The songs of the Royal Zhōu (“Zhōu Nán” 周南) and of the Royal Shào (“Shào Nán” 召南) have formed a conceptual unit since at least the late Spring and Autumn period (771–453 BC). With this book Meyer and Schwartz provide a first complete reading of their earliest, Warring States (453–221 BC), iteration as witnessed by the Ānhuī University manuscripts. As a thought experiment, the authors seek to establish an emic reading of these songs, which they contextualise in the larger framework of studies of the Shī (Songs) and of meaning production during the Warring States period more broadly. The analysis casts light on how the Songs were used by different groups during the Warring States period.
Dirk Meyer, Ph.D. (2008), Leiden University, is Associate Professor of Chinese Philosophy and Fellow of The Queen’s College, University of Oxford. He is the author of
Philosophy on Bamboo (Brill 2012),
Documentation and Argument in Early China (De Gruyter 2021), and co-editor of
Literary Forms of Argument in Early China (Brill 2015, with Joachim Gentz) and
Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy (Brill 2017, with Martin Kern).
Adam Craig Schwartz, Ph.D. (2013), University of Chicago, is Associate Director of the Jao Tsung-i Academy of Sinology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the author of
The Oracle Bone Inscriptions from Huayuanzhuang East (De Gruyter 2019).
Introduction 1
The Ān Dà Shī 2
Attempting an ‘Emic’ Reading of the Ān Dà Shī 3
Writing the Image Programme of the Songs 4
Bringing to Life the Sound Moulds of Shī Production 5
Sounding the Image Programme of the Songs 6
Receiving the Shī 7
The Significance of the Royal Zhōu and the Royal Shào 8
What Does ‘Nán’ Mean? 9
The Significance of the Ān Dà Shī 10
The Songs of the Royal Zhōu and the Royal Shào: Conventions
All interested in the poetic traditions of Early China, anyone interested in the textual history of the
Shījīng (Classic of Songs), manuscript cultures, and meaning production in Early China.