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The Wei li zhi guan ji qianshou Manuscript from the Yuelu Academy Collection* A new reconstruction based on verso lines and verso imprints of writing

Thies Staack (University of Hamburg)

1. Introduction

Among the five manuscripts published in the first volume of the Yuelu Academy Qin manuscripts is

one with the title Wei li zhi guan ji qianshou 爲吏治官及黔首 (“How to be an official, and how to

govern the office and the common people”, in the following abbreviated as “Wei li”).1 It consists of 87

bamboo slips (or fragments of slips) with a full length of about 30 cm, which were originally

connected by three binding strings. On most slips the writing is separated into either two, three or four

registers; on three of the slips the writing was applied without registers.2 In form (register layout) as

well as content this manuscript is comparable to the Wei li zhi dao 爲吏之道 excavated from Shuihudi

tomb no. 11 in 1975.3 Accordingly, several scholars have compared the two manuscripts, mainly

concentrating on textual similarities and differences.4 In 2010, a third manuscript containing a very

similar text, later named Cong zheng zhi jing 從政之經 by the editors, was purchased by Peking

University.5 Until now, only the photographs of a few slips have been published6, but it is already

clear that large parts of the text written on them are identical or very similar to that in the Wei li zhi

* The present paper is an outcome of the research project “The Legal Manuscripts of the Qin (3rd century BC) held in the Collection of Yuelu Academy” (FR 702/8-1), funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) and conducted at the University of Hamburg. The author is greatly indebted to Professor Chen Songchang 陳松長 (Yuelu Academy, Hunan University) for providing him with the digital photographs of the Wei li zhi guan ji qianshou slips, which were published in Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010. Without these, this study would have had to completely rely on scans that would have had a much lower quality. The author would further like to thank the conference organizer Professor Nagata Tomoyuki 永田知之 and the other conference participants as well as his colleagues at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSCM) in Hamburg for valuable questions and comments on earlier drafts of this paper. A Chinese translation of the present article has been published as Shi Da 2014. 1 For photographs with transcriptions see Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 27–37 as well as 109–149. When this manuscript was first discussed in an introductory article by Chen Songchang (2009) it had been named Guan zhen 官箴 (“Admonitions for officials”) by the editors. For the later discovery of the present title and a discussion of its meaning see Chen Songchang 2010. 2 Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, “qianyan”. The editors only mentioned three and four registers. Later it was pointed out that one of the slips (06/1542) only contains two registers of writing, see Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a. 3 For photographs and a transcription of this manuscript see Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 1990. Note that the title “Wei li zhi dao” was chosen by the editors, as the manuscript does not bear an original title. 4 See for example Xiao Yongming 2009, Xu Daosheng 2011, Liao Jihong 2011 as well as Li Mingzhao 2013. 5 For an introduction to the Qin manuscripts of Peking University see Beijing daxue chutu wenxian yanjiu suo 2012. 6 For these see Beijing daxue chutu wenxian yanjiu suo 2012, 69 as well as Zhu Fenghan 2012, 75.

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dao and the Wei li.7 From the occurrence of similar textual material in the Wei li zhi dao and the Wei li

it has been concluded that these two manuscripts contained two different versions of a Qin official

handbook.8 The textual material these two manuscripts obviously drew upon also occurs in a variety

of other texts found in both received literature9 as well as excavated manuscripts10. This further

suggests that the respective passages already in the third century BC were widely circulated textual

“building blocks”11 that were selected and assembled in different ways by the compilers of the three

manuscripts just mentioned.12

As neither Wei li zhi dao nor Wei li contain one coherent text but in large parts rather lists of official

vocabulary—in three- or four-character-units with one unit per slip—this poses certain problems for

reconstructing the original sequence of the slips in both manuscripts.13 In the case of the Wei li zhi dao

these difficulties could apparently be solved to a large extent through reconstruction of the texts

written on the fifth register, i.e. a piece that has been categorised as a “work song” (xiang 相, 1.5–

15.5), two statutes from the state of Wei 魏 (16.5–21.5 and 22.5–28.5) as well as a few proverbial

expressions (29.5–37.5).14 All of these textual units extend over several slips and therefore enable a

reconstruction of the sequence of the respective slips. The numbered catalogue of the “five qualities”

(wu shan 五善) and “five faults” (wu shi 五失) of an official on the second register (6.2–32.2) can in

turn be used as supplementary evidence to reconstruct the sequence of the texts on the fifth register

(and accordingly the respective groups of slips). Therefore the present reconstruction of slips 1 to 37

of the Wei li zhi dao can be considered as beyond dispute. However, the reconstruction of the last 14

slips (38 to 51), the fifth register of which was left empty, is less secure and a recent study has indeed

demonstrated that slips 42 and 43 should better be placed between slips 37 and 38.15

7 For an introduction to the Cong zheng zhi jing text, which was interestingly compiled in one manuscript together with a guidebook for the proper conduct of women (Beijing daxue chutu wenxian yanjiu suo 2012, 67 with table 1), and a first comparison see Zhu Fenghan 2012. 8 Chen Songchang 2010, 35. 9 For the case of the Wei li zhi dao see Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 1990, 167; for the Wei li see Xiao Yongming 2009, 62–64 as well as Chen Wei 2010, 12–14 with several examples. 10 Xu Daosheng has shown that some parts of the Wei li text can also be found in Qin statutes from Shuihudi. See Xu Daosheng 2011, 6–7. 11 On this concept and its implications in the context of early Chinese texts see Boltz 2005. 12 Xu Daosheng showed that, whereas the text on Wei li zhi dao 6.2 to 32.2 is nearly completely parallel to Wei li 27.3 to 52.3, a large part of the text on Wei li zhi dao 1.1 to 5.2 has indeed parallels in the Wei li, but in the latter manuscript the corresponding text is divided into seven non-consecutive sections, see Xu Daosheng 2011, 6–7. Likewise Zhu Fenghan observed that the text on the first four registers of the Wei li zhi dao does largely correspond to the text of the Cong zheng zhi jing and that both can be separated into six sections. However, the sequence in which these sections were arranged is different, see Zhu Fenghan 2012, 75. 13 On the different sorts of text in the Wei li zhi dao see Huang Shengzhang 1979, 15–19. On the list-like parts see Wu Fuzhu 1994, 139–174 and Richter 2013, 176–179. For the Wei li see Chen Songchang 2010 and Xu Daosheng 2011. 14 Cf. the layout of the Wei li zhi dao as illustrated by table 2 in Richter 2013. 15 This revision was enabled through a comparison with the Peking University Cong zheng zhi jing, see Zhu Fenghan 2012, 77. Cf. Lin Suqing 2013, 287–289.

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The editors of the Yuelu Academy manuscripts have obviously relied on the comparably safe

reconstruction of the Wei li zhi dao to reconstruct those parts of the Wei li that contained textual

parallels. This worked well for some of the 87 slips, most prominently slips 27 to 52, the third register

of which shows a parallel version of the numbered catalogue already mentioned. For others the editors

had to completely rely on the somewhat doubtful (if even existing) coherence between the text

fragments on individual slips. Since publication of the Wei li several proposals for minor

rearrangements of certain slips on a textual basis have been made.16

About the same time as the first volume of the Yuelu Academy manuscripts containing the Wei li there

was also published the first volume of the manuscripts from the Tsinghua University collection.17 As a

novelty both publications included photographs of not only the recto but also the verso of all bamboo

slips of the published manuscripts. Soon afterwards scholars started to describe and discuss ink-drawn

or knife-cut lines that could be found on the verso of many slips contained in these publications.18

Meanwhile it has become clear that these lines are in many cases related to the sequence of the slips

that form a certain manuscript and can therefore be used to reconstruct their original order.19 Sun

Peiyang 孫沛陽 has for example shown this for the three calendars contained in the first volume of the

Yuelu Academy manuscripts.20 During their editorial work for the third volume of the Yuelu Academy

manuscripts the editors have therefore closely investigated the verso lines on the respective bamboo

slips and used them as supplementary evidence for their reconstruction of the manuscript rolls.21 A

second phenomenon, which was only discovered after photographs of the verso of bamboo slips

became generally available, are mirror-inverted imprints of writing. The author of this paper already

demonstrated that these verso imprints can be used to reconstruct the original structure of bamboo

manuscripts through his reconstruction of manuscript 1 in the third volume of the Yuelu Academy

manuscripts.22 In fact, both verso lines as well as verso imprints also occur on the slips of the Yuelu

16 See e.g. Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a. 17 Li Xueqin 2010. 18 For the first thorough investigation of these verso lines see Sun Peiyang 2011. Around the same time the phenomenon was also discussed in Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011b and Li Tianhong 2011, 103–104. 19 This has been convincingly demonstrated in Sun Peiyang 2011. Sun also pointed out that the verso line phenomenon is not restricted to unprovenanced manuscripts but also occurs in scientifically excavated manuscripts, e.g. from Zhangjiashan tomb no. 247, Shuihudi tomb no. 11, etc. In fact, the existence of verso lines on bamboo manuscripts from Warring States and early Imperial China appears to have rather been the rule than an exception. 20 Sun Peiyang 2011, 450–451 and 459–460. He also observed that two slips had been assigned to the wrong calendar: slip 25 from the calendar of the 27th year actually belongs to the calendar of the 34th year; slip 17 from the calendar of the 35th year belongs to that of the 27th year. 21 Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2013, 317–318. 22 See Shi Da 2013 as well as Staack (forthcoming). The editors of the Yuelu Academy manuscripts in 2012 consulted the yet unpublished draft versions of both articles and later revised the sequence of the seven textual units in manuscript roll 1 towards the present arrangement. The method of using the verso imprints for the complete reconstruction of a bamboo manuscript was first presented by the author on the conference “Excavated

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Academy Wei li and can enable a more reliable reconstruction of this manuscript. This is especially

useful, because textual criteria only provide very limited evidence in this particular case.

2. Investigation of verso lines

In the three calendars contained in the first volume of the Yuelu Academy manuscripts as well as in

the manuscripts of volume three, verso lines normally occur either in the lower or in the upper third of

the slips of a certain manuscript.23 In the case of the Wei li the verso lines only occur in the upper third.

Therefore a line section24 is visible on every slip of which the upper half is complete. If we examine

the verso of the manuscript as it was reconstructed for the first volume of the Yuelu Academy

manuscripts, we will make a striking discovery. On slips 1 to 26 the line sections do not appear to

form continuous lines apart from those line sections on slips 1 to 5 and 14 to 15 (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Slips 1 to 26 of the Wei li.25

and Purchased Chinese Manuscripts” held by the European Association for the Study of Chinese Manuscripts (EASCM) in Paris on July 4–5, 2012. 23 Cf. Sun Peiyang 2011, 450–451 as well as Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2013, 317–318. 24 The distinction between “line sections” on individual slips and complete “lines” follows Sun Peiyang (2011, 449) who coined the terms ke/mo huaxian 刻/墨劃綫 and jiance bei huaxian 簡冊背劃綫 for it. 25 Note that figures 1 to 4 only show the upper halves of the slips. Line sections are highlighted in yellow.

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Starting on slip 27 however, continuous lines suddenly become visible. There appears one on slips 27

to 36, two on slips 37 to 40 and another on slips 41 to 52 (see fig. 2).26

Fig. 2: Slips 27 to 52 of the Wei li.

In the rest of the manuscript—on slips 53 to 87—the situation is similar to the first part with no

obvious lines apart from a few cases where two to four line sections can be connected (e.g. on slips 53

to 56 or 75 to 77, see fig. 3 and 4).27

26 The line sections on slips 41 to 44 and 46 to 52 apparently belong to the same line, which is however interrupted at the position of slip 45 due to the fragmented state of this slip. 27 Slips 70 and 73 do not appear in fig. 3, because they each constitute the fragmented lower half of a slip.

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Fig. 3: Slips 53 to 72 of the Wei li.

Fig. 4: Slips 74 to 87 of the Wei li.

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If we now take a look at the text on the recto of slips 27 to 52, the 26 slips with four continuous lines

on their verso (see fig. 2), we find that this happens to be exactly the part with the catalogue of official

“qualities”, “faults”, etc. that was reconstructed according to a textual parallel in the Shuihudi Wei li

zhi dao. It is theoretically possible that the present reconstruction of the Yuelu Academy Wei li is

completely correct and that the verso lines only show this regular pattern in this particular part of the

manuscript. It appears however more likely that the part just mentioned is the only one that was

reconstructed correctly and that the sequence of the other slips warrants revision. A close investigation

of the verso of the 87 slips belonging to the Wei li actually reveals eight groups of slips that can be

assigned to the same verso line(s) and whose line sections form continuous lines, if the slips are

arranged in the following sequences:

1) 87-86

2) 75-76-77-74-78-59-60

3) 08-61-62-72-71-69-10-16-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-07a28-63-64

4) 68-23-22-13

5) 26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36

6) 37-38-39-40

7) 41-42-43-44

8) 46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-14-15-12-21-17

These findings strongly suggest that the part of the manuscript with slips 27 to 52 was not the only

part with continuous verso lines. Of course, the correctness of the sequences of slips in the eight

groups needs to be cross-checked with regard to the text on the recto.

3. “Loose ends”

The reason why the slips 07b, 25, 45, 66, 70, 73 and 80 are missing in the above groups is the fact that

they do not show any line sections due to their fragmented state or have line sections that cannot be

linked with line sections on any other slips. There are basically two possibilities for their placement:

they can either be linked with another fragment that is already part of the above groups (which would

mean that they constitute fragments that were originally part of the same slip), or they can be placed

before or after any of the groups.

28 The editors assume that the two fragments 0200 and 0139 are part of the same slip (07), see Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 111. In this study the two fragments are treated separately as 07a (0200) and 07b (0139), respectively.

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In accordance with the reconstruction of the editors, slip 45 obviously has to be placed between slips

44 (group 7) and 46 (group 8), due to the text on the third register of its recto, which has a parallel in

the Wei li zhi dao29:

44.3 三曰亶㱙割 30

45.3 四曰犯上不智其害

46.3 五曰閒士貴貨貝

The fragmented slip 66 in fact appears to have been the lower part of the same slip, the upper part of

which is fragment 07a (group 3). With regard to the text on the fourth register of the surrounding slips

67, 63 and 64, the four slips obviously contained two pairs of parallel phrases:

67.4 舉事而不意不欲多聞

66.4 事无冬始不欲多業

63.4 欲人敬之必先敬人

64.4 欲人愛之必先愛人

Likewise the fragmented slip 70 appears to have been the lower part of the same slip, the upper part of

which is fragment 10 (group 3). The text on the fourth register forms a parallel phrase with the text on

the fourth register of the preceding slip 6931:

69.4 矰織者百智之長也

70.4 須臾者百事之禍也

The fragmented slip 73 obviously has to be placed at the beginning of group 2, if we consider the text

on the fourth register of the following slips 75, 76, etc.32:

73.4 〼□材不可歸

75.4 慎‗之‗言不可追

76.4 謹‗之‗某不可遺

Of the remaining three fragmented slips (07b, 25 and 80), 07b and 25 each obviously constitute the

middle part of a slip, because they contain traces of the middle binding string.33 The only fragment of

those already part of a reconstructed group that could possibly be connected with 07b (third register

extant) or 25 (second and third register extant) would be 73 (only fourth register extant), now placed at

the beginning of group 2. As however neither the text on slip 07b nor on slip 25 appears to be related

29 Cf. Wei li zhi dao 16.2–18.2: 三曰擅裚割，四曰犯上弗智（知）害，五曰賤士而貴貨貝. 30 Citations of the Wei li text generally follow the direct transcription provided in appendix C. 31 As can easily be seen from the slip numbers, the editors had already placed slip 70 after slip 69 in their reconstruction. 32 Cf. Wei li zhi dao 33.2–35.2: 戒之戒之，材（財）不可歸；謹之謹之，謀不可遺；慎之慎之，言不可追. 33 The editors positioned them accordingly in their reconstruction, see photographs in Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 111 and 120.

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to that on the following slip 75, they shall instead each be treated as separate slips. Slip 07b is

tentatively placed after slip 60 (group 2), because of a possible textual link:

60.3 家室冬夏居田

07b.3 不居其宇

For the same reason slip 25 is placed before slip 26 (group 5) in accordance with the view of the

editors:

25.2 出入不時

26.2 㱃食不節

The above phrases on 25.2 and 26.2 are apparently parallel to the expressions yong shi 用時 and yong

jie 用節 on 38.1 and 39.1, respectively. Finally, the fragmented slip 80 constitutes the lower half of a

slip and shows traces of the middle and lower binding.34 As it contains writing in the third and fourth

register it should be placed among the slips 59 to 84, which are the only ones with writing in the fourth

register. Now the only possible link, i.e. a fragment that constitutes (a part of) the upper part of a slip

in this “four register area”—basically the above groups 2, 3 and 4—is slip 16 in group 3. And in fact

the text on the fourth register of slip 80 appears to be related with that on the following slips 82, 79

and 8135:

80.4 朢之不往者萬世不到

82.4 盧之弗爲與已鈞也

79.4 故曰道无近弗行不到

81.4 事无細弗爲不成

Based on these findings groups 2, 3 and 5 can be expanded to the following sequences of slips

(additions are highlighted in red):

2) 73-75-76-77-74-78-59-60-07b

3) 08-61-62-72-71-69-(10+70)36-(16+80)-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-(07a+66)-63-64

5) 25-26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36

Moreover, groups 7 and 8 can be connected through slip 45:

7+8) 41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-14-15-12-21-17

34 See photograph in Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 145. 35 A connection between these three slips (and also 83, 84 and 65) was already proposed in Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a. 36 Note: “(x+y)” means that the two fragments x and y are considered to be two parts of one and the same slip.

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The already mentioned numbered catalogue on Wei li slips 27 to 52, which is largely parallel to the

Wei li zhi dao, further suggests that groups 5 and 6 can be joined with 7+8 to form one continuous

sequence of 52 slips. This leaves us with overall five groups of bamboo slips whose respective

sequences were reconstructed mainly according to the verso lines:

1) 87-86

2) 73-75-76-77-74-78-59-60-07b

3) 08-61-62-72-71-69-(10+70)-(16+80)-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-(07a+66)-63-64

4) 68-23-22-13

5+6+7+8) 25-26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-

40-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-14-15-12-21-17

The question now is: what was the original sequence of these five groups in the manuscript roll? To

solve this question we have to turn to the verso imprints of writing.

4. Investigation of verso imprints

Just like some of the bamboo slips published in volume three of the Yuelu Academy manuscripts,

several of the Wei li slips have mirror-inverted imprints of writing on their verso (see fig. 5).37

Fig. 5: Examples of verso imprints with their respective recto pendants in the Wei li. 37 For an introduction to this phenomenon and an investigation of the imprints in manuscript 1 of volume three see Shi Da 2013, 24–25 as well as Staack (forthcoming). Cf. Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2013, 317–336.

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The first to make use of these imprints for the reconstruction of the sequence of the slips in the Wei li

manuscript was a group of scholars at Fudan University. They showed that slips 05, 85 and 06 should

be reconstructed in exactly this order, because the text written on their recto is imprinted on the verso

of slips 36, 37 and 38, the sequence of which can be determined by comparison with the Wei li zhi dao.

As the verso of slips 05, 85 and 06 in turn show imprints of the writing on the recto of slips 68, 23 and

22 and slips 68 and 23 again have imprints from the recto of slips 62, 72 and 71, the following small

groups could be reconstructed: 05-85-06, 68-23-22 and 62-72-71.38 This discovery exactly matches the

results of the analysis of the verso lines above (cf. groups 5+6+7+8, 4 and 3) and is therefore further

evidence for the significance of the verso lines for the reconstruction of the original sequence of the

slips.

If we assume that the Wei li manuscript was originally rolled up with the writing on the recto facing

towards the middle of the manuscript roll and the verso facing towards the outside, which is also

suggested by the presence of a title on the verso of slip 87, then the slips with imprints on their verso

must have been situated more towards the middle of the manuscript than the slips with the

corresponding writing on their recto. As the imprints identified by the Fudan University research

group are found on slips that belong to our groups 3, 4 and 5+6+7+8, we can arrange these groups

from the outside to the middle of the manuscript roll according to the pattern of the imprints (slips

with imprints and/or corresponding recto writing are highlighted in red):

outside

3) 08-61-62-72-71-69-(10+70)-(16+80)-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-(07a+66)-63-64

4) 68-23-22-13

5+6+7+8) 25-26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-

36-37-38-39-40-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-

14-15-12-21-17

middle

As the text written on the recto of slips 05-85-06 is imprinted on the verso of slips 36-37-38 from the

same continuous sequence of slips (already reconstructed according to the verso lines), we can further

conclude that the manuscript was originally rolled up with its end in the middle and its beginning on

the outside. Otherwise the slips with imprints (36-37-38) would not follow but instead precede the

slips with the corresponding writing on the recto (05-85-06).

Now how do the remaining groups 1 and 2 fit into this scheme? There are in fact further imprints to be

found: The writing on the recto of slip 78 from group 2 is imprinted on the verso of slips 84 and 65

from group 3; there is furthermore an imprint of slip 75 from group 2 on slip 82 from group 3. This

means that group 2 must be reconstructed further to the outside of the manuscript roll than group 3.

38 Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a.

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Finally, there is an imprint from the recto of slip 87 from group 1 on the verso of slips 71 and 69 from

group 3. As these imprints precede those deriving from the recto of slips from group 2 (on slips 82 as

well as 84 and 65), group 1 must accordingly have been situated at the very beginning of the

manuscript.39 We can therefore reconstruct the following sequence of the groups from the outside to

the middle (or beginning to end) of the manuscript:

outside

1) 87-86

2) 73-75-76-77-74-78-59-60-07b

3) 08-61-62-72-71-69-(10+70)-(16+80)-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-(07a+66)-63-64

4) 68-23-22-13

5+6+7+8) 25-26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-

40-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-14-15-12-21-17

middle

According to the above analysis the most probable original sequence of the Wei li slips was therefore:

87-86-73-75-76-77-74-78-59-60-07b-08-61-62-72-71-69-(10+70)-(16+80)-82-79-81-83-84-65-67-

(07a+66)-63-64-68-23-22-13-25-26-19-18-11-20-01-02-03-04-05-85-06-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-

35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-58-57-24-09-14-15-12-21-

17.40

5. Conclusion

As can easily be seen, this new reconstruction of the Wei li, which is mainly based on the analysis of

verso lines as well as verso imprints, is completely different from the one originally proposed by the

editors. It should however be noted that this reconstruction accords with some earlier proposals for

revision that were based on purely textual criteria.41 The reconstruction presented in this paper only

had to completely rely on textual evidence for the placement of seven slips (see section “loose ends”)

39 Chen Songchang already pointed out that there are apparently remains of some kind of bamboo container, in which the Wei li manuscript was probably stored, on the verso of slip 87. This also suggests that this slip was positioned somewhere in the outermost layer of the manuscript roll. See Chen Songchang 2010, 33. 40 For a diagram of the reconstructed structure of the manuscript roll as well as an overview of all identified imprints see appendices A and B. For an overview of the (now visible) verso lines on the slips according to the new reconstruction see appendix E. 41 See for example the sequences 87+86 (Chen Wei 2010) as well as 82+79+81+83+84+65 (Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a).

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instead of all 87.42 A close investigation of the text as well as the layout of the Wei li manuscript

according to the new reconstruction (see appendices C and D) shows that none of the two clearly

contradicts this new sequence of the slips.43 Furthermore, the arrangement of the slips in this

reconstruction exhibits strong parallels to the positions of the slips inside the eight bundles, into which

the Yuelu Academy Qin slips had been divided before the ordering work was started (see appendix F).

If we assume that the positions of the Wei li slips in these eight bundles—especially bundle 6—to a

certain degree still reflected their original positions inside the manuscript roll, this can be regarded as

supplementary evidence to support the reconstruction presented here.44

One main difference from the original reconstruction is that the manuscript now actually starts (instead

of ends) with slips 87 (bearing the title on its verso) and 86, which contain some general remarks on

the content of the Wei li. These two slips carrying writing that is not separated into registers are

followed by a part with four and later three registers (slips 73 to 05). It appears that the fourth register

on slips 23 to 05 of this part was left empty, because the text planned to be written on these slips was

not long enough to fill all four registers completely. Interestingly, this second part is followed by one

slip (85) that again contains continuous writing without registers. It seems that the respective text even

continues to the first register of the following slip 06.45 The third register of slip 06 contains a part of

text, which the editors originally linked with 05.3 (now preceding slip 85) according to the Wei li zhi

dao.46 It is therefore possible that the text on 06.3 was originally supposed to follow 05.3 but was

accidentally skipped by the scribe while he was writing the text on slips 73 to 05. When he later

discovered this error, the scribe possibly filled in the missing line on slip 06, which had originally

been supposed to remain empty apart from the last part of the text that started on the preceding slip 85.

The rest of the manuscript (slips 27 to 17) carries writing in three registers.

The overall layout of the Yuelu Academy Wei li according to the new reconstruction therefore

suggests a separation of the manuscript text into at least four parts: introduction (slips 87 and 86,

without registers), main text 1 (slips 73 to 05 [+06.3?], four/three registers), “separator text” (slip 85 42 Furthermore textual evidence in this case mostly meant textual parallels inside the Wei li manuscript or in comparison to the Shuihudi Wei li zhi dao, rather than a more elaborate but also subjective—and therefore less reliable—interpretation of the content. 43 In fact the new layout appears to be more logical than the one proposed by the editors in some respects. For example the slips carrying four registers were originally placed at the end of the manuscripts. That this could hardly have been the case was already noted by Lin Suqing 林素清 (2013, 300). 44 The author is grateful to Professor Arnd Helmut Hafner (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) for his critical comments on an earlier draft, which caused the author to include this kind of supplementary evidence into the final version of his paper. The diagram in appendix F demonstrates that most of the slips belonging to the Wei li manuscript were part of bundle 6. As the only slips of the Wei li, which were found in other bundles are two comparatively small groups of slips on the left (bundles 1, 2, 4 and 5) and right side (bundles 1 and 4) of the reconstructed manuscript roll, it might be the case that the structure of the Wei li manuscript was still largely intact, before the slips were separated into bundles, sometime before they were purchased. 45 This was already proposed in Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a. 46 Wei li 05.3–06.3: 正以撟之，反若其身 (cf. Wei li zhi dao 21.1–22.1: 正以橋（矯）之。反赦其身). According to Wang Hui (2008, 289) ruo 若 was occasionally used to write she 赦.

– 14 –

and slip 06.1), main text 2 (slips 27 to 17). It appears that the text on slips 85 and 06 was inserted as a

separator between main text 1 and 2 and therefore written in a different layout. This probably reflects

an editorial choice of the scribe or compiler, because close observation of the recto of the Wei li slips

shows that all of them (including slips 85, 86 and 87) were originally designed to be separated into

registers. Obviously faint horizontal grid lines were applied to indicate the positions on the slips where

the writing on the second and fourth register was supposed to start (see fig. 6).47

Fig. 6: Horizontal grid line (marked with an arrow) at the beginning of the second register of slips 04,

05, 85, 06 and 27 (right to left).

Possibly there were also grid lines for the first and third register, but this is difficult to verify as traces

of the upper and middle binding strings cover exactly these positions. The fact that slips 85, 86 and 87

also show grid lines suggests that the scribe did not adhere to the predetermined layout. This was

probably a conscious decision rather than a scribal mistake.

47 The editors of the Shuihudi manuscripts also mentioned such faint lines on the recto of the Wei li zhi dao slips (Shuihudi Qin mu zhijian zhengli xiaozu 1990, 167). However, due to the comparatively poor quality of the photographs the author was not able to verify this.

– 15 –

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Appendix A: Wei li manuscript roll (cross section showing imprint relations)

Red: slips with recto original writing

Yellow: slips with verso imprint pendant

Grey: missing slips

Overall 86 slips, including 1 missing slip(?)48

48 The pattern of the imprints suggests that there is very likely one slip missing between slip 86 (group 1) and slip 73 (group 2). This missing slip has therefore been tentatively included into the above diagram.

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Appendix B: Overview on imprints

Slip with recto original writing Slip with verso imprint pendant

87/1531 71/1532+69/1533

75/0924 82/0926

78/1589 84/1585+65/1584

62/1529+72/1530 68/1536

71/1532 23/1537

68/1536 05/1540

23/1537 85/1541

22/1538 06/1542

05/1540 36/1544

85/1541 37/1545

85/1541+06/1542 38/1546

38/1546 48/1550

39/1547 49/1551

48/1550 58/1555

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Appendix C: Wei li text according to the new reconstruction49

Wei li text, first half (slips 87 to 04).

49 The following transcription merely reflects the character forms found in the manuscript. It is not to be understood as an interpretative transcription aiming to render the words written by each character. Note that a few characters, which are not part of the standard character set, have been replaced with similar common forms. The transcription is mainly based on Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010. Additionally, some later revisions have been implemented, most of which can be found in Fudan daxue chutu wenxian yu gu wenzi yanjiu zhongxin yanjiusheng dushuhui 2011a.

– 20 –

Wei li text, second half (slips 05 to 17).

– 21 –

Appendix D: Wei li layout according to the new reconstruction

Wei li new reconstruction, recto, overview.

– 22 –

Wei li new reconstruction, recto, first half (slips 87 to 04).

– 23 –

Wei li, new reconstruction, recto, second half (slips 05 to 17).

– 24 –

Appendix E: Wei li verso lines according to the new reconstruction50

Wei li new reconstruction, verso, overview.

50 In the following figures the verso lines are indicated in red, as they would otherwise be barely visible in this format. For a closer inspection of the line sections on individual slips please refer to the photographs in Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 109–149.

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Wei li new reconstruction, verso, first half (slips 87 to 04, left to right).

– 26 –

Wei li new reconstruction, verso, second half (slips 05 to 17, left to right).

– 27 –

Appendix F: Wei li manuscript roll (cross section showing bundle affiliations and relative

positions inside bundles)51

51 Before the ordering work was started, the Yuelu Academy Qin slips had been divided into eight bundles. This diagram provides information on two related aspects: First, it shows which slips of the Wei li derive from which of the eight bundles. Second, it marks slips that were also positioned “above each other” (in a similar way as in the present diagram) inside one of these bundles by highlighting them in the same colour. For example, slips 71, 22, 06, 38 and 48 (highlighted in yellow) are positioned directly above each other in the reconstruction presented in this paper and illustrated by this diagram, but they already had a similar position as part of bundle 6. Please note that such a statement can only be made for slips, which have the same colour AND are positioned directly above each other in the present diagram. So slips 05, 36 and 46 were also close together inside bundle 6 (as were the already mentioned slips 71, 22, 06, 38 and 48), but they have no such relation to other slips also highlighted in yellow. The same colours were used for different groups of slips merely to keep the number of different colours to a minimum. The information on the mentioned two aspects was drawn from the diagrams showing the structure of the eight bundles of the Yuelu Qin slips, see Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 205–219. Note that the bundle affiliation of the two fragments with the item numbers 2176 and 2178 is unclear, as only item numbers up to 2171 are included in the eight diagrams; probably the two were part of the remaining bundle of fragments, see photo in Zhu Hanmin and Chen Songchang 2010, 220. Furthermore, no evidence on the exact positions of the slips belonging to bundle 4 could be drawn from the respective diagram, because the item numbers were printed indecipherably small.