After Qin Shihuang unified China, he issued a book-holding order, banning folk books. Poems, books and hundreds of works collected by the people should be sent to the government for centralized burning. The burning of books in Qin dynasty brought a devastating blow to the spread of Shangshu, and almost all the manuscripts of Shangshu were burned. In the Han dynasty, Confucianism was re-valued, and the number of Shangshu written by Dr. Sheng in official script was 28, which was called the modern Shangshu.
In the Western Han Dynasty, it is said that when King Lu Gong demolished a section of the wall of Confucius' former residence, he found another book, Shangshu, which was written in the font of the Six Kingdoms period before Qin Dynasty, and people called it the ancient prose Shangshu. According to Kong Anguo, a descendant of Confucius, there are 16 more ancient books "Shangshu" in China than the current "Shangshu".
However, in the battle of Yongjia in the Western Jin Dynasty, the modern and ancient versions of Shangshu were all lost. In the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Shi Meihuan of Zhang Yu presented a history book to the court. There are 58 historical books, 33 today and 25 ancient ones. The history books that have been circulated for more than two thousand years are all compiled according to this book presented by Geng Mei.
Many scholars in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties in China have doubts about the book Shangshu presented by Hu Mei. Some scholars believe that "it is true to read Fu Sheng in today's prose, and it is the post-Confucius forgery when the ancient prose comes out of the wall of Confucius". Yan Ruoqu, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, also wrote a book "A Brief Proof of China Ancient Literature", which systematically demonstrated that Shangshu was a fake book. However, some scholars firmly believe that the ancient prose Shangshu since the Eastern Jin Dynasty is true, and think that the existing Shangshu may be based on sporadic abridgement handed down after the Qin fire.
The ancient prose "Shangshu" handed down from generation to generation is inconsistent with the Tsinghua bamboo slips.
The First Report of Tsinghua Bamboo Slips published by Chinese and Western Bookstore of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing Group includes Yin Gu, Cheng Gu, Bao Xun, Ye Yi, Jin Gui, Huang Men and Sacrifice to the King.
Among them, the literature belonging to China's ancient book Shangshu is Yin Patent. After comparing it with the ancient book Shangshu in China, experts found that before Qin Shihuang burned the book, the bamboo slips and Yin patents in Tsinghua belonged to the true version of Yin patents, but the ancient books in China have survived to this day.
The same example can also be found in the article "Telling Life". There are three chapters in Shangshu, an ancient prose handed down from ancient times, which records the related deeds between King Wu Ding and Minister Fu Shuo of Shang Dynasty. Bamboo Slips of Tsinghua also includes a chapter on the Life of Fu Shuo, which is also composed of three chapters. Part of the content is completely consistent with the quotations in Guoyu Chu Yu, which proves to be the original appearance of the pre-Qin period.
However, like the Yin patent, the life story in Shangshu, an ancient Chinese prose handed down from ancient times, is completely different from Qinghua Bamboo Slips and Biography of Fu Shuo, which proves that it was also invented by later generations.
"Judging from the evidence provided by Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, the ancient book Shangshu, which has been circulating for more than 2,000 years, is indeed a fake book. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, many scholars' doubts and denials about it are completely correct. " Liu Guozhong said, "Through the' Qinghua Bamboo Slips', we can not only truly see the original appearance of the ancient prose" Shangshu ",but also draw a satisfactory end to the dispute over the authenticity of the ancient prose" Shangshu "for more than 1000 years. How can this not make people happy? "
Tsinghua Bamboo Slips also found the content of Shangshu, which was unknown to later generations.
According to Liu Guozhong, there are still some items in the documents such as Shangshu in Tsinghua bamboo slips, such as Yin Zhi and Bao Xun, which have been included in the bamboo slips of the Warring States Period in Tsinghua University.
There are four bamboo slips in Yin Zhi, which are 45cm long and untitled, and the slips are numbered in sequence. The length and font style of bamboo slips are the same as those in Yin patent, and the content is also closely related. This chapter describes the dialogue between Yi Yin and Shang Tang.
Yi Yin said in his essay that Xia people hate the latter. Regarding the evil of (Jie), Yi Yin specifically cited the "dragon (pet) jade", that is, two concubines who love Wan and Yan. Jian Wen also mentioned that Xia people have diseases. At the end of summer, the epidemic of diseases and the suffering of the people greatly aggravated the contradiction between the people and the rulers.
"The publication of Yin Zhi has enabled us to have a deeper understanding and grasp of the political and social situation in the last years of the Xia Dynasty, and at the same time, it has made us realize that there are indeed many documents such as Shangshu in the pre-Qin period, and there are many important articles besides hundreds of Shangshu." Liu Guozhong said: "Today, thousands of years later, we can reread hundreds of books besides Shangshu. Really eye-catching! "