Sarah Allan Buried Ideas : Legends of Abdication & Ideal Government in Early

Four Warring States texts discovered during recent decades challenge longstanding understandings of Chinese intellectual history. The discovery of previously unknown philosophical texts from the Axial Age is revolutionizing our understanding of Chinese intellectual history. Buried Ideas presents and discusses four texts found on brushwritten slips of bamboo and their seemingly unprecedented political philosophy. Written in the regional script of Chu during the Warring States period (475221 BCE), all of the works discuss Yaos abdication to Shun and are related to but differ significantly from the core texts of the classical period, such as the Mencius and Zhuangzi. Notably, these works evince an unusually meritocratic stance, and two even advocate abdication over hereditary succession as a political ideal. Sarah Allan includes full English translations and her own moderncharacter editions of the four works examined Tang Yu zhi dao, Zigao, Rongchengshi, and Bao xun. In addition, she provides an introduction to Chuscript bambooslip manuscripts and the complex issues inherent in deciphering them. | Sarah Allan Buried Ideas : Legends of Abdication & Ideal Government in Early