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Chapter XXVII. On Preeminence (Ch`ao-chi).

They who have worked through more than a thousand chapters and less than ten thousand books, who know how to explain this plethora of fine sayings, and how to fix the meaning and the reading, and who as teachers impart to others the results of their studies, are very learned. If they can analyse their ideas, abridge or enlarge the texts, report to the throne and memorialize, ¹ argue a point and discuss a question, adding paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter, they are men of letters and eminent scholars. Hard working students of profound learning and imposing erudition there are ever so many, but not one among ten thousand is qualified to write books or compose essays on subjects of the past or the present time. Only men of great learning understand to avail themselves of these subjects for literary purposes.

The big and small trees which we see on a mountain are a familiar sight to us, and in the higher or lower plants which we discover in the country we find nothing new. Still we cannot cut down the trees, and work them into cottages, or gather the plants, and prepare medicines from them. We know trees and plants, but cannot use them. A learned man may have an extensive knowledge, but he is unable to gather it into an essay. Such a man remains an obscure scholar and is merely book-learned.

In so far as Confucius is believed to have read three hundred Odes and transmitted them for the benefit of those ignoring the principles of government, he is on a level with those who cannot fell trees or collect herbs. But, on the other hand, Confucius took the chronicle ² and transformed it into the Ch`un-ch`iu. When he came to setting forth his own views and developing his ideas, praising and condemning, rewarding and punishing, without regard to the chronicle, his wonderful thoughts poured out from his heart. ³

That which is so much esteemed in learned men is their creative power. Those who do nothing but reading, reciting verses and humming over learned treatises, may peruse over a thousand chapters, they are after all but talking parrots. The imaginative faculty necessary for books and stories and a rich and smooth diction are special gifts of men of genius. Well informed people there are plenty in every age, but writers are rare even in successive generations.

In recent times Liu Tse Chêng, father and son, Yang Tse Yün, and Huan Chün Shan⁴ have flourished simultaneously like Wên Wang, Wu Wang, and Chou Kung. Otherwise such men appear sporadically, resembling pearls and jewels, which owing to their preciousness are never found in masses.

Whoever is able to explain one Classic is a scholar. ⁵ Those well versed in ancient and modern literature are learned, ⁶ those who collect books and records and present memorials to the throne, are men of letters, ⁷ and those never in need of ingenious thoughts to compose themselves, joining paragraphs and chapters, are eminent scholars. ⁸ Thus scholars surpass common people, the learned outvie the scholars, men of letters outrival the learned, and eminent scholars are superior even to men of letters. Eminent scholars are, so to speak, twice superior. To contrast them with ordinary scholars, in spite of their double superiority, is like comparing an elegant carriage with a common cart, or a silk embroidery with a quilted garment, for they leave them far behind. Setting them against common people is like collating the foot and the summit of Mount T`ai with the plant and the neck of a tall Ti;⁹ a comparison is impossible.

Hills and mountains are formed of earth and stones, copper and iron are very seldom found in them. Copper and iron are rare, but eventually mountains harbour even gold and gems. Eminent scholars are the gold and the gems of their age. They are rare in the second degree, but though so extraordinary, they still eclipse one another by their talents.

There are various degrees of learning. Scholars apt to explain the meaning of words in a school are far ahead of uncultured persons. Some are unable to interpret one Canon ¹⁰ and teach their pupils, others gather crowds of disciples around them; their words flow like a stream, and they are regarded as experts of the Classics. Some cannot complete one tablet or write one essay, others discourse on right and wrong and offer their advice to the government. Their words resemble those of the Classics and records, and their style is as luminous as the moon and the stars. Those of the highest order come up to Ku Tse Yün and T`ang Tse Kao.¹¹ Commentators move in the same sphere as memorialists, ¹² they are not productive themselves.

Some savants collect and enumerate historical facts of ancient and modern times and narrate things that have happened. Such are Sse-Ma Ch`ien and Liu Tse Chêng.¹³ They have thus compiled a great number of chapters, and their sentences are counted by tens of thousands. They surpass Ku Tse Yün and T`ang Tse Kao by far. But they rely on accomplished facts and merely record former events, without producing anything from their own minds like Lu Chia and Tung Chung Shu,¹⁴ who, arguing on the affairs of the world, propound their own ideas and do not borrow from without. All shallowness thus becomes easily manifest. Nevertheless the readers will call their productions records.

Yang-Ch`êng Tse-Chang wrote the Classic of Music and Yang Tse Yün the T`ai-hsüan-ching¹⁵ for the furtherance of thought, works so profound and abstruse, that but a man of almost perfect talents could have produced them. Confucius wrote the Ch`un-ch iu, and the two scholars each produced a Classic. They most remarkably followed the traces left by Confucius, as it were, and by their grandeur and elegance proved themselves to possess the genius of second sages.

Wang Kung Tse asked Huan Chün Shan about Yang Tse Yün. Huan Chün Shan replied that from the rise of the Han dynasty there had not been such a man. In discriminating talents he may be said to have correctly distinguished between high and low. The minds of the lapidaries are more admirable than their precious stones, and the skill of those who perforate tortoise-shells is more wonderful than that of the tortoises. Similarly he who knows how to discriminate between the talents of all the scholars and assign his rank to each, must be superior to those thus ranked. ¹⁶

Besides Huan Chün Shan wrote the "New Reflections," in which he treats of the affairs of the world, clearly distinguishing between truth and falsehood. Unfounded assertions, lies, and fictions are all reduced to their proper entities. Among critics like Yang-Ch`êng Tse-Chang and Yang Tse Yün, Huan Chün Shan is the foremost. ¹⁷ From him downwards there have been many great and brilliant talents, and we have had excellent works. The style writing words, the heart must have produced the ideas. Words issue from the bosom, and the heart manifests itself through words. If these words appear unusually fine and remarkable, we may say that we have an able writer.

Consequently, prolific authors are a pride of mankind. They have their roots below, their leaves and blossoms above, their solid kernels within, and their husks without. The painted characters and the expressions are the leaves, the flowers and the husks of the writers. Their genuine ideas are in their bosoms, and the written words appear on bamboo and silk. Thus there is an interaction and a harmony between inside and outside. When the mind sets to work, the pencil follows suit. Then characters appear, and the kernels come out.

A man of letters resembles a bird with feathers. These feathers are variegated and all grow on the body. Should there be no idea illustrated by the letters, it would be like a variegated plumage of a bird growing ruffled and disorderly.

At a competition of archery the mind must be tranquil, the body straight, the bow and the arrow firmly grasped, then the mark may be hit. Arguing is like shooting arrows:---the arguments must be in accordance with reason, as the arrows must hit the target. An archer proves his skill by hitting the mark with his arrow, and a debater shows his superiority by his writings. Both abilities proceed from the mind, their essence is the same.

In writing deep thoughts and vast schemes may find expression. Somebody may not be able personally to put into action the administrative devices of sovereigns and their ministers, or to fix them by word of mouth, but he can give expression to his feelings and prove himself qualified to carry out those designs. Confucius wrote the Ch`un-ch`iu in which he reveals the ideas of the princes. Thus the Ch`un-ch`iu of Confucius is a chronicle of the usual way of living of rulers. The records of other scholars describe the usual proceedings of ministers. From the Ch`un-ch`iu we learn to know the minds of princes, and the other scholars acquaint us with the thoughts of ministers. ¹⁸

They say that the cutting of meat by Ch`ên P`ing¹⁹ was a forecast of his future premiership, and that Sun-Shu Ao's²⁰ finding a new channel for the Ch`i-sse river foreshadowed his becoming a prime minister. The study of historical works and adjusting government matters is more than those presages of the meat and the water-channel.

Without strong feet one cannot walk long, and without a sharp ²¹ edge one cannot make a deep cut. Thus the composition of paragraphs and chapters requires great talent and a savant of exceptional genius.

Some contend that authors, provided they possess a vast experience, and a thorough erudition, learning and practice, may proceed by analogies and thus write their books, that literary productions are something external and do not necessitate a combination of genuine talent and learning. Moreover, poor thoughts, they say, are hidden in flowers of speech, there is no depth, no roots, and no kernels. The writers lose sight of the great principles and the main points. Therefore it is very seldom that they achieve success. In times of danger men of learning are not there to help, thus showing that they cannot accomplish remarkable deeds, and merely know how to ply their pen.

I reply that this is not true. In the Chou time all the writers were practical politicians, and under the régime of the Han all the outspoken scholars have been officials of great learning. Why then say that literary productions are not like leaves and flowers evolved from roots and kernels? Thoughts engender devices, and several tablets joined together form an essay. Feelings appear in expressions, and ideas manifest themselves in words.

Shang Yang²² as minister of Ch`in brought about its supremacy and wrote a book on agriculture and war. Yü Ch`ing²³ formed plans for Chao and determined its moving forward and backward. He resolved to write a Ch`un-ch`iu²⁴ and offered his advice for the city. ²⁵ The work on agriculture and warfare was a sheme kept in the archives of Ch`in. Lu Chia²⁶ superseded the devices of Lü Pu Wei,²⁷ whose work ²⁸ had the same purport as his "New Words," and Huan Chün Shan²⁹ abrogated the scheme of Ch`ao Ts`o,³⁰ which was agreeing with his own "New Reflections." In the case of Ku Yung's "Reports" ³¹ and T`ang Lin's³² "Words that must be said" ³³ or of Liu Hsiang's "Earnest Propositions," ³⁴ we see how the notes originally taken were sent up to the Throne. How can they be held to be elegant writings and beautiful sayings or flowers of speech without a raison d'être?

When deep feeling issues from the heart, it touches people to the core. Thus in consequence of the flying letter of Lu Lien³⁵ a general of Yen laid violent hands upon himself, and on receiving the memorial from Tsou Yang King Hsiao of Liang opened his prison. ³⁶ The letter and the memorial had taken the heart out of them. To compose such writings it does not suffice to possess great learning or much practice in writing.

Eminent scholars are scarce, but men of letters a great many. Are governors, ministers, and high functionaries not to appreciate them, and should they merely use their intellectual faculties for scribbling on boards and tablets? Provinces or prefectures having troubles, these scholars can take all necessary measures, report to the emperor, and arrange all complications. Provided that a province or a prefecture be in difficulties and possess officers like T`ang Tse Kao and Ku Tse Yün,³⁷ who would set to work, strain their minds, and exert their literary abilities, would all disturbances not easily be removed?

Since it is difficult to find records of men of letters in ancient days, which are too distant, or in out-of-the-way places at the outskirts of the empire, we shall confine ourselves to Kuei-chi in recent times. There lived a student of the very first order, Chou Ch`ang Shêng.³⁸ In a province he was engaged in writing memorials for the governor Jên An, and in a prefecture he made the reports for the prefect, Mêng Kuan. Matters were settled and all troubles removed. The province and the prefecture were delivered of all difficulties, and the two governors well off. Chou Ch`ang Shêng was not honoured, not because his knowledge was inferior, or his deserts too insignificant, but his two chiefs liked the common type of men and could not appreciate him. Had he lived in a former age under Prince Chao of Yen, he would have met with the same favour as Tsou Yen.³⁹ After the death of Chou Ch`ang Shêng, the province and the prefecture were thrown into disorder, for want of officials to draw up reports, so that the complications could not be adjusted. Officers were commissioned and payed their respects to those in authority, but the literate were neglected and their productions ceased. Officialdom gave much annoyance to the emperor indeed.

But the jottings of Chou Ch`ang Shêng were not all, and his ability did not solely assert itself in his official documents, he also wrote the Tung-li⁴⁰ in ten chapters, recording all the smallest details and minutiæ from Huang Ti down to the Han dynasty. as the Grand Annalist did in his Tables. Chou Ch`ang Shêng went up to remote antiquity and down to recent times, whence the title of his work: Tung-li (i. e. Connexions). He was not only a man of letters, but an eminent scholar.

In former times there was Yen Fu Tse,⁴¹ later on Wu Chün Shang,⁴² and finally Chou Ch`ang Shêng. White pheasants were brought as a tribute from Annam, and odoriferous plants were offered from Ferghana.⁴³ In Yung-chou jewels are found, and Ching and Yang-chou⁴⁴ are productive of gold. As precious things grow in unknown, far distant countries of the four quarters, so it cannot be said that there are no extraordinary men.

["Wên Wang is no more, said Confucius, but have we not here his writings?"] ⁴⁵ The works of Wên Wang were in the hands of Confucius, and the works of Confucius in the hands of Tung Chung Shu. Would after the death of Tung Chung Shu his works not be in the hands of men like Chou Ch`ang Shêng?

What does extraordinary mean? It denotes the excellence and superiority of writings. T`ang Lo⁴⁶ and Sung Yü⁴⁷ were also men of letters of Ch`u, but their names have not been transmitted on bamboo or silk. Ch`ü Yuan has outshone them. Should Chou Ch`ang Shêng have been the only literary talent of Kuei-chi? He takes precedence among those who are not mentioned. ⁴⁸

In the Nine Provinces ⁴⁹ there are many mountains, but Mount Hua and Tai⁵⁰ are the highest. There are many rivers in all directions, but the Yangtse and the Yellow River are the main streams. Mount Hua and Tai are the most elevated, and the Yangtse and the Yellow River the largest of their kind, and so was Chou Ch`ang Shêng the greatest man of his prefecture and his province.

If a chief of the clan be a clever man, it is not right that his clan's-people slight him, to confer their praise upon a chief of another family. Chou Ch`ang Shêng was such a chief of the spoken word, whom all men of learning revered. That his name alone is mentioned is for the same reason that in the Ch`un-ch`iu the first years are designated after the chronology of Lu.⁵¹

Common people are prone to exalt antiquity and belaud what they have heard about it. If the question be about the deeds of the ancients, even cabbage tastes sweet to them, and as to the recent achievements of their successors, even sweet honey and cream have a sour taste. Chou Ch`ang Shêng's home was in Kuei-chi and he lived in the present era. In spite of the excellence of his writings, he is looked upon as an epigone by many critics.

Heaven is filled with the primogenial fluid, and man endowed with the original essence. How could there be such an enormous difference between old and new? The good rank highest, and the enlightened come first. Those who understand the true nature of things ⁵² and see the difference between right and wrong, take them whom they find unworthy from their first place and push them into the background, and conversely they promote the worthy from the present time and rank them with the ancients. The brightness of their mind and their clear intellect act as a safeguard against common prejudices.

Pan Shu P`i⁵³ continued the work of the Grand Annalist in more than a hundred chapters, recording everything with the greatest care. His style was easy, but his principles all right. The readers were of opinion that he was even superior to the Grand Annalist.

When his son Pan Mêng Chien⁵⁴ was secretary of a board, his style bore a great resemblance to that of Pan Shu P`i and not only a remote one. They were as similar as the Dukes of Chou and Shao, or Lu and Wei,⁵⁵ so to say. Provided that antiquity must be upheld, then Pan Shu P`i, father and son, are not worth mentioning.

The Chou had a brilliant literature, although they came after a hundred generations. The Han likewise are preceded by a hundred generations: why should their literary productions not be conspicuous? Great things may be illustrated by small ones, and from the family affairs of a citizen we may obtain a glimpse upon the imperial court:---

When a cottage has been built, there are usually mulberry trees and hemp first. After many years' residence, the children having been succeeded by grand-children, there are peach trees, pear, plum, and apricot trees covering the hills and overshadowing the plain. Roots and stems being so many, leaves and flowers grow in abundance.

It is long since the house of Han has been established. Vast is their territory and numerous their people. Rectitude flourishes, and everthing prospers. Why then should there be no exuberance of exquisite literary compositions? Blossoms usually grow together with fruit, and plants which bear fruit, but have no blossoms, are very rare. How should a barren mountain become densely wooded, or a dry field grow fertile? The Han era is peculiarly fertile in literary talents, an eloquent testimony to its brilliant growth. When the sky is clear, the stars twinkle; when it is covered and rainy, the sun and the moon are obscured. That in our age so many able writers have appeared simultaneously, sheds a lustre on the Han dynasty. ⁵⁶

Kao Tsu reading a book of Lu Chia exclaimed with a sigh, "Ten thousand years for such a man!" Hsü Yüeh and Chu Fu Yen⁵⁷ were appointed secretaries in consequence of their memorials. I have not heard that at present it never happens that a dish proves bitter or sour, but, if the mouth dislikes the taste, the hand does not lift the food to feed the mouth. Very often an imperial rescript is issued concerning a man belonging to one of the Four Branches, conspicuous in composition, thought, classical or historical literature. Such an edict is couched in most graceful terms, highly appreciative of literary merit. Had the afore-mentioned memorials had no purport and the book no sense, what would have been the cause of the exclamation "Ten thousand years" or the appointment by imperial grace?

They who adorn their faces all desire to become beautiful, but very few persons deign to look at them. Good musicians would like to touch their hearers, but those whose ear they win are not many. Before Lu Chia edited his book, and the schemes of Hsü Yüeh and Chu Fu Yen obtained a hearing, the great majority used to speak like blind people, using coarse expressions. Their style was unpolished and unrefined, and what they said had no sense. They could congratulate themselves that for their licentious and dissolute talk they were not banished to sandy shores in distant parts; as the saying is, how could they have deserved any appointment by imperial favour?

Notes

1. The Chinese have always bestowed great care on their state papers, so that reports to the throne pass for literary productions and are often collected and edited.

2. The chronicle of Lu.

3. We find nothing of all this in the Ch`un-ch`iu, which are but very dry chronological tables, but the Chinese interpret them in such an artificial way, according to their preconceived ideas, that they discover the deepest meanings in the plainest words, where an unprejudiced reader sees nothing but the statement of simple facts.

4. All authors of the Han period often mentioned by Wang Ch`ung.

5. .

6. .

7. .

8. .

9. Gigantic savages said to have come to China.

10. They possess only an elementary learning, knowing how to read and write, but the Classics are too high for them.

11. Cf. p. 88, Note 2.

12. Ed. B:---. Ed. A and C read for , which would not agree with Wang Ch`ung's appreciation of memorialists whom he places above mere commentators.

13. See Vol. I, p. 388, Note 2.

14. Vol. I, p. 388, Notes 3 and 6.

15. Cf. Vol. I, p. 88.

16. This is evidently wrong. A critic must not be superior to those he criticises. They are in most cases much above him.

17. In Vol. I, p. 466 Wang Ch`ung seems to assign the first place among the writers of the Han time to See-Ma Ch`ien and Yang Tse Yün, not to Huan Chün Shan.

18. This distinction is rather arbitrary. The Ch`un-ch`iu treats as much of ministers and high officers as of princes, and the records of other writers embrace the doings of princes as well.

19. One of the Three Heroes at the beginning of the Han dynasty, who died in 178 b.c. Called upon to distribute the sacrificial meats at the altar to the spirits of the land, he did it with such impartiality, that the elders wished he might manage the empire, which, later on, he really did.

20. The text writes Shu Sun Ao which must be corrected. Sun-Shu Ao was a minister of Ch`u in the 6th cent. b.c. We read in Huai Nan Tse that, when he diverted the waters of the Ch`i-sse river, to water the wilds of Yün-lou, King Chuang knew that he would be a good prime minister. See also Vol. I, p. 160, Note 2.

21. Ed. A:--- for .

22. Cf. Vol. I, p. 463, Note 5.

23. A politician of the 3rd cent. b.c. at the court of Prince Hsiao Ch`êng of Chao.

24. The Yü-shih-ch`un-ch`iu in 15 books.

25. We are ignorant of all further circumstances.

26. See Vol. I, p. 388, Note 3.

27. Vol. I, p. 463, Note 1.

28. The well-known Lü-shih ch`un-ch`iu.

29. See above p. 298.

30. A scholar of the 2nd cent. b.c. who gained the sobriquet the Wisdom-Bag. He advised the emperor to get rid of the feudal princes. A work of his in 31 books is mentioned in the Han-shu chap. 30, among the treatises on law.

31. .

32. On Ku Yung and T`ang Lin see Vol. I, p. 469, Note 8.

33. .

34. .

35. His full name is Lu Chung Lien, a wandering philosopher of the Ch`i State. When about 238 b.c. a general of Yen was beleaguered in Liao-ch`êng, a city in Shantung originally belonging to Ch`i, by an army of this State, Lu Chung Lien shot a letter bound to an arrow and addressed to the general into the surrounded city. This letter pointing out to the general his helpless condition induced him to commit suicide.

36. See Vol. I, p. 67, Note 1.

37. The afore-mentioned T`ang Lin and Ku Yung.

38. Cf. Vol. I, p. 469, Note 3.

39. A famous writer of the 4th cent. b.c. often mentioned by Wang Ch`ung. The prince of Yen treated him with great consideration and had a special palace built for him.

40. .

41. I. e.,Yen Chi, a scholar who wrote poetry in irregular verse, 2nd cent. b.c. His original name was Chuang, which he changed because the character, being the name of an emperor, had become taboo.

42. This man seems to be identical with the Wu Chün Kao mentioned in connexion with Chou Ch`ang Shêng as an elegant writer in Vol. I, p. 469, Note 3.

43. . In Vol. I, p. 505, Notes 2 and 3 we find the statement that white pheasants were offered by the Yüeh-chang people and odoriferous plants by the Japanese.

44. Yung-chou, Ching-chou, and Yang-chou are three of the Nine Provinces of Yü. Yung-chou corresponds to modern Shensi and Kansu, Ching-chou comprised Hunan, Hupei, Kuangsi, and parts of Ssechuan, Kuei-chou and Kuang-tung, and Yang-chou is the modern Chekiang, Fukien, and Kiangsi.

45. Analects IX, 5. Legge and others here translate by "truth," whereas Wang Ch`ung takes it in the sense given in the translation.

46. A contemporary of Sung Yü. The Han-shu chap. 30 mentions his poems in 4 books.

47. Another poet of Ch`u, nephew of the famous Ch`ü Yuan. According to the Han-shu loc. cit. he wrote 16 books of poetry, now incorporated into the "Elegies of Ch`u."

48. Ed. B:---, Ed. A and C:---.

49. According to the ancient division of Yü.

50. Two of the Five Sacred Mountains, situated in Shensi and Shantung.

51. In the Ch`un-ch`iu the chronology is based on the reigns of the dukes of Lu i. e., on their first years, which are specially noted. This is not done because these dukes were much superior to the sovereigns of the other States, but because this work is the chronicle of Lu. Thus Chou Ch`ang Shêng is mentioned as a primus inter pares.

52. Ed. B:---, Ed. A and C write which gives no sense.

53. See Vol. I, p. 86, Note 7.

54. Mêng Chien is the designation of the historian Pan Ku.

55. Between these two model princes and the two States of Lu and Wei there was no great difference.

56. The Han dynasty is like a fertile land with many trees full of blossoms and fruit, its able scholars, and like a clear sky on which twinkle its stars, many famous writers.

57. Cf. Vol. I, p. 147.


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Published by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003 by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia