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銀雀山漢墓竹簡‧晏子

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Text ID
KR2p0145
Date
-500–-300
Dynasty
周

Yínquèshān Hànmù Zhújiǎn‧Yànzǐ 銀雀山漢墓竹簡‧晏子

Han Tomb Bamboo Slips from Yínquèshān — Yànzǐ (Master Yan)

(attributed to 晏嬰 Yàn Yīng as protagonist)

About the work

A fragmentary Warring States–era text recovered from Yínquèshān 銀雀山 (“Silver Sparrow Mountain”) Han Tomb 1, Línyí 臨沂, Shandong, sealed ca. 118 BCE. The text consists of sixteen numbered anecdotes (zhāng 章) featuring Yànzǐ 晏子 (Yàn Yīng 晏嬰, d. ca. 500 BCE) advising Duke Jǐng of Qí 齊景公. It is closely related to, but distinct from, the received Yànzǐ Chūnqiū 晏子春秋 (KR2g0003), and represents an earlier or independently transmitted stratum of Yanzi anecdotal literature.

Abstract

Provenance. Yínquèshān Tomb 1 was excavated in April 1972 by the Línyí Museum. It was sealed approximately 118 BCE (based on coins of the Yuánshuò era found inside). The tomb yielded an exceptionally rich trove of bamboo-slip manuscripts, including texts of the Sūnzǐ bīngfǎ 孫子兵法, Sūn Bìn bīngfǎ 孫臏兵法, and various other military and philosophical texts. The Yànzǐ fragments were published as part of the first series of the Yínquèshān Hànmù Zhújiǎn (文物出版社, 1985); additional material from the same tomb appeared in the second volume (文物出版社, 2010).

Content. The digital text preserves sixteen numbered sections (一 through 十六). The anecdotes are unified by the figure of Duke Jǐng of Qí 齊景公, whose advisor Yànzǐ 晏子 repeatedly remonstrates against the duke’s excesses. Key episodes include:

  • Section 1: Yanzi rebukes Duke Jing for a three-day drinking bout, invoking ancient regulations on banqueting.
  • Section 2: A dispute over rewarding a chariot-driver named Yángzǐ Yáng 翟王子羊; Yanzi counsels restraint.
  • Section 4: Duke Jing is frightened by a dream while on campaign against Sòng 宋; Yanzi identifies the spirits seen as Tāng 湯 and Yī Yǐn 伊尹 of the Shāng, and persuades the duke to call off the invasion.
  • Section 6: Duke Jing plans to attack Lǔ 魯; Yanzi argues that Lǔ’s ruler is virtuous and its people loyal, so attack would be morally unjust and militarily dangerous.
  • Section 10: Yanzi defines the contrast between a loyal minister (zhōng chén 忠臣) and a flattering minister (nìng rén 佞人) in a famous passage.
  • Section 12: Cuīzǐ 崔子 kills Duke Zhuāng 莊公; Yanzi stands at Cuīzǐ’s gate and refuses to die or flee on the grounds that a minister should die only for the welfare of the state and the people, not for the private person of the lord.
  • Section 13: The sorcerer Bǎi Cháng Juān 柏常鶱 claims to expel owls and extend the duke’s lifespan; Yanzi exposes the fraud.
  • Section 15: “Zhòngní” (Confucius) visits Qí and Duke Jǐng proposes to enfeoff him; Yanzi dissuades the duke with a pointed critique of Confucian ritual and music.
  • Section 16: Seventeen years after Yanzi’s death, Duke Jǐng laments the absence of loyal remonstrance; the official Xiāng Zhāng 𥾏章 refuses a reward, invoking Yanzi’s example.

Relationship to received texts. The Yínquèshān Yànzǐ text overlaps substantially with material in the received Yànzǐ Chūnqiū 晏子春秋 (KR2g0003), but the two versions are independent: section arrangement differs, wording diverges, and several anecdotes in the bamboo-slip text have no close parallel in the received work. The slip text is generally considered to represent an earlier, pre-editorial stratum of the Yànzǐ tradition, predating the compilation of the received Chūnqiū. The section 15 account of Yanzi’s criticism of Confucius parallels a passage in the received Yànzǐ Chūnqiū (Outer Chapters) and is one of the most discussed early Chinese anti-Confucian polemics.

Dating. The composition of the Yanzi tradition is generally placed in the fifth through third centuries BCE; the present date bracket (notBefore: −500, notAfter: −300) reflects this estimate. The manuscript was copied before 118 BCE.

Translations and research

  • 銀雀山漢墓竹簡整理小組, 《銀雀山漢墓竹簡》(壹), 文物出版社, 1985 — editio princeps.
  • 銀雀山漢墓竹簡整理小組, 《銀雀山漢墓竹簡》(貳), 文物出版社, 2010 — second volume with additional texts.
  • 吳則虞, 《晏子春秋集釋》, 中華書局, 1962 — standard critical edition of the received Yànzǐ Chūnqiū with textual comparisons.
  • Yates, Robin D.S. “New Light on Ancient Chinese Military Texts: Notes on their Nature and Evolution, and the Development of Military Specialization in Warring States China.” T’oung Pao 74.4–5 (1988), pp. 211–248 — overview of the Yinqueshan find.
  • Goldin, Paul R. “Sorting Out the Confucian Collection: Shuoyuan and Related Compilations.” In Confucianism in Context: Classic Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, East Asia and Beyond. SUNY Press, 2011 — discusses the anecdotal Yanzi tradition.
  • Pines, Yuri. “A Hero Terrorist: Adoration of Jing Ke Revisited.” Asian Major 17.2 (2004) — broader discussion of Warring-States anecdotal literature.

Other points of interest

Section 15, Yanzi’s critique of Confucius (Zhòngní 中泥, a variant transcription for 仲尼), is particularly significant as one of the earliest surviving extended anti-Confucian arguments: Yanzi accuses Confucians of elaborate ceremony and music that corrupts the world (yǐ gū shì 以蛊世), lengthy mourning that harms livelihoods, and doctrine too abstruse to be followed in practice. Duke Jing heeds the advice and sends Confucius away with honors but without a fief. The episode is paralleled in the received Yànzǐ Chūnqiū (Outer Chapters, Chapter 8) and in the Shǐjì.

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