The Warring States bamboo manuscripts acquired by Tsinghua University in 2008, commonly referred to as the “Tsinghua Manuscripts”, have become one of the focal points in early Chinese studies over the past decade. To make these invaluable texts accessible in English, Tsinghua University's research team has collaborated with the international research team led by Edward L. Shaughnessy to translate and further research the manuscripts. They reorganized the original arrangement of the reports, reordering the texts thematically for publication. The first volume is written by Shaughnessy, focusing on the Yi Zhou Shu 逸周書 Leftover Zhou Scriptures.
Given his longstanding interest in the Yi Zhou Shu, Shaughnessy is undoubtedly the most suitable choice for translating and studying the chapters related to this text. This volume includes the *Ming Xun 命訓 *Instruction of Mandates, *Cheng Wu 程寤 *Awakening at Cheng, *Huang men 皇門 *August Gate, and *Zhai Gong zhi Gu Ming 祭公之顧命 *The Duke of Zhai's Retrospective Command manuscripts, all of which appear in the transmitted Yi Zhou Shu, although the transmitted *Cheng Wu has lost much of its content. It also features two texts absent from the Yi Zhou Shu, i.e. *Bao Xun 保訓 *The Protective Instruction, and *Feng Xu zhi Ming 封許之命 *The Command Enfeoffing Xu. The style of *Bao Xun is indeed similar to that of some chapters of the Yi Zhou Shu, while the style of *Feng Xu zhi Ming closely resembles *Wen Hou zhi Ming 文侯之命 *Command to Marquis Wen from the Shang Shu 尚書 Exalted Scriptures, as well as the inscriptions of appointments from the mid- to late Western Zhou Dynasty, but does not appear directly related to the Yi Zhou Shu.
The structure of the book is highly distinctive. For each text, the author presents the graphs of the characters, strict transcriptions, interpretive transcriptions, and English translation of each slip, supplemented by explanatory footnotes. These footnotes reflect Shaughnessy's insights, making the book an important contribution to the study of the texts. Shaughnessy incorporates the latest findings in the field rather than following the original editorial team's interpretations. For instance, regarding the character 
on slip 2 of *Bao Xun, Shaughnessy adopts the reading jian 漸 “gradual” (p. 243). In another example, he incorporates the new insight into the slip sequence of *Feng Xu zhi Ming (p. 269). Additionally, the author proposes original interpretations, supported by transmitted texts, such as reading pi jia 皮家 on slip 9 of *Ming Xun as po jia 破家 “to ruin the household” instead of the editorial team's pi jia 罷家 “to exhaust the household” (p. 85). This reading has also been independently suggested by scholars such as Feng Shengjun 馮勝君. Another example is Shaughnessy's reading of yi wei 易位 on slip 5 of *Bao Xun as ci wei 賜位 “being awarded position”.
In the third chapter, Shaughnessy refers to Qiu Xigui's 裘錫圭 discussion of “rushing to equate” (qu tong 趨同) and “establishing difference” (li yi 立異), which addresses similarities and differences between unearthed and transmitted texts. Shaughnessy accurately warns of the risk of inappropriately “rushing to equate” and tends to favour “establishing difference” when unearthed versions present coherent explanations. For instance, the phrase zhong bu zhong 忠不忠 “loyalty is not loyal” in the transmitted version of *Ming Xun, corresponds to zhong bu zhong 中不忠 “centredness is not loyal” in the Tsinghua manuscript version. Shaughnessy adopts the manuscript's reading (p. 88), which is indeed more plausible. There is another example that deserves further discussion. Slip 1 of the Tsinghua manuscript *Ming Xun corresponds to 大命有常，小命日成，[日]成則敬，有常則廣 “The great mandate has constancy and the minor mandates are daily completed. Being [daily] completed, they are respected; having constancy, it is expansive” in the transmitted version. Shaughnessy reads the manuscript's 
as chang 常 “constancy” and shang 尚 (“promotion”) respectively, “establishing difference” with the transmitted text. However, I believe that both 
and 尚 should be read as 常, in line with the transmitted version. In some chapters of the Yi Zhou Shu, we encounter lian zhu 聯珠 “anadiplosis”, in which the last word of a phrase is repeated as the first word of the following phrase. For example, [日]成則敬 follows 小命日成. Similarly, 有常則廣 possibly echoes 大命有常, in which case 尚 of the Tsinghua text should still be read as 常. In the Warring States period the relationship between characters and words was still not fixed, for instance, in the *Ming Xun manuscript, shang 尚 is read as chang 常 on slip 1, but as dang 當 “match” on slip 7. Another example: yi 義 “propriety” is written as 義 in slip 2, and as 
in slip 9. Thus, deciding between “equating” and “differentiating” requires analysing preferences of character usage, the relationship between characters and words, and contextual meaning.
When examining newly unearthed manuscripts that correspond to transmitted texts, we often grapple with the tension between “equating” and “differentiating”. This dilemma extends beyond the Tsinghua chapters of the Yi Zhou Shu to other cases, such as the Anhui University Shi Jing 詩經 Book of Songs manuscripts, the Tsinghua Shang Shu chapters manuscripts, and the Confucian dialogues of the Anhui University and Wangjiazui 王家嘴 manuscripts. Shaughnessy's translations and research are exemplary, but handling textual variants in unearthed texts requires further reflection.
