Chapter One The Yi Zhou Shu逸周書or Leftover Zhou Scriptures
The Yi Zhou shu 逸周書 or Leftover Zhou Scriptures, also known at various times in history as simply Zhou shu 周書 Zhou Scriptures or as Jizhong Zhou shu 汲冢周書 Zhou Scriptures from the Ji Tomb, have truly been “left over” in at least two senses of the word and at least two points in time. First, according to traditional accounts, the documents in this collection were those ancient documents of the early Zhou dynasty that were “left over” or left out after Confucius had selected one hundred documents to be included in the Shang shu 尚書 Exalted Scriptures, traditionally regarded as the second of the Chinese classics. Second, from the early middle ages until just a little more than two hundred years ago, the collection itself was almost entirely “left over” or overlooked when Chinese scholars examined the textual legacy of ancient China. After an early commentary by Kong Chao 孔晁 (fl. 266), itself incomplete, it was not until 1786 that Lu Wenchao 盧文弨 (1717-1796) produced the first surviving critical edition of the text.1 Even though other scholars also turned their attention to the text through-out the nineteenth century, by 1900 the great Sun Yirang 孫詒讓 (1848-1908) would still lament:
此書流傳二千餘年來，不知幾更迻寫，俗陋書史，率付之不校。即校矣，而求專家通學如盧（文弨）、朱（右曾）者，固百不一遘。今讀《酆諜》《商誓》《作雒》諸篇，則盧、朱兩校亦皆不能無妄改之失。然則此書之創瘠眯目，斷跀不屬，寧足異乎!
In the more than two thousand years that this book has been transmitted, it has been through I don’t know how many re-copyings in which ignorant scribes have treated it completely without comparing texts. Even when they have compared texts, the cases in which they have met with experts such as Lu[Wenchao] and Zhu [Youzeng] have certainly been no more than one in a hundred. Now reading the “Feng die,” “Shang shi” and “Zuo Luo” chapters, even the collations of Lu and Zhu are not without the failings of unfounded changes. Thus, it is not strange that this book has been filled with blind errors and broken passages!
The book is indeed “filled with blind errors and broken passages.”However, it is becoming increasingly clear through the work of textual critics such as Lu Wenchao, Zhu Youzeng 朱右曾 (jinshi 1838) and Sun Yirang, and especially through recent archaeological discoveries, that the Yi Zhou shu is an important collection of ancient documents that deserves greater attention from anyone interested in early Chinese literature and political philosophy.
Contents
The present Leftover Zhou Scriptures includes fifty-nine chapters, as well as eleven other chapter titles for which there is no text, and also a“Sequence” (xu 序) that provides historical contexts for the chapters and some characterization of their contents. According to this “Sequence,” the chapters date mainly to the years just before and after the Zhou conquest of Shang (in 1045 BCE), being attributed to the sage rulers of those years: King Wen of Zhou 周文王 (r. 1099/1056-1050 BCE), King Wu 周武王(r. 1049/1045-1043 BCE) and his younger brother the Duke of Zhou 周公, and King Cheng 周成王 (r. 1042/1035-1006 BCE). There are also a few chapters dated to later times: two to the reign of King Mu of Zhou 周穆王(r. 956-918 BCE),2 one to the reign of King Li 周厲王 (r. 857/853-842/828 BCE),3 and even one as late as the time of King Ling of Zhou 周靈王 (r.571-545 BCE).4 A few of these attributions are probably more or less accurate. There is general agreement that the language of the “Shi fu” 世俘 “The World’s Capture” (Ch. 40), “Shang shi” 商誓 〈哲〉 “Shang’s Wise Ones,”(Ch. 43),5 and “Huang men” 皇門 “August Gate” (Ch. 49) chapters does seem to be as early as that of the early Zhou chapters of the Shang shu,while the language of the “Zhai Gong” 祭公 “Duke of Zhai” (Ch. 60) and“Rui Liangfu” 芮良夫 “Liangfu of Rui” (Ch. 63) chapters, also seems to be more or less contemporary with the events they purport to narrate.6 This leaves the great bulk of chapters as products of a later age or ages, which, for the most part, can only be specified as the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.
In a previous introduction to the Yi Zhou shu, I quoted the contemporary scholar Huang Peirong 黄沛榮 as “demonstrating” that as many as thirty-two chapters “are remarkably consistent in both language and thought, and should be regarded as the basic core of the text.”7 Huang identified chapters as belonging to this “core” primarily on the basis of their content—chapters on political thought and the military, but also noting that all of the chapters make promiscuous use of four different features:8
● anadiplosis (called by him lian zhu jufa 聯珠句法; “linked-pearls syntax”), in which the last word or words of a phrase are repeated as the first word or words of the following phrase;
● four-character phrases, not just used in isolation, but constituting upwards of eighty or ninety percent of an entire text;
● numbered characterizations, as for example the “four relations” (si qi 四戚), the “five harmonies” (wu he 五和), the “seven losses” (qi shi 七失), the “nine reasons” (jiu yin 九因), and the “ten excesses”(shi yin 十淫), all enumerated in the “Da kai wu” 大開武 “Greater Initiation of the Military” (Ch. 27) chapter;
● rhyme.
Huang provides a chart in which he indicates which of his thirty-two core chapters display each of these four features.
Four Characteristics Seen in Huang Peirong’s “Core” Chapters
More recently, in a doctoral dissertation analyzing the formal structure of Yi Zhou shu chapters, Yegor Grebnev has criticized Huang Peirong’s notion of “core” chapters as being too inclusive, with only two chapters exhibiting all four of these characteristics.9 Instead, Grebnev proposes a stricter typological standard, in which only those chapters that contain a contextualizing opening setting the time and place of the chapter; elaborated enumerations (i.e., the numbered characterizations are not just mentioned but also spelled out); and with certain similar rhetorical features, such as anadiplosis and rhetorical questions in the form he X fei Y 何 X 非 Y “what X if not Y,” should count as the core of the text.
Considering both of these analyses, it seems to me that they are both somewhat too extreme. In my own reading of the form and content of the text, I find eighteen chapters that are substantially similar in grammar and philosophy, and which moreover are marked by an explicit historical context.10 This group might be referred to as the “historical” core. These include all of the chapters identified by Grebnev, as well as a number of other chapters not included by him because they lack one or another of his defining features. It seems to me that their most important feature is the promiscuous use of elaborated lists. The following opening passage of “Wen zhuo” 文酌 “Wen’s Toast” (Ch. 4) is representative.
民生而有欲有惡，有樂有哀，有德有則。則有九聚，德有五寶。哀有四忍，樂有三豐。惡有二咎，欲有一極。極有七事，咎有三尼，豐有三頻，忍有四教，寶有五大，聚有九酌。九酌：一、取允移人，二、宗傑以觀，三、發滯以正民，四、貸官以屬，五、人曰必禮，六、往來取此，七、商賈易資，八、農人美利，九、□寵可動。
The people from birth have Desires and Hates, Joys and Mournings, Virtues and Standards. Of Standards there are Nine Gatherings. Of Virtues there are Five Treasures. Of Mournings there are Four Bearings. Of Joys there are Three Abundances. Of Hates there are Two Troubles. Of Desires there is One Maximum. Of the Maximum there are Seven Affairs. Of Troubles, there are Three Sticking Points. Of Abundances there are Three Repetitions. Of Bearings there are Four Teachings. Of Treasures there are Five Greats. Of Gatherings there are Nine Toasts. The Nine Toasts: The first is adopting sincerity to move others; the second is immortalizing heroes in order to bring intimacy; the third is opening blockages in order to correct the people; the fourth is remunerating officials in order to bring (people) together; the fifth is for mankind to say (sic) that there must be ritual; the sixth is in coming and going to take this; the seventh is in buying and selling to provide capital; the eighth is for farmers to regard benefit as beautiful; and the ninth is .. bestowals can encourage.
The chapter continues in this vein through the Five Greats, the Four Teachings, the Three Repetitions, the Three Sticking Points, the Seven Affairs, and so on. It does not make for particularly compelling reading, though as Yegor Grebnev points out in his dissertation, this sort of enumeration of virtues and vices continues to characterize Chinese political discourse even in the present day.11
I believe that another thirteen, or perhaps even sixteen, chapters are similar enough to each other in terms of grammar and content to constitute a separate group.12 For the most part, they do not provide any historical context, nor do they feature the kind of elaborated lists seen in the chapters described in the preceding paragraph. Rather, they simply present principles of governance, for which reason they might be termed the “philosophical”core to differentiate them from the “historical” core described above.13 It seems to me that both the content and especially the forms of these two groups differ sufficiently that they could not have derived from the same authorial hand or hands, no matter how that authorship may be conceived. Several of these chapters are marked by the use of sorites or rhetorical chains that lead from one premise to another and so on to a final conclusion, oftentimes then retracing the chain back to its beginning. Some of them also employ substantial rhyme and/or word-play. Since these chapters are primarily segregated at the beginning of the book, comprising most of the first scroll (juan 卷) in the received text, it would seem that some anthologist also recognized them as being of a piece. As I will argue in Chapter Three below, at least one of these chapters, “Ming xun” 命訓 or “Instruction on Commands” (Ch. 2), is a beautifully crafted and sophisticated statement of politi-cal philosophy, and it is my impression that other chapters of this group also rise to this same high standard.
This leaves another fifteen chapters, almost all of them congregated toward the end of the collection. They represent quite a mixed bag of contents. Four of them, “Wen chuan” 文傳 “What (King) Wen Transmitted”(Ch. 25), “Da ju” 大聚 “Greater Gathering” (Ch. 39), “Zhou yue” 周月“Zhou Months” (Ch. 51) and “Shi xun” 時訓 “Instruction on the Seasons”(Ch. 52), are typical Warring States “stars-and-seasons” texts,14 with both a different rhetorical structure and also a different political emphasis from either of the two major sub-groups described above.
Several of the final chapters of the collection are short strings of definitions or proverbs lacking any apparent rhetorical or logical structure. These chapters are “Yu pei” 玉佩 “Jade Baubles” (Ch. 65), made up entirely of maxims about one thing that resides in another thing; “Quan fa” 銓法 “Method of Appraising” (Ch. 69), which seems to have nothing to do with appraising except in terms of differentiating actions; and “Qi fu” 器服“Utensils and Clothing” (Ch. 70), which is a list of different categories of utensils and clothing.15
Two other of the final chapters of the collection have similar titles, but nothing else about them is similar. Chapters 66 and 67 are named “Yin zhu”殷祝and “Zhou zhu” 周祝, apparently “Yin Prayers” and “Zhou Prayers.”However, the chapters have nothing to do with prayer, and it would seem that the chapter titles should probably be read as “Yin shuo” 殷说 and “Zhou shuo” 周说, meaning “Yin Stories” and “Zhou Stories,” or something like that, the confusion arising from the similarity between the graphic shapes of the characters 祝for zhu “to pray” and 说 for shuo “to say; story.” Despite the similarity in name between these two chapters, they actually have nothing in common. “Yin zhu” purports to be a conversation between Jie 桀, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty, and Tang 湯, the first ruler of the Shang dynasty, in which Tang teaches his adversary the principles of good government. The “Zhou zhu” chapter has virtually no structure at all, but is simply a string of maxims about good government and the moral life.
Finally, there are five or six chapters that are substantially similar to texts found in other works from ancient China: “Shi fa” 謚法 “System of Posthumous Names” (Ch. 54), which provides def i nitions for nearly one hundred different epithets used in the Zhou-dynasty (and also subsequent Chinese dynasties) posthumous naming system, often with multiple definitions for a single ephithet;16 “Ming tang” 明堂 “The Bright Hall” (Ch. 55), which is essentially identical with the beginning of the chapter “Ming tang wei” 明堂位 “Position of the Bright Hall” in the Li ji 禮記 Record of Ritual; “Guan ren” 官人 “Assigning Offices” (Ch. 58), which is largely similar with the text “Wen Wang Guan Ren” 文王官人 “King Wen’s Assigning Offices” in the Da Dai Li ji 大戴禮記 Record of Ritual of the Elder Dai; “Shi ji” 史記“Historical Records” (Ch. 61), which recounts the occasions and causes of past defeats and which shares considerable language with the Tai gong Liu tao 太公六韜 The Grand Duke’s Six Quivers; and “Zhi fang” 職方 “Officiating over the Regions” (Ch. 62), which shares some language with the “Qu li (xia)” 曲禮下 “Minor Rites, (2)” chapter of the Li ji, but also all of its structure with the “Yu gong” 禹貢 “Tribute of Yu” chapter of the Shang shu.17 Finally, the “Wang hui” 王會 “Royal Meetings” (Ch. 59) chapter is more or less sui generis, but combines aspects of the “Yu gong” chapter with some descriptions of exotic fauna found in the Shan hai jing 山海經Classic of Mountains and Seas.
It is doubtless this amorphous nature that has contributed to the relative neglect of the Yi Zhou shu throughout much of Chinese history,18 a neglect that is reflected as well in Western language studies.19 Combined with the sad state of the text noted by Sun Yirang in the quotation at the beginning of this chapter, many scholars have doubtless despaired of making any sense at all of the text. But we are fortunate today finally to have new evidence available in the form of authentic Warring States manuscripts of four different texts, *Ming xun 命訓 *Instruction on Mandates, *Cheng wu 程寤 *Awakening at Cheng, *Huang men 皇門 *August Gate, and Zhai Gong zhi gu ming 祭公之顧命 The Duke of Zhai’s Retrospective Command,with which to study at least some of the chapters of the Yi Zhou shu, and this evidence has led to a resurgence of interest in the text. It is these four manuscripts and the corresponding chapters of the Yi Zhou shu that will be the main focus of this book. While numerous questions about the text still remain puzzling, and doubtless will continue to remain so for some time to come, we are now beginning to understand that the Yi Zhou shu should no longer be “left over.”20
1 Huang Peirong 黄沛榮, “Zhou shu yanjiu” 周書研究 (Ph.D. diss.: Taiwan University,1976), 7, lists five Song dynasty scholars, two Yuan-dynasty scholars, eleven Ming dynasty scholars, as well as nine Qing dynasty scholars prior to the time of Lu Wenchao who made use of the Yi Zhou shu. Lu Wenchao states that his critical edition was based on one prior Yuan edition (that of Liu Tinggan 劉廷幹) and seven different Ming editions (those of Zhang Bo 章檗, Cheng Rong 程榮, Wu Guan 吴琯, Bu Shichang 卜世昌, He Yunzhong 何允中, Hu Wenhuan 胡文焕, and Zhong Xing 鍾惺), as well as an earlier critical edition done by Hui Dong 惠棟. I thank Yegor Grebnev for pointing out the Hui Dong precedent.
2 These are the “Zhai gong” 祭公 “Duke of Zhai” (Ch. 60) and “Shi ji” 史記 “Historical Records” (Ch. 61) chapters, the latter of which ought not to be confused with the famous Shi ji 史記 or Records of the Historian of Sima Qian 司馬遷 (145-c. 89 BCE). For further comments on this chapter and the role it may have played in the transmission of the Leftover Zhou Scriptures, see below, p. 307. The “Zhou shu xu” 周書序 “Sequence of the Zhou Scriptures” (Ch. 71) anomalously states that the “Da kuang” 大匡 “Great Correction” (Ch. 11) dates to the time of King Mu, even though its sequence in the text and its contents clearly show it to purport to date to the time of King Wen.
3 This is the “Rui Liangfu” 芮良夫 “Liangfu of Rui” (Ch. 63) chapter.
4 This is the “Taizi Jin” 太子晉 “Crown Prince Jin” (Ch. 64) chapter. There is also one totally anomalous chapter, the “Yin zhu” 殷祝 “Prayer of Yin” (Ch. 66), attributed to the time of Tang 湯 (r. c. 1550 BCE), traditionally reputed to be the founder of the Shang dynasty.
5 The title of this chapter bears a superficial resemblance to the “shi” 誓 “harangue” chapters of the Shang shu, but a closer examination of the contents shows that this resemblance is a result of confusion with an archaic form of the character 哲 for the word zhe“wise,” sometimes written in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions as 誓.
6 There are four other chapters, “Ke Yin” 克殷 “Conquering Yin” (Ch. 36), “Du yi” 度邑 “Measuring the City” (Ch. 44), “Zuo Luo” 作雒 “Making Luo” (Ch. 48), and “Chang mai” 嘗麥 “Tasting the Wheat” (Ch. 56), that are often claimed to date to the Western Zhou; see, for instance, Liu Qiyu 劉起釪, Shang shu xue shi 尚書學史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989), 95-97. In addition, the “Taizi Jin” 太子晉 “Crown Prince Jin” (Ch.64) chapter purports to date to the mid Spring and Autumn period (sixth century BCE). However, it seems to me that all five chapters contain language and/or content that suggests a date later than their purported date.
7 Edward L. Shaughnessy, “I Chou Shu 逸周書 (Chou Shu),” in Michael Loewe ed., Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide (Berkeley, Cal.: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and the Society for the Study of Early China, 1993),229, citing Huang Peirong, “Zhou shu yanjiu.”
8 Huang says that these thirty-two chapters make use of the following ten characters in the titles of the chapters: xun 訓, wen 文, wu 武, da 大, xiao 小, cheng 程, dian 典, wu寤, kai 開, and jing 儆, with wu 武 appearing in the title of ten different chapters, kai開 appearing in the title of eight different chapters, da 大 in seven, wen 文 in six, wu 寤in four, xun 訓 in three, dian 典 in three, xiao 小 in three, jing 儆 in three, and cheng 程in two. There is some overlap in these chapters but they constitute forty-four out of sixty-two characters in the titles of the following twenty-nine “core” chapters:
“Du xun” 度訓 “Instruction on Degrees” (Ch. 1), “Ming xun” 命訓 “Instruction on Commands” (Ch. 2), “Chang xun” 常訓 “Instruction on Constancy” (Ch.3), “Wen zhuo” 文酌 “Wen’s Toast” (Ch. 4), “Wu cheng” 武稱 “Balance of the Military” (Ch. 6), “Yun wen” 允文 “Truly Cultured” (Ch. 7), “Da wu” 大武“Greater Military” (Ch. 8), “Da ming wu” 大明武 “Greater Illumination of the Military” (Ch. 9), “Xiao ming wu” 小明武 “Lesser Illumination of the Military”(Ch. 10), “Cheng dian” 程典 “Canons of Cheng” (Ch. 12), “Da kai” 大開 “Greater Initiation” (Ch. 22), “Xiao kai” 小開 “Lesser Initiation” (Ch. 23), “Wen jing” 文儆 “(King) Wen’s Warning” (Ch. 24), “Wen chuan” 文傳 “What (King) Wen Transmitted” (Ch. 25), “Rou wu” 柔武 “Soft Military” (Ch. 26), “Da kai wu” 大開武 “Greater Initiation of the Military” (Ch. 27), “Xiao kai wu” 小開武 “Lesser Initiation of the Military” (Ch. 28), “Bao dian” 寶典 “Treasured Canons” (Ch.29), “Wu jing” 寤儆 “Awakened Warning” (Ch. 31), “Wu shun” 武順 “Military Compliance” (Ch. 32), “Wu mu” 武穆 “Military Maturity” (Ch. 33), “He wu” 和寤 “Harmonious Awakening” (Ch. 34), “Wu wu” 武寤 “Martial Awakening” (Ch.35), “Da kuang” 大匡 “Greater Correction” (Ch. 37), “Wen zheng” 文政 “Cultured Governance” (Ch. 38), “Wu jing” 武儆 “(King) Wu’s Warning” (Ch. 45), “Cheng kai” 成開 “Cheng’s Initiation” (Ch. 47), “Da jie” 大戒 “Greater Guarding” (Ch.50), and “Ben dian” 本典 “Basic Canons” (Ch. 57).
They also appear in the titles of the following four lost chapters:
“Cheng Wu” 程寤 “Awakening at Cheng” (Ch. 13), “Jiu kai” 九開 “Nine Initiations” (Ch. 16), “Wen kai” 文開 “Wen’s Initiation” (Ch. 18), “Bao kai” 保開“Protected Initiation” (Ch. 19).
Huang says that these ten characters occur only in these titles and in no other titles of the collection, though the chapter “Da ju” 大聚 “Greater Assembly” (Ch. 39), in which the word da appears in the title would seem to be an exception to this.
9 Yegor Grebnev, “The Core Chapters of the Yi Zhou shu” (Ph.D. diss.: Wolfson College, University of Oxford, 2016), 15. It is unclear to me just how many chapters he would assign to this “core.” He studies in particular the five kai 開 “initiation” (which he translates as “induction”) and the three jing 儆 “warning” (which he translates as “alarming”)chapters, but he also considers other chapters as well.
10 These chapters are: “Wen zhuo” 文酌 “Wen’s Toast” (Ch. 4), “Da wu” 大武 “Greater Military” (Ch. 8), “Feng bao” 鄷保 “Protecting at Feng” (Ch. 21), “Da kai” 大開“Greater Initiation” (Ch. 22), “Xiao kai” 小開 “Lesser Initiation” (Ch. 23), “Wen jing” 文儆“(King) Wen’s Warning” (Ch. 24), “Wen chuan” 文傳 “What (King) Wen Transmitted”(Ch. 25), “Rou wu” 柔武 “Soft Military” (Ch. 26), “Da kai wu” 大開武 “Greater Initiation of the Military” (Ch. 27), “Xiao kai wu” 小開武 “Lesser Initiation of the Military”(Ch. 28), “Bao dian” 寶典 “Treasured Canons” (Ch. 29), “Feng mou” 酆謀 “Planning at Feng” (Ch. 30), “Wu jing” 寤儆 “Awakened Warning” (Ch. 31), “Wu mu” 武穆 “Military Maturity” (Ch. 33), “Wen zheng” 文政“Wen’s Governance” (Ch. 38), “Wu jing” 武儆“(King) Wu’s Warning” (Ch. 45), “Wu quan” 五權 “Five Balances” (Ch. 46), “Cheng kai” 成開 “Cheng’s Initiation” (Ch. 47), and “Da jie” 大戒 “Greater Guarding” (Ch. 50).
11 At the head of his chapter on “Numerical Lists of Foundational Knowledge in Early Chinese and Early Buddhist Traditions” (Chapter Three of his dissertation), he quotes from a recent News of the Communist Party of China:
Whether or not we can continuously promote the strategic layout of the “four comprehensives” fully depends on whether there are masses of cadres pursuing personal cultivation and fortification according to the “three stricts and three honests.”
Grebnev, “The Core Chapters of the Yi Zhou Shu,” 132.
12 These chapters are: “Du xun” 度訓 “Instruction on Degrees” (Ch. 1), “Ming xun” 命訓 “Instruction on Mandates” (Ch. 2), “Chang xun” 常訓 “Instruction on Constancy”(Ch. 3), “Di kuang” 糴匡 “Granary Standardization” (Ch. 5), “Yun wen” 允文 “Truly Cultured” (Ch. 7), “Da ming wu” 大明武 “Greater Illumination of the Military” (Ch. 9),“Xiao ming wu” 小明武 “Lesser Illumination of the Military” (Ch. 10), “Da kuang Ⅰ”大匡 “Greater Correction” (Ch. 11), “Cheng dian” 程典 “Canons of Cheng” (Ch. 12),“Wu shun” 武順 “Military Compliance” (Ch. 32), “He wu” 和寤 “Harmonious Awakening” (Ch. 34), “Wu wu” 武寤 “Military Awakening” (Ch. 35), and “Da kuang Ⅱ” 大匡 “Greater Correction Ⅱ” (Ch. 37). Three other chapters, “Wu cheng” 武稱 “Military Definitions” (Ch. 6), “Ben dian” 本典 “Basic Canons” (Ch. 57), and “Wu ji” 武紀 “Net of the Military” (Ch. 68) have a somewhat different grammar (featuring numerous equational sentences), but discuss many of the same military and especially political principles.
13 However, I should hasten to note that these characterizations are a mere convenience to differentiate the two groups; the “historical” core chapters are also concerned with philosophy and actually contain little historical information other than their introductory contextualizations.
14 Yegor Grebnev has argued in an unpublished Russian M.A. thesis that the “Shi xun”chapter may date much later, perhaps to the Eastern Han; personal communication, 31 March 2020. In this, he concurs with an argument made also by Huang Peirong 黄沛榮,“Zhou shu yanjiu” 周書研究 (Ph.D. diss.: Taiwan daxue, 1976), 265-278.
15 Luo Jiaxiang 羅家湘, Yi Zhou shu yanjiu《逸周書》研究 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chubanshe, 2006), 58, makes the interesting suggestion that the “Qi fu” chapter is a type of tomb inventory text. However, this suggestion is predicated on the Yi Zhou shu having been discovered in the Ji zhong tomb, a notion that I will suggest in the appendix on the textual history of the Yi Zhou shu is problematic.
16 While this chapter is now the standard reference for these epithets, there are also similar quotations from a number of other such lists, including in the Li ji 禮記 Record of Ritual and Da Dai Li ji 大戴禮記 Record of Ritual of the Elder Dai.
17 To this one might also add the “Yue ling” 月令 “Monthly Commands” (Ch. 53), versions of which also appear in both the Li ji and in the Lü shi chunqiu 吕氏春秋 Springs and Autumns of Mr. Lü, but which is lost from the current edition of the Yi Zhou shu.William G. Boltz, “Philological Footnotes to the Han New Year Rites,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 99, no. 3 (July-September 1979), 435 n. 11, has suggested, on the basis of one early quotation of the Yi Zhou shu version of the text, that it derives from or coincides with a putative Zouzi 鄒子 by the late Warring States thinker Zou Yan鄒衍:
“P. Pelliot, review of R. Wilhelm’s Frühling und Herbst des Lu Bu We, in TP, 27(1930), 68-91, esp. pp. 82-85. I am more skeptical than Pelliot on this point. The few lines of the I Chou shu-YL reproduced in Ma Jung’s (79-166) commentary to Lun yu 17 (Lun yu chi chieh, ch. 9, SPTK ed. first ser., p. 82f) do not match anything in the extant YL text. They do match, however, the lines of the Tsou tzu (of Tsou Yen) cited by Cheng Hsuan, and credited to Cheng Chung (fl. 58-76) in the Chou li chu su (30/9b). This has been studied by Jung Chao-tsu in a very interesting article,“A Study of the Origins of the Yueh ling (Yueh ling ti lai yuan k’ao),” YCHP 18(Dec. 1935), 97-105, who proposes as his conclusion not only that the extant YL, together with the LSCC and Huai nan tzu parallels, is a descendant of the I Chou shu-YL, but also that this last was authored by Tsou Yen. My original doubts about the identity of the two YL’s are not eased, but it does seem possible, on the basis of the identity of the two cited fragments, the lost Tsou tzu text on the one hand and the I Chou shu-YL on the other, that those two texts are one and the same.”
18 The oldest extant edition is a Yuan-dynasty edition of 1354, but this has rarely been seen in subsequent centuries, and seems to have had no influence on the understanding of the text. As mentioned above, the earliest critical edition is that of Lu Wenchao 盧文弨 (1717-1796). Lu’s edition, entitled simply Yi Zhou shu, was originally published in his Baojingtang congshu 抱經堂叢書 (1786), and is reprinted in both the Sibu congkan四部叢刊 and Sibu beiyao 四部備要 editions. It cites seven different editions that he consulted, his base text being a Jiajing 嘉靖 era (1522-1566) text of a Zhang Bo 章檗. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Yi Zhou shu did attract the attention of such notable scholars as Wang Niansun 王念孫 (1744-1832), Ding Zongluo丁宗洛 (1771-1841), Chen Fengheng 陳逢衡 (1778-1855), Zhu Youzeng 朱右曾 (1838 jinshi), Yu Yue 俞樾 (1821-1907), Sun Yirang 孫詒讓 (1848-1908), and Liu Shipei 劉師培 (1884-1919), all of whom authored commentaries or critical textual studies: for their works, see Wang Niansun 王念孫, Du Yi Zhou shu za zhi 讀逸周書雜志, included in his Du shu za zhi 讀書雜志, Huang Qing jingjie xubian 皇清經解續編 (Jiangyin江陰: Nanjing shuyuan 南菁書院, 1888); Chen Fengheng 陳逢衡, Yi Zhou shu buzhu逸周書補注 (Jiangdu 江都: Xiumei shan guan 修梅山館, 1825); Ding Zongluo 丁宗洛, Yi Zhou shu guanjian 逸周書管箋 (Haikang 海康: Yuyuan 迂園, 1830); Zhu Youzeng 朱右曾, Zhou shu ji xun jiaoshi 周書集訓校釋 (Jiading 嘉定: Guiyanzhai 歸硯齋,1846); Yu Yue 俞樾, Zhou shu pingyi 周書平議, in Huang Qing jingjie xubian (Jiangyin江陰: Nanjing shuyuan 南菁書院, 1888); Sun Yirang 孫詒讓, Zhou shu jiaobu 周書斠補 (N.p.: Rui’an Sun shi Zhou qing 瑞安孫氏籀廎, 1900); Liu Shipei 劉師培, Zhou shu buzheng 周書補正, included in Liu Shenshu xiansheng yishu 劉申叔先生遺書 4 vols.(1934-1936; rpt. Taibei: Daxin shuju, 1965.) Throughout most of the twentieth century, however, the text lapsed into obscurity again, with only certain chapters attracting atten-tion. More recently, Huang Huaixin 黄懷信 has produced both a modern translation and also a collected-commentaries edition that has now become a standard edition, at least in mainland China: Huang Huaixin 黄懷信, Yi Zhou shu jiaobu zhuyi 逸周書校補注譯 (Xi’an: Xibei daxue chubanshe, 1996); Huang Huaixin, Zhang Maorong 張懋鎔, and Tian Xudong 田旭東, Yi Zhou shu huijiao jizhu (Xiudingben) 逸周書彙校集注 (修訂本) (rev. ed. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chubanshe, 2007). Huang Huaixin has also published a study of the Yi Zhou shu: Yi Zhou shu yuanliu kaobian《逸周書》源流考辨(Xi’an: Xibei daxue chubanshe, 1992). Other recent monographic studies of the Yi Zhou shu include Zhou Yuxiu 周玉秀, Yi Zhou shu de yuyan tedian ji qi wenxianxue jiazhi《逸周書》的語言特點及其文獻學價值 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005); Wang Lianlong王連龍, Yi Zhou shu yanjiu《逸周書》研究 (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2010); Zhang Huaitong 張懷通, Yi Zhou shu xin yan《逸周書》新研 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2013); Zhao Fengrong 趙奉蓉, Yi Zhou shu wenxue yanjiu《逸周書》文學研究 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2013); and Tang Yuanfa 唐元發, Yi Zhou shu cihui yanjiu《逸周書》詞彙研究 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang daxue chubanshe,2015).
19 As far as I know, there have been published translations of only eleven of the extant fifty nine chapters of the Yi Zhou shu: “Ming xun” 命訓 “Instruction on Commands” (Ch. 2), for which see Edward L. Shaughnessy, “Varieties of Textual Variants: Evidence from the Tsinghua Bamboo-Slip *Ming Xun Manuscript,” Early China 39 (2016): 111-144; “Wu cheng” 武稱 “Military Definitions” (Ch. 6), “Yun wen” 允文 “Truly Cultured” (Ch. 7),“Da wu” 大武 “Greater Military” (Ch. 8), “Da ming wu” 大明武 “Greater Illumination of the Military” (Ch. 9), and “Xiao ming wu” 小明武 “Lesser Illumination of the Military” (Ch. 10), for all of which see Robin McNeal, Conquer and Govern: Early Chinese Military Texts from the Yizhou Shu (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012); “Wu shun” 武順 “Military Compliance” (Ch. 32) for which see Robin McNeal, “The Body as Metaphor for the Civil and Martial Components of Empire in Yi Zhou Shu Chapter 32: With an Excursion on the Composition and Structure of the Yi Zhou Shu.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 122.1 (2002): 46-60; “Shi fu” 世俘 “The World’s Capture” (Ch. 40), for which see Edward L. Shaughnessy, “‘New’ Evidence on the Zhou Conquest,” Early China 6 (1981-1982): 55-81; “Shang shi” (Ch. 43), for which see Joachim Gentz, “One Heaven, One History, One People: Repositioning the Zhou in Royal Addresses to Subdued Enemies in the ‘Duo shi’ 多士 and ‘Duo fang’ 多方 Chapters of the Shangshu and in the ‘Shang shi’ 商誓 Chapter of the Yi Zhoushu,” in Martin Kern and Dirk Meyer ed., Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy: Studies in the Composition and Thought of the Shangshu (Classic of Documents) (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 146-192;“Guan ren” 官人 “Assigning Off i ces” (Ch. 58), for which see Matthias Richter, Guan ren: Texte der altchinesischen Literatur zur Charakterkunde und Beamtenrekrutierung (Bern: Peter Lang, 2005); and “Zhai gong” 祭公 “Duke of Zhai” (Ch. 60), for which see Edward L. Shaughnessy, “Texts Lost in Texts: Recovering the ‘Zhai Gong’ Chapter of the Yi Zhou Shu,” in Christoph Anderl and Halvor Eifring ed., Studies in Chinese Language and Culture: Festschrift in Honour of Christoph Harbsmeier on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday (Oslo: Hermes Academic Publishing, 2006), 31-47. In addition, Yegor Grebnev has translated four chapters in his dissertation “The Core Chapters of the Yi Zhou Shu”: “Da kai” 大開 “Greater Initiation” (Ch. 22), “Xiao kai” 小開 “Lesser Initiation”(Ch. 23), “Wen jing” 文儆 “(King) Wen’s Warning” (Ch. 24) and “Zhou shu xu” 周書序“Sequence of the Zhou Scriptures” (Ch. 71).
20 For a fuller understanding of the text, it is worthwhile to consider its textual history. However, since some readers may prefer to skip over the more technical aspects of this narrative, I have relegated the presentation to the Appendix, pp. 287-309.