The Impact of the Discovery of Ji Mound Bamboo Books on the Academic Circles of the Mid-Antiquity Era
Resource
臺大中文學報, 50, 001-040
Journal
臺大中文學報
Journal Issue
50
Pages
001-040
Date Issued
2015-10
Date
2015-10
Author(s)
Abstract
In 281 A.D. when Emperor Wu reigned the West Jin dynasty, dozens of cartloads of ancient bamboo slips were discovered in the burial mound of King of Wei of the Warring States period, which was a major event in West Jin academic history. Xun Xu, He Jiao, Shu Xi, Du Yu, Wei Heng, Wang Ting-Jian, Wang Jie, Zhi Yu, Xie Heng, Xu Xian, Fu Zan, Zhang Zhou, Gan Bao, Zhang Hua, Si-Ma Biao, Xu Guang, Yue Zi, Guo Pu, and other scholars all plunged into the study of the bamboo slip texts. The efforts brought about waves of discussions and influenced the academic circles. The texts were sorted into 15 books and 19 miscellaneous articles, but only the three books are in better order: the Bamboo Annals, the Trivial Talks, and the Tale of King Mu. This study focuses on them to investigate how they influenced the contemporary academic circles. The ancient text of the Bamboo Annals stirred up examination of historical events such as Shun exiling Yao, Qi slaying Yi, Tai-Jia slaying Yi-Yin, and Wen-Ding slaying Ji-Li. It also triggered investigations and verifications of ancient history and geography details and the revival of the annals as “the proper methodology to history recording.” The Trivial Talks is “a monster dream divination book of the states” mixed with history and similar to a collection of short stories. It serves as a collection of ancient strange prophetic words that influenced later works such as the Records of Searching for Spirits, the Records of Anomalies, the Records of All Things, and directly led to the flourishing of many tales of the strange. The Tale of King Mu was believed to be a true historical account of Emperor Mu of Zhou’s westward incursion and exploration and thus aroused much attention to the related work Classic of Mountains and Seas. Guo Pu not only annotated both the Tale of King Mu and the Classic of Mountains and Seas and drew links between them and the Bamboo Annals and the Er-Ya, thereby forming a complete knowledge system of myths and legends. The system resulted in the fabrication of “King Mu of Zhou” of the Liezi, became the theme of the ancient novel Anecdote of Emperor Wu of Han, and contributed to the fake Biography of Fa-Xian about the Jin monk Fa-Xian’s purported adventures.
Subjects
汲冢書、竹書紀年、汲冢瑣語、穆天子傳、志怪小說( Ji Mound bamboo books, Bamboo Annals, Ji Mound Trivial Talks, Tale of King Mu, tales of the strange）
Type
journal article
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