¹ For some of the early scholarly discussions on Tomb 1 of the Ma-wang-tui finds, see K'ao-ku [Archaeology], 1972, no. 5, pp. 37–42; and 1972, no. 6, pp. 48–52. Also, see Wen-wu [Cultural relics], 1973, no. 7, pp. 73–74; and 1973, no. 9, pp. 61–76.

² For brief notes in English on some of the more important articles on these finds, see Riegel, Jeffrey K., “A Summary of Some Recent Wenwu and Kaogu articles: Mawangdui Tombs Two and Three,” Early China, Fall 1975, no. 1, pp. 10–15.Google Scholar

³ A summary of the symposium is found in Wen-wu, 1974, no. 9, pp. 45–57. Other participants included Ch'iu Hsi-kuei, Lo Fu-i, Li Chia-hao, Chang Cheng-lang, Chou Shih-jung, Ku T'ieh-fu, Sun Kuan-wen, Fu Chüyu, Chu Te-hsi, Tseng Hsien-t'ung, and Shih Shu-ch'ing.

⁴ The best published account of the Lao Tzu portion of the Silk Manuscripts is Ma-wang tui Han-ma po-shu [The Silk Manuscripts of the Han tomb of Ma-wang-tui] (Peking: Wen-wu, 1975)Google Scholar, an eight-volume edition. The first volume consists of photo reprints of the original silk manuscripts as reconstructed by the Ma-wang-tui Study Group. Volumes 2–6 are the transcriptions of the manuscripts into modern simplified Chinese with explanations and annotations. The last two volumes compare line by line the newly discovered versions of the Lao Tzu with the standard Fu I (555–639) edition.

⁵ Professor Loewe of Cambridge University notes: “The text propagates Confucian idealism, in a manner comparable with that of Ta-hsüeh; the author may have been a disciple of the school of Meng Tzu or Tzu Ssu.” See Loewe, Michael A. N., “Manuscripts Found Recently in China,” T'oung Pao 63, nos. 2–3 (1978): 119Google Scholar. Loewe's preliminary survey is the most extensive discussion to date in English on the Silk Manuscripts as well as on manuscripts on wood, bamboo, and paper unearthed in China since 1972. I am indebted to Professor Edwin G. Pulleyblank for making available to me a copy of this particular text from the University of British Columbia library in the winter of 1976. My own work on the material partly confirms Loewe's observation, but I would suggest that it might have been in the tradition of Chung-yung, and that it was precisely the kind of Mencian teaching that is characterized in the Hsün Tzu as wu-hsing. This Confucian wu-hsing should perhaps be rendered as “five conducts” to distinguish it from the wu-hsing in the Yin-Yang School. For an excellent study on this topic, see P'ang P'u, “Ma-wang-tui po-shu chieh-k'ai-le Ssu-Meng wu-hsing shuo chih-mi” [The Silk Manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui solve the riddle of the theory of the “Five Phases” in the school of Tzu-ssu and Mencius], Wen-wu, 1977, no. 10, pp. 63–69.

⁶ For a pioneering discussion in English of the meaning of these texts, see Yün-hua, Jan, “The Silk Manuscripts on Taoism,” T'oung Pao 63, no. 1 (1978): 65–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Professor Jan's “Short Bibliography of the Silk Manuscripts,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religions Newsletter, 1976, no. 1, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar

⁷ This is based on T'ang Lan's interpretation. See his important article, “Ma-wang-tui ch'u-t'u Lao Tzu i-pen chüan-ch'ien ku-i-shu te yen-chiu—chien-lun ch'i yü Han-ch'u Ju-Fa tou-cheng te kuan-his” [A study of the lost ancient texts preceding version B of the Lao Tzu unearthed at Ma-wang-tui with comments on their relation to the struggle between Confucians and Legalists in early Han], K'ao-ku hsüeh-pao [Acta Archaeologies Sinica], 1975, no. 1, pp. 7–38. It should be noted that the title of one of the four texts, Shih-ta ching, has recently been changed to Shih-liu ching (Sixteen Scriptures). I am indebted to Li Hsueh-ch'in of the Institute of History in the Academy of Social Sciences, People's Republic of China, for this information. For a critical reflection on T'ang's interpretation, see Lung Hui, “Ma-wang-tui ch'u-t'u Lao Tzu i-pen ch'ien ku-i-shu t'an-yüan” [A search for the origins of the lost ancient texts preceding version B of the Lao Tzu unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], K'ao-ku hsüeh-pao, 1975, no. 2, pp. 23–32. For a reference to Lung's argument in English, see Loewe, p. 120.

⁸ For some basic information on this material, see Loewe, p. 117. A brief reference to the I-ching manuscript is found in “Ma-wang-tui erh-san hao Han-mu fa-chüeh te chu-yao shou-huo” [The major finds of nos. 2 and 3 of the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], ed. The Writing Committee of both the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Provincial Museum of Hunan, in K'ao-ku, 1975, no. 1, pp. 50–51.

⁹ For a preliminary observation on this material, see Yang K'uan, “Ma-wang-tui po-shu Chan-kuo-ts'e te shih-liao chia-chih” [The value as historical source of the Stratagems of the Warring States in the silk manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 2, pp. 26–34. See also Yang's further comments on the material: “Chan-kuo chung-ch'i te ho-tsung lien-heng chan-cheng ho cheng-chih lu-hsien tou-cheng” [The battles between vertical cooperation and horizontal alliance and the struggles between political lines in the middle period of the Warring States], Wenwu, 1975, no. 3, pp. 1–8. A transcription of the text into modern simplified Chinese is found in “Ma-wang-tui Han-mu ch'u-t'u po-shu Chan-kuo-ts'e shih-wen” [An annotated account of the Stratagems of the Warring States in the Silk Manuscripts of the Han tomb unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], ed. Ma-wang-tui Han-mu po-shu cheng-li hsiao-tsu, (hereafter abbreviated as MWTHT), Wen-wu, 1975, no. 4, pp. 14–26. Ma Yung, a member of the Ma-wang-tui Study Group, has written an analytical essay on the chronology and historical background of this particular manuscript; see his article, “Poshu Pei-pen Chan-kuo-ts'e ko-p'ien te nien-tai ho li-shih pei-ching” [The date and historical background of each chapter in the Other Version of the Stratagems of the Warring States of the Silk Manuscripts], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 4, pp. 27–40. For a further reflection on the issue of dating, see Tseng Ming, “Kuan-yü po-shu Chan-kuo-ts'e chung Su Ch'in shu-hsin jo-kan nien-tai wen-t'i te shang-ch'üeh” [A discussion of several dating problems of the Su Ch'in letters in the Stratagems of the Warring States of the Silk Manuscripts], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 8, pp. 23–30. See also Chan-kuo Ts'e, trans. Crump, James I., rev. ed. (Taipei: Chinese Materials Center, 1979).Google Scholar

¹⁰ See Loewe, pp. 122–24. For an informative discussion of these maps, see “Ch'ang-sha Ma-wang-tui san-hao Han-mu ch'u-t'u ti-t'u te cheng-li” [A reconstruction of the maps from no. 3 of the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], ed. MWTHT, Wen-wu, 1975, no. 2, pp. 35–42. T'an Ch'i-hsiang, the eminent historical geographer of Fu-tan University, has worked on these maps; see his articles, “Liang-ch'ien i-pai to nien ch'ien te i-fu ti-t'u” [A map more than twenty-one hundred years old], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 2, pp. 43–48; and “Ma-wang-tui Han-mu ch'u-t'u ti-t'u so shuo-ming te chi-ko li-shih ti-li wen-t'i” [Several problems in historical geography as illustrated by the maps in the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 6, pp. 20–28. See also “Ma-wang-tui san-hao Han-mu ch'u-t'u chu-chün-t'u cheng-li chien-pao” [A brief report on the reconstruction of the military map in no. 3 of the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], ed. MWTHT, Wen-wu, 1978, no. 1, pp. 18–23. For descriptions of the medical texts, see “Ma-wang-tui Han-mu ch'u-t'u i-shu shih-wen chih-i” [An annotated account of the medical texts of the Silk Manuscripts in the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui, I], ed. MWTHT, Wen-wu, 1975, no. 6, pp. 1–5; for the second part of this article, see Wen-wu, 1975, no. 9, pp. 35–48. See also the two articles contributed by the Research Seminar on Historical Medical Texts of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute: “Ma-wang-tui san-hao Han-mu po-hua tao-yin-t'u te ch'u-pu yen-chiu” [A preliminary study of the Diagram of Breathing Exercises on silk in no. 3 of the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 6, pp. 6–13; and “Ma-wang-tui po-shu ssu-chung ku-i-hsüeh i-shu chien-chieh” [A brief introduction to the four kinds of lost texts on ancient medical sciences in the Silk Manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 6, pp. 16–19. For interpretive essays on these texts, see T'ang Lan, “Ma-wang-tui po-shu Ch'üeh-ku-shih-ch'i p'ien k'ao” [An examination of the treatise entitled “Abstaining from Cereals and Inhaling Air” in the Silk Manuscripts of Ma-wang-tui], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 6, pp. 14–15; and Chung I-yen and Ling Hsiang, “Wo-kuo i-fa-hsien te tsui-ku i-fang—po-shu Wu-shih-erh ping-fang” [The most ancient prescriptions for medicine discovered in our country—the Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases of the Silk Manuscripts], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 9, pp. 49–60. I am indebted to Donald Harper of the University of California at Berkeley, also a member of the Santa Cruz Workshop, for his thought-provoking studies on the medical texts. For an analysis of the Hsiang-ma ching, see Hsieh Ch'eng-hsia, “Kuan-yü Ch'ang-sha Ma-wang-tui Han-mu po-shu Hsiang-ma ching te t'an-t'ao” [An inquiry into the Classic of Horse Physiognomy in the Silk Manuscripts of the Han tombs unearthed at Ma-wang-tui in Ch'ang-sha], Wen-wu, 1975, no. 8, pp. 23–26. For an annotated account of the Hsiang-ma ching in modern simplified characters, see Wen-wu, 1975, no. 8, pp. 17–22.

¹¹ Among the several inquiries currently underway in English, the following studies are particularly likely to lead to promising research results: Girardot, N.J., “Myth and Meaning in the Tao Te Ching: Chapters 25 and 42,” History of Religions 16, no. 4 (1977): 294–328CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Major, John S., “Research Priorities in the Study of Ch'u Religion,” History of Religions 17, nos. 3–4 (1978): 226–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Loewe, Michael, “Man and Beast: The Hybrid in Early Chinese Art and Literature,” Numen 25, fasc. 2 (1978): 97–117Google Scholar. In the area of art history, see Noel Barnard's pioneering attempt to study the famous Ch'u silk manuscript of 1934: The Ch'u Silk Manuscript—Translation and Commentary (Canberra: Australian National Univ., 1972 and 1973)Google Scholar; see also Bulling, A. Gutkind, “The Guide of the Souls Picture in the Western Han Tombs in Ma-wang-tui nearCh'ang-sha,” Oriental Art 20, no. 2 (Summer 1974): 58–73.Google Scholar

¹² It is vitally important to note that the so-called “Struggle between Confucianism and Legalism” debate, which was frequently a topic in intellectual discussions from 1972 to 1975, has had a damaging effect on critical scholarship in the People's Republic of China. It is therefore heartening to learn that Chinese scholars have made serious attempts to transcend this limited and limiting ideological dichotomy in recent months. But, regrettably, a deep-rooted “positivistic” tendency still persists among Chinese research workers. As a result, it is difficult for us to obtain disinterested accounts of subjects which are considered “superstitious” or “fanciful.”

¹³ I am indebted to Dr. T. Y. Tain of Los Angeles and Dr. William Boltz of Berkeley, members of the Santa Cruz Workshop, for their unpublished philological studies on the Lao Tzu texts. See also, Henricks, Robert G., “A Note on the Question of Chapter Divisions in the Ma-wang-tui Manuscripts of the Lao-Tzu,” Early China, 1978–1979, no. 4. pp. 49–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ Fu-kuan, Hsü, “Po-shu Lao Tzu so fan-ying te jo-kan wen-t'i” [Several problems reflected in the Silk Manuscripts of Lao Tzu], Ming-pao Monthly 10, no. 6 (1975): 96–99.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Jan Yün-hua, “The Silk Manuscripts on Taoism,” pp. 66–69.

¹⁶ The article originally appeared in the tenth issue of Hsüeh-his yü p'i-p'an, and is included in Lao Tzu, comp. MWTHT (Peking: Wen-wu, 1976), pp. 95–108Google Scholar. For references on Wang Chen and Wang Fu-chih, see p. 96.

¹⁷ Kao Heng and Ch'ih Hsi-chao, “Shih-t'an Ma-wang-tui Han-mu chung te po-shu Lao Tzu” [A provisional discussion of the Lao Tzu in the Silk Manuscripts of the Ma-wang-tui Han tomb], Wen-wu, 1974, no. 11, pp. 1–3.

¹⁸ Creel, Herrlee G., “What Is Taoism?,” in his What is Taoism? and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1977). p. 7. n. 31.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See Kao Heng and Ch'ih Hsi-chao, p. 2.

²⁰ For an informative discussion on this phenomenon from the perspective of Chinese religious history, see Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion, ed. Welch, Holmes and Seidel, Anna (New Haven and London: Yale Univ. Press, 1979), pp. 19–81.Google Scholar

²¹ Ch'ien, Ssu-ma, Shih-chi [The historical records], 10 vols. (Peking: Chung-hua, 1972), 7: 2146Google Scholar. See also Creel, Herrlee G., Shen Pu-hai, A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1974), p. 22.Google Scholar

²² Kuo Mo-jo, “Chi-hsia Huang-Lao hsüeh-p'ai te p'i-p'an” [A critique of the Huang-Lao School in Chi-hsia], in Shih p'i-p'an shu [The ten critiques] (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1946), pp. 133–61, quoted in Creel, What Is Taoism?, p. 9, n. 50.Google Scholar

²³ Ssu-ma Ch'ien, 6: 2029, 2062. See also, Ssu-ma Ch'ien, 7: 2436 for a brief genealogy of the transmission of the Huang-Lao tradition.

²⁴ “Tao-yüan,” in Ching-fa, comp. MWTHT (Peking: Wen-wu, 1976), pp. 101–2Google Scholar. Ching-fa is used here as a generic title for all four lost Huang-Lao texts. Thus, Ching-fa includes “Tao Yüan,” “Shih-ta ching,” and “Ch'eng,” as well as “Ching-fa.”

²⁵ Ching-fa, p. 102.

²⁶ See the “Tao-fa” chapter in Ching-fa, p. 2.

²⁷ Ching-fa, pp. 48–50.

²⁸ This highly suggestive image is found in the “Li-ming”” chapter of the Shih-ta ching. See also, Ching-fa, p. 45. My interpretation is tentative.

²⁹ For an introductory statement on this issue, see Yu-lan, Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, trans. Bodde, Derk (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1952), 1: 330–35.Google Scholar

³⁰ K'ao-ku hsüeh-pao, 1975, no. 1, p. 13. It seems that his interpretive position in this particular article has been influenced by the aforementioned “Confucianism versus Legalism” debate, but it is, on the whole, informative and persuasive.

³¹ Ching-fa, p. 89.

³² Ibid., p. 90.

³³ Ibid., pp. 94–95.

³⁴ We should also entertain the possibility that the so-called “Four Scriptures of the Yellow Emperor” may each exhibit a particular line of thinking in either the Taoist or the Legalist tradition. For two stimulating essays on this subject, see Ch'eng Wu (T'ien Ch'ang-wu), “Han-ch'u Huang-Lao ssu-hsiang ho Fa-chia lu-hsien” [The thought of Huang-Lao and the Legalist line in early Han], Wen-wu, 1974, no. 10, pp. 43–47; and T'ien Ch'ang-wu, “Tsai-t'an Huang-Lao ssu-hsiang ho Fa-chia lu-hsien” [Further discussion of the thought of Huang-Lao and the Legalist line], Wen-wu, 1976, no. 4, pp. 78–83.

³⁵ The newly discovered Ch'in bamboo scripts, over 1,000 pieces, provide excellent source materials for an understanding of the Ch'in bureaucracy at work. See Shui-hu-ti Ch'in-mu chu-chien ed. Shui-hu-ti Ch'in-mu chu-chien cheng-li hsiao-tsu (Peking: Wen-wu, 1975)Google Scholar. This particular edition contains seven volumes. The first two are photo reprints of the original bamboo scripts as reconstructed by the Study Group. The other five are; transcriptions of the scripts into modern simplified Chinese with explanations and annotations. They include a chronicle, official dispatches, three collections of laws, questions and answers on legal problems, rules and regulations dealing with criminal cases, and an instruction book on how to serve as a suboffkial. For an interpretive essay on the Legalist ideas behind the Ch'in bureaucracy, see Machida Saburō, “Shin no shisō tōsei ni tsuire” [On the thought control of the Ch'in Dynasty], Chügoku Telsugaku Ronshü” [Studies in Chinese philosophy], 1978, no. 4, pp. 1–17. Machida's research note makes extensive use of the Shui-hu-ti finds.

³⁶ Loewe, p. 100.

³⁷ For a sophisticated interpretation of Han thought, see Fu-kuan, Hsü, Liang-Han ssu-hsiang-shih [Intellectual history of the Former and Later Han Dynasties] (Taipei: Hsüeh-sheng, 1976), pp. 85–438.Google Scholar