Part II: Sections 26-40

26. Description of the present Po hu t'ung

The 1305 edition of the Po hu t'ung is very faulty. Lu Wên-ch'ao, probably in a moment of extreme bitterness exclaims: "But the Po hu t'ung never states anything clearly" ¹, while Ch'ên Li, more patient, only sighs: "The Po hu t'ung in its quotations often differs from the text of the actual Classic, sometimes its quotations are incomplete, sometimes they are unlike the quoted book, sometimes they contain scribal errors" ². Nevertheless both scholars have devoted the most painstaking attention to the corrupt text, which without their care would have remained almost iaccessible to a sinologue not bred in the tradition of Chinese scholarship. An analysis of the work thus refashioned shows many characteristic features.

The statement are generally presented in the form of a question, followed by a reply, this again accompanied by a quotation. There are, however, many exceptions. Sometimes the quotation is omitted, sometimes the question is missing and only a positive statement plus quotation is given, sometimes there is only a statement.

There are several statements which seem to represent an opinion deviating from that generally accepted. They are introduced by the words "Another opinion says".

The quotations, listed in Appendix A, show that: there are 21 quotations fromthe present Book of Change, indicated by the words "The I says"; there are 75 quotations from the present Book of History, indicated by "The Shu says" or "The Shang shu says"; once by the chapter-heading mu-p'ien, once by the name of the chapter Yü kung; 5 of these quotations are not to be found in the present Book of History; there are 58 quotations from the present Book of Poetry, indicated by "The Shih says" ³, once by Shih-jên ko-chih, "The Poets celebrate it in the Song", twice by "The Chou sung says"; there are 11 quotations from the present Chou li, indicated by "The Chou kuan says", once by "The Li says", once by "The Li shê chu says"; there are 202 quotations from the Books of Rites: 47 from the I li (one not to be found in the present ed.) 147 from the Li chi (15 missing in the present ed.), 8 from the present Ta tai li chi. They are mostly indicated by the names of the chapters, sometimes by "The Li says". It is to be observed that the quotations from the present I li are several times indicated as having come from the ching 'Classic', whereas the quotations from the present Li chi are mostly indicated as from the chi 'Notes' ⁴. According to Liu Shih-p'ei the rule in the Po hu t'ung, whenever it quotes from the 'Notes' is, first to use the word Li, then the name of the chapter, then the word chi⁵; there are 17 quotations from what seem to be lost chapters of the Books of Rites, indicated by their names: Wang tu chi, San chêng chi, Pieh ming chi, Shih fa chi, Wu ti chi, Ch'in shu chi;

there are 16 quotations indicated by "The Li says", once by "The Li chi says", which I have not been able to identify;

there are 38 quotations from the Spring and Autumn Annals, indicated as Ch'un ch'iu, once as Ch'un ch'iu ching, a few times mistakenly as Ch'un ch'iu chuan or Kung yang chuan;

there are 68 quotations from the Commentary of Kung-yang, indicated as Ch'un ch'iu chuan, sometimes as Chuan, sometimes as Ch'un ch'iu kung yang chuan; 6 of these quotations are missing in the present Kung yang chuan; one is indicated as the Ch'un ch'iuchih i, one is said to be from the Ch'un ch'iu wên i⁶;

there are 4 quotations from the Commentary of Ku-liang, indicated as Ku liang chuan, and Ch'un ch'iu ku liang chuan, one of which is not to be found in the present Ku liang chuan;

there are 9 quotations from the present Book of Filial Piety, indicated as Hsiao ching;

there are 55 quotations from the Analects, indicated by "the Lun yü says", sometimes by "Confucius says";

there are 2 quotations from the Erh ya, indicated by "the Erh ya says" ⁷;

there are 12 quotations from the Shang shu ta chuan, indicated as such, once as Shang shu chuan;

there are 4 quotations from the Han shih nei chuan, indicated as such; 2 quotations from the Shih chuan, 1 from the Shih hsün⁸;

there are 2 quotations from the I wei ch'ien tso tu, once indicated as Ch'ien tso tu, once as Chuan; 2 from the Shang shu chung hou, indicated as Chung hou, 2 from the Shang shu wei hsing tê fang, indicated as Hsing tê fang, 1 from the Shang shu wei hsüan chi ch'ien, indicated as Chuan; 8 from the Li wei han wên chia, indicated as Han wên chia, twice as Li shuo, 1 from the Li wei chi ming chêng, indicated as Chi ming chêng; 2 from the Ch'un ch'iu wei yüan ming pao, indicated as Yüan ming pao, 1 from the Ch'un ch'iu wei ch'ien tan pa, indicated as Ch'un ch'iu ch'ien tan pa, 1 from the Ch'un ch'iu wei kan ching fu, indicated as Kan ching fu, 1 from the Ch'un ch'iu wei jui ying chuan, indicated as Ch'un ch'iu jui ying chuan, 1 from the Ch'un ch'iu ch'an, indicated as such; 5 from the Hsiao ching wei yüan shên ch'i, indicated as Yüan shên ch'i, 4 from the Hsiao ching wei kou ming chüeh, indicated as Kou ming chüeh, once as Chuan, 1 from the Hsiao ching ch'an, indicated as such; 2 from the Lun yü ch'an, once indicated as such, once as Ch'an; 2 from the Yüeh yüan yü, indicated as such, 2 from the Yüeh wei chi yao chia, indicated as Yüeh chi yao chia, 1 from the Yüeh wei tung shêng i, indicated as Yüeh tung shêng i⁹;

there are 2 quotations from the present Kuan tzŭ , indicated as Ti tzŭ chih¹⁰;

there are 11 quotations indicated by "the Chuan says", and 3 by "Confucius says", which cannot be identified.

From these quotations we may conclude, first that, however numerous (650), they are far from representing the whole of the Classics; second that they are preponderantly New Text versions, as appears from the following facts: the chapters from the Bookof History all belong to the 29 chapters of Fu-shêng¹¹, while none of the spurious chapters is quoted; there is not a single quotation from the Tso chuan, only a few from the Chou li; there are numerous quotations from the Kung yang chuan, which were so much in favour with the New Text scholars. This feature of the Po hu t'ung has already been pointed out by Ch'ên Shou-ch'i in his Tso hai ching pien¹².

The contents of the Po hu t'ung are of a mixed nature. The table which I have drawn up in Appendix B gives an idea of the great variety of subjects which are discussed.

It is curious that the text, professing to give the result of the discussions on the discrepancies of the Five Classics, hardly ever contains explanations of the Classical passages as we generally understand that term, but almost exclusively expositions and speculations in which a Classical passage only serves as a starting-point, or as some sort of finale. There are, however, some statements which we may regard as more or less direct interpretations, e.g.:

131c-f: "The Wang chih says: '[When the King is about to set out on a Tour of Inspection] he offers the lei-sacrifice to the Lord on High, the i-sacrifice to the God of the Earth, and the ts'ao-sacrifice to the shrine of his father'. At the lei-sacrifice the first forefather is associated [with the Lord on High; however] the forefather is not mentioned, because there cannot be two exalted ones who are ritually [treated according to] the principle of exalting the exalted one. The ts'ao-sacrifice is offered at the shrine of the father. Why [is it] only [said that he] visits his father's shrine? Though the taking of leave starts from the lower [-placed ancestor], he dares not neglect the command of the exalted [first ancestor; but as it has already been said that] he visits his father's shrine, there is no objection to no [mention being made of] his visit to the shrine of the first ancestor. The sacrifice and the announcement to Heaven [have the meaning of] an announcement of the undertaking, [whereas the sacrifice to] the ancestors [has the meaning of] taking leave at the departure. The [two] meanings are different. [First] the announcement is made to the exalted one, then the leave-taking follows".

140b: "The Shang shu says: 'After three years there was an examination, and minor degradations [consisting in diminishment] of land [were applied to the undeserving]'. The statement in the [Shang] shu that 'after three examinations there was [the process of] degrading and promoting', means that [the promotion and de- gradation with respect to] rank are different from [those with respect to] land".

147b: "The I says: 'He serves neither King nor Feudal Lord'. This statement refers to a retired Minister of the King. The statement that he does not serve the King is evident. The reference to the Feudal Lord means that if he is still young, he may enter the service of a Feudal Lord".

166c: "The travelling [trade] is called shang, the sedentary [trade] is called ku . . . . This being so, why does the Shang shu say: 'Diligently go with thy carts and horses to distant [regions] to barter ku'? That the going to distant [regions] is meant is evident. [But] the meaning is also that [the son], reverently thinking of his parents, would prefer to stay and take care of them".

In the text we further find many descriptions of administrative and ritual institutions, which have been taken from the works on Rites, such as the division of the country, the officials, marriage-, divorce-, and funeral-rites, the rites of succession, etc.; then legends of antiquity, apparently taken from a common stock of traditions, such as stories about the Three August Ones and the Five Emperors, the Sages, the development of cultural refinement, etc.; further historical anecdotes, mostly taken from the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Kung yang chuan: finally a host of etymologies according to sound-analogy and mystical symbolism. Apart from this the rest consists of a haphazard collection of seeming absurdities, which on closer examination, however, appears to constitute a kind of world-conception, and despite its strangeness to display a remarkable consistency. I may summarize it in the following paragraph.

27.Contents of the present Po hu t'ung

In the very beginning there was first the t'ai-ch'u Great Origin, then came the t'ai-shih Great Beginning; when the assuming of form was completed it was called the t'ai-su Great Simplicity; it was still chaotic, undivided, invisible, inaudible; then it divided, and after the clear and the muddy were separated, the infinitesimal and sparkling elements emerged and dispersed, and the multitude of things were endowed with life (208a) ¹³. The infinitesimal elements became the Three Luminary Bodies and the Five Elements; the Five Elements produced the emotions and instincts; the emotions and instincts produced harmony and equilibrium; harmony and equilibrium produced intelligence and understanding; intelligence and understanding produced the spiritual power [which proceeds from the possession] of the Way; this again produced cultural refinement (208b).

This speculation on the beginning of things, however, is not further continued; it is an alien body in the system of early Confucian cosmology, which seems loath to go beyond the explanatory description of the visible phenomena.

Such an explanation is provided by the conception of the yin and yang, the alternation of which constitutes the Way tao (190). The yin and the yang rise and decline in alternate succession throughout the twelve months of the year (78), they find their majestic representation in Heaven and Earth. Heaven as yang is round, Earth as yin is square (210). Earth is created by the primeval fluid as the ancestor of the ten thousand things; responding to Heaven, Earth spends its nourishing powers and brings about transformation (207a). Heaven is the dispenser of life (53 f). Earth is the mother of the ten thousand things (76a). Earth aids Heaven, as the wife serves her husband, and as the Minister serves his Lord (75a). Resting on High, Heaven regulates all that is below it, governing on behalf of man (207a). The yin and the yang are present everywhere. They are each other's opposites and indispensable complements (209). The sun, the day, the Lord are yang; the moon, the night, the subjects are yin (213a, 215a). The yang gives life, the yin kills (80i). The yang goes leisurely, the yin goes fast (206g). But if the yang moves, the yin is quiescent; forever active the yang never leaves its place (211). The yang number is odd, the yin number is even (237a). The yang receives its transformation in the seventh, its completion in the third month (101d).

Together with the opposite concepts yin and yang, an important role is played by the Five Elements: water, fire, wood, metal, earth. Their fluids are put into motion in accordance with Heaven (75a). They correspond with north, south, east, west, centre, and with the Five Tastes (77a-e); with the Five Odours (77f-j); with the Five Punishments (226c); with the Five Canons (ch. XXXIX); with the Five Notes (51t); with the Five Deities (27a); with the Five Constant Virtues (196d); with the Five Kinds of Admonitions (106b); with the Five Reservoirs (196); with the Five Instincts (194); with the Five Mountain-peaks (137); etc. In fact, as the Five Elements engender each other in succession (80a), and destroy each other in succession (80c), so all events in the world of man can be seen as the correlates of their workings (81).

The two concepts yin and yang, and the Five Elements are indications of the importance of numbers in this system of classifications. Heaven as yang has one as number, Earth as yin two (268f). The Way of Heaven, however, perfects itself in the number of three; so there are the Three Luminary Bodies, sun, moon and the five planets; the Three Configurations of the earth, high, low, and level; the Three Elevated Positions, Lord, father, teacher (53c). There are the Three Interior Ranks (3d); the Three Destinies (200b); the Three Hosts (82b); the Three Major Relationships (ch. XXIX); the Three Rectifications (ch. XXVII); the Three Instructions (ch. XXVIII). The King has three Ducal Ministers, 3 × 3 Ministers, 3 × 9 great officers, 3 × 27 common officers, together one hundred and twenty officials, corresponding with the Twelve Earthly Stems (53d). Rites also find their completion in three (140s), as all things reach it after three stages: beginning, middle, end (53c). Other numbers are: four: the Four Quarters; the Four Seasons (passim); the Four Streams (137); six: the Six Directions (205f); the Six Emotions (194); the Six Storehouses (196); the 2 × 6 = Twelve Musical Pitch-pipes (79); eight: the Eight Trigrams (passim); the Eight Kinds of Musical Instruments (51d); the Eight Directions (51s); the Eight Winds (51t, 165a); nine: the Nine Barbarian Tribes (47n); the Nine Distinctions (139); the Nine Classes of Kindred (202).

Yin and yang, the Five Elements, and the numbers explain everything in the life of man satisfactorily. Man is born through the reception of the yin- and yang-fluids (194). He lives by con- taining the fluids of the Six Musical Pitch-pipes and the Five Elements (196a). He is conceived by the combination of vital power, which is the elder yang, and sperm, which is the elder yin (199). He is born ten months after conception, because he passes through the numbers of Heaven and Earth, each being five (205s). The Hundred Clan-names were determined by blowing the musical pitch-pipes; the Five Notes, combining together five by five, form twenty-five tones, and further give birth to the Four Seasons; with the four different climates and the twenty-five various tones the completion is thus reached (203c). Three months after birth the child is given its personal name (205b). Yang reaches the small perfection in yin, the great perfection in yang, yin reaches the small perfection in yang, the great perfection in yin (237a); therefore the boy sheds his teeth at eight, the girl at seven (237b); he is capped at twenty, she receives a hairpin at fifteen, but he marries at thirty, she at twenty (237a). A boy enters the Grand College at fifteen; 7 + 8 = fifteen represents the completion of the interaction of the yin and the yang (115a). Man harbours the Five Instincts or Five Constant Virtues: consideration for others, sense of the correct principles, ceremonial behaviour, wisdom, trust-worthiness (194), which correspond with the Five Canons: Book of Music, Book of History, Book of Rites, Book of Change, Book of Poetry (232), and with the Five Reservoirs: liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, spleen (196d). He possesses the Six Emotions: joy, anger, love, hate, grief, happiness, which correspond with the Six Directions: west, east, north, south, below, above (197). Man assists Heaven and Earth in keeping the yin and the yang in motion, therefore marriage is necessary (235a). In marriage the yang descends to the yin (239), man leads, woman follows (235b). Marriage takes place in spring, when Heaven and Earth communicate, and the ten thousand things begin to live (246); at dusk, the time when the yin and the yang intermingle (266). Man has to practise divination by means of the tortoise-shell, which is yin and the number of which is even, and the milfoil-stalk, which is yang and the number of which is odd (150). He salutes twice to model himself on the yin and the yang (205w); he first salutes, and then mentions his personal name, to conform himself to the yin and the yang (205u). His knee-covers measure one foot above, because one is Heaven's number, two feet below, because two is Earth's number, they are three feet long, to symbolize the triad Heaven, Earth, Man (268f). When he dies he is buried in the earth that he may return to that which has given him life (308b). He is buried with his face to the north, the region of the yin (311b). Man has a departing spirit hun, which is yang, and a spirit decaying with the corpse p'0, which is yin (198). The full mourning-period is three years (277a), a period of three years forming a complete cycle (140a). He wears a mourning-staff of bamboo, which is yang, for his father; one of t'ung-wood, which is yin, for his mother (279d).

The events of man's life correspond with the phenomena in the world of nature. They have therefore to be ritually ordered. The purpose of these rites is to keep the yin and the yang in harmony, for if the yin and the yang are not in harmony, the Five Species of Grain will not ripen (107e). Disturbances in nature are the result of a disharmony between the yin and the yang. So at a sun-eclipse the yin is encroaching on the yang (124a), at a moon-eclipse the yin is losing its brightness (124e). When the yang-fluid is weak, on the days of the solstices, the weapons are rested, no affairs of government are discussed, the passes are shut, merchants and travellers stop their journeys (100). By means of archery the yang is aided (111c). The harmonious blending of the yin and the yang causes the blissful Eight Winds (165b).

The necessity of keeping the yin and the yang in harmony means that in social life there should always be a distinction between those who are yang and those who are yin, i.e. between high and low, old and young (112), between distant- and near-relatives (51o), between man and woman (235b), for if everybody knows his position, everything will move smoothly. The rites preserve the equilibrium (42g); therefore there are the Three Major Relationships: between Lord and subject, father and son, husband and wife, and the Six Minor Relationships: towards father's brothers, elder and younger brothers, one's kinsmen, mother's brothers, teachers and elders, friends, so that the rules attached to the different states can be observed (189); therefore music, which is an image of Heaven, as rites are an image of Earth (42c), should affect man's behaviour (42d); therefore in one's apparel the distinction between superior and inferior should be shown, because clothes are not only worn to cover the bodily form, but also to display the spiritual power of the wearer, to encourage the capable, and to distinguish between high and low (222a). In the relation between Lord and subjects there should be rules, that the ten thousand things may not decay (51q).

The rigid social organization is probably a development of the elaborate kinship-system, in which the ta-tsung Head of the Major Lineage wields supreme authority. In this system of five lineages, consisting of one major lineage having the same first ancestor, one minor lineage having the same great-great-grandfather, another having the same great-grandfather, another having the same grandfather, another having the same father, combined with the nine classes of kindred, four through the father: those bearing the father's surname, the father's married sisters with their children, ego's married sisters with their children, ego's married daughters; three through the mother: the mother's parents, the mother's brothers, the mother's sisters; two through the wife: the wife's father, the wife's mother, in this system all traceable relatives are included (201-202). Within it the life of man proceeds according to a well-ordered plan; everybody knows his station, his rights and duties. It is a closed unit, over against other units, but forming with them a larger unit, which comprises the whole of the people and at the head of which is the King.

The King is the link between Heaven and man, and his influence works two ways. He continues the Way of Heaven, keeping it in harmony for the benefit of mankind; he governs the people in such a way that the order of nature is secured. Therefore his position is unique. He is the One Man (13b), the Son of Heaven, who has Heaven as his father, Earth as his mother (1a), an Emperor whose spiritual power is in harmony with that of Heaven and Earth (12b), he has to assist the harmony of the yin and the yang (127a), he aids the ten thousand things in their multiplication (51e, 100), in the ming-t'ang he comes into communication with the spiritual forces, he undergoes the influences of Heaven and Earth, and keeps the Four Seasons in their right track (120b). In short, his spiritual power is in harmony with that of Heaven and Earth, his lustre is in harmony with that of the sun and the moon, his orderly procedure is in harmony with that of the Four Seasons, his relation to what is fortunate and what is calamitous is in harmony with the spirits (161b). In all under Heaven there is no spot which is not the King's, of all the guests on earth there is none who is not the King's subject (27a); all under Heaven is his home (102j). With the assistance of his officials the King teaches the Way and illumines the dark and hidden (54a); his task is to regulate the affairs of Heaven, Earth, and Man (53b); he adapts his actions to the Eight Winds (165e); he harmonizes the Four Seasons on the Tours of Inspection, which take place in the second and eighth months when day and night are equally divided, and in the fifth and eleventh months when the yin and the yang reach their apogee (128c). Lucky omens are proofs of his correct behaviour (127a), as calamities serve as warnings to him (121). Thus the King has to observe the strictest ritual rules in order that he may not do anything which is harmful to the order in nature. At the same time as the highest among men he is to be distinguished from all other people, but his prerogatives are only the outcome of his responsible charge. In general the King observes the utmost passivity: he quietly sits in the centre and manages the Four Quarters (50b). He closes his eyes to the perversities of his surroundings, and does not listen to calumnies (271g). He has neither enmity nor affection for his subjects (108b). He does not enjoy food as long as his task is not accomplished (50a). As the Noble Man he is like jade, which is dry yet not light, wet yet not heavy, thin yet not brittle, sharp yet not cutting, and showing even the slightest flaw (168c). As a Sage he is the best among ten thousand times ten thousand men (161c). And therefore he alone can marry twelve wives, in conformity with the Twelve Months (248b), he alone wears fur of the white fox (223c), pendants of white jade (225b), a cap with twelve hanging beads (271g). He alone uses for his divination a tortoise-shell twelve inches long, a milfoil-stalk nine feet in length (150), he alone employs nine men for the divination (156), he alone has eight rows of dancers (45a). His death is designated by the word pêng (290a), he is encoffined seven days (302), and buried seven months after his death (275b), his grave-mound is thirty feet high (312b). However, all these exceptional distinctions become a man who is the father and mother of his people (1b), who guards and shepherds them (128a), whose task it is to bring them back to the Way (183a), and whose participation in the life of living beings is so complete that even to the flying of the insects and the wriggling of the worms there is no sound which he does not enjoy (51e).

However, though the King is the Son of Heaven, he is also the son of man, and as such he is caught in the everlasting cycle of birth, life, and death, while the kingship which he represents is only a transitional moment in the perpetual flux of changing history. Even the King has the same duties towards the ancestors as any other mortal. Therefore he has to announce to them such important undertakings as a war-expedition (84a-b), not daring ever to act of his own accord (8b). He is to all under Heaven the exemplar of the filial son and the obedient younger brother, therefore he serves the san-lao as his father, and the wu-kêng as his elder brother (113a). As a man he has his faults and shortcomings, therefore he has four Warners to admonish him (101), who are put to death if they fail in their duty (107b). King of a Dynasty that has appeared in time, he knows that Heaven's mandate is not permanent, and that like the Dynasty which it has superseded, his own Dynasty will sooner or later be replaced by another. Such is destined by Heaven, and as such again it is not an accidental event, but part of a system which proceeds inevitably and ruthlessly. This system is built on the idea of the succession of the Principle of Substance, representing Heaven and the yang, and the Principle of Form, representing Earth and the yin. It is combined with the idea of the Three Reigns. The King of a Dynasty which adheres to the Principle of Substance has first slain the King of the former Dynasty (85, 175); he models himself on Heaven and reveres the left (248h); he has feudal ranks in three grades (2a); he has two words for a posthumous name (18b); all the younger sons are called chung (206i). The adherent of the Principle of Form has first changed the first month of the year; he models himself on Earth and reveres the right; he has feudal ranks in five grades; he has one word for a posthumous name; all the younger sons are called shu. The Principles of Substance and Form follow the succession of the yin and the yang, and continue the actions of Heaven and Earth (182a); they represent the principle of the beginning and the end, the succession of the before and the after (182b). The Hsia Dynasty was an adherent of the Principle of Form, the Yin Dynasty of Substance, the Chou Dynasty of Form, the following Dynasty should adhere to Substance, etc. The Three Reigns are constituted by three successive Dynasties, and actually represented by the King of the reigning Dynasty and the descendants of the two previous Dynasties (181), who are honoured as guests (141b), and not considered to be the King's subjects (142b). The Three Reigns are connected with the Three Instructions and the Three Rectifications; their succession is like the flow of an endless circle (176). They are distinguished from each other by a series of characteristic features. The Hsia instructed by loyalty (Man's Instruction), and failed by brutality (183b); it took the thirteenth month, i.e. the first month of spring, as the beginning of the year, honoured the colour black, and began the day at day-break (176); it used the caps shou and mou-chui (271b); the encoffining took place at the top of the eastern steps (303); its capital was called Hsia-i (70); it used the Spiritual Vessel in the sacrifices (188). The Yin instructed by reverence (Earth's Instruction), and failed by superstition; it took the twelfth month, i.e. the last month of winter, as the beginning of the year, honoured the colour white, and began the day at cock's crow; it used the caps hsü and chang-fu; the encoffining took place between the pillars of the steps; its capital was called Shang-i; it used the Sacrificial Vessel. The Chou instructed by culture (Heaven's Instruction), and failed by profligacy; it took the eleventh month, i.e. the middle month of winter, as the beginning of the year, honoured the colour red, and began the day at midnight; it used the caps mien and wei-mao; the encoffining took place at the western steps; its capital was called ching-shih; it used in the sacrifices both the Spiritual and the Sacrificial Vessels. The successors of the Chou should again revert to the institutions of the Hsia. The changes in the institutions are, however, only outward changes; what is essential is left unchanged, so the rule that the Lord faces south as the subject faces north, the use of the cap of white deerskin and of white silk nether-garments taken in at the middle, the notes and the tastes, the relations of affection between relatives (180). The inauguration of a new Dynasty was naturally a solemn affair; for it is not a succession through men, but a response to the will of Heaven (174a). Therefore, as soon as a Dynasty has established itself, it assumes a new appellation (150), it changes all the institutions according to the rules of the Three Instructions and the Three Reigns (174a), it creates new music and new rites (43a, 44c), the King gives fiefs to those who have helped him in his enterprise and to his relatives (58a), he goes on a Tour of Inspection (128b), and performs the fêng- and shan-sacrifices to Heaven and Earth (126).

Alone the King cannot accomplish his task. He must be aided by his officials, as Heaven is aided by the sun and the moon, and Earth is aided by the erosive influences of the mountains and rivers (53a). Moreover he has to deal out fiefs, because that is the expression of his utmost regard for the people (54a, 58a), and in order that the Feudal Lords may imitate him (54). The Feudal Lord has a peculiar position. As a ruler of people he represents the yang, but compared with the King he is the yin (57a). He is as the sun, which is yang to the moon, but yin to Heaven (212). Above he pays homage to the Son of Heaven, below he nourishes the Hundred Clans as his children (54b). He is a Lord, for his position is hereditary (60a), and he rules with his face turned to the south (144). In certain cases he is not subject to degradation (141a), or deposal (141e), or punishment (93). Still, though not being an ordinary subject (144), he is a subject, and his inferiority to the King is emphasized in many ways. He is only a peer among peers, the other Feudal Lords (16); he may not move his capital without the King's consent (68b); neither start a punitive expedition (94a). He has only four rows of dancers (45a); he marries nine wives (248a); he receives his posthumous name from the King (20); his death is designated by the word hung (290); he is encoffined five days (302), and buried five months after his death (275b); his grave-mound is sixteen feet high (312b). While King is a title conferred by Heaven, the title of Feudal Lord is an affair of men (4). The Feudal Lords form an aristocracy, by birth, but also by the virtue of their spiritual power. Even a common officer, the lowest in the hierarchical system of officialdom, can be enfeoffed and made a Lord (140g). But strict is the rule that the Lord is the Lord, and the subject is the subject. The servant of man conceals his Lord's vices, but proclaims his virtues (107f). The good is ascribed to the Lord, the faults are ascribed to the subject (81o). The relation between Lord and subject is even present within the narrow circle of the family. As the subject obeys his Lord, so the son obeys his father, and the wife obeys her husband (81j). The relation Lord- subject, father-son, husband-wife form the Three Major Relationships (189a). A father may not teach his son, so as to avoid that their relationship be too intimate (116). The father withdraws from his son, but approaches his grandson (81t). He has no exclusive rights to his son (96). The ties of kinship. however, are not entirely subordinated to the bonds of fealty. For father and son, husband and wife, form one body, and share each other's glory and shame (104, 108d). Though the Lord does not screen his subject (108b), the father does so with his son (108d), the husband with his wife (108h); and husband and wife are buried together (310), for she is the wife who, above, is connected with her husband's ancestors, and, below, continues, in endless succession, his line for ten thousand generations (142c). The same mitigating idea runs through the picture of this feudal, hierarchical society, breaking its inhuman sternness, softening the rigid demarcations between man and his fellow-man. For the means to keep together this imposing system of ritually regulated life is spiritual power; and it is only in a degenerate age that the Way, from which this power proceeds, is not put into practise (147b). The King's teacher teaches him the importance of the Way, and explains to him exhaustively the design of Heaven and man (143b). For he is King who combines consideration for others with a sense of correct principles (12b). His task is after all to serve, with his Ministers, all under Heaven (148b). His Feudal Lords practise right principles, and open the roads for the worthy; they observe integrity and shun self-righteousness, so that they may follow and imitate the King in paying attention to the people (54b). Noblesse oblige. The Noble Man treats others as he would have himself treated (93), and even for the King it is not proper to slight a man on account of his lowly position and his small remuneration (148b). He who treats his Minister as a master will attain emperorship, he who treats him as a friend will attain kingship, he who treats him as a servant will attain hegemony, he who treats him as a slave will perish (148f). Spiritual power is the keystone of all good government. Punishments, though inevitable, are only to assist spiritual power; they are the counterparts of rewards, in order to make clear that there are things to be afraid of (226a); for the good are to be treated with goodness, the evil are to be treated with evil (92).

In this kind of society, feudal, aristocratic, auguristic and bureaucratic, where life was lived according to the most detailed ritual rules, cumbrous and hard to learn, where every human act was supposed to rouse reverberations in other spheres of the universe, so that the greatest self-restraint was required, in such a society the common man was a sad anomaly. As the barbarians were not expected to be able to perform the rites (47k), and not to be susceptible to the reforming influence of ritual rules (142d), so the rites were not extended to the common man either; and even though he might have a treasure of a thousand gold pieces, he was not allowed to show it in his apparel (227a). And as the King is the most exalted, so the common man is the humblest among men. He is called p'i-fu 'mate-fellow', having only one wife as a mate (7); he need not observe the rules of taking food, but may eat to his fill (50e); if he offers a present it is a tame duck (170f), symbolizing his inability to move from his abode. To denote his death the word ssŭ is not avoided (290). Still the common man, socially and ritually a nonentity, as a man is also subject to the workings of Heaven and Earth. For all men are born of Heaven; man is only born of his parents by the delegation of Heaven's creative power to them (96). All men have received their bodies, hair, and skin from their parents, their suffering is the same (291c). Man is Heaven's cherished object (90); he contains in himself the essence of Heaven and Earth (42c); and of all creations of Heaven and Earth he is the most valuable (96). And even the common man, a negligible speck of dust on the beautiful picture of ritualized society, somehow is included in the concern for knowledge. In every hamlet the elders have to serve as teachers to the young men, who after their toil in the fields enter school in the evening; with a good government the people should not be left uninstructed (115a).

28.Classical studies in the Former Han Dynasty

The fact that two councils for the discussion of the discrepancies in the Classics were held within comparatively so short a time, the first in the Shih-ch'ü ko in 51 B.C., the second in the Po-hu kuan in 79 A.D., points to the unsettled state of affairs in the world of Classical studies during the Former and the Later Han Dynasties. It was in this 'formative' period of Chinese civilization that the Chinese Empire reached its apogee. The Ch'in Dynasty, its predecessor, had merely paved the way to political unity ¹⁴; this unity had not only been effected by the sword, but it was perpetuated by force and intimidation. The philosophy of law ¹⁵, which, having been accepted by the Ch'in as its credo, had led to its success, denied for society the necessity of metaphysical and ethical norms, and the state of Ch'in was the embodiment of that philosophy carried to its logical conclusion. It was a secularized state, the working of which was conceived as the mechanical operation of an engine, law, which was inexorable, ineluctable, all-embracing, and devoid of sentiment like nature itself ¹⁶. In sharp contrast with the Ch'in the Han Dynasty, while continuing the political heritage of the former, combined in its world-conception the idea of the absolute power of the Emperor with the recognition of the necessity of the metaphysical norms of love and duty ¹⁷, thus realizing, perhaps for the first time in Chinese history, Confucius' ancient ideal of the Sovereign who, mandated by Heaven, carried out its will: to govern the people by spiritual power which by its very nature is beneficent and stimulating. The 'Confucianization' of China was an event which is as arresting as it is complicated. It did in any case not come about abruptly, but took a considerable time to materialize ¹⁸. Whatever had been the motives of the first Han Emperor, himself an illiterate and boorish man, to sponsor the cause of Confucianism, which represented a sophisticated system of detailed rites ¹⁹, his successors followed his attitude of acquiescence in accepting the inevitability of the doctrine that seemed most opportune, and more and more adapted themselves to the model of the urbane Noble Man. The four hundred years during which the Han ruled the Chinese Empire, with the single interruption of the fifteen years of Wang Mang's interregnum, witnessed the ever-widening influence of Confucianism in all spheres of life, and, along with it, the ever-widening influence of learning.

When Emperor Hsiao-wu established the institution of the wu-ching po-shih²⁰ 'Erudites for the Five Classics' in 136 B.C., Confucianism officially became the only doctrine recognized by the state. Henceforth it was, theoretically at least, the single gate which opened the way to governmental positions; Confucian learning now constituted the exclusive curriculum of the state's Grand College, which trained and prepared the future officials. But within the frame of Confucian studies it was merely the outcome of an up-and-down process of rivalry among a variety of Confucian Schools, which did not cease at that date, but was continued long afterwards. Even before 191 B.C., when Emperor Hsiao-hui abolished the law, promulgated by the Ch'in in 213 B.C., and proscribing the possession of books ²¹, scholars probably had already begun to collect lost and hidden writings, and had resumed their teaching as soon as anarchy had subsided. Official Erudites were appointed already at the beginning of the Han, though the institution was merely a continuation of that of the Ch'in, which consisted of seventy scholars of various schools of thought ²². Under Emperors Hsiao-wên (179-157 B.C.) and Hsiao-ching (156-141 B.C.) Erudites were appointed each for one Classic only, viz. for the Book of History, the Book of Poetry, and the Spring and Autumn Annals; besides there were Erudites for other Confucian works like the Analects, the Book of Filial Piety, the Mêng tzŭ , the Erh ya²³. Emperor Hsiao-wu (140-87 B.C.) added Erudites for the Book of Change and for the Book of Rites, so that there were now Erudites for five Classics, while he abolished the chairs for the other works, thus considerably diminishing the number of Erudites ²⁴. Under Emperor Hsiao-hsüan (73-49 B.C.) the number was again increased, now amounting to twelve, and representing twelve Schools for the Five Classics ²⁵.

All these po-shih were official teachers in the 'New Text' version of the Classics, i.e., they taught the Classical texts which had been re-written by Han scholars in the current writing of the Han. The texts which had been discovered and appeared to be in 'old script' had not yet received official recognition, though many scholars must have heard of them, and studied them; there were even Erudites for the Tso chuan and the Mao shih at the court of King Hsien of Ho-chien, who reigned from 155 to 129 B.C. ²⁶. But within the compass of 'New Text' studies there was already strife enough, as testified by the great number of Schools which existed in the Former Han period. Chapter Ju lin chuan of the Ch'ien han shu gives us a fair impression of the situation ²⁷.

For the Book of Change T'ien Ho was the first Han master. He formed the Schools of Ching Fang, Liang-ch'iu Ho, Shih Ch'ou, and Mêng Hsi. The School of Liang-ch'iu Ho gave rise to those of Shih Sun-chang, Têng P'êng-tsu, and Hêng Hsien. That of Shih Ch'ou gave rise to the Schools of Chang yü and P'êng Hsüan. That of Mêng Hsi to those of Chai Mu and Po Kuang. The School of Ching Fang, differing from the others, seems not to have enjoyed much esteem ²⁸.

For the Book of History the first Han master was Fu Shêng or Fu-shêng. He originated the Schools of Ou-yang-shêng, Hsia-hou Shêng, and Hsia-hou Chien. The School of Ou-yang divided itself into the Schools of P'ing Tang and Ch'ên Wêng-shêng. That of Hsia-hou shêng into the Schools of K'ung Kuang and Hsü Shang. That of Hsia-hou Chien into those of Li Hsün, Chêng K'uang-chung, Chang Wu-ku, Ch'in Kung, and Chia Ts'ang ²⁹.

For the Book of Poetry the first Han master of the Lu School was Shên-kung, for the Ch'i School Yüan Ku-shêng, for the Han School Han Ying. The Lu School divided itself into the School of Wei Hsien, and the Schools of Chang Ch'ang-an, T'ang Ch'ang-pin, and Ch'u Shao-sun; the School of Chang Ch'ang-an originated that of Hsü Yen. The Ch'i School divided itself into the Schools of I Fêng, K'uang Hêng, Shih Tan, and Fu Li. The Han School divided itself into those of Wang Chi, Shih Tzu-kung, and Chang-sun Shun ³⁰.

For the Rites the first Han master was Kao T'ang-shêng. He originated the School of Hsü-shêng, who, through Hsiao Fên, gave rise to the Schools of Tai Tê, Tai Shêng, and Ch'ing P'u. The School of Tai Tê (Ta Tai) originated the School of Hsü Liang, the School of Tai Shêng (Hsiao Tai) those of Ch'iao Jên and Yang Jung ³¹.

For the Commentary of Kung-yang the first Han masters were Hu-wu-shêng and Tung Chung-shu. Tung Chung-shu originated, through Sui Mêng, the Schools of Chuang P'êng-tsu and Yen An-lo. Yen An-lo gave rise to the Schools of Ling Fêng and Jên-kung, and through another line those of Kuan Lu and Ming Tu ³².

For the Commentary of Ku-liang the first Han master was Shên-kung. He gave rise to the Schools of Yin Kêng-shih, Hu Ch'ang, and Shên-chang Ch'ang ³³.

The difference between the 'New Text' Schools seems to have been connected with the difference in the regions from which the masters came, chiefly that between Ch'i and Lu, regions where, according to the Ch'ien han shu, the scholarly tradition was never interrupted ³⁴, or where, according to the Shih chi, the occupation with studies was of old a natural disposition ³⁵. Lu was the country where

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Confucius had preached his doctrine and where his memory was lovingly preserved. The scholars of Lu were the guardians of the ritual vessels of the family of Confucius, which they presented to Ch'ên Shê when he rebelled against the Ch'in Dynasty; they imperturbably continued their practise of rites, reciting and singing, even when they were besieged by the army of Liu Pang; their assistance was considered indispensable by Shu-sun T'ung when he was devising a court-ceremonial for the first Han Emperor ³⁶; two of them refused, considering Shu-sun T'ung's purpose contrary to the ancient idea of propriety ³⁷. The Lu School was moreover said to have preserved the best tradition of the original meaning of the Book of Poetry³⁸. The country of Ch'i also had some renown, for it was there that during the second half of the fourth and at the beginning of the third century B.C. the Chi-hsia Academy flourished, where "several thousands of scholars flocked together" to listen to the words of famous philosophers ³⁹. On the whole, however, the difference between the School of Lu and that of Ch'i was not so great; the former emphasized the observance of reverence, the latter was interested in things wonderful and miraculous. The Lu scholars meticulously tried to maintain the transmitted ritual rules, the Ch'i scholars loved to dwell on the principles of Heaven and man ⁴⁰. According to Chêng Hsuan the difference between the Lu and Ch'i Schools amounted originally to nothing more than just a difference in the pronunciation of the characters ⁴¹. Nevertheless it ran right through all the Classics; the Ch'i School was represented for the Book of Change by T'ien Ho; for the Book of History by Fu Shêng; for the Book of Poetry by yüan Ku and K'uang Hêng; for the Spring and Autumn Annals by Kung-yang; for the Rites by Mêng Ch'ing; the Lu School was represented for the Book of Change by Mêng Hsi; for the Book of History by K'ung An-kuo (Old Text); for the Book of Poetry by Shên-kung; for the Spring and Autumn Annals by Ku-liang; for the Rites by the masters of the Old Text Rites ⁴². Since the official recognition of a School meant Imperial favour and political influence--for not only did they serve as envoys and as counsellors in state-affairs ⁴³, but they were also the teachers of the future officials, the po-shih ti-tzŭ 'pupils of the Erudites', who were officially appointed and whose number gradually increased in the course of the years: 50 under Emperor Hsiao-wu ⁴⁴; 100 under Hsiao-chao (86-74 B.C.), 200 under Hsiao-hsüan, 1000 under Hsiao-yüan (48-33 B.C.), 3000 under Hsiao-ch'êng (32-7 B.C.) ⁴⁵; 30.000 under Hsiao-shun (126-144 A.D.) ⁴⁶ -- there ensued a natural scramble for chairs and mutual jealousy. Even within the same School intrigue was not lacking, as when Kung-sun Hung, a Kung-yang scholar, effected the transference, which was in reality a banishment, of Tung Chung-shu, the famous Kung-yang master ⁴⁷. The rivalry between the Schools found its expression in the varying success with which they managed to be represented by a po-shih, until, as we shall presently see, the controversy became so sharp as to necessitate a long-drawn official discussion.

The Erudites appointed under Emperors Hsiao-wên and Hsiao-ching were for the Book of History: Chang-shêng and Ch'ao Ts'o, both pupils of Fu-shêng and representing the School of Ch'i; for the Book of Poetry: Shên-kung (Lu School), yüan Ku (Ch'i School), Han Ying (of Yen, representing the Han School); for the Spring and Autumn Annals: Hu-wu-shêng and Tung Chung-shu, both representing the Kung-yang School which originated in Ch'i ⁴⁸. Emperor Hsiao-wu brought up the number of Erudites for the Classics to five by adding one for the Book of Change and one for the Rites. According to Pan Ku's Epilogue of the Ju lin chuan these five Erudites were represented for the Book of History: by Ou-yang-Shêng (Ch'i School), for the Rites: by Hou Ts'ang, for the Book of Change: by Yang [Ho], for the Spring and Autumn Annals: by the School of Kung-yang (Ch'i) ⁴⁹. The omission of the Book of Poetry is probably due to an error. shên Ch'in-han ⁵⁰, quoted in Wang Hsien-ch'ien's Commentary on Pan Ku's statements, suspected that Yang [Ho] for the Book of Change is a mistake for T'ien Ho. Wang Kuo-wei, however, thinks that the po-shih for the Book of Change under Hsiao-wu was T'ien Wang-sun, and that for the Rites the chair was either vacant or filled by a po-shih of another Classic; Hou Ts'ang was not made po-shih until the time of Hsiao-chao and Hsiao-hsüan, when he combined the chairs for the Rites and the Book of Poetry⁵¹, representing the School of Ch'i. Thus it seems that until then the Lu School did not enjoy so much success, and that, for instance, the Ku-liang School had not yet succeeded in obtaining recognition. But it was not long before this School saw its chances.

29.The Kung-yang and Ku-liang controversy

The Ju lin chuan gives the following account ⁵²: "Chiang-kung of Hsia-ch'iu, who had received the Ku-liang [Commentary on the] Spring and Autumn Annals and the Book of Poetry from Shên-kung of Lu, transmitted them to his sons and grandsons, who [all] became Erudites. In the time of Emperor [Hsiao-]wu, Chiang-kung and Tung Chung-shu were of equal [status, but whereas Tung] Chung-shu in interpreting the Five Classics was well-versed in argumentation and composing essays, Chiang-kung was a stammerer. When the Emperor ordered [Chiang-kung] together with [Tung] Chung-shu to give advice, [Chiang-kung's was] inferior to [Tung] Chung-shu['s], so that the Lieutenant-Chancellor Kung-sun Hung, who himself was a Kung-yang scholar, after collating their opinions, finally preferred [that of] Master Tung. Thereupon the Emperor, on account of [this], honoured the Kung-yang School; he decided that the Heir-apparent should study the Kung-yang [Commentary on the] Spring and Autumn Annals, and through these [circumstances] the Kung-yang [School] greatly flourished. When the Heir-apparent had thoroughly studied [the Kung-yang Commentary] he privately turned to [the Commentary of] Ku-liang, which he liked. [But] afterwards [the interest in it] gradually declined, and only two men, Jung Kuang of Lu [whose style was Wang-sun] and Hao-hsing-kung, continued the study. [Jung] Kuang was able completely to transmit his [,Chiang-kung's, explanations on the] Book of Poetry and [the] Spring and Autumn Annals, and being a highly talented and clever man, in his discussions with the great masters of the Kung-yang [School such as] Sui Mêng and others, he often threw them into embarrassment. Therefore among the scholars there were many who took up the study of the Ku-liang [Commentary] again. Ts'ai Ch'ien-ch'iu of P'ei [,whose style was] Shao-chün, Chou Ch'ing of Liang [,whose style was] Yu-chün, and Ting Hsing [,whose style was] tzŭ -sun all received [their tuition] from [Jung] Kuang. [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu also studied under Hao-hsing-kung, and his learning became most profound. When Emperor [Hsiao-]hsüan ascended the throne he heard that the Heir-apparent Wei had liked the Ku-liang [Commentary on the] Spring and Autumn Annals, and he inquired about it. The Lieutenant-Chancellor Wei Hsien, the Privy Treasurer of the Ch'ang-hsin [Palace] Hsia-hou Shêng, and the Palace Attendant Shih Kao, Marquis of Lo-ling, were all men of Lu. They said that Master Ku-liang originated the Lu School, whereas Kung-yang [represented] the Ch'i School; it was [therefore] proper that the Ku-liang [Commentary] should be promoted. At that time [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu was a Gentleman; he was summoned to court to dispute with the Kung-yang scholars. The Emperor approved of the expositions of the Ku-liang [School], and selected [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu to be Grandee Remonstrant Serving within the Palace. Later, because of a fault, he was degraded to [the position of] magistrate of P'ing-ling. When [,however,] a search for another adept of the Ku-liang [Commentary] was made, there was none to equal [Ts'ai] Ch'ien- ch'iu. The Emperor, deploring that this study should be cut off, thereupon appointed [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu as Gentleman at the Palace [with the rank of] General of the Door. He [also] selected [from among the] Gentlemen ten men to receive [tuition] from [Ts'ai Ch'ien-ch'iu]. Yin Kêng-shih of Ju-nan [,whose style was] Wêng-chün, who had already by himself studied with [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu [now] became an able expositor. It happened that [Ts'ai] Ch'ien-ch'iu fell ill and died; a grandson of Chiang-kung was invited to be po-shih. while Liu Hsiang on account of his having the complete understanding [of the text] of the former Grandee Remonstrant [Ts'ai Ch'ien-ch'iu was made] Expectant Appointee to receive [further tuition in] the Ku-liang [Commentary]. When [Chiang] was about to order him to assist him, the Erudite Chiang in his turn died, and thereupon Chou Ch'ing and Ting Hsing were invited to become Expectant Appointees at the Detention House. They were ordered to finish the teaching of the ten men. Beginning from [the period] yüan-k'ang (65-62 B.C.) until the first year of [the period] kan-lu (53 B.C.) [these pupils] were instructed consecutively for more than ten years, [until they] all understood and were familiar with it. Then [the Emperor] summoned the Confucian scholar famous in [all] the Five Classics, the Grand Tutor to the Heir-apparent Hsiao Wang-chih, and others, [to hold] a great discussion in the [Palace] Hall, to appraise the discrepancies between the Kung-yang and the Ku-liang [Commentaries], and to adjudicate the correctness or erroneousness of each, according to the Classics. At that time the Erudite Chuang P'êng-tsu, the Gentlemen in Attendance Shên Wan, I T'ui, and Sung Hsien for the Kung-yang [Commentary], the Gentleman Consultant Yin Kêng-shih, the Expectant Appointees Liu Hsiang, Chou Ch'ing, and Ting Hsing for the Ku-liang [Commentary] took part in the discussions. When the Kung-yang scholars [observed that their opinions were] often not followed, they requested that the Gentleman in Attendance Hsü Kuang should be included [among the disputants]. The leader [of the discussions, Hsiao Wang-chih, allowing the request] at the same time introduced the Ku-liang scholar, the Gentleman of the Household Wang Hai, [so that] each [party was now represented by] five men. More than thirty problems were discussed; the eleven men, Hsiao Wang-chih and the others, each maintained their right with [the help of] the Classics, but in many [cases the opinion of] the Ku-liang [scholars] was followed. As a result of this the Ku-liang School greatly flourished; [Chou] Ch'ing and [Ting] Hsing were made po-shih".

30.The Erudites after the Shih-ch'ü discussions

It is very likely that the discussions on the Kung-yang and Ku-liang Commentaries were the direct cause of the Shih-ch'ü discussions, Emperor Hsiao-hsüan considering it as the best opportunity to determine the meaning of all the Classics. A statement in the Biography of Liu Hsiang corroborates this theory.

"It happened that for the first time the Ku-liang [Commentary on the] Spring and Autumn Annals was established [as authoritative], and [Emperor Hsiao-hsüan] summoned Kêng-shêng (i.e. Liu Hsiang) to study the Ku-liang [Commentary, and to participate in] the discussions on the Five Classics in the Shih-ch'ü [Pavilion] ⁵³.

The debates on the Kung-yang and Ku-liang Commentaries were begun in 53 B.C. and "probably continued down to 51 B.C., during which time they were transferred (from the Palace Hall) to the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion, which was north of the Great Hall in Wei-yang Palace" ⁵⁴.

The Annals of Hsiao-hsüan, relating the event of the discussions on the Five Classics ⁵⁵, do not mention the name of the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion; they only tell that on April 11th, 51 B.C. "an Imperial Edict [ordered] that the Confucian scholars should discuss the discrepancies in the Five Classics; the Grand Tutor of the Heir-apparent, Hsiao Wang-chih, and others, appraised and memo- rialized the discussions; the Emperor in person pronounced Imperial verdicts, and attended to decide [disputed points]" ⁵⁶. The Shih-ch'ü ko as the place of the discussions is, however, indicated in the other, analogous statements of the Ch'ien han shu: the Biography of Liu Hsiang ⁵⁷, the Biography of Hsieh Kuang-tê ⁵⁸, the Biography of Wei Hsien ⁵⁹, and several times in the Ju lin chuan⁶⁰.

According to Ch'ien Ta-chao there were twenty-three participants at the Shih-ch'ü discussions. Hsiao Wang-chih seems to have been the leader; he was an all-round scholar and had not only studied the Book of Poetry of the Ch'i School, but was also interested in the Analects and the Rites⁶¹. The other disputants were for the Book of Change: Shih Ch'ou and Liang-ch'iu Lin; for the Book of History: Ou-yang Ti-yü, Lin Tsun, Chou K'an, Chang Shan-fu, and Chia Ts'ang; for the Book of Poetry: Wei Hsüan-ch'êng, Chang Ch'ang-an, and Hsieh Kuang-tê; for the Book of Rites: Tai Shêng and Wên-jên T'ung-han; for the Kung-yang Commentary: Chuang P'êng-tsu, Shên Wan, I T'ui, Sung Hsien, and Hsü Kuang; for the Ku-liang Commentary: Yin Kêng-shih, Liu Hsiang, Chou Ch'ing, Ting Hsing, and Wang Hai ⁶². How long the discussions lasted is not stated, probably several months. But the result was a number of Memorialized Discussions, and an increase of the number of official chairs. The former point will be dealt with later.

The Annals of Hsiao-hsüan, after describing the Emperor's personal attendance at the discussions on the Five Classics, proceed: "Thereupon there were established Erudites for Liang-ch'iu [Ho's interpretation of the] Book of Change, for the Elder and the Younger Hsia-hou['s interpretation of the] Book of History, and for the Ku-liang [Commentary on the] Spring and Autumn Annals" ⁶³. Concerning the question of Emperor Hsiao-hsüan's Erudites there are, besides the Annals, a number of other statements. They are, however, mutually rather conflicting. Wang Kuo-wei has tried to bring order into the contradictory data, and has arrived at the following conclusion ⁶⁴: At the end of Hsiao-hsüan's reign the officially represented Schools were for the Book of Change: the Schools of Shih-ch'ou, Mêng Hsi, and Liang-ch'iu Ho; for the Book of History: the Schools of Ou-yang-shêng, Hsia-hou Shêng, and Hsia-hou Chien; for the Book of Poetry: the Schools of Ch'i, Lu, and Han; for the Book of Rites: the School of Hou Ts'ang; for the Spring and Autumn Annals: the Schools of Kung-yang and Ku-liang. Unfortunately Wang Kuo-wei did not supply the names of the twelve Erudites of these Schools. Collating the names of the participants of the Shih-ch'ü discussions with the tables which I have drawn up on the data in the Ju lin chuan I may venture the following guess: For the Book of Change there were the Erudites Shih Ch'ou, Mêng Hsi or Po Kuang or Chai Mu, Liang-ch'iu Lin; for the Book of History the Erudites Ou-yang Ti-yü, Lin Tsun, Chang Shan-fu; for the Book of Poetry: Hou Ts'ang or K'uang Hêng, Chang Ch'ang-an or Hsieh Kuang-tê, Shih tzŭ -kung or Chang-sun Shun; for the Book of Rites: Tai Shêng; for the Kung-yang Commentary: Chuang P'êng-tsu; for the Ku-liang Commentary: Chou Ch'ing or Ting Hsing. There were of course many mutations, which it would be impossible to trace; the important thing is that after the Shih-ch'ü discussions and as a result of them the number of po-shih was more than double that of Emperor Hsiao-wu's Erudites, thus meeting the demands of the ever-increasing Schools, and testifying to the consolidated position of Confucian learning. But there were still many Schools which had as yet not been so lucky as to gain the Imperial favour. Under Emperor Hsiao-yüan (48-33 A.D.) a chair was added to the twelve existing ones by the appointment of a po-shih for the School of Ching Fang of the Book of Change; it was, however, soon abolished again ⁶⁵. Then under Hsiao-p'ing (1-6 A.D.) the number of po-shih was increased to thirty, a sixth Classic was added: the Book of Music, and new chairs were established for the Old Text version of the Book of History, the Book of Poetry of Mao, the recovered texts of the Rites, and the Tso Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals⁶⁶. This meant a heavy blow to the New Text Schools which they were never able to overcome.

31.Han interpretation of the Classics

The Classics were not just ancient books containing descriptions of the past. They were ching 'canons', literally the 'warp', which provided the standards for man to arrange his life, for the ruler to govern his people. The study of these canons was not for the sake of historical knowledge alone; this knowledge should teach the student how to behave, how to order his actions so as to be in harmony with the sacred rules of antiquity. We reject the idea that Confucius deliberately adopted the works he found to make of them 'canons' ching⁶⁷, yet the books which in the Han were assigned official teachers were no longer ordinary documents, but sacred writings containing messages from the past, to be respectfully preserved and guarded against adulteration, and to be understood in a spirit of pious reverence. The difficult and often obscure wording of the texts, however, required expert guidance in the study of them. Eager students tried to enter the service of famous masters, in order to be taught and disciplined by them, and later to be able to continue the line and transmit the doctrine to generations to come. Uninterrupted transmission was considered the indispensable asset of a scholar. Individual scholarship had no value, and he who, seeking to justify his teaching, dared to invent some non-existing connection with a master, ran the risk of being exposed and despised. So Mêng Hsi, who had claimed that to him alone had been revealed the secret message of the Book of Change by the dying T'ien Wang-sun, and who had first enjoyed respect, was cut off when his story was disproved ⁶⁸. And Ching Fang, who had studied the Book of Change under Chiao Yen-shou, but said that Chiao represented the School of Mêng Hsi, suffered disgrace when his words were repudiated by the scholars Chai Mu and Po Kuang ⁶⁹.

The study of the Classics did not serve the purpose of recovering the past objectively. The Classics were interpreted, i.e., made intelligible to the living generation. Such an interpretation is determined by the personal view the interpreter always carries with him, and by the concepts of the society in which he lives. The former will cause, sooner or later, deviations from other interpreters; the great number of Schools in the Former Han period may thus be explained. The latter is the bond which connects them all together, uniting them into a group which, in spite of its diversity, breathes the same air, speaks the same language, and thinks along the lines of the same scheme of thought.

The former Han witnessed the process of the development of the doctrine of an insignificant school into a powerful state-creed. Confucianism ⁷⁰ was only able to do so by adapting itself to the circumstances of the time, by incorporating into its doctrine all sorts of beliefs which, though antagonistic to its own matter-of-fact nature, proved too deep-rooted to be overcome or ignored. The Confucianism of the Han Dynasty became "a great synthetic religion into which were fused all the elements of popular superstition and state worship, rationalized somewhat in order to eliminate a few of the most untenable elements, and thinly covered up under the disguise of Confucian and Pre-Confucian Classics in order to make them appear respectable and authoritative" ⁷¹. This popular superstition consisted in the belief in sacred objects, genii, immortals, oracles, alchemists, which had commanded the worship of all the different regions now forming part of the Empire ⁷². Besides, Confucianism did not enter the Han Dynasty only to gather in the harvest ready to be reaped. Until the first decades of the Former Han other, rival, doctrines, in particular Taoism and the School of Law, had not yet lost their influence and attraction, and the Confucians had constantly to reckon with the changing whims of the Emperors ⁷³. However, the School of Law had suffered too fresh a failure by the collapse of the Ch'in Dynasty to be able to attempt a new experiment, while Taoism was too unwordly to be able to meet the administrative demands of the expanding Empire ⁷⁴. So it was Confucianism ⁷⁵, which finally proved adequate to the task of implementing the political unity with a unity of world-conception. But it had become a creed "quite different from the agnostic humanism of Confucius, or the democratic political philosophy of Mencius" ⁷⁶. Even when the crude forms of popular superstition had been gradually banished from the sphere of Confucian belief, the ideas underlying those superstitions remained, while many conceptions of the other Schools had crept in and had been digested. The result was a curious mixture of naturalism and ethics.

The naturalistic element revealed itself in the conception of the yin and the yang, and of the Five Elements, heritage of previous ages ⁷⁷, which explained the multitude of phenomena in terms of simple ideas, conceiving the processes in nature and life as an endless repetition of the manifestation of those primeval energies, transposing seemingly unconnected events into the pattern of mechanically operating forces, classifying them into categories which together form a harmonious whole. Man in his actions is subject to the same forces as nature. Man and nature act upon one another, harmony in man corresponds with harmony in nature, disorder corresponds with disorder. The correspondence between man and nature makes it possible not only to know the meaning of strange natural events, but also to foretell the future: one has only to study one set of phenomena to be able to understand the other. The correspondence also constitutes the basis of an ethical behaviour: as bad conduct has its immediate repercussion on the order in nature, so man has to observe the correct rites, and to observe the correct rites means to behave well ⁷⁸.

It is not surprising that this world-conception was introduced into the interpretation of the Classics, and that this interpretation was, by its mystical nature, esoteric. The man who brought the new Confucian system to its fullest development was the great Kung-yang scholar Tung Chung-shu, who lived from ± 175 to ± 105 B.C. ⁷⁹. He was also the first who made the speculation on the yin and the yang the principle for Confucian studies ⁸⁰. We may say that Tung Chung- shu represents the first great Chinese theologian, in so far as the study of the Classics, especially the Spring and Autumn Annals, meant to him the understanding of a sacred message which was valid for all times ⁸¹. The ideas of Tung Chung-shu are contained in his chief work, the Ch'un ch'iu fan lu⁸², and in his replies to the Edicts of Emperor Hsiao-wu ⁸³. It is an impressive system which he constructed, a combination of cosmology, ethics, history, and a political programme, the whole applied to the interpretation of the Classics. I may refer to the extensive studies by Franke and Woo Kang for an exposition of this system ⁸⁴. Here again we find the 'holistic' conception, in which all phenomena are conceived as obeying the same laws, responding to the same forces, and mutually affecting each other. The link between the naturalistic view of life and ethics is again found in the correspondences between man's actions and the events in nature, while the Sovereign, Son of Heaven, is the person on whom rests the responsibility for maintaining the order and harmony in both spheres of existence. However, for our purpose it is more interesting to see how Tung Chung-shu managed to read his theories into the Spring and Autumn Annals. According to him, the Spring and Autumn Annals should be studied by applying a certain set of rules; they form a compendium for rulers and their composition follows a definite system; they reveal the order of the Five Elements, and therewith the principle of Heaven; by understanding them the origins of the yin and the yang, and of the Four Seasons may be known ⁸⁵. The Spring and Autumn Annals record the past for the enlightenment of the future; by means of analogy present events, especially calamities and strange phenomena, may be explained, if the events in the Spring and Autumn Annals are properly understood ⁸⁶. The Spring and Autumn Annals deal with three separate periods -- that which Confucius knew himself, that of which he had knowledge from hearsay, that of which he had knowledge by tradition --, and consider the state of Lu as the centre of the country whence its influence was to extend to all other regions ⁸⁷. For the three periods different terms are used for the same events, distinguishing the degree of affection Confucius bore towards the princes of Lu ⁸⁸; in the Spring and Autumn Annals Confucius created a new Dynasty, that of Lu, to which his political ideas were applied; this Dynasty of Lu was destined to establish its sovereignty over the whole world and to accomplish the Great Unity ta i-t'ung⁸⁹. The Dynasty of Lu together with the two pre- vious Dynasties (Yin and Chou) made up the Three Kings, representing the Three Reigns san-t'ung 三 統 ⁹⁰, and preceded by the Five Emperors, representing the Five Categories wu-tuan 五 端 ⁹¹. Lu should revert to the institutions of the Hsia Dynasty, adopting e.g. the colour black ⁹² and instructing by loyalty ⁹³, as distinct from the Chou, which honoured the colour red and instructed by culture. Lu should moreover revert to the Principle of Substance of the Yin Dynasty, in contradistinction to the Chou, which adhered to the Principle of Form ⁹⁴. Confucius, in composing the Spring and Autumn Annals, assumed the prerogatives of the King by pronouncing sentences of praise and blame; he had the position of an Uncrowned King su-wang⁹⁵.

The Spring and Autumn Annals were not the only book to be interpreted in this curious way. The Book of Change⁹⁶, the Book of History, the Ku-liang Commentary, and even the Book of Poetry were seen fit to be made handbooks of fortune-telling and inter- pretation of catastrophes ⁹⁷.

32.The Apocryphal Books

The text of the Classics, being sacred, was always carefully guarded against alterations. But alongside of these there grew up a strange literature, which professed to be their counterpart, and came to be known as the ch'an-wei⁹⁸. Originally the ch'an were different from the wei; the ch'an, couched in an enigmatical language, predicted luck and disaster, they constituted real oracle-books; the wei represented a branch of the Classics, providing additional meanings; later the two were combined and lost their distinction ⁹⁹. We may call the ch'an-wei Apocrypha, in contrast to the ching, Classics or Canons. As ching literally means the 'warp', so wei literally means the 'woof'. The ching constitute the outer or exoteric, the wei the inner or esoteric study ¹⁰⁰. When this literature began to arise is uncertain. The Sui shu records the general opinion which attributes the ch'an-wei to Confucius, who, fearing that his teaching would not be understood by later generations, supplied these supplements; its own opinion, however, is that the ch'an-wei originated in the Former Han ¹⁰¹. This opinion is shared by many modern scholars, e.g. by Sung P'ei-wei, who ascribes the origin of the ch'an-wei to the period between the Ch'in and the Han ¹⁰², and Fêng Yu-lan, who ascribes it to the middle of the Former Han period ¹⁰³. Ku Chieh-kang, however, thinks that the Apocrypha cannot be earlier than the time of Wang Mang (round about the beginning of the Christian era), as they do not appear in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu¹⁰⁴. Chu I-tsun also holds that there were no Apocrypha in the Former Han period ¹⁰⁵, while Hsü Yang-yüan 徐 養 原 ¹⁰⁶ is of the opinion that, though the ch'an had come from antiquity, the wei originated in the beginning of the Later Han period ¹⁰⁷. But though the wei, as special documents, probably did not yet form a literature apart in the period of the Former Han, and though some of their contents suggest an origin in the beginning of the third century A.D. ¹⁰⁸, the main ideas may already have been current during the Former Han. Fêng Yu-lan says that all the Classical scholars of the Former Han made use of the yin-yang theories to interpret the Classics ¹⁰⁹; we have seen to what extent this was indeed done by Tung Chung-shu. Judged by its contents, Tung Chung-shu's work may be called a wei, as also the Shang shu ta chuan, which is ascribed to Fu-shêng ¹¹⁰, though neither of these books was presented as such. The Imperial Catalogue ¹¹¹ gives two instances of quotations from the Book of Change, which apparently are quotations from Apocrypha belonging to the Book of Change; one occurs in the Shih chi, and reads: "To miss it by a hair's breadth makes a difference of one thousand li" 失 之 毫 釐 差 之 千 里 ¹¹²; the other one is a quotation by Ko K'uan-jao, occurring in his Biography in the Ch'ien han shu, and reads: "The Five Emperors considered all under Heaven as their office, the Three Kings considered all under Heaven as their home" ¹¹³.

However this may have been, I think it is safe to assume that towards the end of the Former Han the Apocryphal literature had already attained a wide circulation ¹¹⁴.

The names of the books are very peculiar and hardly intelligible ¹¹⁵. Chuang-huai T'ai-tzŭ gives in his Commentary on the Hou han shu an enumeration of the books which together constituted the Seven wei¹¹⁶. For the Book of Change there were: the Chi lan t'u, the Ch'ien tso tu, the K'un ling t'u, the T'ung kua yen, the Shih lei mou, the Pien chung pei 稽 覽 圖, 乾 鑿 度, 坤 靈 圖, 通 卦 驗, 是 類 謀, 辨 終 備. ¹¹⁷; for the Book of History there were: the Hsüan chi ch'ien, the K'ao ling yao, the Hsing tê fang, the Ti ming yen, the Yün ch'i shou 琁 機 (=璣) 鈴, 考 靈 耀, 刑 德 放, 帝 令 驗,運 期 授.¹¹⁸; for the Book of Poetry there were: the T'ui tu tsai, the Fan li shu, the Han shên wu¹¹⁹; for the Book of Rites there were: the Han wên chia, the Chi ming chêng, the Tou wei i¹²⁰; for the Book of Music there were: the Tung shêng i, the Chi yao chia, the Hsieh t'u chêng 動 聲 儀 , 稽 耀 嘉, 叶 ¹²¹; for the Book of Filial Piety there were: the Yüan shên ch'i, the Kou ming chüeh 援 神 契, 鉤 命 決 ¹²²; for the Spring and Autumn Annals there were: the Yen k'ung t'u, the Yüan ming pao, the Wên yao kou, the Yün tou shu, the Kan ching fu, the Ho ch'êng t'u, the K'ao i yu, the Pao ch'ien t'u, the Han han tzŭ , the Tso chu ch'i, the Wu ch'êng t'u, the Ch'ien t'an pa, the Shuo t'i tz'ŭ 演 孔 圖, 元 命 包 ¹²³.

The Bibliographical Chapter in the Sui shu is not very clear. First it lists the following works: Ho t'u in 20 chüan, Ho t'u lung wên in 1 chüan, I wei in 8 chüan, Shang shu wei in 3 chüan, Shang shu chung hou in 5 chüan, Shih wei in 18 chüan, Li wei in 3 chüan, Li chi mo fang in 2 chüan, Yüeh wei in 3 chüan, Ch'un ch'iu tsai i in 15 chüan, Hsiao ching kou ming chüeh in 6 chüan, Hsiao ching yüan shên ch'i in 7 chüan, Hsiao ching nei shih in 1 chüan 河 圖, 河 圖 龍 文, 易 緯, 尚 書 緯, 尚 書 中 候, 詩 緯, 禮 緯, 禮 記 默 房, 樂 緯, 春 秋 災 異, 孝 經 句 命 決, 孝 經 援 神 契, 孝 經 內 事; ¹²⁴. But in its discussion it says that there were the Ho t'u in 9 p'ien, the Lo shu 洛 書 ¹²⁵ in 6 p'ien, other works [of this kind] in 30 p'ien, the Seven wei of the Classics 七 經 緯 ¹²⁶ in 36 p'ien, all together forming 81 p'ien; besides there were the Shang shu chung hou, the Lo tsui chi 洛 罪 級 ¹²⁷, the Wu hsing chuan¹²⁸, the Shih t'ui tu tsai, the Fan li shu, the Han shên wu, the Hsiao ching kou ming chüeh, the Yüan shên ch'i, the Tsa ch'an¹²⁹, and other works ¹³⁰.

Hsü Yang-yüan further mentions the K'ung lao ch'an in 12 chüan, the Lao tzŭ ho lo ch'an in 1 chüan, the, Yin kung ch'an in 4 chüan, the Liu hsiang ch'an in 1 chüan, the Tsa ch'an shu in 29 chüan, the Yao chieh shun yü in 1 chüan, the K'ung tzŭ wang ming ching in 1 chüan, the Kuo wên chin chi in 1 chüan, the Wang tzŭ nien ko in 1 chüan, and the Sung shan tao shih ko in 1 chüan, all occurring in the Sui shu, and all belonging to the class of ch'an 孔 老 懺 , 老 子 河 洛 懺, 尹 公 懺, 劉 向 懺, 雜 懺 書, 堯 戒 舜 禹, 孔 子 王 明 鏡, 郭 文 金 記, 王 子 年 歌, 嵩 山 道 士 歌; ¹³¹.

This extensive list is not yet complete. There are Apocrypha of the Analects: the Lun yü pi k'ao ch'an, Chuan k'ao ch'an, Chê fu hsiang, Chê shuai (or ch'ien or hsiang) shêng ch'êng chin ch'an, Yin hsi ch'an, Su wang shou ming ch'an, Chiu hua ch'an, Ch'ung chüeh ch'an 論 語 比 考 懺, 撰 考 懺, 摘 輔 象, 摘 衰 ¹³², edited by Ma Kuo-han from quotations, and all accompanied by a Commentary by Sung Chung ¹³³. Besides the works mentioned above there are further for the Book of Change: the Ch'ien k'un tso tu, and the Ch'ien yüan hsü chih chi¹³⁴; for the Book of Music: the Yüeh yüan yü¹³⁵; for the Spring and Autumn Annals: the Ming li hsü and the Nei shih¹³⁶; for the Book of Filial Piety: the Chung ch'i, the Tso ch'i, the Yu ch'i, the Nei shih, the Tz'ŭ hsiung t'u, the Ku pi¹³⁷.

With the exception of the eight wei of the Book of Change, all these works have only been preserved in quotations. This sad fate of such a voluminous literature was due to the proscriptions to which it had been subjected. "Coming to [the period] ta-ming of the Sung (457-465)", so the Sui shu relates, "the t'v and ch'an began to be forbidden; in [the period] t'ien-chien of the Liang (502-520) and after, the [prohibition-]measures were augmented; when Kao-tsu [,Emperor Wên of the Sui Dynasty (590-604),] received the mandate, the prohibition was [again] made more severe, and when Emperor Yang (605-617) ascended the Throne he sent out officials to the four [quarters] to make a search of the books and documents in all under Heaven. Those which bore some relation with the ch'an and the wei were burned; those people who were impeached by the officials were executed. From this [time on] the study [of the ch'an-wei] never recovered, while in the archives there were no more than remnants" ¹³⁸. The T'ang scholars still quoted the wei in their Sub-commentaries on the Classics, but the study of this curious literature had already stopped ¹³⁹. In the Sung period (960-1276) the wei were almost extinct ¹⁴⁰, while what was known of them was considered so absurd that Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072) 歐 陽 修 ¹⁴¹ advised to strike off the wei quotations from the Commentaries on the Classics, which advice was not followed ¹⁴². In the Ming period (1368-1644) Sun Chio collected the existing fragments and published them in a work of 36 chüan with the title of Ku wei shu¹⁴³. In the Ch'ing (1644-1911) the interest in the wei returned, and there ensued a rage for collecting fragments; Huang Shih edited 55 works in his Han hsüeh t'ang ts'ung shu¹⁴⁴; Ma Kuo-han 40 in his Yü han shan fang chi i shu¹⁴⁵; Chao Tsai-han published the Seven wei in 38 chüan¹⁴⁶; Ch'ên Ch'iao-ts'ung the Shih wei chi chêng in 4 chüan¹⁴⁷. The Chinese love of learning had overcome the aversion to unorthodoxy, for, as Hsü Yang-yüan said, "it would not do to reject [books, only] because they are not Classics" ¹⁴⁸.

33.Contents of the Apocryphal Books

Equally quixotic as their titles are the contents of the wei. Their singularity, their extremely obscure phraseology, and the defective condition of the texts are probably the reasons why the Apocrypha have received so little attention from the sinological world. As early as 1920 Pelliot pointed out the importance of this literature, which no sinologue had as yet undertaken to examine ¹⁴⁹. Since then, as far as I know, it was only Professor Percy Bruce who, in 1930, attempted an investigation of the Apocryphal Books of Change¹⁵⁰. I therefore regret not to be able to make a comprehensive study of the highly interesting contents of the wei, partly for lack of comparative material, and partly because the limits of this Introduction would not allow such an extensive undertaking. I shall have to content myself with a brief and provisional summary, not even attempting a translation of the summarized passages, and only drawing attention to those features which most concern our study. For this summary I have used Ma Kuo-han's editions of the wei in his Yü han shan fang chi i shu, to which the references are made. I shall not indicate the names of the Apocryphal Books in order not to make those references too confusing. Furthermore I shall leave aside the Apocryphal Books of Change, for which Bruce's study may be consulted.

Though the wei profess to be the complements of the various ching, their present contents do not give us any lead as to what their relation is with a particular Classic. That is, none of them contains statements which could be considered as peculiar for a special Classic: an Apocryphal Book on the Spring and Autumn Annals e.g. relates almost the same kind of things as an Apocryphal Book of Filial Piety. The aphoristic form of the sayings in the present wei and their incoherence may be due to the fact that they have been culled from all sorts of quotations, and disconnected from their context; we do not know what the original form was, neither to what extent they constituted an organic whole.

Characteristic again of the Chinese mind is that even in the wei little is said of the beginning of things. We only learn that creation began 2,276,000 years before the capture of the unicorn, which took place in 481 B.C. and announced Confucius' impending death; the period was divided into ten eras (57.65a). We are told that the period of the Great Simplicity t'ai-su returns every 291,840 years (54.31a), that there are the Five Origins wu-yüan, viz. Heaven's, Earth's, Man's Fluids, the Fluid of the Four Seasons, that of the Winds (54.44a-45a).

Amply represented, on the other hand, are the speculations on the yin and yang and the Five Elements ¹⁵¹: we have passages on the succession of the yin and the yang (54.3a), on the effects of the harmony and disharmony of the yin and the yang (55.53b-54a); on the natural phenomena, such as rain, clouds, lightning, fog, rainbow, snow, frost, hail, being the results of the interactions of the yin and the yang (57.26a-27a); on the relation between music and the yin and yang (54.56a); on the human face corresponding with the yin and yang (57.19b-21b) ¹⁵²; etc. We have further expositions on the Five Elements and their succession (57.27b); on the correspondence between the Five Elements and the Five Reservoirs (54.42b), and the Five Human Relationships (54.49b); on the influence of bad government on the disharmony of the Five Elements (56.25b); etc.

Cosmographical contemplation seems to have been in vogue among the composers of the wei, for we encounter statements on the distance between heaven and earth, being 178,500 li (53.50b) or 150,000 li (54.7a); on heaven and earth measuring 333,000 li from east to west, and 231,500 li from south to north (54.7a); on the circumference of heaven being 1,071,000 li (55.50a); on the division of the globe-like heaven into 3651/4 degrees (50.50b); one degree measuring 2,932 348/1461 li (50.51a), or, more exactly, 2,932 li, 71 paces and 2 364/487 feet (55.50a); on the space beyond the 28 zodiacal mansions extending 15,000 li to the four directions -- called the Extremities of the Four Wanderings ssü-yu chih-chi¹⁵³ -- (53.51a); on the diameter of the sun being 1000 li (57.25a); on the sun revolving to the left and the moon to the right (57.25b); on the position of the sun during the seasons (53.54b-56a); on the sun passing through the zodiacal mansions (53.52b, 54a-b); on the stars and the constellations (passim); on the earth moving constantly, and comparable to a moving boat, in which a sitting man does not feel the movement (53.51b).

The interest in the geographical division of the earth and in its fauna is shown in the passages on the nine provinces, which correspond with certain constellations (55.3a-b); on the Five Mountain- peaks (58.31b); on the states of Ch'i, Ch'ên, Ch'in, etc. (54.6a-b): on a region in the north-east where people nine inches tall live (54.7b); on the various kinds of minerals (58.26a-b); on the tiger, which is born after seven months, is therefore seven feet long, and the stripes of which represent the mixing of the yin and yang (55.63a); on the dog, which is born after three months, and is therefore three feet high (55.63b); on the horse, which is born after twelve months (ib.); on the cock, the duck, the crane (56.42-43a): on fishes and birds, why they are born out of eggs (55.62a); on silkworms (55.62b); on insects and molluscs (58.27a-28a); on portentous beasts: dragon, phoenix, tortoise, unicorn (54.49b, 57a; 56.23a, 55a-b; 58.80a).

Man is born after ten months, his head is twelve inches long in imitation of the twelve months, his face, neck, eyebrows, and tongue correspond with the constellations (57.19a-b). His palm is round in imitation of Heaven, he has five fingers in imitation of the Five Elements (57.21a). He has two thighs, because the yin number is two, from his waist upwards he is yang, from his waist downwards he is yin, the numbers of the yin and yang combine into four(?), therefore the circumference of his waist is four feet (57.21b). His head is round resembling Heaven, his feet are square resembling Earth, his Five Storehouses (= intestines) resemble the Five Elements, his four limbs the Four Seasons; etc. (58.12b). His emotions are born from the yin, his instincts from the yang (58.13a, 33b). The instincts are: consideration for others, sense of the right principles, ceremonial behaviour, wisdom, and trustworthiness; they correspond with wood, metal, fire, water, and earth; the emotions arise after the acquirement of knowledge, they are: joy, anger, grief, happiness, love, and hate (58.33a). He is subject to the three kinds of destinies (57.8a-b; 58.12b). His relation with others is deter- mined by the Three Major and the Six Minor Relationships (54.18b).

The wei abound with passages on ritual subjects. There are passages on the sacrifice in the suburb (58.16b); on the fêng- and shan-sacrifices (53.43a; 56.2b; 58.31b); on the hsia- and ti-sacrifices (54.16a, 25a); on the sacrifices in the ancestral temple (54.24b, 25b; 58.6b, 31a); on the rain-sacrifice (55.58a-b; 56.5b); on the ming-t'ang (53.66a; 54.14b; 55.47a; 58.17a, 17b-18a); on the ling-t'ai (54.12b); on the pi-yung (54.15a; 58.18b, 34b); on flags and standards (54.20b-21a, 27a); on boats, screens, palaces (54.21b); on the jade emblems (54.27b): on funeral rites (54.22a-b; 56.45b-46a; 58.19b); on the Nine Distinctions (54.17a); on the different names of the targets (54.18a); on the different terms for filial piety (58. 12b-13a); on the five different names of Heaven (53.54b-56a); on the procedure of warning the Lord (58.20a); on those who are not to be treated as subjects (58.34b); on punishments (53.64a-b; 57.18b, 30b).

Forming the counterpart of rites, music receives due attention in the wei. We have passages on what music means (54.47a; 57.14b); on the Five Notes (54.41a-42a); on the Seven Notes (54.32b); on the origin of singing (54.45b); on the meaning of the 'Songs of Praise' sung (54.7a); on musical instruments (54.56b-57a); on the Six Pitch-pipes (54.54a); on the influence of music and pitch-pipes (54.54a-56a); on the music of the ancient Sovereigns (54.42a, 46a-47a, 53a-b; 57.15a-b; 58.15b); on that of the barbarians (54.51b; 58.34a).

In the wei history and myth are blended together. The succession of Sovereigns in the ancient past is seen as a process of deterioration; so we encounter descriptions of the differences between the August Ones, the Emperors, the Kings, and the Hegemons (53.29a; 54.31a; 58.20a-b, 29a-30b, 80a), with enumerations of the Three August Ones (54.12a; 55.22a). But all inaugurators of Dynasties are considered to have possessed supernatural powers, which enabled them to accomplish this feat; they were born in a miraculous way, and had their prowess manifested in their extraordinary appearance. Almost every page contains stories of these demi-gods and their faithful servants: Fu-hsi (53.22a; 54.8a-12b; 55.39a; 57.8b, 68a; 58.32a); Nü-kua (54.8b); Shên-nung (54.13a; 57.9a, 11a; 58.32a); Yen-ti (57.68b); Ti-k'u (53.47b; 57.9b); Huang-ti (53.23a, 45b; 54.8b, 40a; 55.22b, 39b-40a, 62b; 56.48a; 57.9a, 11a, 69a; 58.72a); Chuan-hsü (54.8b, 39b; 57.9a); Yao (53.22a-b, 24a-b, 28a, 45b, 46a, 47b, 63a-b, 66b; 55.23b, 40b, 42b; 57.9b, 11b, 13a; 58.33a, 68a-b); Shun (53.27a-b, 67a; 54.9a; 55.22b; 56.48a; 58.33a); Yü (53.26a, 67b; 54.9a, 13a; 58.33a); Kao-yao (53.30b; 54.13a; 57.11b); Hsieh (53.74b; 54.9a); T'ang (53.31a-b, 32b, 48b; 54.9a; 56.48b-49a; 57.10a); Hou-chi (53.30a, 40a; 57.10a, 12a; 58.31a); T'ai-kung (53.46a); King Wên (53.34a-35b, 36a; 57.10a, 13b); King Wu (53.38a, 40b, 48b, 69a; 54.50b; 57.10b); the Duke of Chou (53.40b; 58.2a); the Duke of Shao (54.46a); King ch'êng (53.42a; 57.7b). Their appearance is described in a way that defies any human anatomy (56.48a; 57.8b-11a; 58.14a-15a). There are further passages on the Teachers of the Sovereigns (58.70b), and on Hsi-wang-mu (53.72a).

The picture of the ancient Sovereigns is not complete without the counterpart of the bad Kings, so we have stories about Chieh, the wicked last ruler of the Hsia (53.48a), and Chou, the last King of the Yin Dynasty (53.46a; 57.13a). In passing, the barbarous states of Ch'in (53.61a, 70a) and Ch'u (55.30a) are also referred to.

"The same Dynasty cannot hold the mandate twice" (53.66b), thus the succession of Dynasties is explained. A succeeding Dynasty should be distinguished from the preceding one by the adoption of a particular colour (54.26a), by the application of the Principle of Substance or that of Form (54.18b, 50b; 57.6a), by a re-arrangement in the system of the Three Reigns (54.26b, 62a), by the application of one of the Three Corrections (54.26a, 49a; 57.6b), and of the Three Instructions (57.6a). Whereas the Yin had a division of ranks in three grades, the Chou had one in five grades (54.16b; 57.15b-16a).

The explanation of words according to sound-analogy may be expected from men accustomed to classificatory thinking, and for whom everything could mean almost anything. In this way the following words are explained: ch'ên 'Minister' (58.10b), chêng 'to govern' (58.11a), chiu 'wine' (56.42a), ch'iu 'hill' (56.38b), chou 'province' (56.39a), ch'un 'Spring' (56.38a; 57.5a), ho 'river' (56.39b), ho 'grain' (56.40a), hou 'Marquis' (58.10b), hsing 'planet' (56.36b), hsing 'punishment' (57.17b; 58.2b, 30b), hun 'departing spirit' (58.11b), huo 'fire' (57.27b), jên 'consideration for others' (57.19a), jih 'sun' (57.24a), kung 'Duke' (57.16a), kung 'palace' (57.53a), li 'rites' (54.19b), ling 'mound' (56.38b), lu 'emolument' (58.11a), lü 'pitch-pipe' (57.4a), ma 'hemp' (56.42a), mai 'wheat' (56.40b), min 'the people' (58.10b), nan 'Baron' (57.16a), po 'Earl' (58.10b), p'o 'spirit decaying with the body' (58.11b), shan 'mountain' (56.38a), shih 'common officer' (57.16b), shu 'leguminous plants' (56.40b), shui 'water' (57.27b), sui 'year' (57.4a), ta-fu 'great officer (57.16b), tao 'paddy' (56.40a), ti 'Earth' (56.36a; 57.23b), ti 'Emperor' (57.7a), t'ien 'Heaven' (56.36a), t'u 'earth' (57.27a), tzŭ 'Viscount' (57.16a), wang 'King' (55.6b; 57.7b), wei 'the river Wei' (56.39b), yün 'cloud' (56.37b).

Classificatory thinking is also the background of the belief in correspondences between the world of nature and the world of man, especially with regard to political events and the King's behaviour. So there is correspondence between rites and seasons (54.24a), between music and certain stars (54.47a-48a), and so there is correspondence between human actions and the coming of rain (54.25b), the phenomena in the sun and the moon (54.63b-69a; 55.7a; 56.5b-6a, 18b; 57.29b-30b; 58.45a-50b, 58a-62a), sun-eclipses (53.76b; 56.18b-22a, 29a-b), the stars and constellations (54.10a-b, 15a, 18b-20b, 30b, 69b-72b; 55.7b-21b, 24a-26b, 32b-36a; 56.6b-7a, 13b-17b; 57.31a-49a; 58.7b-10a, 35b-36a, 44a-b, 50b-51b, 62a-63b, 65a-b).

From the belief in correspondences to that in omens is a short step. Good or bad behaviour provokes nature in a particular way. There are omens which appear when government is as it should be (54.33a-39b; 58.21b-25a). On the other hand strange happenings are indications of bad government, or forewarnings of some disaster. So we are taught the meaning of the appearance of two suns (56.29a), of sun and moon together (55.55a), of water flowing upwards (56. 24a-b), of tiles falling down from roofs (56.24b), of bees and ants forming swarms (56.25a), of women changing into men and vice versa (56.25b), of earth-quakes (ib.), of bells sounding by themselves (56.31a), of tigers having two mouths (56.31b), of horses entering palaces (ib.), of dragons emerging from wells (56.32a), of snakes found in the yard (56.32b), etc.

Interesting for the purpose of our study is what the wei have to say about Confucius, the Classics, and the House of Han ¹⁵⁴.

In a dream Confucius' mother had intercourse with the Black Emperor, and gave birth to Confucius in a hollow mulberry-tree ¹⁵⁵; he was therefore called the Black Sage (56.50a). Confucius' head was like a muddy (ni) indented top of a hill (ch'iu), therefore his personal name was Ni-ch'iu (56.50b) ¹⁵⁶. On his chest, which conformed to a carpenter's square, meaning that he modelled himself on antiquity (58.77b), was inscribed: "Thy doctrine shall regulate the ages in conformity with destiny" (56.50b). He was ten feet high, nine wei (45 inches) in girth; sitting down he resembled a crouching dragon, standing up he resembled a tethered bull; from close by he looked like the Pleiades, from afar he looked like the Pole-star; he was a bell with a wooden tongue proclaiming the rules for all under Heaven (56.50b) ¹⁵⁷. His mouth was like the ocean, containing all the bounties of it (58.15a).

Though 'born to be King', Confucius did not actually wield earthly authority. He only prepared the mandate to be held by the House of Liu (= Han; 56.50b). Having the essence of the Black Dragon he could not succeed the Chou, whose spiritual power was that of wood, i.e. green (58.15b). Confucius was an Uncrowned King su-wang, neither endowed with rank nor emoluments, nor possessing the right to punish and to start expeditions (58.38a); he was only served by his sixty-four disciples who wrote down his cryptic words (58.86a), and of whom Yen yüan functioned as ssŭ-t'u, Tzŭ-lu as ssŭ-k'ung, Tso Ch'iu-ming as su-ch'ên 素 臣 ¹⁵⁸ (58.76b-77a).

The message Confucius had to convey to the world was revealed to him by Heaven, which dropped a 'blood-letter' within the gates of Lu, predicting his death, the fall of Chou, the rise of Ch'in, the ensuing disorder, and the continuation of Confucius' doctrine; the 'blood-letter' changed into a red bird, and again into a white letter, on which was written 'Plan for the practise of Confucius' doctrine'; in it was contained the form of the plans to be made and the rules to be established (56.50b-51a). And so Confucius created and modelled the Five Classics, which taught the destinies of Heaven and Earth, which were to be examined as plans and pictures ¹⁵⁹, which served as material for the Three Kings, and should be extended to the four seas (56.54a). The Six Classics (the Book of Filial Piety included), in making clear the superiority of the Lord and father, and the beginning of Heaven and Earth, each had their own message (56.33a).

The Book of Change describes the rhythm of the fluids, it contains the Five Essences, and reveals the divisions of time (56.33b). The Book of History describes the influences of the two Emperors and the works of the three Kings, so as to make clear the cycle of periods and the rotation of changing mandates (ib.). Shang in Shang shu (= the Book of History) means shang 'high', shu means ju 'to imitate'; high Heaven suspends its ornamental figures to announce therewith its measures; the Book of History imitates the course of Heaven (53.47a). The Book of Poetry depicts the heart of Heaven and Earth, the spiritual power of the ancestors of the Lords, the origin of the one hundred forms of happiness, the threshold of the ten thousand things (54.5a). It contains the essence of Heaven's ornaments, the laws governing the stars and constellations, the principles for the human heart; applied to affairs it is poetry, even before it is emitted it forms a counsel, for the light-hearted to have joy, for the scheming to have will (56.34a). It contains the Five Junctions (of the yin and yang) and the Six Emotional (Songs: 56.54a). The Book of Rites describes the rites in cases of joy and sorrow, which belong to man as rise and decline belong to the Five Elements (56.34b). The Book of Filial Piety shows that the superiority of the Lord and father, the simplicity of the way of man, the beginning of Heaven and Earth, are all comprised in filial piety (56.35b). In it can be seen Confucius' reverence for the observance of the rules of the human relationships (58.37a). In the Spring and Autumn Annals Confucius' intentions may be known, and his praise and blame of the aims of the Feudal Lords may be found (ib.). In them he restored the old chronology of the Yin Dynasty, so that its numbers could be transmitted to posterity (57.70b); in them he displayed the destinies of Heaven and man, recorded the strange events, and examined the omens (56.13a). The Spring and Autumn Annals complete the regulations of the Three Sage (Kings), and correct disorderly institutions (56.35a). Confucius wrote them with 18,000 characters, and completed them in nine months; when he showed them to Tzŭ -yu and Tzŭ -hsia, their pupils were not able to correct one character (ib.). Confucius began the work in spring and finished it in autumn, therefore it was called Spring and Autumn Annals (56.52a). The Spring and Autumn Annals apply the method of the Three Discriminations ¹⁶⁰, and that of the Nine Indications ¹⁶¹ (56.52b); they record the Seven Defects ¹⁶²(56.53a). "He who shall transmit my writings shall be Kung-yang Kao" (56.35b); Kung-yang preserved in its entirety the Classic of Confucius (56.54b).

The link which was established in the wei between Heaven, the Classics, and the House of Han, appears most clearly in the following story: "Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals and fashioned the Book of Filial Piety; when he had finished them he bade his seventy-two disciples stand with their faces turned to the north-star and [their bodies] bent like a chiming-stone; he bade Tsêng-tzŭ hold the Dragon Chart and the Turtle Book and face north. [Then] Confucius, having fasted and fastened his hair with a pin [after his washing], put on a scarlet single gown, faced the north-star, bowed, and announced the accomplishment [of his work] to Heaven, saying: 'I have respectfully completed the Book of Filial Piety in four chüan, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Dragon Chart, and the Turtle Book, in all eighty-one chüan'. Then Heaven caused a dense fog to reach down to the earth, a red-coloured rainbow stretched out from [Heaven] above to [the earth] below, and changed into a yellow [stone of] jade, three feet long, on which characters were engraved. Kneeling down Confucius took [the stone] and read its [message]. It said: 'The precious documents have appeared, Liu Chi shall seize [the power], a double door with a metal knife [shall arise] north of [the constellation] chên, [containing] the characters [for] grain and child, all under Heaven shall submit'" 寶 文 出 劉 季 握 卯 金 刀 在 軫 北 字 禾 子 天 下 服 ¹⁶³.

We saw that Confucius could not succeed the Chou, whose spiritual power was that of the green wood, because he had the essence of the Black Dragon ¹⁶⁴. We further learn that Confucius' essence was water, and that he established rules for the Red Institution (i.e. the Han) to be used as patterns ¹⁶⁵ (56.3a). We are told that Confucius knew by anticipation that the Red Emperor was to replace the Chou, when he encountered a young grass-cutter goading a unicorn, which was wounded in its left front leg, and was loaded with a pile of fire-wood, the unicorn containing the essence of wood (the Chou Dynasty), and the boy gathering fire-wood meaning that a common man was to kindle the fire (58.42a-b; 53.29b). This common man, who was destined to be the first Emperor of the Han Dynasty was, of course, no ordinary being. He was the offspring of the Red Dragon, born of a mother who had swallowed a red jade ball bearing an inscription, and who in her dream had intercourse with a red bird, resembling a dragon ¹⁶⁶. The Han Dynasty was to have a term of four hundred years (56.49b); it was to lose all under Heaven with Hsü-ch'ang ¹⁶⁷ (56.11b).

How should we regard this strange literature? It is clear that it was not the product of one hand and of one time, for the same stories are often repeated in different versions, while at least the references to the term of the Han Dynasty and its end indicate an origin in the San-kuo period (220-265 A.D.) and later. The underlying ideas of the entire genre are, however, the same as those which we found, for example, in Tung Chung-shu, representing the world-conception of the Former Han ¹⁶⁸. It would therefore, it seems to me, not be too far wrong to assume that the contents of the wei on the whole were already current during the second century B.C., but that they did not take the shape of the written documents with their bizarre titles until later, while at the same time new elements, especially historical allusions, were introduced.

In the process of amalgamation of the diverse beliefs into one universal system during the Former Han, the wei with their cosmological speculations and their classifications provided the background against which the scholars tried to understand and explain the Classics. On the whole the Classics did not provide a systematic and organic world-conception. As far as we can judge Confucius himself was chiefly concerned with ritual and ethics, applied to politics, and his lack of interest in cosmological speculations was continued by his disciples and later adherents. In fact, the political situation of the country during the period of the Warring States (5th-3rd cent. B.C.) also distracted the attention of the other philosophical Schools from the contemplation of the nature of things for its own sake, while those who occupied themselves with what we would call 'scientific observations' were few and for the most part enmeshed in casuistry and sophistry. All the same we must assume that in general the Schools, including the Confucians, were arguing and disputing with each other against the background of the same world-conception, though we do not exactly know what it was. When in the Han Confucianism was made the official creed the situation changed. Political unity having been established, a new world-conception had to be found, corresponding with that unity, and not or not sufficiently furnished by the Classics. The wei united the beliefs current in the Han, many elements of which had been handed down from non-Confucian Schools of pre-Han times. They became complements to the Classics indeed, and not only interpretations of the Classical texts, which, somehow, despite their ambiguous wording, did not bear stretching beyond a certain degree of elasticity. Thus on the one hand the wei 'popularized' the Classics by proving that they did not conflict with the prevailing beliefs, on the other hand these beliefs were 'authorized' by enlisting the support of the Classics. Ultimately the 'Confucianization' of the wei served a political purpose: for one thing the prestige of the ruling House was enhanced, and its appearance in history accounted for; for another the system of correspondences and the art of fortune-telling received an ethical sanction, becoming a system which warned the ruler against misbehaviour and checked the Emperor's absolute power by placing Heaven above him. I hardly think that this result had been deliberately intended from the beginning of the Han; it was a gradual process which reached its full development towards the end of the first century B.C.

In this process Confucius changed from a teacher and a subject into a King. He could not be less, because only Kings possessed the supernatural power which entitled them to wield unquestioned authority. Hence Confucius' miraculous birth and portentous appearance, which showed that he was the peer of the ancient Sovereigns. Not having been a ruler in reality, however, a new idea was invented: he was the Uncrowned King, who only prepared the way for the real King to come. In this fashion the possession of all under Heaven by the House of Liu, which was of lowly origin, was justified, and at the same time Confucius was exalted to the position of a prophet, destined by Heaven to forsake the honours of an earthly King for the higher ones of King for all ages. And it happened that this conception fitted beautifully into the system of the succession of the Sovereigns according to the alternation of the Five Elements and their spiritual power.

The fact that the Apocrypha arose alongside of the Classics further raises an interesting problem. Why were they not incorporated into the Classics? In an article on Forgeries during the Warring States, the Ch'in, and the Han, Ku Chieh-kang expounds the theory that the Classics were to a great extent only devices for the scholars of those times to clothe their own political and religious ideas, and that they do not represent the actual history of ancient China; but whereas the period of the Warring States was one of fresh creativeness, in the Han the necessity of 'forging the past' was not so urgent, so that there were fewer new creations ¹⁶⁹. Ku Chieh-kang, without doubt, is right, though I venture to express the idea in a different way: Whatever may have been the material on which the Classics were based, in pre-Han times it was used for other purposes than that of describing the past objectively, while in the Han the Classics acquired the character of traditional and devotional books, the sacred text of which was revered and never to be altered. The establishment of chairs and Schools contributed to the preservation of the texts, and provided a kind of safeguard against the tampering with inviolable passages. Society withal continued its inevitable course of change, and new conceptions of life and the world followed in its wake. The ancient speculations had to be elaborated and adapted to the new situation, and where the Classics could not keep pace the wei stepped in and took over the task. I do not mean, of course, that, beginning with the Han, the Classical texts have never been altered, for that would be too simple a solution for such a complicated problem. The existence of the wei¹⁷⁰, independent from the Classics and yet considered as belonging to them, suggests, however, that somehow, as I have already said above, the Classics had reached a point of congelation where it was difficult to introduce new elements. We shall see that even this cautious way of using the Classics could lead to practises which were considered sacrilegious by some scholars.

However, Han society at large seems to have accepted the queer contents of the wei as gospel truth. For truth, after all, has no need to be confirmed by facts. The facts of the ancient Chinese past could not be summoned to give evidence, the unknown facts of the future could not be marshalled against the visions of the prophesier, while the facts of the present merely spoke a language which the people were able and willing to understand. Whatever may be our appreciation of the wei, the men living in the Han period put their trust in them, had their actions motivated by them, and under their spell shaped their history and that of the House of Han.

34.The influence of portents in the Han

When, under the reign of Emperor Hsiao-wu (140-87 B.C.), a fire broke out in the ancestral temple of the first Emperor, followed by a fire in the halls of the funerary parks of the same Sovereign, the famous Kung-yang scholar Tung Chung-shu explained it as a portent which indicated that something was wrong with Emperor Hsiao-wu's government. The Emperor had the fortune-teller thrown into prison, and condemned to death; but shortly afterwards he was pardoned. "From now on Tung Chung-shu dared not speak again of distasters and portents" ¹⁷¹.

Thus the efficacy of portents depended on whether the person for whom they were intended was willing to acknowledge them as such. In our case the character of Emperor Hsiao-wu forbade him to accept criticism from a Confucian practising fortune-telling by means of paltry portents, favourable though the circumstances were for these to appear. For the Emperor was a superstitious man who was an easy victim of deception ¹⁷², while his reign, despite its brilliance, was a period of great misery and suffering. "Although Emperor Wu had repulsed the barbarians and had extended the borders of the empire, he had nevertheless killed many soldiers, had exhausted the wealth and strength of the people, and had been boundlessly extravagant. The empire was bankrupt, the people had become destitute vagabonds, and more than half of them had died. Locusts had risen in great swarms and had bared the earth for several thousand li, so that the people had taken to cannibalism and the granaries had not been refilled to this day . . . .". Such was the judgment of the Confucian scholar Hsia-hou Shêng fifteen years after the Emperor's death ¹⁷³. Probably Emperor Hsiao-wu was not yet Confucian enough to understand the correct meaning of disaster and misery, to connect them with a lack of spiritual power (tê), and to change his behaviour in accordance with the warnings of Heaven.

When we come to the reign of Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng (32-7 B.C.) ¹⁷⁴ the atmosphere has become different. Confucianism now "reigned supreme as the official philosophy and religion" ¹⁷⁵. The Emperor had a dignified, kindly, affectionate, gentle, and docile character; in his early years he was inclined to the study of the Classics, later he became addicted to wine and women ¹⁷⁶. Such a man could be expected to react to a concatenation of disasters in a manner which behoved a Confucianized Son of Heaven. Disasters followed indeed one upon another during his reign. On reading the Annals which describe the events under Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng ¹⁷⁷ we cannot but be impressed by the monotonous enumeration of catastrophes recurring nearly every year. In the spring of 32 B.C. the temple of the Emperor's great-grandfather was visited by fire, and a comet appeared in the east (375-376); in the summer a yellow fog completely filled the four quarters, in July untold myriads of blue flies collected in the Hall of the Palace (377); in September there were two moons, one above the other, appearing at dawn in the eastern quarter, in October there was a shooting star, in December a great wind uprooted large trees that were more than ten span in circumference (378). In the third month of 31 B.C. the water of a well in the Northern Palace overflowed and ran out, in the summer there was a great drought (380). In the autumn of 30 B.C. there was a flood within the Han-ku Pass region (380), preceded by a prolonged rain for more than thirty days, killing more than four thousand persons (ib., note). On January 5, 29 B.C. there was an eclipse of the sun, and in the night there was an earthquake (382); in Yüeh-sui Commandery a mountain collapsed, in May there was a fall of snow, killing many persons, in the autumn the Yellow River broke through its dikes (385). On June 19, 28 B.C. there was a total eclipse of the sun (384). In the spring of 27 B.C. iron in process of being cast blew up (385). In the spring of 26 B.C. there was an earthquake, and a mountain avalanche blocked the water of the Min River, so that the water flowed backwards, on October 23 there was a sun-eclipse (386). On April 18, 25 B.C. there was another sun-eclipse (387); in May the high bank on the border of the Ching River collapsed, and blocked the river, in Shan-yang Commandery a fire started among the rocks (388). On April 7, 24 B.C. there was again a sun-eclipse (ib.). In the autumn of 23 B.C. there was a flood east of the Han-ku Pass (389). On April 12, 22 B.c. eight meteorites fell in Tung Commandery, in the summer there was a rebellion which was only put down in a month (391). In the summer of 18 B.C. there was a great drought (398), in T'ien-shui Commandery a great stone cried out (ib., note); in the autumn there was a fire in the Northern Portal of the temple of Emperor Hsiao-ching (398). In 17 B.C. there was a rebellion led by a certain Chêng Kung, who called himself Lord of the Mountains; the rebels numbered almost ten thousand persons; they were defeated towards the end of the same year (399-400); in the autumn the Yellow River overflowed in P'o-hai and Ch'ing-ho Commanderies, it rained fish (400, and ib., note). In the spring of 16 B.C. there was a fire in the Ice Chamber of the Grand Provisioner, a few days later a fire in the Southern Portal of the Funerary Park of Queen Li (401). On March 27, 15 B.C. stars fell like rain, two days later there was a sun-eclipse (403). On March 18, 14 B.C. there was a sun-eclipse (405). In January 13 B.C. there was a rebellion in Ch'ên-liu Commandery (406); the next month a rebellion in Shan-yang Commandery, the rebels passed through nineteen commanderies and kingdoms (407); in May there was a fire in the Ch'ang-lo Palace and the Wei-yang Palace, in July there was a fire in the Eastern Portal of the Funerary Park at the Pa Tomb (408); on August 31 there was a sun-eclipse (409). On January 26, 12 B.C. there was a sun-eclipse (ib.); in summer when there were no clouds, there was a sound of thunder and light shone out on all sides, descending to the earth, it stopped at dusk (410). In February 10 B.C. Mount Min in Shu Commandery collapsed, blocking the Min River to the third day, so that the water was exhausted (413). On April 17, 7 B.C. the Emperor died (417).

How should we regard these strange events and catastrophes? They cannot all have been invented. Probably the bad condition of the country and the prevailing misery induced the discontented to pay more attention than usual to extraordinary happenings, and to connect them with the inefficiency of the court. There is a great deal of truth in Professor Dubs' remark that the people by reporting 'portents' to the high officials, and these officials by memorializing them, exercised a kind of criticism of the government ¹⁷⁸. That the court was susceptible to this kind of criticism appears from the numerous Edicts issued by Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng, in which he pathetically accused himself of his incorrect acts (382), and of his lack of spiritual power, so that the yin and yang wandered from their path and were in disorder (393); in which he expressed his dismay at the manifestation of his faults (403, 405, 408, 411), at the fact that his spiritual power had not been able to give tranquillity, that he had not received the blessing of Heaven (413); etc. etc. He changed the names of his year-periods six times, continuing the custom introduced by Emperor Hsiao-wu; in two cases the change was done to relieve an immediate need, viz. in 28 B.C. after the Yellow River broke through its dikes, when a new period ho-p'ing¹⁷⁹ '[Yellow] River-Peace' was adopted, and in 24 B.C. after a fire had started among the rocks, when the period yang-shuo¹⁸⁰'Yang-beginning' was introduced.

But it seems that Heaven was withdrawing its favours from the House of Han. In this period a man from Ch'i, named Kan Chung-k'o, wrote an astrological book in 12 chüan, the Pao yüan t'ai p'ing ching¹⁸¹, in which he said that the Han House had run its course, but that Heaven was willing to grant it a second mandate, and therefore had sent the 'True Man' Ch'ih-ching-tzŭ ¹⁸², who had instructed him, Kan Chung-k'o, in the way to carry it out. Kan was thrown into prison, and died. Later, under Emperor Hsiao-ai (6-1 B.C.), Kan's pupil Hsia Ho-liang succeeded in gaining the Emperor's confidence. In 5 B.C. accordingly a general amnesty for all under Heaven was announced, a new year-period was inaugurated: t'ai-ch'u Yüan-chiang¹⁸³, a new appellation adopted: Ch'ên Shêng-liut'ai-p'ing huang-ti¹⁸⁴, the day and night were divided into 120 'quarters' instead of 100. But after his success Hsia Ho-liang became overambitious, and the end of the attempt at 'restoration' was that Hsia was executed, and the old institutions were re-established ¹⁸⁵.

However, the throne of Han was tottering; Wang Mang, a son of the younger brother of Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng's mother, was waiting for his opportunity. In February of 6 A.D., when a well was dug, a white stone was found, round at the top, square below, with red writing on it, announcing that the Duke of An-han, Wang Mang, should become Emperor ¹⁸⁶. More portents to the same effect followed (A 34a-b; 109). Wang Mang referred to Emperor Ai's year-period t'ai-ch'u Yüan-chiang, and explained yüan-chiang as meaning that the General in Chief (ta-chiang) Wang Mang was to occupy the post of Regent, and was to change the year-period, i.e. to become Emperor (A 34b, 110). On January 10, 9 A.D. he took the throne, declaring that Heaven had by abundant signs entrusted him, the descendant of the Yellow Emperor and the offspring of Emperor Shun, with the care of the myriad people of all under Heaven (A 35b; 113-114). The change of the Dynasty was effected by the adoption of a new appellation, Hsin, by the change of the first day of the year, viz. the twelfth month, the day kuei-yu (January 15), beginning at cock's crow, by the change of colour for garments (yellow), by the change in victims, in the flags and standards, in the fashion of the vessels (A 36a-b; 114). So as to blot out the memory of the Han he abolished, in 9 A.D., the metal-knife money, which, he declared, had been introduced in 7 A.D. in order to lengthen the period of the House of Liu ¹⁸⁷. Still Wang seems not to have felt quite safe. More and more favourable portents had to be reported, though the embarrassing ones were suppressed (B 15a, 15b; 161, 163). He ordered the erasure of the inscriptions on the bronze statues in the Ch'ang-lo Palace, which had visited him in his dream (C. 13b; 248); he had the spirits in the temple of the first Han Emperor attacked with swords and axes, and the walls whipped with red whips and sprinkled with a decoction from peaches (ib.). But Heaven withheld its favour from Wang Mang. There were floods, droughts, plagues of locusts, fires, earthquakes, avalanches, rain for sixty days, famines leading to cannibalism, rebellions (passim). His economic reforms all failed ¹⁸⁸. Ominous portents appeared: apparitions of dwarfs (B 18a; 170), the death of a yellow dragon (B 26b; 195), the curious behaviour of the tiger-striped clothes of the bodyguard (C 8b; 233), the loss of the yellow axe of Wang Mang's Minister (C 19a; 264). Rumours circulated that the House of Liu had not yet completely forfeited its mandate. As early as 10 A.D. there was a pretender who called himself Liu tzŭ -yü, but whose real name proved to be Wu Chung (B 13a; 155). In 18 A.D. the rebellion of the Red Eyebrows began to stir in Lang-ya Commandery in present Shan-tung (C 4a; 219); they had neither emblems nor appellations, flags nor signs; the people on account of this considered them to be like the Three August Ones, who neither had writings, documents, appellations, nor posthumous names (C 19b; 266-267). In 21 A.D. Li Yen, governor of Wei-ch'êng Commandery, on the advice of a soothsayer who explained that his surname Li meant (the note) chih¹⁸⁹, which corresponds with the element fire, started to plot for the restoration of the Han Dynasty, but he was betrayed and executed (C 12a-b; 243-245). Portents in favour of the House of Liu continued to appear, even the name of the new Emperor was announced, viz. Liu Hsiu 劉 秀 ¹⁹⁰. In 23 A.D. the State Master Liu Hsin, who on account of this prophecy had changed his personal name to Hsiu ¹⁹¹, attempted a conspiracy, but it leaked out and he committed suicide (C 22b-23b; 276-280). In the beginning of 22 A.D. three brothers of the Liu clan had taken up arms for a rebellion ¹⁹². Wang Mang, in his anxiety, derived solace from a passage in the Book of Change which prophesied that the rebellion was not to be successful (C 22b; 275). He, moreover, applied magical defenses: he had the 'screen-walls' fu-ssŭ of the parks of the Wei and the Yen tombs pulled down, so that the people should not 'think again' fu-ssŭ 罘 罳 , 復 思 ¹⁹³ (of the Han Dynasty); he had the surrounding walls painted over (to remove the colour which was reminiscent of the Han); he gave his generals new titles which contained allusions to the conquering influences of the Five Elements (C 24a-b; 282). The rebellion, however, spread. Wang Mang's army suffered a crushing defeat at Nan-yang in present Ho-nan ¹⁹⁴. The rebels entered the capital on October 4, 23 A.D. (C 26b; 288), a fire arose in the palace; Wang Mang, to the very last faithful to his belief, took his seat on a mat, warding off the approaching enemy by the manipulation of a divining-board and changing his position according to the position of the constellation tou-ping (C 27a; 290). On October 6, enfeebled and exhausted, and supported by his High Dignitaries, he fled to the Terrace-Surrounded-By-Water of the Wei-yang Palace, hoping that the water would check the advance of the fire of the Han, and still holding in his hands the 'mandates' which had induced him to become Emperor (C 27b; 290). In the afternoon the soldiers of the Han scaled the terrace, a hand-to-hand fight ensued, Wang Mang's retainers died fighting, and he himself was killed, while still holding the Imperial seal and cords in his hands (C 27b; 291).

Peace did not, however, come immediately. Many obstacles had to be overcome ¹⁹⁵, before on August 5, 25 A.D. the first Emperor of the Later Han Dynasty could be installed. The prophecy had been fulfilled, for the name of this Emperor was Liu Hsiu. Wang Mang had risen by portents, and perished by portents. Liu Hsiu, Emperor Hsiao-kuang-wu, had, to the same extent as Wang Mang, relied on portents and continued relying on them. He had probably changed his personal name to Hsiu in order to meet the prophecy ¹⁹⁶; he ascended the throne only after a certain Ch'iang Hua brought from Kuan-chung a red oracle which said: "Liu Hsiu shall send out armies and apprehend the unprincipled; the Four Barbarian Tribes shall gather like clouds; the dragons shall fight in the plains; fire shall rule at the junction of four and seven" ¹⁹⁷; later, in his contest with Kung-sun Shu he set portent against portent ¹⁹⁸. With Emperor Hsiao-kuang-wu the belief in portents became general and authorized, and with him the wei, next to the Classics, became the main source for the interpretation of life.

Before proceeding to discuss Classical studies in the Later Han period, however, let us first return to the Shih-ch'ü discussions of 51 B.C.

35.The Shih-ch'ü discussions

We saw that as a result of the discussions in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion a number of 'Memorialized Discussions' i-tsou were written, which are described in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu¹⁹⁹. All these works are lost. In the T'ang the i-tsou of the Rites were still extant, and were quoted in the Sub-commentaries of the Book of Poetry and the Book of Rites, and by Tu Yu in his T'ung tien. What we have at our disposal at present are only poor remnants of an undoubtedly impressive account of the opinions on the Classics in the Former Han period. For this reason we do not know the precise character of those discussions, neither what subjects were discussed ²⁰⁰. Still the existing fragments can give us an impression of the procedure which was followed, and they are therefore, for the purpose of our study, worth translating. In the following translation I have used Ma Kuo-han's edition in the Yü han shan fang chi i shu, Vol. 28, fol. 31a-36b, which he calls the Shih ch'ü li lun 石 渠 禮 論 ²⁰¹; following the Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu²⁰², he ascribes its compilation to Tai Shêng, who participated in the Shih-ch'ü discussions.

1. Why is it that at a District [Archery Meeting] the invitation to the shooting is announced to the host, but not [the commencement of] the music?

Tai shêng said: "The invitation to the shooting is announced to the host, because guest and host participate in the shooting. Now music is that wherewith the host amuses his guest, therefore [its commencement is] not announced to the host".

2. In the third month of the third year of [the period] kan-lu of Emperor [Hsiao-]hsüan (April-May 51 B.C.) the Gentleman-at-the Yellow Gate [Liang-ch'iu] Lin memorialized: "The Classic ²⁰³ says: 'At the District Archery Meeting the combined music is performed'. Why [does this] not [happen] at the Great Archery Meeting?"

Wên-jên T'ung-han said: "At the District Archery Meeting the combined music is performed, because [this meeting belongs to] the ritual of the people, and because therewith the Hundred Clans may be harmonized. At the Great Archery Meeting the combined music is not performed, because [this meeting belongs to] the ritual of the Feudal Lords".

Wei Hsüan-ch'êng said: "The rites for the District Archery Meeting [require] the combined music, because the people of the district have no music of their own; therefore the combined music is performed in the [appointed] season of the year, so that the Hundred Clans may be harmonized and have the same purpose. With respect to the Feudal Lords, they should [also] have music. The Chuan²⁰⁴ says: 'The Feudal Lords do not put away their suspended [music]'; which means that the use [of their music is] not [restricted to any definite] time, [so for instance] at an audience [when] Lord and subject [sit together] there should naturally be [music]. The combined music must be [performed at the District Archery], so that afterwards there be harmony. Therefore [with respect to the Great Archery] it is not stated that the combined music [is performed]".

At the time [of the discussions] the Ducal Ministers and the Ministers considered [Wei] Hsüan-ch'êng's exposition the correct one.

3. The three years' deep mourning is worn by the father for his eldest son ²⁰⁵.

It is because he is the son of the principal wife who continues [the line] for five generations.

4. If the major lineage has no descendant, and a minor lineage has no son of a secondary wife but has a son of the principal wife, ought the sacrifice to the father [by this son] to be cut off, so that he may be made the [adopted] descendant of the major lineage?

Tai shêng said: "The major lineage may not be discontinued. The statement that the son of the principal wife [of a minor lineage] cannot be made the continuer [of the major lineage] only [means that] he may not precede the son of a secondary wife. If the minor lineage has no son of a secondary wife, then [the sacrifices to] the father should be cut off, so that [the son of the principal wife] may be made the [adopted] descendant of the major lineage".

Wên-jên T'ung-han said: "[Even if] the major lineage [should run the risk of being] discontinued, a son [of the principal wife of a minor lineage may] not cut off [the sacrifices to] his father".

Emperor Hsüan's verdict ²⁰⁶ said: "[Tai] Shêng's exposition is correct".

5. The question was asked: "If the father has died, and the mother [re-]marries, what mourning [should the son wear] for her?"

The Grand Tutor Hsiao [Wang-chih] said: "The one year-mourning should be worn, but if he is the continuer of his father ['s line], he does not wear mourning".

Wei Hsüan-ch'êng opined that at the death of the father the mother has no right to leave. The King does not establish rites for [a contingency] which is against the principles. If [the son] wears the one year-mourning, it is a [kind of] criticism of the mother by the son ²⁰⁷. Therefore there are no [special] rules of mourning [for such a case].

Emperor Hsüan's Edict said: "If a woman does not nourish her parents-in-law, and does not attend to the sacrifices [to her husband's ancestors], while she does not care for her child, it is an act of separation of her own [will]. Therefore the Sages did not establish mourning[-rules for such a case], which means that the son is not in duty bound to a mother who has left. [Wei] Hsüan-ch'êng's exposition is correct".

6. The question was asked: "If the husband has died, while the wife is young and the son is a child, and she marries another man taking the child with her, what mourning should the child later wear for her?"

Wei Hsüan-ch'êng replied: "The same one year-mourning as in the case of the child of a divorced wife".

Some disputants opined that the child cannot be cut off from his mother and should wear the three years' mourning.

7. Why does the Classic ²⁰⁸ say: "The son of a great officer [wears the one year-mourning] for the elder and younger sisters of his father and his married daughters, if they have no one to perform the sacrifices to their spirits, and for the great officer's titled wife; only [in the case of] the children [is the mourning] not an act of grace"?

Tai Shêng said: "[The statement that] 'only [in the case of] the children [is the mourning] not an act of grace' means that the mourning for the titled wife of the great officer may not be diminished. Therefore 'son of a great officer' is used in the text. [The statement that] 'only [in the case of] the children [is the mourning] not an act of grace' further means that [the mourning is] ended after the period of one year is over, and that it is not allowed to extend the mourning".

Emperor Hsüan's verdict said: "[For the married daughters] to wear the one year-mourning for the parents is right".

8. A great officer who resides abroad because he resigned after his three warnings had not been listened to, is not cut off from his emoluments and his position, in order to enable the son of his principal wife to continue [the sacrifices in] the ancestral temple. The term 'eldest son' chang-tzŭ emphasizes [the position of] the eldest son. In the sacrifices in the ancestral temple the expression 'eldest son' should be used.

The Grand Tutor Hsiao [Wang-chih] said: "The eldest son is the direct descendant of the ancestors. A great officer who resides abroad is not able to sacrifice in person. Therefore the expression should contain what is emphasized".

Emperor Hsüan's verdict said: "It is due to [the fact that the great officer still is] alive that the expression 'eldest son' is used".

9. The son of a Noble Man [wears mourning] for the secondary wife of his father who nourished him. 'Son of a Noble Man' means the son of a man in a high position. He wears the five months' mourning for the secondary wife of his father [as a sign of gratitude] for the nourishment he received from her ²⁰⁹.

Tai Shêng replied: "The son of a Noble Man [wearing mourning] for the secondary wife of his father who nourished him [refers to] the son of the principal wife of a great officer who was nourished by the [latter's] cherished concubine. A great officer does not wear mourning for a concubine of lowly position. If his son was nourished by her he wears the three months' mourning. That he is not called 'son of a great officer' but 'son of a Noble Man' is because Noble Man [here] means the same as 'great officer'".

10. A great officer of a Feudal Lord [wears mourning] for the Son of Heaven ²¹⁰. Does the servant of a great officer wear mourning for the Lord of the State?

Tai Shêng replied: "A great officer of a Feudal Lord should wear the nine months' mourning for the Son of Heaven, removing it after the burial. He has [only the right] to be received [in audience] by the Son of Heaven at [set] times, therefore he removes the mourning after the burial. A servant of a great officer has no right to be re- ceived [in audience by the Lord of his state], and should not [wear mourning] for the Lord of his state".

Wên-jên T'ung-han replied: "A servant of a great officer is a second-hand servant; I have never heard [that he wears mourning] for the Lord of the State".

10a. The question was further asked: "If even the common man wears mourning [for the Lord of the state], why should on the contrary the servant of a great officer, who enjoys emoluments, not wear mourning?"

[Wên-jên] T'ung-han replied: "The Chi²¹¹ says: 'He who does service in families, when he leaves his district, does not take rank with common officers'. This [refers to] a common man who is employed in an office. Like a common man he should wear the three months' mourning for the Lord of the state".

The [Emperor's] verdict said: "To wear mourning like the common man is right".

10b. Again the question was asked: "A great officer of a Feudal Lord has [the right] to be received [in audience] by the Son of Heaven at [set] times, therefore he wears mourning [for him]. Does not now the servant of a great officer of a Feudal Lord also have [the right] to be received [in audience] by the Lord at [set] times?"

[Tai] shêng replied: "The servant of a great officer of a Feudal Lord has no right to be received [in audience] by the Feudal Lord. If sometimes the Feudal Lord employs a servant to offer congra- tulations, it is [an] extraordinary [case], and not considered as an audience. With respect to a great officer, he has [the duty of offering his] annual tribute to his Lord, when the Lord does not receive him [personally, so that in this case] also [we cannot speak of] an audience".

The Gentleman in Attendance [Liang-ch'iu] Lin, the Expectant Appointee Wên-jên T'ung-han ²¹², and others, all opined that [the great officer has the right] to be received [in audience].

11. The three months' mourning worn for a foster-mother is a mourning [for the mother] in name ²¹³. If the son of a great officer has a wet nurse, the question was asked: Does the great officer diminish his mourning for his foster-mother?

Wên-jên T'ung-han replied: "The reason for not diminishing the mourning for a foster-mother is that the mourning is worn to express gratitude; therefore it is not diminished. [In the case of] a Lord who has been enfeoffed as the first [of his line] and of a great officer [the mourning for] a foster-mother is diminished".

12. [The Classic says ²¹⁴:] "If the head of a major lineage, who is an orphaned child ku, dies before his twentieth year shang. . . . ." Why is the term ku used?

Wên-jên T'ung-han said: "With respect to [the term] ku, the Shih fu²¹⁵ said: 'Because of his death before his twentieth year shang he appeared as ku'. To a youth who has been capped in his twentieth year [the term] shang is not applied, neither ku. Therefore [only] at a death before his twentieth year [ku is] used".

Tai Shêng said: "In general he who is the head of the major lineage can be so because he has no father. But [in the case of] one who is to be the [adopted] descendant of a lineage, even if his father is alive, he may become the head of the major lineage, and therefore be called a ku".

[Tai] Shêng also asked [Wên-jên] T'ung-han: "[You said:] 'Because of his death before his twentieth year he appeared as ku; after he is capped he is no longer [called] a ku'. [But] the Ch'ü li²¹⁶ says: 'An orphaned child ku, taking his father's place, should not wear his cap or dress with a variegated border'. Here is a ku, why is his cap referred to?"

[Wên-jên T'ung-han] replied: "The filial son never forgets his parent. His apparel is different according to whether his parents are alive or dead. The Chi²¹⁷ says: 'While his parents are alive, [the son] should not wear his cap or dress with a white border'. If his parents are dead, he should not wear his cap or dress with a variegated border. Therefore [in this case] he is spoken of as ku. [The use of the term] ku refers to the distinction in the clothes [he wears]".

[Tai] Shêng again said: "So even if a son having lost his parents grows to be one hundred years old, he is for ever called an orphaned child ku?"

[Wên-jên] T'ung-han replied: "[A youth is] capped at twenty and is no longer [called] a ku. But [in the case of] the loss of his parents, though he is advanced in years, he is still called an orphaned child ku".

13. At twenty, one is called weak jo; one is capped ²¹⁸.

Tai Shêng said: "A man is yang. The yang completes itself by the yin. The even numbers [which are yin] begin with two, and end with twenty, [which is yang and is] the mate of the yin-numbers. Therefore [a youth is] capped at twenty, which is said to be the Small Completion".

14. The Sang fu hsiao chi²¹⁹ says: "If an interment were delayed [by circumstances] for a long time, he who is presiding over the mourning rites is the only one who does not put off his mourning. The others having worn the hempen [band] for the number of months [proper in their relation to the deceased], put off their mourning, and make an end of it".

The Grand Tutor Hsiao [Wang-chih] said: "In the matter of wearing the hempen [band] for the [proper] number of months, there is no paragraph [in the text which speaks] of putting off [mourning altogether] before the burial. Therefore the [rule for wearing mourning-]garments is not changed, it is [only a case of] alleviation. Those who put off their mourning before the burial, take it on again when [the day of] interment arrives. The common people do the same in their mourning for the Lord of the state".

Emperor Hsüan's verdict said: "It is right that at the gathering for the burial the mourning garments be put on [again]".

14a. Someone asked the Grand Tutor Hsiao [Wang-chih]: "If an interment were delayed for a long time, he who is presiding over the mourning rites is the only one who does not put off his mourning. Now suppose the interment could not take place in ten years; is he who is presiding over the mourning to take off his mourning or not?"

[Hsiao Wang-chih] replied: "By him who is presiding over the mourning is only meant the son. Even if the [mourning-]period has elapsed before the interment can take place, the son has no right to put off his mourning".

15. Wên-jên T'ung-han asked: "The Chi²²⁰ says: "The death of a Lord is announced to the Lord of another state as pu-lu²²¹, [that of his spouse] as kua hsiao-chün pu-lu²²². [But] the death of a great officer or a common officer is sometimes referred to as tsu 'departed' or [announced as] ssŭ 'death', which I fail to understand".

Tai Shêng replied: "Of a Lord who has died and is not yet buried it is said that he is pu-lu. After the burial [his death] is referred to as hung²²³.

15a. Again the question was asked: "The personator [of the dead] puts on the upper-garments of the departed tsu. If [the death of] a common officer is referred to as pu-lu, why is the word tsu used here?"

[Tai] shêng again said: "The personator represents the spirit [of the departed]. The reason for using the term tsu and not the term pu-lu is to level out the difference in the [social] status of high and low".

[Wên-jên] T'ung-han replied: "The personator represents the spirit [of the departed], therefore he put on the garments [of the deceased. The death of] a common officer is referred to as pu-lu, to avoid the expression [for death ssŭ ]. The filial son, avoiding [the expression] ssŭ uses tsu [to denote the death of his father]".

It is difficult to say to what extent we may regard the present Shih ch'ü li lun as reliable. Before the T'ang the work has never been quoted ²²⁴. Whereas the 'Memorialized Discussions' on the Rites, in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu, are said to have consisted of 38 p'ien, the same chapter of the Sui shu mentions a Shih ch'ü li lun in 4 chüan²²⁵. The use of the posthumous name of the Emperor (Hsiao-hsüan) indicates that the work was edited after his death, or that Tu Yu quoted from an edition compiled after Emperor Hsüan's death. These are facts which are not in favour of the genuineness of the present text. On the other hand the almost stenographic report does not create the impression of being a fake; a faker would, moreover, not have been content with a few fragmentary statements.

Judging from these fragments the discussions in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion were indeed concerned with the explanations of Classical passages, as is indicated by the fact that there were 'Memorialized Discussions' i-tsou of each of the Classics. The bulkiness of the reports, constituting in all 155 p'ien²²⁶, may have been the reason why they were not published. We may, however, assume that their contents were generally known among the scholars, and their explications made use of, without being indicated as quotations from them.

36.The New Text and Old Text controversy

After the Shih-ch'ü discussions of 51 B.C. the number of Erudites was brought up to twelve; the situation remained practically the same until the beginning of the Christian era, when, under Emperor Hsiao-p'ing, new chairs were established for the Old Texts of the Classics and for the Book of Music, and the total number of po-shih was increased to thirty ²²⁷.

This was the turning-point in the history of Chinese Classical studies. The controversy between the New Text and the Old Text Schools divided the world of learning of the Later Han period into two embittered camps, the former trying to retain its position of unassailable authority, the latter trying at least to be recognized. New Text 'orthodoxy', representing the holistic and auguristic conception of life, gradually had to make way for Old Text 'modernism', introducing some kind of 'rationalism'. When the Old Text School had gained the victory, in its turn it became authori- tative and orthodox, and for long centuries succeeded in maintaining supremacy. Then, in the 18th century, the almost forgotten question of the New Texts was picked up again ²²⁸; in the 19th century the problem had achieved enough importance to be fought over in an open battle ²²⁹; society, however, had changed, and theological disputes were unpopular. The battle had to be moved to a different field; under the influence of the time it was no longer a battle which involved the fate of the state and the welfare of man; it was no longer limited to the problem of the greater or lesser reliability of Old Texts or New Texts, but it embraced a radical denial of the infallibility of all the sacred texts ²³⁰. Up to the present day this battle has not yet subsided.

No one would expect a full treatment of the New Text and Old Text controversy in a short paragraph. I may therefore refer to the important studies made by such famous scholars as Edouard Chavannes, Paul Pelliot, Henri Maspero, and Bernhard Karlgren ²³¹, and to the studies of Chinese scholars contained in the Ku shih pien, Volumes 2 and 5. The most salient features of the problem, relevant to our subject, may be shortly presented as follows.

a. The New Text and Old Text controversy did not arise until the end of the Former Han period. The official chairs had until then all been occupied by 'New Text' scholars, though the term 'New Text', in opposition to 'Old Text', was of course not yet understood in its later special sense. However, other texts than those officially acknowledged had been circulating since the beginning of the Han. So according to chapter Ju lin chuan of the Ch'ien han shu the Old Text of the Book of History was studied by K'ung An-kuo ²³², who lived round about 100 B.C. ²³³, that of the Book of Poetry by Mao-kung ²³⁴, or Mao Hêng, a pupil of a pupil of the philosopher Hsün-tzŭ , who lived in the first half of the third century B.C. ²³⁵, that of the Tso chuan (Tso Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annals) by Chang Ts'ang, Chia I, Chang Ch'ang, and Liu Kung-tzŭ ²³⁶; Chang Ts'ang was made Marquis of Pei-p'ing in 201 B.C. ²³⁷, Chia I (199-168 B.C. ²³⁸) was made po-shih under Emperor Hsiao-wên (179-157 B.C.), when he was a little over twenty ²³⁹, Chang Ch'ang lived in the reigns of Emperor Hsiao-hsüan (73-49) and Hsiao-yüan (48-33 B.C.) ²⁴⁰. King Hsien of Ho-chien, who reigned from 155 to 129 B.C., even had a po-shih for the Tso chuan and one for the Mao Commentary on the Book of Poetry²⁴¹, while he was also in possession of the Chou kuan (or Chou li) and the Old Texts of the Rites²⁴².

b. The Old Texts were not merely fabrications of unscrupulous people ²⁴³. It was K'ang Yu-wei's contention that Liu Hsin, who had an important position under Wang Mang, faked these Old Texts, especially the Chou li and the Tso chuan, in order to justify his master's usurpation of the Imperial throne ²⁴⁴. Karlgren and Maspero have effectively refuted this contention ²⁴⁵, the former by proving on linguistical grounds that the texts must all be earlier than the Han period ²⁴⁶, the latter by proving that Liu Hsin's edition of the Tso chuan was ready more than ten years before Wang Mang, after his loss of influence and subsequent retirement, came back to the capital and assumed his powerful position, so that there could be no relation between Liu Hsin's activity on the text and Wang Mang's later schemes ²⁴⁷. We should also bear in mind that there was no question of substituting the Old Texts for the New Texts; the existing New Text chairs were continued, and to them were added new chairs for the Old Texts, so that there were now in all thirty Erudites for the Six Classics, the Book of Music included, five Erudites for each ²⁴⁸. It is not clear when exactly the new chairs were established. According to Maspero the Tso chuan was officially acknowledged in 1 A.D. ²⁴⁹. The Biography of Wang Mang states that in the fourth year of the year-period yüan-shih of Emperor Hsiao-p'ing (4 A.D.) Wang Mang "established [a chair for] the Book of Music, and increased [the number of] the Erudites, [now amounting to] five for each Classic" ²⁵⁰; he further summoned the scholars in all under Heaven and those who possessed Old Texts, Apocrypha, and other texts ²⁵¹. This statement is not confirmed by the Annals of Hsiao-p'ing, where, under yüan-shih 5th year (5 A.D.) only the summoning is mentioned in a different wording and with different names of the texts ²⁵².

c. Some of the official Erudites, while teaching the New Text Classics, were at the same time students of the Old Texts. So K'ung An-kuo, who was a po-shih for the New Text Book of History (cf. Table II to par. 28, supra), also occupied himself with the study of the Old Text Book of History²⁵³. Hsiao Wang-chih, who had studied the Book of Poetry of the Ch'i School (Table IV), showed a great predilection for the Tso chuan²⁵⁴. Yin Kêng-shih, a Ku-liang scholar (Table VIII), also studied the Tso chuan²⁵⁵. Hu Ch'ang, likewise a Ku-liang scholar (Table VIII), was a student of the Old Text Book of History, and the Tso chuan²⁵⁶.

d. The difference between Old Texts and New Texts was not only a difference of script, but, especially in the Later Han, a difference of interpretation of the ritual and administrative rules. This is a feature which is not sufficiently emphasized by Western sinologues. Thus according to Chou Yü-t'ung the New Text School held that the size of the ancient Chinese Empire was 5,000 li square, that there were no hereditary Ministers, that the Tours of Inspection were held every five years, that irrespective of the distance of the fields a land-tax of one tenth of the produce had to be paid, that the Son of Heaven should personally meet his bride, etc.; the Old Text School believed that the size of the ancient Chinese Empire was 10,000 li square, that there were hereditary Ministers, that the Tours of Inspection were held every twelve years, that the land-tax took the various distances of the fields into account, that the Son of Heaven did not meet his bride in person, etc. ²⁵⁷. Further instances of these differences are given by Ku Chieh-kang ²⁵⁸, while in the Wu ching i i by Hsü Shên, which is a treatise on the divergencies between the interpretations of the Old Text and the New Text Schools, about one hundred of these subjects of contention are discussed ²⁵⁹.

e. The Old Text scholars seem to have revolted against the mystical theories of the official Schools leading to belief in portents and fortune-telling. Many of them originated from Lu, as K'ung An-kuo, who was a descendant of Confucius, and Mao Hêng ²⁶⁰, while the Tso chuan was also connected with that region ²⁶¹. The School of Lu was, as we have seen, characterized by its observance of reverence and its maintaining of the transmitted rules, in contradistinction to the School of Ch'i, which was interested in things wonderful and miraculous ²⁶². Ma Tsung-ho says that the Old Texts found their students among the Lu scholars, who refrained from using the Apocryphal Books wei, as the New Text School did with so much enthusiasm ²⁶³. Fêng Yu-lan also says that the Old Text School in its interpretation of the Classics did neither resort to the wei, nor to the theories of the Yin-yang School ²⁶⁴.

This view, however, raises a difficult question. If indeed the scholars of the Old Texts were opposed to the wei, why did Wang Mang, who himself was a staunch believer in the wei and their ramifications, portents and fortune-telling, favour and promote those texts? And why was Liu Hsin, who also indulged in speculations on the Five Elements and catastrophes ²⁶⁵, the chief advocate for the official recognition of the Old Texts?

Ku Chieh-kang's contrary opinion is that the introduction of the Old Texts found its cause in the fact that especially the Chou li with its numerical categories and the Tso chuan with its system of cycles, otherwise only occurring in the wei, provided material for Wang Mang (aided and abetted by Liu Hsin) to pursue his carefully prepared policy of usurpation, thus basing himself on 'historical' precedents and on Classical predictions ²⁶⁶. But here again a difficulty arises. For if the Old Texts had supplied the link with the wei why were some of the Old Text Scholars of the Later Han, as we shall see presently, so strongly opposed to these wei?

I think the problem should be regarded in a different way. The use of the Apocrypha for the interpretation of the Classics was common among the scholars, whether they were official Erudites, teaching the New Texts, or private students of the Old Texts. When Confucianism towards the reign of Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng (32-7 B.C.) had secured its position of ascendancy ²⁶⁷, Confucian 'theology' along with it also became the unquestioned authority which determined the official, orthodox, belief. Now this 'theology' was based on the Classics ching, and on the Apocrypha wei at the same time. The mystical contents of the latter were innocuous and politically harmless, as long as society was stable. They gave rise to prophecies and disturbances, when a weak government could no longer cope with social misery and unrest. The official teachers naturally were inclined to connive at the faults committed by those in power, and even to excuse them. Independent thinkers were the persons from whom protest and condemnation could be expected. The Old Text scholars happened to be people independent of governmental favour and support; they could afford the liberty of opposing, not the mystical exposition in which they believed themselves, but the excesses to which this was prone to lead. Whether these scholars took to the Old Texts because they had independent minds, or whether the study of the unrecognized Old Texts made independent thinkers of them, we cannot say. Against the increasing orthodoxy of the official teachers they probably were lonely creatures, and in their loneliness they developed an attitude of courageous criticism. The po-shih and their pupils, chiefly concerned about the maintenance and improvement of their positions, had long abandoned individual thought and had gladly submitted to the discipline required of them, which consisted in respecting the opinions of the former masters and expatiating on them. Lack of originality was concealed behind a profusion of words. See here some judgments of a later and a contemporary scholar.

"From [the time when] Emperor [Hsiao-]wu established Erudites for the Five Classics", says Pan Ku ²⁶⁸, "and appointed disciples [for them, when] he instituted comparative examinations and stimulated taking service as officials, until [the period] yüan-shih (1-5 A.D.), more than one hundred years had elapsed. [In this period] the transmitters of the [Classical] heritage had increased and multiplied, [like a tree] producing branches and leaves in profusion. On the explanation of one Classic more than a million words [had been written], and the host of great masters had increased to more than one thousand men, for this, indeed, was the way which led to appointments and profit". Further Pan Ku says ²⁶⁹: "Scholars of antiquity, while tilling and maintaining [their family, were able to] understand the discipline [of one Classic] in three years. [This was because] they only [tried to] remember the general meaning, while pondering over the Classical text. Therefore, though they had little time to devote [to study], still they developed much spiritual power, and could, at thirty, master the Five Classics. When in later generations the Classics and their Commentaries had begun to show deteriorations and deviations, the scholars of wide [learning] no longer bore in mind the meaning [of the saying] 'Hear much and put aside the points of which you stand in doubt' ²⁷⁰; they busied themselves with subtle analysis, trying to eschew [real] difficulties, and with facile phrases and cunning expressions broke up the body [of the text]. Explanations of a line of five characters ran to twenty or thirthy thousand words. Later [this method was] more and more pursued, so that a youth, wishing to master one discipline [of the Classics], would not be able to speak on it until his hair had grown white. [These scholars] felt safe in [the situation to] which they were accustomed and denounced [everything] that they had not seen. In the end they [only] deceived themselves. That is the great disaster of scholarship".

When Liu Hsin, enjoying the favour of Emperor Hsiao-ai (6-1 B.C.), proposed to establish chairs for the Old Texts, the Emperor told him to discuss the matter with the official Erudites. None of them, however, responded to Liu Hsin's invitation ²⁷¹. Liu Hsin thereupon wrote an embittered letter, from which I take the following passages.

"Formerly [under Emperor Hsiao-ch'êng (32-7 B.C.)] the dogmatic scholars did not worry about the lacunae [in their texts caused] by omissions and breaks [in traditions]; in an irresponsible way they followed the vulgar and clung to the deficient ²⁷²; they broke up passages and analysed characters; [they employed] profuse sayings and detailed expressions; scholars grew old before they were able to study profoundly one discipline [of the Classics]. They put their trust in oral transmission and rejected written records; they confirmed later masters and denounced [those of] antiquity ²⁷³. . . . They wished to preserve the shallow [texts] and guard the defective [ones], obsessed by the fear of the exposure and destruction of their private aims, and lacking that public spirit which follows the good and submits to principles. Perhaps they harboured [feelings of] jealousy [and therefore] did not [care to] examine the sincerity of intentions. Their cliques followed each other, and confirmed each other's yes or no ²⁷⁴ . . . . . [The present scholars] carefully shut [their doors], and firmly oppose [discussion], not [even] willing to give [the Old Texts] a trial. In an irresponsible way they refuse to look into them, and [simply] reject them. They wish to block the remaining way [of learning] and extinguish the knowledge of the subtle; with such people one may rejoice in some accomplishment, but it is impossible with them to contemplate anything new. This is only what the vulgar would do, not what could be hoped of scholarly Noble Men . . . ." ²⁷⁵.

Allowing some exaggerations caused by the bitter mood in which Liu Hsin's letter was written, I think his description of the orthodox attitude of the po-shih is to the point. We shall perhaps never know the real motives which induced Liu Hsin to promote the Old Texts so ardently. He was an excellent scholar and philologist ²⁷⁶, who soon recognized the value of the Old Texts when he was given the opportunity to examine them in the Imperial library. He had courage, for young as he was, and without a protector ²⁷⁷, he ventured to go against the current of official scholarship. Probably he only acted as the mouthpiece for those who were discontented with the sterility of the prevailing methods of study, and not inappropriately the opposition of the Old Texts scholars against the New Text Erudites is called revolutionary ²⁷⁸.

Liu Hsin, however, himself no more free from the beliefs in mystical correspondences than any of his contemporaries was, later had to reckon with his ambitious master Wang Mang, who wanted omens and portents. He appeared then to be unable to resist temptation, and betrayed his scholarship, as he was afterwards to betray Wang Mang ²⁷⁹.

Thus we may see the cause of the rise of the Old Texts in the revolt against New Text orthodoxy and its excessive use of the wei. At the same time these Old Texts provided new material for speculations and fortune-telling to those who had a bent for them, and Wang Mang was one of them. Thus the Old Texts may be regarded as having given a new and refreshing stimulus to Classical studies, which had become enmeshed in sterile speculations, while at the same time they bear the stigma of having been faked in order to support the ambitions of a scheming mystic.

37.Classical studies in the Later Han Dynasty

Emperor Hsiao-kuang-wu's enthronement not only professed to be a political, but also a cultural restoration of the Han. Scarcely had he descended from his war-chariot, says Fan Yeh, when he summoned all the scholars of the country to gather the remains of the books which had been scattered and destroyed in the war against Wang Mang, and to redress the deficiencies ²⁸⁰. He abolished the chairs for the Old Texts, reminiscent of Wang Mang's usurpation, and re-instated the New Text Schools in their former glory. Fourteen po-shih were appointed. The Book of Change was represented by the Schools of Shih Ch'ou, Mêng Hsi, Liang-ch'iu Ho, and Ching Fang; the Book of History by those of Ou-yang-Shêng, Hsia-hou Shêng, and Hsia-hou Chien; the Book of Poetry by those of Lu, Ch'i and Han; the Book of Rites by those of the Elder Tai and the Younger Tai; the Spring and Autumn Annals by those of Chuang P'êng-tsu and Yen An-lo ²⁸¹. Thus not only were the Old Text chairs abolished, but the po-shih for the Ku-liang Commen- tary, appointed by Emperor Hsiao-hsüan ²⁸², was dismissed, while the chair for the Book of Change of Ching Fang, which had been founded under Emperor Hsiao-yüan but soon had been discontinued ²⁸³, was reinstituted. In other words, the situation of the time before the Shih-ch'ü discussions was more or less restored ²⁸⁴.

Orthodoxy was now more rigid than ever. The existence of the Old Texts ²⁸⁵ was officially ignored. Whereas in the Former Han these texts, before Wang Mang came into power, had never been rivals of the official ones, and consequently had been privately studied by several of the po-shih who taught the New Texts, in the Later Han none of the po-shih deemed it worth his while to occupy himself with texts, the study of which was not approved and did not lead to official careers ²⁸⁶.

Orthodoxy also continued the practise, prevailing in the Former Han, of using the Apocryphal Books wei for the interpretation of the Classics. This practise was even made obligatory. Liu Hsiu, Emperor Kuang-wu, had gained ascendency by means of oracles ²⁸⁷, and his love of the wei was manifested in several ways. Not only did he consult the oracles whenever an important decision had to be made ²⁸⁸, but he had the wei edited anew and expurgated, that is, all the passages which had been introduced in the time of Wang Mang were removed ²⁸⁹. In 56 A.D. he had them promulgated in all under Heaven ²⁹⁰. It seemed as if from now on the New Texts and the wei, welded together into one Canon of absolute authority, were to dominate the world of Confucian scholarship for ever.

But it was not to be. Official scholarship, refusing new stimulants and content with traditional ways, tended to become sterile and addicted to endless and senseless expatiations. A contemporary, Wang Ch'ung ²⁹¹, thus described the scholars of his days: "The Confucians in theorizing on the Five Classics often miss the truth. Former Confucians knew neither beginning nor end, and invented theories in the void. Later Confucians rely on the words of these former masters; they follow antiquated disciplines and go on in old ruts; they respect the words and sayings [of their masters], and in an irresponsible way, by [using] the name of the School of one master, hasten to become masters [themselves]. In the briefest time they are employed in service, and easily attain promotion. They have no time to apply their wits, no diligence to examine and verify the roots [of scholarship]. And so meaningless theories are transmitted without interruptions, while truth remains suppressed and invisible" ²⁹².

Endless treatises indeed were the writings of the scholars of the Later Han period, products of men who seem to have had the comfort, the leisure, and the mind to create them. We hear of a certain yüan Ching, who was a student of the Book of Change of Mêng Hsi, and wrote a Nan chi in 300,000 words ²⁹³. There was Chou Fang, who had studied the Book of History of Ou-yang-Shêng, and composed a Tsa chi in 400,000 words ²⁹⁴. There was Chang Huan, who, having studied the same Book of History, considered the Mou shih chang chü²⁹⁵, which contained more than 450,000 words, too long-winded, reduced it to 90,000 words ²⁹⁶, but himself wrote a Shang shu chi nan in more than 300,000 words ²⁹⁷. There was Huan Jung, who had been taught the Expositions in Chapters and Sentences on the Book of History by Chu P'u in 400,000 words, thought the length far in excess of their worth, and abridged them to 230,000 words; his son Huan Yü again shortened them to 120,000 words ²⁹⁸. There was Fu Kung, who had studied the Book of Poetry of the School of Ch'i, his father Fu An having written an Exposition in Chapters and Sentences (we do not know in how many words); Fu Kung considered it too long, and reduced it to 200,000 words ²⁹⁹. And there was Chang Pa, who had received tuition from Fan Shu in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yen An-lo; he considered the work too extensive, and shortened it to 200,000 words ³⁰⁰.

Emperor Kuang-wu already complained of this long-windedness, which was only a continuation of the habit of the Former Han ³⁰¹. When he commanded Chung Hsing to edit the Expositions in Chapters and Sentences on the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yen An-lo, in order to have them taught to the Heir, he told him to remove the unnecessary repetitions ³⁰². In 56 A.D. he issued an Edict which said that the Expositions in Chapters and Sentences on the Five Classics were too long-winded and numerous, and that deliberations should be held whether they might be reduced ³⁰³. It seems to have been of no avail; Fan Yeh says that the condition in the world of scholarship after 146 A.D. was such that "while the number of travelling students now amounted to more than thirty thousand, the Expositions in Chapters and Sentences became more and more trifling, and were mostly [only attempts at] outdoing each other in inaneness; the [old] tradition of the Confucians had fallen on evil days indeed" ³⁰⁴.

In this state of affairs it was natural that reaction should set in. Even the short period during which the Old Texts had enjoyed official recognition had been sufficient to secure them a popularity which could not be obliterated by one decree. Outside the domain of the po-shih the Old Texts found ardent students, men who either devoted their energy to them exclusively, or combined the study of the New Texts with that of the Old ones.

The Ju lin chuan of the Hou han shu acquaints us with a number of their names: Sun Ch'i, who was a student of the Old Text of the Book of History and of the New Text of the Book of Change of Ching Fang; Chang Hsün, who studied the Old Text Commentary of Tso on the Spring and Autumn Annals and the New Text Book of History of the Elder Hsia-hou; Yin Min, who studied the New Text Book of History of Ou-yang, the New Text Commentary of Ku-liang, the Old Text Book of Poetry of Mao, and the Commentary of Tso; K'ung Hsi, who studied the Old Text Book of History and the Old Text Book of Poetry of Mao; Wei Hung, who did the same; Chêng Chung, who studied the Old Text Chou kuan; Fu Ch'ien and Ying K'o, who studied the Commentary of Tso; Hsieh Kai, who did the same; Tu Lin, Chia K'uei, Ma Jung, Chêng Hsüan, who were chiefly responsible for the later ascendency of the Old Texts ³⁰⁵

Neither were the Old Text scholars negligent in their efforts to have the texts recognized. As early as the time of Emperor Kuang-wu there was a serious debate on the recognition of the Tso chuan and the Book of Change of Fei Chih ³⁰⁶. In 28 A.D. Ministers, great officers, and Erudites were invited to discuss the matter in the Cloud-Terrace in the Palace. The po-shih Fan Shêng, who had studied the Analects, the Book of Filial Piety, and the Book of Change of Liang-ch'iu Ho, brought forward his objections against the Tso chuan; the debate seems to have been heated but inconclusive, and it was adjourned in the middle of the day. Immediately hereafter Fan Shêng sent in a memorial to state his opinions more clearly, a priceless document, in which he proved, by means of sayings of Confucius and on the ground of the danger of creating precedents, that it would be most unwise to appoint Erudites for the Book of Change of Fei Chih and the Tso chuan³⁰⁷. An Old Text scholar Ch'ên Yüan was informed of Fan Shêng's memorial; he instantly presented to the Emperor a memorial of his own, not less interesting than Fan Shêng's, in which, by means of sayings of Confucius and on the ground of historical necessity, he refuted all the objections of Fan Shêng ³⁰⁸. Emperor Kuang-wu decided to establish a chair for the Tso chuan; the Grand Master of Ceremonies submitted to him a list of four candidates, among whom Ch'ên Yüan figured as number one, but the Emperor, who harboured a recent grudge against Ch'ên Yüan, did not appoint him but the second man on the list, Li Fêng ³⁰⁹, who accordingly became po-shih for the Tso chuan. Great excitement ensued among the scholars about the new chair, and from the Ducal Ministers downwards they all continued to question its necessity. The Emperor seems to have taken their opposition into account, for, when Li Fêng died -- of illness --, the Tso chuan chair was abolished ³¹⁰. Thus official New Text scholarship proved to possess an authority which even the Emperor could not break, and in fact, though subsequently more attacks were launched against the stronghold of orthodoxy, though Old Texts more and more gained Imperial favour, never during the Later Han period did they succeed in obtaining official recognition.

Reaction also came against the excessive use of the ch'an-wei. The Apocryphal Books had been accepted by all scholars as the necessary complements of the Classics, and only their abuse was condemned. Since Emperor Kuang-wu, himself addicted to the consultation of oracles, had proclaimed the Apocrypha 'canonic', excesses were condoned, while offical scholarship only tried to comply with the Emperor's wishes. So the po-shih Hsieh Han accepted the task of editing anew the ch'an-wei, which had been refused by the scholar Yin Min ³¹¹. The opposition against the ch'an-wei came from both Old Text and New Text scholars alike, even from those who were adepts in the interpretation of omens. I have just mentioned Yin Min, who, as we saw, was a student of Old and New Texts, and who once frankly told Emperor Kuang-wu, that the oracle-books could not be creations of the Sages, because they contained so many vulgar expressions, that they should not be accepted by the Emperor ³¹². Further we have Huan T'an, who had been a pupil of Liu Hsin and Yang Hsiung, had studied music, and was well-versed in the Classics; when he saw Kuang-wu's love of the ch'an and his use of them every time he had to make a decision, he presented a memorial in which he said that former Kings only relied on consideration for others and sense of the right principles, and never occupied themselves with miracles and senseless sayings; that the oracles had grown so numerous only for the purpose of deceiving the Lord of men; that since the Emperor had seen through the arts of alchemists and magicians he now ought not to let himself be deceived by oracles; that he should radiate his majestic spiritual power and manifest his sage will and hold fast to the Five Classics only. The Emperor, however, did not heed his words, and once asked Huan T'an what he would think of his, Kuang-wu's, consulting the oracle-books ch'an for determining the place of the ling-t'ai; Huan T'an's short reply that he never bothered about the ch'an very nearly cost him his life ³¹³. There was Chêng Hsing, who had also studied under Liu Hsin, and was a student of both the Commentaries of Kung-yang and Tso; he believed in portents, but when Emperor Kuang-wu asked his opinion on the consultation of the oracle-books to decide in the matter of the suburb-sacrifice, Chêng Hsing answered that he knew nothing of oracles, and, though he was able to discourse on government affairs, because he based himself too exclusively on the Classics, he was not employed in service ³¹⁴. A little later we hear of a certain Chang Hêng, who lived from 78 to 139 A.D. ³¹⁵. He was well-versed in the Five Classics, but had also studied mechanics, astronomy, the yin-yang theory, the Hsüan ching by Yang Hsiung 揚 雄 ³¹⁶; he believed in divination by the milfoil and the tortoise-shell, by the calculation of the course of the stars; nevertheless he was opposed to the oracle-books. In a memorial presented to Emperor Hsiao-shun (126-144 A.D.) he explained that the time of origin of the ch'an was little known; the victory of the Han over the Ch'in Dynasty was a great feat, but no one ever quoted the ch'an at that time. Hsia-hou shêng and Sui Mêng ³¹⁷, who were scholars famous for their numerical theories, never spoke of the ch'an either; Liu Hsiang and Liu Hsin did not mention the ch'an in their catalogue ³¹⁸; they had only been heard of since the time of Emperors Hsiao-ch'êng and Hsiao-ai; pre- sumably they were written in the period between Hsiao-ai and Hsiao-p'ing. When the ch'an were compared with the Classics they showed many contradictory statements, while they contained in themselves mutually conflicting passages as had previously been shown by Chia K'uei ³¹⁹; they doubtless were fabrications of people who were after promotion and profit. The ch'an-wei together with the Classics had been collated and made canonic, yet people still spoke of disasters, quitted their houses to dwell in mountains, without, however, obtaining any profit. "A painter has difficulty in painting a real dog or a real horse, but he can easily make pictures of spirits and sprites; real things are difficult to describe, but phantasies follow one's pleasure; therefore let the divination-charts and oracle-books be prohibited" ³²⁰.

Chang Hêng's advice was not followed, and the proscription of the ch'an-wei did not take effect until the beginning of the seventh century ³²¹.

Such was the situation in the world of Classical studies in the Later Han period. Underneath the surface of rigid orthodoxy, represented by po-shih who followed the current, superstitious belief in the oracle-books, strong drifts could be discerned. There was opposition against the narrow-minded obstinacy which refused to acknowledge the existence of new material, against the senseless expositions of official scholars, and against the excessive use of oracles. While to all appearances New Text orthodoxy enjoyed unassailable supremacy, in reality its down-fall was imminent. Against this background the discussions in the Po-hu kuan have to be seen.

38.The Po-hu discussions

The Annals of Emperor Hsiao-chang ³²² are rather vague in explaining the reasons for the convening of the scholars in the Po-hu kuan in 79 A.D. for the purpose of discussing the meaning of the Classics. They only refer to the care which the Emperors always devoted to the matter of study and to the establishment of chairs ³²³; they allude to the danger of long-winded expositions, and the meeting of scholars for the determination of the meaning of the Five Classics suggested by Fan Shu to Emperor Hsiao-ming in 58 A.D. ³²⁴; they further state that the proceedings were the same as those of the Shih-ch'ü discussions, that is, there was one scholar whose task it was to put questions in order to start the discussions, and another to take down the words spoken at the debate, while the Emperor in person attended the meeting and pronounced the final verdicts ³²⁵.

We saw that the immediate cause for holding the Shih-ch'ü discussions probably was the controversy between the Schools of Kung-yang and Ku-liang ³²⁶. It would seem that the direct motive of the discussions in the Po-hu kuan may also be found in some analogous controversy between the Schools.

Emperor Hsiao-chang, who reigned from 76 to 88 A.D., had from his youth up been of a tolerant character, and a lover of the Confucian disciplines ³²⁷. After he ascended the throne he continued to manifest his liking for these disciplines, showing, however, a special predilection for the Old Text of the Book of History and the Commentary of Tso ³²⁸. The scholar Chia K'uei, whose father Chia Hui had studied the Tso chuan under Liu Hsin and had also made a study of the Kuo yü, the Chou kuan, the Old Text of the Book of History, and the Book of Poetry of Mao ³²⁹, soon succeeded in gaining the Emperor's confidence and favour. Chia K'uei was not only proficient in the Tso chuan, but also in the interpretation of the different Schools of Ku-liang ³³⁰. In the first year of the period chien-ch'u (76 A.D.) Chia K'uei was summoned to expound his theories in the Po-hu kuan, which was in the North Palace, and in the Cloud-Terrace, which was in the South-Palace. The Emperor was delighted with Chia K'uei's expositions, and ordered him to explain in detail the principles of the Tso chuan and its superiority to the other two Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals³³¹. Chia K'uei did so in a long memorial ³³², which was greatly appreciated by the Emperor. He was showered with presents, and commanded to select himself twenty men of high talent from among those who were studying the Kung-yang Commentary of the Schools of Chuang P'êng-tsu and Yen An-lo in order to be instructed in the Tso chuan³³³. Repeatedly Chia K'uei was summoned to the Emperor's presence to talk with him on the Old Text of the Book of History, and its conformity with the other Classics and Commentaries and the Erh ya explanations. He was ordered to compose several books on the differences between the Old and the New Texts of the Book of History, and on those between the Schools of Ch'i, Lu, Han, and Mao of the Book of Poetry³³⁴.

The New Text po-shih felt alarmed. Emperor Hsiao-chang's leanings towards the Old Texts were even more serious than had been Emperor Kuang-wu's interest in the Tso chuan, in the time when Ch'ên Yüan was trying to secure a chair for this text ³³⁵. In the same way as Ch'ên Yüan then met with opposition from the official scholars, headed by Fan Shêng, so Chia K'uei soon found himself at daggers drawn with Li Yü, spokesman of the Erudites. Li Yü was a Kung-yang scholar and a po-shih. He had once studied the Tso chuan, but though he liked its style he considered it inadequate as an exposition of the deepest intentions of the Sage (Confucius), and condemned its allusions to the oracle-books. He wrote a book exposing the errors in the Tso chuan on forty-one points ³³⁶.

The world of scholarship at this juncture seems to have seethed with agitation. The po-shih felt threatened in their impregnable fortress by the unaccountable attitude of the Emperor. The time had come to put an end to the unbearable situation. The suggestion to hold a council which would solve the difficulties came from the scholar Yang Chung, who was a student of the Spring and Autumn Annals. In a letter to the Emperor he said: "Emperor [Hsiao-]hsüan widely summoned the Confucians to discuss and determine [the meaning of] the Five Classics in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion. In all under Heaven at present there happen to be few problems. Scholars have succeeded in completing the heritage [of former masters], but those disciples [who indulge in the writing of Expositions] in Chapters and Sentences are destroying and spoiling the great system [of the doctrine]. It seems that [a council on] the precedent of the Shih-ch'ü [discussions is necessary in order to] provide perpetual standards for later generations" ³³⁷. The Emperor approved of the suggestion, and on December 23, 79 A.D. convened the scholars in the Po-hu kuan.

The reference to the discussions in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion is interesting. Under Emperor Hsiao-hsüan the Empire was enjoying tranquillity and order ³³⁸. Time could be spent on scholarly and religious problems. The circumstances in the two periods were to a certain extent analogous. In the Former Han the Lu School of Ku-liang was trying to be officially recognized, in the Later Han the Old Texts were jeopardizing the monopoly of the New Texts. In both cases the Emperor's dangerous deviation from the paths of orthodoxy seems to have caused such a confusion that it was deemed necessary to bring the whole question of the authority of the Classics into discussion.

The Imperial council was a solemn affair. It was not just a meeting of scholars, with or without the Emperor's attendance, such as had often taken place in the course of years. We are already acquainted with the discussion on the Kung-yang and Ku-liang Commentaries in 53 B.C., which resulted in the Shih-ch'ü discussions ³³⁹. In the reign of Hsiao-yüan (48-33 B.C.) Wu-lu Ch'ung-tsung, who was an adept of the Book of Change of Liang-ch'iu Ho ³⁴⁰, was invited by the Emperor to a debate with scholars of other Schools of the Book of Change, in which Wu-lu proved to be so superior that the others were obliged to absent themselves under the pretext of illness ³⁴¹. I refer to the debate on the Tso chuan in 28 A.D. ³⁴², and to the meeting in 58 A.D. alluded to in the Annals of Hsiao-chang ³⁴³. The Tung kuan han chi further relates that on one occasion Emperor Hsiao-ming (58-75 A.D.) summoned Huan Jung, a New Text scholar for the Book of History³⁴⁴, to his presence, providing him with a stool and a stick, and bidding him sit with his face turned to the east; he confronted him with other scholars who were to ask him questions, and Huan Jung's replies always pleased the Emperor ³⁴⁵. The Imperial Council was also different from such a discussion as took place in 81 B.C., when scholars and economists gathered to- gether to debate on the question of salt- and iron-monopoly, the report of which was later published as the Yen t'ieh lun³⁴⁶. Neither can the Imperial Council be likened to the solemn audience in the ming-t'ang, when the Son of Heaven, after having performed the rites of receiving the Feudal Lords, feasting the san-lao and wu-kêng, and practising archery, in person expounded the meaning of the Classics, such as was done by Emperor Hsiao-ming in 59 A.D. ³⁴⁷.

In all these cases the purpose was different from that of an Imperial Council, when the revision of the Canon was at stake, and when, consciously or unconsciously, the interpretation of the Classics was adapted to the needs of the changing time. It was a process which resembled the change of institutions by a new Dynasty. As this could only be done by the Son of Heaven, so none other than the Son of Heaven could change the Canon ³⁴⁸. He was Heaven's Vicegerent, expected to know the will of Heaven and to interpret it correctly. Among the scholars, who possessed the real knowledge of the Classics, he was the Super-scholar, who by the virtue of his sacred position had the wisdom superseding the wisdom of the entire assembly. His decision was final, infallible, and irrefutable. We unfortunately lack a detailed description of the outward proceedings of such a Council, but we can well imagine their solemnity and sacred character, which probably were emphasized by a plenitude of ritual observances.

The scholars were convened in the Po-hu kuan. The name of this place needs some comment. It was part of the Imperial palace in Lo-yang, the capital in the Later Han ³⁴⁹. Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ 's Commentary on the Hou han shu explains Po-hu 'White Tiger' as the name of a gate, on which a kuan 'look-out tower' was built; hence its name ³⁵⁰. The Shui ching chu, describing Lo-yang, mentions the Po-hu ch'üeh, and identifies ch'üeh with kuan, meaning, 'look-out tower' ³⁵¹. It is, however, unlikely, that the Council should have taken place in a look-out tower. Now the San fu huang t'u, in its description of Ch'ang-an, the capital of the Former Han, quoting the Miao chi mentions the Po-hu ko, which was part of the Wei-yang Palace and belonged to the complex of the eastern ko³⁵². The word ko also occurs in Shih-ch'ü ko, which, following Professor Dubs, I have translated as Shih-ch'ü Pavilion. In the Biography of King Hsien of Kuang-p'ing, instead of Po-hu kuan, the name Po-hu tien is used ³⁵³; tien meaning 'hall; palace; temple' ³⁵⁴; a large, high hall ³⁵⁵. We saw that Chia K'uei was summoned to expound his theories in the Po-hu kuan and the Cloud-Terrace yün-t'ai, which were situated in the North Palace and the South Palace respectively ³⁵⁶. All these different descriptions make it probable, that kuan is not to be understood as meaning 'look-out tower', but as indicating some apartment in the western part of the Imperial Palace, which was or had been used as a kind of observatory. In order to avoid the technical word 'observatory' we may translate Po-hu kuan by 'White Tiger Hall' ³⁵⁷.

Who were the participants of the discussions in the White Tiger Hall? The Imperial Catalogue says that there were more than ten disputants, and mentions, besides the scholars positively related with the discussions, also the names of Chang P'u and Shao Hsün ³⁵⁸. Ch'ien Ta-chao lists ten names, viz. King Hsien of Kuang-P'ing, Ting Hung, Lou Wang, Ch'êng Fêng, Huan Yü, Chia K'uei, Pan Ku, Yang Chung, Lu Kung, and Chao Po ³⁵⁹. He probably arrived at this list by gathering all references to the Po-hu discussions in the Hou han shu together. Checking these references, however, I have booked a somewhat different result.

The Annals of Hsiao-chang mention Wei Ying and Shun-yü Kung, the former to ask questions, the latter to memorialize the replies ³⁶⁰. Wei Ying's attendance is confirmed by his Biography, from which we also learn that he was a po-shih for the Lu School of the Book of Poetry³⁶¹. Shun-yü Kung's Biography relates that he was proficient in the doctrine of Lao-tzû's quietism, but nothing is said of his participation in the Po-hu discussions ³⁶².

The Biography of King Hsien of Kuang-p'ing says that he was widely versed in the Classics, had a dignified and stern character, and that he took part in the Po-hu discussions ³⁶³.

The Biography of Ting Hung tells us that he had studied the Book of History of Ou-yang-shêng under Huan Jung for thirteen years, that he was made Palace Attendant, and that he was summoned to attend the Po-hu discussions, together with King Hsien, Lou Wang, Ch'êng Fêng, Huan Yü, Chia K'uei, and others. Ting Hung was most conspicuous in the debates ³⁶⁴.

The mention of Lou Wang in Ting Hung's Biography is not confirmed by Lou Wang's own Biography, where it is only stated that he had studied the Spring and Autumn Annals of Chuang P'êng-tsu ³⁶⁵.

Neither is this the case with Huan Yü, son of Huan Jung, in whose Biography it is only said that he had studied the Book of History of Ou-yang-shêng ³⁶⁶.

Ch'êng Fêng ³⁶⁷ appears to figure in the Biography of Ting Hung only.

The Biography of Chia K'uei contains no reference to the Po-hu discussions of 79 A.D. ³⁶⁸, but his participation in this Council is confirmed by the Biography of Li Yü ³⁶⁹.

We have seen that the discussions in the Po-hu kuan were held upon the suggestion of Yang Chung ³⁷⁰. In his Biography we read the continuation of Yang Chung's story. He had been thrown into prison for some crime; Chao Po, Pan Ku, Chia K'uei, and others, realizing Yang Chung's deep knowledge of the Spring and Autumn Annals, requested and obtained his pardon. Yang Chung was then allowed to attend the Council ³⁷¹.

The Biography of Lu Kung, who had studied the Book of Poetry of the Lu School, confirms his taking part in the Po-hu discussions 魯 恭 ³⁷².

The Biography of Li Yü, who was a po-shih for the Kung-yang Commentary, mentions his participation in the Po-hu discussions, where he was the chief opponent of Chia K'uei ³⁷³.

I have not been able to find any confirmation of Pan Ku, Chao Po, Chang P'u, and Shao Hsün having taken part in the Council of 79 A.D., as is asserted by Ch'ien Ta-chao and the Imperial Catalogue.

Pan Ku is only said to have compiled the material after the discussions had taken place, and no word is said of his participation in them ³⁷⁴.

Chao Po's figuring in Ch'ien Ta-chao's list is evidently a mistake, probably caused by the fact that he was one of the scholars who requested the pardoning of Yang Chung, who did take part in the Po-hu discussions ³⁷⁵.

Chang P'u was a scholar of the Book of History, but his Biography says nothing about his connection with the Po-hu discussions ³⁷⁶. The same applies to Shao Hsün, who was a scholar of the Book of Poetry of the Han School ³⁷⁷. The error, committed by the Imperial Catalogue, of connecting them with the Council, is probably due to the fact that in the Biography of Huan Yü there occurs the statement that "in 76 A.D. Chang P'u, Wei Ying, and Shao Hsün . . . . discussed [the Classics] in the Palace" ³⁷⁸. As we know, Chia K'uei was summoned in 76 A.D. to expound the Old Texts ³⁷⁹, and it is probable that the discussion at which Chang P'u, Wei Ying, and Shao Hsün were present, refers to this exposition by Chia K'uei.

Thus the scholars of whom we positively know that they took part in the discussions in the White Tiger Hall were Wei Ying, Shun-yü Kung, King Hsien of Kuang-p'ing, Ting Hung, Lou Wang, Ch'êng Fêng, Huan Yü, Chia K'uei, Yang Chung, Lu Kung, and Li Yü, eleven persons in all.

As a result of the Council there were composed the Po hu i tsou, the 'Memorialized Discussions [on the Classics] in the White Tiger [Hall]'.

We might have expected that the Imperial Council would have solved all the problems of the scholarly world, and that a new Canon, officially determined under the auspices of the Pontifex Maximus, the Son of Heaven, would have put an end to the wranglings between New Text and Old Text adherents. Nothing of the kind happened. On the contrary.

In 83 A.D., only four years after the date of the Council, the Emperor issued an Edict, in which he expressed his solicitude at the sad condition of the Classics, the multiplication of the Ex- positions in Chapters and Sentences, the deterioration of the subtle doctrines of the former masters, and in which "he summoned the scholars each to select highly-talented disciples in order to be instructed in [the Commentaries on] the Spring and Autumn Annals of Tso and Ku-liang, the Old Text of the Book of History, and the Book of Poetry of Mao, so that the subtle study might be supported and different [methods of] explanations be spread" ³⁸⁰. "On account of this", the Biography of Chia K'uei, which contains the same passage with slight differences, proceeds, "the four Classics [in Old Text] became popular in the world" ³⁸¹. Chia K'uei's pupils all attained important positions ³⁸².

Are we to assume that the Imperial Council of 79 A.D. was a farce? That it was just a thing to be done and forgotten? It is a strange story, but we are obliged to accept the fact that to all appearances the Po-hu discussions had achieved nothing, and that the battle waged between New Text po-shih and Old Text scholars had ended in a draw. Official orthodoxy seems to have carried the day, and to have remained entrenched behind its impregnable walls of assurance. Old Text scholars seem to have been defeated, but nonetheless to have continued their attacks on the stronghold of orthodoxy. The Emperor seems to have been powerless against the band of Erudites, but nevertheless to have continued his sympathy for the Old Texts. We may pursue the history of Classical studies after the Po-hu discussions, and on our way again and again find indications that the old situation had practically remained unaltered, i.e., that official scholarship was supreme but desiccating, and Old Text scholarship full of energy but failing to achieve recognition in the state's curriculum. Fan Yeh describes how since the reign of Emperor Hsiao-an (107-125 A.D.) the studies had been neglected, how the po-shih had clung to their positions but forgotten to teach, how the disciples, following each other's example, had abandoned themselves to profligacy, how the schools had fallen into decay and become grounds for cow-boys to tend their cattle and for grass- cutters to gather their fodder ³⁸³. Emperor Hsiao-shun (126-144 A.D.) tried to remedy the sad condition, and erected a complex of 240 school-buildings with 1,850 apartments ³⁸⁴. Yet at the end of his reign the same situation had returned ³⁸⁵. In 175 A.D. Emperor Hsiao-ling (168-188 A.D.) ordered the Classics to be engraved on stone; they were still exclusively the canonic New Texts ³⁸⁶. Being a po-shih was no longer regarded as an honour. The scholars Hsün Shuang, Chêng Hsüan, and Ch'ên Chi declined an appointment ³⁸⁷. Towards the end of the second century the roar of political events drowned the quarrelling voices in the world of scholarship ³⁸⁸. In 220 A.D. the Han Dynasty came to a termination with the New Texts officially still in the ascendency.

By then, however, the Old Texts had already gone a long way towards their irresistible victory. In the period between 220 and 227 A.D. they were represented by official po-shih; the chairs for the Book of Change of the Schools of Shih Ch'ou, Mêng Hsi, Liang-ch'iu Ho, and Ching Fang, for the Book of History of the Schools of Ou-yang-Shêng, the Elder and the Younger Hsia-hou, for the Book of Poetry of the Schools of Ch'i, Lu, and Han, for the Book of Rites of the Schools of Ch'ing P'u and the Elder Tai, for the Spring and Autumn Annals of the School of Chuang P'êng-tsu, all of them New Texts, were abolished ³⁸⁹. In the period between 240 and 248 the Classics were anew engraved in stone, this time along with the long despised Tso chuan and the Old Text of the Book of History³⁹⁰. The rapid and almost total oblivion into which the New Texts then sank was the tragic fate of a School which during its heyday had known no other attitude than that of implacability.

The discussions in the White Tiger Hall cannot be seen as an occasion on which New and Old Texts were welded into a new Canon, as the reason which had led to them would suggest. They do not mark the beginning of a new era of Classical studies, in which new material received its due attention, and new methods were applied other than those exclusively based on a system of correspondences. They are an impressive representation of the world-conception of a holistic society, which believed in portents and fortune-telling, and had its actions governed by them. But the impact of the outer world had already begun to bring in new ideas which marred the structure of an evanescent community. The Council of 79 A.D. is a monument, superannuated almost immediately after its building, beautiful for later generations to behold, but unacceptable to those contemporaries who, as revolutionaries, did not prize beauty so much as truth.

39.Conclusion

After the long excursion which we have undertaken in the field of Classical studies in the Han period, let us return to our actual problem: the present edition of the Po hu t'ung. Does this edition have any relation to the discussions in the Po-hu kuan of 79 A.D.? May we even see it as identical with either the Po hu i tsou, or the Po hu t'ung i, or the Po hu t'ung tê lun, mentioned in the Hou han shu?

Once more I may recapitulate the characteristic features of the edition of 1305 A.D., the defective condition of which I have already pointed out ³⁹¹. The text teems with errors, and it is incomplete, as the supplementary passages provided by Chuang Shu-tsu, Lu Wên-ch'ao, Ch'ên Li, and Liu Shih-p'ei may prove, and a glance at the list of quotations in Appendix A may show. These quotations are representative of the New Text School, as appears from the almost exclusive use of the New Text chapters of the Book of History³⁹², the abundance with which the Kung yang chuan is cited, and the way in which the Classical passages are interpreted ³⁹³. However, there are a few quotations from an Old Text, namely the Chou kuan. There are further numerous quotations from the Apocrypha. The style of the present Po hu t'ung is 'catechetical', i.e., in most cases a question is put first, after which follows the reply ³⁹⁴. Other deviating opinions are recorded. The contents of the present Po hu t'ung reveal a system of correspondences pervaded by the theories about the Yin-yang, the Five Elements, and numerical categories. The Son of Heaven figures as King in the most sacred sense of the word.

Equipped with what we know of the state of affairs of Classical Studies in the first decades of the Later Han, which led to the Council in the Po-hu kuan, we may now venture the question: may the Po hu t'ung which we actually possess be seen as the genuine report of those discussions?

There are several points in favour of this supposition.

The contents of the present text tally perfectly with the world-conception of the Later Han, which officially pretended to be a copy of the Former Han ³⁹⁵.

The profuse use of the Apocrypha in the Po hu t'ung--not only apparent from actual quotations, but also from the passages not presented as quotations, such as cosmographical calculations, the etymology of words according to sound-analogy, the theories on the historical succession of the Dynasties, the descriptions of the ancient Emperors, the explanations of the different kinds of music, etc.--tallies with the fact that especially in the Later Han the Apocrypha were the officially prescribed counterpart of the Classics, adopted by New Text as well as Old Text Schools.

The predominance in the Po hu t'ung of New Text interpretations tallies with the fact that official scholarship in the Later Han was New Text scholarship, and that at the Po-hu discussions the New Text scholars were amply represented.

The occurrence of Old Text interpretations--apparent from the few quotations from the Chou kuan and from some of the statements introduced by 'Another opinion says'--tallies with the fact that Old Text scholars participated in the Po-hu discussions ³⁹⁶.

The scarcity of direct interpretations of Classical passages tallies with the fact that in the Later Han, as well as in the Former Han, the official po-shih were not 'philologists', but applied 'exegesis', while the Old Text scholars were only beginning to adopt a more 'philological' method of explaining the Classics ³⁹⁷.

Points militating against the supposition of the Po hu t'ung being the genuine report of the Po-hu discussions, however, are not lacking.

The first is its incompleteness, apparent from the facts mentioned above. The discussions, which lasted several months, would certainly have been fairly comprehensive in their dealing with the Classical works. Liao P'ing, who regards the Po hu t'ung as a compendium of the general doctrines contained in the Classics, realizing this incompleteness, has drawn up an extensive list of subjects which are not treated ³⁹⁸. The incompleteness of a text, however, is not an adequate proof against its genuineness, and we may assume that the Po hu t'ung during its transmission has suffered much from omissions. On the other hand, a systematic omission of passages which we would expect to occur in a given text, may appear serious. Now knowing the strong belief which the po-shih in the Later Han, representing official orthodoxy, put in the matter of oracles, the absence of any allusion to these ch'an in the Po hu t'ung is astonishing. It is true that the Ch'an are quoted in four instances by the Po hu t'ung, but the contents of these quotations are not what we understand by oracles ³⁹⁹. And though the Po hu t'ung deals with lucky omens (ch. XVIII) and strange events as fore-warnings (ch. XVI), it does not say anything about fortune-telling, and ignores portents which predict political happenings. Another striking omission is that nowhere in the text Confucius is referred to as su-wang 'Uncrowned King', and neither is the kingdom of Lu alluded to. We have to suppose a deliberate 'expurgation' in all these cases, and an expurgation of a rather late date, because the theory of the 'Uncrowned King' was still adhered to by Chêng Hsüan ⁴⁰⁰, and that of the kingdom of Lu by Ho Hsiu ⁴⁰¹. We may further speculate on the reasons why these passages were omitted. The explanation which I venture to give is connected with the fact that they were the very passages objected to by all scholars who wanted to revert to the Classical texts pure and simple. This aspiration, however necessary in itself, because it was a reaction against the easy syncretic attitude of official scholarship and 'theology', was in reality illusory, because the Classical texts in themselves were unintelligible without interpretation by means of other texts. The elevation of Confucius' position to that of 'Uncrowned King' seems to have been regarded as a kind of sacrilege, for the reason that the Classics did not substantiate such an idea, and because it was connected with the theory of the succession of Dynasties, which Confucius, as a prophet and a visionary in the ordinary sense, was supposed to have predicted, and which had given and was giving rise to all sorts of social and political disturbances. An attempt at bringing Confucius 'down to earth' may be seen in the Chia yü, ascribed to the scholar Wang Su of the third century A.D. ⁴⁰². The wei with their oracles were repeatedly prohibited, and finally proscribed in the beginning of the seventh century ⁴⁰³. Bearing in mind this opposition against the excesses of the wei, and their persecution, is it possible that the Po hu t'ung was involved in this process? It may be objected that the wei, such as we know them, have preserved the passages on oracles and the description of Confucius as su-wang. To this objection I may reply that the wei had been nearly exterminated, and what we have at our disposal at present is merely the result of the ransacking of all sorts of works, because the proscription had not been absolutely effective. Further, that the Po hu t'ung itself was not a wei, though it had a definite wei-character. Devoid of the objectionable passages, the oracles, it was quite an innocent book, curious, and antiquated in the days when the Old Text school was dominant, but on the whole not uninteresting. It was not considered 'canonical', but it was still invoked by the Commentators on the Classics in the T'ang period ⁴⁰⁴. Thus not only may the incompleteness of the present text be accounted for, but the deliberate omission of passages which probably occurred in the original text may also be explained.

The second point against the Po hu t'ung is its difference of style as compared with the Shih ch'ü li lun⁴⁰⁵; this point has already been considered by Sun I-jang and Liu Shih-p'ei ⁴⁰⁶. Sun I-jang explains it by assuming that the Po hu t'ung is a kind of Wu ching tsa i, which was the report of the discussion on all the Classics together in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion, distinct from the reports of the discussion on the Classics one by one, which had also been composed. Liu Shih-p'ei thinks that the Po hu t'ung (i) is the summing up of the fuller report, Po hu i tsou, and assumes that the Shih ch'ü i tsou likewise had a (Shih ch'ü) t'ung i. Against Sun I-jang's theory it may be brought up that, if we omit in the Shih ch'ü li lun the names of the disputants and the Imperial verdicts, we should have almost the same text as the Po hu t'ung, while it is not clear why it should have been necessary to discuss the Classics together after they had been dealt with one by one. Against Liu Shih-p'ei's opinion we may also say that the Po hu t'ung does not strike us as just being a 'sum- ming-up', which would have assumed the character of a handbook; it contains questions and replies, and it records deviating opinions. Besides, there has never been such a work as the Shih ch'ü t'ung i. The fact of the Shih-ch'ü discussions being the precedent of the Po-hu discussions has been repeatedly emphasized: the occasion for which the two Councils were convened, the personal attendance of the Emperor, his verdicts, the procedure of the meeting ⁴⁰⁷, the report made after the discussion ⁴⁰⁸, were for both cases the same. However, the subjects of discussion were not identical. The first Council was held to discuss the establishment of new chairs for New Text Schools, the second Council was held to discuss that of new chairs for Old Text Schools. In 51 B.C., the date of the Shih-ch'ü discussions, the wei with their oracles had probably not yet become so important as in 79 A.D., the date of the Po-hu discussions. Even though official scholarship of the Later Han tried to be a slavish continuation of that of the Former Han, a great change had in reality taken place. A period of 128 years, though comparatively short within the long stretch of Chinese history, is after all a lapse of one and a quarter of a century. In this period, moreover, there occurred the interregnum of Wang Mang, which dealt a decisive blow to the monopoly of New Text studies. It is therefore not correct when Professor Dubs says that "it is highly probable that the permanently important material in the Memorialized Discussions arising out of the decisions made at the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion was taken up into the Po-hu T'ung, and that the reason these Memorialized Discussions were allowed to perish is merely that they had been superseded. We must thus look to the Po-hu T'ung for the results of the Shih-ch'ü discussions" ⁴⁰⁹. However, though the subjects discussed in 51 B.C. were not the same as in 79 A.D., we unfortunately do not know what they precisely were. The fragments of the Shih ch'ü li lun, translated above, give no clear indication in this matter ⁴¹⁰. The total absence of quotations from the Memorialized Discussions of the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion, including the Wu ching tsa i, leaves us completely in the dark. This remarkable silence also surrounds the Memorialized Discussions of the Po-hu kuan. But here, suddenly, we encounter a quotation from the Po hu t'ung i round about 245 A.D. Let us state the two facts more sharply for comparison. There are the Shih ch'ü i tsou, in all 155 p'ien, which have never been quoted; a fragment of the Shih ch'ü li lun, as a more or less stenographic report, is extant, and we may assume that it has been extant from 656 A.D. at the latest. There are the Po hu i tsou, in all more than 100 chüan, which have never been quoted; a Po hu t'ung i, not in the form of a stenographic report, is extant, and we may assume that it has been extant from 245 A.D. at the latest. The question now is: why were both the i-tsou neglected, and why does the Po hu t'ung differ in style from the Shih ch'ü li lun⁴¹¹?

The two reports must have been important, for they represented the ideas on the meaning of the Classics of the most outstanding scholars of the time, with the solemn touch of the Imperial verdict added to them. Both of them, however, were voluminous; it would have cost a great deal of time and work to produce them in more than one copy. The scholars, participating in the discussions, of course each knew exactly what was contained in the reports; they were sure to employ the material in their teaching, though it would not be necessary to refer to them, especially as the word i-tsou cannot strictly be regarded as the title of a work ⁴¹². The need of a written document, however, may soon have been felt. Accordingly a shorter edition of the report was composed, an edition without the names of the disputants and without the indication of the Imperial verdicts. For the i-tsou of the Shih-ch'ü ko the Wu ching tsa i probably was this shorter edition; thus it is not a separate treatise on the Five Classics together, as Sun I-jang supposes. For the i-tsou of the Po-hu kuan the Po hu t'ung i was this shorter edition; it is not a summing-up, as Liu Shih-p'ei thinks. Whether Pan Ku compiled the Po hu i tsou, i.e. the original full report, or the Po hu t'ung tê lun, which I assume is the same as the Po hu t'ung i, i.e. the shorter edition, cannot be decided. In either case he was only the compilator, and not the author. Of the report of the Shih-ch'ü discussions both the i-tsou and the shorter edition (Wu ching tsa i) are lost, and only a few fragments of the former, in the form of the Shih ch'ü li lun, are extant. Of the report of the Po-hu discussions the i-tsou are completely lost, and only the shorter edition remains, as Po hu t'ung, or Po hu t'ung i, or Po hu t'ung tê lun. Both the Shih ch'ü li lun in its fragmentary form, and the Po hu t'ung go back to the Councils of 51 B.C. and 79 A.D. respectively. The style of the two differs, but if we omit the names of the disputing scholars and the references to the Emperor from the text of the Shih ch'ü li lun we shall have almost the same style as the Po hu t'ung. Professor Hung seems to accept the fragmentary Shih ch'ü li lun as genuine, but he rejects the Po hu t'ung. In my opinion both are of the same value, i.e. more or less reliable. As the Po hu i tsou may be translated by 'Memorialized Discussions of the White Tiger [Hall]', so Po hu t'ung i, abbreviated Po hu t'ung, may be rendered as 'Comprehensive [Account of the Discussions on the] Meaning [of the Five Classics] in the White Tiger [Hall]', or, shorter, 'Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger [Hall]' ⁴¹³.

The third point against the Po hu t'ung has been referred to on page 64, namely the fact that the work was never quoted before about 245 A.D. We have seen that the case of the Shih ch'ü i tsou is even worse, for they have never been heard of, except that a small fragment has been saved. I have assumed that the reason for the silence about both i-tsou may have lain in their being so well-known that it was not thought necessary to name the source when a reference was made. With respect to the Po-hu discussions an additional factor may be pointed out. From what we know of the condition of Classical studies in the first decades of the Later Han we may infer that the Council of 79 A.D., securing the victory of official orthodoxy, was an anachronism. New Text scholarship, as it was understood by the po-shih, was confirmed in its unassailable position of dominance, but Old Text scholarship continued to advance undaunted. If four years after the event of the Council the Emperor himself acted as if there had been no Council at all which acknowledged the sole authority of official New Text studies, may we then not suppose that the real scholars did not hesitate to ignore it? That we are still able to find a number of statements, parallel with the Po hu t'ung, in works of scholars of the second century A.D. is an indication that the report of the Po-hu discussions was not altogether devoid of any value.

Thus to all appearances the present Po hu t'ung, even if we take into account the interpolations of later dates, omissions deliberate and non-deliberate, and the possibility of re-arrangement of chapters and subjects, may be regarded as connected with the Po hu i tsou. With the knowledge we have gained of the state of affairs in the world of Classical studies of the Later Han, Professor Hung's contention that the Po hu t'ung is a concoction of the end of the Later Han or the beginning of the Wei seems rather improbable. Who could have wanted to produce such a work? It could only have been some New Text scholar who wished to defend a case which his School was rapidly losing against the ascending Old Text School. But then he would have left out all references to this School, and made a more systematic treatise. The Po hu t'ung now does not strike us as being a polemic book, neither a formal catechism ready-made; it is a report of a discussion, with all its cumbrousness and incoherence.

At the end of my discussion of Professor Hung's criticism of the Po hu t'ung I questioned the conclusive force which parallel passages may have as evidence. In the same way and with the same right by which parallel passages may be used against a text, in casu the Po hu t'ung, they may be employed to support a contrary opinion, viz. that they suggest a general knowledge of the contents of the text among the scholars of a certain period who for some reason did not deem it necessary to name the source of their quotation. I then tried to apply the test of 'internal evidence', which amounted to an analysis of the contents of the text ⁴¹⁴ and to a sketch of the background of the Po-hu discussions of which the text professes to be the report, in order to determine whether the two could be integrated. I think that the result is not unfavourable.

Let us put some concrete questions and try to answer them.

Is the present Po hu t'ung the actual i-tsou 'Memorialized Dis- cussions' of the Po-hu kuan? No; the style is not that of the i-tsou, as we know them from the Shih ch'ü li lun.

Is the present Po hu t'ung a reliable representation of the Po-hu discussions? Yes; very probably the Po hu t'ung, or Po hu t'ung i, or Po hu Tê lun, is a shorter edition of the i-tsou, which, as we have formerly surmised,--and this surmise now seems to be warranted--, is only a general appellation, while Po hu t'ung is a more specific name.

Is the present Po hu t'ung entirely genuine? No, for there are evident interpolations and omissions. This, however, applies to almost any Chinese text, and is, as such, not a definite proof against the genuineness of a text as a whole.

In my analysis of the Po hu t'ung I have tried to listen to the story the text had to tell, without letting myself be too much diverted by questions of dubiousness. Behind the incoherent flood of statements a consistent system could then be discerned, representing a cosmology of a really impressive character. I have attempted to sketch the history of Classical scholarship in the Former and Later Han, and this history appears not to be a dull account of learned masters training disciples in an unbroken traditional way and in secluded closets, but a history closely related to the course of political events, which profoundly influenced it and was profoundly influenced by it. Against the background of this history, in my sketch culminating in the Council of 79 A.D., the Po hu t'ung fits in wonderfully. In this setting it is no longer a quixotic text, interesting on some points but hopelessly dead; it turns out to be a living document which supplies important material for the understanding of a most dramatic time. As such it is valuable in more than one respect.

It gives us an idea of the way in which the Classics were interpreted in the Han period. We have often heard of the combination of Classical and Apocryphal Books, of the ching being the warp and the wei being the woof, the former constituting the outer, the latter the inner study; nowhere else can we find such a clear and comprehensive illustration of this curious method of interpretation as in the Po hu t'ung⁴¹⁵.

It gives us an idea of the cosmology of the Han, that curious blending of naturalism and ethics, in which such great emphasis was laid on correct ritual behaviour, and in which the King figured as the living link and mediator between the world in Heaven and everything under Heaven. Even if the Po hu t'ung is unsatisfactory in its descriptions of details, probably no other text presents so complete a picture of this cosmology as a system ⁴¹⁶.

It gives us an idea of that mighty battle waged between New Text orthodoxy and Old Text modernism, terminating in the former's victory, which, however, from the onset harboured the signs of its ultimate defeat. The Po hu t'ung, representing the Council in the White Tiger Hall, illustrates the extent to which an orthodox class by its imperturbable obstinacy is able to close its eyes to the needs of a changing society. The original report was a monument, already antiquated in the view of contemporaries; the Po hu t'ung is a relic which, deprived of the features most offensive to a later orthodoxy, has become curious and not entirely objectionable, though on closer examination it still shows the scars where the hands of iconoclasts have been at work.

40.Editions of the Po hu t'ung

A few words should be said about the editions of the Po hu t'ung.

Since Lu Wên-ch'ao has given a list of the various editions in his Po hu t'ung text (in the Pao ching t'ang ts'ung shu), and Professor William Hung has done the same in the Prolegomena of his Index, in order to avoid needless repetition it may be sufficient here to refer to them ⁴¹⁷.

Lu Wên-ch'ao began to edit the text in 1777, continuing the work that had been done by Chuang Shu-tsu, and comparing and collating several Ming and Ch'ing editions. When the preparation for the printing was nearly finished, Lu happened to come across a text in small characters that belonged to a certain Wu Ch'a-k'o of Hai-ning ⁴¹⁸, and seemed to have originated from a period before the Southern Sung (1127-1278) ⁴¹⁹. This edition in two chüan Lu calls the 'Old Edition with Small Characters' ⁴²⁰. He was able to use this text for the notes in his edition, where he often refers to it with the indication 'Old [Edition]'. Later he procured another edition with small characters, belonging to a certain Chu Wên-yu ⁴²¹, and proving to give better readings than the 'Old Edition with Small Characters'. Finally Lu laid his hands on an edition printed in the ninth year of the period ta-tê of the Yüan Dynasty (1305 A.D.) ⁴²². These two editions Lu used for his Chiao k'an pu i 'Text-critical Appendix' ⁴²³.

The 1305 edition of the Po hu t'ung seems to have served as the basis for most of the later editions ⁴²⁴, likewise for the punctuated (kaeriten) edition of 1662 by the Japanese scholar Ugai Sekisai (Nobuyuki), who lived from 1616-1664 ⁴²⁵.

The Yüan ta-tê edition contains two prefaces, one by Yen Tu of Tung-p'ing (in present Shan-tung) dated May 9, 1305, the other by Chang K'ai, also from Tung-p'ing, and dated April 24, 1305 ⁴²⁶. They do not furnish any particulars about the text, except the statement that it had at that time already become very rare, that a certain Liu Shih-ch'ang, whose 'style' was P'ing-fu ⁴²⁷, happened to possess it, and that he had decided to publish it in order to have it circulated among the scholars.

For my translation of the Po hu t'ung I have used the Yüan ta-tê (1305) edition, published in the Ssü pu ts'ung k'an, that of Lu Wên-ch'ao in the Pao ching t'ang ts'ung shu, and that of Ch'ên Li in the Huang ch'ing ching chieh Hsü pien⁴²⁸. These three editions really belong together and are indispensable. The first because, in spite of its innumerable errors, it is the basic text, being, according to Hung ⁴²⁹, a re-edition of an official edition of the Sung; the second because of the care Lu devoted to its editing; the third because of Ch'ên's abundant, sometimes over-abundant, notes. In the translation of chapters I, II, XVIII, and XL of the Po hu t'ung I have given page-references to all these three editions. For the other chapters, which I have only supplied with the most necessary notes, I have limited myself to a reference to Lu Wên-ch'ao, except, of course, when another reading appears to be preferable. On the whole Lu's edition is remarkably good, and superior to Ch'ên's, which is careless on many points.