Book Launch Celebrates Edward Shaughnessy's "The Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Manuscripts: Studies and Translations 1, The Yi Zhou Shu and Pseudo- Yi Zhou Shu Chapters"

Published on May 13, 2023

On April 27, 2023, the Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts, Tsinghua University, together with Tsinghua University Press, and XuetangX held a book launch in celebration of the publication of the first volume in the book series, The Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Manuscripts: Studies and Translations 《清華大學藏戰國竹簡》研究與英譯.  The launch celebrates the publication of the first volume in the series: The Tsinghua University Warring States Bamboo Manuscripts: Studies and Translations 1, The Yi Zhou Shu and Pseudo-Yi Zhou Shu Chapters, written by Edward L. Shaughnessy, Lorraine J. and Herrlee G. Creel Distinguished Service Professor in Early Chinese Studies; Director, Creel Center for Chinese Paleography; and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. 

In the introductory chapters and the appendix, Professor Shaughnessy provides a thorough introduction of the Yi Zhou Shu, its textual history, and its relation to the Tsinghua Manuscripts. In the remainder of the book, he provides carefully annotated translations and studies of the individual manuscripts and related texts from the transmitted tradition. The manuscripts include the Instruction on Mandates (Ming Xun 命训); Awakening at Cheng (Cheng Wu 程寤); August Gate (Huang Men 皇门); The Duke of Zhai’s Retrospective Command (Zhai Gong zhi Gu Ming 祭公之顾命); The Protective Instruction (Bao Xun 保訓); and finally, The Command Enfeoffing Xu (Feng Xu zhi Ming 封鄦之命).

Taking place at Tsinghua University, the book launch was simultaneously live-streamed across the globe through the MOOC platform XuetangX, and social media including Tsinghua University’s Official Weibo and WeChat channels, Douyin, Bilibili, Facebook and Twitter, etc. Over 130,000 people at home and abroad attended the event online.  Read more about the publication here.

In addition to the book launch, on April 24, 2023, Professor Shaughnessy delivered The Wang Guowei Lecture at Tsinghua University on "The Zeng Gong Qiu Bianzhong Inscription and the Date of the Da Yu Ding and Xiao Yu Ding." This public lecture was streamed on-line with over 220,000 people viewing.

Finally, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed to extend an exchange program for scholars and graduate students between the Creel Center for Chinese Paleography at the University of Chicago and the Center for the Study of Conseration of Unearthed Documents at Tsinghua University.