This article examines ji 記 in received and excavated texts from the late Warring States, Qin, and Western Han periods. In pre-imperial texts, the word rarely appears, and when it does, it usually refers to records of historical events, precedents, or authoritative knowledge, but the word, in contrast to later periods, never means “note” or “letter.” By contrast, Western Han documents from the arid northwest regions contain many examples of texts that self-identify as ji. These ji are best characterized as less formal notes or letters that invited or required exchanges of items or information between people. The articles argues that this incorporation of ji into different kinds of administrative work gave the word a wider and subtler palette of meanings than it apparently enjoyed in the pre-imperial period, judging from the extant sources. The shift is echoed in descriptions of practices at the Western Han imperial court. Thus, a closer look at ji reminds us that administrative texts help us understand not only government operations, but also shifts in manuscript practices during the early empires.

Recent excavations of Chinese bamboo manuscripts have so far yielded a wealth of information about classical philosophical debates, but conspicuously absent have been contemporary manuscript copies of texts on the most prevalent socio-political issue of the aptly named Warring States Period, namely warfare. Recently, however, the Shanghai Museum began publishing several Warring States bamboo manuscripts from the kingdom of Chu, which it acquired in 1994. Among them is the manuscript of a previously unknown Warring States text titled Cao Mie's Battle Arrays. Through a lengthy dialogue between Duke Zhuang of Lu and his advisor Cao Mie, this manuscript offers new insight into statecraft methods designed to ensure the viability of a small kingdom surrounded by larger bellicose neighbors. While many contemporary philosophical schools considered the welfare of a kingdom or army to be linked to the power of both virtue and the will of Heaven, Cao Mie gives precedence to the real-world efficacy of the ruler's actions and the subsequent response of the populace and soldiers. In this paper I offer an introductory codicological analysis of the manuscript, followed by a study of Cao Mie's central theme of personal action— which requires the ruler to be a visible, decisive, and active participant in handling mundane affairs of the kingdom and in commanding the military.