Píngwáng Wèn Zhèng Shòu 平王問鄭壽
King Ping Questions Zheng Shou (modern editorial title; this text and KR2p0064 KR2p0064 may together form part of a larger collection titled 志書乃言, as indicated by the closing annotation of the final strip of KR2p0064)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Píngwáng Wèn Zhèng Shòu 平王問鄭壽 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2007, comprising approximately 3 bamboo strips. The text is a Chǔ court narrative set in the reign of King Píng of Chǔ 楚平王 (r. 528–516 BCE; written 競平王 in the source — 競 is a graphic variant of 平). King Píng consults the sage Zhèng Shòu 鄭壽 about what political reforms are necessary to avert disaster.
Abstract
King Píng goes to Zhèng Shòu and questions him in the ancestral temple (zōng miào 宗廟): “Calamities and defeats have set the Chu state in motion; [I] fear that the ghosts and spirits have become wrathful, so that the former kings have nowhere to return to — what can I reform to set it right?” (禍敗陷動於楚邦，懼鬼神以為怒，使先王無所歸，吾何改而可?). Zhèng Shòu at first dares not answer.
The King presses him persistently. Zhèng Shòu replies: “You would have to demolish [the cities of] Xīn Dū 新都, Qī Líng 戚陵, and Lín Yáng 臨陽; and execute the Zuǒ Yǐn Wǎn 左尹宛 and Shào Shī Wú Jì 少師無忌.” The King says: “I cannot.” Zhèng Shòu: “If you cannot — then the King and Chu will both face calamity.”
Zhèng Shòu then pleads illness and withdraws from service. The following year, the King seeks him out again. Zhèng Shòu comes out and waits along the road. The King speaks with him a little; then, laughing, says: “Last winter you said the state would certainly perish — and yet here we are now; how is it?” (The fragment ends here.)
Historical context. King Píng of Chu is known primarily as the king who wrongfully executed the family of Wǔ Zǐxū 伍子胥 (Wu Zixu), one of the great tragic figures of Spring and Autumn history. The Left Adviser Wǎn 左尹宛 and Shào Shī Wú Jì 少師無忌 (= Fèi Wú Jì 費無忌) mentioned in the text as deserving execution are precisely the figures who slandered Wǔ Zǐxū’s family — indicating that the Shanghai Museum narrative is a piece of the same political tradition, presenting a counselor who correctly diagnosed the problem but could not get the king to act.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 6, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2007 — editio princeps.
- Lǐ Líng 李零, philological notes on Shangbo vol. 6 (Jianbo network bsm.org.cn, 2007).
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts