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SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
These Bones Shall Rise Again: Selected Writings on Early China
These Bones Shall Rise Again, brings together in one volume many of David N. Keightley's seminal essays on the origins of early Chinese civilization. Written over a period of three decades and accessible to the non-specialist, these essays provide a wealth of information and insights on the Shang dynasty, traditionally dated 1766-1122 or 1056 BCE. Of all the eras of Chinese history, the Shang has been a particularly elusive one, long considered more myth than reality. A historian with a keen appreciation for anthropology and archaeology, Keightley has given us many descriptions of Shang life. Best known for his analysis of oracle bones, he has looked beyond the bones themselves and expanded his historical vision to ponder the lives of those who used them. What did the Shang diviner think he was doing? The temerity to ask such questions and the insights they have provided have been provocative and, at times, controversial. Equally intriguing have been Keightley's assertions that many of the distinctive features of Chinese civilization were already in evidence during the Shang, 3000 years ago. In this collection, readers will find not only an essential reference but also the best kind of thought-provoking scholarship.
- GenresChina
360 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2013
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June 5, 2025
Various thoughts:
Keightley makes a number of assertions in this text that are both compelling and interesting to think about, although sometimes he relies on the defense of degrees of difference wherein an educated reader might say "but what about..." too often in response to disagreements to what they are reading. The linkage between Shang traditions and thinking with that of Kongfuzi is especially both compelling for someone who is not well-read on the Shang, and also unsurprising if one has read Kongfuzi, considering that Kongfuzi himself would claim that he was maintaining a way that was made long ago, Keightley points to both the construction of statements by individuals like the philosophers as well as the statements written on oracle bones to make his claims about the linkage.
Keightley also takes notice of geography and its impact on China, allowing agriculture to be far more dominant a concern there then in other places, and notes how a Chinese farmer could probably, and during the Warring States later than this text is concerned with, go from one place to another if a lord was too tyrannical in some regards, because he would know how to grow foodstuffs in some other place on the same longitude.
The book itself has some issues with repetition in the sense that because the different chapters were initially conceived of as separate papers and have been put together into one book, there is some repetition that is the result of the fact that to properly inform the audience who would probably not have been aware of some of the things that were being said or noted without Keightley explicitly spelling things out per each individual paper.
I actually think that Keightley’s suggestions that the anecdotes in the Zuozhuan and other such texts are edited down versions of other narratives or accounts which contain a few stray remarks from those accounts is likely to be true, and in fact, the Chinese process of this editing down while strays are left is something that continued for a while. Other historiography even notes that men like Sima Guang quietly edited out things he did not like the moral message of in the Zizhi Tongjian. The various anecdotes in Chinese history which are divorced from larger context for the purpose of serving a didactic role are very, very high, and the Zuozhuan was in itself, a didactic document even if it recorded things which were not necessarily morally virtuous occurring. Of course, this does not deny or disregard that there was plenty of interest in accurate representations of events by many individuals and indeed, the Zuozhuan itself records plenty of events wherein individuals do not necessarily end in a good way.
I do find that some of his suggestions in regards to Daoism feel a great deal more unsure, and that the discussion on Daoism is underdeveloped, but I consider this perfectly reasonable, there seems a more clear linkage between Confucianism and the Shang and that is what Keightley focuses on more in that area of enquiry.
One almost gets a sense from reading these texts, that China became hierarchical and organized too early on for the kinds of heroes which Keightley notes in Greece to have ever arisen in China. The personal character of Greek heroes compared to the Chinese hero who is necessarily embedded within his society more strongly is something Keightley devotes a few papers to.
Keightley makes a number of assertions in this text that are both compelling and interesting to think about, although sometimes he relies on the defense of degrees of difference wherein an educated reader might say "but what about..." too often in response to disagreements to what they are reading. The linkage between Shang traditions and thinking with that of Kongfuzi is especially both compelling for someone who is not well-read on the Shang, and also unsurprising if one has read Kongfuzi, considering that Kongfuzi himself would claim that he was maintaining a way that was made long ago, Keightley points to both the construction of statements by individuals like the philosophers as well as the statements written on oracle bones to make his claims about the linkage.
Keightley also takes notice of geography and its impact on China, allowing agriculture to be far more dominant a concern there then in other places, and notes how a Chinese farmer could probably, and during the Warring States later than this text is concerned with, go from one place to another if a lord was too tyrannical in some regards, because he would know how to grow foodstuffs in some other place on the same longitude.
The book itself has some issues with repetition in the sense that because the different chapters were initially conceived of as separate papers and have been put together into one book, there is some repetition that is the result of the fact that to properly inform the audience who would probably not have been aware of some of the things that were being said or noted without Keightley explicitly spelling things out per each individual paper.
I actually think that Keightley’s suggestions that the anecdotes in the Zuozhuan and other such texts are edited down versions of other narratives or accounts which contain a few stray remarks from those accounts is likely to be true, and in fact, the Chinese process of this editing down while strays are left is something that continued for a while. Other historiography even notes that men like Sima Guang quietly edited out things he did not like the moral message of in the Zizhi Tongjian. The various anecdotes in Chinese history which are divorced from larger context for the purpose of serving a didactic role are very, very high, and the Zuozhuan was in itself, a didactic document even if it recorded things which were not necessarily morally virtuous occurring. Of course, this does not deny or disregard that there was plenty of interest in accurate representations of events by many individuals and indeed, the Zuozhuan itself records plenty of events wherein individuals do not necessarily end in a good way.
I do find that some of his suggestions in regards to Daoism feel a great deal more unsure, and that the discussion on Daoism is underdeveloped, but I consider this perfectly reasonable, there seems a more clear linkage between Confucianism and the Shang and that is what Keightley focuses on more in that area of enquiry.
One almost gets a sense from reading these texts, that China became hierarchical and organized too early on for the kinds of heroes which Keightley notes in Greece to have ever arisen in China. The personal character of Greek heroes compared to the Chinese hero who is necessarily embedded within his society more strongly is something Keightley devotes a few papers to.
April 3, 2022
Archeologist's account of China's very distant past.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews