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The Zhoujiatai Occult Manuscripts

Donald Harper
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago,
Chicago
dharper@uchicago.edu
周家臺的數術簡
夏德安
芝加哥、芝加哥大學東亞語言與文明學系
Abstract
Bamboo-slip manuscripts from Zhoujiatai tomb 30, Hubei (burial dated ca. 209 b.c.e.),
provide important evidence of ancient Chinese occult manuscripts belonging to a
man of modest status. One manuscript, identified as a rishu “day book” by the modern
editors of the Zhoujiatai manuscripts, treats of hemerology and astrology and is the
focus of this study. The bamboo slips of a calendar for years corresponding to 211–210
b.c.e. can be associated with the rishu and may have formed one manuscript unit.
The contents of the rishu include two large-size diagrams related to hemerological and
astro-calendrical systems. The first diagram involves calculations based on the posi-
tion of the handle of the Dipper constellation and the second diagram is notable for
reference to one of the years (211 b.c.e.) of the associated calendar. A third diagram,
for which the title rong liri “rong calendar day [divination]” is written on the manu-
script, has a slightly different form in a second occurrence on the manuscript. Both
forms of the diagram show thirty lines arranged in a vertical column, corresponding
to the thirty days of the ideal month, with some lines enclosed in boxes. Days of the
month are counted in the sequence of lines on the diagram in order to determine the
lucky and unlucky aspects of a given day. A related hemerological system is attested in
a manuscript from Mawangdui tomb 3, Hunan (burial dated 168 b.c.e.), and in medi-
eval occult manuscripts from Dunhuang.
* This article originally appeared in Chinese translation as Xia De’an 夏德安 , “Zhoujiatai de

shushu jian” 周家臺的數術簡 , Jianbo 簡帛 2 (2007), 397–408.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/24689246-00101003

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54 HARPER
Keywords
rishu “day book” – manuscript culture – shushu “calculations and arts” – hemerology –
rong liri “rong calendar day [divination]”
摘要
湖北省周家臺 30號墓簡（約公元前 209年）提供了關於古代中國一名低級
官吏所擁有的數術簡的寶貴資料。本文主要研究其中由整理者认定为《日
書》的簡文及其涉及的擇日、星象等內容。同墓出土的暦譜（公元前 211–210
年）與《日書》相關，可能本來屬於同一卷簡冊。《日書》包括兩幅大圖，
一個與擇日有關，一個與星象曆法體系有關。第一圖講基於北斗七星斗柄
指向的算法，第二圖因爲涉及到暦譜記載公元前 211年的內容而受到矚目。另
外第三幅圖簡文記述其名曰 “戎磿日 ”，存在兩個稍微不同的版本。兩個版
本的圖都是由縱向排列的三十條橫綫構成，代表一个月的理想天数三十，
並和周圍的綫條組成方框。按照圖中橫綫的順序判斷每個月中相應的那一
天是否吉利。與此相關的擇日法也在湖南馬王堆 3號墓（約公元前 168年）
與中古時期敦煌的數術文獻中出現。
關鍵詞
《日書》、寫本文化、數術、選擇術、戎磿日
This study focuses on the bamboo-slip manuscripts from Zhoujiatai 周家臺

tomb 30, Hubei, excavated in June 1993. Based on archaeological survey of the
area, Zhoujiatai tomb 30 was located in a burial ground of Qin and Han tombs;
forty-two tombs were excavated between October 1992 and December 1993.
The deceased was male. Dental analysis indicates that he died before the age
of forty. Reference to the 1st year of Ershi 二世元年 on a wood tablet in the
tomb indicates that burial was not earlier than 209 b.c.e. The tomb’s content
and the style of clerical script on the manuscripts indicate that Zhoujiatai
tomb 30 is a Qin burial rather than a Han burial, and thus the man must have
died in or not long after 209 b.c.e. He appears to have been a man of modest
status, and was most likely a low-ranking local official.1
1 See Hubei sheng Jingzhou shi Zhouliangyuqiao yizhi bowuguan 湖北省荆州市周梁玉橋遺

址博物館 ed., Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu 關沮秦漢墓簡牘 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2001),
145–60, for a summary of the excavation and speculations on the deceased.

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The Zhoujiatai Occult Manuscripts 55
The Zhoujiatai manuscripts and their texts have attracted the attention
of scholars since the publication of photographs and transcriptions in 2001.
Most attention has been given to calendrical records for the 34th, 36th, and
37th years of the First Qin Thearch’s 秦始皇帝 reign (213 and 211–210 b.c.e.)
and to the text that has been identified as a rishu 日書 “day book” (treating of
astro-calendrical and hemerological systems).2 A text of recipes has attracted
notice especially for including the procedure for offering prayers and sacrifices
to the agricultural deity Xiannong 先農 (Primordial agrarian).3 My chief con-
cern here is to discuss the characteristics of the manuscripts as manuscripts
belonging to one individual, the deceased, who may have copied some of the
texts himself and for whom the manuscripts and their texts played a concrete
role in his daily life. On the one hand, I treat the manuscripts from the perspec-
tive of codicological methods of analysis; and on the other hand, I speculate
on how these manuscripts and texts offer a new perspective on the relation
between written texts and everyday knowledge in the late third century b.c.e.
My purpose is to investigate manuscript culture in early China and to show
how written texts influenced the ideas and practices of everyday life as experi-
enced by individuals such as the man buried in Zhoujiatai tomb 30.
Further, I propose to treat the Zhoujiatai manuscripts, including the calen-
drical records, as examples of third century b.c.e. shushu 數術 “calculations
and arts” documents. The Zhoujiatai manuscripts give us a view of shushu
manuscripts two centuries before the first occurrence of shushu as a term of
bibliographic classification at the time of the first century b.c.e. catalogue of
the library of the Han dynasty ruling house: as reflected in the bibliographic
treatise of the first century c.e. Han shu 漢書 (Book of Han), shushu was the
label applied to books on astrology, the calendar, and various forms of magic
and divination.4 Only later was shushu used to identify a body of knowledge
that combines elements of both occult knowledge and science (“occult” in
the sense of “knowledge or use of agencies of a secret and mysterious nature
2 For the calendrical records, see the research by Zhang Peiyu 張培瑜 and Peng Jinhua 彭錦華
in Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu, appendix 3, 231–44. Liu Lexian 劉樂賢 , Jianbo shushu wenxian
tanlun 簡帛數術文獻探論 (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002), 34–35, provides a sum-
mary of the Zhoujiatai rishu material with references to several studies.
3 For discussion of the Xiannong passage in the Zhoujiatai manuscripts and related evidence
of officially sponsored Xiannong sacrifices in third century b.c.e. Qin administrative docu-
ments from Liye 里耶 , Hubei, see the exchange from October 2005 at www.bsm.org.cn/fo-
rum/viewtopic.php?t=336.
4 See Han shu (Zhonghua shuju 1962), 30.1763–75, for the shushu division of the bibliographic
treatise, which preserves the main content of the lost Han library catalogue.
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56 HARPER
[as magic, alchemy, astrology, theosophy, and the like]”).5 As we evaluate the
Zhoujiatai manuscripts it is important to remember that the bibliographic cat-
egory shushu did not yet exist, nor was there a shared idea of the forms of
knowledge that were later regarded as shushu. Given the relationship of certain
Warring States, Qin, and early Han manuscripts to later shushu literature—
I especially have in mind the many Dunhuang 敦煌 shushu manuscripts6—
there is no reason not to refer to the Zhoujiatai manuscripts as shushu so long
as we acknowledge that we use shushu to facilitate our research on the manu-
scripts, and do not use it to represent an already consolidated world view in
the third century b.c.e. Moreover, the Zhoujiatai manuscripts are unlike the
books whose titles are listed in the shushu division of the Han shu bibliograph-
ic treatise. These books, which all have formal titles, were the final product of
collation and editing performed by the Grand Scribe/Astrologer Yin Xian 太史
尹咸 .7 Today they are all lost except for the Shanhai jing 山海經 (Classic of
mountains and seas). The Zhoujiatai manuscripts are a unique collection of
textual material copied on the same physical manuscript for an intended user,
in this case the man buried in Zhoujiatai tomb 30. For us to evaluate the signifi-
cance of the texts to him, it is best to set to one side consideration of how they
might be related to the lost books whose titles are listed in the Han shu and
instead to focus our attention on how the texts might represent ideas known
to and practices employed by him. This line of speculation can lead to insights
on the world view of literate individuals in the third century b.c.e. and on
the role of written texts in transmitting “occult and scientific”—or shushu—
knowledge among a literate elite.
Excavation and Publication of the Zhoujiatai Manuscripts
Let me begin by summarizing the archaeological data regarding the Zhoujiatai

manuscripts. The bamboo-slip manuscripts were found in a severely damaged
woven-bamboo basket (zm30:13) in the space at the north end of the coffin
chamber. Other objects in the basket included writing supplies: a brush, lumps
5 The main evidence of shushu as the name for scientific/occult knowledge is from the second
century a.d. For examples, see Hou Han shu 後漢書 (Zhonghua shuju 1965), 60B.1980 (since
childhood Cai Yong 蔡邕 was fond of shushu and tianwen 天文 “patterns of heaven”) and
61.2021 (reference to shushu zhi shi 數術之士 “specialists in calculations and arts”). For the
citation of the meaning of “occult,” see Oxford English Dictionary.
6 See Marc Kalinowski, ed., Divination et société dans la Chine médiévale: Étude des manuscrits
de Dunhuang de la Bibliothèque nationale de France et de la British Library (Paris: Biblio-
thèque nationale de France, 2003).
7 Han shu, 30.1701.

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of ink, and an iron-bladed scraping knife. The binding cords for the manu-
scripts had disintegrated and the slips were in a loose stack, many having fallen
through the bottom of the basket. Based on distinctive characteristics of the
slips themselves, three groups can be identified, and the slips in each group
appear to have formed a separate manuscript. At the top of the stack, the 244
jia 甲 group slips are 29.3–29.6 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm wide, and 0.08–0.09 cm
thick. Ten jia group slips are blank. At the top, center, and bottom of the slips
there are notches for binding cords. In addition, on the back side of each slip
the bottom 1–2 mm is scraped away to make a slanted end that exposes the yel-
low part of the bamboo. It is clear that the slips were bound first and text was
then written on their surface.8 Under the jia group slips in the basket, the 75 yi
乙 group slips are similar in size and preparation to the jia group slips except
that on the back they are level at the bottom end, not slanted; four slips are
blank. Again, the slips were first bound and then used. At the bottom, the 70
bing 丙 group slips are shorter, varying in size from 21.7–23 cm long, 0.4–1 cm
wide, and 0.06–0.15 cm thick. The slips are roughly finished, including some on
which bamboo-joints were not smoothed.9
When arranging the slips for publication, the editors decided to make three
categories: one for calendrical records, one for the rishu, and one for the reci-
pes. From the standpoint of preserving the original character of the manu-
scripts, their decision was not ideal because the jia group slips with calendrical
records for the 36th and 37th years were placed with the yi group slips with
the 34th year calendrical record. The sequence of slips and texts as published
is: 34th year calendrical record (slips 1–64, all yi group; slips 65–68 are blank);
36th and 37th year calendrical records (slips 69–91, all jia group); slips with
sexagenary cycle signs that belong to a calendrical record, arranged by the
editors in the sexagenary sequence (slips 92–130, all jia group);10 Ershi 1st year
8 Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu, 154. The excavation report does not state that the slanted bot-
tom end is on the back side of each slip. I am grateful to Peng Hao 彭浩 for personally
examining the original bamboo slips and reporting to me the result of his examination.
According to Peng Hao, it is no longer easy to see the slanted end on all jia group slips, and
in some cases the bottom of the slip is missing. The slanted end is visible on the following
slips (slip numbers are the numbers used for publication in Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu):
81, 83, 85, 88, 92, 93, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 121, 133, 135, 136, 139, 142, 143, 144, 146,
148, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 162, 165, 169, 180, 182, 183, 188, 189, 190, 191, 197, 198, 199, 200,
202, 206, 208, 210, 214, 220, 226, 228, 229, 230, 235, 241, 243, 246, 250, 252, 254, 255, 261, 264,
265, 268, 269, 270, 275, 276, 279, 280, 283, 288, 291, 295, 298, 302, 306.
9 Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu, 154–55.
10 For one attempt to reconstruct a calendar for the 36th and 37th years that combines slips
92–130 and slips 69–91, see Cheng Pengwan 程鵬萬 , “Zhoujiatai sanshi hao Qin mu suo
chu Qinshihuang sanshiliu sanshiqi nian lipu jian chongxin bianlian” 周家臺三十號秦
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58 HARPER
calendrical record (recorded on the wood tablet, which was not found in the
basket with the bamboo-slip manuscripts but was also found in the north end
of the coffin chamber); the rishu (slips 131–308, all jia group); the recipes (slips
309–383, all bing group; assigned the title *Bingfang ji qita 病方及其它 [Ail-
ment recipes and other matters]).
Based on the positions of the slips at the time of excavation, we know that
the beginning of the rishu manuscript (jia group) was inside at the center of
the rolled bundle. The 36th and 37th year calendrical records (jia group) were
at the outside of the rolled bundle. Either the 36th and 37th year calendrical
records were bound with the rishu as a continuous manuscript or the jia group
slips containing the calendrical records were bound separately but rolled
around the outside of the rishu; that is, they were not rolled into an indepen-
dent bundle. In either case, the rishu and calendar texts of the jia group slips
are closely related. I suggest that we treat the jia group slips as forming one
manuscript unit. Using the editors’ sequential numbering of slips for publica-
tion, the jia group manuscript begins with slips 131–308 and continues with
slips 69–130.11 The relation between the calendrical records and the rishu is re-
inforced by specific reference in the rishu to astro-calendrical correlations for
the 36th year (slip 297, first register). To my knowledge the Zhoujiatai manu-
script is the oldest example of a rishu manuscript that includes information for
a specific calendar year. In general, rishu provide astro-calendrical and hem-
erological systems but leave the user to make the necessary correlations by
consulting a calendar separately. The distinctive character of the Zhoujiatai jia
group manuscript has been obscured in publication by the editors’ decision to
present the texts according to the editors’ classification scheme.
Perhaps the editorial decision to publish the calendrical records as a sepa-
rate category was made in view of the bibliographic sub-category lipu 曆譜 for
calendrical records in the shushu division of the Han shu bibliographic trea-
tise. However, as stated above, the bibliographic classification was devised in
墓所出秦始皇三十六三十七年曆譜重新編聯 , Wuhan Daxue Jianbo Wang 武漢大

學簡帛網 , December 12, 2004, www.bsm.org.cn/, reprinted in Shixue Jikan 史學集刊 3
(2006), 82–4. Slips 69–91 only provide months and the sexagenary cycle sign for the first
day of the month, hence Cheng conjectures that the cycle signs on slips 92–130 represent
cycle signs for other days. The idea is good, but Cheng’s reconstructed calendar for the
combined 36th and 37th years is unconvincing.
11 See the description of Zhoujiatai manuscripts in Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu, 154–55; see
also 198, Fig. 15, which shows the position of individual bamboo slips in the stack of slips
at the time of excavation; and appendix 1, 225–29, which is a table of the slip numbers
in the publication sequence with the corresponding number assigned to each slip at the
time of excavation.

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the first century b.c.e. and was applied to manuscripts that were produced as
the result of the editorial project initiated by the Han court. While calendrical
records were no doubt recognized as a type of literature in the third century
b.c.e., we should be cautious in correlating excavated manuscripts with lost
texts whose titles are listed in the lipu sub-category of the shushu division.
Moreover, we should expect that manuscripts excavated from the tombs of
individuals who belonged to various levels of an ancient, literate elite might
contain idiosyncrasies resulting from choices made when a particular manu-
script was copied, including a decision to combine rishu textual material with
relevant calendrical records for the convenience of the user.
The jia group manuscript, the yi group manuscript, and the bing group
manuscript are examples of third century b.c.e. Chinese manuscripts that are
older than the shushu bibliographic classification and that are relevant to our
understanding of occult and scientific knowledge in early China before the
time of the shushu bibliographic classification. In the present study, I limit my
discussion to the jia group manuscript and focus on the rishu textual material
in the jia group manuscript.
The Jia Group Manuscript
The arrangement of text and diagrams on the rishu text of the jia group manu-
script has notable features that are relevant to speculation on the production
of the manuscript, its intended use, and its intended user. The first point to
note is that the writing is in a neat clerical script and is evenly spaced on the
slips, both signs of care taken in production of the manuscript. As noted above,
the slips were first bound with three cords (top, middle, and bottom), and then
decisions were made regarding the placement of the text and diagrams on the
blank surface of bound slips. Maximizing the use of all available space on the
surface was clearly not an important consideration. In general, the space on
the slips above the upper binding cord and below the lower binding cord is left
blank. One exception is the occasional placement of graphs that serve as head-
ings in the space above the upper cord; for example, the names of the twenty-
eight stellar lodges (xiu 宿 ) are written as headings in the section of the rishu
text that describes the system of the Dipper constellation (dou 斗 ) pointing in
sequence to the lodges (slips 187–242; see below).
The manuscript begins on slips 131–154 with a list of months and the stellar
lodges attached to each month according to a fixed astro-calendrical system,
beginning with the eighth month. The list is written horizontally in two reg-
isters across the upper part of the slips. Moreover, for each monthly h eading
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60 HARPER
one stellar lodge name is written on the same slip beneath the month and sub-
sequent stellar lodge names for that month are written on separate slips to
the left. For example, for the 12th month, wunü 婺女 is written below shier
yue 十二月 on slip 140, first register, xu 虛 is on slip 141, first register, and wei
危 is on slip 142, first register. On reaching the sixth month in slip 154, liu 柳 is
written on the same slip and qixing 七星 is written back on slip 131, second reg-
ister (followed by the seventh and final month in the list and its stellar lodges
on slips 132–134, second register). There are generous amounts of open space,
and the horizontal arrangement of stellar lodge names one name to a slip also
facilitates reference to the list. Slips 135–136, second register, is a list of twenty
branches and stems in a sequence identical to their appearance in the astro-
calendrical diagram drawn in the upper part of slips 156–181; slips 137–154, sec-
ond register, is left blank as is the entire slip 155 preceding the diagram (slips
182–186 following the diagram are also blank).
The diagram depicts the stellar lodges in a circle together with branches,
stems, and time-divisions of the day. The diagram correlates with both the pre-
ceding text and the following text, which has separate entries for the twenty-
eight stellar lodges (slips 187–242); each entry occupies two slips. The lodge
name is written in a raised heading on the first slip, the text is written down the
entire length of the slip, and continues onto the second slip (usually conclud-
ing before reaching the bottom of the second slip). The position of the handle
of the Dipper, which functions as an astro-calendrical pointer, is the key to the
interpretation of the diagram and stellar lodge entries. The information pro-
vided in each entry concerns predictions for various activities when the Dip-
per handle is aligned with that stellar lodge. The system is based on a routine
calendrical calculation, not observation of the sky; and slips 243–244 provide
the qiu dou shu 求斗朮 “technique for seeking the Dipper.”12
Considering the use of space on the manuscript surface, it is clear that the
astro-calendrical system based on months, stellar lodges, and the Dipper han-
dle constitutes the major content. A hemerological system that occurs twice
in the rishu text provides further insight into the production of the jia group
manuscript. The system first appears at the beginning of the manuscript, slips
131–144, third register. Slip 131, third register, contains a diagram consisting of five
rectangular boxes with three horizontal lines inside each box and a horizontal
12 For a recent discussion of the diagram in connection with early Chinese cosmological
ideas, see Liu Guosheng 劉國勝 , “Chu di chutu shushu wenxian yu gu yuzhou jiegou
lilun” 楚地出土數術文獻與古宇宙結構理論 , in Ding Sixin 丁四新 ed., Chu di jian
bo sixiang yanjiu 楚地簡帛思想研究 , vol. 2 (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2005),
241–46.

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line above each box. Slip 132, third register, begins with the statement that “this
is what is called rong liri 戎磿日 ‘rong calendar day [divination].’”13 The re-
mainder of slips 132–144, third register, explains the system. According to slips
132–138, third register, the uppermost horizontal line, the upper and lower lines
of the boxes, and the three horizontal lines inside the boxes add up to thirty,
corresponding to the days of a lunar month. The five lines above the five boxes
are dache 大徹 “great penetration;” the ten lines that form the top and bot-
tom lines of the boxes, which are on the perimeter (zhou 周 ) of the boxes, are
xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration;” the fifteen lines inside the boxes, three for
each box, are qiong 窮 “exhaustion.” For each month a person counts the days
of the month beginning at the top line of the diagram, which is correlated with
the first day of the month. The following distribution of days results: days 1, 7,
13, 19, and 25 are dache “great penetration;” days 2, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 20, 24, 26, and
30 are xiaoche “minor penetration;” days 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28,
and 29 are qiong “exhaustion” (see Fig. 1). Slips 139–144, third register, describes
favorable and unfavorable aspects for activities when undertaken on days in
the three categories. The activities include travel, attacking, catching people
who have escaped, and marriage.
In its second appearance, slips 261–265, the diagram at the top of slip 261 is
different and the explanatory text is written down the length of slips 262–264
(the text ends before the bottom of slip 264), with a concluding end-statement
at the top of slip 265. The diagram on slip 261 has a horizontal line above and
below each box, and there are two lines (not three) inside each box. The top
of slip 262 is missing and the first legible graph is ri 日 ; the manuscript edi-
tors surmise that the name of the system should also be rong liri. There is a
clear relationship between the two systems, with important differences. The
method of correlating lines and days of the month begins at the top of the dia-
gram with the first day, as before, but involves a forward and reverse sequence
of three kinds of lines. The first sequence is: day 1, che 徹 (line above the first
box); day 2, zhou 周 (line on the upper perimeter of the box); day 3, qiong
窮 (first line inside the box); day 4, qiong (second line inside the box); day 5,
zhou (line on the lower perimeter of the box); day 6, che (line below the first
box). The sequence repeats for days 7–12, 13–18, 19–24, and 25–30 (see Fig. 2).
According to slip 265, this hemerological system can be used when meeting
people and for combat, which helps to explain the spatial correlations for the
five sets of six-day periods given in slips 262–264: for days 1–6, turn away from
13 I follow Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu, 120, n. 2, in identifying the original graph on the man-
uscript, written with an additional stroke on top, with li 磿 , read as 曆 “calendar”; the
meaning of rong 戎 is uncertain.
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62 HARPER
1 dache 大徹 “great penetration”
2 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”
3 qiong 窮 “exhaustion”


Figure 1
Rong liri diagram on slip 131
them (bei 倍 ); for days 7–12, put them on the left; for days 13–18, put them on
the right; for days 19–24, face them; for days 25–30, again turn away from them.
In terms of the arrangement of the two related systems on the manuscript,
I suspect that the section on slips 261–265 formed part of the original plan
of the manuscript. It is the last of several sections following the stellar lodge

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1 che 徹 “penetration”
2 zhou 周 “perimeter”
Figure 2
Rong liri diagram on slip 261
diagram on slips 156–181, and it is followed by another set of diagrams on slips

266–308 (see below). In contrast, the rong liri system on slips 131–144, third
register, seems to have been added later in the space left over from the list of
months and stellar lodges on slips 131–154, first and second register. A section
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64 HARPER
on childbirth divination that follows rong liri on slips 145–148 and slip 151, third
register (the text skips over slips 149–150), seems to have been added along
with rong liri. If there is a logic to the arrangement of the sections, it is related
more to allocation of space on the surface of the bound-slip manuscript dur-
ing production (which may have occurred over a period of time with additions
made subsequent to the first production) than to a strict logic of reading the
manuscript from beginning to end. In the published transcription, the Zhou-
jiatai manuscript editors place the transcription of slips 131–151, third register
(rong liri and childbirth divination) after slip 260 (on the guxu 孤虛 “orphan/
empty” hemerological system) and before slips 261–265 (the system related to
rong liri). I am unsure of their reasons for this arrangement.
Additional evidence concerning the Zhoujiatai rong liri hemerological sys-
tems is in a Mawangdui manuscript that is currently referred to as *Chuxing
zhan 出行占 (Divination for travel departure).14 In *Chuxing zhan there is no
diagram, no name for the hemerological system, and no reference to kinds of
lines. Rather, the text lists days of the month that belong to four categories:
dache 大徹 “great penetration,” xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration,” xiaoqiong
小窮 “minor exhaustion,” and daqiong 大窮 “great exhaustion.” The list is as
follows: dache, days 1, 7, 13, 19, 25; xiaoche, days 6, 18, 24; xiaoqiong, days 4, 10,
16, 22, 28; daqiong, days 3, 9, 15, 21, 27. The *Chuxing zhan category dache corre-
sponds to the rong liri system in the Zhoujiatai manuscript, slips 131–144, third
register (recall that these days are correlated with the line above each box).
The *Chuxing zhan category xiaoche includes only three days (6, 18, and 24) of
the ten days in this category in slips 131–144. Slips 131–144 does not differentiate
between the categories xiaoqiong and daqiong, but the five days in the *Chu
xing zhan category xiaoqiong and the five days in the *Chuxing zhan category
daqiong are among the fifteen days in the category qiong in slips 131–144.
The four categories in *Chuxing zhan represent a selection of eighteen days,
not a classification of all thirty days of a standard lunar month. Moreover, the
selection of five days each for the xiaoqiong and daqiong categories suggests a
connection to the five days of the dache category, and leads me to suspect that
the xiaoche category in *Chuxing zhan also ought to have five days. I cannot
explain why *Chuxing zhan lists only three, but I have good evidence that the
14 For details on the identification of the silk manuscript of Chuxing zhan, see Liu Lexian,
Jianbo shushu wenxian tanlun, 115–17. The manuscript has been confused with another
Mawangdui manuscript assigned the title *Yinyang wuxing yipian 陰陽五行乙篇 . Pho-
tographs of Chuxing zhan are published in Chen Songchang 陳松長 , Mawangdui boshu
yishu 馬王堆帛書藝術 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1996), 130 and 134 (identified there
as part of Yinyang wuxing yipian).

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*Chuxing zhan hemerological system is based on a diagram and on the cor-

relation between lines in the diagram and days of the month. The diagram,
however, is not the one that appears on slip 131, third register, of the Zhoujiatai
manuscript but rather is the diagram on slip 261. Recall that in the explana-
tion on slips 262–264, the terms che 徹 “penetration,” zhou 周 “perimeter,” and
qiong 窮 “exhaustion” are used to describe the lines of the diagram on slip
261, but the explanation does not classify days according to categories such as
dache, xiaoche, and qiong. On slip 261, che lines are the lines drawn above and
below each box, zhou lines are the lines that form the upper and lower lines
on the perimeter of each box, and qiong lines are the two lines drawn inside
each box.
When the days identified as dache, xiaoche, xiaoqiong, and daqiong in
*Chuxing zhan are plotted alongside the diagram on slip 261, a clear pattern
emerges (see Fig. 3). The line above each box on slip 261 (the first che line for
each box) represents dache days in *Chuxing zhan: days 1, 7, 13, 19, 25). The
lines that form the upper and lower lines of each box (zhou lines) are not part
of the *Chuxing zhan classification of days: that is, none of the days 2, 5, 8, 11,
14, 17, 20, 23, 26, and 29 is listed in *Chuxing zhan (hence these lines are not
significant in the hemerological system described in *Chuxing zhan). The first
line inside each box on slip 261 (the first qiong line for each box) represents
daqiong days in *Chuxing zhan: days 3, 9, 15, 21, and 27. The second line inside
each box on slip 261 (the second qiong line for each box) represents xiaoqiong
days in *Chuxing zhan: days 4, 10, 16, 22, and 28 (clearly the even and odd num-
bers are related to classification as xiaoqiong and daqiong respectively). Given
the evidence of systematic correspondence between the slip 261 diagram and
*Chuxing zhan, the line below each box on slip 261 (the second che line for
each box) must represent xiaoche days in *Chuxing zhan: days 6, 12, 18, 24,
and 30. Days 12 and 30 are not listed in the xiaoche category in *Chuxing zhan.
Nevertheless, the relationship between the hemerological system described in
*Chuxing zhan and the slip 261 diagram is clear. We may speculate about the
two missing days (copyist error or perhaps a slight variation in the hemerologi-
cal system as presented in *Chuxing zhan), but the hemerological system in
*Chuxing zhan demonstrates that the slip 261 diagram was the basis for the
same type of day classification presented as the rong liri system on slips 131–
144. Due to differences in the two diagrams, however, the classification of days
according to the rong liri system on slips 131–144 differs from *Chuxing zhan:
for example there are fifteen qiong days in the rong liri system on slips 131–144
(the three lines inside each of the five boxes), but ten qiong days in *Chuxing
zhan (the two lines inside each of the five boxes, separated into xiaoqiong and
daqiong based on odd and even days).
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66 HARPER
2
3 daqiong 窮 “great exhaustion”
4 xiaoqiong 小窮 “minor exhaustion”
5
8
11
12 [xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”?]
14
17
20
23
26
29 Figure 3
Rong liri diagram on slip 261 with
30 [xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”?]
correspondence to *Chuxing zhan
A relationship between the rong liri system on slips 131–144 and *Chuxing zhan
can be demonstrated on the basis of textual parallels. In the explanation of
dache and xiaoche days on slips 139–142, both categories of days are favorable
for travel: dache days “are favorable for distant travel” (li yi yuan xing 利以遠

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行 ); xiaoche days “are favorable for travel and commencing things” (li yi xing
zuo 利以行作 ). In *Chuxing zhan, both dache and xiaoche days “are favorable
for travel” (li xing 利行 ). On slips 143–144, qiong days “are not favorable for
engaging in activity” (bu li you wei 不利有爲 ) and “men who have escaped are
obtained” (wangren de 亡人得 ). In *Chuxing zhan, on xiaoqiong and daqiong
days “those who have escaped are obtained” (wangzhe de 亡者得 ) and “one
must not engage in activity” (bu ke you wei 不可有爲 ). Comparing *Chuxing
zhan to the two related systems in the Zhoujiatai jia group manuscript, *Chu
xing zhan employs the method of classifying days represented by the diagram
on slip 261 and the hemerological advice presented on slips 131–144. With re-
spect to the jia group manuscript, *Chuxing zhan provides an important dem-
onstration of the relationship between the two rong liri hemerological systems
found on slips 131–144 and 261–265 despite the differences in the two diagrams
and the explanations associated with them.
A further significant fact related to the diagrams in the jia group manuscript
is the occurrence of the form of the diagram on slip 131 in medieval Dunhuang
manuscripts and printed calendars.15 The hemerological system associated
with the diagram is referred to as the Zhougong wugu fa 周公五鼓法 “method
of the five drums of the Sire of Zhou.” The “method of the five drums” is related
to determining the location of lost people and objects based on counting days
in the sequence of the lines of the diagram. Except for the diagram itself, there
is no evidence of a relation between the Zhoujiatai rong liri hemerological
systems and the medieval “method of the five drums.” Nevertheless, the Dun-
huang manuscripts testify to the continuous written transmission of ancient
shushu textual materials. A nearly exact textual parallel with a Dunhuang man-
uscript (P2661v°) occurs in the Zhoujiatai bing group manuscript (in a method
for travel), providing yet another link between ancient and medieval occult
knowledge transmitted in manuscripts.16
There are two more notable sections in the rishu text of the Zhoujiatai jia
group manuscript. First, on slips 245–257 there is a table of lucky and un-
lucky times for government officials to engage in affairs in which the days
15 For references to the Dunhuang manuscripts see Kalinowski, Divination et société dans la
Chine médiévale, 243 (illustrations of two manuscripts on 299).
16 See Yu Xin 余欣 , “Jinji, yishi yu fashu: Dunhuang wenxian suojian zhonggu shidai chux-
ing xinyang zhi yanjiu” 禁忌，儀式與法術：敦煌文獻所見中古時代出行信仰之研
究 , in Rong Xinjiang 榮新江 ed., Tangdai zongjiao xinyang yu shehui 唐代宗教信仰與
社會 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 337. Yu Xin’s chapter identifies many
parallels between ancient excavated manuscripts (especially the rishu) and Dunhuang
manuscripts.
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68 HARPER
are represented by the twelve Terrestrial Branches 地支 written horizontally

across the top of slips 246–257 (one Branch on each of the twelve slips) and the
times of day (divided into five periods) are written vertically down the length
of slip 245. For example, on a chou 丑 day: at dawn “there is anger” (you nu 有
怒 ), at breakfast “there are beautiful words” (you meiyan 有美言 ), at midday
“one encounters anger” (yu nu 遇怒 ), at sundown “when one makes a dec-
laration it is accepted” (you gao ting 有告聼 ), and in the evening “there are
disparaging words” (you eyan 有惡言 ). A related hemerological system occurs
in one of the rishu manuscripts from Shuihudi 睡虎地 tomb 11, Hubei (burial
dated ca. 217 b.c.e.).17
On slips 266–308 five diagrams of compass-like grids are drawn using the
shenggou 繩鉤 “cord-hook” design and are marked with the twelve Branches.
Each diagram represents one of the wuzi 五子 “five zi”: jiazi 甲子 , bingzi 丙子 ,
wuzi 戊子 , gengzi 庚子 , renzi 壬子 . Text passages above and below the fifth di-
agram (for jiazi) explain the use of the diagrams. I am uncertain of the meaning
of the passages. It appears that in a given year correspondences between the
“five zi” and wuxing 五行 “five agents” are the basis for determining the position
of sui 歲 “year” (the precise astro-calendrical or hemerological significance of
which is uncertain); and for each agent correspondence the spirits who control
sui are identified. In the jia group manuscript, slip 297, upper register, states
that the correspondences apply to the 36th year (211 b.c.e.), and a calendar of
the 36th and 37th years constitutes the end of the jia group manuscript.
The association of the Zhoujiatai rishu with a specific year is notable. In
general, excavated rishu provide astro-calendrical and hemerological systems
that depend on knowledge of the calendar for a specific year in order to be
implemented, but the necessary calendrical information is not part of the ri
shu itself. By including the “five zi” astro-calendrical correspondences for the
36th year and attaching the 36th and 37th year calendrical records to the jia
group manuscript the compiler seems to have intended the rishu to be used in
the 36th year (perhaps the deceased was the compiler and user).
Conclusion
I would like to make three brief observations in concluding this study. First,
an excavated manuscript allows us to see a real object that belonged to an in-
dividual in the Warring States, Qin, and Han periods. The Zhoujiatai jia group
17 Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 睡虎地秦墓竹簡整理小組 ed., Shuihudi Qin

mu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990), 207–8 (transcription of
Rishu jiazhong 日書甲種 ).

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manuscript is valuable for what we learn about how written texts and the
manuscripts in which they circulated fitted into a pattern of everyday life for
the literate elite. We should not treat excavated manuscripts merely as sourc-
es of data for historical analysis of ideas and practices, in this case of shushu
knowledge, and we should be judicious in making comparisons with received
literature lest we lose sight of the unique characteristics of the manuscripts as
manuscripts.
Second, the man buried in Zhoujiatai tomb 30 was evidently a government
official, which is the case with a number of tombs in which shushu manu-
scripts have been discovered. Clearly there was government involvement in
astro-calendrical, hemerological, and other forms of shushu knowledge; and
excavated manuscripts attest to ideological concerns related to government
(consider the simple example of the jia group manuscript slips 245–257 table
of lucky and unlucky times for government officials to engage in affairs). Al-
though we must recognize the presence of political and governmental ideolo-
gy in shushu manuscripts, there is abundant evidence that shushu manuscripts
do not primarily reflect government-related ideological concerns but rather
are evidence of a broad range of everyday human concerns that were formu-
lated into a body of textual knowledge and circulated in manuscripts. (The
same observation applies to medieval Dunhuang shushu manuscripts.)
Finally, examples of textual parallels between Warring States, Qin, and Han
excavated shushu manuscripts and Dunhuang shushu manuscripts indicate
that shushu knowledge was continuously transmitted in privately circulating
manuscripts. To be sure, well-known texts with titles whose content was fixed
played a role in the formation and transmission of shushu knowledge. How-
ever, parallels between the excavated manuscripts and Dunhuang manuscripts
suggest that the survival of shushu textual material was often due to the hap-
penstance of a passage recurring in a variety of texts in multiple manuscript
copies over time rather than being the result of the careful transmission of a
single well-known text containing the passage. The excavated shushu manu-
scripts reveal a complex pattern of overlapping textual traditions in a cultural
setting; they bear witness to manuscript culture in early China.
References
Chen Songchang 陳松長 , Mawangdui boshu yishu 馬王堆帛書藝術 (Shanghai:

Shanghai shudian, 1996).
Cheng Pengwan 程鵬萬 , “Zhoujiatai sanshi hao Qin mu suo chu Qinshihuang san-
shiliu sanshiqi nian lipu jian chongxin bianlian” 周家臺三十號秦墓所出秦始皇
三十六三十七年曆譜重新編聯 , Wuhan Daxue Jianbo Wang 武漢大學簡帛網 ,
via free access
70 HARPER
December 12, 2004, www.bsm.org.cn/, reprinted in Shixue Jikan 史學集刊 3 (2006),

82–4.
Han shu 漢書 (Zhonghua shuju 1962).
Hou Han shu 後漢書 (Zhonghua shuju 1965).
Hubei sheng Jingzhou shi Zhouliangyuqiao yizhi bowuguan 湖北省荆州市周梁玉橋
遺址博物館 ed., Guanju Qin Han mu jiandu 關沮秦漢墓簡牘 (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 2001).
Kalinowski, Marc ed., Divination et société dans la Chine médiévale: Étude des manu
scrits de Dunhuang de la Bibliothèque nationale de France et de la British Library
(Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2003).
Liu Guosheng 劉國勝 , “Chu di chutu shushu wenxian yu gu yuzhou jiegou lilun” 楚
地出土數術文獻與古宇宙結構理論 , in Ding Sixin 丁四新 ed., Chu di jianbo
sixiang yanjiu 楚地簡帛思想研究 , vol. 2 (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2005),
241–46.
Liu Lexian 劉樂賢 , Jianbo shushu wenxian tanlun 簡帛數術文獻探論 (Wuhan:
Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002).
Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 睡虎地秦墓竹簡整理小組 ed., Shuihudi
Qin mu zhujian 睡虎地秦墓竹簡 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990).
Yu Xin 余欣 , “Jinji, yishi yu fashu: Dunhuang wenxian suojian zhonggu shidai chuxing
xinyang zhi yanjiu” 禁忌，儀式與法術：敦煌文獻所見中古時代出行信仰之
研究 , in Rong Xinjiang 榮新江 ed., Tangdai zongjiao xinyang yu shehui 唐代宗教
信仰與社會 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 296–358.

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bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

The Zhoujiatai Occult Manuscripts

* This article originally appeared in Chinese translation as Xia De’an 夏 德 安 , “Zhoujiatai de

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/24689246-00101003

This study focuses on the bamboo-slip manuscripts from Zhoujiatai 周 家 臺

1 See Hubei sheng Jingzhou shi Zhouliangyuqiao yizhi bowuguan 湖 北 省 荆 州 市 周 梁 玉 橋 遺

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

Excavation and Publication of the Zhoujiatai Manuscripts

Let me begin by summarizing the archaeological data regarding the Zhoujiatai

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

墓 所 出 秦 始 皇 三 十 六 三 十 七 年 曆 譜 重 新 編 聯 , Wuhan Daxue Jianbo Wang 武 漢 大

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

The Jia Group Manuscript

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

1 dache 大徹 “great penetration”

2 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

8 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

13 dache 大徹 “great penetration”

14 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

18 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

20 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

26 xiaoche 小徹 “minor penetration”

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

diagram on slips 156–181, and it is followed by another set of diagrams on slips

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

*Chuxing zhan hemerological system is based on a diagram and on the cor-

1 dache 大徹 “great penetration”

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

are ­represented by the twelve Terrestrial Branches 地 支 written horizontally

17 Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 睡 虎 地 秦 墓 竹 簡 整 理 小 組 ed., Shuihudi Qin

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

Chen Songchang 陳 松 長 , Mawangdui boshu yishu 馬 王 堆 帛 書 藝 術 (Shanghai:

December 12, 2004, www.bsm.org.cn/, reprinted in Shixue Jikan 史 學 集 刊 3 (2006),

bamboo and silk 1 (2018) 53-70

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* This article originally appeared in Chinese translation as Xia De’an 夏德安 , “Zhoujiatai de

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墓所出秦始皇三十六三十七年曆譜重新編聯 , Wuhan Daxue Jianbo Wang 武漢大

are represented by the twelve Terrestrial Branches 地支 written horizontally

17 Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu 睡虎地秦墓竹簡整理小組 ed., Shuihudi Qin

Chen Songchang 陳松長 , Mawangdui boshu yishu 馬王堆帛書藝術 (Shanghai:

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