Wú Mìng 吳命
Wu’s Mandate (modern editorial title; mìng 命 = diplomatic command/mandate, referring to the formal diplomatic exchange between Wu and Chu recorded in the text)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Wú Mìng 吳命 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 11 bamboo strips. The text preserves what appears to be a diplomatic document and its diplomatic context — an exchange of formal messages between the state of Wú 吳 (Wu) and Chǔ 楚 (Chu), set in the Spring and Autumn period, apparently related to the period of Wú expansionism under King Hélǘ 闔閭 (r. 514–496 BCE). The text is too fragmentary for full reconstruction, but it provides rare evidence of the rhetoric and language of early Chinese interstate diplomacy.
Abstract
The text opens with a damaged beginning: ”[…] having abandoned the tribute of the southern barbarians (rán xiàn 賨獻 = tribute from Bā/Yue peoples?), not jointly bearing the king’s affairs — our former lord Hélǘ 闔閭 […].” This locates the text in the Wu-Chu diplomatic context of the late Spring and Autumn period.
Strip 2: A Wu speaker presents himself as vulnerable (“I dwell in swaddling clothes” — gū jū bǎo qiǎng 孤居褓襁 — a self-deprecating formula for a young ruler), entirely dependent on the lord’s goodwill; warns that if the lord says such things, “this will harm the altars of soil and grain.”
Strip 3: “If the lord complies, it is the lord’s intention; if both lords do not comply, dare I not go to report on the road?” Wu requests peace from Chu (Wú qǐng chéng yú Chǔ 吳請成於楚): “Formerly High Heaven was not even-handed and sent calamity down to us […] [our] two towns; [it was] not out of distress and poverty [that Chu acted] but deliberately adding to this and cutting off the good relations of our two towns. Our forebears have a saying: ‘When a horse is about to run, if you bump it, disaster comes swiftly.‘”
Strip 4: “Zhōu Lái (州來 — a contested border territory) reports: ’[…] Cáo came — I [the lonely one = the Wu lord] sent a single envoy to meet them personally at Táo Nì [a place name], to present their great officers and request their passage. Chǔ (Jīng 荊 — a contemptuous name for Chu) was without the Way, and said to me: “You are the bastard son of Zhou (Zhōu zhī niè zǐ 周之孽子) — how dare you dwell on our Jiāng riverbanks? I will certainly destroy your altars of soil and grain and extend the eastern sea border.”‘”
Strip 5: “Heaven [was] even-handed and [honoring?] the vestments of Zhou’s former kings […] some have the reward of caps and robes; some have the majesty of axes and pikes. Even with those who came before and after [= predecessors and successors], they still could not shepherd the people; yet they turn their ambitions to watch those below jostle each other — is that not misguided?”
Strip 6: “[The Wu lord says:] ‘Hemmed in between waves and billows […] uncle-nephew states (jiù shēng zhī bāng 舅甥之邦 — states related by marriage), protecting Zhou’s descendants — only I alone honor [Zhou]. To put my heart at ease and ease my worry — it is only my paternal uncle Jìn 晉 […].” This refers to Jin as a mediating power and invokes the kinship network of the Zhou states.
Strip 7: “Hence I use three ministers [as envoys], daring not to have any urgency or delay in timing. Daring to report to the day-observer [= the auspicious day-keeper].”
Strip 8–9: The response from the other party: “Three great officers honored by the command [of your lord?] — my lord’s single person […] the blessings of the former kings, the glory of the Son of Heaven — the lonely one — what labor is there? The lonely one dares to convey the blessings of the former kings, the glory of the Son of Heaven — the Wu people are brutal […] toward Zhou. My person asked those on my left and right: ‘Who is [this] army, trampling the territory of Chén (陳)? As for the state of Chén — it is none other than the town of Great Aunt Dà Jī 大姬 of the former kings.‘”
Genre and significance. Wú Mìng belongs to the genre of diplomatic discourse texts (míng 命 = formal diplomatic message/decree), related to the rhetorical tradition visible in the Zuǒzhuàn’s diplomatic speeches and in the Guóyǔ 國語 (Wǔyǔ 吳語). The invocation of kinship ties, the rhetoric of Heaven’s will, and the charge of Chu’s improper conduct against Zhou’s legitimate heirs are all characteristic of Spring and Autumn interstate rhetorical practice. The mention of 闔閭 and the geographical references to Zhōu Lái and the Jiāng River locate the text in the late Spring and Autumn (c. 514–496 BCE) when Wu was expanding against Chu.
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. University of Washington Press, 2016 — for the received diplomatic discourse tradition that parallels this text.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts