Riding the wind of rebirth

"What should we do?" Director Song gathered the results of the first meeting and discussed with Zhou Zhi and other supporters behind closed doors. They met with each of them individually to see how to solve the problems raised by the skeptics: "Now that the country has approved the project, the arrow is on the string and it has to be launched."

"From an academic perspective, the more and more intense the discussions, the more helpful it will be for the project and the better our work will be." Zhou Zhi, however, believes that Director Song is a bureaucrat, and his focus and methodology are very different from those of academic research, and he needs to correct them: "There is a saying in the academic community that the truth is often in the hands of a few people. However, how to verify that it is the truth requires a series of rigorous and scientific arguments."

"Since there are so many doubts, it means that our previous methods were not sufficient and detailed enough. So there is another saying, which is - the more we debate, the clearer the truth becomes."

"I think the way to resolve these disputes is very simple, that is, to treat them as part of the engineering results, to demonstrate and correct them along the direction they proposed, we might as well try to absorb their research results and then conduct scientific verification."

"For example, if someone questions our decision not to adopt the Western Zhou chronology in the Bamboo Annals, then we might as well treat the Western Zhou chronology in the Bamboo Annals as a sub-project and hand it over to the expert who raised the question for research. In accordance with the project progress requirements, we can propose research outputs at different stages to revise our research results."

"For example, if they think that the confidence level of our OxCal algorithm for carbon 14 is not high enough, then we can try the method they proposed and let them come up with their own research results. The question is: How much can the confidence level be increased while ensuring that the accuracy of the dating range is tolerable?"

"If there are contradictions in the theory of the quarter moon phase, then we can also set up a project, that is, to establish a 'quarter moon phase perpetual calendar', and then use it to verify the astronomical records in ancient books such as 'Guoyu', 'Bamboo Annals', 'Shangshu', 'Yi Zhoushu', etc., to verify the correctness of them, and finally get a 'quarter moon phase perpetual calendar' that everyone agrees on."

"This 'Quarterly Moon Phase Perpetual Calendar' is likely to have several discrepancies with the records in each book, but as long as we can ensure that most of them can be verified, we can believe that its confidence is high enough and has sufficient reference and application value."

"The purpose of our project can also be adjusted to make the chronology of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties the ultimate goal, but we should also list all the doubts in the academic community in the final report, tell everyone about the controversies at certain points, why we made our choices, and the scientific reasons behind them."

“The real focus is to establish a new ideological system that introduces the achievements of modern science and technology into the study of literature and history, as well as a new methodology and production tools under the guidance of this system.”

"As the result of production tools, we can regard the chronology of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties as a continuous, dynamic and progressive work that needs to be continuously supplemented and improved by these tools. The results produced are bound to be phased, and are by no means a golden rule that is set in stone and will never change."

"Another point is that we should also boldly demonstrate and cite the research results of overseas scholars and indicate their sources."

"For example, in the first year of King Yi of Zhou, there is a record of 'the sky dawned again in Zheng'. We define 'the sky dawned again' as a solar eclipse that occurred in the morning. This statement was actually proposed by overseas scholars as early as the 1970s."

"Dong Zuobin, a Chinese oracle bone expert, pointed out long ago that '天再旦' refers to a solar eclipse that occurs at dawn, and he dated the occurrence of this astronomical phenomenon to 966 BC."

"Later, Korean scholar Fang Shanzhu further pointed out in a paper published in 1975 that 966 BC was wrong and the correct date should be 899 BC."

"In addition, the American scholar David Pankenier proposed in the early 1046s that King Wu defeated King Zhou in 80 BC through astronomical research." "I have asked my acquaintances in Cambridge to search for these results. Although we are an independent researcher and have not cited or imitated these results before, we have to mention them in the research report. It can be regarded as 'people all see the same thing'."

“So I suggest setting up an overseas literature search team under the project, which can improve our ability to search overseas literature, absorb the academic achievements of others, provide some inspiration for our research direction, and at the same time distinguish between ‘original’, ‘original’, ‘overlapping’, and ‘borrowing’, and prevent others from accusing us of ‘academic ethics’ in the future.”

"Also, there are too few samples that can be used for chronological dating, so we might as well set up an information collection team to collect information from historical documents, archaeological documents, and inscriptions on bronze and stone tablets from all over the world. Once adopted, we will give certain material rewards."

"If the Science and Technology Commission feels that it is difficult to establish a project with this money, we can let the Yu Tang Cultural Heritage Protection Fund establish it. After all, this research is highly compatible with their cultural heritage protection project."

"Director Song, I think as long as we design the ultimate goal of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Chronology Project to be more flexible, be more tolerant of dissenting opinions, and consolidate controversial points, I think we can still do it."

Director Song didn't expect that Zhou Zhi had come up with so many solutions in just a few days. After his analysis, many of the things that annoyed him before were smoothed over. He couldn't help but persuade him: "Elbow, do you really want to go back to Daliang Mountain? Or come to us? We need a wise general like you here!"

Zhou Zhi smiled bitterly and said, "Director Song, I'm just a student. I can travel around now because it's summer vacation. I originally wanted to send a few paintings here for experts to appraise, but I didn't expect there would be so much trouble."

"But don't worry, even if I'm not in Beijing, Clover Company and the Shu University Oracle Inscription Integration Project Team will do their best for this project."

"Principal Lin has already explained the many information technology tools we developed previously. If they are useful for the Xia, Shang and Zhou Chronology Project, we can provide them all free of charge. We can even merge the Oracle Bone Inscriptions Integration Project Team into the Xia, Shang and Zhou Chronology Project Information Technology Team."

"Principal Lin just called me and told me." Director Song said, "Thank you very much for your support, but you can't get away with the credit. We plan to include the oracle bone splicing project, the three-phase perpetual calendar, the moon phase four-quarter perpetual calendar, and the digital library search software in the pre-stage projects of the dating project."

"This search software is great. It retrieves dates and astronomical information from ancient books, saving a lot of time. It really surprised the experts."

"The little information we have is far from enough." Zhou Zhi said modestly: "We should thank the Science and Technology Commission for its work, which has enabled us to share information with several world-renowned university libraries."

"How is the progress of that matter now?" Director Song couldn't help but lower his voice when talking about this. (End of this chapter)