Chapter 27: The Warring States Silk Book

Name：Daomu Biji: Wu Xie's Private Notes Author：
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Chapter 27: The Warring States Silk Book

In the Warring States Period, there was a type of script that used silk as the writing material. It was known as a silk book and was made of a white silk fabric. In the Han Dynasty, silk fabrics were generally referred to as silk or zeng (1), or collectively called zeng silk, so silk books were also called zeng books.

The earliest known silk book in China was discovered in the tomb of Chu in Changsha in the 1930s.

A large number of bamboo and wood slips have been unearthed in recent years. For example, the Wuli Stele in Changsha, Hunan, found in 1951. The Yangtianhu Tomb in Changsha in 1954. The Yangjiawan Tomb in Changsha in 1954. The Xintaiwan Tomb in Henan in 1957. The Qin Tomb in Yunmengsuidi, Hubei in 1975. The Tomb of Haojiaping in Qingchuan, Sichuan in 1980. A large number of bamboo and wood slips from the Warring States period had been excavated from these tombs. In addition, there were silk books unearthed from the Chu Tomb in Changsha in 1942 (introduced into the United States in 1945), and Shanxi Houma Alliance books.

Whether it was bamboo slips or silk fabrics, they were all handwritten items from the Warring States Period. Not only were these bamboo and silk ink markings precious cultural relics, but they also had important historical value for studying the history of calligraphy.

Four Silk Bookalso known as the Chu Silk Manuscriptwas divided into three parts, namely celestial phenomena, catastrophes, and rotation of the four seasons and monthly taboos. The content was rich and complex. It not only contained the myths, legends, and customs circulating in the Chu region, but also contained thoughts on Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the interaction between heaven and man.

There were twelve weird idols painted around the text, and the four corners of the silk book had trees painted in four colors: red, green, white, and black.

Just some random "restored" copy

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TN Notes:

(1) Zeng was an ancient term for silk fabrics in Chinese.

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Merebear note: Those pictures aren't actually in Wu Xie's notes as far as I could tell, but I figured you all would like a visual. First pic is an original and the second one is a colored version I guess someone made. I just included it so you could kind of see what Wu Xie was talking about since the pictures on the original are practically ineligible lol