Restoring bamboo scrolls: Observations on the materiality of Warring states bamboo manuscripts

Abstract

ABSTRACTFocusing on two groups of manuscripts from Tsinghua collection, in this article, the author reconstructs two Warring States manuscripts to illustrate the diversity of the manuscript format of early China. The reconstruction is based on a series of observations on the materiality and textuality of the manuscripts. The first group consists of three manuscripts concerning the stories of two historical figures: Yi Yin and Shang Tang of the Shang dynasty. Based on the basis of verso line, bamboo nodes, and the narrative chronology, the author determines these three manuscripts originally formed one continuous scroll. The second example is the Mathematical Chart, also from the Tsinghua University collections. Based a series of observations of the physical features such as the verso imprints, the traces of decayed silk, and signs of damage to the bamboo slips, it is suggested that the Mathematical Chart manuscript was not in the familiar “scroll” format, but rather a “folded” format. This reconstruction provides the first concrete evidence of a “folded” book format since the archaeological discoveries of early Chinese manuscripts in the early 20th century.