Blog

本篇从清华简《五音图》《乐风》以及荆州简王家嘴 “乐”出发，重构先秦楚国被遗忘的“乐政体系”——一种以声音为核心的政治认知方式。文章指出，《五音图》呈现的是以五音相生为基础的宇宙几何学模型；《乐风》展示了将歌词声韵与身体动作编程化的操作系统；王家嘴楚简“乐”则是首次见到的题名“乐经”的原典，其符号体系显示音乐演奏已被彻底法典化与程序化。楚国乐政体系并非艺术，而是一套用于治理、训练身体、调和人心、维持秩序的文明算法。通过重读这些竹简，我们重新看见古代中国如何以“声音”构建世界，也反思现代社会仍然在使用声音与算法塑造集体意识的方式。
This article reconstructs the forgotten “acoustic governance system” of the Chu state, based on the Tsinghua bamboo manuscripts Five-Tone Diagram and Music Winds, as well as the newly discovered “Music Canon” (樂經) from the Wangjiazui Chu tomb. The Five-Tone Diagram presents a geometric cosmology built upon the generative relations of the five tones; Music Winds encodes lyrics, vocal elements, and bodily gestures into a programmable system; and the Wangjiazui “Music Canon”—the first extant manuscript self-titled as Yuejing—reveals a fully codified and algorithmic framework for musical performance. Rather than “art,” Chu music functioned as a political technology: a method for regulating the body, harmonizing emotions, and maintaining social order. Re-reading these manuscripts reveals how ancient China constructed the world through sound—and how modern societies continue to use sound and algorithmic design to shape collective behavior.

清华简《大夫辸速之仪》与《大夫之大食》，揭示了楚国贵族宴会背后极为精密的“空间政治学”。在楚人的世界里，动线不是单纯的行走路径，而是权力的可视化编码：主人必由东阶、宾客必循西阶，沿屏而行、屏外盥洗，每一步都在确认彼此的社会位置。站位同样是秩序的身体化呈现，左楹与右楹、东向与西向，都以极细致的方式划定了责任、身份与权力方向。而当主客入席，宴会更像是一场隐性的治理会议：卷重席、属醢、食三饭、拜三让，甚至侍从在《大夫之大食》中所展现的供应链与后台系统，都体现出楚式社会将“秩序”落实到每一行动细节的能力。楚国贵族的一顿饭，是权力、阶序、空间与身体共同编织的社会系统示范。The Tsinghua bamboo manuscripts Dafu Bingsu zhi Yi and Dafu zhi Dashi reveal the highly sophisticated “spatial politics” embedded in Chu aristocratic banquets. In the Chu worldview, movement routes were not mere physical paths but visualized codes of power: the host ascended the eastern steps, the guest the western; one washed outside the screen, advanced along the screen’s edge, and stood facing east—each step marking and negotiating social position. Standing positions likewise embodied hierarchy: the left and right pillars, the facing directions, and the precise points of stopping and bowing all delineated identity, responsibility, and directionality within the social order. Once seated, the banquet became an implicit governance ritual. Gestures such as rolling the double mat, declining food, taking only “three” or “five” symbolic bites, and the carefully orchestrated sequence of bows were not about eating but about enacting order. Meanwhile, Dafu zhi Dashi details a full backstage system: designated attendants, ascent routes, serving positions, and strict rules governing who may “rotate” roles. A Chu banquet was thus a living demonstration of systemic order—power, hierarchy, space, and the body integrated into a single operational social system.

上博简《陈公治兵》是一部跨越两千四百年的组织手册：从追野兔而散的混乱新兵，到“五人一伍、十人一行”的基础编制；
从鼓铙为令的指挥系统，到“威、恭、裕”的用人法度。
陈公狂以结构重建纪律，以信号统一行动，以“威—恭—裕”调节军心，使军队重新找回可以运行的秩序与节奏。
现代团队的执行力、管理制度与组织方法，都能在这卷竹简中看到清晰的源头——治理的底层逻辑，从战国便已成形。
The Shanghai Museum bamboo text “Chen Gong Trains the Army” is a 2,400-year-old manual on organizational rebuilding.
It begins with a chaotic troop formation that scatters at the sight of wild hares, and moves toward a disciplined structure of “five-man squads and ten-man units.”
It establishes unified command signals through drums and bells, and outlines a leadership philosophy grounded in wei (authority), gong (respect), and yu (allowance/elasticity).

Through structural clarity, standardized commands, and a balanced management ethic, Chen Gong restores an army’s capacity to act as one coherent body.

Many principles of modern execution, team alignment, and organizational design can trace their roots back to this bamboo manuscript—proof that the foundations of governance were already fully formulated in the Warring States period.