The Early Medieval China Group was formed to promote and further the study and understanding of the Early Medieval period in East Asia. The group provides a channel of communication between all those interested in early medieval China and facilitates the exchange of ideas and promotion of scholarly cooperation in this field.
Furthermore, the group supports the commission, editing, and printing of publications in the pursuit of our scholarly, educational, and scientific goals.
If you would like more information about our publication, please see the Journal section of this site.
Latest News and Updates
Conference Support for 2023 AAS Annual Meeting
The Early Medieval China Group (EMCG) is happy to announce that it will sponsor one or more panels on topics related to the study of early medieval China that have been accepted at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, either for the virtual conference on February 17–18, 2023, or for the in-person conference in Boston on March 16–19, 2023. Please see the call for proposals under "Resources" for more information.
3,200 bamboo writing slips recovered from a Chu tomb in Jingzhou, Hubei
A huge and important discovery. At Jingzhou's Wangjiaju Chu cemetery site 王家咀战国楚墓, 3,200 bamboo writing slips have been recovered from Tomb 798. Researchers estimate that about 700 of the slips can be restored. This tomb is 2,300 years old. The slips appear to belong to three texts: the Book of Poetry, Kongzi Yue 孔子曰. and Yue (Music) 乐. The Kongzi yue overlaps some portions of the Analects, the Book of Rites, and the Mencius. The structure of the Kongzi yue text, though, is very different from Western Han excavated manuscripts of the Analects. The portions of the Book of Poetry come from the 国风 part of the text. As for the Yue text, it consists of numbers, the Heavenly Stems, and a few simple characters. It is thought to be a musical score, but it is very hard to read. If it is a musical score, then perhaps it is a key to understanding the missing Classic of Music.