Literary manuscripts from the period of the Warring Kingdoms (5th-3rd century BC)

The international research network ‘The new French Sinology’ is pleased to invite you to the first session of its bimonthly seminar entitled: ‘Literary manuscripts from the period of the Warring Kingdoms (5th-3rd century BC): a field to be explored within French Sinology’.

At the first session, Laetitia Chhiv will present her work on manuscripts from the period of the Warring Kingdoms (c. 481-221 BC), which have been unearthed in China over the last forty years. She will outline the historiographical context in which this field of study has been developed, and then discuss the implications of the most recent discoveries, taking as an example the manuscripts containing statements attributed to Confucius. It will show that, in addition to the scientific interest of these debates, what is at stake here is the relationship between Chinese tradition and its past.

The speaker

Laetitia Chhiv is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, attached to the CRCAO (UMR 8155). Her research focuses on the history of ideas in ancient China, in particular topics related to the development of scholarly traditions and the construction and transmission of knowledge, in the light of ancient Chinese manuscripts unearthed in recent decades.

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The seminar is organised by Lun Zhang.