Scholars at Tsinghua University in China have succeeded in translating mysterious characters engraved on bamboo slips 2,500 years ago, a discovery called"Breakthrough discovery"。
As early as 2008, researchers at Tsinghua University collected 2,500 bamboo slips in five sets. Now, another research team from the same institution has published new research on bamboo slips, which has uncovered the etiquette and ritual system of high-class dining more than 2,000 years ago.
At a press conference on Sunday, the bamboo slips were called"A lost classic", which is not found in the extant literature. According to Euronews, Huang Dekuan, director of the Center for Research and Conservation of Unearthed Cultural Relics at Tsinghua University, said the scripts were produced during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC) and the Qin Dynasty (221 BC to 206 BC).
Part of the bamboo slips discovered in 2008 have been deciphered. (Tsinghua University).
Explore the thoughts of ancient Chinese thinkers.
The official name of these bamboo slips is:"** Food gifts"、"** Food Rites"、"Pentatonic diagram"、"Fear the sky"with"with the body"。
Dekuan said that two of these texts were compiled into a single volume, consisting of 51 and 14 articles respectively. These documents detail the etiquette and etiquette of the banquet, including the etiquette of both the guest and the host as well as the officiant. The other set of two texts shows an ancient ceremonial symbol system based on traditional Chinese musical notes.
The fifth text deals with the philosophical theme of the spiritual relationship between man and heaven. As a whole, this discovery provides a rare opportunity for researchers to learn about the culture and thought of ancient China.
The ins and outs of the wisdom of bamboo slips.
According to the researchers, the translation of bamboo slips will help study the pre-Qin period"Etiquette, music, and thought"。Huang Dekuan said at a news conference that the text on the bamboo slips was similar to the Book of Rites or Yi Li.
Dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC to 771 BCE) and by Confucius, this classic serves as a guide to proper behavior and etiquette, emphasizing the importance of etiquette in cultivating moral character and social harmony.
These two music books describe the early music theory system in China, and also fill in the gap in people's understanding of the history of the pre-Qin period. For example, in the Five Syllables, the dots of the pentagram are combined to form the traditional Chinese five notes:"Palace"、"quotient"、"Corners"、"branches"with"Feathers"。In addition, entitled:"Style"The text is divided into two parts. However, while the first part introduces the names of tones, the second part has not been accurately translated.
Translating the wisdom of the Warring States.
Fear of the sky"with"With the body"It is a philosophical document composed of 17 bamboo slips, which disseminates the relationship between man and heaven, and these special documents fully promote human subjectivity. Researchers believe that this provides new documentation for the study of pre-Qin thought"The positive and enterprising spirit of the people during the Warring States period"。
Anyone who has read Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game will feel this way, because the bamboo slips illustrate the book's central narrative. The Glass Bead Game is about a futuristic society in which scholars are playing a complex game that combines philosophies, philosophy and geometry, a mystical intellectual pursuit.
The game blends elements of various ancient cultures and disciplines, and through symbolic glass beads, players create harmonious expressions of human understanding, exploring the synthesis of different fields of knowledge and the interconnections between intellectual disciplines. Although it does not specifically introduce ancient Chinese philosophy and, it presents a synthesis of philosophy and philosophy, echoing the universal theme of the interconnectedness of knowledge, wisdom, and human experience. It's like bamboo slips.
Above: An example of a bamboo slip from the Han Dynasty. **cc by-sa 4.0 cc by-sa 4.0
By Ashley Cowie