Autor: 黃甯 (Ning Huang)

这篇文章从上博简〈鬼神之明〉出发，把鬼神“赏善罚恶”的传统观念，直接翻译成一套战国版 KPI 绩效考核：先用尧舜禹汤、桀纣幽厉等达标案例，证明“系统曾经明亮”；再用伍子胥被鸱夷而死、荣夷公长年善终等异常样本，指出“善者或不赏，暴者或不罚”的致命偏差。这份竹简材料也显示，楚国的知识精英具备与儒家、法家同等级的冷峻理性，他们能以案例、逻辑与证据对核心信仰做系统性反思。《鬼神之明》与屈原式的飞天传统相互映照，让楚文明呈现出既敢想象、又能落地的双重结构。全篇论证最终停在楚人的那句冷静判断——“鬼神有所明，有所不明”：当外部系统不可靠，人必须学会为自己的善恶与选择负责。This article reinterprets the Shanghai Museum Chu slip Gui Shen by translating the ancient belief in “rewarding the good and punishing the wicked” into a Warring States–era KPI performance audit. It uses Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang versus Jie, Zhou, You, and Li as functional cases to show moments when the system seemed coherent, then highlights anomalies such as Wu Zixu’s tragic death and Rong Yigong’s peaceful end to expose the deviation where the worthy may not be rewarded and the wicked may not be punished. The manuscript shows that Chu intellectuals possessed a critical rationality comparable to Confucian and Legalist thinkers, able to analyze cases and scrutinize core beliefs. Gui Shen mirrors Qu Yuan’s soaring imagination while grounding it with analytic clarity, revealing a civilization capable of both imagining the heavens and auditing them. The argument converges on the sober Chu judgment that “ghosts and spirits are sometimes clear, sometimes not”; when external systems prove unreliable, one must assume responsibility for one’s own choices, virtues, and outcomes.

《上博简〈三德〉》并不提供抽象的哲学，而是一份来自楚国的风险提示书，记录一个体系在走向崩溃前最容易出现的三种失稳方式。本文采用一种更贴近现代读者的视角，将“德”理解为系统的“守住能力”：一个组织最终能保住什么，往往取决于它不越界什么。从节奏错乱、能量透支，到关系断裂，这三条底线构成了楚文明留给后世的生存框架。两千多年过去，这份手册仍然锋利，因为人类的自毁模式从未改变。Three Virtues is not a philosophical treatise but a risk alert from the state of Chu—a record of the three patterns through which a system begins to destabilize from within. This article adopts a modern interpretive angle, reading “virtue” as a form of “structural restraint”: what a system ultimately preserves depends on which boundaries it refuses to cross. From disrupted rhythm, to drained energy, to fractured relationships, these three fault lines form a survival framework that the Chu world left behind. Two millennia later, the warnings remain sharp—because the ways humans sabotage their own systems have hardly changed.

这篇文章以清华简〈廼命〉与〈祷辞〉为核心材料，将它们重新理解为楚国贵族的“管理双文档系统”：〈廼命〉像一份战国版的内控手册，负责遏制内耗、反腐败、阻断掮客网络，确保组织拥有稳定的底盘；〈祷辞〉则像一份递交给祖先的战略路演稿，通过展示投入、提出量化KPI、描绘百川归海式的宏大愿景，为组织争取资源与增长空间。两篇竹简共同揭示了楚人如何在制度与野心之间找到平衡——用最稳的规矩守住下限，用最大的目标拉高上限，让一个家族、一个组织、甚至一座文明，都能同时具备“专精特新”的增长飞轮。This article examines the Tsinghua bamboo texts Nai Ming and Dao Ci as a dual-management system used by Chu aristocratic clans. Nai Ming functions as an ancient internal-control manual that prevents organizational decay—curbing corruption, stopping rent-seeking, and keeping information flow aligned. Dao Ci acts as a strategic pitch to the ancestral board, showcasing prior investments, laying out quantifiable KPIs, and articulating a macro-vision as vast as “rivers returning to the sea.” Together, these two documents reveal how the Chu elite balanced discipline with ambition: stabilizing the lower boundary with rules, and expanding the upper boundary with vision, forming an early version of a “specialized-innovative growth flywheel.”

本篇《清华简〈五纪〉》重新解读《五纪》这部以日、月、星、辰、岁为核心的竹简，将其视为一幅“文明生命体”的生理地图。在楚人的世界观中，星辰为骨，江河生血，德行如五官五脏，时间的运转即是生命的呼吸。《五纪》展现了一种以节律为法、以天文为身的文明观——时间不再抽象，而成为能呼吸、能自我修复的生命。Tsinghua University Collection of Warring States Bamboo Slips “Wu Ji” (“Five Cycles”) — “Stars as Bones, Rivers as Blood.”This essay reinterprets Wu Ji as a physiological map of civilization. The five cycles—Sun, Moon, Stars, Constellations, and Years—are not astronomical observations but the rhythm of life itself. In this text, stars become bones, rivers flow as blood, and virtue acts as the organs that sustain order. Wu Ji reveals how the Chu imagined time as a living body—breathing, circulating, and forever returning to balance.

《上博六：〈庄王既成〉｜竹简里的霸总焦虑：楚庄王和他的终极KPI》 以“后之人，几何保之”的问句为核心，重新解读楚庄王在春秋盛世中的远虑与清醒。 本文通过楚庄王与沈尹子茎的简短问答，揭示出一种将不确定性转化为治理策略的古代思维： 从“模糊的预警”到“路径的推演”，庄王在功成之际反思未来， 将政治焦虑升华为制度韧性与文明自觉。 这是一份写给时间的绩效评估——也是对“盛世危言”在中国政治文化中反复回响的再度倾听。 Shanghai Museum Chu Bamboo Slip “King Zhuang Already Completed” (“Zhuang Wang Ji Cheng”) — The CEO Anxiety on Bamboo Slips: King Zhuang of Chu and His Ultimate KPI explores how a Spring and Autumn monarch turned success into foresight. Through a short dialogue—“How many generations can keep it?” / “Between the fourth and the fifth”—the essay reveals an ancient leadership mindset that transforms uncertainty into strategy. Reading the bamboo slips as a performance report written to time itself, it shows how King Zhuang’s “question of succession” became a reflection on sustainability, risk management, and the limits of control. His anxiety is not weakness but awareness—the moment when a ruler learns to manage the future rather than merely rule the present.

《上博简：昭王与龔之脽 & 昭王毀室｜楚昭王在制度与人情间的平衡术》是一篇基于上博楚简两篇文本的历史-管理学双重解读。文章从楚昭王两次看似“违规”的决策——赐袍与毁室——出发，揭示他如何在“常古”（制度原则）与“权变”（人情变通）之间找到动态平衡。文中通过竹简原文的精确引用，展示昭王先以“使邦人皆见之”公开化恩赏，再以“既落焉从尃”在礼与孝冲突中重排优先级；他既不僵化守制，也不逾矩徇情，而是以理性温度守护楚国的制度根魂。本文旨在为当代治理与企业管理提供启示：真正的领导力，不在于死守规则或恣意破例，而在于理解规则背后的精神，在原则中保留温度，在秩序中容纳人心。Shanghai Museum Chu Slips: “King Zhao and Gong Zhui” & “King Zhao Destroys the Chamber — Balancing Law and Human Feeling in Chu Governance” re-examines two bamboo-slip records of King Zhao of Chu to reveal a leadership philosophy of balance between institutional integrity (chang gu, “the constant ancients”) and flexible adaptation (quan bian, responsive change). From the “Robe Episode,” in which the king turns a potential lapse in protocol into a public affirmation of moral order (“so that all the people may see it”), to the “Destroyed Chamber” judgment that reconciles ritual form with filial duty (“perform the completion rite, then dismantle”), King Zhao embodies a rational warmth that preserves the core of law while humanizing its application. The essay argues that sustainable leadership—ancient or modern—requires knowing the hierarchy of rules, keeping transparency in exceptions, and protecting the moral foundations that give any system its enduring life.

在两册上博简中，《灵王遂申》（上博九）与《申公臣灵王》（上博六）分别记录了楚国霸业的两种运行逻辑：一篇在外——以掠夺构筑“共犯同盟”；一篇在内——以机锋化解“宫廷危局”。《灵王遂申》揭露了霸主如何命令附庸国“室出取器”，以制度化的分赃完成集体绑架；《申公臣灵王》则展现陈公如何以言辞为刃，在楚王的试探与权谋中化险为夷。两篇竹简隔册而呼应，形成一部楚式“权力学原典”：当力量成为唯一的秩序，智慧，便是唯一的生存。In two volumes of the Shanghai Museum bamboo manuscripts, Ling Wang Sui Shen (Vol. 9) and Shen Gong Chen Ling Wang (Vol. 6) record two distinct logics of Chu hegemony: one outward—building a “coalition of accomplices” through orchestrated plunder; the other inward—resolving palace crises through verbal finesse and political intelligence. Ling Wang Sui Shen exposes how the hegemon commanded vassal states to “send out each household to take spoils,” turning shared crime into institutional loyalty. Shen Gong Chen Ling Wang reveals how Lord Chen used language as his blade, turning the king’s tests and suspicion into an occasion for survival. Together they form an archetype of the “Chu-style order of power”: when might becomes the only order, wisdom becomes the only way to live.

在距今两千六百多年前的楚国，一场“招聘面试”决定了国家的命运。这篇出自上海博物馆藏战国楚简第九册的《成王為城濮之行》，记录了楚成王出征前选将的全过程： 一位是高压执行的“绩效狂人”，一位是宽柔治军的“团队教练”。成王看清了人性，却依然做出错误的选择。这场古代的“人事决策”，预言了城濮之败，也折射出千年未解的管理难题——制度与人性，理性与柔性，KPI与OKR，究竟谁能带领团队穿越险境？ 在竹简的光影之间，我们听见的不只是战争的前奏，更是文明对“判断”的试炼。Over 2,600 years ago in the State of Chu, a recruitment interview determined the fate of an empire. The bamboo manuscript Cheng-king’s March to Chengpu (Shanghai Museum Vol. IX) records how King Cheng faced a choice before war: one commander ruled by fear and performance metrics, another by trust and rhythm. The king saw human nature clearly, yet still chose wrong. This ancient HR dilemma foretold the defeat at Chengpu—and reveals a timeless question: Between system and humanity, control and compassion, KPI and OKR, which truly sustains a civilization? In the soft gleam of bamboo slips, war becomes a mirror for judgment itself.

这一篇记录了楚平王晚年的两场“失败对话”，资料来自上博六《平王与王子木》与《平王问郑寿》。一场发生在田埂之上，一场发生在朝堂之中。太子王子木不识五谷，揭开了教育失根的裂缝；大夫郑寿直言犯上，撞上了王权拒谏的冰墙。两场细微的语言事故，最终在竹简上成为楚国崩塌前的系统日志。This essay records two “failed dialogues” from the late years of King Ping of Chu, drawn from Shanghai Museum Chu Slips VI — Ping Wang and Prince Mu and Ping Wang Questions Zheng Shou. One took place on a field path, the other in the royal court. The crown prince’s inability to recognize a hemp plant exposed a fracture at the root of royal education; Minister Zheng Shou’s frank admonition collided with the icy wall of royal arrogance. These two seemingly minor linguistic incidents were inscribed on bamboo slips as the system log preceding the collapse of Chu.

这是一场跨越两千年的通信实验。两卷竹简，一卷出土于安徽安大，抄着《诗经》；一卷出土于湖南慈利，写着《吴语》。前者回响诗性的柔情与家国之思，后者传递战国的政语与谋略。它们都在时间的火线上被保存下来，像两封烽火中寄出的信——一封写给国家，一封写给人心。当竹简被重新展开，文字重新呼吸，我们看见楚人的书写，不只是记录，更是一种在战火中仍想彼此抵达的方式。This is a communication experiment spanning two millennia. Two bundles of bamboo slips—one unearthed in Anhui, inscribed with the Book of Songs; the other discovered in Cili, Hunan, bearing the Discourses of Wu. The former echoes with poetic tenderness and reflections on home and state; the latter carries the political and strategic language of the Warring States. Both were preserved on the front line of time—like letters sent through fire: one written to the nation, the other to the human heart. As the bamboo slips are unrolled and the words breathe again, we see the handwriting of the Chu people—not merely as record, but as a way of reaching one another even amid the flames of war.

公元前433年，楚国曾侯乙随葬的240枚竹简—记载车马、甲胄、弓矢与官员职责的精密系统—呈现出战国贵族用文字、编号与命名经营世界的方式。这不是遗物清单，而是一套活着的“王族操作系统”：207匹马的配置、三人一车的模块、楚甲与吴甲的分工、赗赠车马的往来，都在竹简上形成一条清晰的秩序脉络。与墓中震世的编钟青铜相比，这些沉默的竹简展现的是另一种深情——在理性中安放生活，在条理中守护王国。本文带你走入这套系统美学，理解一个战国王族未曾言说的温柔与责任。Dating to 433 BCE, the 240 bamboo slips buried with Marquis Yi of Zeng document not just lists of chariots, armor, and horses—but an entire “royal operating system” built on names, numbers, and protocols. With 207 horses named and assigned, three-man chariot modules configured, Chu and Wu armor categorized, and funerary transport detailed, these slips form a living blueprint of order. In contrast to the tomb’s stunning bronze bells, the bamboo slips whisper a quieter truth: that true nobility lies not only in grandeur, but in the tender logic of caring for a kingdom. This essay explores the system aesthetics behind a Warring States royal’s unspoken devotion.

1994年河南新蔡葛陵楚墓出土楚简一千五百余枚，以楚文字书写卜筮祷辞和谒神祭语，为研究楚国在淮河流域的礼制与信仰提供了珍贵资料。简文记录楚国封君平夜君成的疾病占卜与祈祷，涉及“背膺疾”“逾取禀”等贞问，兼具医卜、军事与祭祀内容。它揭示了楚国贵族在身体、家国与命运之间的纠缠，也呈现出一种以疾病为核心的权力逻辑——身体成为国家的缩影，卜筮成为政治的语言。Unearthed in 1994 from the Chu tomb of Geling in Xincai, Henan Province, more than 1,500 bamboo slips inscribed with Chu script preserve oracular texts and ritual invocations, offering vital evidence of Chu culture in the Huai River region. Among them are records of Lord Pingye’s divinations concerning illness and fate, featuring entries such as “back and chest ailments” and “crossing the border to fetch supplies.” These slips reveal how Chu aristocrats entwined the body with the state and destiny—transforming illness into a political metaphor and divination into the language of power.

《司岁》出自《清华大学藏战国竹简》第十辑，是战国楚系文献中关于时间制度最完整的篇章。它以“岁”为核心，记录岁首行令、祭祀节序与政务节拍，展示楚国如何以天象、节令与行政相互对应，建立自有的时间管理系统。在楚人的思想中，时间不是流逝，而是循环：星辰运转，节气递更，政令复始。这是楚文明的“时间算法”——当时间被立法，文明开始自我运转。Si Sui, included in the tenth volume of the Tsinghua University Collection of Warring States Bamboo Slips, is the most systematic Chu-state text on temporal governance. Centered on the concept of “sui” (the year), it records royal decrees, sacrificial schedules, and administrative rhythms that align politics with the heavens and seasons. For the Chu people, time was not linear but cyclic—the stars moved, the rites returned, and order renewed itself. This was the time algorithm of Chu civilization: once time became law, the world began to operate on its own rhythm.

《容成氏》为《上博楚简》第二辑中的重要文献，以楚人书写的上古帝王谱系、九州地理与政治传承记载，重构了另一套文明起源叙事逻辑。本文结合简文逐章解析其时间顺序、空间结构、政治程序与生态观念，指出楚文明所体现出的“元宇宙系统”：从容成氏到天地人，皆为一套可运行、可持续的文明设定格式。“Rong Cheng Shi” is one of the most significant texts in the second volume of the Shanghai Museum’s Chu Bamboo Slips collection. Written in the Chu script, it records an alternative genealogy of ancient rulers, a reimagined geography of the Nine Provinces, and a non-hereditary model of political succession. This article offers a section-by-section analysis of the bamboo slips, exploring their temporal sequence, spatial logic, political procedures, and ecological philosophy. The result is a reconstruction of a complete civilizational framework—what we may call a Chu-style “metaverse system”—in which time, space, governance, and cosmology are all coherently encoded as a sustainable, executable format of civilization, from Rong Cheng Shi to Heaven, Earth, and Human.”

上海博物馆藏战国楚竹书于1994年由香港文物市场购入，并经香港收藏人士捐赠入藏，全批约一千七百枚、三万五千余字。竹简以楚系文字书写，内容涵盖儒家、道家、兵家等八十余种先秦古籍。其中的《柬大王泊旱》记录了一位楚王在旱灾与不确定中思考治理的篇章。内容涉及卜筮、水利、政务与德性反思，展现出战国晚期理性与礼制并行的治国智慧。它们不是权力的遗物，而是文明在危机中学习如何抉择与秩序共存的文本。The Shanghai Museum’s collection of Warring States Chu bamboo slips, acquired in 1994 from the Hong Kong antiquities market and later donated by local collectors, contains about 1,700 slips with more than 35,000 characters. Written in the Chu script, they include over eighty pre-Qin texts from the Confucian, Daoist, and military traditions. Among them, King Jian’s Drought Crisis records a Chu ruler’s reflections on governance amid drought and uncertainty—covering divination, hydraulics, statecraft, and moral reasoning. These slips embody the coexistence of reason and ritual in the late Warring States, not relics of power but living documents of how a civilization learned to balance choice and order in times of crisis.