Zhèng Zǐ Jiā Sāng 鄭子家喪
The Death of Zheng Zijai (modern editorial title; sāng 喪 here = death/demise of Zǐ Jiā 子家)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Zhèng Zǐ Jiā Sāng 鄭子家喪 is one of the texts in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 7, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2008, comprising approximately 4 bamboo strips. The text is a Chǔ court narrative about King Zhuāng of Chǔ 楚莊王 (r. 613–591 BCE) ordering a punitive expedition against Zhèng 鄭 after the Zhèng minister Gōngzǐ Guīshēng 公子歸生 (known as Zǐ Jiā 子家) murdered Duke Líng of Zhèng 鄭靈公 in 605 BCE. The narrative provides significant historical context not preserved in the received Zuǒzhuàn account.
Abstract
The text opens with the report that Zhèng Zǐ Jiā has died (wáng 亡 — either “fled” or “perished”). Frontier people report to King Zhuāng. The King assembles his great officers and speaks: “Zhèng Zǐ Jiā killed his lord. I have long wished to tell the great officers, but [held back] because of Chu’s military troubles — now with this urgency, Chu must henceforth act as the correct-er of the feudal lords.”
The King articulates his moral justification: “Now that Zhèng Zǐ Jiā has killed his lord, [Zǐ Jiā] will maintain his position of respect [in death] and enter the earth [with a proper burial]; if the Lord on High and the ghosts and spirits are angered, how shall I answer? Even if the state is in difficulty — I must raise an army.”
The king mobilizes troops; Chu besieges Zhèng for three months. The Zhèng people inquire about Chu’s demands. The king commands the answer: “Zhèng Zǐ Jiā overturned the ritual order (lǐ 禮) of the realm, did not fear the inauspiciousness brought by ghosts and spirits, and murdered his lord. I must ensure that Zǐ Jiā does not achieve a good name standing above [in state memory] and is extinguished below [from proper burial/ancestral recognition].”
The Zhèng people negotiate: they send Zǐ Liáng 子良 as hostage; they command Zǐ Jiā to be laid in a three-inch coffin of pear wood (lí mù sān cùn 梨木三寸), bound in coarse rope, and carried out through the gate without being allowed to pass the main entrance directly — he must be interred at the base of the city wall. King Zhuāng accepts. The army has not yet returned when Jìn 晉 forces cross (the Huáng River, apparently) to rescue Zhèng. The king prepares to withdraw.
Historical context. The killing of Duke Líng of Zhèng by Gōngzǐ Guīshēng (Zǐ Jiā) in 605 BCE is recorded in Zuǒzhuàn Xuān 4 and Zuǒzhuàn Xuān 11. King Zhuāng’s expedition against Zhèng (and the eventual siege) is described in Zuǒzhuàn Xuān 11–12. The Shanghai Museum text supplements the Zuǒzhuàn account by providing King Zhuāng’s explicit moral-rhetorical justification for the expedition and the terms of the Zhèng capitulation. The treatment of the corpse (confined in a cheap coffin, bound, and interred at the city base) represents a form of posthumous punishment denying Zǐ Jiā full ritual dignity.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 7, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2008 — editio princeps.
- Durrant, Stephen, Wai-yee Li, and David Schaberg, trans. Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan. 3 vols. University of Washington Press, 2016 — the fullest English translation; Xuān 11–12 provides the received parallel.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts