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16-623: Tomb no. 1 is located in Jishan District's Guodian tomb complex, near Jingmen City in the village of Guodian. It is located just nine kilometers north of Ying , which was the ancient Chu capital from about 676 BC until 278 BC, before the State of Chu was overrun by Qin . Studies of the tomb's contents revealed its occupant to be an elderly noble scholar, and teacher to a royal prince. The prince has been identified as Crown Prince Heng, who later became King Qingxiang of Chu . Since King Qingxiang

32-530: The Classic of History and other writings. After restoration, these texts were divided into eighteen sections, and have been transcribed into standard Chinese and published under the title Chu Bamboo Slips from Guodian in May 1998. The slip-texts include both Taoist and Confucian works, many previously unknown, and the discovery of these texts in the same tomb has contributed fresh information for scholars studying

48-663: The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of Chinese history. In the early years of Chu's development, the state capital was located at Danyang , near modern-day Xichuan County in Henan Province . Following a number of battles with neighboring states the Chu capital moved to Ying, near modern-day Jingzhou City on the Jianghan Plain in the western part of Hubei Province . There are four separate theories as to

64-519: The capital to move to Chen . Not counting the short term relocation of the capital during the reign of King Zhao of Chu (reigned 515–489 BCE), Ying served as the Chu capital for a total of 411 years. According to historian Shi Quan ( 石泉 ), Ying was located at the same place as the Qin and Han dynasty Jiangling City (modern-day Jingzhou ), between the Ju ( 沮 ) and Zhang ( 漳 ) rivers. He further states that

80-540: The city lay in the lower reaches of the modern-day Man River ( 蛮河 ) basin to the west of the Han River so that today, the ruins of the Chuhuangcheng ( 楚皇城 ) lie here. Historian Zhang Zhengming argues that King Wen established Ying and that it was located within the boundaries of Yicheng City, Hubei . In 506 BCE the State of Wu invaded Chu and destroyed Ying, and King Zhao of Chu fled only to return to

96-419: The city without an armistice being declared. After a further attack by Wu in 504 CE the king moved the capital to Ruo. This lay in the eponymous former State of Ruo on the borders of Qin which had been previously annexed by Chu and that the residents continued to call Ying. Some years later, King Zhao moved the capital to Jiangling, Hubei which was also known as Jinan ( 紀南 ) or Jinancheng ( 紀南城 ). Between

112-424: The date that relocation of the capital took place: As can be seen above, the four theories do not differ widely in their dating of the relocation. According to traditional sources, Ying remained the capital of Chu from the time of its establishment by King Wen in 689 BCE until 278 BCE, the 21st year of the reign of King Qingxiang of Chu when an attack by an army from the State of Qin led by General Bai Qi forced

128-588: The eastern approach to the State of Han and subsequently attacked the north of the state, giving him control of the Central China Plain. In 688 BCE, King Wen wiped out the States of Shen and Deng , whereupon his power base became the former Shen capital at Nanyang, Henan . King Qingxiang of Chu King Qingxiang of Chu ( Chinese : 楚頃襄王 ; pinyin : Chǔ Qǐngxiāng Wáng , died 263 BC)

144-659: The history of philosophical thought in ancient China. According to Gao Zheng from the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , the main part could have been teaching material used by the Confucianist Si Meng scholars of the Jixia Academy in the State of Qi . Qu Yuan , who was sent as an envoy to Qi, might have taken them back to Chu. Recent scholarship has questioned

160-623: The received text of the Tao Te Ching are given for each of the Guodian bundles. The Guodian texts correspond to 31 of the chapters (ranging from chapters 2–66) in the received text. Chapters 70–81 in the received text of the Tao Te Ching were possibly not yet composed at the time the Guodian slips were copied. Murphy (2006) suggests that the Guodian Tao Te Ching texts were selectively copied and thematically organized for

176-612: The reigns of King Xuan of Chu (reigned 369–340 BCE) and King Qingxiang of Chu (reigned 298–263 BCE), Chu had a further temporary capital that was also called Ying. Ying occupied a strategic location with Yunmeng to the East, Ewuba ( 扼巫巴 ) to the west, access to the Central China Plain to the north and the natural defenses of the Yangtze River protecting its southern approaches. Although King Wu of Chu's power base

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192-484: The ruling class, perhaps as teaching materials. The Guodian texts focus more on politics and virtue. In contrast, the Mawangdui Tao Te Ching texts focus more on cosmology and metaphysics. The Guodian texts contain many grammatical particles, such as 也 ( yě ), that are not present in the received text. Ying (Chu) Ying ( Chinese : 郢 ) was a capital city of the State of Chu during

208-546: The value of categorizing works that date prior to pre- Han as strictly Confucian or Taoist. These categories only appeared during the Han and do not relate in any meaningful way to Guodian. The diversity of views represented in the tomb is a perfect example of the blurring of these lines. There are three bundles of Guodian bamboo slips containing Tao Te Ching texts, namely bundles A, B, and C. Each bundle can be divided into three to five units. Below, corresponding chapter numbers in

224-531: Was from 298 to 263 BC the king of the state of Chu during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was born Xiong Heng ( Chinese : 熊橫 ) and King Qingxiang was his posthumous title . Xiong Heng's father, King Huai of Chu , was held hostage in 299 BC by King Zhao of Qin when he went to the state of Qin for negotiation. Xiong Heng then ascended the throne and is posthumously known as King Qingxiang of Chu. King Huai managed to escape but

240-540: Was shaken by the State of Han when they attacked the hinterland around the Jiangyan Plain , King Wen's relocation of the capital to Ying allowed him to continue with his father's military strategy. Before King Wen moved the capital he already had control of the Jiangyan Plain and afterwards dispatched his armies northwards as part of his plan to take control of China. At this time, he also held sway over

256-469: Was the Chu king when Qin sacked their old capital Ying in 278 BC, the Chu slips are dated to around 300 BC. There are in total about 804 bamboo slips in this cache, including 702 strips and 27 broken strips. The bamboo slip texts consist of three major categories, which include the earliest manuscripts of the received text of the Tao Te Ching , one chapter from the Classic of Rites , content from

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