The shuzi gua corpus and the Yi traditions: a critical study

Thesis

My dissertation explores the technical, theoretical, and philosophical aspects of divination practice in early China as found in the so-called shuzi gua 數字卦 (‘numerical cypher’ or simply ‘numerical gua’) corpus. Chapter 1 is a state of field of the relevant issues discussed in the present work: knowledge transmission in early China, divination, and the historiography of the shuzi gua corpus. In chapter 2, I introduce the shuzi gua corpus and establish the methodology for the assessment of the primary sources, namely the Analytical Map, a three-fold grid built around the following criteria: material, visual and linguistic. They each focus on three aspects of the evidence: objects, layout, and language. Chapter 3 is the Analytical Map divided into three criteria. Chapter 4 is comprised of two main parts: part I (Writing Orality) revisits the stronghold of oralism—the formula—and examines the interplay between the oral and the written in the language of the shuzi gua materials. I argue that formulae should be considered a scribal device, a set of common phrases and technical terms used by scribes to record the divination results. Thus, the formula is intended to facilitate the production of written records on hard media. Part II (Computational Methods) discusses the ‘two stalk system hypothesis’, first proposed by Li Xueqin 李學勤 (1992), and later elaborated by Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔 (2014) with respect to the Shang 商 (c. 1600-1046 BCE) and Western Zhou 西周 (1045-771 BCE) shuzi gua material. After discussing the shortcomings of this hypothesis, the analytical criteria described above are used to extend the statistical methods applied by Bréard & Cook (2020). By tracing the instances of 1 and 7, I provide important arguments for the 1-7 debate by looking at local communities where specific practices of generating numbers prevail. Chapter 5 focuses on the relationship between the shuzi gua and the Xici 繫辭 ([Commentary to the] Appended Sentences; c. mid-4th century BCE). First, it explores the strategies of philosophical meaning construction by analysing its textual macrostructure and lexical usage. Finally, I discuss how the Xici relates to different shuzi gua traditions.

Authors: Pischedda, F

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-brgvnznbx
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: shuzi gua corpus; manuscript cultures; Yi traditions; textual analysis; divination