“Bamboo slips(簡牘)” and the “Korean-Chinese Borderlands”: The Landscape of Ancient Chinese History Research During 2022-2023

This article introduces 131 papers related to ancient Chinese history published in 2022 and 2023, focusing on the research achievements of domestic scholars. The most notable trend is the influence of digital humanities (history), which has recently garnered significant interest. Although still limited in number, some papers go beyond simple database construction to explore possibilities such as natural language processing and various forms of visualization. With the rise of young scholars inherently equipped with “digital literacy,” this trend is expected to expand further.<br/> If we include papers produced by scholars in literature and philosophy who share historical sources, the number would be nearly two and a half times the 131 papers introduced here. Although terms like “East Asian Antiquity” and the slogan “From Ancient History to Antiquity Studies” have emerged as “fusion” and “consilience” become familiar concepts, there remains doubt about whether aggregating the research outcomes of different disciplines can achieve the intended goals. On the contrary, one might argue that the ultimate platform where “fusion” and “consilience” should be realized is within individual papers.<br/> This article also groups and introduces research on regions overlapping with Korean ancient history, and unlike in previous years, it includes contributions from Korean ancient history scholars and archaeologists. This is due to two expectations. First, there is a hope that more scholarly and discussions will occur on issues with differing interpretations. Additionally, it is hoped that more research will approach these regions from the perspective of “East Asian history as a single historical unit.”