Research On The Issues Related To The Tsinghua Bamboo Slips "Tang Chu In Tangqiu

"Tang chuyu Tangqiu" of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips records the encounter between Yi Yin and Shang Tang,as well as their questions and answers about politics.It is rich in content.A deeper exploration of the text’s compilation,the "Yiyin stories" of the Warring States Period and related ideas and concepts will help to better understand politics,ideology and culture and social customs in the pre-Qin period.From the perspective of language features,ideological development,philological features and the circulation of text,Tang chuyu Tangqiu might be written in the earlymid-phase Warring States Period and spread in Jin and Yan.Nearly in the mid-latephase Warring States Period,it had been circulated to Chu.From the perspective of text structure,the author of Tang chuyu Tangqiu was not one person,but the product of collective wisdom which included the author of bamboo slips and the author of original materials.The author of bamboo slips might be from Yan.On the whole,most authors belonged to the Shi 士,who received systematic private education,and some of them studied tour in the Jixia Academy.From the perspective of bamboo slips in form,content and genre,Tang chuyu Tangqiu might be the imitating Shu literature which mean the scholars in the Warring States Period created it by imitating the style of Shu in the Shang-Zhou Dynasties.Based on"Tang chuyu Tangqiu"and combined with other related literature,the Warring States period"Yi Yin Story"can be divided into four different themes:"Yi Yin gave birth to Kong Sang空桑","Shang Tang met Yi Yin","Yi Yin left the Xia Dynasty and went to Shang Tang"and"Yi Yin exiled Taijia太甲".These stories are parallel yet intertwined.The"Yiyin stories"of the Warring States Period have some characteristics,including the length and number of the editions are inversely proportional to the length and number of the unearthed documents,the coexistence of stratification and elimination,the coexistence of universality and particularity and the coexistence of authenticity and falsehood.In these stories,Yi Yin is portrayed in different images such as the political image of"a prime minister of humble birth",the social image of"from divinity to human",the cultural image of"knowledgeable"and the daily image of"versatile".It now seems that the"Yiyin stories"in the Warring States Period is beneficial to restoring the original style of history,view the social changes of the Warring States Period from the side,study the development path of historical legend in the Warring States Period and reflect the development and prosperity of early historical thoughts.The ideas and concepts of "Tang chuyu Tangqiu" are diverse,incorporating many philosophical elements including Huang-Lao Taoism,Mohism,Confucianism.Huang-Lao thoughts includes the internal logic of "regimen to governance",the mode of thinking of "natural law to humanity" and the idea of "following the rules of nature".In addition to some righteousness and benefit,Mohism thoughts includes the thought of "upholding the sage" and the thought of "frugality".Confucianism includes the idea of "respecting the monarch in a limited way",which means "respecting monarch and not suppressing ministers".The diet thoughts take harmony as the central thought and guiding principle,including three parts,diet and regimen,diet and personal cultivation,diet and politics.Political thoughts includes three parts: opinions on the relations between the emperor and ministers,opinions on the relations between the emperor and people and the view of saints,opinions on the relations between the emperor and ministers includes the view of equality and mutual benefit.The opinions on the relations between the emperor and people includes three aspects: "the monarch loved his people","the monarch is dominant" and "the public as a watchdog".The view of the sage is not only the "sage" in the text,but also the Shang Tang and Yi Yin in eyes of the Warring States Period.Both sides take the sage as the idol,elucidated the doctrine of the sage of the three generations,and tried to influence the troubled times of the Warring States Period,which reflects the construction of traditional Chinese governance paradigm.It is the premise of ideological pluralism that the rich material accumulation layer of Yi Yin is formed around Yi Yin,the public character symbol element and the regional cultural exchange element promotes the exchange of thoughts among different families,which is the necessary condition of ideological pluralism.