1 Ma Chengyuan 馬承源 (ed.), Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 2001), vol. 1, pp. 1–2. See also Ma Chengyuan, in Ai Lan 艾蘭 (Sarah Allan) and 邢文, Xing Wen (ed.), Xin chu jianbo yanjiu: Xin chu jianbo guoji xueshu yantaohui wenji 新出簡帛研究: 新出簡帛國際學術討論會文集 (Beijing: Wenwu, 2004), p. 1Google Scholar.

2 Ma Chengyuan (ed.), Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, vol. 2, pp. 31–48 (colour photographs) and pp. 181–91 (transcriptions).

3 Chen Songchang 陳松長, Xianggang Zhongwen Daxue Wenwuguan cang jiandu 香港中文大學文物舘藏簡牘, slip 3, as cited by Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, p. 194. Ma Chengyuan's proposal that this fragment was originally from the same bamboo slip text has generally been accepted by other scholars, but the placement of the slip has been contested. My placement follows Chen Jian's suggestion that it should be placed at the top of slip 12.

4 Shi ji史記 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1973), 67 “Zhongni dizi liezhuan仲尼弟子列傳”, p. 2212. The dates of the philosophers given herein are those of Qian Mu 錢穆, Xian Qin zhuzi xinian 先秦諸子繫年 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1956).

5 Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu 春秋左傳注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1990), pp. 1694–96 (Ai Gong 哀公, 15^th year). I have followed the convention of transcribing “衛” as Wey, to distinguish it from Wei 魏.

6 The probable source of the Shanghai materials will be discussed in greater detail in my forthcoming book, Written on Bamboo: Advocating Abdication in Warring States Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts. For the date of Guodian tomb Number One, see Li Xueqin, “The Confucian texts from Guodian Tomb Number One”, and Xing Wen, “Scholarship on the Guodian texts: a review article”, in Allan, Sarah and Williams, Crispin (ed.), The Guodian Laozi: Proceedings of the International Conference, Dartmouth College, May, 1998 (Berkeley: The Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2000), pp. 107–12 and 251–7Google Scholar. These dates have been disputed by Wang Baoxuan 王葆玹 in a number of articles. For an English translation of one of them, see “A discussion of the composition dates of the various Guodian Chu slip texts and their background”, Contemporary Chinese Thought 2000 (Fall), pp. 18–42 (originally published in Zhongguo zhexue, vol. 20). Others include “Guodian Chu jian de shidai ji qi yu Zisi xuepai de guanxi 郭店楚簡的時代及其與子思學派的關係”, in Wuhan daxue Zhongguo wenhua yanjiuyuan 武漢大學中國文化研究院, Guodian Chu jian guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 郭店楚簡國際學術研討會論文集 (Wuhan: Hubei Renmin Press, 2000), pp. 644–9. Wang rejects the entire corpus of archaeological literature on Chu tombs and calendrics, as well as the archaeologists' date of Guodian Tomb Number One. However, his arguments do not include an impartial analysis of archaeologically excavated materials and are intended to support a preconceived historical sequence based upon the received literary tradition.

7 Allan, Sarah, “The way of Tang Yao and Yu Shun: appointment by merit as a theory of succession in a Warring States bamboo slip text”, in Xing, Wen (ed.), Rethinking Confucianism: Selected Papers from the Third International Conference on Excavated Chinese Manuscripts, Mount Holyoke College, April 2004, Special Issue of International Research on Bamboo and Silk Documents: Newsletter, vol. 5.2, 2006, pp. 22–4Google Scholar.

8 馬承源, Ma Chengyuan (ed.), Shanghai bowuguan cang, vol. 2, pp. 91–146Google Scholar, 247–93 (Rongchengshi); vol. 6, pp. 151–9, 310–21. Pines, Yuri, “Disputers of abdication: Zhanguo egalitarianism and the sovereign's power”, T'oung Pao 91/4–5, 2005, pp. 243–300CrossRefGoogle Scholar, discusses three texts (Tang Yu zhi dao, Rongchengshi and the Zigao).

9 Gu Jiegang, “Shanrang chuanshuo qi yu Mojia kao 禪讓傳説起於墨家考”, in Gu shi bian, vol. 7c, pp. 30–109. See also Yang Kuan's response to Gu, pp. 110–17 in the same volume. For a recent critique of this view, see 阮芝生, Ruan Zhisheng, “Ping ‘shanrang chuanshuo qi yu Mojia’ shuo 評 ‘禪讓傳説起於墨家’ 說”, Yanjing Xuebao 燕京學報, new series, vol. 3, 1997, pp. 29–54Google Scholar.

10 Lun yu jishi 論語集釋 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1990), 14 (“Shu er xia 述而下”), p. 480 (7.21).

11 Hsü, Cho-yun, Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722–222 B.C. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1965)Google Scholar.

12 Hsü, Ancient China in Transition, p. 38.

13 Chinese Society in the Age of Confucius (1000–250 bc): The Archaeological Evidence (Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, 2006), pp. 70, 395, etc.

14 Allan, Sarah, The Heir and the Sage: Dynastic Legend in Early China (San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center, 1981)Google Scholar.

15 Lun yu jishi, juan 23 (“Xian jin xia 先進下”), p. 777 (11.18).

16 Shi ji 67 (“Zhongni dizi liezhuan 仲尼弟子列傳”), p. 2212.

17 Lun yu jishi 23 (“Xian jin, xia”), pp. 794–7 (11.23).

18 Shi ji 67, p. 2212. Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 identifies Zigao as from Wei 衛, but the Suoyin 索引 commentary cites the Kongzi jiayu 孔子家語 that he was from Qi 齊.

19 Kongzi jiayu 孔子家語 (Taipei: Shijie, Sibu kanyao series, n.d.) 9 (“Qishi'er dizi 七十二弟子”), p. 88.

20 Li ji jijie 禮記集解 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1989) 40 (“Za ji xia 雜記下”), p. 1069.

21 Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, pp. 1694–96 (Ai Gong, fifteenth year); Shi ji 47 (“Wei Kangshu shi jia 衛康叔世家”), pp. 1599–601; Shi ji 67, p. 2193. The Shuoyuan 說苑 adds a tale in which the crippled gate-keeper, whose leg Zigao has amputated, helps him, first suggesting a place where he can climb over the wall and then one in which he can crawl under. Both are refused by Zigao on the grounds that climbing over and crawling under are not behaviours suitable for a gentleman. The gate-keeper then hides him in a room. After he has been saved, Zigao asks him why he did so and the gate-keeper explains that the amputation only took place according to law after a fair assessment of his crime. See Xin xu Shuoyuan 新序說苑 (Taipei: Shijie, Sibu kanyao series, n.d., facsimile of Ming woodblock) Shuoyuan 14 ( “Zhi Gong 至公”), p. 12a. This passage has a Legalist tone.

22 Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, pp. 1656–89 (Ai Gong, tenth–fourteenth year); Shi ji 32 (“Qi Taigong shijia 齊太公世家”), p. 1508, 46 (“Tian Jing Zhong Wan Shijia 田敬仲完世家”), pp. 1883–84. Lewis, Mark Edward, “Warring States political history”, in Loewe, Michael and Shaughnessy, Edward L. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Ancient China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 589Google Scholar, gives a succinct summary of these events. See also, Lewis, Mark Edward, Sanctioned Violence in Early China (Albany: SUNY Press, 1990), chapters 1–2Google Scholar.

23 Ma Chengyuan (ed.), Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, vol. 2, pp. 85–90, 239–46. For discussion of this text and the system of hereditary transmission, see Peng Hao 彭浩, “Zizhe jun lao yu ‘Shizi fa’ 《昔者君老》與”世子法”, Wenwu 2004/5, pp. 86–8.

24 Shi ji 67, p. 2191.

25 Xunzi Jianshi 荀子簡釋 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua Shuju, 1974), pian 27 (“Da lue 大略”), p. 379.

26 Ma Chengyuan (ed.), Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, vol. 2, p. 183.

27 Allan and Williams, The Guodian Laozi, p. 122.

28 李零, Li Ling, Shangbo Chu jian san pian jiaoduji 上博楚簡三篇校讀記 (Taipei: Wan-chüan-lou, 2002), pp. 13–15Google Scholar. Li Ling takes “San wang zhi zuo 三王之作” as the title of the fourteen slips designated Zigao by Ma Chengyuan. See also Lin Zhipeng 林志鵬, “Zhanguo Chu zhushu Zigao pian fuyuan chuyi 戰國楚竹書《子羔》篇復原芻議”, in 朱淵清, Zhu Yuanqing and 廖名春, Liao Mingchun (ed.), Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian 上博館藏戰國楚竹書研究續編 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2002), pp. 53–84Google Scholar.

29 廖名春, Liao Mingchun, “Shangbo Shilun jian de zuozhe he zuonian – Jianlun Zigao ye keneng chuan Shi 上博《詩論》簡的作者和作年—兼論子羔也可能傳《詩》”,Qinghua jianbo yanjiu 2, 2002Google Scholar. Reprinted in Qi Lu xuekan 齊魯學刊 2002/2, pp. 94–9. (See also Liao Mingchun 廖名春, “Shangbo Shilun jian de zuozhe he zuonian 上博《诗论》简的作者和作年”, www.jianbo.org).

30 Huaping, Gao, “Shangbo jian Kongzi lun shi de lun shi tese ji qi zuozhe wenti 上博簡《孔子論詩》的論詩特色及其作者問題”, Jianghan kaogu 江漢考古 2005/1, pp. 87–91Google Scholar.

31 Chen Jian, see note 1. Li Xueqin 李學勤, “Chu jian Zigao yanjiu 楚簡《子羔》研究”, in Zhu Yuanqing 朱淵清 and 廖名春, Liao Mingchun (eds), Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian 上博館藏戰國楚竹書研究續編 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2002), pp. 12–17Google Scholar. See also Qiu Xigui 裘錫圭, “Tantan Shangbo jian Zigao pian de jianxu 談談上博簡《子羔》篇的簡序”, in the same volume, pp. 1–11. Qiu's arrangement follows that of Chen Jian, but differs from Li Xueqin's. He places slip 7 before slip 14.

32 As Li Ling has pointed out, the title should be near the beginning or end of the scroll. In Li Ling's sequence, as found in Shanghai Bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu and Shangbo Chujian san pian jiaoduji, it is on the back of the fifth slip, so the Zigao would have been the first in the scroll. In Li Xueqin's sequence it is on the third slip from the end of Zigao, so the Zigao would have been last.

33 I have supplied the clan name of Yu's mother, following Yi Song-ryul (Li Chenglu 李承律), “Shanhaku sokan Sikou no kanseisetsu to nijō no jōmeiron 上博楚簡《子羔》の感生說と二重の受命論”, in Xin chu Chu jian guoji xueshu yantao hui huiyi lunwenji (Shangbo jian juan), 新出楚簡國際學術研討會會議論文集 （上博簡卷）Wuhan University, 2006, June 26–28, pp. 368–92 (374). While it may not be correct, there should be a clan name here and this is the only one given for Yu's mother in the early texts. The graph, nü 女, is also only partial, but the reference to her pregnancy confirms that a woman is intended here and this parallels the other two stories of divine conception.

34 Yi, “Shanhaku sokan Sikou”, discusses these myths and provides references to them in other texts.

35 My transcription and translation of this line are very problematic. Li Xueqin's reading of the line is entirely different: 亦改先王之攸道不奉, 廢王則, 亦不大變 . “They changed the excellent way of the former kings and did not make presentations; throwing away the standards of the kings, was indeed a great change.” There has been much scholarly discussion of this line, but all of the suggested readings by various scholars depend on a considerable amount of guesswork. Moreover, none of the solutions provide lines which are a logical antecedent to Confucius' reply. It is possible that the preceding question on slip 3, “Zigao said, ‘That being so, then, of the three kings, which one…’” does not belong before slip 7 (even if the sequence is correct, one or more slips might be missing). However, this does not solve the problem of continuity on slip 7.

36 There are five graphs here which I have not been able to make sense of and have left untranslated.

37 Mozi jiaozhu 墨子校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1993), 6 (“Jie zang xia 節葬下”), p. 267.

38 In my analysis of the parallels of historical figures in The Heir and the Sage, Yao and Shun were consistently the earliest figures mentioned. This was first recognized by 顧頡剛, Gu Jiegang, “Yao Shun Yu de guanxi shi ruhe laide 堯舜禹的關係是如何來的” in Gu shi bian 古史辨 (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 1982 [first published 1926–41]), vol. 1, pp. 127–32Google Scholar.

39 Karlgren, Bernhard (trans.), The Book of Documents (Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1950), pp. 2–3Google Scholar.

40 Shi ji 1 (“Wu di benji 五帝本紀”), p. 38; 2 (“Xia benji 夏本紀”), p. 50. Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, p. 61.

41 Mengzi Yizhu 孟子譯注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 9 (“Wanzhang shang 萬章上”), p. 215 (9.4).

42 齊文心, Qi Wenxin, “Guanyu Shangdai chengwang de fengguo junzhang de tantao 關於商代稱王的封囯君長的談討”, Lishi yanjiu 1985/2, pp. 63–78Google Scholar.

43 Lothar von Falkenhausen, “The waning of the bronze age”, in Loewe and Shaughnessy (eds), The Cambridge History of Ancient China, p. 516.

44 Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋, ed. Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩 (Taipei: Heluo, 1974), pian 10 “Qu qie 胠篋”, p. 357. For an attempt to identify the names in Rongchengshi with those in the Zhuangzi, see He Linyi 何琳儀, “Dier pi Hujian xuanshi” 第二批滬簡選釋, in Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian, pp. 444–55.

45 Zhuangzi jishi, pian 2 (“Qi wu lun 齊物論”), p. 99; pian 6 (“Da zong shi 大宗師”), pp. 247, 280, pian 11 (“Zai you 在宥”), pp. 373, 379–83, etc.; Shi ji 1 (“Wu di ben ji 五帝本紀”), p. 1, 2 (“Xia ben ji 夏本紀”), p. 49.

46 Chengyuan, Ma (ed.), Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, vol. 2, 2002, pp. 91–146 and 247–93Google Scholar. This text will be translated in full and discussed in my forthcoming book, Written on Bamboo: Advocating Abdication in Warring States Period Chu Script Bamboo Slip Manuscripts.

47 Karlgren, Bernhard, “Legends and cults in Ancient China”, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 18, 1946, pp. 199–365Google Scholar. Karlgren assumes that these progenitors were real people who have been mythologized in Han texts. I see them as originally myth figures.

48 In Sarah Allan, “On the identity of Shang Di 上帝 and the origin of the concept of a celestial mandate (tian ming 天命)”, Early China, 31 (forthcoming), I argue against the commonly accepted view that tian was the high god of the Zhou and Shang Di the high god of the Zhou. I believe that tian was the place where Shang Di and the ancestral spirits under his aegis resided in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Thus, it may be used as a reference to Shang Di.

49 Karlgren, The Book of Documents, pp. 47–9.

50 Lun yu jishi 33 (“Jishi 季氏”), p. 1141 (16.2). The only other example of the term tian zi in the Lun yu is a quote from the Shi jing, see Lun yu jishi 5 (“Ba seng shang 八僧上”), p. 140 (3.2).

51 I believe this term was coined by Edward Schafer, who taught me at Berkeley, but I have not been able to authenticate this.

52 Mengzi yizhu 14 (“Jin xin xua 盡心下”), p. 326 (14.6).

53 The modern character transcription yi yi 薏苡 is based on the assumption that the graphs yu yi 於伊 are phonetic loans. This reading was suggested by Yi Song-ryul and solves the grammatical problem of the function of the preposition yu. See appendix.

54 Liao Mingchun 廖名春, “Zigao pian gansheng jianwen kaoshi 《子羔》篇感生簡文考釋”, in Zhu Yuanqing and Liao Mingchun (eds), Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian, p. 20, notes that there are no other accounts of Yu being able to speak at birth, whereas Huang Di is given this attribute in several texts.

55 Wu Yue chunqiu 吳越春秋 6 “Yue Wang Wuyu waizhuan 越王無余外傳”, The Institute of Chinese Studies Ancient Chinese Texts Concordance Series, no. 5 (Hong Kong: The Commercial Press, 1993), p. 28, line 4. Yi, “Shanhaku sokan sikou”, pp. 374–5 lists the names of Yu's mother in early texts. She is usually called Xiu Ji 修己. In the Wu Yue chunqiu, her personal name is given as 女僖. This may be evidence of different myth traditions. Mark Lewis, The Flood Myths of Early China, pp. 137–40 and 207, notes 128–30 discusses variants of the myth of Yu's birth. In some myths, Yu's mother is said to have been impregnated by a meteor. Liao Mingchun, “Zigao pian gansheng jianwen kaoshi”, has related this version of the myth to the Zigao, see my edition for his alternative readings.

56 Lun yu jishi 28 (“Xian wen shang 憲問上”), p. 952 (14.3).

57 Wu Yue chunqiu 6 (“Yue Wang Wuyu waizhuan”), p. 28, line 4; Da Dai Li ji 大戴禮記 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), p. 130; Di wang shi ji jicun 帝王世紀輯存 (Beijing: Zhongua shuju, 1964), p. 49.

58 See Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 62–7.

59 Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, p. 1290 (Zhao Gong 昭公 seventh year). The same account appears in the Guo Yu 國語 14 (“Jin yu 晉語” 8), p. 478. See also Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China (State University of New York Press, Albany, 1991), p. 70; Mark Lewis, The Flood Myths of Early China, pp. 102–6.

60 Sarah Allan, Shape of the Turtle, pp. 69–70.

61 Lun heng 論衡 (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin, 1974), 3 (“Qi guai pian 奇怪篇”), pp. 50–51; Lun heng 19 (“Huiguo pian 恢國篇”), p. 301 has a longer list of divine births that also includes Yao, Tang 湯, Wen Wang 文王, and Wu Wang 武王. However, it does not attribute divine birth to Shun.

62 Weishu jicheng 緯書集成 (eds), Anju Xiangshan 安居香山(Yasui Kozan), Zhongcun Zhangba 中村璋八(Nakamura Shōhachi) (Shijiazhuang: Hebei Renmin, 1994), p. 531 (Li Wei, includes only Yu and Xie); p. 301 (includes the full set of 3 myths). These accounts are concerned with naming, as is the Wu Yue Chunqiu passage mentioned above.

63 I argue in The Shape of the Turtle, ch. 2, that the Shang myth that their first ancestor was born of a bird egg is related to their belief that their ancestors were associated with the ten suns. The name Yang Tai 陽臺, “Sun Tower”, given in the manuscript fits well with this theory, so I see no reason to read 陽 as a loan-graph.

64 Yi, “Shanhaku sokan Sikou”, pp. 377–9, includes a table of alternative versions of this myth.

65 Maoshi buzheng 毛詩補正 25 (“Shang song”), p. 1694 (“Xuan niao 玄鳥”, 303).

66 Maoshi buzheng, 25, pp. 1701–2 (“Chang fa 長發”, 304). The Mao commentary has yuan wang元 王 (“first king”) instead of xuan wang. One or the other must be a phonetic loan; both are possible semantically.

67 Yi, “Shanhaku sokan Sikou”, pp. 382–3 includes a table with different versions of this myth and their sources.

68 Maoshi buzheng 19 (“Da ya 大雅”), pp. 1311–12 (“Shengmin 生民”, Mao 245). The Mao commentary takes Di as Gao Xin shi 高辛氏, i.e. Di Ku 帝嚳. However, Di 帝 used on its own in Zhou texts normally refers to Shang Di 上帝 and this is the gloss given by Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (ad 127–200).

69 Maoshi buzheng 24 “Lu Song 魯頌”, p. 1660 (“Bigong 閟宮”, Mao 300).

70 A relatively detailed account is found in Mengzi yizhu 9 (“Wan zhang shang”), pp. 209–3 (9.2). For discussion of this legend, see Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 37–9, 45. There is a debate about how to read the two graphs that I transcribe here as Gu Sou, following Li Xueqin (see the appended edition, notes to slip 1,8–9), but whatever the transcription, scholars agree that the reference is to the figure called Gu Sou in the received texts.

71 Mengzi yizhu 10 (“Wan zhang xia”), p. 237 (10.3). See Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 45–6 for discussion of Gu Sou's social status. The Shi ji 1 (“Wu di benji”), p. 31, gives him a noble ancestry but states that his family had been commoners for seven generations.

72 See Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, especially, ch. 6.

73 Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 44–50.

74 Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 29–31; 91–4.

75 Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 46–9.

76 Lun yu jishi 17 (“Zihan shang 子罕上”), p. 588 (Mao 9.9).

77 See Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle, ch. 3.

78 Lun yu jishi, 28 (“Xian wen 憲問”), p. 952 (14.5).

79 See note 9.

80 Lun yu jishi, 39 (“Yao yue 堯曰”), pp. 1345–49 (20.1).

81 Brooks, E. Bruce and Brooks, A. Taeko, The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Followers (New York: Columbia, 1998), p. 192Google Scholar, date it to c. 251 bc. I am uncertain of the reasons for their precision. I suspect it has an earlier date, fifth–fourth century bc, though when it was added to the Lun yu cannot be determined.

82 Zhanguo ce zhengjie 戰國策正解 (Taibei: Heluo, 1976) 9 (“Yan ce shang, Wang Kuai 燕策上, 王噲”), pp. 16–17; Shi ji, 34 (“Yan Shaogong shijia 燕召公世家”), pp. 1555–56, is very similar. Zhanguo ce zhengjie 4 (“Qi ce shang, Xuan Wang 齊策上, 宣王”), pp. 19–22 also includes background stories. The relationship of this incident to the Guodian manuscript, Tang Yu zhi dao, was first discussed by Li Xueqin 李學勤, “Xian Qin Rujia zhuzuo de zhongda faxian 先秦儒家著作的重大發現,” Renmin zhengxie bao 人民政協報, 8 June 1998. I have previously discussed it in “The Way of Tang Yao and Yu Shun: appointment by merit as a theory of succession in a Warring States bamboo slip text”, as has Yuri Pines, in “Disputers of abdication”.

83 Mengzi yizhu 9 (“Wan zhang shang”), p. 219 (9.5).

84 This point is well explored by Yuri Pines, “Disputers of abdication”, pp. 268 ff. See also Sarah Allan, “The Way of Tang Yao and Yu Shun”.

85 Gu Jiegang, “Shanrang chuanshuo qi yu Mojia”, in Gu shi bian, vol. 7c, pp. 50 ff.

86 Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage, pp. 125–40.

87 This argument is also made in Yuri Pines, “Disputers of abdication”.

88 In later apocrypha, Confucius is given a miraculous conception and birth, like those of the three dynastic progenitors. This is discussed in Jenson, Lionel M., “The Genesis of Kongzi in Ancient narrative: the figurative as historical”, in Wilson, Thomas A. (ed.), On Sacred Grounds: Culture, Society, Politics, and the Formation of the Cult of Confucius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2002), pp. 175–221 (206–14)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

89 Lun yu ji shi, 14 (“Shu er xia 述而下”), p. 500 (7.34).

90 Chen Songchang 陳松長, Xianggang Zhongwen Daxue Wenwuguan cang jiandu 香港中文大學文物舘藏簡牘, slip 3, as cited by Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, 194.

91 高亨, Gao Heng, Guzi tongjia huidian 古字通假會典 (Jinan: Qi Lu Daxue, 1989), p. 625Google Scholar.