Abstract This article discusses the scribal agency of officials through the recently published Zoumalou Western Han manuscripts. It first delves into the nature and function of the eight similar manuscripts in a dossier concerning the obstruction of Judicial Scribes Wai and Bushi, arguing that the dossier likely constitutes backup copies prepared for future reference. The article then analyzes the textual variants among the eight manuscripts. All the manuscripts in this dossier comprise textual variants stemming from scribal errors (omission, misplacement of punctuation marks, etc.) and interpretive divergences, some of which even distort the original messages conveyed by the source text. These phenomena indicate not only that officials exercised both reflexive and reflective forms of agency when reproducing official texts, but also that the boundary between reading, interpreting, and copying was fluid in the age of manuscripts. While the government of early Chinese empires attained a remarkable level of standardization in written communication for everyday administration, it was never as uniform and legible as the rulers envisioned.
Abstract Arc-related problems in transmitted mathematical texts are often derived from the Jiuzhang suanshu ’s 九章算術 (1st c. ad ) “arc field procedure” ( hutian shu 弧田術 ), discussing the linear relationship between chord, arc, and diameter, or that between chord, arc, and area, without considering arc length as a parameter. Influenced by astronomy, arc length became a computational factor in Chinese mathematics only after the introduction of trigonometric functions through Islamic and European sources. However, the “arc field” and “bow field” ( gongtian 弓田 ) problems in the bamboo manuscript Suanshu 算術 from Shuihudi 睡虎地 tomb 77 reveal that as early as the Western Han, there existed methods to calculate arc-shaped areas from arc length. Though imprecise, these change our previous understanding of the matter. This article reviews the arc-related algorithms in mathematical texts and discusses their origins and development.
Abstract This article provides a textual analysis of the first pericope of the * Junzi wei li manuscript, which consists of a brief exchange between Confucius and his disciple Yan Yuan. My primary goal is to conduct a meticulous analysis of the episode, highlighting its immense value not only for re-evaluating the meaning and scope of some core ethical concepts in the Confucian school, primarily the notion of yi 義 , and for understanding the pedagogical approach of emulation and the challenges this method presents in the form of inner struggle, but, more importantly, for shedding new light on certain personal traits and inclinations of Yan Yuan that have remained obscured and unexplored until now. 這篇文章對《君子為禮》手稿的第一節內容進行了文本分析，該節記載了孔子和他的弟子顏淵之間的一段簡短對話。本文的主要目標是對這一事件進行細緻入微的分析，強調其巨大的價值，不僅在於重新評估儒家學派中一些核心倫理概念（主要是義的概念）的意義和範疇，以及理解效仿的教學方法及其所帶來的內心掙扎挑戰，更重要的是，為顏淵某些至今仍被掩蓋和未被探討的個人特質和傾向，提供新的視角。
Abstract Inscriptions on the barrel-vaulted ceilings in a cluster of Eastern Han tombs in Hebei Province bear repeated lines from the Jijiu pian . This article analyzes the function of these inscriptions and their significance, both as an early stage in employing primers as ordering devices, and also as the legacy of how ascendant classicism dislodged an entrenched scribal class during the Han.
