The part of their theory dealing with the Analects of Confucius was published in 1998 to mixed controversy and acclaim, and by 2001 had achieved a remarkable measure of recognition as a significant contribution to the field.
Volumes covering other key texts are currently in preparation.
Their approach to long-debated problems has been hailed as marking a new era in Sinology. It is based on applying standard text philology methods to classical Chinese materials. The final objective is to read Warring States history from Warring States sources , both textual and archaeological, without influence from other periods, or from the linearizing Imperial theory of the Chinese past. The Project was founded in 1993 at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to develop that approach, with the assistance of scholars around the world, into a contribution to the understanding of the intellectual foundations of Chinese civilization. For further details, see the History and Structure page.