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Examines the use of a phrase pertaining to punishments found in five pre-Qin-era (221-206 BCE) textual sources in China: The Shangshu, or Book of Documents; the Mozi; the “Black Robes” chapter in the Book of Rites (Liji); and two sets of bamboo slip texts, one of which is the part of the newly discovered Guodian bamboo slips found in Hubei Province. The phrase varies in each of these texts, but all relate to the chapter entitled “Lu Regulation of Punishment” found in the Shangshu. The earliest of these citations is that from the Guodian bamboo slips, which were buried in a noble’s tomb around 300 BCE in the state of Chu prior to being conquered by the Qin. The variations in text represent the evolution of a political concept that is found in early Confucianism and, later, in the notion of a “Mandate of Heaven.” [ABSTRACT FROM CONTRIBUTOR]