Scribal influence on the transmission of pre-Qin texts, as seen in excavated manuscripts

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article is directed against some Western scholars’ unfounded claim that early Chinese texts were predominantly transmitted orally (either through dictation or writing from memory), and discusses the importance of the scribe in the transmission of pre-Qin texts. Concrete evidence from excavated manuscripts suggests that early Chinese texts were primarily transmitted as copies that passed from hand to hand and text to text. The author then discusses, through handwriting analysis, examples of texts copied by a single scribe as well as multiple scribes, and how the copyists treated texts and scripts that originated from different states of the Warring States period. The article then discusses how scribes treated textual errors, omissions, and redundant graphs and texts arising during the process of textual transmission. Finally the author discusses the social status of the scribe in early China and hypothesizes that there may have already been bookshops in the Warring States period.