The study at hand investigates the nature and forms of regional variation in the script of Warring States China. Its goal is “to explicate the nature of the rules of variation and to present cases of systematic graphic variation through the Shanghai ‘Zhouyi’ manuscript as a representative example of writings of the Warring States period” (p. 3). In doing so, it draws on palaeographic and phonological evidence from various excavated and transmitted sources of Warring States script, while at the same time comparing the material with, predominantly Western Zhou, inscriptional evidence. One of the main thrusts of the study is that it nuances positions wherein script variation is explained through regionalization in the script and dialects in the language. Instead, the study contends that “the phonophoric variation as seen between the Chu and Qin scripts, or any two regional scripts, generally does not reflect graphic innovations or dialect phonology of the respective regions. I will argue instead that those equivalent phonophorics, although appearing in two different Warring States regions, originated in common from an earlier period, to which the Old Chinese phonology belongs” (p. 192). A great merit of the study, therefore, is that it draws on recent advances in the field to offer a healthy corrective to the regional paradigm in understanding the Early Chinese script.

The introduction sets out the goals of the study, and includes an evaluation of the notion of “loan graphs” and Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字 as a source of Warring States and earlier graphic variation. The second part discusses Old Chinese phonology in light of excavated manuscripts. It critically evaluates older versions (up to 2011) of the Baxter-Sagart reconstruction (but not their 2014 book), drawing on work from Pan Wuyun, Li Fang Kuei and Pulleyblank among others. The third part, “The Shanghai ‘Zhouyi’ and the Warring States script” discusses a range of possible patterns of graphic variation in the manuscript along the categories of elaborate and casual styles, decorative strokes, simplification and structural variation. The fourth part, “The Chu script”, analyses where such patterns result in true instances of Chu script and where they reflect pre-existing patterns of variation in both Warring States and earlier script in general. Part 5, “The Shanghai ‘Zhouyi’ and the Early Chinese orthography”, uses the idea of Synonymous Significs and advances the notion of Equivalent Phonophorics as a means to reveal the rules and patterns that underlie the component choices in writing a given word. Finally, the conclusion summarizes how the findings of the study impact our understanding of regional variation in areas of interpretation, the study of early dialects, and the palaeography and phonology of Early Chinese in general. The appendices furnish a lexicon of the Shanghai “Zhouyi” as well as providing indexes to the synonymous significs and equivalent phonophorics discussed in the book.

The discussion throughout is based on a solid command of both phonology and palaeography, showing in the lucid explanations of variation. The point that Warring States regional scripts, to differing degrees, took over existing patterns of variation in the Early Chinese script is well taken and borne out by the examples. Nonetheless, a couple of aspects of the book could have been improved to make the point more convincing and better situated in the current discussion: there is a conspicuous absence of references to the (increasingly voluminous) literature on the subject. The latest Baxter-Sagart reconstruction, mentioned earlier, Galambos' discussion of the orthography of early Chinese writing, Venture's and Zhou Bo's work on regional scripts, Pang Pu's discussion on signific variation and, of course, the range of articles by scholars on the specific examples and manuscripts discussed here are just a few examples of the literature that could, and should, have been referred to.

As a result, the reader is left unsure how to evaluate the claims in this study, e.g. on the use of the Shuowen in faithfully representing early script, and unable to contrast the author's claims on dialect and script variation with other studies in the field. Two related points stand out. While the author is clear in showing how many Warring States developments find their antecedents in Old Chinese phonology and script, more care could have been taken in discussing: a) the significance; and b) the regional distribution of these findings. If, for example, a Chu regional phenomenon finds antecedent in a number of Western Zhou bronzes, and finds structurally similar parallels in another regional script, both the relative weight in the distribution of this phenomenon and the regional distribution of the earlier evidence need to be clearly accounted for before one can make claims on regional specificity or the absence thereof. Part of this problem resides in the primary assumption that the Shi Zhou Pian 史籀篇, purportedly written by Scribe Zhou in the ninth century bce as primer of graphic forms, “was transmitted largely in its original style down to the Warring States period” (p. 22) and that this is confirmed through excavated evidence. If the work (and its supposed influence on the script) existed at all, there is the very real possibility that it was compiled much later (say Warring States through Han) from the same material that is supposed to prove its early existence. A discussion engaging more with existing literature could have mitigated or nuanced some of these problems. Nonetheless, the criteria advanced in the book to judge the regional specificity of a given graph provide a helpful method, and when read alongside existing scholarship, the book provides a valuable companion to complement the discussion on variation and regionalism in early Chinese script and phonology.