New Warring States Versions of the Classic Shījīng—An Analysis of the Ancient Songs Collected in the Anhui University Manuscripts

The investigators will embark on a fascinating thought experiment: how were old songs of the “Guó fēng” (Airs of the States) experienced by people in the Warring States period (453–221 BC)? The investigators will continue their work with the newly discovered Ānhuī University Manuscripts and place their readings within the larger framework of studies of the early Shījīng and pre-Hàn hermeneutic traditions. The project aims to show that, for Warring States communities with expertise in the tradition, writing out songs later collected in the Shījīng would not be for memorisation, but rather for interpretation, and for seeking, creatively and flexibly, to provide semantic fixity to the already fixed aural forms of the songs.