Abstract:
The Dead of Night was written in the 8th year of King of Wu’s reign. In the war of suppressing the Li Tribe’s rebellion, Lord of Bi, owing to his greatest of military exploit in the war, was made host of the triumphal feast. When it was time for the host to express his gratitude by chanting the songs, he, who was not very good at making poems, was not competent enough to go on. The versatile Duke of Zhou, who was capable of ordering gods and ghosts about, had adequate reasons to host the feast. The character “Ke”(guest), which had occurred prior to the middle of Springautumn Period, was not used to refer to foreign guests alone. For instance, the character “Shang(尚)” in the expression “Dong Shang guests”(东尚之客) meant “upper”, referring to those guests seated in the honorable place east to Lord of Bi.The Dead of Night did not agree with The Rituals in the Yan Kingdom of The Rituals, which might indicate the events recorded in it were polished to some degree. However, the lateness and falsehood in the contents did not mean the material quality of the bamboo slips was late and false. Therefore, it is more constructive to explore the causes for the disagreement between The Dead of Night and The Rituals in the Yan Kingdom of The Rituals that to inquiry into the falsehood of the Qinghua bamboo slips of The Dead of Night.
