. Wording that is missing because of a break in the bamboo slip is indicated by two dots (..) for a single missing character (corresponding to □ in the Chinese transcription) or by three dots (…) for an indeterminate number of graphs (corresponding to in the Chinese transcription). Wording that is missing because of a break in the slip or that is otherwise illegible, but which can be restored on the basis of context is placed inside square brackets ([ ]). Wording that is added to make the meaning clear or to supply added information is placed inside parentheses( ( ) ), though such additions are used only when essential.
b) The annotations are explanatory, but not exhaustive. In general, translations consistent with the explanation given in Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian are not noted. Translations that differ and which draw on other scholarship, whether formally published or available on the internet, generally note either the earliest study to present the explanation or the most def i nitively argued study and explain why it has been adopted. Full bibliographic citations are provided at the first mention of any scholarship within a single chapter; thereafter, within that chapter citation is by author, an abbreviated title, and page number. For scholarship found on the internet, the url and date of posting, if available, is given; it is often not possible to provide page numbers for internet citations. Reconstructions of archaic pronunciation are generally given as in Axel Schuessler, Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009), with the addition of the rhyme group as typically given in Chinese scholarship.
c) Dates are given as in Michael Loewe and Edward L.Shaughnessy ed., The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BCE(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999),25-29; as with all dates for this period, they should be regarded as tentative.
C. The complete text, first in Chinese (according to the interpretive transcription) and then in English, presented in paragraph form to show the underlying structure of the text. These presentations include the slip numbers ([一] in the Chinese text, and[1]in the English text) so as to facilitate comparison with the annotated slip-by-slip transcription and translation. This is generally unannotated.
D. Any additional material that might bear on the understanding of the manuscript.