Translation of the given content to English: Classical Chinese Modern Translation Inspection: Yin and Shang, Western Zhou Volume

Author: Writing Group of "Modern Translation and Index of Bronze Inscriptions"
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-11-01
Features: Bronze inscriptions are the most important documents of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. As physical textual materials, they supplement the lack of transmitted literature from this period, making them indispensable research materials for various disciplines such as ancient history, paleography, ancient Chinese language, archaeology, and more. In terms of the entire documentary system, published bronze inscription materials to date have generally focused on the compilation, recording, and publication of research results on rubbings. As a modern translation book for Shang and Zhou bronze inscriptions, this book strives to present a form that is easy for general readers in relevant fields to read and accept, and convenient for reference. It comprehensively and objectively introduces and disseminates the research achievements of academia in bronze inscriptions, with the aim of better utilizing this valuable cultural heritage in various professional fields.
To achieve this goal, the book collects nearly 1,000 representative inscriptions from various Shang and Zhou bronze vessels that have been thoroughly researched and have clear and complete (or basically clear and complete) texts. They are divided into two volumes: "Shang and Western Zhou" and "Spring and Autumn and Warring States." To provide as much relevant information as possible, each inscription is accompanied by the modern translation, as well as attributes of the vessel (era, country, source of recording), thematic keywords of the inscription content, rubbings of the inscription, annotated text with punctuation, brief annotations of the text, and references after the modern translation to ensure the reliability of the data and facilitate verification. The book also includes various indexes such as content classification for comprehensive retrieval.
In the arrangement of this book, the inclusion of "thematic keywords" is a new attempt. The so-called "thematic keywords" refer to the content classification and summary of each "modern translation" according to the category of the inscription content. Due to the varying richness of the content in each inscription, there is no limit to the number of thematic keywords for each inscription. The "thematic keywords" serve as the foundation for the content classification retrieval of the modern translations in the entire book. Since they typically correspond to multiple individual translations in a one-to-many relationship, the "content classification retrieval" can, to some extent, reflect a multi-functional hypertext nature, providing readers with greater convenience.