The Stone Drums of Ch'in

Discovered early in the 7th century A.D., the ten Stone Drums (shih-ku) remain the earliest stone inscriptions unearthed in China to date. The objective of the study of G. L. Mattos is to elucidate as much of these texts as the Sung rubbings (uncovered in the early 1930’s) permit and to examine their linguistic and material (i.e., script) properties in the light of other Chou dynasty texts, with the intent of establishing the probable reasons for and the date of their manufacture.

"Die vorliegende Monographie bietet eine verdienstvolle kritische Edition der ältesten chinesischen Steininschriften und eine übersichtliche Zusammenfassung bisheriger wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen zu diesen epigraphischen Quellen, ergänzt durch die Resultate intensiver Forschungen des Autors. ... Mattos hat mit der Edition einer begrenzten Gruppe früh-chinesischer Inschriften Pionierarbeit innerhalb der europäischsprachigen Sinologie geleistet, die in ihrer Gediegenheit Maßstäbe gesetzt hat.

Ulrich Lau in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung

"... Mattos’s book is a giant step forward in the study of the Stone Drum inscriptions. He surveys and discusses all of the previous work which has been done, and applies methodology which in general is more critical than that of his prede- cessors."

Donald B. Wagner in Acta Orientalia

Part One: Background and Problems 

General Description

The Discovery and Transmission of the Stone Drums

The Stone Drum Inscriptions: Their Gradual Loss and Partial Recovery

Dating of the Stone Drums: The Key Issues in Review

The Sequence of the Stone Drum Poems

Part Two: The Stone Drum Texts

Objectives and Methods

Inscriptions: (Restoration and Textual Studies)

Part Three: The Time of the Stone Drums

The Time of the Stone Drums in Relation to the Shih-ching Odes

The Time of the Stone Drum Inscriptions in Relation to other Inscriptions

Appendices:

Bibliographies - Maps - Plates - Figures - Tables