It has been more than 40 years since Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips were unearthed. As the first batch of Qin bamboo slips unearthed, it is close to the truth of the Qing dynasty. Because the unearthed bamboo slips are clear and easily to recognize, most of them are complete, which provides favorable conditions for the in-depth study of Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips. To start with, the aim of this paper is to explore the special words used in the development period of modal particles, to clarify the development context of the evolution of modal particles, and to sort out the internal differences of the evolution of modal particles in Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips. We give a possibility for Yi (殹) and Ye (也), which seems to alternate between Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips. Secondly, we found the factors to these change: dialect, country, written forms and customs. Also, we set many examples to prove Yi (殹) and Ye (也) in Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips truly alternative. The time of Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips was written at about the end of the Warring States period to the early Qin Dynasty, which was the time when the words were not solidified. In this period, the use of words was chaotic, and modal particles showed different use of words because of their distinctive regional characteristics, that is, the diversification of writing forms. Especially, Yi (殹) and Ye (也) were two modal particles in Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips. As a Qin character, commonly seen in Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips, Yi (殹) is often used as a modal particle in the slips of Qing dynasty, which has been discussed by senior scholars such as Li Xueqin and Chen Zhaorong. Mr. Li talked about Yi (殹) and “habitually seen in Qin Bamboo Slips” in his article “an Investigation of Ancient Philology of Qin Bamboo Slips”; When discussing the evolution of Qin characters, Mr Chen interpreted Yi (殹) as a mood auxiliary word with both regional and contemporary characteristics.

Based on the “double evidence method”, this paper first demonstrates the relationship between Guicang (歸藏) of the Wangjiatai Qin Bamboo Slips and the classic version of Guicang (歸藏). What is more, this paper classifies and supplements the missing names according to the handed down documents; it also proves that the place named ‘Tang (唐)’ in the hexagram of “Xiao Chen made a divination on escaping to Tang (小臣卜逃唐)” in Guicang of the Qin bamboo slips is related to the place named ‘Tangqiu (湯丘)’ of “Shangtang in Tangqiu (湯處於湯丘)” in Tsinghua Bamboo Manuscripts. The special relationship between ‘Zhonghui (仲虺)’ and ‘Yiyin (伊尹)’ plus his evaluation of Xiaochen’s escape is also reinterpreted.

Chinese characters underwent the process of conversion of seal script to clerical script, transitioning from lines to strokes in composition. the degree of tokenization components increased markedly. Some characters could no longer be classified by radicals as explained under the “unified by form and meaning” principle described in Shuowen Jiezi (《說文解字》). Thus in the Ming Dynasty, Zihui (《字彙》) eliminated and combined many of the radicals in Shuowen Jiezi (《說文解字》), and adopted the principle of “classification under form and not meaning” for classification purposes. The Kangxi Dictionary (《康熙字典》) from the Qing Dynasty continued the tradition of 214 radicals included in Zihui (《字彙》). Though radicals were established and classified according to two principles: convenient perusal and being true to the meaning of characters created by ancients, the form and meaning of characters become disassociated after conversion of seal script to clerical script, though the original theory of character creation which linked external composition of character with internal meaning was passed on. As the two radical classification principles of classification through form and classification through meaning conflicted with one another, the book adopted the principle of radical classification through form to facilitate convenient perusal. Thus, some radicals were iconized, losing their function to convey meaning or sound in characters. From the perspective of the development of clerical script, clerical script from the Qin Dynasty (qinli) is also referred to as “ancient clerical script” (guli), an early form of clerical script during this transition period between ancient and modern characters. Development of clerical script reached maturation in the Han Dynasty, with the Eight Points (bafen) script. This paper attempted to organize the mark process that Chinese characters underwent during the conversion of seal script to clerical script, through utilizing ancient texts which have been unearthed, Han Dynasty steles, and texts from Qin and Han Dynasty bamboo and wooden slips unearthed in the past few decades as research material. The hope was to uncover the evolutionary process and original form of iconized radicals as they formed.