2026-10-22
In 1973, a batch of carbonized bamboo slips was excavated from Han Tomb No. 40 at Bajiaolang in Dingxian (present-day Dingzhou), Hebei. Among them were 620 slips of the *Analects*. Their transcription runs to 7576 characters, less than half of the received text. The tomb occupant is generally believed to be Liu Xiu, King Huai of Zhongshan, who died in 55 BCE, so the slip text is a copy made before 55 BCE. Drawing on the official editorial reports, this article traces how the slips were excavated, damaged and published, and compares their wording and section divisions with the received text.
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The “Hanji Full-Text Database” was built by the Institute of History and Philology of Taiwan’s “Academia Sinica.” Its predecessors were the “Handian” full-text retrieval system and the “Hanji Electronic Documents Database,” and in 2023 they were unified under the current name. The official website states that it contains 1,582 classical texts totaling about 8.8 hundred million characters, with the history branch predominating. The Twenty-Five Histories, the Commentaries and Subcommentaries on the Thirteen Classics, and some other texts can be searched for free; the remaining content requires authorization. This article introduces its coverage and authorization, its search filters, and how to cite editions.
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Jing Fang of the Western Han is known for the eight palace hexagrams and the najia method, but his life is recorded mainly in the *Hanshu*, and the received three-juan *Jingshi Yizhuan* does not match the entry in the “Yiwen zhi” of the *Hanshu*. This article draws on the *Hanshu*, the Siku edition of the *Jingshi Yizhuan*, the *Siku quanshu zongmu*, and Yixing's “Gua yi” as preserved in the “Calendar Treatise” of the *Xin Tangshu*. It traces how the eight palaces are arranged, the rules for attaching heavenly stems and earthly branches, the relationship with Meng Xi's guaqi theory, and later uses such as the Huozhulin, along with assessments through the dynasties.
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