Abstract: Some scholars today do not take the idea of“criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles”as part of the ancient law in the pre-Qin period. Some separate“rites do not extend down to the common people”and“criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles”as two independent sentences in Qu Li. Others interpret them as“rites are not practiced below the common people；criminal punishments are not applied beyond senior officials.”According to Zun Deyi in the Guo Dian bamboo slips，none of the opinions above are right. From the viewpoint of historicism，though the saying that“rites do not extend down to the common people；criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles”was relative，it actually existed in the past. On the other hand，there was no“rites do not extend to the common people”or “criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles”of absolute meaning in ancient China. Considering the intention，Jia Yi and Sima Qian shared the idea that the purpose of“criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles”was to“encourage self-discipline”so as to preserve the personal dignity of the literatiofficial class；while Zheng Xuan and Zhang Yi interpreted it as“Xing Shu does not applied to the senior nobles”，which did not conflict with the idea of“encouraging self-discipline.”Zheng Xuan’s idea was more extensive with an earlier origin. The discovery of the sentence“criminal laws do not apply to the gentlemen；rites do not apply to the common people”on the bamboo slips is conducive to solving the problem of interpreting“rites do not extend down to the common people；criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles.”The former has a relatively strong sense of moralism，while the latter，which is purely from the viewpoint of social identity，is more easily to become repugnant. In addition，the sentence in the bamboo slips appeared earlier.

Key words: rites do not extend down to the common people, criminal laws do not extend up to the senior nobles, the Book of Rites, Zun De Yi, bamboo chips unearthed in Guodian Chu tombs