Abstract：In ancient China, there was a tradition of using unearthed documents to read handed-down documents. Through the efforts of scholars in the past dynasties, this research method has become more mature. But the “absolute function”and “relative function”should be distinguished when using unearthed documents to read handed down ancient books. In the past, most of the collate works generally advocated the use of unearthed documents in reading ancient books handed down from generation to generation, but it was not clear what roles unearthed documents played in the emancipatory and reading. There is even a tendency to overestimate or exaggerate the role of unearthed documents. In fact, we should deal with the relationship between unearthed documents and handed down documents, and divide the emendation function of unearthed documents into “absolute role” and “relative role”, which is helpful in improving our understanding of a “double evidence method”.
In considering the absolute function of unearthed documents, we should fully affirm the value of the book version, corpus value, and font value and so on provided by unearthed documents. Scholars in the past could not explain clearly some difficult characters and words in ancient books due to the limitation of materials. At this time, unearthed documents may help solve the problem. （1） In Qianfulun（《潜夫论》）：无慢制而成天下者，三皇也，“it was three emperors in ancient times who unified the world without establishing the rule of law”. As for the word 慢 in this sentence, although Wang Zongyan of the Qing Dynasty pointed out that 慢 may be a mistake of 憲, it has not been recognized by researchers and has little influence. After sorting out the written materials of Qin and Han Dynasties, it can be found that 憲 is very close to 慢and 曼 in the font, and 慢制 is probably the error of 憲制 （legal system）. （2） Shuowen Jieji （《说文解字》） believes that the original meaning of the word 院is “firm”, but from the unearthed documents found in the use case of the word 院, the word 院 is the meaning of the wall. According to the structural characteristics of the word 院, which takes 阜 as the semantic component and 完 as the phonetic, and by analogy with the architectural words “隄” “防” “障” “?” “阪” “陂” and other architectural words with blocking significance, combined with the use cases of unearthed documents, we believe that the original meaning of the word 院 is “wall”.
In consideration of the relative role of handed down documents, some views have been proposed by predecessors but have not been verified, while unearthed documents have played the role of confirmation or conjunctive evidence. （1） In Intrigues of the Warring States, “Zhao 4”: 左师触詟愿见太后， “the ruling minister, whose name is 触詟，wishes to meet the Queen Mother”. This sentence is written in The Records of the Grand Historian， “Zhao Shijia”：左师触龙言愿见太后. Wang Niansun of the Qing Dynasty, based on the name of 触龙, often used by the ancients and other evidences of different writings, believed that the font of “Zhao 4” in Intrigues of the Warring States was incorrect. The discovery of Zhanguo Zonghengjiashu （《战国纵横家书》） in Mawangdui （马王堆） silk book confirmed his view. （2） Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty once pointed out that the 吉 in “Yinji” （《尹吉》） as quoted in The Book of Rites was a mistake of 告. The “Ziyi” （《缁衣》） in Guodian Jian and Shangbo Jian can confirm his opinion that the error occurred in the Qin and Han Dynasties. （3） There has always been much discussions about the definition of 中冓 in The Book of Songs. With the publication of The Book of Songs written on the bamboo slips collected by Anhui University，the discussion went gradually deeper. But so far, relevant research papers have not paid attention to 拔朱紫于中搆，剖犹豫以允当者，理人也 (“a person with a clear mind can pick out the colors of scarlet and purple in the dark and solve difficult problems with an appropriate attitude”) in the ancient book Baopuzi. Therefore, in order to solve the problem of disputes in the handed down ancient books, we should first pay attention to the value of the handed down ancient books themselves, and then combine the handed down ancient books with unearthed documents.
In the past, scholars discussed more about the “absolute role”of unearthed documents but paid little attention to its“relative role”. Through the combination of theoretical interpretation and practical research, we conducted an in-depth discussion on this issue, hoping to attract the attention of colleagues in the academic circle.
