The picture shows the book shadow of "Tsinghua University Tibetan Warring States Bamboo Slips (Pick Three)". Courtesy of the Center for Research and Conservation of Unearthed Documents, Tsinghua University.
In the pre-Qin era, what was the food etiquette of the doctors?How did the ancients use their knowledge of music theory to create wonderful songs?In the early Warring States period, how did people view the relationship between "Mandate of Heaven" and "Human Life"?On December 10th, the results of the "Tsinghua University Tibetan Warring States Bamboo Slips (Shi San)" was held in the Humanities Building of Tsinghua University, revealing the answers to these questions for us.
This series of collation reports published a total of five bamboo books, including "Doctor's Food Rites", "Doctor's Food Rites", "Five Tone Diagrams", "Music Style", and "Fear of Heaven and Use Body", which discovered for the first time the ritual literature of the Warring States Period, and there are many similarities with the 17 articles of "Etiquette" that have been handed downAt the same time, for the first time, the first class of literature in the Warring States period was discovered, and the music theory shows the powerful mathematical logic thinking and scientific thinking of the ancient Chinese. The five bamboo books are all anonymous books that have not been seen in the hand-to-hand literature, which provide new historical materials for the study of the etiquette system, ** and ideas of the pre-Qin period.
The first discovery of a lost pre-Qin ritual book.
In the 13th volume of "Tsinghua Jane", the most eye-catching are the two books of etiquette, "The Doctor's Food Ceremony" and "The Doctor's Food Ceremony". The former records the ritual rites of the guests and the ministers in the doctor's food ceremony, and the latter describes the specific etiquette of the deacons during the food ceremony.
Ritual culture is one of the very important symbols of Chinese culture, and the "Doctor's Food Ceremony" is a pre-Qin ritual book that has been passed down, which has many similarities with the 17 articles of the "Rites" handed down from generation to generation, and has distinctive Chu characteristics, which is of great significance for the study of the formation and circulation of ritual books. Ma Nan, associate professor of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Literature of Tsinghua University, introduced that the basic etiquette and writing characteristics of the "Doctor's Food Ceremony" are quite close to the articles of the ritual compilation "Etiquette" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The "Doctor's Food Ceremony" is more similar to the "Public Food Doctor's Ceremony" in the "Etiquette" in terms of structure and etiquette: in the Lieding Court, a ritual vessel called the Plum Ceremony for holding food is placed in the south of the Dingnan;After the guests enter, set up a meal for the guests, "beans" in the front, "food and stalks" in the back, beans and rice are containers, beans are filled with sauce, and millet rice sorghum is held in the beans;If it is cycled several times, the "three meals" are completed, and then the "pulp drink" is to drink the soup, and "after eating, they are all withdrawn and returned to the guests". "The Doctor's Rite of Public Food" is detailed in terms of food and furnishings, while "The Doctor's Ceremony" is more detailed in terms of the etiquette of the guest and the host.
The Doctor's Ritual was written around the middle of the Warring States period, which can be said to make up for the lack of ritual circulation. Ma Nan said that the two ritual documents are the first discovery of the lost pre-Qin ritual books, which not only reproduce the original appearance of the ritual books of the Warring States Period, but also reflect some characteristics of the food rites of the Chu Di doctors, and have important reference value for the study of the pre-Qin ritual system and the "Rites".
In the pre-Qin period, a five-pointed star was used to reflect the order of profit and loss of the five tones.
This collation also found two first-class documents in the Warring States Period, "Five Tone Diagram" and "Music Style", which show the powerful mathematical logical thinking and scientific thinking of the ancient Chinese behind the music theory.
There should have been 37 original and 35 extant of the Five Tone Diagram. After the bamboo slips are knitted and connected, a graphic with text is presented. The ** part of the figure is drawn as a five-pointed star, which is exactly the same as the method of drawing a five-pointed star in one stroke today. The names of the pentatonic scales are arranged and written on the extension line of each corner of the pentagram, thus forming a "pentatonic diagram" of ** combination.
The picture shows the ** class of literature "Five Tone Diagram" in the simple silk literature of the Warring States Period. Courtesy of the Center for Research and Conservation of Unearthed Documents, Tsinghua University.
The upper corner of the pentagram corresponds to the sound name of the palace group, and the other four corners correspond to the groups of quotient, jiao, sign, and feather, which are distributed in a counterclockwise direction. The five-pointed star figure is composed of five connecting lines: "Gong-Zheng", "Zheng-Shang", "Shang-Yu", "Yu-Jiao" and "Jiao-Gong", which shows the law of the generation of five tones, and the idea behind it is the "three-point profit and loss method", which is consistent with the order of the generation of five tones recorded in books such as "Guanzi" and "Huainanzi". In addition, in the "Five Tone Diagram", the newly seen sound name "song" was discovered.
Jia Lianxiang, associate professor of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Literature of Tsinghua University, introduced that the three-point profit and loss method is the biological law used in the formulation of music rhythm, and it is the application of ancient mathematics in the world. This is comprehensively deduced through phonetic measurement and inscription research, and the profit and loss order of the five tones on the "Qinghua Jian" is directly reflected through the pentagram, which enriches the research materials of the pre-Qin ** history.
The music is divided into two parts, the first part records the name of the rhythm, and the latter part is difficult to determine. It is worth mentioning that the bamboo slips of "Music Style" have a unique shape, and they are the shortest bamboo slips of the Warring States period found so far, which can be called a "pocket-sized" bamboo book. The two music books provide important materials for the study of early Chinese theory and practice.
It shows the positive and enterprising spirit of the Warring States period.
The fifth bamboo book "Fear of Heaven and Use the Body" is an ideological literature, with a total of 17 Janes, complete in content and without missing Jane. It is about how to view the relationship between "destiny" and "human life".
Shi Xiaoli, associate professor of the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Literature of Tsinghua University, introduced that "Fear of Heaven and Use Body" systematically explains how to give full play to people's subjective initiative - to understand the internal laws of things, to pay attention to the dialectical relationship between things, and to understand the dialectical relationship between things. Jianwen high-profile propaganda of people's subjective consciousness, fully demonstrated the positive and enterprising spirit of the Warring States Period, and provided new documents for the study of pre-Qin intellectual history.
At the press conference, Qin Zhihua, president of Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House and Zhongxi Book Company, introduced the editing and publication of "Tsinghua University's Tibetan Warring States Bamboo Slips (Shi San)".
Tsinghua Jane entered Tsinghua University in 2008, and since 2010, the results have been published at a rate of one volume a year, providing information for the greatest understanding of the initial appearance and development of Chinese culture. Under the leadership of Mr. Li Xueqin and Mr. Huang Dekuan, 13 volumes of the report have been successfully published. At the press conference, the Center for Research and Protection of Unearthed Literature of Tsinghua University said that the collation of "Tsinghua Jane" has entered the stage of tackling tough problems, and the collation team will overcome difficulties to ensure the publication progress of one volume per year, and announce this batch of important materials to the society and academia as soon as possible. (End) (original title: "Tsinghua Jane" discovered the first ritual literature and silk ** literature in the Warring States Period).
Written by Li Yang.