Zhou History Unearthed - Annotated by Yuri Pines (Paperback)

About the Book

Zhou History Unearthed offers both a novel understanding of early Chinese historiography and a fully annotated translation of Xinian (String of Years), the most notable historical manuscript from the state of Chu. Yuri Pines details the importance of Xinian and other recently discovered texts for our understanding of history writing in Zhou China.

Book Synopsis

There is a stark contrast between the overarching importance of history writing in imperial China and the meagerness of historical texts from the centuries preceding the imperial unification of 221 BCE. However, recently discovered bamboo manuscripts from the Warring States period (453-221 BCE) have changed this picture, leading to reappraisals of early Chinese historiography. These manuscripts shed new light on questions related to the production, circulation, and audience of historical texts in early China; their different political, ritual, and ideological usages; and their roles in the cultural and intellectual dynamics of China's vibrant pre-imperial age.

Zhou History Unearthed offers both a novel understanding of early Chinese historiography and a fully annotated translation of Xinian (String of Years), the most notable historical manuscript from the state of Chu. Yuri Pines elucidates the importance of Xinian and other recently discovered texts for our understanding of history writing in Zhou China (1046-255 BCE), as well as major historical events and topics such as Chu's cultural identity. Pines explores how Xinian challenges existing interpretations of the nature and reliability of canonical historical texts on the Zhou era, such as Zuo zhuan (Zuo Tradition/Commentary) and Records of the Historian (Shiji). A major work of scholarship and translation, Zhou History Unearthed sheds new light on early Chinese history and historiography, demonstrating how new archaeological findings are changing our knowledge of China's pre-imperial days.

Review Quotes

Zhou History Unearthed provides more than a precise, carefully annotated translation of the newly discovered Xinian manuscript. With an unrivaled command of the sources and their scholarship, Yuri Pines reads the uniquely important Xinian against our transmitted texts and offers a magisterial reevaluation of early Chinese historiography altogether.--Martin Kern, author of The Stele Inscriptions of Ch'in Shih-huang: Text and Ritual in Early Chinese Imperial Representation

Zhou History Unearthed is a magnificent work from Yuri Pines, a scholar who knows the history of the Zhou period as well as anyone currently writing in English.--Stephen Durrant, cotranslator of Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan: Commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals"

In this remarkable book, Yuri Pines not only provides a scholarly translation of the recently unearthed bamboo manuscript Xinian, he also uses this quasi-historical text from the fourth century BCE as an opportunity to reexamine and recast our understanding of the entire field of Zhou historiography. It is a breakthrough work and will surely stimulate many new debates.--Sarah Allan, author of The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective

Zhou History Unearthed is a magisterial account of recently excavated sources for early Chinese history. It offers crucial insights into the lacunae in transmitted historical accounts and reshapes our understanding of the formation and transmission of historical knowledge in early China. The excellent translations are accompanied by meticulously researched annotations and astute introductory essays that invite the reader to rethink the shape and trajectory of early Chinese history and historical writings.--Wai-yee Li, author of The Readability of the Past in Early Chinese Historiography

In Pines's masterful hands, an accessible, deeply informed translation and study of Xinian becomes the basis for a ground-up reinterpretation of early Chinese historical writing practices and sources. Compelling in its vision and its engagement with primary and secondary sources, the study is likely to influence debate for years to come.--David Schaberg, cotranslator of Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan: Commentary on the "Spring and Autumn Annals"

About the Author

Yuri Pines is Michael W. Lipson Professor of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books include The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China (Columbia, 2017) and The Everlasting Empire: Traditional Chinese Political Culture and Its Enduring Legacy (2012).