1 For a summary of problems with looted manuscripts, see Martin Kern, “‘Xi shuai’ 蟋蟀 (‘Cricket’) and its Consequences: Issues in Early Chinese Poetry and Textual Studies,” Early China 42 (2019), 45–49; see also Guolong, Lai and Wang, Q. Edward, “Manuscript Culture in Early China: Editors’ Introduction,” Chinese Studies in History 50.3 (2017), 167–71Google Scholar, and Hein, Anke, “Concepts of ‘Authenticity’ and the Chinese Textual Heritage in Light of Excavated Texts,” in China and the World—the World and China: Essays in Honour of Rudolf G. Wagner, Volume 1: Transcultural Perspectives on Pre-Modern China, ed. Gentz, Joachim (Gossenberg: Ostasien, 2019), 37–63Google Scholar. For some methods for establishing fakes, see the article on one of the Tsinghua University manuscripts (acquired in 2008) by Jiang Guanghui 姜廣輝, Fu Zan 付贊 and Qiu Mengyan 邱夢燕, “Qinghuajian ‘Qi Ye’ wei weizuo kao” 清華簡《耆夜》為偽作考 / Research into the fabrication of the ‘Qi Ye’ manuscript among the Qinghua Collection of Bamboo Strips, Gugong Bowuyuan yuankan 2013.4, 86–94, English abstract: 160–61.

2 Ying 郢 was the Chu capital from about 690 though 278 b.c.e. when it was occupied by Qin 秦, the kingdom that eventually absorbed all the ancient Chinese kingdoms and founded the Qin empire (221–207 b.c.e.). The precise location of Ying is unknown. Two possible locations—“Southern” and “Northern”—are proposed in relevant scholarly literature: Jinancheng 紀南城 and Chu Huangcheng 楚皇城, both in Hubei, see Barry B. Blakely, “The Geography of Chu,” in Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China, ed. Constance A Cook and John S. Major (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999), 10–13; for Jinancheng, see also Guo Dewei 郭德維, Chu du Jinancheng fuyuan yanjiu 楚都紀南城復原研究 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1999). The discussion about Chu capitals has been given new life with the publication of the Chuju 楚居 (Chu Settlements) manuscript from the Qinghua University collection of Warring States bamboo slips (Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡), see Li Xueqin 李學勤, Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, vol. 1 (Shanghai: Zhonghua, 2011), even if the manuscript itself depicts rather the shift of the palaces of the Chu kings and not the shift of capitals, see articles by Shou Bin 守彬, “Cong Qinghua jian Chu ju tan ‘x Ying’” 從清華簡《楚居》談 “x 郢”, Chu wenhua yanjiu lunji 10 (2011), 94–100, Taniguchi Mitsuru 谷口滿, “Shi lun Qinghua jian Chu ju duiyu Chuguo lishi dili yanjiu de yingxiang” 試論清華簡《楚居》對於楚國歷史地理研究的影響, trans. Chen Wei 陳偉, Chu wenhua yanjiu lunji 10 (2011), 23–30, and Xin Deyong 辛德勇, Xin Deyong shuo Zhongguo lishi dili: yanmo de guowang 辛德勇說中國歷史地理：湮沒的過往 (Shenyang: Wanjuan, 2017), 1–18. For an extensive discussion of the genealogy of Chu rulers, according to this manuscript, see Constance Cook and Luo Xinhui, Birth in Ancient China: A Study of Metaphor and Cultural Identity in Pre-Imperial China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017). I am grateful for details about recent studies to one of the anonymous reviewers.

3 Due to damaged slips and obscure characters, a precise calculation of the total is not possible. It is approximately equal in length to the “Yu gong” 禹貢 (Yu’s [System] of Tribute, c. fifth–third century b.c.e.) chapter of the Shang shu 尚書, Shang shu zhengyi 尚書正義 (Sibu beiyao 四部備要 edition.), 6.1a–19b, systematically referred to below.

4 Several slips at the beginning and end of the manuscript, and possibly a couple of slips in between, have deterioriated. Difference in lightness between characters on the recto and the verso of slip 53 and the possible discrepancy between the last character of the title and its analogues in the text (see the next note) allow one to conclude that the title was added later by another hand, see Zhao Ping’an 趙平安, “Chu zhushu Rong Cheng shi de pianming ji qi xingzhi” 楚竹書《容成氏》的篇名及其性質, Huaxue 6 (2003), 75–78; reprinted in Zhao Ping’an, Xinchu jianbo yu guwenzi guwenxian yanjiu 新出簡帛與古文字古文獻研究 (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2009), 248–54. This conclusion is now commonly shared, see Niu Xinfang 牛新房, “Chu zhuzhu Rong Cheng shi buyi” 楚竹書《容成氏》補議, Zhongguo lishi wenwu 2010.4, 75–76, and Sarah Allan, Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Recently Discovered Early Chinese Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015), 187.

5 In March 2005 I benefited from email communications with Wolfgang Behr, who revealed the complexity of identifying the 訟城氐 as plausible phonetic loan characters for 容成氏, and I can only regret that his notes have not been published. For an annotated list of investigations of the manuscript’s title by Chinese scholars, see Sun Feiyan 孫飛燕, “Rong Cheng shi yanjiu zongshu”《容成氏》研究綜述, Zhongguoshi yanjiu dongtai 2010.7, 13. The identification of 訟城氐 with 容成氏 has to do with the discrepancy between the characters designating “Mister” in the title of the manuscript and in the surviving names of the sage rulers in the main body of the manuscript: di 氐 = shi 氏 and shi1是, respectively. There is a supposition that the bottom stroke in the 氐 may not be part of the character in the title, making it 氏, see Sun Weilong 孫偉龍 and Li Shoukui 李守奎, “Shangbojian biaozhi fuhao wuti” 上博簡標識符號五題, Jianbo 3 (2008), 181–90, but it is not largely supported, though simplifying the identification of the title still does not solve the discrepancy problem. Finally, there is a stray interpretation of the title that is still worth taking into consideration: it may not refer to Rong Cheng shi at all, but may be the name of a person derived from a placename, Jao Tsung-I 饒宗頤, “You Zun Lu shi tandao shanghai zushu (er) de Rong Cheng shi—Jianlun qi yu Mojia guanxi ji qita wenti” 由尊盧氏談到上海竹書（二）的《容成氏》—兼論其與墨家關係及其它問題, Jiuzhou xuelin 2006 (mid-spring issue 春季卷), 2–15. Finally, the two translations of the manuscript into English by Yuri Pines and Sarah Allan contain regretful errors or misprints in the title transcription. Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy in the Rong Cheng shi Manuscript,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 73.3 (2010), 4n5, 訟成是 instead of 訟城氐; Allan, Buried Ideas, 188, 成 instead of 城.

6 For a brief analysis of the two presumably earliest references to the sage Rong Cheng shi in transmitted texts found in the Zhuangzi 莊子 (fourth–third centuries b.c.e.) and in the titles of two lost texts bearing his name listed in the “Yiwenzhi” 藝文志, the bibliographical treatise of the Han shu 漢書 by Ban Gu 班固 (c.e. 32–92), which relies on the lost bibliography Qilüe 七略 edited by Liu Xin 劉歆 (c. 46 b.c.e–c.e. 23), see Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces’: Some Parallels with Transmitted Texts,” East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine 32 (2010), 15–16. For the sage rulers of High Antiquity enumerated at the beginning of the Rong Cheng shi manuscript and in transmitted texts, with a focus on the role of Rong Cheng shi, see Allan, Buried Ideas, 186–91. Among the transmitted texts referring to Rong Cheng shi is the somewhat overlooked overview of Chinese history in the “Benjing xun” 本經訓, chapter 8 of the Huainanzi 淮南子 (compiled shortly before 139 b.c.e.), which is especially interesting for its being typologically close to the Rong Cheng shi manuscript’s historical narrative. Rong Cheng shi is also briefly mentioned to in the “Xiuwu xun” 修務訓, chapter 19 of the Huainanzi; see Huainan honglie jijie 淮南鴻烈集解 [Xinbian zhuzi jicheng 新編諸子集成] (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1989), 253–56 (chap.8) and 646 (chap.19); Charles Le Blanc and Rémi Mathieu, trans., Philosophes taoïstes, II, Huainan zi (Paris: Gallimard, 2003), 340–41 and 925–26; John S. Major, Sarah A. Queen, Andrew Seth Meyer, and Harold D. Roth, trans., The Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China, by Liu An, King of Huainan (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 275–76 (§ 8.6) and 778 (§ 19.5). For references to Rong Cheng shi and other sages in the Jinlouzi 金樓子 (sixth century) also focused on the worthy rulers, see Maria Khayutina, “Glückverheißende Omina und weltliche Tugenden der, zu ‘Königen Erhobenen’: Ein Nachruf für Kaiser Wu der Liang-Dynastie im Buch Jinlouzi (6. Jh.),” in Aus geteilten Zeiten: Studien zur Nanbeichao-Periode: Geburtstagsgabe für Shing Müller 宋馨, ed. Roderich Ptak (Gossenberg: Ostasien, 2020), 89–128.

7 Chen Ligui 陳麗桂 proposed a quantitative distribution of slips with respect to the described rulers: three slips refer to the sage rulers of remote antiquity, two slips to the events towards the end of remote antiquity preceding Yao, eight slips to Yao, four slips to Shun, seventeen slips to Yu, nine slips to Cheng Tang, six slips to King Wen and four-five slips to King Wu; see Chen Ligui, “Tan ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de liejian cuozhi wenti” 談《容成氏》的列簡錯置問題, in Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian 上博館藏戰國楚竹書研究續編, ed. Zhu Yuanqing 朱淵清and Liao Mingchun 廖名春 (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2004), 336. Even if the attribution of some slips is debatable, these calculations give a general idea of the narrative’s structure and show the substantial place of Yu’s deeds in the manuscript.

8 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 2; see also his earlier article “Disputers of Abdication: Zhanguo Egalitarianism and the Sovereign’s Power,” T’oung Pao 91.4–5 (2005), and Allan, Buried Ideas, 181–84.

9 Cf. the discussions of the state of the art of another manuscript from the Shanghai Museum Collection, the Kongzi Shilun 孔子詩論, in Thies Staack, “Reconstructing the Kongzi Shilun: From the Arrangement of the Bamboo Slips to a Tentative Translation,” Asiatische Studien—Etudes Asiatiques 64.4 (2010), 858. For a general discussion of reconstructing arrangement of bamboo slips, see Thies Staack “Reconstruction of Early Chinese Bamboo and Wood Manuscripts: A Review (1900–2010),” CSMC (Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures)—Occasional Paper No. 5 (April 2016) http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/papers_e.html.

10 Staack has a stab at establishing a system of criteria for reconstructing the arrangement of bamboo slips comprising of all the available material and textual evidence, see Staack, “Reconstructing the Kongzi Shilun,” esp. 857–81. The case of the Rong Cheng shi is somewhat more straightforward, as it is much better preserved, and my task is also simpler, as I discuss only a part of the manuscript.

11 Ma Chengyuan 馬承源, ed., Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書, vol. 2 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2002), 91–146 (colored photographs of numbered slips), 247–93 (transcription and commentary by Li Ling 李零). For an annotated version of Li Ling’s sequence, see Qiu Dexiu 邱德修, Shangbo Chu jian Rong Cheng shi zhuyi kaozheng 上博楚簡容成氏注譯考證 (Taibei: Taiwan guji, 2003).

12 For reviews of relevant studies, see Pines, “Disputers of Abdication,” 263n50; Pines “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 3n6; Niu Xinfang, “Chu zhuzhu Rong Cheng shi buyi,” 73–75 (§ 1); Sun Feiyan, “Rong Cheng shi yanjiu zongshu,” 13–14; Allan, Buried Ideas, 184–85nn4–5.

13 Chen Jian 陳劍, “Shangbojian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de zhujian pinhe yu bianlian wenti xiaoyi”上博簡《容成氏》的竹簡拼合與編連問題小議, in Shangboguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian, 327–34; (first published under a slightly different name on the Bamboo and Silk forum Jianbo yanjiu 簡帛研究 www.jianbo.com, Jan. 9, 2003. Punctuation (,—+) is given, following Chen Jian. I only use short and long lines to distinguish between two successive slips and a group of successive slips, e.g. slips 36–37 and 24–30, respectively.

14 Chen Ligui, “Tan ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de liejian cuozhi wenti,” 339–41.

15 Bai Yulan 白於藍 ‘“Rong Cheng shi’ bianlian wenti buyi’ 《容成氏》編連問題補議, in Disijie guoji Zhongguo guwenzixue yantaohui lunwenji 第四屆國際中國古文字學研討會論文集 / Collected papers of the Fourth International Workshop on the Study of Ancient Chinese Characters (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Oct. 15–17, 2003), 301–8, and ‘“Rong Cheng shi’ bianlian wenti buyi’《容成氏》編連問題補議, Huanan shifan daxue xuebao 2004.4, 91–92.

16 The restitution is now supported by the majority of scholars.

17 Sun Feiyan provides an annotated bibliography of Rong Cheng shi studies organized by subject, with the aim to encompass all the suggestions advanced, while Niu Xinfang focuses on the suggestions he personally supports, see Sun Feiyan, “Rong Cheng shi yanjiu zongshu,” and Niu Xingang, “Chu zhuzhu Rong Cheng shi buyi,” respectively.

18 He subsequently counts 54 slips.

19 Sun Feiyan refers to an article by Dan Yuchen 單育辰, “Rong Cheng shi zatan”《容成氏》 雜談 (三则), in Jiangbo yanjiu 2007 (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue, 2010), 37–44. If we accept this suggestion, the total number of slips will again be 53.

20 Guo Yongbing 郭永秉 “Cong Shangbo Chu jian Rong Cheng shi de ‘you Yu tong’ shuodao Tang Yu shishi de yiwen” 從上博楚簡《容成氏》的 ‘有虞迵’ 説到唐虞史事的疑問, Chutu wenxian yu guwenzi yanjiu 1 (2006), 295–312 (first published under a slightly different name on the Bamboo and Silk forum, Nov. 7, 2005); Di xi xin yan 帝系新研 (Beiing: Beijing daxue, 2008), 43–56.

21 See n. 20 above.

22 Niu Xinfang, “Chu zhuzhu Rong Cheng shi buyi,” 74–75.

23 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 13–14. I shall discuss these two slips below.

24 Allan, Buried Ideas, chapter 6, 181–222 (passage-by-passage interpretation); 223–62 (translation supplied with comments on transcriptions and the identification of characters in current scholarship).

25 To the usual difficulties of assembling a sequence from disordered elements, the early Chinese bamboo manuscripts add damaged and missing slips. Some slips are evidently missing from the beginning of the manuscript, but there might also be some missing from the body of the text, which further complicates the sequencing.

26 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 14n34.

27 Allan, Buried Ideas, 192n15.

28 Allan, Buried Ideas, 192–95 and 228–31.

29 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 14n35.

30 Pines begins the passage with the third character on slip 31 and considers the second character to be jun 君 (and not shi 始 accepted by Allan).

31 Taking fang 方as a noun in relation to the subsequent focus on the cardinal arrangement makes much more sense.

32 For the “Shi’er ji,” section I of the Lüshi chunqiu, see Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 (Sibu beiyao edition), 1.1a–12.10b; for translations of this section that put in evidence the twelve-to-four pattern emulated by its textual structure, see Richard Wilhelm, trans., Früling und Herbst des Lü Bu We (Jena: Eugen Diderichs, 1928), 1–156; Ivan P. Kamenarovic, trans., Printemps et automnes de Lü Buwei (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1998), 29–189; John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, trans., The Annals of Lü Buwei: a Complete Translation and Study (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 59–273; Grigory A. Tkachenko, trans., Lyshi chun’tsyu: Vesny i oseni gospodina Lyuya [Lüshi chunqiu: Springs and autumns of Mister Lü] (Moscow: Mysl’, 2001), 71–181; for a summary on the “Shi’er ji” structure, see Grigoriï A. Tkatchiénko, “Sur la composition du Shi’er ji dans le Lü shi chunqiu (Printemps et automnes de Lü”, in Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 13 (1991): Modèles et structures des textes chinois anciens: les formalistes soviétiques en sinologie, ed. Karine Chemla, Alexei Volkov, and Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, 121–26; for the “Yue ling” chapter of the Li ji, see Li ji Zheng zhu 禮記鄭注 (Sibu beiyao edition), 5.1a–29b; for translations of this chapter that put in evidence the twelve-to-four pattern emulated by its textual structure, see James Legge, trans., The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism, Part III, The Lî Kî, I–X, Sacred Books of the East 27, series ed. F. Max Müller (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1885), 229–310; Séraphin Couvreur, trans., Li Ki, ou Mémoires sur les bienséances; texte Chinois avec une double traduction en Francais et en Latin, vol. 1 (Hokkien: Mission Catholique, 1913), 330–410.

33 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu 楚帛書研究 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2013), 181 and 217.

34 Insights into these aspects made in Li Ling’s first monograph on Chu Silk Manuscript no.1; see Li Ling, Changsha Zidanku Zhanguo Chuboshu yanjiu 長沙子彈庫戰國楚帛書研究 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1985). These were then developed in a special article, see Li Ling, “Chuboshu yu shitu” 楚帛書與式圖, Jiang Han kaogu 1991.1, 59–62, and further in the context of fangshu 方術 practices, see Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu kao 中國方術考 (Beijing: Dongfang, 2000), 89–231. The manuscript was recently reassessed by Li Ling in two monographs, see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu and Zidanku boshu 子彈庫帛書, 2 vols. (Beijing: Wenwu, 2017). The 2013 book is a convenient collection of Li Ling’s studies on Chu Silk Manuscript no.1, including a translation, glossary, and several articles, some in Chinese and English versions, discussing the similarity between Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 and the “diagram of shi 式 (or cosmic model)” from different angles, see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, 1–74, 155–243, 252–87. He also makes observations on the context of the discovery and material aspects of the manuscript, as well as the other silk manuscripts found together with it, unfortunately considerably damaged, ibid., 171–243. These are the focus of his most recent study, see Li Ling, Zidanku boshu. The first volume (for which see also its English version, Li Ling, The Chu Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan Province), Vol.1, trans. and ed. Lothar von Falkenhausen (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2020)) is devoted to the history of the discovery and scholarly transmission of these manuscripts. The second is focused on reconstructions and philological analysis of the manuscripts and fragments; for Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 labeled 四時令 Sishi ling, see Li Ling, Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 43–77, for Chu Silk Manuscript no.2 labeled 五行令 Wuxingling, as well as other fragments, see Li Ling, Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 78–113.

35 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, 155.

36 Such devices are discussed in two recent monograph studies of early Chinese cosmography and cosmology, by David Pankenier, who refers to these devices throughout his book as “mantic astrolabes”; see David Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China: Conforming Earth to Heaven (Cambridge: Cambridge Universtity Press, 2013); see also Christopher Cullen, Heavenly Numbers: Astronomy and Authority in Early Imperial China (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), chapter 5: “The Measures and Forms of Heaven,” 179–222, especially 202–7 and figure 5.7 on p. 203, and Huang Ru-Xuan 黃儒宣, “Xi-Han zaoqi de tiandi moxing—yi Mawandui boshu ‘Digangtu’ ji ‘Kanyu’ wei zhongxin” 西漢早期的天地模型—以馬王堆帛書《地剛圖》及《堪輿》為中心, Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan 19.4 (2019), 682–732, which discusses a series of “cosmograph”-related depictions, including manuscripts on silk from the Mawandui. For a list of earlier studies of “cosmographs,” see Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping: Did the Maps of the Shan hai jing Ever Exist?,” in Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China: the Warp and the Weft, ed. Francesca Bray, Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, and Georges Métailié (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 249n79. The earliest excavated specimens of “cosmographs” date from the Western Han dynasty.

37 See Li Ling, Changsha Zidanku Zhanguo Chuboshu yanjiu, 30–31; Chuboshu yanjiu, 29 (small diagrams with no title). Even if one accepts a different reading sequence, it would still require a rotation. In Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu kao, 111 (figure 21), the scheme is provided at a larger scale and with a title— Chuboshu de tushi 楚帛書的圖式, but regretfully does not provide indications to the reading direction and the sequence of passages.

38 Although non-linear texts per se are not the focus of Li Ling’s interests, from the very beginning of his studies of Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 he pointed out this attribute of the manuscript and its typological similarity with reconstructions of the “You guan” 幼官 chapter of the philosophical treatise Guanzi 管子 (compiled about the end of the first century b.c.e.) in the shape of a cardinally oriented ground “plan of the Dark Palace” (Xuangong tu 玄宮圖), as well as with the textual structure of the Shanhai jing 山海經), see Li Ling, Changsha Zidanku Zhanguo Chuboshu yanjiu, 39–44; Zhongguo fangshu kao, 135–40; Chuboshu yanjiu, 37–40, 123–25. The first reconstruction of the Dark Palace plan, which was ground-breaking for considering non-linear textual structures, was proposed by Guo Moruo 郭沫若 and Wen Yiduo 聞一多 in 1956. I discuss spatially organized early Chinese texts as a type of textual structure and their studies in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Spatial Composition of Ancient Chinese Texts,” in History of Science, History of Text, ed. Karine Chemla (Dordrecht: Springer, 2004), 3–47, and the structure of the Shanhai jing in relation to Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping,” esp. 242–49. Studies of various non-linear textual structures not necessarily dealing with space were mainstream in Soviet studies of early China in the 1970s through the late 1990s. For a survey and some translations, see Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 13 (1991): Modèles et structures des textes chinois anciens: les formalistes soviétiques en sinologie, eds. Karine Chemla, Alexei Volkov, and Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann; see also more recent surveys by Stanislav Rykov, “The ‘School of Structural Analysis’ in Modern Russian Sinology,” Journal of World Philosophies 1 (Winter 2016), 27–40, and Yegor Grebnev, “Aural-Mnemonic Architectonics of Ancient Chinese Philosophical Texts,” Monumenta Serica, 68.2 (2020), 289–314. Argumentation by means of textual diagrams in neo-Confucian scholarship, many diagrams referring to early texts, is extensively discussed by Michael Lackner; and for an overview, see Francesca Bray, “Introduction: The Powers of Tu,” Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China,” 1–78, esp. 5–40. There has been a rise in interest in non-linear textual studies in Western sinology since the mid-2000s; see, for instance, the latest collection of articles edited by Joachim Gentz and Dirk Meyer, Literary Forms of Argument in Early China (Leiden: Brill, 2015). Regretfully, the editors, while apparently relying on previous scholarship in the field, do not give full credit to it.

39 Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu kao, 180, figure 27. Reproduced several times under the title Chuboshu de tuxiang [anpai] 楚帛書的圖像[安排] and translated for the English version as “The twelve gods representing the months of the year,” in Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, 188, figure 15; 224, figure 9; 273, figure 1.

40 For a slightly different redrawing, see Anhui sheng wenwu gongzuodui 安徽省文物工作隊, “Fuyang Shuanggudui Xi-Han Ruyin hou mu fajue jianbao” 阜陽雙古堆西漢汝陰侯墓發掘簡報, Wenwu 1978.8, 25, figure 10.

41 Li Ling, Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 10–11 (color plates), 78–81 (reconstruction and interpretation), the diagram labelled by Li Ling “The Diagram of Month’s Names” Yuming tu 月名圖 belongs to the text, which he refers to as the 五行令 Wuxing ling.

42 Cullen, Heavenly Numbers, 205–6.

43 I discuss the role of divinities in ordering terrestrial space in early China in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapping a ‘Spiritual’ Landscape: Representing Terrestrial Space in the Shan hai jing,” in Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries, and Human Geographies in Chinese History, ed. Nicola di Cosmo and Don Wyatt (London: Curzon–Routledge, 2003), 35–79; “Text as a Device for Mapping a Sacred Space: A Case of the Wu zang shan jing (‘Five Treasuries: The Itineraries of Mountains’),” in Göttinger Beiträge zur Asienforschung 2–3 (2003): Creating and Representing Sacred Spaces, eds. Michael Dickhardt and Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, 147–210; see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping” on the example of the Shanhai jing in relation to the Chu Silk Manuscript no.1.

44 I discuss the implications of this passage in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space (Warring States-Early Han),” in HdO Early Chinese Religion. Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC–220 AD), ed. John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 595–644, esp. 638–40. For the complete passage and its three main scholarly translations, which differ and also complement each other, see Shang shu Zhengyi, 3.3a–6b; James Legge, trans., The Chinese Classics, Vol. 3, Part 1 (Shoo King) (Hongkong: London Missionary Society’s Printing Office, 1865), 33–37 (§§ 6–9); Séraphin Couvreur, trans., Chou King (Ho Kien Fou: Imprimérie de la Mission Catholique, 1897), 15–19 (§ 6–9); Bernhard Karlgren, trans., “The Book of Documents,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 22 (1950), 2 and 4–6 (§§ 17–20). Legge’s and Couvreur’s translations have extensive, but not always similar, commentaries. Karlgren’s “The Book of Documents” is preceded by separate glosses, see Karlgren, “Glosses on the Book of Documents,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 20 (1948), 39–315, and 21 (1949), 63–206. It assembles only the “New Script” chapters of the “Book of Documents” (Shu jing), having rearranged some of them, namely, the “Shun dian,” which corresponds to the second part of the “Yao dian” chapter. For a general discussion of the “Yao dian” chapter in the modern-script recension, including the complexity of its dating, see Martin Kern, “Language and the Ideology of Kingship in the ‘Canon of Yao’,” in Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy Studies in the Composition and Thought of the Shangshu (Classic of Documents), ed. Martin Kern and Dirk Meyer (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 23–61, and also Kai Vogelsang “Competing Voices in the Shangshu,” in Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy Studies, 78–89. For a critical review of the volume devoted to the Shang shu, see Edward Shaughnessy’s review, “Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy: Studies in the Composition and Thought of the Shangshu (Classic of Documents). Edited by Martin Kern and Dirk Meyer. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2017,” 饒宗頤國學院院刊 / Bulletin of the Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology 5 (2018), 417–45. The passage is cited in the “Wang zhi” 王制 chapter of the Li ji, see Li ji Zheng zhu, 4/5a–6a; Legge, The Lî Kî, I–X, 216–17 (II, § 13–16); Couvreur, Li Ki, vol. 1, 275–78 (II, § 13–16), discussed below.

45 An elaborate month-by-month description of the yearly ritual cycle, starting from the first month of spring, constitutes the “Shier ji” section of the Lüshi chunqiu and the “Yue ling” chapter of the Li ji, referred to above.

46 In particular, during his “tour of inspection” Shun “unified pitches, degrees, volumes and weights” (tong lü du liang heng 同律度量衡), but these actions are part of arranging space, and not the main goal. Though a relation between the twelve gao 俈 and a twelve-pitch scale is highly plausible, the interpretation of landscape features in terms of their sounds, as proposed by Sarah Allan in her translation of slip 31, does not have any support in the manuscript or transmitted texts.

47 Shang shu zhengyi, 3.8b; Legge, Shoo King, 38 (§ 10); Couvreur, Chou King, 20 (§ 10); Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 5–6 (§ 21). References to the Shang shu hereafter follow its convenient division into chapters and paragraphs by Bernhard Karlgren; translations of the Shang shu provided hereafter are my own; they take into consideration the three main scholarly translations, which differ, and include my emendations.

48 Shang shu zhengyi 6.1a–b. Legge, Shoo King, 92–93 (§1); Couvreur, Chou King, 61–62 (§ 1); Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 12–13 (§1).

49 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 627–29.

50 Shang shu zhengyi, 5.1a–b; Legge, Shoo King, 77–78 (§ 1); Couvreur, Chou King, 49–50 (§ 1); Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 9–10 (§ 9), but is not identical to any of them. The resulting translation is to a considerable extent inspired by the interpretation of this passage by Artemy M. Karapetiants during his classical Chinese lessons I was privileged to attend during my university and post-graduate studies (1980–1985). For a recent general discussion of “Gao Yao mo” chapter in the modern script recension, see Vogelsang, “Competing Voices in the Shangshu,” 63–78.

51 For a recent reassessment of the Flood legend see Sarah Allan, “The Jishi Outburst Flood of 1920 BCE and the Great Flood Legend in Ancient China: Preliminary Reflections,” Journal of Chinese Humanities 3 (2017), 23–34.

52 Being drawn from different materials, the Erya retains some concepts rejected in early imperial historiography, such as the location of the Yellow River source at Kunlun Mountain. In the “Yu gong” the Yellow River begins in Jishi 積石, whereas in late Warring States–Early Han texts such as the Mu Tianzi zhuan 穆天子傳 (Narrative of the Son of Heaven, Mu, late fourth-early third centuries b.c.e.) and the Shanhai jing it begins in Kunlun Mountain. For the ideological importance of determining the “true” source of the Yellow River in early imperial cartography, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Where is the Yellow River Source? A Controversial Question in the Early Chinese Historiography,” Oriens Extremus 45 (2005–2006), 68–90.

53 Precise translation of these waterway terms needs a special study. Here I try to use more or less matching equivalents, different for each different character.

54 Erya Guozhu 爾雅郭注 (Sibu beiyao edition), 7.9b. Subsequently, see Erya Guozhu 爾雅郭注, 7.10a, the drainage trenches du 瀆 are glossed by the four rivers pouring into the sea: 江河淮濟為四瀆，四瀆者，發源注海者也 Jiang He Huai Ji wei Sidu, Sidu zhe, fa yuan zhu hai zhe ye “The Jiang, He, Huai and Qi rivers constitute the Four [main] drainage trenches; the Four [main] drainage trenches are those who have spouting sources that pour into the sea.” However, from the logic of the drainage system described in the “Yi [and Hou] Ji”/“Gao Yao mo 2,” the four rivers match better as a gloss for the largest waterways in the system: chuan 川.

55 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Conception of Terrestrial Organization in the Shan hai jing,” Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient 82 (1995), 59 n. 8, and 90, table 1.

56 For the concept of “water” (shui 水) in early Chinese thought and its implications, see Sarah Allan, The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue (New York: State University of New York Press, 1997).

57 I have discussed the “Nine Provinces” of the Rong Cheng shi in detail elsewhere; see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 37–41. The description of the “Nine Provinces” is reproduced in the Appendix to the present article.

58 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space”. Thus, in alternative versions of Yu’s labors, e.g., in the Shanhai jing, Yu relies heavily on spirits. However, spirits do not play an important role in the Rong Cheng shi. The character shen occurs only once as part of a placename in slip 40, and, through a loan character, in the name of Shen Nong (slip 1), so cannot serve as a criterion by which to distinguish between the functions of Shun and Yu in this manuscript.

59 A summary of Shun’s regulations concludes his “tour of inspection,” and in the case of Yu’s regulations they precede them, so if one considers them as replications, one can reduce them to one.

60 The beginning of slip 31 does not fit with the end of slip 12, which since Chen Jian’s rearrangement has been accepted as preceding slip 23 by the majority of scholars. Therefore, such a placing of slip 31 would require further rearrangements.

61 The term 可處 in total is used six times (slips 25–27); see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 24–27. This character occurs in the manuscript one other time in the meaning “to reside at [place]” (chu yu處於) in the description of Yao’s whereabouts: Xi Yao chuyu Danfu yu Diaoling zhijian 昔堯處於丹府與藋陵之間 (“In former times Yao resided between Danfu and Diaoling”), slip 6. Altogether this character is found in the Rong Cheng shi eight times. However, in slip 23 an error in transcription of this character was introduced with the first transcription of the manuscript by Li Ling and has persisted since then in all relevant studies and translations. The graph in slip 23 is drawn in the same way as all its other occurrences in the manuscript, where it is identified with the character chu 處. Yet, Li Ling identifies it with xu 序 (“to make into a sequence, to order”) and Chen Jian with shu 疏 (“to guide, to direct, to separate [as a comb separates hair]”), see Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, 267; Chen Jian, “Shangbojian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de zhujian pinhe yu bianlian wenti xiaoyi,” 329. Yuri Pines and Sarah Allan, following Chen Jian, translate the phrase in question a similar way, as “mountain ranges could not be passed through” or “the mountains and hills did not have passes,” respectively, see Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 9–10; Allan, Buried Ideas, 202–3 and 239, see also Allan, “The Jishi Outburst Flood of 1920 BCE and the Great Flood Legend in Ancient China,” 27, alluding to Yu’s passing through mountains. For comparison, in the Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 the character 處 occurs once, also as a verb and is written in a close, but not completely similar way: , see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, 86, and is transcribed as 凥 (inner short text, column 1, character 11); Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 229 (here the reference to the occurrence of the character in the text is missing, for the occurrence, see p. 59).

62 Shang shu zhengyi, 5.1a. This phrase has posed difficulties for commentators and translators, cf. translations of the Flood description by Legge, Shoo King, 77–78 (§ 1); Couvreur, Chou King, 49–50 (§ 1); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 9–10 (§ 9). The translation provided here is based on its analysis by my teacher of classical Chinese, Artemy M. Karapetiants, during a text-reading seminar of selected chapters of the Shang shu for post-graduate students at the Institute of Asian and African Studies (Moscow State University) in 1990. For the history of dwelling constructions in China, see Liu Dunzhen 劉敦楨, Zhongguo zhuzhai gaishuo 中國住宅概説 (Beijing: Jianzhu gongchen, 1957).

63 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic,” 12; Allan, Buried Ideas, 207–8, 245–46.

64 The names of two specific mountains are found in the Rong Cheng shi, but only as parts of personal or lineage names—岷山是(=氏) Minshan shi and 鬲山是(=氏) Lishan shi (slips 38 and 40, respectively), and, therefore, not directly related to describing terrestrial space.

65 In the description of the “provinces” in the Rong Cheng shi (slips 24–27) one finds fourteen specific waterways, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 47, table 3.

66 The Chu Silk Manuscript no.1 is hereafter referred to according to its transcription by Li Ling following the manuscript’s non-linear layout and his sentence-by-sentence comments in his two last books focused on this manuscript; see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8 (transcription); Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 62 (comments). Translations are by the author of this article.

67 Inner long text: column 2, characters 19–20; inner short text: column 3, characters 5–6, and column 5, characters 7–8 (Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 48, 61 and 63, respectively). In comparison, “[main] rivers” (chuan 川) are mentioned separately once (surrounding text 7, column 1, character 6, see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 72), “waters” shui 水twice (inner short text, column 1, character 29; surrounding text 6, column 1, character 7, see Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 60 and 72, respectively).

68 Yu is probably referred to in the manuscript, although the meaning of this occurrence is not clear (inner short text, column 2, character 26).

69 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 63.

70 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 61.

71 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 56.

72 The synonymous characters for inhabitable land in the manuscript—chu 處 and ju 居—are distinguished between each other by their shape ( and , respectively) and function: the former is consistently used as a verb “to inhabit, to dwell, to reside” (eight occurrences in total, see n. 61 above). Constance Cook noted a similar distinction between these two characters, which were close in their pronunciation, in the Shifa 筮法 manuscript from the Qinghua University collection of Warring States bamboo slips (Qinghua daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡), see Constance A. Cook and Zhao Lu, Stalk Divination: A Newly Discovered Alternative to the I-Ching (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

73 Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, 272 (Jianwen yi Hanshui zhide zhuyi 簡文以漢水值得注意).

74 The peak of scholarly interest is the two first years following the manuscript’s publication in 2002, and Li Ling already highlights them in his introduction; see Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, 249. For the “provinces” proper, see Chen Wei 陳偉, “Zhushu ‘Rong Cheng shi’ suo jian de Jiu zhou” 竹書《容成氏》所見的九州, Zhongguo shi yanjiu 2003.3, 41–48; Li Ling “Zhushu ‘Rong Cheng shi’ suo jian de Jiu zhou” 竹書《容成氏》所見的九州, Zhongguo shi yanjiu 2003.3, 190–92; for selected “provinces,” see Su Jianzhou 蘇建洲, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ yishi’” 《容成氏》譯釋, in Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu (vol. 2) duben 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書(二)》讀本, ed. Ji Xusheng 季旭昇, Chen Meilan 陳美蘭, Su Jianzhou, and Chen Jialin 陳嘉凌 (Taibei: Wanjuanlou, 2003), 139–42 (§§ 36, 37, 39–41, 45), (first published under a slightly different title on the Bamboo and Silk forum, Mar. 29, 2003); Yan Changgui 晏昌貴, “‘Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu (2)’ zhong ‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jiu zhou jianshi” 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書(二)》中《容成氏》九州柬釋, Wuhan daxue xuebao 57.4 (2004), 503–6 (first published under a slightly different title on the Bamboo and Silk forum, Apr. 6, 2003); Shen Jianhua 沈建華, “Chu jian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ zhouming yu buci jinwen diming” 楚簡《容成氏》州名與卜辭金文地名, Guwenzi yanjiu 25 (2004), 328–33; Zhu Yuanqing 朱淵清, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jia zhou, Xu zhou, Xü zhou kao” 《容成氏》夾州，徐州，敘州考 in Shangbo guan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian, 412–24 (first published under a slightly different title on the Bamboo and Silk forum, Aug. 7, 2003); Yi Desheng 易德生 “Shangbo Chu jian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jiu zhou chuyi” 上 博 楚 簡《容 成 氏》 九 州 芻 議, Jiang Han luntan (Jiang Han Tribune) 2006.5, 106–8 (first published under a slightly different title on the Bamboo and Silk Forum, Feb. 5, 2006); “Cong Shangbo Chu jian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jiu zhou kan ‘Yu gong’ de chengshu niandai” 從 上 博 楚 簡《容 成 氏》 九 州 看 《禹 貢》的 成 書 年代, Jiang Han luntan (Jiang Han Tribune) 2009.12, 77–80 (first published under a slightly different title on the Bamboo and Silk Forum, Mar. 27, 2006). For related issues, see Chen Jian, “Shangbojian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de zhujian pinhe yu bianlian wenti xiaoyi”; Liu Lexian 劉樂賢, “Du Shangbo jian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ xiao zha,” Bamboo and Silk forum, Jan. 13, 2003; Xu Quansheng 許全勝, “Rong Cheng shi’ bushi”《 容成氏》補釋, Bamboo and Silk forum, Jan. 14,2003; Yan Shixuan (Yen Shih-Hsuan) 顏世鉉, “Shangbo Chu zhushu sanlun” 上博楚竹書散論, Bamboo and Silk forum, Feb. 20, 2003; Cheng Yuanmin 程元敏, “Tianming Yu pingzhi shuitu” 天命禹平 治水土, in Shangbo guan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu yanjiu xubian, 331–26. For a survey of the first series of these studies, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 22–23. For more studies, see Huang Ren’er 黃人二, “Shangbo Chujian Rong Cheng shi suoshu zhi Jiu zhou ji xiangguan wenti tanyan” 上博楚簡《容 成 氏》 所述之九州及相關問題探研, in Chutu wenxian lunwenji 出土文獻論文集 (Taibei: Gaowen, 2005), 145–57; Fan Guodong 凡國棟, “Rong Cheng shi Jiu zhou deming yuanyin shitan” 《容成氏》 九州得名原因試探, in Chudi jianbo sixiang yanjiu 楚地簡帛思想研究, vol. 3 (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu, 2007), 212–19; Yin Hongbing 尹宏兵, “Rong Cheng shi yu ‘Jiu zhou’” 《容 成 氏》 與 ‘九州’), in Chudi jianbo sixiang yanjiu, 220–36; Du Yong 杜勇, “Lun Yugong Liangzhou xiangguan zhu wenti” 論《禹貢》梁州相關諸問題, Tianjin Shifan Daxue xuebao [shihui kexueban], 2008.2, 37–41, “Ju guo wang nian bian” 莒國亡年辨, Guanzi xuekan 2010.3, 115–16; Wang Kunpeng 王坤鵬, “Chujian Rong Cheng shi shidi wenti yanjiu pingyi” 楚簡《容成氏》史地問題研究評議, Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts [BSM] (Wuhan daxie jianbo yanjiu zhongxin 武漢大學簡帛研究中心 / Center for Bamboo Silk Manuscripts of Wuhan University http://www.bsm.org.cn/show_article.php?id=1322, Oct. 15, 2010.

75 Names of seven “provinces” are not found in other sets of the “Nine Provinces”; six “provinces” are described by pairs.

76 Dorofeeva-Lichtman, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 595–644; “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 13–58.

77 I discuss the concept of “position” in Chinese cosmography in Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Political Concept Behind an Interplay of Spatial ‘Positions,’” Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 18 (1996): Disposer pour dire, placer pour penser, situer pour agir, ed. Karine Chemla and Michael Lackner, 9–33.

78 For identifications of this river with rivers mentioned in early Chinese terrestrial descriptions, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 32–33, and 47, table 3, for a list of waterways found in the description of the “Nine Provinces” of the Rong Cheng shi.

79 Two examples of such maps are provided in my survey paper on the transmitted accounts of the “Nine Provinces” and the Rong Cheng shi Version in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 619–20 (Map 1 and 2). For a detailed study of the Song maps related to the “Yu gong,” see Martin Hofmann, Reconsidering the Spatial Order of the Great Yu: Song Commentaries on the Yugong, Ph.D. dissertation (Würzburg University, 2007).

80 For instance, in some maps the Yellow River source is delineated from Kunlun Mountain, as described in the Shanhai jing, and not from Jishi 積石, as according to the “Yu gong,” see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Where is the Yellow River Source?”

81 These are tentative definitions; a standard term has not yet been worked out. The typology of East Asian maps was recently discussed by Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann and Alexei Volkov, “Formal Approaches to Studies of Traditional Maps of East Asia: State of the Art and General Remarks,” paper presented at the Panel “Formal Approaches to Studies of Traditional Maps of East Asia,” Fifteenth International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia (ICHSEA), Aug. 19–23, 2019, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea, http://ichsea2019.org/program.php (article “Typology of East Asian Maps and Formal Approaches to Their Study” is in preparation for the East Asian Science Technology and Medicine journal).

82 In particular, itineraries of the “Yu gong,” as well as of the Shanhai jing are chains of relative locations.

83 One notable transformed landmark is the “Nine [branches] of the He River” (Jiu He—九河) located on “Yu gong” maps in the lower Yellow River valley and apparently inspired by the changing flow of the Yellow River. It is usually depicted as a splitting of the Yellow River course into nine separate branches, which unite again before the Yellow river falls into the sea (see Map 4) or less frequently as a widening of its course (see Map 1a). Transformed landmarks are often depicted in a variety of ways. This is the case with the Three Jiang rivers 三江 and the Nine Jiang rivers 九江, although in “Yu gong” topography they are always shown as being around the mouth of the Yangzi (for the Three Jiang) and its middle course for (the Nine Jiang). For a survey of representations of the Nine [branches of the] He River and the Nine Jiang in Song maps of the “Yu gong,” see Hofmann, Reconsidering the Spatial Order of the Great Yu, 98–114 and 115–32, respectively. An example of a non-existent landmark difficult to associate with a real river is the Black River (Heishui 黑水), see Hofmann, Reconsidering the Spatial Order of the Great Yu, 133–48. For examples of the Three Jiang, the Nine Jiang, and the Black River, see Maps 1a and 4.

84 For the approximate regions covered by the “provinces” of the Rong Cheng shi, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 630–35, esp. 634, Map 4, and “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 44–45 and 46–48, Map 1.

85 It would be interesting to apply this method to one more transmitted set of the “Nine Provinces” found in the “Dixing xun” 墬形訓, chapter 4 of the Huainanzi. Names of “provinces” in this set are radically different from those in the “Yu gong” group. The difference in names is generally explained by the fact that, in contrast to the “Yu gong” group, the Huainanzi extrapolates the 3x3 grid to mapping the entire inhabited world, see John S. Major, “The Five Phases, Magic Squares and Schematic Cosmography,” in Explorations in Early Chinese Cosmology, ed. Henry Rosemont (Chico: Scholar Press, 1984), 133–66; Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 614, table 5. However, landmarks listed in the Huainanzi to a considerable extent overlap with the landmarks occurring in the “Yu gong” group of descriptions of the “Nine Provinces.” In addition, the “Dixing xun” chapter of the Huainanzi has much in common with the “Youshi lan”, chapter 13 of the Lüshi chunqiu. It may be interesting to revisit the “Nine Provinces” set of the Huainanzi with the approach I have applied to the Rong Cheng shi description of the “Nine Provinces.”

86 Difficulties in understanding and alternative interpretations of this passage are discussed by Legge, Shoo King, 150–51 (§ 23), and Couvreur, Chou King, 88–89 (§ 23). See also Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 16 and 18 (§ 38). The character 聲 sheng (“sound”), here usually translated as “fame,” plays an important role in the cardinally oriented space regulation described in slip 31.

87 Gobi-Taklamakan is a long desert zone to the northwest of the core Chinese territories. The desert zone includes smaller deserts, the closest of which to the territories covered by the “Nine Provinces,” the Tengger and Badain Jaran, are characterized by sand dunes, which most likely inspired the idea of the Flowing Sand. In traditional Chinese cartography, the Flowing Sand gradually became the name of the Taklamakan Desert, depicted from the Ming dynasty as a cyst-shaped branch of the main part of the desert zone—Shamo 沙漠 (Gobi), literally the Sand Mist, shaped as a thick band, which crosses the northwestern periphery of the imperial realm. Although the Gobi is a rocky and pebble-strewn desert, its Chinese name provides clear evidence that in the Chinese tradition of representing space it was conceived of as a sandy desert. For the graphic symbol for a desert zone in Chinese cartography, which appears only in the Ming dynasty, see Unno Kazutaka, “The Origin of the Cartographical Symbol Representing Desert Areas,” Imago Mundi 33 (1981), 82–87; Elke Papelitzky, “Sand, Water, and Stars: Chinese Mapping of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts,” T’oung Pao 107.3–4 (2021), 376–416.

88 Li ji Zheng zhu, 4.18a; Legge, The Lî Kî, I–X, 245 (V, § 19); and Couvreur, Li Ki, vol. 1, 321–22 (V, § 19).

89 These mountains belong to the “Five Peaks” (Wuyue 五岳), sets of which can, however, vary in early Chinese sources.

90 Relative locations can vary between the maps, but only within a limited area. For instance, a landmark associated with the East will never be depicted in the West. Detailed investigation of these variations and their meaning is beyond the scope of this article.

91 Another example of maps combining “Yu gong” topography with the Song imperial realm is the “Map of Yu’s Tracks” (Yuji tu 禹跡圖, engraved in 1137, sometimes erroneously dated to 1136), reproduced in all reference studies on the history of Chinese cartography. This is a rare case of traditional mathematical cartography, based on applying a square survey grid. In the map the check of the grid is 100x100 li. For an attempt at evaluating the map’s topographical precision through its geo-referencing, see Alexander Akin and David Mumford, “‘Yu laid out the lands:’ georeferencing the Chinese Yujitu [Map of the Tracks of Yu] of 1136,” Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 39.3 (2012), 154–69; Akin and Mumford’s methods were criticized by Alexei Volkov, “Pre-colonial Vietnam in Chinese and Western maps: A Revisit,” in “Re-discovered Maps of East and South-East Asia,” Panel at the Fourteenth International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia (ICHSEA), July 6–10, 2015, EHESS, Paris https://14ichsea.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/22.html; see also “Formal Approaches to Studies of Traditional Maps of East Asia: State of the Art and General Remarks, Part 2.”

92 For a long time this natural border protected territories in the South from northern intruders. The southern territories were annexed only with the unification of China into an empire. It is also noteworthy that the southern territories were easier to reach by sailing along the coast.

93 A highly detailed depiction of these rivers is to be found in the “Map of Yu’s Tracks.” The data about rivers draining into the Bohai Sea is borrowed mostly from the “Zhifang shi.”

94 The only exception is the “Map of Yu’s Tracks,” which is based on the square survey grid. Here the placement of Heng and Hengl mountains (in this map the latter is given its different name—常山 Chang Mountain) is close to their real locations—they are placed within two neighboring vertical columns of the grid. For the variation in the mountain name, see William H. Nienhauser, ed., The Grand Scribe’s Records, Vol. I: The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China by Ssu-ma Ch’ien (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 23–24n27.

95 For comparison between the “Nine Provinces” sets of the “Yu gong” group of transmitted texts, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial,” 608–11, tables 1–4.

96 These maps have many topographic characteristics of Ming cartography; for example, the course of the Yellow River differs from that found on Song maps and the Yellow River source is identified with the Xingxiuhai 星宿海 (Star Lodges Lake), see Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “A History of a Spatial Relationship: Kunlun Mountain and the Yellow River Source from Chinese Cosmography through to Western Cartography,” Circumscribere 11 (2012), 1–31.

97 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 31–33.

98 Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 25–26.

99 I regard the “Nine Provinces” as a “northern” view, as does Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 11 and 26. This interpretation is criticized by Allan, Buried Ideas, 205–6. The Flowing Sand, which works as the western limit only for the Yellow River basin, is a strong argument in favor of the “northern” view.

100 Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋, ed. Guo Qingfan 郭慶藩 (Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1974), 1077; Chen Guying 陳鼓應, Zhuangzi jinzhu jinyi 莊子今注今譯 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1983), 863; James Legge, trans., The Texts of Taoism: The Tao Tê Ching—The Writings of Chuang-tzû, The Thâi-shang—Tractate of Actions and Their Retributions (New York: The Julian Press, 1959), 659–60; Herbert Giles, trans., Chuang Tzû: Moralist, Moralist, and Social Reformer (Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1926), 441–42; Larisa Pozdneeva, trans., Mudretsy Kitaya (Sages of China): Yang Zhu, Lie zi, Zhuang zi (Petersburg: XXI vek, 1994), 357; Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), 366; Liou Kia-hway, trans., Tchouang-tseu, oeuvre complete (Paris: Gallimard/Unesco, 1969), 90; Angus C. Graham, trans., Chuang-tsû: The Inner Chapters (London: Mandala, 1991), 276; Victor H. Mair, trans., Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu (New York: Bantam Books, 1994), 337; Vladimir V. Malyavin, trans., Chzhuan-zy (Zhuang zi), in Kitaiskaya Klassika: novye perevody, novy vzglyad. Daosskie kanony [Chinese Classics: new translations, new perspective. Daoist canons] (Moscow: Astrel’, 2002), 307.

101 I discuss the passage from this angle in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” esp. 40–43, in the context of the concept of “making communicate/linking up” when determining the system of waterways described in the Rong Cheng shi.

102 A similar phrase is found in the Hong fan 洪範 (The Great Model) chapter of the Shang shu, but it refers to Yu’s father, Gun 鯀, who was appointed first by Yao to fight the Flood: 昔鯀堙洪水 (“in former times Gun dammed up Floodwaters”); see Shang shu zhengyi, 12.2a; Legge, Shoo King, 323 (§3); Couvreur, Chou King, 195 (§ 3); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 28–29 (§ 3); see also a study focused on Hong fan by Michael Nylan, The Shifting Center: The Original “Great Plan” and Later Readings (Nettetal: Steyler, 1992), 112. The same idea is developed in the concluding paragraph of the Shanhai jing: 鯀竊帝之息壤以堙洪水 (“Gun has stolen alluvial(?) soil belonging to the Emperor in order to dam up the Flood”); see Shanhai jing jianshu (Sibu beiyao edition), 18.8b; Elektra M. Yanshina, trans. Katalog gor i morei (Shan hai tszin) [Catalogue of mountains and seas (Shan hai jing)] (Moscow: Nauka (GRVL), 1977), 129; an annotated translation is by Rémi Mathieu, trans., Etude sur la mythologie et l’ethnologie de la Chine Ancienne. Tome I: Traduction annotée du Shanhai jing, Memoires de l’Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises 22 (Paris: Collège de France—Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1983), vol.1, 651–52. Gun’s method failed and he was executed. Yu did the opposite and succeeded—he released excess waters. In the citation from Mozi, instead of 堙 yin (to dike, to block up; mound, blockage) appears yin 湮 with the “water” radical, which means “to spread, to blot [as ink].” However, taking into consideration the irregular use of radicals in early China, the phrase attributed to Mozi is not very clear.

103 Lüshi chunqiu, 13.3a; Wilhelm, Früling und Herbst des Lü Bu We, 159; Kamenarovic, Printemps et automnes de Lü Buwei, 195; Knoblock and Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei: a Complete Translation and Study, 281 (§§ 13/1.9–10); and Tkachenko, Lüshi chunqiu, 182.

104 The term tong gu 通谷 is translated hereafter as “magistral [river] valley,” in the sense of a water artery that accumulates the flows of medium and small water courses and channels them further, in this case into the sea.

105 Here wanshu 萬數 paraphrases wushu 無數 “countless” in the counterpart passage in the Zhuangzi and should therefore be translated as “counted in their 10,000s.” The totals of waterways are followed by huge dimensions of the universe between its four ultimate cardinally oriented points 極 ji.

106 Huainan honglie jijie 淮南鴻烈集解 (Xinbian zhuzi jicheng 新編諸子集成) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1989), 132; Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Chinese Thought, 147–50 (Section II); Le Blanc and Mathieu, Huainan zi, 163–64; Major et al., The Huainanzi, 155 (§ 4.2). As in the “Youshi lan,” the total numbers also conclude with huge dimensions of the universe between its four ultimate points.

107 See Shanhai jing jianshu 5/44b-45b; Yanshina, Katalog gor I morei, 93–94; Mathieu, Traduction annotée du Shanhai jing, 371–72. For some of these totals, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping,” 254–55.

108 For the meaning of the character jing 經in this passage, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping,” 253–59.

109 The filiation line “Youshi lan” → “Dixing xun” → “Shan jing” does not raise any doubts. One could argue that the Mozi citation in the Zhuangzi was rather inspired by the “Youshi lan,” but according to the juxtaposition of classifications of waterways in Table 1 it seems more likely that the idea advanced by Mozi was developed in the Lüshi chunqiu and then concisely cited in the Huainanzi.

110 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, p. 61.

111 Li Ling, Chuboshu yanjiu, plate 8; Zidanku boshu, vol. 2, 56.

112 The next level down in the hierarchy stays the same with the value of 3,000.

113 Lüshi chunqiu, 13.2a.

114 See Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the “Nine Provinces,’” 29. According to the “Shi yan” 釋言 chapter of the Erya, Yu 豫 and Xu 敘 are synonyms.

115 For locations of “provinces” as given in the transmitted accounts, and the 3x3 grid, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space,” 607–18.

116 Erya Guozhu, 6.1b.

117 This passage precedes the description of the cardinally oriented border-marks of the “Nine Provinces” in the “Wang zhi,” discussed above and belongs to the same paragraph, see Li ji Zheng zhu, 4.18a; Legge, The Lî Kî, I-X, 245 (V, § 19).

118 Shang shu zhengyi, 6.15a–b. The translation is my own, cf. Legge, Shoo King, 136–37 (§ 8), Couvreur, Chou King, 83 (§ 24); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 16–17 (§ 24). The Han River occurs in the “Yu gong” two other times, in the description of the southern Jing “province” and both cases in relation to the Jiang River, see Legge, Shoo King, 112–16 (§ 46–53); Couvreur, Chou King, 72–73 (§§ 12–13); Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 13 and 15 (§§ 13–14).

119 For reference studies of these atlases and the “wheel” maps in English, see Nakamura Hirosi, “Old Chinese Maps Preserved by the Koreans,” Imago Mundi 4 (1947), 3–22; Gari Ledyard, “Cartography in Korea,” in The History of Cartography, Vol.II.2: Cartography in the Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies, ed. J. B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 256–67; Oh Sang-Hak, “Circular World Maps of the Joseon Dynasty: Their Characteristics and Worldview,” Korea Journal 48.1 (2008), 8–45; Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “‘Inversed Cosmographs’ in Late East Asian Cartography and the Atlas Production Trend,” in East-West Encounter in the Science of Heaven and Earth 天と地の科学, ed. Tokimasa Takeda 武田時昌 and Bill M. Mak 麥文彪 (Kyoto: Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, 2019), 144–74. The name “wheel map” was introduced by the famous Korean scholar Yi Ch’an in 1976, whose work became known to historians of cartography due to reference to it by Ledyard.

120 I briefly discuss the maps of China in Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Inversed Cosmographs,” 164–66. An indication of the late origins of these maps is the delineation of the lower part of the Yellow River: it flows southeast and pours into the sea below the Shandong Peninsula, having taken over the Huai River valley. This reflects the confluence of these two rivers, which existed between 1289 and 1853 (the schematic character of the map does not allow one to propose a more precise dating). In comparison, in Song dynasty maps the Yellow River flows northeast and pours into the Bohai Sea.

121 I have discussed the representation of space according to the Shanhai jing in a series of articles, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Conception of Terrestrial Organization,” “Mapping a ‘Spiritual’ Landscape,” “Text as a Device for Mapping a Sacred Space” and “Mapless Mapping.” For a brief summary of this conception of space, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Healing Plants in the Spiritual Landscape of the Shanhai jing (Itineraries of Mountains and Seas, comp. first c. BC,” Circumscribere 16 (2015), 103–12.

122 The location of the Mian River is not clear. In the “Yu gong” it occurs only once—among water landmarks of the southwestern Liang “province,” where the Han River is not mentioned, see Shang shu zhengyi, 6/11a; Legge, Shoo King, 123 (§ 40); Couvreur, Chou King, 77 (§ 17); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 15–16, (§ 17). In the “Yu gong” there is no evidence of any relation between the Mian and the Han, which is reported in the Shanhai jing. In the Shanhai jing the Mian River appears only one other time, as a river into that falls the Motu 末塗 River, which pours from mountain N° 10 of the first Itinerary of the Eastern Mountains. There is no other information about the Mian River in the Shanahai jing. Yet, in the maps showing the “Yu gong” topography, the Mian River is usually depicted in relation to the Han, but in different ways. E.g. in Map 1a the Mian and the Han are successive parts of the same waterway; in Map 4 the Mian River is the southern tributary of the Han.

123 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping.”

124 Wang Chengzu 王成組, Zhongguo dilixueshi: Xian Qin zhi Ming dai 中國地理學史:先秦至明代 (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1988), 19, Map 2. Richard Strassberg translates and completes Wang’s reconstruction, see Richard Strassberg, A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Throught Mountains and Seas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 37, figure 10. I have proposed some amendments, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapping a ‘Spiritual’ Landscape,” 38 and 43; “Where is the Yellow River Source?” 82. In Map 6 I have further corrected the source and the flow of the Han River, according to data derived from the text.

125 In comparison, the Jiang 江 River(s) is mentioned fifteen times, in the first itinerary of the Eastern Mountains, and in the ninth and twelfth itineraries of the Central Mountains.

126 The reference to the Yellow or the Yangzi rivers basin is determined by the destination of rivers, which pour from the mountains along the itineraries. The “northern” cluster of the Central Mountains contains seven itineraries and the “southern,” five itineraries, but their inequality in the number of itineraries is compensated for by a greater number of mountains in the southern group of itineraries; see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Conception of Terrestrial Organization in the Shan hai jing”, 91, table 2.

127 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “‘Vents des royaumes’ (Guo feng): un schéma géographique,” Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 13 (1991), 58–91.

128 Shang shu zhengyi, 3.17a. Cf. interpretation by Legge, Shoo King, 50 (§ 27); Couvreur, Chou King, 31 (§ 27); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 6 and 8 (§ 38).

129 Shang shu zhengyi, 3.8b; Legge, Shoo King, 39–40 (§ 12); Couvreur, Chou King, 22 (§ 12); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 5–6 (§ 23). In the “Yu gong” the Three Wei are mentioned together with the Three Miao in the description of the western “province” Yong 雍 (Shang shu zhengyi, 6/12a; Legge, Shoo King, 123–27 (§ 10); Couvreur, Chou King, 78–81 (§ 18–19); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,” 15–17 (§ 18–19)), while only the Three Wei are mentioned in the description of the Black River, which corresponds to the second river route (Shang shu zhengyi, 6/14b; Legge, Shoo King, 132 (§ 2); Couvreur, Chou King, 82 (§ 22); and Karlgren, “The Book of Documents,”16–17 (§ 22)). In maps of the “Yu gong” topography the Three Wei are depicted at the western border of Yong, e.g. in Map 1a it appears as a toponym without any cartographic image, while in Map 4, a rare case showing borders between “provinces,” the Three Wei are depicted as an outstanding mountain with three summits along the Black River course and located outside the western border of the “Nine Provinces.”

130 References to the Milky Way in early Chinese sources and their representations in celestial cartography are discussed throughout Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China.

131 For a study of this map in the context of Chinese cosmology, see Lilian Lan-ying Tseng 曾藍瑩, “Visual Replication and Political Persuasion: The Celestial Image in Yuan Yi’s Tomb” / “Shijue fuzhi yu zhengzhi shuofu: Bei Wei Yuan Yi mu tianxiang jiexi” 視覺複製與政治說服：北魏元乂墓天象解析 (summary), in Between Han and Tang: Visual and Material Culture in a Transformative Period / 漢唐之間的視覺文化與物質文化, ed. Wu Hung 巫鴻 (Beijing: Wenhua, 2003), 377–424. The map contains clearly depicted graphic symbols—recognizable constellations, single stars, and the Milky Way dominating the entire picture, but no text, so it is not possible to determine which term may have been used to designate the Milky Way. This map is not discussed by Pankenier; in later maps discussed in his study the depiction of the Milky Way becomes more refined and crosses celestial space from the northwest to the southeast.

132 Redrawing made at the National Museum of China (Beijing). Dimensions unavailable. Reproduced from Yan Ping et al., China in Ancient and Modern Maps (London: Sotheby’s Publications, Philip Wilson, 1998), 34–35

133 Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China, 276–79, esp. 276n35. Despite the pertinence of Pankenier’s study, he misleadingly does not distinguish these two different river toponyms for designating the Milky Way and translates both as simply “river”: the Sky River (Tian Han), the River of Clouds (Yun Han), and the Silvery River (Yin He), see Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China, 396.

134 Apart from these occurrences, the terrestrial Han River appears in four other poems, always together with Jiang: four occurrences in the poem “Han is broad” (Han guang 漢廣, no. 9) of the “Zhou nan” 周南 group, the “Guo feng” 國風 section), one in the “Fourth Month” (Si yue 四月, no. 204) of the “Xiao ya” section, three occurrences in “Jiang [and] Han” 江漢 (no. 262) and the “Ever-Martial” (Chang Wu 常武, no. 263), both the “Da ya” section. As in the case of the Shanhai jing, occurrences of the rivers He and Jiang are much more frequent.

135 Correlation between celestial and terrestrial space—Fen ye 分野—is not a simple projection of one surface on another, but a complex system of correspondences, see the “Principles of field-allocation astrology” and “Derivation of relevant astrological correspondences” in Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China, 268–73 and 273–76, respectively.

136 Translations of this considerably damaged part of the manuscript by Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 9–10, and Allan, Buried Ideas, 203–4, 239–41, differ in some details, but not in general sense. Yu’s modesty in clothing, which can be made out from slip 15, is difficult to explore due to its damaged state. Yu’s austerity is also described in the much better preserved slips 20–21, see Pines, “Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy,” 13, and the extensively commented translation by Allan, Buried Ideas, 207–11, 247–48.

137 Pines refers to Su Jianzhou, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ yishi,’” 136 (§§ 28–29).

138 Hanfeizi jishi 韓非子集釋, ed. Chen Qiyou 陳奇猷 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1974), 1041; Wen-kwei Liao, trans., The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, vol. 2 (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1959), 277; Burton Watson, trans. Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 97–98. My translation differs is some details.

139 This passage mentions Gun and Yu together “releasing” (jue 決) the Floodwaters. Compare with n. 102 above.

140 Huainan honglie jijie, 709; Major et al., The Huainanzi, 864. My translation differs in some details.

141 For the Nine [branches] of the He River and Nine Jiang Rivers, see n. 83 above. The Five Lakes are either identified with Taihu Lake or with the system of lakes along the lower and middle parts of the Yangzi.

142 Lüshi Chunqiu, 5.9b–10a; Wilhelm, Frühling und Herbst des Lü Buwe, 65; Kamenarovic, Printemps et automnes de Lü Buwei, 95; Knoblock and Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei, 149–50 (§ 5/5.10), Tkachenko, Lüshi chunqiu, 116; and Lüshi chunqiu, 21.8a; Wilhelm, Frühling und Herbst des Lü Buwe, 383; Kamenarovic, Printemps et automnes de Lü Buwei, 423–24; Knoblock and Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei, 561 (§ 21/5.3), Tkachenko, Lüshi chunqiu, 364–65, respectively. A similar passage on Yu’s managing waterways, but without mentioning his physical exhaustion is found further, in the “Eight Observations” (Ba Lan 八覽) section, chap. 15 “Shen da lan” 慎大覽, § 7 “Gui yin” 貴因: 禹通三江、五湖，決伊闕，溝迴陸，注之東海，因水之力也 “Yu made communicate the Three Jiang and the Five Lakes, released jams and congestions, [made] drainage ditches to circumnavigate the pieces of land, and poured them into the Eastern Sea, [only] relying on the [natural] force of the water [to flow down],” see Lüshi chunqiu, 15.15b; Wilhelm, Frühling und Herbst des Lü Buwe, 227; Kamenarovic, Printemps et automnes de Lü Buwei, 269; Knoblock and Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei, 364 (§ 15/7.1); and Tkachenko, Lüshi chunqiu, 235.

143 Cf. n. 100 above.

144 Shi ji 史記, Ershisi shi 二十四史 series (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1972), 117.3050. I took notice of this passage thanks to the opportunity to attend text-reading seminars on the Shi ji chapters (in Munich, in April–July 2011 and July 2012) in the framework of the translation project of this text directed by William H. Nienhauser and Hans van Ess. With slight differences I rely on translation of this passage by Hans van Ess in William H., Jr. Nienhauser, ed., The Grand Scribe’s Records, by Ssu-ma Ch’ien. Volume X: The Memoirs of Han China, Part III (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016), 130; see also Anatoly R. Vyatkin, ed., Syma Tsyan’ -- Istoricheskie Zapiski Shi tszi’ (Sima Qian—Historical Records Shi ji). vol. 9 (Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, 2010), 115.

145 It is noteworthy that in the “Sima Xiangru liezhuan” managing waterways by Yu proceeds from the Jiang to the He, that is from the south to the north. The sequence is inversed, if compared to the Lüshi chunqiu, which uses the same wording for Yu’s managing rivers, in particular “separating [the nine branches of] of the He River” (shu He 疏河) and “releasing Jiang” (jue Jiang 決江), but follows the spatial sequence of Yu’s labors in the “Yu gong,” where description of the He [River] and its basin precedes the Jiang [River] and its basin, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Conception of Terrestrial Organization in the Shan hai jing,” 77–78 and 100 (figure 10). The same spatial sequence is also respected in the Shanhai jing, in the “Itineraries of the Central Mountains” (Zhongshan jing 中山經) chapter of the “Shan jing,” which roughly encompasses the central area of the Chinese territory: the “Central Mountains” begin from the He River cluster of itineraries and are followed by the Jiang River cluster (itineraries 15–21 and 22–26, respectively, see Map 6). The inversed sequence in the “Sima Xiangru liezhuan,” therefore, conveys a view from the South. At the same time, jiang he 江河 appears to be a current binom throughout early Chinese texts, most probably due to phonetic harmony, and does not seem to convey a spatial statement, as it is the case, for instance, in the passage from the Zhuangzi cited in this article. I am grateful for this observation to one of the anonymous reviewers.

146 Li ji Zheng zhu, 5.3a; James Legge, trans., The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism, Part III, The Lî Kî, XI–XLVI, in The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 28, ed. F. Max Müller (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1885), 254–55 (§ 13). Couvreur, Li Ki, vol. 2, 322 (§ 5).

147 For the ritual dimension of Yu’s ordering of terrestrial space, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space.”

148 Li Ling supposes that 枌 could have been mistakenly written instead of 朸 li, which he reads as 耒 lei “plough handles, wooden part of the plough,” see Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu, 268. Indeed, in texts dating from the late Warring States through the early Han period 耒 often forms a pair with the next character 耜 si “ploughshare, iron part of a plough,” as in the “Yue ling.” However, Chen Jian suggests that 枌 may stand for 畚 ben “bamboo or wicker scoop, dustpan,” see Chen Jian, “Shangbojian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ de zhujian pinhe yu bianlian wenti xiaoyi,” 329. Liu Lexian, Su Jianzhou and Yan Shixuan (Yen Shih-Hsuan) support Chen Jian’s suggestion with further arguments. Liu and Su refer to Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, Huainanzi and its citation in the Taiping yulan 太平御覽, also occurrences of 畚 in the Guo yu 國語, Zhou Yu zhong 周語中 and its definition in Guang ya 廣雅, Shi qi 釋器; see Liu Lexian, “Du Shangbo jian ‘Rong Cheng shi’ xiao zha” (§ 2); and Su Jianzhou, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ yishi,’” 137–38 (§ 33). Yan Shixuan points out the possibility of using 枌 and 畚 as loan characters, see Yan Shixuan, “Shangbo Chu zhushu sanlun,” last paragraph. Yan Changgui, Chen Wei, and Zhu Yuanqing accept these arguments and use 畚 in their citations of the Rong Cheng shi, see Yan Changgui, “‘Shanghai bowuguan cang Zhanguo Chu zhushu (2)’ zhong ‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jiu zhou jianshi,” 506; Chen Wei, “Zhushu ‘Rong Cheng shi’ suo jian de Jiu zhou,” 42; Zhu Yuanqing, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ Jia zhou, Xu zhou, Xu1 zhou kao,” 412).

149 One can see that the “Wu du” of the Han Feizi and the “Lüe yao” of the Huainanzi contain almost identical phrases.

150 Pines relies on Su Jianzhou, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ yishi’,” 136 (§§ 28–29).

151 Shi ji, 2.52–78, for the “Nine Provinces,” see pp. 52–66; for the introduction by Sima Qian, see p. 51 and its translations by Edouard Chavannes, trans., Les Mémoires Historiques de Se-ma Ts’ien, Vol. 1 (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1967), 99–102; Rudolf V. Vyatkin and Vsevolod S.Taskin, trans., Syma Tsyan’ – Istoricheskie Zapiski Shi tszi’ (Sima Qian—Historical Records Shi ji). Vol. 1 (Moscow: Nauka [GRVL], 1972), 151–52; Nienhauser, ed., The Grand Scribe’s Records, Vol. I, 22.

152 Cf. with the character sheng 聲 in slip 31.

153 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 38–43. Elsewhere I have pointed out another important difference between the Shang shu version of Yu’s labors recognized in the dynastic histories, and alternative versions, the Shanhai jing in particular. This is Yu’s link to spirits, see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Ritual Practices for Constructing Terrestrial Space.” Spirits are nowhere in evidence in relation to Yu in the Shang shu. Sima Qian makes an attempt to reconcile the Shang shu and the alternative versions in his introduction and also in the conclusion to the complete citation of the “Yu gong” in the “Yu Benji” chapter, but this link is then radically cut out in the “Dili zhi” 地理志 (Treatise on terrestrial organization) chapter of the Han shu 漢書 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1975), 28.1524–38, for the “Nine Provinces,” see pp. 1524–32, for the introduction by Ban Gu, see p. 1523.

154 Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “Mapless Mapping,” 231.

155 —broken end of a slip.

156 In the Rong Cheng shi Yu’s name is written with the radical “soil” below, as is often the case in Chu manuscripts: 㙑

157 Slips 15 and 24 are now considered to be parts of a single slip.

158 Pines refers to Su Jianzhou, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ yishi,’” 136 (§§ 28–29).

159. Xu Quansheng, “‘Rong Cheng shi’ bushi,” and Qiu Dexiu, Shangbo Chu jian Rong Cheng shi zhuyi kaozheng, 403–34, identify the character (凥) here and in the following parallel passages with 居, This identification is, however, erroneous, as a clearly written occurs in slip 28.

160. For the reasons of identification of 䜴□ (variant of 䜴) with 注, here and in the following parallel passages, see Qiu Dexiu, Shangbo Chu jian Rong Cheng shi zhuyi kaozheng, 412.

161. The follow-up to Yu's spatial stabilization, as described in the Rong Cheng shi (slips 28–29), is similar to the impact of draining the waters of the Flood, as described in the “Yi [and Hou] Ji” (Karlgren, “Gao Yao mo 2,” § 9) referred to above: development of agriculture under the guidance of Houji 后稷, which ensured an abundance of food for the people; see Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, “The Rong Cheng shi Version of the ‘Nine Provinces,’” 38–39. At the end of this paragraph in the “Yi [and Hou] Ji” there is a reference to “changing dwelling places” (化居huaju), which could provide another interesting parallel with the Rong Cheng shi, but its context is difficult to grasp.