Professor Shaughnessy is a renowned scholar of ancient China who studies China's archaeologically recovered texts as well as the literary traditions in which they were born. In his own work, Shaughnessy combines these areas of expertise, though when he teaches, he separates them, offering seminars on oracle-bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and bamboo-strip inscriptions, as well as classes on the Yi jing, Shi jing and Shang shu. His own personal interests include bronze inscriptions and the Zhou Yi, both of which reached their full maturity toward the end of the Western Zhou period (1045 to 771 B.C.E.).