The latest research results of "Tsinghua Bamboo Slips" show that there was a "three-dimensional space" view of the universe during the Warring States Period?

Can you imagine that more than 2,000 years ago, our ancestors had constructed a complete "three-dimensional space" worldview; Chiyou might be the son of Huangdi...On December 16, the "Tsinghua Bamboo Slips", a collection of more than 2,500 bamboo slips collected by Tsinghua University, released the latest research results: a long Warring States bamboo book titled "Five Records", which revealed the above content.

Bamboo Slips Illustrations of the Five Chronicles

Huang Dekuan, director of the Center for Research and Conservation of Excavated Documents at Tsinghua University, said that the document consists of 130 bamboo slips, and the content is basically complete, with a total of nearly 4,500 words, making it the largest unearthed bamboo slip from the Warring States Period. "The document constructs a grand and complex system of heaven and man, which can be said to be a synthesis and summary of the understanding of the relationship between heaven and man in the pre-Qin period. It is of great significance for the study of ancient astronomy, calendar, and state governance."

More than 2,000 years ago, the ancients had a complete concept of the universe

He further introduced that the Five Chronicles was set against the backdrop of floods and social disorder, and that the "later emperor" "established the five calendars" (sun, moon, stars, planets, and years) and established a logically rigorous theoretical system from the aspects of astronomical calculations, human ethics, mountains and rivers, human structure, and the management of gods. "Many of the contents were unprecedented."

The Tsinghua Bamboo Slips after preliminary cleaning (provided by the Center for Research and Conservation of Excavated Documents of Tsinghua University)

One thing worth noting is that this brief text reveals that more than 2,000 years ago, the ancients had a complete concept of the universe.

"This group of concepts includes 'heaven', 'earth', 'four wastelands', 'four pillars', 'four spheres' and 'four dimensions', and they all have divine attributes. Among them, heaven, earth and four wastelands are also called 'Liuhe', which can be understood as a hexahedron, representing the overall space of the universe; 'four pillars' refer to the four cardinal directions of the sky; 'four pillars' are the pillars that support the sky and should be located in the four corners of the universe; 'four dimensions' should be an exclusive term for the directions of the sky in the pre-Qin period, used to represent the celestial sphere." Jia Lianxiang, associate professor at the Center for Research and Conservation of Ancient Documents at Tsinghua University, introduced that through the analysis of these spatial concepts, it is possible to clarify the many names of directions in ancient books and gain a deeper understanding of the ancient people's overall understanding of the universe.

The ancients' accurate understanding of the human body structure is amazing

The text further reveals that the purpose of the later emperor to establish the cosmic system was actually to regulate and guide the human affairs on earth. The Five Records summarizes this into five aspects: time, degree, regularity, chapters and numbers.

What also amazes researchers is that the "Five Records" also combines this system with the human body, demonstrating the ancient people's accurate understanding of the human body structure.

"A Predicted Diagram of the Human Body of the Gods in the Five Chronicles" (predicted and drawn by Jia Lianxiang)

"The Five Records selected six gods to be in charge of each of the five aspects mentioned above. These thirty gods can also jointly manage the twelve zodiac signs and sixty days with the great gods such as the 'Four冘', 'Four梪' and 'FourDimensions' representing the universe. They can even manage various parts of the human body and control human diseases." Jia Lianxiang introduced that he had deduced the "Heavenly Records Diagram" and "Human Body Diagram" based on part of the content of the bamboo slip. The deduced "Human Body Diagram" is very similar to Leonardo da Vinci's famous work "Vitruvian Man".

Researchers were "unexpected": Chiyou may be the son of Huangdi

In addition to the above content, the brief article also contains discoveries that even researchers find "unexpected".

Cheng Hao, associate professor at the Center for Research and Conservation of Excavated Documents of Tsinghua University, said that in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the "Five Records" system established by the later emperor, the text used the first "human king" Huangdi as an example to describe his specific practice of this theoretical system in the last quarter of the text. It involves a large number of historical legends from the Huangdi period, such as the familiar story of "Huangdi fighting Chiyou".

"The record of 'Chiyou's' identity completely updated our understanding. The text says: 'Huangdi had a son named Chiyou. When Chiyou grew up, he became one of the five weapons.'" Cheng Hao said that although it was "unexpected", some clues of this statement can still be found by carefully examining the historical materials: "The "Historical Records: Chronological Table of Marquises Since Jianyuan" records that Tian Qianqiu wrote to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty: 'A son who plays with his father's weapons should be flogged. The anger between father and son has existed since ancient times. Chiyou betrayed his father, and Huangdi crossed the river.' The so-called 'Chiyou betrayed his father, and Huangdi crossed the river' could not be confirmed before. Mr. Wang Zijin once judged: 'Perhaps it shows that there were other plots in the legend of Chiyou at that time that people today cannot be sure of', which is indeed a brilliant insight. From the "Five Records", it seems that Chiyou is the son of Huangdi, and the legend that he became a soldier and betrayed his father after he grew up was still circulating in the Han Dynasty."

Appraisal of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips (Provided by the Center for Research and Conservation of Excavated Documents of Tsinghua University)

In addition, the story of Huangdi in the Qinghua Bamboo Slips "Five Records" also contains many contents related to weapons, military systems, battle formations, military training, and military etiquette. In the process of recording the battle between Huangdi and Chiyou, there are even three war songs "Wu Zhuang", "Zheng Kuang" and "Xi Shang" accompanied by wind music. Researchers believe that it is of great significance to the study of pre-Qin military history.

"In addition to its early and clear value, the richness and systematicity of its content are far superior to the relevant documents we have seen before, which is helpful to promote the research on the image of Huangdi and ancient historical legends." Cheng Hao also pointed out: "The story of Huangdi in the Five Records should be compiled by thinkers in the Warring States Period in order to explain their 'Five Records' theory, and they collected materials about Huangdi at that time. And which of them are myths and legends and which have historical backgrounds need us to carefully distinguish."

(Deng Hui, Guangming Daily Omnimedia reporter)

Source: Guangming Daily Omnimedia reporter Deng Hui

Editor: Wang Zimo

Editor: Zhang Yongqun and Xing Yanyan