Warring States Project Chronology #2

This table is a more realistic version of the simple Chronology #1 overview. It moves a step closer to Warring States reality, though it is still much simpler than the whole of that reality. Here, the Mwodz is represented by two of its four strands: the ethical chapters (MZ 1-39) and the Lu anecdotal chapters (MZ 46-50). The later Mencius is also separated into its two strands: the older southern school (MC 1-3), which emphasized statecraft, and the offshoot, the more theoretical northern school (MC 4-7), which is the one that modern philosophers like. Some additional texts or parts of texts are shown in the Miscellaneous column. They are: the Bamboo Annals (BA), Dzwo Jwan (DJ), Gwo Yw (GY), Gwandz (GZ), Han Feidz (HFZ), Jwangdz (JZ), Lw-shr Chun/Chyou (LSCC), and Sywndz (SZ). Some real world events which left traces in one or more of the texts are shown as cutting across all the text formation columns.

Year	Analects	Mwodz	Lu Mwodz	Miscellaneous	Dau/Dv Jing	N Mencius	S Mencius
0479	Death of Confucius
0479	LY 4
0470	LY 5
0460	LY 6
0455	Dzvngdz becomes head of Confucian school in Lu; gives it markedly different character
0450	LY 7
0436	Death of Dzvngdz
0436	LY 8
0435	Dzvngdz's son Dzvng Ywaen becomes head of Confucian school in Lu; politically successful
0420
0410	LY 9
0400	Dz-sz and Kung family take over Confucian school in Lu; character of Analects changes
0390		MZ 17		DJ Layer 1 (Lu)
0380	LY 10	MZ 14, 20		DJ Layer 2 (Lu)
0370		MZ 11
0360	New and vigorous ruler begins reign in Chi
0360	LY 11	MZ 21		GZ 1D, 7D (Chi)	DDJ 14
0360				DJ Layer 3 (Lu)
0350		MZ 18, 26
0342	Chi ruler assumes title of King following victory over Ngwei in 0343
0340				GZ 1C, 2D, 3D, 7C	DDJ 15-17
0340		MZ 15, 8		DJ Layer 4 (Lu)
0330					DDJ 18-21
0330		MZ 25, 19			DDJ 11-12
0326	LY 12
0322	LY 13
0321	Mencius leaves Confucian school of Lu for independent career; goes to Ngwei
0320		MZ 32, 12	MZ 46	GZ 1B, 2B, 3E, 7B	DDJ 8-10		MC 1A1
0319							MC 1A6
0318							MC 1B1
0317	LY 2	MZ 35		DJ Layer 5 (Chi)			MC 1B16
0314							MC 1B9
0313	Yen Incident ends with expulsion of Chi; Mencius, disgraced, leaves Chi
0312		MZ 9		DJ finished (Chi)
0310	LY 14	MZ 16	MZ 47:1		DDJ 30-37
0305	LY 15	MZ 27	MZ 47:8-9	Gwo Yw (Jin)
0303			MZ 47:15				MC 2A2
0300		MZ 37				MC 4A
0299				BA (Ngwei)
0296	Ngwei Syang-wang's tomb contains Bamboo Annals, Mu Tyendz Jwan, Shr Chun
0295		MZ 31
0294	LY 1						MC 2A
0290					DDJ 66
0288		MZ 38				MC 4B
0288	Approximate date of Gwodyen Tomb 1; implies a DDJ containing only DDJ 1-66)
0286	Chi conquers Sung; it is later expelled by several other states.
0285	LY 16		MZ 48:1
0282		MZ 28	MZ 48:4-5			MC 5A
0280		MZ 39	MZ 48:6-7
0275		MZ 36	MZ 48:8
0274		MZ 10			DDJ 70	MC 5B
0272		MZ 13			DDJ 73
0270	LY 17	MZ 7	MZ 48:12	SZ 23		MC 6A	MC 2B
0265		MZ 6	MZ 48:22
0262	LY 18			JZ 4:4-7		MC 6B
0260		MZ 5	MZ 49:2-5	JZ 4:1-3, 9, 12, 25
0257		MZ 4		SZ 17:1	DDJ 79
0254	Chu conquers part of Lu; Sywndz is made governor of newly conquered territory
0253	LY 19	MZ 3	MZ 49:13		DDJ 80	MC 7A	MC 3A
0250	LY 20	MZ 2, 1	MZ 50		DDJ 81	MC 7B	MC 3B
0249	Chu conquers rest of Lu; Confucian and Dauist texts in that area cease operation
0245
0240				LSCC 1-12 (Chin)
0235
0230				HFZ 3 (Chin)
0221	Chin unifies other states into Chinese Empire
0220				LSCC 13-20
0210	First Emperor dies; is succeeded by Chin Second Emperor
0209				LSCC 21-26
0206	Chin empire breaks up; several years of war lead to founding of Han dynasty
0200				HFZ 4-7

To take some examples mentioned in the Summary page, it should now be clear:

• . . . why Dzvngdz (whose death, in 0436, is described in LY 8) is mentioned by the respectful term Dzvngdz "Master Dzvng" (but only in later chapters). He was one of the heads of the school after Confucius, and is remembered as such by still later members of the school. This does make the whole Analects a late text; parts of it are older than Dzvngdz, and probably go back to Confucius.
• . . . why the middle Analects and the early Gwandz share whole sentences, and discuss the same issues. They are 04c contemporaries, engaged in a debate on the nature of society. Confucius never heard of those issues, but they were important to his later school.
• . . . how the Analects (LY 17) and the Mwodz (MZ 48) can be in a seeming two-way dialogue; those strata too were contemporary, and each text recorded its half of the exchange. We can recover the whole exchange only by putting all the modules together in a single inclusive structure.
• . . . how the Analects (LY 18) and the Jwangdz (JZ 4) can share material. The Analects is copying an anti-Confucian story from the Jwangdz, but with a twist which makes Confucius the winner. The later passages in JZ 4 actually accept the Analects verdict, by agreeing that public service is important (even if dangerous), and by making Confucius their teacher in that dangerous situation.
• . . . where the Gwodyen tomb (c0288) containing the Chu DDJ text comes, in the large chronological scheme of things, and why that text contains nothing higher than DDJ 66.

To say what else becomes clear would outrun the desirable length of this page. Everything becomes clear. The accretion pattern for each text is reasonable (addition at either the head or tail of the previous manuscript, or both), any dialogue relations between two texts appear when they should, with both of the relevant text segments being contemporary, and the chart as a whole gives a developmentally plausible historical picture. The tests for a successful chronological construct are met.

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