The disciplines known as Sinology in Europe and Hanhak 漢學 in East Asia followed distinct trajecto... more The disciplines known as Sinology in Europe and Hanhak 漢學 in East Asia followed distinct trajectories, each developing unique characteristics within their respective regions. However, they have eventually converged into a unified field of scholarship known as Chinese studies.
The universal learning of Chinese Hanhak in East Asia found acceptance and appropriation in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Notably, Korea developed a self-sufficient Hanhak by the late Choson period, but it lacked the vitality necessary for succession by modern scholarship. Western missionaries, over several generations since the 17th century, studied Chinese Hanhak and laid the foundation for European Sinology. The development of European Sinology can be characterized by keywords such as “missionary works,” “commerce and diplomacy,” “transnational,” “scholarship,” and “ups and downs.”
European Sinology, for the first time, found acceptance in Japan in the late 19th century, transforming the East Asian Hanhak from a universal scholarship into a regional focused solely on China. Unlike Europe, where transnationalism played a crucial role in Sinology’s development, it was challenging for East Asia to witness such interchange by the end of the 19th century. However, the Japanese critical reflection on Hanhak as a regional study undoubtedly owed much to the influence of transnationalism from European Sinology.
There is not a humanities discipline such as Sinology or Chinese studies that shares strong interests between Europe and East Asia.
Jan Assmann’s CULTURAL MEMORY AND EARLY CIVILIZATION: WRITING, REMEMBRANCE, AND POLITICAL IMAGINA... more Jan Assmann’s CULTURAL MEMORY AND EARLY CIVILIZATION: WRITING, REMEMBRANCE, AND POLITICAL IMAGINATION has attained classic status within memory studies. This article provides an in-depth introduction to Assmann’s work, which delves into ancient memory studies, filling a gap in a field largely focused on modern and contemporary research in Korea. Assmann underscores the impact of writing and texts on the shaping of cultural memory. Particularly, he examines how the fluid “streams of tradition” in early literature contributed to the establishment of unique identities in Egypt, Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece through the process of canonization. This article seeks to extend Assmann’s insightful case studies on cultural memory in these four ancient civilizations to the study of ancient Chinese civilization. It begins by evaluating the current landscape of memory studies in early Chinese research, highlighting the alignment of ancient Chinese literature with Assmann’s proposed developmental trajectory of early literature. Furthermore, it outlines the scope and significance of the author’s ongoing project on the cultural memory of sage kings (Yao, Shun and Yu) and the sites of their memory.
This study reviews the scholarship of early Chinese civilization since the 1900s focusing on the ... more This study reviews the scholarship of early Chinese civilization since the 1900s focusing on the keywords of “regionalism” and the “doubting or believing antiquity.” The two issues, perhaps more substantially than any other regions, seem to be rooted on particular historical conditions inherent in China such as the dominance of antiquarianism and the celebrated traditional scholarship as well as being a response to the Western impact. Chinese archaeologists’ long-term endeavor to disprove the Western origins of Chinese civilization argued by Johan G. Anderson in the 1920s marks the transition to Sinocentric regionalism, which was propelled by the growth of indigenous scholarship, from Eurocentric regionalism. As represented by Su Bingqi’s “regional systems and cultural types” (quxileixing 區系類型) and K.C. Chang’s “Chinese interaction sphere,” the new regionalism results in a contradiction between the centrifugalism prevalent in the multiregional Neolithic archaeology built on current Chinese territory and the centripetalism ingrained deeply in traditional Chinese historiography. While Chinese scholars tend to reconcile the pluralistic phenomena into the monolithic linear trajectory, Western scholars gives more stress on muitiregional trajectories. Another methodological dispute on the authenticity of early Chinese texts underlies these controversies. It was the “doubting antiquity” (yigu 疑古) theorized by Gu Jiegang in 1920s following Tominaga Nakamoto, Cui Shu and Shiratori Kurakichi’s lead that took the studies of early Chinese civilization in the 20th century by storm. But the new archaeological discoveries since the late 20th century, including the Chu bamboo slips, led Chinese scholars to revisit the doubting antiquity discourse to the extent that in the 1990s, Li Xueqin urged to “step out of the doubting antiquity.” This declaration has affected the current trend of “believing antiquity” in Chinese academia. More and more influential Chinese-American scholars further seem to have reshuffled the academia in the West, which was previously in exclusive support of “doubting antiquity.” Especially, it is expected that the revisionist approach overcoming the extreme of doubting or believing antiquity both in China and the West will open a new vista in the studies of early Chinese civilization.
How did the critical scholarship doubting the authenticity of ancient texts originate and theoriz... more How did the critical scholarship doubting the authenticity of ancient texts originate and theorize? In the case of East Asia, one can quickly think of Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛 (1893-1980), the representative of the so-called Doubting Antiquity School. But there must have been a long history advocating the idea preceding Gu Jiegang. Based on the criticism on the discrepancies inherent in the ancient texts such as the Venerated Document (Shangshu) suggested by Wang Chung 王充 (27-96?), Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661-721), and Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072), it was not until the 18th century when the scholarly quest for the cause behind the contradictions indeed began. The first step in theorizing the doubting of antiquity was the theory of superseding (kajō 加上) proposed by Tominaga Nakamoto 富永仲基 (1715-1746). According to Tominaga, competitions between scholars to overcome previous explanations stimulated them to attribute their narratives to far-earlier sages deliberately. It was Cui Shu 崔述 (1740-1816) who applied a similar idea to history and found a fabricating pattern, in which he hypothesized that later the work, the farther in time the purported knowledge of the past is pushed back and the more complex the historical knowledge. All the same, it was not until the early 20th century when Shiratori Kurakichi 白鳥庫吉 (1865-1942) for the first time initiated the iconoclasm of sage kings such as Yao, Shun and Yu as the premise for establishing the doubting antiquity theory. Refining the relatively weak basis of Shiratori’s argument elaborately, Gu Jiegang completed the approach with the idea of the “accumulated creation of ancient history.” However, the sheer accumulation of archaeological discoveries in China during the second half of the 20th century exposed limitations in the idea of fabricated ancient texts promoted by the Doubting Antiquity School. Especially, Li Ling convincingly points out that they oversymplified the complicated long-term process of textual formation in early China. In this regard, studying the canonization process from the stream of textual tradition in the newly unearthed Warring States bamboo slips would provide a new vista to overcome the limitations inherent in the theory of doubting antiquity.
The tale of Korean Sinology is as dramatic as that of Korea itself, which has moved from being a ... more The tale of Korean Sinology is as dramatic as that of Korea itself, which has moved from being a faithful periphery of the Chinese civilization to a newly rising economic power in the modern world. This article begins with a survey of some distinctive features of premodern Korean scholarly works by the end of the Chosŏn dynasty from the perspective of Sinology. Then it moves on to modern scholarship, focusing mostly on the field of Chinese history, which I think is the most active and innovative among the several different fields in today's Korean Sinology. The history of Korean Sinology is a telling case study that illustrates how humanistic learning is deeply connected to fundamental aspects of a society's politics, economics, and culture at a given moment in time.
Griffin, an imaginary animal with wings, first appeared in Mesopotamia in about 3500 BC. Spreadin... more Griffin, an imaginary animal with wings, first appeared in Mesopotamia in about 3500 BC. Spreading throughout the entire West Asia and Europe, the motifs eventually reached East Asia as well via the oases of Central Asia and the Eurasian steppes. Scholars have noted their first
appearance in China no earlier than the 6th century B.C. This study presents earlier cases of winged animals and humans, proposing that by the 12th century B.C. the griffin motifs already existed in China. On the one hand, the universal human desire to fly may have invented the
motifs expressed in bronzes and jades indigenously. On the other hand, we must consider that before their first appearance in China the motifs were very popular in the most advanced regions including West Asia for more than two thousands years. It is interesting to note that the sacred trees or the so-called shenshu 神樹 unearthed together with the winged humans in Sanxingdui are also similar to the “Tree of Life” prevalent in the entire West Asia at that time. It would be better
to open the possibility that the religious conceptions related to the griffin motifs might have vaguely spread to the Chengdu Plain through continuous chain of transmissions. Archaeology reveals interaction between the Qijia culture of the first Chinese bronze age in about 2000 B.C. and the Seima-Turbino culture in Southern Siberia. This further suggests earlier connections between the civilizations of the East and West.
The Xinian in the second volume of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips provides a different understanding o... more The Xinian in the second volume of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips provides a different understanding of the so-called eastward relocation (dongqian) of the Zhou royal house than suggested in transmitted texts such as the Shiji and Zhushu jinian. Introducing the controversial issues concerning the relocation in the Xinian, this study focuses mostly on the problematic place name Shao E, where King Ping is said to have stayed for a while until Lord Wen of Jin brought him back to the capital region and enthroned him. In particular, while criticizing the later commentators’ identification of E with Xiangning, Shanxi, this study argues that Shao E in the Xinian should be more properly located in the Nanyang region. This relocation suggests that the year 770 BCE, inscribed for so long as the turning point between the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou periods, is problematic. It further proposes that the narrative on the eastward relocation in the Xinian does not necessarily contradict the transmitted texts, but rather tends to resolve some inconsistencies inherent in those texts.
Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in China, are appropriate subjects that clearly show the l... more Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in China, are appropriate subjects that clearly show the limitations of empirical research in ancient history. Borrowing Jan Assamann’s concept of “cultural memory,” this study examines the history of Yao, Shun and Yu in terms of memory history. Especially, I focus on the transitions of the memory and its implicit intentions, from the historical remains such as temples dedicated to Yao, Shun and Yu in the three different versions of the Shanxi tongzhi . While the Shanxi tongzhi published in the Wanli era (1629) basically follows the geography texts in the Tang and Song periods, it clearly shows flexibilities in the memories of Yao, Shun and Yu. Another Shanxi tongzhi published in the Yongzheng era (1734) expands the memories to almost the entire region of Shanxi. Probably, the main reasons for the proliferation of temples include state policies encouraging the growth of official religions in local regions as well as the role of the scholar officials who tried to differentiate themselves from their social inferiors. The last Shanxi tongzhi published in the Guangxu era (1892) demonstrates a drastic drop in the number of temples that corresponds to the decline of the empire and the effect of the evidential kaozheng scholarship as well. Therefore, liberating the legendary Yao, Shun and Yu from the burden of positivism, this study instead traces the transitions and revivals of their memories and the hidden motivations.
This is an annotated translation of the Zifan Ziyu in the Volume 7 of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. ... more This is an annotated translation of the Zifan Ziyu in the Volume 7 of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. The text is composed of the two parts. The first part begins with the sarcastic questions by Duke Mu of Qin 秦穆公 regarding the exile of Chong’er 重耳, Duke of Jin 晉文公. The two followers of Chong’er, Zifan 子犯 and Ziyu 子餘, refute the questions, emphasizing the righteousness of Chong’er and the justice of his subjects, respectively. The second part is Jianshu’s 蹇叔 answers to the questions by Duke Mu of Qin and Chong’er regarding the public sentiment and the way of sage kings. Jianshu highlights rulers’ correct role in the rise and fall of the states. A form of anecdotal narratives, the Zifan Ziyu reflects the desirable rulers and subjects anticipated in the Warring States period.
The JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN (Jin Wen Gong ru yu Jin 晉文公入於晉), a bamboo text of the Chu st... more The JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN (Jin Wen Gong ru yu Jin 晉文公入於晉), a bamboo text of the Chu state in the Warring States period, narrates Wen Gong’s returning to the Jin state, his reforms for the domestic and military affairs, and finally the process he became the hegemon. This article is an annotated translation of the text, introducing many scholars’ arguments about the problematic passages and proposing the author’s own ideas. Furthermore, comparing the wartime regulations of the flags in the JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN with those in the Rites of Zhou, the author argues the former must have been an earlier version than the latter.
New Horizons in the Ancient History of Northeast Asia:
An Archaeological Revival in the History ... more New Horizons in the Ancient History of Northeast Asia: An Archaeological Revival in the History of Puyŏ and its Memories
The archaeological excavations in the Jilin region since the 1980s have opened new vistas for the studies of Puyŏ history. The primary purpose of this review article is to introduce the main ideas in Mark Byington's The State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia: Archaeological and Historical Memory (2016). I will further argue critically some new issues this book proposes for the studies of ancient Korean and Northeastern Asian history. Especially, noting the "cultural memory" of Jan Assmann, I will support Byington's new interpretation on the foundation myths of Puyŏ, Koguryŏ and Paekche, in which he considers the mythic narratives merely as the invention necessary for the societies during the specific periods. Finally, I will point out the essential vulnerabilities this book reminds me of in the studies of Old Chosŏn in Korea.
The Dilemma of Erlitou as the Origins of Early Chinese State
The excavations of the Erlitou site... more The Dilemma of Erlitou as the Origins of Early Chinese State
The excavations of the Erlitou site since the late 1950s have provoked fierce controversy about the identification with the Xia dynasty as well as the social level of the site as a state. Introducing the arguments over the contested site, this study tries to provide a new insight reconciling the contrasting views. While the existence of Xia as a leading polity in the Luoyang Basin is plausible, it is difficult to accept the historicity of the legendary tales on the dynasty narrated in the transmitted texts. Depending on the individual scholar’s inherent premise for utilizing archaeological materials like pottery, the Erlitou phase III and IV could be interpreted either as the beginning of an early state or the last stage of a chiefdom society. It is significant in this regard to note Li Min’s recent study of the Erlitou site, in which he pays attention to its two legacies: “the emergence of a political economy focusing on bronze metallurgy and the establishment of a Luoyang-centered political order.” The social memory of Erlitou inscribed thereafter to the people of North China began to form a long-lasting geopolitical tradition of Sandai 三代. Thus, the narratives of the legendary Xia dynasty in the Warring States texts reveal a cultural reconstruction concerning the social memories of the past.
This is an annotated translation of the Chuju, the earliest extant bamboo text which exclusively ... more This is an annotated translation of the Chuju, the earliest extant bamboo text which exclusively mentions the history of the Chu state. Included in the Volume One of the Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 淸華大學藏戰國竹書(2011), the Chuju composes of sixteen bamboo slips with 595 characters identified and about sixteen characters missing. It is interesting to note the following issues in the Chuju which are unknown in the transmitted texts such as the Shiji 史記: the genealogy of the Chu royal family, the early capitals of Chu such as Jingzong 京宗, the origin of the name Chu 楚, the fifteen different capitals of Ying 郢from King Wu 武王(r. 741~690 B.C.) to King Dao 悼王(r. 402~381 B.C.), the origin of the name Ying, and etc. Especially, it is significant that the Chu capitals documented in the Chuju are considerably different from those in the Shiji.
Shanxi province has long been recognized as the homeland of Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage king... more Shanxi province has long been recognized as the homeland of Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in Early China. This study examines the reasons and the process why and how the legendary figures became history in Shanxi province. By investigating oracle bone inscriptions of the late Shang, bamboo slips of Chu and the Zuozhuan 左傳, I find that a quasi-historic narrative in the Zuozhuan contributed to the beginning of the relationship between Shanxi and the legendary figures. Whereas the “Geographical Records” 地理志 of the Hanshu 漢書 quoted the narrative only in part, scholars in the Later Han period began to note the connection entirely. It was not until the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang dynasties when the temples and tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu became prominent in southwestern Shanxi and the Taiyuan area. More than ten such places in Shanxi are enlisted in the Yuanhe junxianzhi 元和郡縣志 and Taiping huanyu ji 太平寰宇記, the representative of historical geographical texts in the Tang and Northern Song periods, respectively. It goes without saying that the expansion was accompanied with new tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu and, especially, new stories regarding them. This study shows a good case of “inventing history,” in which misrecognitions on the ancient quasi-historical lores caused expansive reproduction of the history regarding the legendary sage kings in traditional China.
The disciplines known as Sinology in Europe and Hanhak 漢學 in East Asia followed distinct trajecto... more The disciplines known as Sinology in Europe and Hanhak 漢學 in East Asia followed distinct trajectories, each developing unique characteristics within their respective regions. However, they have eventually converged into a unified field of scholarship known as Chinese studies.
The universal learning of Chinese Hanhak in East Asia found acceptance and appropriation in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Notably, Korea developed a self-sufficient Hanhak by the late Choson period, but it lacked the vitality necessary for succession by modern scholarship. Western missionaries, over several generations since the 17th century, studied Chinese Hanhak and laid the foundation for European Sinology. The development of European Sinology can be characterized by keywords such as “missionary works,” “commerce and diplomacy,” “transnational,” “scholarship,” and “ups and downs.”
European Sinology, for the first time, found acceptance in Japan in the late 19th century, transforming the East Asian Hanhak from a universal scholarship into a regional focused solely on China. Unlike Europe, where transnationalism played a crucial role in Sinology’s development, it was challenging for East Asia to witness such interchange by the end of the 19th century. However, the Japanese critical reflection on Hanhak as a regional study undoubtedly owed much to the influence of transnationalism from European Sinology.
There is not a humanities discipline such as Sinology or Chinese studies that shares strong interests between Europe and East Asia.
Jan Assmann’s CULTURAL MEMORY AND EARLY CIVILIZATION: WRITING, REMEMBRANCE, AND POLITICAL IMAGINA... more Jan Assmann’s CULTURAL MEMORY AND EARLY CIVILIZATION: WRITING, REMEMBRANCE, AND POLITICAL IMAGINATION has attained classic status within memory studies. This article provides an in-depth introduction to Assmann’s work, which delves into ancient memory studies, filling a gap in a field largely focused on modern and contemporary research in Korea. Assmann underscores the impact of writing and texts on the shaping of cultural memory. Particularly, he examines how the fluid “streams of tradition” in early literature contributed to the establishment of unique identities in Egypt, Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece through the process of canonization. This article seeks to extend Assmann’s insightful case studies on cultural memory in these four ancient civilizations to the study of ancient Chinese civilization. It begins by evaluating the current landscape of memory studies in early Chinese research, highlighting the alignment of ancient Chinese literature with Assmann’s proposed developmental trajectory of early literature. Furthermore, it outlines the scope and significance of the author’s ongoing project on the cultural memory of sage kings (Yao, Shun and Yu) and the sites of their memory.
This study reviews the scholarship of early Chinese civilization since the 1900s focusing on the ... more This study reviews the scholarship of early Chinese civilization since the 1900s focusing on the keywords of “regionalism” and the “doubting or believing antiquity.” The two issues, perhaps more substantially than any other regions, seem to be rooted on particular historical conditions inherent in China such as the dominance of antiquarianism and the celebrated traditional scholarship as well as being a response to the Western impact. Chinese archaeologists’ long-term endeavor to disprove the Western origins of Chinese civilization argued by Johan G. Anderson in the 1920s marks the transition to Sinocentric regionalism, which was propelled by the growth of indigenous scholarship, from Eurocentric regionalism. As represented by Su Bingqi’s “regional systems and cultural types” (quxileixing 區系類型) and K.C. Chang’s “Chinese interaction sphere,” the new regionalism results in a contradiction between the centrifugalism prevalent in the multiregional Neolithic archaeology built on current Chinese territory and the centripetalism ingrained deeply in traditional Chinese historiography. While Chinese scholars tend to reconcile the pluralistic phenomena into the monolithic linear trajectory, Western scholars gives more stress on muitiregional trajectories. Another methodological dispute on the authenticity of early Chinese texts underlies these controversies. It was the “doubting antiquity” (yigu 疑古) theorized by Gu Jiegang in 1920s following Tominaga Nakamoto, Cui Shu and Shiratori Kurakichi’s lead that took the studies of early Chinese civilization in the 20th century by storm. But the new archaeological discoveries since the late 20th century, including the Chu bamboo slips, led Chinese scholars to revisit the doubting antiquity discourse to the extent that in the 1990s, Li Xueqin urged to “step out of the doubting antiquity.” This declaration has affected the current trend of “believing antiquity” in Chinese academia. More and more influential Chinese-American scholars further seem to have reshuffled the academia in the West, which was previously in exclusive support of “doubting antiquity.” Especially, it is expected that the revisionist approach overcoming the extreme of doubting or believing antiquity both in China and the West will open a new vista in the studies of early Chinese civilization.
How did the critical scholarship doubting the authenticity of ancient texts originate and theoriz... more How did the critical scholarship doubting the authenticity of ancient texts originate and theorize? In the case of East Asia, one can quickly think of Gu Jiegang 顧頡剛 (1893-1980), the representative of the so-called Doubting Antiquity School. But there must have been a long history advocating the idea preceding Gu Jiegang. Based on the criticism on the discrepancies inherent in the ancient texts such as the Venerated Document (Shangshu) suggested by Wang Chung 王充 (27-96?), Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661-721), and Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072), it was not until the 18th century when the scholarly quest for the cause behind the contradictions indeed began. The first step in theorizing the doubting of antiquity was the theory of superseding (kajō 加上) proposed by Tominaga Nakamoto 富永仲基 (1715-1746). According to Tominaga, competitions between scholars to overcome previous explanations stimulated them to attribute their narratives to far-earlier sages deliberately. It was Cui Shu 崔述 (1740-1816) who applied a similar idea to history and found a fabricating pattern, in which he hypothesized that later the work, the farther in time the purported knowledge of the past is pushed back and the more complex the historical knowledge. All the same, it was not until the early 20th century when Shiratori Kurakichi 白鳥庫吉 (1865-1942) for the first time initiated the iconoclasm of sage kings such as Yao, Shun and Yu as the premise for establishing the doubting antiquity theory. Refining the relatively weak basis of Shiratori’s argument elaborately, Gu Jiegang completed the approach with the idea of the “accumulated creation of ancient history.” However, the sheer accumulation of archaeological discoveries in China during the second half of the 20th century exposed limitations in the idea of fabricated ancient texts promoted by the Doubting Antiquity School. Especially, Li Ling convincingly points out that they oversymplified the complicated long-term process of textual formation in early China. In this regard, studying the canonization process from the stream of textual tradition in the newly unearthed Warring States bamboo slips would provide a new vista to overcome the limitations inherent in the theory of doubting antiquity.
The tale of Korean Sinology is as dramatic as that of Korea itself, which has moved from being a ... more The tale of Korean Sinology is as dramatic as that of Korea itself, which has moved from being a faithful periphery of the Chinese civilization to a newly rising economic power in the modern world. This article begins with a survey of some distinctive features of premodern Korean scholarly works by the end of the Chosŏn dynasty from the perspective of Sinology. Then it moves on to modern scholarship, focusing mostly on the field of Chinese history, which I think is the most active and innovative among the several different fields in today's Korean Sinology. The history of Korean Sinology is a telling case study that illustrates how humanistic learning is deeply connected to fundamental aspects of a society's politics, economics, and culture at a given moment in time.
Griffin, an imaginary animal with wings, first appeared in Mesopotamia in about 3500 BC. Spreadin... more Griffin, an imaginary animal with wings, first appeared in Mesopotamia in about 3500 BC. Spreading throughout the entire West Asia and Europe, the motifs eventually reached East Asia as well via the oases of Central Asia and the Eurasian steppes. Scholars have noted their first
appearance in China no earlier than the 6th century B.C. This study presents earlier cases of winged animals and humans, proposing that by the 12th century B.C. the griffin motifs already existed in China. On the one hand, the universal human desire to fly may have invented the
motifs expressed in bronzes and jades indigenously. On the other hand, we must consider that before their first appearance in China the motifs were very popular in the most advanced regions including West Asia for more than two thousands years. It is interesting to note that the sacred trees or the so-called shenshu 神樹 unearthed together with the winged humans in Sanxingdui are also similar to the “Tree of Life” prevalent in the entire West Asia at that time. It would be better
to open the possibility that the religious conceptions related to the griffin motifs might have vaguely spread to the Chengdu Plain through continuous chain of transmissions. Archaeology reveals interaction between the Qijia culture of the first Chinese bronze age in about 2000 B.C. and the Seima-Turbino culture in Southern Siberia. This further suggests earlier connections between the civilizations of the East and West.
The Xinian in the second volume of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips provides a different understanding o... more The Xinian in the second volume of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips provides a different understanding of the so-called eastward relocation (dongqian) of the Zhou royal house than suggested in transmitted texts such as the Shiji and Zhushu jinian. Introducing the controversial issues concerning the relocation in the Xinian, this study focuses mostly on the problematic place name Shao E, where King Ping is said to have stayed for a while until Lord Wen of Jin brought him back to the capital region and enthroned him. In particular, while criticizing the later commentators’ identification of E with Xiangning, Shanxi, this study argues that Shao E in the Xinian should be more properly located in the Nanyang region. This relocation suggests that the year 770 BCE, inscribed for so long as the turning point between the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou periods, is problematic. It further proposes that the narrative on the eastward relocation in the Xinian does not necessarily contradict the transmitted texts, but rather tends to resolve some inconsistencies inherent in those texts.
Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in China, are appropriate subjects that clearly show the l... more Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in China, are appropriate subjects that clearly show the limitations of empirical research in ancient history. Borrowing Jan Assamann’s concept of “cultural memory,” this study examines the history of Yao, Shun and Yu in terms of memory history. Especially, I focus on the transitions of the memory and its implicit intentions, from the historical remains such as temples dedicated to Yao, Shun and Yu in the three different versions of the Shanxi tongzhi . While the Shanxi tongzhi published in the Wanli era (1629) basically follows the geography texts in the Tang and Song periods, it clearly shows flexibilities in the memories of Yao, Shun and Yu. Another Shanxi tongzhi published in the Yongzheng era (1734) expands the memories to almost the entire region of Shanxi. Probably, the main reasons for the proliferation of temples include state policies encouraging the growth of official religions in local regions as well as the role of the scholar officials who tried to differentiate themselves from their social inferiors. The last Shanxi tongzhi published in the Guangxu era (1892) demonstrates a drastic drop in the number of temples that corresponds to the decline of the empire and the effect of the evidential kaozheng scholarship as well. Therefore, liberating the legendary Yao, Shun and Yu from the burden of positivism, this study instead traces the transitions and revivals of their memories and the hidden motivations.
This is an annotated translation of the Zifan Ziyu in the Volume 7 of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. ... more This is an annotated translation of the Zifan Ziyu in the Volume 7 of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. The text is composed of the two parts. The first part begins with the sarcastic questions by Duke Mu of Qin 秦穆公 regarding the exile of Chong’er 重耳, Duke of Jin 晉文公. The two followers of Chong’er, Zifan 子犯 and Ziyu 子餘, refute the questions, emphasizing the righteousness of Chong’er and the justice of his subjects, respectively. The second part is Jianshu’s 蹇叔 answers to the questions by Duke Mu of Qin and Chong’er regarding the public sentiment and the way of sage kings. Jianshu highlights rulers’ correct role in the rise and fall of the states. A form of anecdotal narratives, the Zifan Ziyu reflects the desirable rulers and subjects anticipated in the Warring States period.
The JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN (Jin Wen Gong ru yu Jin 晉文公入於晉), a bamboo text of the Chu st... more The JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN (Jin Wen Gong ru yu Jin 晉文公入於晉), a bamboo text of the Chu state in the Warring States period, narrates Wen Gong’s returning to the Jin state, his reforms for the domestic and military affairs, and finally the process he became the hegemon. This article is an annotated translation of the text, introducing many scholars’ arguments about the problematic passages and proposing the author’s own ideas. Furthermore, comparing the wartime regulations of the flags in the JIN WEN GONG’S ENTERING INTO JIN with those in the Rites of Zhou, the author argues the former must have been an earlier version than the latter.
New Horizons in the Ancient History of Northeast Asia:
An Archaeological Revival in the History ... more New Horizons in the Ancient History of Northeast Asia: An Archaeological Revival in the History of Puyŏ and its Memories
The archaeological excavations in the Jilin region since the 1980s have opened new vistas for the studies of Puyŏ history. The primary purpose of this review article is to introduce the main ideas in Mark Byington's The State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia: Archaeological and Historical Memory (2016). I will further argue critically some new issues this book proposes for the studies of ancient Korean and Northeastern Asian history. Especially, noting the "cultural memory" of Jan Assmann, I will support Byington's new interpretation on the foundation myths of Puyŏ, Koguryŏ and Paekche, in which he considers the mythic narratives merely as the invention necessary for the societies during the specific periods. Finally, I will point out the essential vulnerabilities this book reminds me of in the studies of Old Chosŏn in Korea.
The Dilemma of Erlitou as the Origins of Early Chinese State
The excavations of the Erlitou site... more The Dilemma of Erlitou as the Origins of Early Chinese State
The excavations of the Erlitou site since the late 1950s have provoked fierce controversy about the identification with the Xia dynasty as well as the social level of the site as a state. Introducing the arguments over the contested site, this study tries to provide a new insight reconciling the contrasting views. While the existence of Xia as a leading polity in the Luoyang Basin is plausible, it is difficult to accept the historicity of the legendary tales on the dynasty narrated in the transmitted texts. Depending on the individual scholar’s inherent premise for utilizing archaeological materials like pottery, the Erlitou phase III and IV could be interpreted either as the beginning of an early state or the last stage of a chiefdom society. It is significant in this regard to note Li Min’s recent study of the Erlitou site, in which he pays attention to its two legacies: “the emergence of a political economy focusing on bronze metallurgy and the establishment of a Luoyang-centered political order.” The social memory of Erlitou inscribed thereafter to the people of North China began to form a long-lasting geopolitical tradition of Sandai 三代. Thus, the narratives of the legendary Xia dynasty in the Warring States texts reveal a cultural reconstruction concerning the social memories of the past.
This is an annotated translation of the Chuju, the earliest extant bamboo text which exclusively ... more This is an annotated translation of the Chuju, the earliest extant bamboo text which exclusively mentions the history of the Chu state. Included in the Volume One of the Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 淸華大學藏戰國竹書(2011), the Chuju composes of sixteen bamboo slips with 595 characters identified and about sixteen characters missing. It is interesting to note the following issues in the Chuju which are unknown in the transmitted texts such as the Shiji 史記: the genealogy of the Chu royal family, the early capitals of Chu such as Jingzong 京宗, the origin of the name Chu 楚, the fifteen different capitals of Ying 郢from King Wu 武王(r. 741~690 B.C.) to King Dao 悼王(r. 402~381 B.C.), the origin of the name Ying, and etc. Especially, it is significant that the Chu capitals documented in the Chuju are considerably different from those in the Shiji.
Shanxi province has long been recognized as the homeland of Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage king... more Shanxi province has long been recognized as the homeland of Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in Early China. This study examines the reasons and the process why and how the legendary figures became history in Shanxi province. By investigating oracle bone inscriptions of the late Shang, bamboo slips of Chu and the Zuozhuan 左傳, I find that a quasi-historic narrative in the Zuozhuan contributed to the beginning of the relationship between Shanxi and the legendary figures. Whereas the “Geographical Records” 地理志 of the Hanshu 漢書 quoted the narrative only in part, scholars in the Later Han period began to note the connection entirely. It was not until the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang dynasties when the temples and tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu became prominent in southwestern Shanxi and the Taiyuan area. More than ten such places in Shanxi are enlisted in the Yuanhe junxianzhi 元和郡縣志 and Taiping huanyu ji 太平寰宇記, the representative of historical geographical texts in the Tang and Northern Song periods, respectively. It goes without saying that the expansion was accompanied with new tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu and, especially, new stories regarding them. This study shows a good case of “inventing history,” in which misrecognitions on the ancient quasi-historical lores caused expansive reproduction of the history regarding the legendary sage kings in traditional China.
本书利用20世纪80年代至今，在中国山西省西南部发现的考古学成果，主要研究西周初年分封的诸侯国晋国，在春秋时代成长为地区性国家，并迅速发展为强大霸权国家的过程。以考古学材料及传世文献材料为基础，... more 本书利用20世纪80年代至今，在中国山西省西南部发现的考古学成果，主要研究西周初年分封的诸侯国晋国，在春秋时代成长为地区性国家，并迅速发展为强大霸权国家的过程。以考古学材料及传世文献材料为基础，着重介绍西周初年从晋的先祖唐叔虞的分封开始，到奠定重耳霸权的公元前632年的城濮之战，这段时间内的晋的初期发展过程。本书大量运用考古学成果，结合传世文献，从晋国地理环境、民族关系、文化交融、国内政治、外交关系、霸权建立过程等内外多个方面，对两周时期晋国的发展史做出了深入探讨。
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Papers by Jae-hoon Shim
The universal learning of Chinese Hanhak in East Asia found acceptance and appropriation in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Notably, Korea developed a self-sufficient Hanhak by the late Choson period, but it lacked the vitality necessary for succession by modern scholarship. Western missionaries, over several generations since the 17th century, studied Chinese Hanhak and laid the foundation for European Sinology. The development of European Sinology can be characterized by keywords such as “missionary works,” “commerce and diplomacy,” “transnational,” “scholarship,” and “ups and downs.”
European Sinology, for the first time, found acceptance in Japan in the late 19th century, transforming the East Asian Hanhak from a universal scholarship into a regional focused solely on China. Unlike Europe, where transnationalism played a crucial role in Sinology’s development, it was challenging for East Asia to witness such interchange by the end of the 19th century. However, the Japanese critical reflection on Hanhak as a regional study undoubtedly owed much to the influence of transnationalism from European Sinology.
There is not a humanities discipline such as Sinology or Chinese studies that shares strong interests between Europe and East Asia.
Chinese archaeologists’ long-term endeavor to disprove the Western origins of Chinese civilization argued by Johan G. Anderson in the 1920s marks the transition to Sinocentric regionalism, which was propelled by the growth of indigenous scholarship, from Eurocentric regionalism. As represented by Su Bingqi’s “regional systems and cultural types” (quxileixing 區系類型) and K.C. Chang’s “Chinese interaction sphere,” the new regionalism results in a contradiction between the centrifugalism prevalent in the multiregional Neolithic archaeology built on current Chinese territory and the centripetalism ingrained deeply in traditional Chinese historiography. While Chinese scholars tend to reconcile the pluralistic phenomena into the monolithic linear trajectory, Western scholars gives more stress on muitiregional trajectories.
Another methodological dispute on the authenticity of early Chinese texts underlies these controversies. It was the “doubting antiquity” (yigu 疑古) theorized by Gu Jiegang in 1920s following Tominaga Nakamoto, Cui Shu and Shiratori Kurakichi’s lead that took the studies of early Chinese civilization in the 20th century by storm. But the new archaeological discoveries since the late 20th century, including the Chu bamboo slips, led Chinese scholars to revisit the doubting antiquity discourse to the extent that in the 1990s, Li Xueqin urged to “step out of the doubting antiquity.” This declaration has affected the current trend of “believing antiquity” in Chinese academia. More and more influential Chinese-American scholars further seem to have reshuffled the academia in the West, which was previously in exclusive support of “doubting antiquity.” Especially, it is expected that the revisionist approach overcoming the extreme of doubting or believing antiquity both in China and the West will open a new vista in the studies of early Chinese civilization.
The first step in theorizing the doubting of antiquity was the theory of superseding (kajō 加上) proposed by Tominaga Nakamoto 富永仲基 (1715-1746). According to Tominaga, competitions between scholars to overcome previous explanations stimulated them to attribute their narratives to far-earlier sages deliberately. It was Cui Shu 崔述 (1740-1816) who applied a similar idea to history and found a fabricating pattern, in which he hypothesized that later the work, the farther in time the purported knowledge of the past is pushed back and the more complex the historical knowledge. All the same, it was not until the early 20th century when Shiratori Kurakichi 白鳥庫吉 (1865-1942) for the first time initiated the iconoclasm of sage kings such as Yao, Shun and Yu as the premise for establishing the doubting antiquity theory. Refining the relatively weak basis of Shiratori’s argument elaborately, Gu Jiegang completed the approach with the idea of the “accumulated creation of ancient history.”
However, the sheer accumulation of archaeological discoveries in China during the second half of the 20th century exposed limitations in the idea of fabricated ancient texts promoted by the Doubting Antiquity School. Especially, Li Ling convincingly points out that they oversymplified the complicated long-term process of textual formation in early China. In this regard, studying the canonization process from the stream of textual tradition in the newly unearthed Warring States bamboo slips would provide a new vista to overcome the limitations inherent in the theory of doubting antiquity.
appearance in China no earlier than the 6th century B.C. This study presents earlier cases of winged animals and humans, proposing that by the 12th century B.C. the griffin motifs already existed in China. On the one hand, the universal human desire to fly may have invented the
motifs expressed in bronzes and jades indigenously. On the other hand, we must consider that before their first appearance in China the motifs were very popular in the most advanced regions including West Asia for more than two thousands years. It is interesting to note that the sacred trees or the so-called shenshu 神樹 unearthed together with the winged humans in Sanxingdui are also similar to the “Tree of Life” prevalent in the entire West Asia at that time. It would be better
to open the possibility that the religious conceptions related to the griffin motifs might have vaguely spread to the Chengdu Plain through continuous chain of transmissions. Archaeology reveals interaction between the Qijia culture of the first Chinese bronze age in about 2000 B.C. and the Seima-Turbino culture in Southern Siberia. This further suggests earlier connections between the civilizations of the East and West.
An Archaeological Revival in the History of Puyŏ and its Memories
The archaeological excavations in the Jilin region since the 1980s have opened new vistas for the studies of Puyŏ history. The primary purpose of this review article is to introduce the main ideas in Mark Byington's The State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia: Archaeological and Historical Memory (2016). I will further argue critically some new issues this book proposes for the studies of ancient Korean and Northeastern Asian history. Especially, noting the "cultural memory" of Jan Assmann, I will support Byington's new interpretation on the foundation myths of Puyŏ, Koguryŏ and Paekche, in which he considers the mythic narratives merely as the invention necessary for the societies during the specific periods. Finally, I will point out the essential vulnerabilities this book reminds me of in the studies of Old Chosŏn in Korea.
The excavations of the Erlitou site since the late 1950s have provoked fierce controversy about the identification with the Xia dynasty as well as the social level of the site as a state. Introducing the arguments over the contested site, this study tries to provide a new insight reconciling the contrasting views. While the existence of Xia as a leading polity in the Luoyang Basin is plausible, it is difficult to accept the historicity of the legendary tales on the dynasty narrated in the transmitted texts. Depending on the individual scholar’s inherent premise for utilizing archaeological materials like pottery, the Erlitou phase III and IV could be interpreted either as the beginning of an early state or the last stage of a chiefdom society. It is significant in this regard to note Li Min’s recent study of the Erlitou site, in which he pays attention to its two legacies: “the emergence of a political economy focusing on bronze metallurgy and the establishment of a Luoyang-centered political order.” The social memory of Erlitou inscribed thereafter to the people of North China began to form a long-lasting geopolitical tradition of Sandai 三代. Thus, the narratives of the legendary Xia dynasty in the Warring States texts reveal a cultural reconstruction concerning the social memories of the past.
that the expansion was accompanied with new tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu and, especially, new stories regarding them. This study shows a good case of
“inventing history,” in which misrecognitions on the ancient quasi-historical lores caused expansive reproduction of the history regarding the legendary sage kings in traditional China.
The universal learning of Chinese Hanhak in East Asia found acceptance and appropriation in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Notably, Korea developed a self-sufficient Hanhak by the late Choson period, but it lacked the vitality necessary for succession by modern scholarship. Western missionaries, over several generations since the 17th century, studied Chinese Hanhak and laid the foundation for European Sinology. The development of European Sinology can be characterized by keywords such as “missionary works,” “commerce and diplomacy,” “transnational,” “scholarship,” and “ups and downs.”
European Sinology, for the first time, found acceptance in Japan in the late 19th century, transforming the East Asian Hanhak from a universal scholarship into a regional focused solely on China. Unlike Europe, where transnationalism played a crucial role in Sinology’s development, it was challenging for East Asia to witness such interchange by the end of the 19th century. However, the Japanese critical reflection on Hanhak as a regional study undoubtedly owed much to the influence of transnationalism from European Sinology.
There is not a humanities discipline such as Sinology or Chinese studies that shares strong interests between Europe and East Asia.
Chinese archaeologists’ long-term endeavor to disprove the Western origins of Chinese civilization argued by Johan G. Anderson in the 1920s marks the transition to Sinocentric regionalism, which was propelled by the growth of indigenous scholarship, from Eurocentric regionalism. As represented by Su Bingqi’s “regional systems and cultural types” (quxileixing 區系類型) and K.C. Chang’s “Chinese interaction sphere,” the new regionalism results in a contradiction between the centrifugalism prevalent in the multiregional Neolithic archaeology built on current Chinese territory and the centripetalism ingrained deeply in traditional Chinese historiography. While Chinese scholars tend to reconcile the pluralistic phenomena into the monolithic linear trajectory, Western scholars gives more stress on muitiregional trajectories.
Another methodological dispute on the authenticity of early Chinese texts underlies these controversies. It was the “doubting antiquity” (yigu 疑古) theorized by Gu Jiegang in 1920s following Tominaga Nakamoto, Cui Shu and Shiratori Kurakichi’s lead that took the studies of early Chinese civilization in the 20th century by storm. But the new archaeological discoveries since the late 20th century, including the Chu bamboo slips, led Chinese scholars to revisit the doubting antiquity discourse to the extent that in the 1990s, Li Xueqin urged to “step out of the doubting antiquity.” This declaration has affected the current trend of “believing antiquity” in Chinese academia. More and more influential Chinese-American scholars further seem to have reshuffled the academia in the West, which was previously in exclusive support of “doubting antiquity.” Especially, it is expected that the revisionist approach overcoming the extreme of doubting or believing antiquity both in China and the West will open a new vista in the studies of early Chinese civilization.
The first step in theorizing the doubting of antiquity was the theory of superseding (kajō 加上) proposed by Tominaga Nakamoto 富永仲基 (1715-1746). According to Tominaga, competitions between scholars to overcome previous explanations stimulated them to attribute their narratives to far-earlier sages deliberately. It was Cui Shu 崔述 (1740-1816) who applied a similar idea to history and found a fabricating pattern, in which he hypothesized that later the work, the farther in time the purported knowledge of the past is pushed back and the more complex the historical knowledge. All the same, it was not until the early 20th century when Shiratori Kurakichi 白鳥庫吉 (1865-1942) for the first time initiated the iconoclasm of sage kings such as Yao, Shun and Yu as the premise for establishing the doubting antiquity theory. Refining the relatively weak basis of Shiratori’s argument elaborately, Gu Jiegang completed the approach with the idea of the “accumulated creation of ancient history.”
However, the sheer accumulation of archaeological discoveries in China during the second half of the 20th century exposed limitations in the idea of fabricated ancient texts promoted by the Doubting Antiquity School. Especially, Li Ling convincingly points out that they oversymplified the complicated long-term process of textual formation in early China. In this regard, studying the canonization process from the stream of textual tradition in the newly unearthed Warring States bamboo slips would provide a new vista to overcome the limitations inherent in the theory of doubting antiquity.
appearance in China no earlier than the 6th century B.C. This study presents earlier cases of winged animals and humans, proposing that by the 12th century B.C. the griffin motifs already existed in China. On the one hand, the universal human desire to fly may have invented the
motifs expressed in bronzes and jades indigenously. On the other hand, we must consider that before their first appearance in China the motifs were very popular in the most advanced regions including West Asia for more than two thousands years. It is interesting to note that the sacred trees or the so-called shenshu 神樹 unearthed together with the winged humans in Sanxingdui are also similar to the “Tree of Life” prevalent in the entire West Asia at that time. It would be better
to open the possibility that the religious conceptions related to the griffin motifs might have vaguely spread to the Chengdu Plain through continuous chain of transmissions. Archaeology reveals interaction between the Qijia culture of the first Chinese bronze age in about 2000 B.C. and the Seima-Turbino culture in Southern Siberia. This further suggests earlier connections between the civilizations of the East and West.
An Archaeological Revival in the History of Puyŏ and its Memories
The archaeological excavations in the Jilin region since the 1980s have opened new vistas for the studies of Puyŏ history. The primary purpose of this review article is to introduce the main ideas in Mark Byington's The State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia: Archaeological and Historical Memory (2016). I will further argue critically some new issues this book proposes for the studies of ancient Korean and Northeastern Asian history. Especially, noting the "cultural memory" of Jan Assmann, I will support Byington's new interpretation on the foundation myths of Puyŏ, Koguryŏ and Paekche, in which he considers the mythic narratives merely as the invention necessary for the societies during the specific periods. Finally, I will point out the essential vulnerabilities this book reminds me of in the studies of Old Chosŏn in Korea.
The excavations of the Erlitou site since the late 1950s have provoked fierce controversy about the identification with the Xia dynasty as well as the social level of the site as a state. Introducing the arguments over the contested site, this study tries to provide a new insight reconciling the contrasting views. While the existence of Xia as a leading polity in the Luoyang Basin is plausible, it is difficult to accept the historicity of the legendary tales on the dynasty narrated in the transmitted texts. Depending on the individual scholar’s inherent premise for utilizing archaeological materials like pottery, the Erlitou phase III and IV could be interpreted either as the beginning of an early state or the last stage of a chiefdom society. It is significant in this regard to note Li Min’s recent study of the Erlitou site, in which he pays attention to its two legacies: “the emergence of a political economy focusing on bronze metallurgy and the establishment of a Luoyang-centered political order.” The social memory of Erlitou inscribed thereafter to the people of North China began to form a long-lasting geopolitical tradition of Sandai 三代. Thus, the narratives of the legendary Xia dynasty in the Warring States texts reveal a cultural reconstruction concerning the social memories of the past.
that the expansion was accompanied with new tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu and, especially, new stories regarding them. This study shows a good case of
“inventing history,” in which misrecognitions on the ancient quasi-historical lores caused expansive reproduction of the history regarding the legendary sage kings in traditional China.