戰國楚簡異體字類型舉隅──以上博楚竹書為中心 = The Variant Forms of the Bamboo Slips of Chu in the Warring States Period: Based on the Bamboo Slips of Chu in Shanghai Museum

This study analyzes the variant forms of bamboo slips of Chu, taking the bamboo slips of Chu in Shanghai Museum as examples. Since the bamboo slips of Chu in Guodian (郭店楚簡) were discovered, many scholars have indicated that there are none-Chu characters in the bamboos slips of Chu, including those in Shanghai Museum. But under the influence of Chu, these none-Chu characters have some features of Chu characters.
The variant forms of these bamboo slips apply to Wang Ning’s concepts of “differently written characters” and “isomer characters.” The “differently written characters” have the same pronunciations, meanings, usages and functions, but have different appearances to show their artistic excellence. The “isomer characters” also have the same pronunciations, meanings, but their structural dissimilarities differentiate their usages and functions.