Chapter V in Qinghua Bamboo Slips Xi Nian(Vol.Ⅱ)boasts such phrase"yi tong sheng zhi gu bi ru".Former researchers believe that'tong sheng'signifies'having the same surname',basing on the fact that people in both the Xi and Cai states are surnamed Ji.King of the Cai State mentioning'tong xing'was thus interpreted as re-ferring to the nexus between the two vassal states.However,in the light of Xi Nian's narrative logic,and of the ac-counts of the same historical event in other surviving documents,it is more convincing that'tong sheng'points to the close relationship between the Kings'wives of the two vassal states.The original image on the Qinghua bamboo slips clearly shows that the Chinese character written is'sheng',which reads like it is.The examination of tong sheng's usage in pre-Qin literature fits well in with Xi Nian's narrative logic.It is arguably concluded that'tong sheng'in Xi Nian reads like it is rather than having an assumed interpretation of the same surname.
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