A Speculative Hypothesis from the Zongbo Studies School on Early Zhou Origins and the "Paths with Dew" Ode

This note presents an author-proposed interpretation of the early Zhou period within the theoretical framework of Zongbo Studies. Focusing on Xing Lu (《行露》) from the Classic of Poetry, it explores the possibility that the poem may preserve a martial oath associated with the final resistance of the Can polity and the subsequent migration traditionally linked to the origins of Zhou. The study also compares this interpretation with the narrative preserved in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), highlighting significant differences between conventional historiography and the historical materials preserved in the Inner Transmission of Zongbo Studies.

The paper is intended as a concise research note rather than a comprehensive historical reconstruction. It distinguishes established scholarship from the author's original hypotheses and does not present the proposed interpretations as mainstream academic consensus. Instead, it aims to contribute to ongoing discussions in Classical Chinese studies, historical linguistics, paleography, textual interpretation, and early Chinese intellectual history by offering a clearly identified alternative hermeneutic framework for the reading of early Chinese texts.