Po Hu T'ung: The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall Dr. Tjan Tjoe Som Charlottesville Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities 2005

copy; 2004 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia

 Digization was based on Po Hu T'ung: The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall Po Hu T'ung The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall Dr. Tjan Tjoe Som E. J. Brill Leiden 1949 Sinica Leidensia Institutum Sinologicum Lugduno Batavum Vol. VI 白虎通 ### ### ### ### ### ### Traditional Chinese English 4/29/05 Swan Kim Graduate Assistant Finished basic markup 白虎通 PO HU T'UNG By ?¸é¦¬å®?°å?? Anne Kinney Translated by 曾珠森 Dr. Tjan Tjoe Som Edited by CHINESE_CHARACTERS_EDITOR(S) EDITOR_NAME äº????????? è¡?ç¡?ç©??? Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities ç¶???å°?äº?å¤?å­? å¤?æ´??? Charlottesville, VA PREFACE TO VOLUME I

When, several years ago, I decided on a translation of the Po hu t'ung, I did not realize what the undertaking was going to involve. At first the task seemed to be comparatively easy. The Po hu t'ung abounds with quotations from the Classics, and as these Classics are all accessible in translations, half of the work seemed already to have been done before I embarked on my actual task. However, it soon became apparent that the existing translations, by James Legge, S. Couvreur, Richard Wilhelm, Arthur Waley, Bernhard Karlgren, in numerous cases could not be used, because they did not fit into the context of the Po hu t'ung. Moreover, the body of the text itself appeared not to be merely a string connecting the Classical quotations, as one might have expected from the nature of the work, but to constitute a substantial element of the book, frequently forming independent treatises not related to the subjects treated in the Classics. Besides containing innumerable errors, it is often so strange and incoherent that it was necessary to habituate myself to a good deal of 'classificatory thinking' before its meaning could be apprehended.

Anyone who has had to translate a Chinese text is acquainted with the hardships accompanying such a task. Not only is a Chinese text always full of allusions which have to be identified, but the rendering of technical terms often confronts the translator with well-nigh insuperable difficulties. Nevertheless the task of translation is the best discipline to which a student of Chinese may submit himself; apart from the efforts he has to make in order to see through the elusive grammatical structure, the fact that so many Chinese expressions may be regarded as representing the whole ancient Chinese culture in nuce compels him to take extensive excursions into fields of a most diversified character. A profusion of notes is therefore indispensable, which, though forming an irritating feature to the general reader, is only the necessary account of the pere- grinations of one who has been attempting to unlock a treasure- room, and has been obliged to ransack the neighbourhood in order to find the suitable keys. This is my excuse for the great number of notes I had to supply in my translation of chapters I, II, XVIII, and XL of the Po hu t'ung; numerous though they are, however, I am afraid there are still many points which have been left un- explained. The rest of the translation, which I hope to publish sometime in a second volume, will only contain the most necessary explications. To pursue the abundance of notes throughout the whole work would, it seems to me, not have justified by its results the labour and expense involved.

The translation of the Po hu t'ung could not have been done without the help of commentators, especially Ch'ên Li. I feel bound to express my great indebtedness to these scholars, whose wide knowledge and learning continually fill the student with astonishment and respect. To be conducted by them through the vast maze of Chinese literature is an experience as exhilarating as it is, at times, fatiguing. Even the ten pages of Professor William Hung's Prolegomena to his Index to the Po hu t'ung acquainted me with a great number of works which I had never heard of, and of problems which I had never suspected. Though I may disagree with him on some points concerning the Po hu t'ung, I cannot but express my admiration for the way in which, in his numerous scholarly writings, Professor Hung always manages to stimulate the reader to sound reflection.

It was not my original intention to write the Introduction otherwise than an introduction should be, i.e. a preliminary presentation of the subject, in casu the translated text. Involuntarily, however, I was driven into directions which, without necessity and of my own accord, I should have hesitated to take. I feel compunction for the perfunctory way, due to my unpreparedness, in which I have now touched on so many important problems. After finishing my cursory survey of the history of Classical studies in the Han period, which has no pretention either to comprehensiveness or finality, I am left with the full consciousness of my imperfect knowledge of this most interesting but intricate subject.

I am under great obligation to the Trustees of the 'Sinological Institute' of Leyden University. Only by their liberal grants the writing and the publication of this book have been made possible, while the scholarship which they awarded to me enabled me to commence my Chinese studies at the University of Leyden and to pursue them for many happy years.

My thanks are due to Professor G. Haloun of Cambridge, who with so much kindness allowed me to copy the articles by Hung I-hsüan, Sun I-jang, and Liu Shih-p'ei, which were accessible nowhere else.

To Professor Homer H. Dubs of Oxford I am indebted for the way I was able to profit from his admirable translations of The History of the Former Han Dynasty. The many times I have quoted him in my study may prove how often I have relied on his great knowledge of the Han period.

I have to thank my friends and colleagues of the Sinological Institute A. F. P. Hulsewé and R. P. Kramers for the interest they have taken in my work, and the way they helped me in many cases.

To Miss A. G. G. Izaks and Miss A. F. van Doornum I owe my acknowledgement for their willingness to type out my manuscript for the printer.

Mr. W. A. C. H. Dobson (Christ Church, Oxford) and Mr. Peter C. Swann (St. Edmund Hall, Oxford) have put me under a great obligation by correcting the faulty English in my manuscript, the former for the four chapters and the notes, the latter for the remaining chapters.

Messrs. E. J. Brill's part in the publication of this book cannot be too highly praised. Having been a printer myself I can fully appreciate the zeal and efficiency with which they overcame the difficulties in printing this work in so short a time.

Professor J. J. L. Duyvendak read through the whole of my manuscripts and proofs. From his valuable suggestions I have greatly profited. It causes a feeling of grateful comfort to know that the beginner's work has passed the scrutiny of an experienced scholar.

Leyden, June 10th, 1949.

 INTRODUCTION I: 1-25 1. Importance of the Po hu t'ung

The Po hu t'ung pretends to be the official report of the discussions on the Classics which were held under Imperial auspices in 79 A.D., and so it is not astonishing that it has been quoted as an authority numbers of times and by all sorts of books. The Sui, T'ang and Sung Encyclopaedias, such as the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao the I wên lei chü, the Ch'u hsüeh chi, the T'ung tien, the T'ai p'ing yü lan, abound with quotations from the Po hu t'ung, the T'ang Commentaries on the Wên hsüan make a profuse use of it, but, as is to be expected, it is especially in the Commentaries on the Classics that the Po hu t'ung has been most widely invoked. The explanations by T'ang scholars, included as Sub-commentaries in the standard edition of the Thirteen Classics, quote again and again passages from the Po hu t'ung, while the Ch'ing scholars who took a new interest in the controversy between the New Text and the Old Text versions of the Classics, derive much material from it for the interpretation of many Classical passages. So e.g. Liu Pao-nan in his Lun yü chêng i, Ch'ên Huan in his Shih mao shih chuan shu, Sun Hsing-yen in his Shang shu chin ku wên chu shu, Ch'ên Li in his Kung yang i shu Cf. the Bibliography at the end of this book.. Liao P'ing considered the Po hu t'ung as a compendium of the general doctrines contained in the Classics, and re-edited the work with the title of Ch'ün ching ta i by (1852-1932). It has been edited by Hung Ch'en-kuang , and is published in the Liu i kuan ts'ung shu . Liao P'ing has only made a selection of those passages which directly or indirectly concern the Classics. His work makes the impression of being incomplete.. Professor William Hung regarded it as important enough to be included in his Index SeriesNo. 2 of the Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series (1931).. Despite its strange contents the Po hu t'ung has not been shunned by Western and Japanese sinologues; it has been quoted by J. J. M. de Groot in his The Religious System of China (1892 ff.), by Edouard Chavannes in his Le dieu du sol dans la Chine antique (Le T'ai chan, 1910), by Berthold Laufer in his Jade (1912), by Bruno Schindler in his Das Priestertum im alten China (1918), by Otto Franke in his Studien zur Geschichte des konfuzianischen Dogmas und der chinesischen Staats-religion (1920), by Alfred Forke in his The World-conception of the Chinese (1925), by Erich Schmitt in his Die Grundlagen der chi- nesischen Ehe (1927), by Woo Kang in his Les trois thèories politiques du Tch'ouen ts'ieou (1932), by Wolfram Eberhard in his Beiträge zur kosmologischen Spekulation Chinas in der Han-Zeit (1933), by Marcel Granet in his La pensée chinoise (1934), by Kitamura Sawakichi in his Grundriss der Ju-lehre (1935). The mixed nature of the Po hu t'ung has led to its being quoted for a great variety of purposes, but it is strange that it has not been used more extensively by those who concern themselves with the interpretation of the Classics. Legge and Couvreur do not mention it in their translations of the Chinese Classics, Karlgren only occasionally cites the Po hu t'ung in his Glosses on the Odes, as does also Waley in his translation of the Analects Arthur Waley, The Analects (1938), p. 254; Bernhard Karlgren's Glosses appeared in the Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Vol. 14, 16, 17, and 18.. Is it because the work is suspect by reason of its mystical and theological interpretations? Is it because it was regarded as unorthodox by the official Confucianism of the Ch'ing period, so that the Imperial Catalogue of the Ch'ing Dynasty did not enter it in the section of the Classics, but in that of the Miscellaneous PhilosophersSsŭ k'u ch'üan shu tsung mu, ch. 118, 28, 2. The Po hu t'ung was still included in the section of the Classics ching in the Bibliographical Chapters of the Sui shu, the Chiu t'ang shu, the Hsin t'ang shu, the Sung shih, and in the Ch'ung wèn tsung mu.?

 2.The scholars who made a study of the Po hu t'ung

Indeed, the question is warranted whether the Po hu t'ung on the whole is genuine and reliable. May we see it as the true report of the discussions on the Classics in 79 A.D.? How should we regard the way in which the hundreds of quotations from the Classics are interpreted? To what extent can we use the numerous statements which are not supported by Classical passages? Do they represent ideas current in the first century A.D.A. Forke seems to take the book at its face value. In his Geschichte der mittelalterlichen chinesischen Philosophie (1934) he gives an outline of the world-conception contained in the Po hu t'ung (p. 137144), a work "welches für die Entwicklung der Naturphilosophie von Wichtigkeit ist" (p. 137). He accepts the authorship of Pan Ku.? Only comparatively recently have Chinese scholars occupied themselves with the Po hu t'ung and its problems. In 1784 Lu Wên-ch'ao published an edition with notes, which had been begun by Chuang Shu-tsu before 1777 (1717-1796), (1751-1816), see A. W. Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1943), p. 549 and 207. Chuang's and Lu's joint edition, named Po hu t'ung, was published in the Pao ching t'ang ts'ung shu .. Hung I-hsüan gave corrections on Lu's notes in his Tu shu ts'ung lu, preface of 1821 (1765-1837, Hummel, o.c., p. 244), , ch. 16, fol. 14b-18a.. Ch'ên Li wrote a new edition in 1832, supplying an abundance of notes and explanations, the value of which cannot be too highly estimated, style or (1809-1869). His edition, named Po hu t'ung shu chêng , appeared in the Huang ch'ing ching chieh hsü pien, ch. 1265-1276.; he seems not to have used Hung's re- marks. In 1894 Sun I-jang published additional notes on Lu Wên- ch'ao's and Ch'ên Li's editions (1848-1908, Hummel, o.c., p. 679), in his Cha i , ch. 10, fol. 1a-6a (preface of 1895).). Liu Shih-p'ei(1844-1919, Hummel, o.c., p. 536). made a profound study of the Po hu t'ung, first publishing extensive emendations on the explanations by Lu, Hung, Ch'ên, and Sun Po hu t'ung tê lun pu shih , which first appeared in the Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao (), Vol. 72-74 (1910)., then text- critical notes on Lu's, Chuang's, and Ch'ên's editionsPo hu t'ung i chiao pu , published in his Col- lected Works, the Liu shên shu hsien shêng i shu (1942)., studies on the lacunae of the Po hu t'ung Po hu t'ung i chüeh wên pu ting , Po hu t'ung ii wên k'ao , both in his Collected Works., and lastly his own edition of the text, which has, however, never been completed Po hu t'ung i ting pên , in his Collected Works. He only edited the first five chapters.. Wang Jên- chün composed a table of the quotations appearing in the Po hu t'ung, and wrote notes on the text (1866-1913), Po hu t'ung i yin shu piao , Po hu t'ung i chi chiao . See the Ts'ung shu ta tz'ŭ tien , s.v. Wang Jên-chün. I have not been able to consult these works.. There seems, finally, to be an edition of the Po hu t'ung by a certain Sun Hsing-hua, provided with a text-critical appendix (Ch'ing Dynasty), Po hu t'ung i, with chiao k'an chi , in 4 ch. It appeared in the Kuan chung ts'ung shu , which was printed in 1935. See the Ts'ung shu tzŭ mu shu ming so yin , p. 1190. I have not been able to see the book.. All these works are text-studies; they represent the efforts of the various scholars to supply the defects of the text as they found it, and to make the current Po hu t'ung intelligible.

With respect to the evaluation of the text--the question whether it is genuine or not--we have a number of studies by Chinese scholars, each arriving at his own conclusion. There was Chou Kuang-yeh , style , appellation (1730-1798). His remarks are included in the Preface of Lu Wen-ch'ao's edition., who discussed the entries in the Bibliographies. There was Chuang Shu-tsu, the editor of the Po hu t'ung text pub- lished by Lu Wên-ch'ao, who did the same on a more extensive scale Chuang Shu-tsu's study, the Po hu t'ung i k'ao , is also included in the Preface of Lu's edition.. Sun I-jang continued and elaborated the work done by these scholarsIn his Po hu t'ung i k'ao in 2 ch. Published in the Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, , Vol. 55, fol. 1a-4a.. Liu Shih-p'ei reviewed and revised the conclusions reached by his predecessors In his Po hu t'ung i yüan liu k'ao , first published in the Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, , Vol. 74, fol. 1a-2b.. Lastly the Po hu t'ung was subjected to a new examination by William Hung, who in his study employed quite different methods from those used by previous scholars In the Prolegomena of his Index to Po hu t'ung (1931). I have not been able to procure a recent study by Chin Tê-chien , in the Ku chi ts'ung k'ao , published in 1941. It was announced in the Monumenta Serica, Vol. VIII (1943), p. 338.. I shall give summaries of all these opinions, together with an extract of the description in the Imperial Catalogue. It may not be superfluous, however, to precede them with a translation of the passages from the History of the Later Han Dynasty, which contain the state- ments on the Po hu t'ung, and of the entries in the Bibliographical Chapters of the Dynastic Histories and in the various Catalogues, to which all the scholars constantly refer.

 3.The descriptions in the Hou han shu

In the Annals of Emperor Hsiao-chang Hou han shu, 3.8b ff. of the Po-na ed.) we read: "In the fourth year of [the period chien-ch'u], the eleventh month, on [the day] jên-hsü (23 December 79 A.D.) there was an Edict, which said: "The Three Dynasties [Hsia, Yin, and Chou], for the guidance of man, took teaching and learning as the basis. The Han [Dynasty], having received [the heritage from] the barbarous Ch'in [Dynasty], promo- ted and made illustrious the Confucian doctrines, and established Erudites po-shih . for the Five Classics, as a result of which learning advanced beautifully. And although [the scholars] said that they [only] continued [their] masters, there arose various famous Schools. The August Emperor Hsiao-hsüan, being of the opinion [that the scholars of his time were] far-removed from [the time of] the Sages, and that the [Classical] studies were not sufficiently extensive, erected [official chairs for] the Book of History of the Elder and the Younger Hsia-hou, and later for the Book of Change of Ching [Fang]. In [the period] chien-wu (25-56 A.D.) there were again appointed Erudites for the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yen [An-lo] and Chuang [P'êng-tsu], and for the Rites of the Elder and the Younger Tai See infra, p. 146.. All these [events] helped to advance the study of the hidden [meanings of the Classics], and honour and broaden the Way and its disciplines. In the first year of [the period] chung-yüan (56 A.D.) there was an Edict [of Emperor Hsiao-kuang-wu], stating that the [Expositions in] Chapters and Sentences of the Five Classics were too long-winded and numerous, and that deliberations should be held whether they might be reduced. In the first year of [the period] yung-p'ing (58 A.D.) the Colonel of the Ch'ang-shui [Cavalry Fan] Shu memorialized [to Emperor Hsiao-ming], saying that the great heritage of the former Emperors should be carried out according to [the exigen- cies of] the time, and suggesting the convening of Erudites to determine together the meaning of the Classics, so that students might be enabled [to know on what] to rely. Confucius said: 'Not to discuss thoroughly what is learnt is [the thing] I worry about' Lun yü, VII. 3.. Further: 'Studying extensively and with an earnest determination, inquiring earnestly and thinking for oneself, therein lies consideration for others' Ibid., XIX. 6.. Ah, how diligent [Confucius was in the matter of studies]!" Thereupon [Emperor Hsiao-chang] ordered the Grand Master of Ceremonies to convene the Great Officers, Erudites, Gentlemen- consultants, and Gentlemen, together with Masters and Confucians, in the Po-hu kuan ., and have them expound and discuss the similarities and differences of the Five Classics. He ordered Wei Ying, the General Over All the Offices of the Gentlemen-at-the- Palace, to receive the Imperial decree to ask questions, and Shun-yü Kung, the Palace Attendant, to memorialize [the replies]. The Emperor in person pronounced Imperial verdicts The expression ch'êng-chih is curious here. Acc. to the Tz'ŭ ha (s.v.) it is usually said of an Empress who as Regent issues Edicts., and attended to decide [disputed points], as in the precedent case of [Emperor] Hsiao-hsüan in [the period] kan-lu (53-50 B.C.) at the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion The discussions of 51 B.C., see infra, p. 92.. There was composed the Po hu i tsou ([Commentary of Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ = Li Hsien:], the present Po hu t'ung)" (651-684) . In the main I have adopted Professor Dubs' rendering of the titles in his translation of the History of the Former Han Dynasty..

The Preface to the Ju lin chuan ; Hou han shu, 79 (69 ). 3a. contains the following statement: "In [the period] chien-ch'u (76-84 A.D.) there was a great gathering of Confucians in the Po-hu kuan, who examined minutely the sim- ilarities and differences [of the Classics. The discussions] only ended after several months. Su-tsung [Emperor Hsiao-chang] attended in person, and pronounced Imperial verdicts, as in the precedent case of the Shih-ch'ü [discussions. The Emperor] ordered the historio- graphers to write and make a t'ung-i ([Commentary:] that is now the Po hu t'ung-i)" ([:] (should be ) (should be ) )..

The Biography of Pan Ku Hou han shu, 40 (30 ). 15a. contains the passage: "The Son of Heaven convened the Confucians to deliberate on [the meaning of] the Five Classics, and to make [as the result thereof] the Po hu t'ung tê lun. He ordered [Pan] Ku to compose and gather the material" ..

 4.The descriptions in the Bibliographies

The Bibliographical Chapter in the Sui shu mentions a Po hu t'ung in six chuän, literally "scroll", see Charles S. Gardner, Chinese Traditional Histo- riography (1935), p. 41. Sui shu ching chi chih, 32 (27). 28a of the Po-na ed. The work was compiled under Imperial auspices by Chang-sun Wu-chi and others, and presented to the Emperor in 656 A.D. See Têeng Ssŭ -yü and Knight Biggerstaff, An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Chinese Reference Works (1936), p. 9..

The same Chapter in the Chiu t'ang shu gives a Po hu t'ung in six chüan, but an additional note says: composed [in the time of] Han Chang-ti (76-89 A.D.)Chiu t'ang shu ching chi chih, 26. 12a of the Po-na ed. The Chiu t'ang shu was composed by Liu Hsü (887-946) and others..

The Bibliographical Chapter in the Hsin t'ang shu gives a Po hu t'ung i by Pan Ku and others, in six chüanHsin t'ang shu i wên chih, 47.9a of the Po-na ed. The Hsin t'ang shu was composed by Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072) and others..

The Ch'ung wên tsung mu gives a Po hu t'ung tê lun in ten chuan; the Original Descriptive Notes add: composed by Pan Ku of the Later Han, in all fourteen p'ien, 1. 39a of the Han yün chai ts'ung shu ed. The Ch'ung wên tsung mu is a catalogue of the Imperial collection of the Sung Dynasty in the middle of the eleventh century. It was compiled under Imperial auspices by Wang Yao-ch'ên (1001-1056) and others between 1034 and 1038. See Têng Ssŭ -yü, o.c., p. 13. For p'ien "subject-section", cf. Gardner, l.c..

The Bibliographical Chapter of the T'ung chih gives a Po hu t'ung in six chüan, with an additional note: [composed by] Pan Ku and othersT'ung chih i wên lüeh, 63. 762 of the Commercial Press ed. The T'ung chih, "an encyclopaedia dealing with government", was compiled by Chêng Ch'iao (1104-1162). See Têng Ssŭ -yü, o.c., p. 130..

The Chün chai tu shu chih gives a Po hu t'ung tê lun in ten chüan, 4. 5b of Wang Hsien-ch'ien's ed. of 1884. It is a catalogue of two private Sung collections, compiled by Ch'ao Kung-wu, compiler's preface dated 1151 (Têng Ssŭ -yü, o.c., p. 15)..

The Chih chai shu lu chieh t'i mentions a Po hu t'ung in ten chüan, with an additional note: in all forty-four mên, i.e. sections. , 3. 24a of the Chiang-su shu-chü ed. of 1883. It is a catalogue of works preserved by the compiler Ch'ên Chên-sun , who was an official between 1234 and 1236 (Têng Ssŭ - yü, o.c., p. 17)..

The Bibliographical Chapter of the Sung shih gives a Po hu t'ung of Pan Ku in ten chüan.Sung shih i wên chih, 202 (155). 25b of the Po-na ed. The Sung shih was compiled by T'o-t'o and others in the Yüan Dynasty (1206-1342).

The oldest extant edition of 1305 A.D., reprinted in the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an, contains ten chüan and forty-three headings, and is called Po hu t'ung tê lunThe table of contents gives 44 headings, but the two in chüan 7, and , properly constitute only one. There is an earlier edition of the Po hu t'ung, probably of the Northern Sung (960-1126), which Lu Wên-ch'ao calls the "Old Edition with Small Characters" . Originally having ten chüan it was re-divided into two chüan. I have not been able to ascertain what was the title of this edition..

 5.Opinion of the Ssŭ -k'u editors

The Imperial Catalogue of the Ch'ing DynastySee note 5. describes a current edition of the Po hu t'ung i in four chüan, and points out the varying descriptions in the Sui shu, [Hsin] t'ang shu, Ch'ung wên tsung mu, and [Chih chai] shu lu chieh t'i. This edition goes back to an edition in forty-four p'ien, which was owned by a certain Liu Shih-ch'ang in the period ta-tê of the Yüan Dynasty (1297- 1308); it is probably the same as that mentioned in the Ch'ung wên tsung mu and the Shu lu chieh t'i, except for the number of chüan, which is ten in both these Catalogues. The fourteen p'ien in the Ch'ung wên tsung mu is clearly a mistake for forty-four. Chu I in his I chüeh liao tsa chi(1098-1167), . Chu I's statement occurs in ch. . 20b of the ed. in the Chih pu tsu chai ts'ung shu ., on account of the fact that a passage from the Po hu t'ung quoted in the Commentary on the Hsün tzŭ is not to be found in the then extant copy, concludes that the work must be a forgery; this is, the editors of the Imperial Catalogue proceed, not an argument to be taken seriously. The general name for the Memorial- ized Discussions in the Po-hu kuan was Po hu t'ung tê lun, which name occurs in the Biography of Pan Ku, and there was no mention of the name Po hu t'ung i as yet in all the statements about the discussions. It is only in the Preface to the Ju lin chuan that the name t'ung-i is given, which the Commentary of Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ identifies as 'the present Po hu t'ung i'. This clearly proves that only after Pan Ku had 'composed and gathered [the material]' [], cf. n. 35. was the book named t'ung-i. This name [Po hu t'ung i], occurring also in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Hsin t'ang shu, is the original one, and the Ch'ung wêntsung mu by naming it Po hu t'ung tê lun has missed the point. The omission of i in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu was only due to the habit of abbreviation. In the transmission the original name was forgotten. The book quotes, besides the Six Classics and the Transmitted RecordsChuan-chi , i.e., the Lün yü, Erh ya, etc., see infra, p. 84., also the wei and the ch'an, see infra, p. 100., which were in favour with the Later Han, and also the lost chapters of the Rites. There was a Po hu t'ung t'i wei by Jên Ch'i-yün by (1670-1744, Hummel, Eminent Chinese, p. 344)., which is not preserved.

 6.Chou Kuang-yeh's opinion

Though, says Chou Kuang-yeh, in the Biography of Pan Ku the name Po hu t'ung tê lun occurs, it is only with the Ch'ung wên tsung mu that this name began to be adopted. The Bibliographical Chapters of the Dynastic Histories from the Chin down to the T'ang, as well as the hundreds of quotations in the Commentaries on the Classics, all say: Po hu t'ung. Even the quotation by Miu Hsi, recorded in the Nan ch'i shu, is stated to be from the Po hu t'ung See infra, n. 126.. Is it probable that all these early scholars should have omitted the words tê-lun so carelessly? In fact, the Po hu t'ung tê lun referred to two works, viz. the Po hu t'ung and the Kung tê lun, of which a quotation occurs in Li Shan's Commentary on the Wên hsüan, and which is there ascribed to Pan Ku, 55. 19a of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. The quotation reads: . See n. 90.. The word kung has probably inadvertently been dropped. T'ung now was the general name for an explanation of the Classics, and so the book was rightly entered in the Sui shu as Po hu t'ung. The name t'ung-i only occurs in the Ju lin chuan of the Hou han shu. K'ung Ying-ta in his Sub-commen- tary on the Tso chuan, Yin 5th yearTso chuan chu shu, 2. 25b, the chêng-i of (574-648)., adopted it, and the Sub- commentaries on the Hsiao ching, Erh ya, etc. by Sung scholars followed suit. The name Po hu t'ung tê lun, however, adopted by Ming and Yüan editions of the work, is a mistake committed after the example of the Ch'ung wên tsung mu.

 7.Chuang Shu-tsu's opinion

Comparing the descriptions of the Po hu t'ung or Po hu t'ung i or Po hu t'ung tê lun in the Bibliographical Chapters of the Dynastic Histories and in the Catalogues, Chuang Shu-tsuSee n. 19. arrives at the conclusion that, whereas ancient books were generally handed down more and more incompletely throughout the ages, the Po hu t'ung i has increased its number of chüan and p'ien in the course of time. So in the Sui shu and the [Chiu and Hsin] t'ang shu the number of chüan is given as six, in the Ch'ung wên tsung mu, however, as ten. The Ch'ung wên tsung mu gives forty p'ienChuang's statement is a mistake. The Ch'ung wên tsung mu says: fourteen p'ien, which is merely an error for forty-four p'ien, cf. the opinion of the Imperial Catalogue on p. 9, supra., but the present edition [of the Po hu t'ung] has forty-three. Therefore all the chapters which occur in the present edition belong to the class of later forgeries.

In Ts'ai Yung's Pa chün t'ai shou hsieh piao by (133-192). It occurs in the Ch'üan shang ku san tai ch'in han san kuo liu ch'ao wên by Yen K'o-chün (1762-1843). The quotation is to be found in section Hou han wên, 71. 6a of the photographic reprint of the 1894 ed. three works are mentioned: the Li ching su tzŭ , the Shang shu chang chü, and the Po hu i tsou, together constituting 212 chüan. As the first two works together do not make one hundred chüan, the Po hu i tsou must have contained more than one hundred chüan, and cannot, there- fore, be the same as the present [Po hu] t'ung i. Chuang takes the first work to be the Li ku ching in 56 chüan (mentioned in the Han shu i wên chih, 30. 10a), the second to be one of the chang-chü of Ou-yang, of the Elder Hsia-hou, or of the Younger Hsia-hou, that of Ou-yang containing the greatest number of chüan, viz. 31 (Han shu i wên chih, 30. 6a-b)..

In his K'un hsüeh chi wên Wang Ying-lin by (1223-1296); ch. 7, fol. 5a of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. refers to a quotation from the Po hu t'ung i occurring in the Sub-commentary on the Tso chuan See n. 55., which is missing in the edition in ten chüan current in his time, and wonders if this edition might be an incomplete one. Thus not only was the number of chüan in the Sung edition different from that of the present one, but the Sung edition was already deficient.

The Annals of Emperor [Hsiao-] chang speak of the composing of the Po hu i tsou, which [Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ 's] Commentary iden- tifies as 'the present Po hu t'ung'. But the Ju lin chuan [of the Hou han shu] mentions a t'ung-i, which is identified as 'the Po hu t'ung i now'. As in the time of the Sui and the T'ang the [Po hu] i tsou was already lost, the commentator's identification [of the Po hu i tsou] with the Po hu t'ung is wrong.

Previous to Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ the error of calling the Memo- rialized Discussions of the Po-hu kuan the Po hu t'ung was already committed by Yüan Hung (328-376) in his Hou han chi , 11. 13b of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. The quotation reads: "In the autumn of the fourth year of [the period] chien-ch'u (79 A.D.) an Imperial Edict [ordered] the convening of Confucian scholars in the Po-hu kuan to discuss the similarities and differences of the Five Classics [, the report of which was] called Po hu t'ung". and Tsu T'ing (± 550 A.D.) in a letter to the Throne, quoted in the San kuo tien lüeh by Ch'iu Yüeh (± 710 A.D.), which has not been preserved (the Bibliographical Chapter of the Hsin t'ang shu mentions it as a work in 30 chüan, that of the Sung shih as a work in 20 chüan). It is profusely quoted by the T'ai p'ing yü lan. This particular passage occurs in ch. 601, fol. 4b, and reads: "Formerly, the Confucian scholars in the time of the Han gathered (, Chuang writes ) to discuss the Classics and their transmission, and to memorialize [the results] in the Po-hu ko, therefore [the report was] called Po hu t'ung"..

The [Po hu] t'ung i is really an extract of the Memorialized Dis- cussions i-tsou. These Memorialized Discussions were lost at a very early date; from the Chin Dynasty onwards (265 A.D.) few scholars have been able to speak about them.

 8.Sun I-jang's opinion

Sun I-jangSee n. 20. agrees with Chuang Shu-tsu: it is wrong to identify the Po hu t'ung (i) with the [Po hu] i tsou, as was done by Yüan Hung in his Hou han chi, Tsu T'ing in his letter to the Throne quoted in the San kuo tien lüehSee n. 63., and Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ 's Commentary on the Hou han shu. The Po hu i tsou containing far more chüan than the Po hu t'ung i, the two works are different, though both arise from [the discussions in] the Po-hu kuan. However, it is not right to say that besides the [Po hu] i tsou there was a separate [Po hu] t'ung i, for such a statement would assume a great carelessness on the part of Fan Yeh(398-445), composer of the Hou han shu., Yüan Hung, and Li Hsien (Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ ). The discussions in the Po-hu kuan were on the pattern of those in the Shih-ch'ü ko, and the Memorialized Discussions i-tsou of the former should also have followed the example of those of the latter. The Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu mentions an i-tsou of the Book of History in 42 p'ien, an i-tsou of the Rites in 38 p'ien, an i-tsou of the Spring and Autumn Annals in 39 p'ien, an i-tsou of the Analects in 18 p'ien, all stated to be the reports of the Shih-ch'ü discussionsCh'ien han shu, ch. 30, fol. 7a, 12b, 17a, 20a.; besides there is an entry of the Wu ching tsa i in 18 p'ien, which is also connected with the Shih-ch'ü discussions, ibid., 30. 21b.. Together they make 155 p'ien. Thus it appears that the results of these discussions were contained in books each dealing with one special ClassicThe Shu, the Li, the Ch'un ch'iu, and the Lun yü. According to Ch'ien Ta-chao (quoted by Wang Hsien-ch'ien in the Ch'ien han shu pu chu, 8. 23a) there should also have been an i-tsou of the Book of Change, and an i-tsou of the Book of Poetry; Pan Ku merely failed to record them. Cf. also Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty (1944), Vol. II, p. 273., and a book dealing with all the Five Classics, all together forming one work. Of the first category the Discussions on the Rites, the Shih ch'ü li lun, still figure in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shuin 4 chüan; Sui shu, 32 (27). 17a., while some fragments have been pre- served by Tu Yu in his T'ung tien by (735-812). Ma Kuo-han (1794-1857, see Hummel, o.c., p. 557) has edited the Shih ch'ü li lun in his Yü han (shan tang chi i shu) , 28. 31a-37b, making use of the quotations in the T'ung tien and the Sub-commentaries on the Shih and the Li chi.. The style differs widely from that of the Po hu t'ung i Cf. infra, p. 128ff.. The Wu ching tsa i has not been preserved, neither has it ever been quotedThe Bibliographical Chapter of the Chiu t'ang shu, 26. 12b, mentions a Wu ching tsa i in 7 chüan by Liu Hsiang (79-8 B.C.). Sun I-jang agrees with Wang Ying-lin and Chu I-tsun (1629- 1709), who identify this work with the original Wu ching tsa i. Only the addition of the name of Liu Hsiang is a mistake., but judging from the style of the Wu ching t'ung i and the Wu ching yao i in 9 chüan; in 5 chüan, both ascribed to Liu Hsiang in the Chiu t'ang shu, l.c. The first work has been re-edited from quotations by Ma Kuo-han (Yü han, 52. 2a-13b)., of which there are many quotations, and which probably were only different editions of the Wu ching tsa i, it had the same style as the Po hu t'ung i, and differed from the catechetical form of the Shih ch'ü li lun, so that it was not called i-tsou. We must assume that, since the Po-hu discussions were on the pattern of the Shih-ch'ü discussions, there must have been an i-tsou of each of the Classics, and a 'Miscellaneous Discussions' of all the Classics together, i.e., there must have been a Po hu i tsou plus a Po hu t'ung i, forming one work. Or, in other words, the Po hu t'ung i's relation to the Po-hu discussions is the same as that of the Wu ching tsa i to the Shih-ch'ü discussions. Ts'ai Yung was still able to see the whole work, which, like the i-tsou and the Wu ching tsa i, consisted of more than one hundred chüan. After the Chin this complete work gradually got lost, while only the [Po hu] t'ung i was faithfully transmitted as a separate copy. Thus the name Po-hu, indicating its origin, was preserved, but its character of tsa-i 'Miscellaneous Discussions' was not recognized. If we remember that the [Po hu] t'ung i is only part of the [Po hu] i tsou, the confusion about the names is cleared up, and the statements in the Hou han shu no longer seem contradictory. For the [Po hu] i tsou, mentioned in the Annals, dealing with the Classics one by one, are there said to have been composed by all the Confucian scholarsSee n. 31. The Annals, however, do not explicitly say so., while the [Po hu] t'ung i is, in the Biography of Pan Ku, ascribed to Pan Ku alone, under the name of [Po hu] t'ung tê lunSee n. 35.. It is in the Preface to the Ju lin chuan that t'ung-i is used instead of i-tsouSee n. 33., but this is a mistake committed by Fan Yeh, who was probably influenced by Yüan Hung and othersSee n. 62., the complete Po hu i tsou being no longer available.

Referring to the different entries in the Bibliographies and Cat- alogues, Sun expresses as his opinion that Po hu t'ung i was the original name. He rejects Chou Kuang-yeh's suggestion that Po hu t'ung tê lun refers to two works; it is merely an error caused by first changing t'ung-i into t'ung-lun, as Shih ch'ü li i was changed into Shih ch'ü li lun; afterwards by adding the word tê. The edition seen by Fan Yeh probably had this name already (Liu Hsieh in his Wên hsin tiao lung e.g. describes the Po hu t'ung as a lun; by (± 470 A.D.), 4. 59 of the Kuo hsüeh chi pên ts'ung shu chien pien ed.), there- fore Fan Yeh in the Biography of Pan Ku used the name Po hu t'ung tê lun. It was not the Ch'ung wên tsung mu, which began with this [wrong] nameAs was affirmed by Chou Kuang-Yeh, see supra p. 11.. Po hu t'ung is only an abbreviation of Po hu t'ung i. T'ung means the same as tsa ., viz. 'not restricted to one Classic', 'stringing together all the Classics'. I and i may be used indiscriminately . As proof Sun refers to the entries of the Wu ching tsa i in the Han shu and the Chiu t'ang shu, see n. 68 and 73.. The Po hu t'ung i, in fact, is of the same character as the [Shih ch'ü] wu ching tsa i. In the T'ang and the Sung both names [Po hu] t'ung i and [Po hu] t'ung tê lun were current. There- fore the Sub-commentaries on the Tso chuan, the Erh ya, the Hsiao ching, as well as Li Hsien's Commentary on the Hou han shuand Wang Ying-lin's K'un hsüeh chi wên, all quote from the [Po hu] t'ung i. This edition, however, disappeared, and was unavailable in the Yüan and Ming Dynasties; what was known was the edition with the title [Po hu] t'ung tê lun. The name Po hu t'ung i, adopted by the Imperial Catalogue of the Ch'ing Dynasty, is correct, so is the title Po hu t'ung tê lun, which goes back to the Sung, Yüan, and Ming editions. The name Po hu t'ung, adopted by Lu Wên-ch'aoSee n. 7., however, is wrong.

 9.Liu Shih-p'ei's opinion

Liu Shih-p'eiSee n. 21. does not quite agree with either Chuang Shu-tsu or Sung I-jang. The procedure of the discussions in the Po-hu kuan is clearly described in the Annals of Emperor Hsiao-chang: Wei Ying was to ask questions, Shun-yü Kung was to memorialize the replies, the Emperor then in person attended, pronouced verdicts, and gave decisions. That was the way in which the Han Confucians deliberated on the Classics; each advocated his master's discipline, and if their opinions clashed, it was recorded in the report, together with the arguments. After the Emperor's personal decision a decree was issued, in which approved and rejected opinions were clearly distin- guished. The Shih ch'ü li lun, preserved as quotations in the T'ung tien, illustrates this procedure, therefore it contains the names of all the disputantsCf. infra, p. 128ff.. The reports on the discussions in the Shih-ch'ü ko and in the Po-hu kuan are both tsou-i or i-tsou. The t'ung-i, however, is different. Here only one opinion is recorded, for it is the final form of the results of the discussions, after the Imperial decisions had been pronounced. Tsou-i and t'ung-i continue to exist side by side; the former is the detailed report with all the deviating opinions, the latter is the summing-up of the Imperial decisions, composed by the historiographers ., as stated in the Preface to the Ju lin chuan of the Hou han shu. It is not a selection detached from the tsou-i, as the Wu ching tsa i is a selection detached from the Shih ch'ü tsou i. The wording of the Biography of Pan Ku is also clear: Pan Ku was ordered 'to compose and collect' . the material, i.e., he collected it from various sources, but composed a piece of his own with it. Both the Shih ch'ü tsou i and the Po hu tsou i had a t'ung-i, i.e., a 'Meaning of the Combined Classics', which only recorded one opinion Liu Shih-p'ei refers to the Biography of Ts'ai Yung, where it is said that "anciently, [Emperor] Hsiao-hsüan convened the Confucians at the Shih-ch'ü [ko], and Emperor [Hsiao-] chang gathered the scholars at the Po-hu [kuan], to combine the Classics and elucidate their meaning " (Hou han shu, 60 (50 ). 19a).. (The present Po hu t'ung i does record de- viating opinions, but to a negligible extent). The name Po hu t'ung is an abbreviation of Po hu t'ung i. With respect to the title of Po hu t'ung tê lun, Liu agrees with Chou Kuang-yeh, but goes a step further: the Po hu t'ung (i) was composed and collected by the historiographers, the Kung tê lun was composed by Pan Ku alone Liu is not quite clear, cf. n. 87. Probably he means to say that Pan Ku as one of the historiographers took part in the composing of the Po hu t'ung i. In fact, he thinks that the entry in the Hsin t'ang shu: "Po hu t'ung i by Pan Ku and others" (see n. 38) is correct.. The t'ung-i was a report of the discussions on the Classics, the Kung tê lun, judging from its style Liu does not use the quotation from the Commentary on the Wên hsüan (see n. 54), but that from the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao by Yü Shih-nan (558-638), ch. 40, fol. 3a of the 1888 ed. by K'ung Kuang-t'ao , which is somewhat different. The Ch'üan shang ku san tai ch'in han san kuo liu ch'ao wên (see n. 58), section Hou han wên, 25. 6b, again gives a different, and fuller, quotation, which reads: "At present the Court is illustrious, and [all] within the seas are in peace; from his rest [the Emperor] commands the Vermilion Carriage Officials, as the wind soars above the plains of the Lung-tui [desert]"., was a commemoration of the event, which testified to the Emperor's Accomplished Spiritual Power. The confusion about the names arose, when the tsou-i, which was still extant in the period between the reigns of Huan-ti (147- 167) and Ling-ti (168-184) was lost. The name Po hu t'ung tê lun first appears in the Ch'ung wên tsung mu, as a work of Pan Ku, which statement is based on the ambiguous passage in the Biography of Pan Ku. Lu Wên-ch'ao, who drops tê-lun; Sun I-jang, who recognizes [Po hu] t'ung i as the correct title, but says that [Po hu] t'ung tê lun originated from the time of the Six Dynasties; Ch'ien T'ung, who regards Po hu t'ung tê lun as the original name, which was changed into Po hu t'ung i, and later abbreviated into Po hu t'ung(1778-1815), who with his brother Ch'ien Tung-yüan (d. 1824) edited the Ch'ung wên tsung mu, see Hummel, Eminent Chinese, p. 152. The statement is to be found in the Ch'ung wên tsung mu, 1. 39a., are all more or less wrong.

 10.Appraisal of their opinions

We see that our scholars thus far limited themselves to the dis- cussion and explanation of the discrepancies in the statements about the Po hu t'ung. They did not enter into the problem of its authenticity, and all of them seemed to accept it as, in any case, having some bearing on the discussions in the Po-hu kuan. Even Chuang Shu-tsu, who began with denying the genuineness of the present text--on grounds which have already been condemned by Karlgren in his The Authenticity of Ancient Chinese TextsThe Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Bulletin No. 1 (1929), p. 165 ff. -- ended with saying that it is an extract of the, lost, Memorialized Discussions.

It is useless to try to reconcile the conflicting statements re- garding the number of chüan and p'ien in the Bibliographies and Catalogues, and, failing to do so, to pronounce a work spurious. Re-arrangements, and the cutting up of sections and books are nothing uncommon Karlgren, o.c., p. 170., and the ten chüan given here, the six chüan given there, can easily be attributed to such a re-arrangement.

As to the puzzle of the different titles in the Hou han shu, the solutions offered by the scholars are far from being in agreement. The correct name is considered to be Po hu t'ung i (Imperial Cata- logue, Sun I-jang, Liu Shih-p'ei); Po hu t'ung (Chou Kuang-yeh, Lu Wên-ch'ao); Po hu t'ung tê lun (Sun I-jang, Ch'ien T'ung). The Po hu t'ung i has nothing to do with the Po hu i tsou (Chuang Shu- tsu); it is a kind of Wu ching tsa i (Sun I-jang); it is a short summary (Liu Shih-p'ei). We have little to add to these explanations, which are chiefly based on 'external evidence'. They are ingenious and scholarly, as was to be expected, but some arbitrariness can certainly not be denied. For the attempts to explain away the discrepancies in Fan Yeh's statements require a good deal of hypothetical interpretation, which differs according to the way the scholars look at the material. But they never seem to doubt the authorship or partial authorship of Pan Ku, neither do they try to deny the relationship between the present Po hu t'ung and the discussions in the Po-hu kuan. It was left to William Hung to consider these points and therewith to tackle the problem of the Po hu t'ung from a new point of view.

 11.William Hung's opinion

After giving brief summaries of the entries in the Bibliographies and Catalogues, and of the opinions of Chou Kuang-yeh, Chuang Shu-tsu, and Sun I-jang, Professor HungSee n. 22. poses the following questions. Is the Po hu t'ung really by Pan Ku? Has it indeed some relation with the discussions in the Po-hu kuan, at which Emperor [Hsiao-] chang was present in person and gave decisions? Can it perhaps be a work of the San-kuo period (220-245 A.D)? An examination of the works written by Pan Ku reveals the fact that their style shows a great difference from that of the Po hu t'ung. As an example Hung takes the passage on the names of the music of the ancient Sover- eigns and their meaning, occurring in the chapter on Rites and Music of the Po hu t'ung, and compares it with the corresponding passage in the Li chi (from which the Po hu t'ung passage is said to be quoted), the chapter on Rites and Music of the Ch'ien han shu, and the Yüeh wei, i.e. the Apocryphal Books of Music, cf. infra, p. 103.. The complicated argumentation may be summarized as follows:

The Li chi gives no list of the ancient Sovereigns and the names of their music.

The Han shuCh. , Ch'ien han shu, ch. 22, fol. 8a-9a. says:

"Anciently, Huang-ti created the Hsien-shih [music], Chuan- hsü created the Liu-hêng, Ti-k'u created the Wu-ying, Yao created the Ta-chang, Shun created the Shao, Yü created the Hsia, T'ang created the Hu, King Wu created the Wu, the Duke of Chou created the Cho".

The Li wei From a quotation in the Ch'u hsüeh chi (by Hsü Chien (659-729) and others), 15. 2b of the Ku hsiang chai hsiu chên shih chung ed. It is also quoted, with a few differences, in K'ung Ying-ta's Sub- commentary on the Li chi (ch. , Li chi chu shu, 38. 3b). Hung thinks that by the Yüeh wei is meant the Chi yao chia; Ma Kuo-han, however, includes the passage in the Tung shêng i (Yü han, 54.46a). says:

"The music of Huang-ti was called Hsien-shih, that of Chuan- hsü was called Wu-hêng, that of Ti-k'u was called Liu-ying, that of Yao was called Ta-chang, that of Shun was called Hsiao-shao, that of Yü was called Ta-hsia, that of the Yin [Dynasty] was called Ta-hu, that of the Chou [Dynasty] was called Cho or Ta-wu.

The Po hu t'ung says In the translation par. 44 d-m.:

"The music of Huang-ti was called Hsien-shih . ., the music of Chuan-hsü was called Liu-hêng . . ., the music of Ti-k'u was called Wu-ying, . . the music of Yao was called Ta-chang . ., the music of Shun was called Hsiao-shao . . ., the music of Yü was called Ta-hsia . . ., the music of T'ang was called Ta-hu . . ., the music of the Duke of Chou was called Cho . ., the music of King Wu was called Hsiang . . ., when united together [the music of Chou was] called Ta-wu".

How are these names explained in the works quoted?

The Li chi says:

"Ta-chang expresses the brilliance [of Yao]; Hsien-shih ex- presses the completeness [of Huang-ti]; Shao means chi 'to continue'; Hsia means ta 'great"' ; ch. , Li chi chu shu, 38. 2b; Couvreur, II. 68; Legge, II. 106..

The Han shu explains:

"Cho means to be able to deliberate on the ways of the ancestors; Wu means to pacify all under Heaven by means of a [military] attack; Hu means to save the people; Hsia means greatly to re- ceive [and continue the ways of] the two Emperors [Yao and Shun]; Shao [means] to continue Yao; Ta-chang expresses the brilliance [of Yao; in] Wu-ying [the word] ying means to flower and blossom; Liu-hêng [means] to reach to the roots and stems; Hsien-shih expresses the completeness [of Huang-ti]" ; Ch'ien han shu, ch. , 22. 9a-b..

The Commentary on the Yüeh weiCh'u hsüeh chi, l.c.; Ma Kuo-han, l.c. (with some deviations). gives the following ex- planation:

"(For the music of Huang-ti:) Shih . is pronounced shih ., the Way was extended shih to the people, therefore it was called Hsien-shih. (For the music of Chuan-hsü:) The Way had its roots and stems, therefore it was called Wu-hêng. (For the music of Ti-k'u:) The Way had its flowers and blossoms, therefore it was called Liu-ying. (For the music of Yao:) In the time of Yao [the virtues of] consideration for others and [observation] of the right principles were greatly practised, while laws and measures were clear, therefore it was called Ta-chang. (For the music of Shun:) Shao means chi 'to continue'; Shun continued what was left by Yao, and followed [Yao's] practising of the Way, therefore it was called Hsiao-shao. (For the music of Yü:) Yü received [and con- tinued] the Way that was left by the two Emperors [Yao and Shun], and paid attention to [the bringing about of] general peace, therefore it was called Ta-hsia. (For the music of the Yin Dynasty:) T'ang arose by receiving the decaying [Empire], he guarded the way of the ancient Kings, therefore it was called Ta-hu. (For the music of the Chou Dynasty:) The Chou arose by receiving the decaying [Empire], they deliberated on the ways of Wên and Wu, therefore it was called Cho".

The explanation by the Po hu t'ung, l.c., reads:

"(Hsien-shih) means that [during the reign of Huang-ti] the Way was greatly extended shih to all under Heaven, and put into practise; everything hsien that was created by Heaven and was contained in Earth, was bestowed [on the people], and its spiritual power extended shih unto them. (Liu-hêng) means that in it the [Six Musical Pitch-pipes] lü were in consonant use with the [other Six Pitch-pipes] lü, [thus] harmonizing the yin and the yang; hêng 'stem' is that by which the ten thousand things are made visible. (Wu-ying) means that [Ti-k'u] was able to harmon- ize the Five Notes, in order to nourish the ten thousand things and season their blossoming. (Ta-chang) means that [Yao] had greatly made illustrious the Way of Heaven, Earth, and Man. (Hsiao-shao) means that [Shun] was able to continue the way of Yao. (Ta-hsia) means that [Yü] was able to follow and put into practise the way of the two Sages [Yao and Shun], therefore [his music was] called Ta-hsia. (Ta-hu) means that, when [T'ang] received [the continuation of] the decaying [Empire], he was able to meet hu the people's needs. (Cho) means that, when the Duke of Chou assisted King Ch'êng, he was able to deliberate chên-cho upon the ways of Wên and Wu, and bring them to completion. (Hsiang) means that it was made to represent hsiang [the achieve- ment of] general peace; it was an expression of [the fact that] general peace was already [prevailing again]. (Ta-wu) means that all under Heaven at last rejoiced, when [the House of] Chou took up arms hsing-wu for the expedition [against the House of Yin]".

From these passages Hung deduces the following conclusion: the text of the Li chi is the earliest, then follows the Yüeh wei, then the Han shu, then the Commentary on the Yüeh wei, lastly the Po hu t'ung. In fact, the passage in the Po hu t'ung is a combination of that of the Han shu, faultily copied, and that of the Commentary on the Yüeh wei. If the Po hu t'ung were from the same hand, viz. Pan Ku's, why should their statements be so different? If the Han shu were after the Po hu t'ung, why did Pan Ku neglect his own fuller explanations? If the Po hu t'ung were after the Han shu, is it not strange that Ying Shao in his Fêng su t'ung i by (end 2nd cent. A.D.). The passage on the names of the music and their meaning occurs in ch. 6, fol. 1a of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. did not copy the former's explanations on the names of the music of the ancient Kings, so much more elaborate than the Han shu's, and, besides, authorized by the Emperor himself, but followed the latter's wording? The Po hu t'ung is not only after the Han shu, but even after the Fêng su t'ung i. This is corroborated by the fact that the commentator on the Yüeh wei must have lived later than the, date of the Po-hu discussions. He was a man by the name of Sung Chün . But he cannot have been the Sung Chün who was Governor of Ho-nei, whose style was Shu-hsiang, and who died in 76 A.D. ; see his Biography in the Hou han shu, 41 (31). 19a ff., because this was a very active official, and certainly would not have had the time to write Commentaries on the Apocryphal Books This argumentation is really incredible; it is common knowledge that Chinese scholars were mostly active officials at the same time. Besides, we can read in Sung Chün's Biography l.c., that in his youth he was fond of the study of the Classics, and that every 'week-end' he received instruction from a po-shih, so that he became well-versed in the Book of Poetry, the Book of Rites, and in argumentation; when he was chief of the district of Chên-yang, he founded schools to combat the superstitious beliefs of the people. Yet Hung is undoubtedly right in denying Sung Chün the authorship of the wei Commentaries. Hui Tung (1697-1758, see Hummel, o.c., p. 357) thinks that is a mistake for Tsung Chün (Hou han shu pu chu, 10. 44a of the Kuangya ed., quoted by Hung). The Fêng su t'ung i (2. 17b) relates a story of Sung Chün driving tigers away; Lu Wên-ch'ao in his Text-critical Notes on the Fêng su t'ung (Pao ching t'ang ts'ung shu, 6a) also remarks that Sung is a mistake for Tsung. The Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu, chapter on the Apocryphal Books (32 (27). 29b), mentions a Shih wei in 18 chüan, with a Commen- tary by Sung Chün, a po-shih of the Wei [Dynasty] (220-265 A.D.). In his edition of the Apocryphal Books Ma Kuo-han also indicates the commentator as Sung Chün of the Wei, while in the Shui ching chu by Li Tao-yüan (d. 527 A.D.) the Yüeh wei is quoted, followed by the statement (34. 4a of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed.). The Classified Catalogue of Chinese Books of the Harvard Yenching Institute, Section Classics (1938), mentions as the commentator of the wei Sung Chün, but where he is rightly assigned to the Wei [Dynasty], his style is wrongly given as Shu-hsiang (see e.g. p. 102, Shih wei). On the other hand Sung Chün mentioned as his 'former Master' (cf. for the expression R. des Rotours, Le traitè des examens, 1932, p. 169, n. 4) Chêng Ssŭ -nung (T'ang hui yao, 77. 9a of the Chiang-su ed. of 1884, quoted also in the Pai ching t'ang ts'ung shu ed. of the Liu i lun , fol. 4b). Chêng Ssŭ -nung was the same as Chêng Chung , a great Classical scholar who died in 83 A.D. (cf. Woo Kang, Les trois thèories politiques du Tch'ouen ts'ieou, p. 3, 115, 196). Thus Sung Chün, whose style was Shu-hsiang, whose surname was really Tsung, and who died in 76 A.D., may have received his tuition from Chêng Ssŭ -nung, but it is more probable that it refers to Sung Chün, who was really Sung Chung, and lived in the second century A.D., and here acknowledged his indebtedness to a Master he did not know personally.. Now the Commentary on the Wên hsüan profusely quotes the wei Commentaries, but where in some places the name of Sung Chün is mentioned, in other piaces the name of Sung Chung occurs . Checking the references in Hung's Index to the Titles Quoted in the Commentary on Wen Hsüan (Index Series, No 26, 1935), I found that there are 66 places, where the name of Sung Chün is given, 15 places with the name of Sung Chung, one with the name of Sung Yüeh , and one without name.. This Sung Chung appears to be the same man as Sung Chung-tzŭ . Chung-tzŭ was his style according to the Ching tien shih wên by Lu Tê-ming (556-627), Preface, 1. 11b of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. or Sung Chung . The San kuo chih, Su shu , Biography of Hsü Ching , mentions Sung Chung-tzŭ , whom P'ei Sung-chih (372- 451) in his Commentary identifies as Sung Chung (38 (8). 4b-5a of the Po-na ed.)., who was a well-known Classical scholar Cf. T'ang Yung-t'ung's article on Wang Pi's New Interpretation of the I ching and Lun-yü, translated by Walter Liebenthal (Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 10 (1947), p. 129-132)., and was made a po-shih under the Wei Dynasty. Chung . was the tabooed name of Em- peror Hui of the Chin Dynasty, and so it was changed into Chung or Chün, , or he was called by his style Chung-tzŭ . Since Sung Chung lived more than one hundred years after Pan Ku, how could then Pan Ku, in his Po hu t'ung, have cited so many quotations from Sung Chung's Commentary, as he did?

Hung now proceeds to demonstrate that the background of the statements in the Po hu t'ung must be the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the Wei Dynasty. The Po hu t'ung makes the statement: "[Every] three years a ti- sacrifice is offered" . This passage does not occur in the Yüan ta-tê edition, neither in Lu Wên-ch'ao's, but is added by Ch'en Li in his edition (12. 6b), from a quotation in the Chiu t'ang shu, ch. Li i chih . Liu Shih-p'ei (Po hu t'ung i chüeh wên pu ting, first published in the Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, Vol. 75, fol. 2b) thinks that the quotation is wrong and should read: "[Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice is offered, [every] five years a ti-sacrifice". Hung, however, con- firms Ch'ên Li.. Now in the time of the Later Han the custom was to offer a hsia-sacrifice . every three years, and and a ti-sacrifice every five years. We find it confirmed by statements in the chapter on Sacrifices of the Hou han shu Ch. (9. 3b)., and in the Biography of Chang Shun in the same book , 35 (25).3b.. If in the Po-hu discussions the opinion was held that every three years there should be a ti-sacrifice, why did Emperor Hsiao-chang, who gave the final decisions in those discussions, not follow it? Or, if he followed it, why did he not change the custom of his time?

Hung gives another instance. The chapter on Examinations and Degradations of the Po hu t'ung cites a quotation from the Li chi, which enumerates the Nine Distinctions, viz.: Carriage and Horses, Robes and Garments, Musical Instruments, Vermilion Doors, Inside Staircases, [Gentlemen as] Rapid as Tigers, Ceremonial- and Battle-axes, Bows and Arrows, and Black Millet Herb-flavoured Liquor. This quotation, however, turns out not to be from the Li chi, but from the Li wei han wên chia , an Apocryphal Book of Rites. In Lu Wên-ch'ao's ed. the words [] have been altered into []. See the translation par. 139a., and therefore it would only be natural that the Po hu t'ung should also have quoted Sung Chung's Commentary on that statement, viz.:

"Those who in their application for office and in their resignation from it observe the rules of decency, and in their deportment the rules of self-restraint, are granted Carriage and Horses to replace their going on foot. Those whose speech has attained a perfect polish, and whose conduct has become a standard, are granted Robes and Garments to make manifest their spiritual power. Those who in their bearing follow the ritual [rules], are granted Inner Staircases to ease their bodies. Those who have distinguished themselves in their teachings and exhortations, and harbour the highest [feelings of] consideration for others, are granted Musical Instruments to reform their people. Those whose abodes are well ordered, and in whose apartments there is no promiscuity, are granted the Vermilion Door to make known their [sense of] discrimination. Those who by their courage are resolute and audacious, and whose adherence to principles is strong and unyielding, are granted [Gentlemen as] Rapid as Tigers, that they may prepare themselves against extraordinary events. Those who are able to rouse themselves to martiality, and whose minds are always alert, are granted Battle-axes, and given the right to execute on their own initiative. Those who harbour [feelings of] consideration for others and [possess] spiritual power, and who impartially hold fast to principles, are granted Bows and Arrows, and given the right to start a punitive expedition on their own initiative. Those who serve their parents with love and filial piety, are granted the Black Millet Herb-flavoured Liquor [to enable them] to sacrifice to their ancestors"Quoted, with the foregoing statement of the Han wên chia, in the Sub- commentary on the Li chi, ch. Ch'ü li (Li chi chu shu, 1.18a), likewise in the Sub-commentary on the Shih, Ode 239 (Mao shih chu shu, 23. 55a), and in the Sub-commentary on the Kung yang chuan, Chuang 1 (Kung yang chu shu, 6. 7a), with slight differences..

But this description, Hung says, does not yet represent the historical background of the Wei Dynasty. Actually the Edict, by which in 213 A.D. the Nine Distinctions were conferred on Ts'ao Ts'ao reads as followsSan kuo chih, Wei shu , 1. 35b-36b. For Ts'ao Ts'ao see Giles' Chinese Biographical Dictionary (1898), no. 2013. See also Stefan Balàzs, Ts'ao Ts'ao, in Monumenta Serica Vol. II, p. 410 ff. and D. von den Steinen, Poems of Ts'ao Ts'ao, ibid., Vol. IV, p. 125 ff.:

"Because you have regulated the rites and standards, and set to the people an example for their duties, so that everybody performs his task peacefully, and none suffers from doubt or inconstancy, therefore you are granted the Great Carriage and the War Carriage, one of either, with two black stallions. You have diligently applied yourself to your task and made the fundamental [means of production] your concern, so that husbandmen do their work with ardour, and grain and silk accumulate, causing Our Great Heritage to flourish, therefore you are granted the Clothes and Bonnets of Honour, with Red Slippers to match. With your honesty you esteem integrity and humility, causing the people to cultivate their conduct, so that old and young observe the rites, and superior and inferior are all in harmony, therefore you are granted the Suspended Musical [Instruments] and the Six Rows of Dancers. You have assisted in the spreading of [Our] reforming influence, pushing it unto the Four Quarters, so that [even] the distant people are converted, and Our Flowery Empire reaches its fullness; therefore you are granted the Vermilion Door behind which to dwell. You have whetted your intelligence and wit, and have devoted your attention to Our cares, so that among the talented and the worthy in office the best are sure to be promoted, therefore you are granted the Inner Staircases by which to ascend. You have maintained the balance in the State, abiding by dispas- sion and equanimity, possessing only infinitesimal vice, so that none [so wicked but can] be repulsed by you, therefore you are granted the [Gentlemen as] Rapid as Tigers, three hundred men. You have respected the Penal Code [approved] by Heaven, and manifested it to the evil-doers, so that among the criminals and law-offenders none escapes his punishment, therefore you are granted the Ceremonial- and Battle-axes, of either one. Your step is like the dragon's, and your eyes like the tiger's, glaring sideways at the Eight Directions, seizing and chastising the breakers of the rules, and pushing them back to the Four Seas, therefore you are granted one Scarlet Bow with one hundred Scarlet Arrows, and ten Black Bows with one thousand Black Arrows. Because you have made generosity and reverence the basis [of your conduct], and filial piety and friendship your virtue, [because] you are enlightened and liberal, sincere and upright, responding to Our wishes, therefore you are granted one goblet of the Black Millet Herb-flavoured Liquor, with a Jade Libation-cup to match".

Could the composer of the Po hu t'ung leave alone such a beautiful passage? No, for he says:

"Those who are able to comfort the people are granted Carriage and Horses; those who are able to enrich the people are granted Robes and Garments; those who are able to keep the people in harmony are granted Musical Instruments; those who have made their population numerous are granted Vermilion Doors; those who are able to promote the capable are granted Inside Staircases; those who are able to restrain the wicked are granted [Gentlemen as] Rapid as Tigers; those who are able to punish the culpable are granted Ceremonial- and Battle-axes; those who are able to chastise the unprincipled are granted Bows and Arrows; and those whose filial conduct is perfect are granted the Black Millet Herb- flavoured Liquor"See par. 139b of the translation. I have followed, here as well as there, Lu Wên-ch'ao's reading, which is the same as Hung's, except that Hung follows the quotation from the Po hu t'ung in the Sub-commentary on the Ku liang chuan, Chuang 1 (Ku liang chu shu, 5. 5a) by reading "the disobedient" instead of "the unprincipled" ..

This is an abridged form of Ts'ao Ts'ao's Edict, which the Po hu t'ung has copied in order to explain the meaning of the Nine Distinctions. However, being accustomed to quote Sung Chung's Commen- tary, it cannot bring itself to abandoning that habit, and therefore we also find the following passage:

"Those who in their application for office and in their resig- nation from it observe the rules of decency, and whose spiritual power tranquillizes the people, [are granted] the State Carriage with teams of horses to comfort their bodies. Those whose speech has attained a perfect polish, and whose conduct has become a rule, [are granted] Robes with Painted Dragons to make manifest their spiritual power. Those who have distinguished themselves in their teachings and exhortations, and harbour the highest [feelings of] consideration for others, are granted [the right to use music] in time with the King's Music to reform their people. Those who honour the capable and promote [the possessors of] spiritual power, who in their bearing follow the ritual [rules], are granted Inner Staircases to ease their bodies. Those whose abodes are well cared for, in whose apartments decency is observed, men and women [only at the proper] time sit together, and superiors and inferiors are [properly] distinguished, are granted the Vermilion Door to make manifest their [observance of the] rule by their spiritual power. Those whose martiality is forbidding, and whose sternness and consideration for others are strong and unyielding, are granted [Gentlemen as] Rapid as Tigers, that they may pre- pare themselves against extraordinary events. Those who can regulate their joy and anger, who chastise [according to] the [correct] penal [rules], are granted Ceremonial- and Battle-axes, and given the right to execute on their own initiative. Those who do not allow their self-interest to be involved in their love and hatred, and who impartially hold fast to principles, are granted Bows and Arrows, and given the right to start a punitive expe- dition on their own initiative. The beauty of filial piety [should] always be the basis of [human] conduct, therefore [those who are filial] are granted the Jade Libation-cup, and given the right to make their own Herb-flavoured Liquor"This passage, occurring in the Yüan ta-tê ed., has been replaced by Lu Wên-ch'ao by the literal text of Sung Chung's Commentary as it is quoted in the Sub-commentary on the Li chi, see n. 119. Ch'ên Li has restored the original reading of the Yüan ta-tê ed..

It is clear, Hung concludes, that the Po hu t'ung has only copied, with some alterations, from Sung Chung's Commentary. Which is earlier, this Commentary or Ts'ao Ts'ao's Edict, is difficult to say, but in any case the Po hu t'ung must be later than the latter's date, viz. 213 A.D. And it being as late as that, it is not astonishing any more that neither Hsü Shên(30-124), author a.o. of the Shuo wên , and the Wu ching i i . nor Ma Jung(79-166). He wrote many Commentaries on the Classics, making use of the Old Text versions, for which see infra, p. 137ff. had access to it, and that neither Ts'ai Yung nor Chêng HsüanFor Ts'ai Yung see n. 58. Chêng Hsüan (127-200) was Ma Jung's pupil, and one of the most prolific of commentators. ever quoted from the Po hu t'ung.

However, the appearance of the Po hu t'ung must have been before 245 A.D., for the Nan ch'i shu contains a passage in which the Po hu t'ung is quoted by a certain Miu Hsi , see ch. of the , 9 (1). 5a of the Po-na ed. The quotation reads: "The Po hu t'ung says: In their sacrifice to Heaven the Three Kings all used the first month of the Hsia [calendar]; they did so because the first month of the Hsia [calendar, viz. the first month of spring] corresponds with the number of Heaven". It is missing in the Yüan ta-tê ed., but Lu Wên-ch'ao, in his "Lacunae in the Text of the Po hu t'ung", has inserted an almost similar passage in ch. , quoting from the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao., who, according to P'ei Sung-chih, died in 245 A.D., at the age of sixty See his Commentary on the San kuo chih, Wei shu, Biography of Liu Shao , 21. 21b..

In the time of Ts'ai Yung (133-192 A.D.) the Po hu i tsou, in more than one hundred chüan, was still extant. It would, afterwards, not have been difficult for those who had the inclination to do so, to concoct a Po hu t'ung i with the material [that was left of the Po hu i tsou] and Commentaries on the Apocryphal Writings. Probably the work was not at first ascribed to Pan Ku deliberately. This was done by later lovers of literature, and since the Chin and [Liu] Sung Dynasties (4th-5th cent. A.D.) it has been quoted as such. Though the Po hu t'ung does not represent the interpretations of the Classics current in the middle period of the Later Han, it furnishes important material with respect to the ideas which prevailed during the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the Wei Dynasty. The latter's ritual institutions, such as the Changing of the First Month, the Changing of the Colour [of the previous Dynasty], the Round Mound, the Sacrifice to the Suburb, etc., have been greatly influenced by it.

Hung agrees with Sun I-jang that the original title was Po hu t'ung i, but he has no objection to the use of the abridged form Po hu t'ung.

 12.Criticism of Hung's material

I have presented Professor William Hung's views in some detail, because his method is really important. He uses what we may call 'internal evidence', i.e., he starts from the contents of the text itself, and tries to evaluate it by comparison with other texts. In this he differs from his predecessors, who only discussed the external testimonies about the book, and took what it has to say more or less for granted. Hung's conclusions are bold, but however detrimental to the belief that the Po hu t'ung should be the outcome of the Imperial Council of 79 A.D., they are on the whole not un- favourable. He does not deny the possibility of some of the material of the Po hu i tsou, the 'Memorialized Discussions of the Po-hu kuan' having been used for its composition. He assigns to the Po hu t'ung as early a date as 245 A.D. He takes its contents to be a comparatively faithful description of the customs of the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the Wei. Can we accept Hung's opinions? Can we agree with the way in which he arrives at the conclusion that the Po hu t'ung cannot be of an earlier period than the Wei Dynasty? For this is the method he actually applies: the occurrence of passages in a work of the third century A.D., viz. Sung Chung's Commentary on the Apocrypha, parallel to passages in the Po hu t'ung, proves that the whole Po hu t'ung must be of that later period; the fact that a description of a ritual by the Po hu t'ung does not tally with the custom of the time in which it professes to have been composed, proves that the whole Po hu t'ung cannot be of that time. A little unexpected is, on the other hand, his conclusion that the fact of the Po hu t'ung being quoted -- in one quotation -- by a man who died in 245 A.D. proves that the whole Po hu t'ung must be at the latest earlier than that date. I shall deal with these questions further on; in the next three paragraphs I shall first try to subject to a closer examination the material Hung marshalls against the Po hu t'ung, in order to see whether it may be used as evidence in his indictment.

 13.The parallel statements on the names of the music

Hung's theory that the commentator of the Yüeh wei (and some other Apocryphal Books) was Sung Chung, who lived at the be- ginning of the Wei (third century A.D.), and not Sung Chün, whose style was Shu-hsiang, and who died in 76 A.D., is in all probability correct. So may be his statement that the Po hu t'ung contains numerous passages which run parallel to Sung Chung's CommentariesThis is my non-committal statement of the fact which Hung has pointed out and which I do not want to question: Hung himself says that the cases of the Po hu t'ung copying from Sung Chung are very numerous (p. VI of his Prolegomena to the Index). See, however, infra p. 50..

His first example, however, does not strike me as being very convincing. According to him the Po hu t'ung, with respect to the names of the music of the ancient Sovereigns and their meaning, combines the statement of the Han shu and that of Sung Chung's Commentary; therefore its description is the most complete , p. IV of his Prolegomena.. Disregarding the question of greater or lesser completeness--Sung Chung is fuller in his explanation of Yao's music Ta-chang and Shun's music Shao--, and comparing the passages in the Commen- tary on the Yüeh wei and in the Po hu t'ung Cf. supra, p. 21., I feel bound to say that they bear little resemblance to each other; the one cannot have been derived from the other. This does not mean, of course, that the statement in the Po hu t'ung completely deviates from that in the Han shu and Sung Chung's Commentary; it only means that the statement in the Po hu t'ung contains some concepts, which are not present in the other works: the comparison with the Musical Pitch-pipes in the explanation of Liu-hêng, that with the Five Notes in the explanation of Wu-ying, while in those explanations which use the same concepts as the Commentary on the Yüeh-wei the for- mulation is such that the idea of simple copying must be excluded. Would it be too fanciful to assume that certain concepts were so much common property with the Chinese scholars of a given time that everybody, even though he tried to express his opinion in his own way, more or less unconsciously took from that common stock? In his Commentary on another Aprocryphal Book of MusicThe Yüeh wei hsieh t'u chêng , in the Yü han, 54. 53a-b. Sung Chung's explanations of the names of the music are different from those which were compared by Hung with the Po hu t'ung. They read as follows:

"(The music of Huang-ti was called Hsien-shih); hsien means chieh 'all', shih takes [its meaning from the fact] that none was not pervaded by his spiritual power which fertilized the ten thousand things, therefore [the name of] Hsien-shih was devised to denom- inate his music. (The music of Emperor Chuan-hsü was called Wu-ying); [it means that] he was able on behalf of the Five Elements to establish the roots and stems. (The music of Yao was called Ta-chang); it means that his spiritual power approached [that of] the Way; ta-chang means bright. (The music of Shun was called Hsiao-shao); it means that he was able to continue the spiritual power of Yao. (The music of Yü was called Ta-hsia); [it means that] his spiritual power was able to enlarge the Chinese Territory chu-hsia"The words between round brackets form the commented text of the Yüeh wei..

Whereas the Yüeh wei (the Hsieh t'u chêng as well as the Tung shêng i, or the Chi yao chia, cf. n. 97) only gives the names of the music, and their meaning is explained by Sung Chung, an Apocryphal Work on the Spring and Autumn Annals, namely the Ch'un ch'iu wei yüan ming pao , in the Yü han, 57. 15a-b. contains the explanations in its own text.

There we read.

"In the time of Shun the people rejoiced at his continuing the heritage of Yao; therefore [the name of Shun's music] Shao means shao 'to continue'; (Sung Chung's Commentary: Shun undertook to continue the heritage of Yao). In the time of Yü the people greatly rejoiced at his combining p'in [the ways of] the Three Sages who succeeded each other; therefore his music was called Ta-hsia; hsia means ta 'great'; (Commentary: p'in is to be read p'in, it means ping 'to combine' .). In the time of T'ang the people greatly rejoiced at their being rescued from their plight; therefore his music was called Ta-hu; hu means chiu 'to rescue'. In the time of King Wên the people rejoiced at his raising the army and attacking [the Dynasty of Yin]; therefore [his music was] called Wu; wu means fa 'to attack' ".

Why is Sung Chung so little consistent? I think because there were a great many speculative theories on the names of the music current in his time, from which he took haphazardly, adding ideas of his own, and without the intention of quoting his, perhaps unde- finable, source verbatim. It is interesting to compare what Chêng Hsüan has to say about the names of the music.

On the passage in the Li chiLi chi chu shu, 38. 2b; cf. n. 99. he comments:

"[Ta-chang was] the name of the music of Yao; it means that the spiritual power of Yao was illustrious and brilliant. . [Hsien- shih was] the name of the music created by Huang-ti; Yao used it by improving it; hsien means chieh 'all'; shih means 'to extend to'; it means that his spiritual power was extended to everyone . . . [Shao was] the name of the music of Shun; shao means shao 'to continue'; it means that Shun was able to continue chi-shao the spiritual power of Yao . . . [Hsia was] the name of the music of Yü; it means that Yü was able to enlarge ta the spiritual power of Yao and Shun . . .".

On a passage in the Chou liCh. , Chou li chu shu, 22. 3b. he comments:

"[The music of] Huang-ti was called Yün-mên ta-chüan; Huang-ti was able to give the ten thousand things their perfect names, and therewith to teach the people to provide for their necessities; it means that his spiritual power was akin to what the clouds yün produce; the people by it could gather tsu [= chüan] the species. Ta-hsien [or] Hsien-shih was [the name of] the music of Yao; Yao was able exhaustively to equalize the penal laws, and therewith to give norms to the people; it means that his spiritual power was extended to everyone. Ta-shao was [the name of] the music of Shun; it means that with his spiritual power he was able to continue the way of Yao. Ta-hsia was [the name of] the music of Yü; Yü regulated the waters and extended the soil; it means that with his spiritual power he was able to enlarge the Middle State. Ta-hu was [the name of] the music of T'ang; T'ang governed his people with magnanimity, and delivered them from evil; it means that with his spiritual power he was able to give all under Heaven their [proper] places. Ta-wu was [the name of] the music of King Wu; King Wu slew Chou and removed his wickedness; it means that his spiritual power was able to accomplish his martial prowess".

Now it appears that some of Chêng Hsüan's statements in the Chou li Commentary correspond with statements in the text of the Li chiCh. (Li chi chu shu, 46. 17a; Couvreur, II. 269), namely the explanations of the names of the music of Yao, Huang-ti, T'ang, Wu-wang., and some with Sung Chung's Commentary on the Yüeh wei hsieh t'u chêng Namely the explanations of the names of the music of Shun and Yü. See supra, n. 132., while his statements in the Li chi Commentary might as well have been written by Sung Chung himself. It would not be unreasonable to suppose that Chêng Hsüan had copied from Sung Chung. But would it be plausible? Chêng Hsüan, like Sung Chung, wrote Commentaries on the Apocryphal Books, and the two are mentioned in the same breath in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu Ch. 32 (27). 30b.. As contemporaries, both prolific writers, but both representing opposing SchoolsT'ang Yung-t'ung, o.c., p. 130., they were, however, unlikely to copy from each otherExcept perhaps for the purpose of contradicting each other. As a matter of fact, Sung Chung himself says that he has quoted Chêng Hsüan's Liu i lun (T'ang hui yao, 77. 9a, Pai ching t'ang ts'ung shu ed. of the Liu i lun, p. 4b), and several times in his Commentaries on the Apocrypha he says: "Chêng Hsüan says . . . ". (see Yü han, 54. 23a, 44a, 60a; 58. 26a, 32b).. Indeed, it seems more probable that Chêng Hsüan and Sung Chung derived their material from a source which was accessible to both of them, and the fact that their presen- tations of this material to a certain extent correspond with each other does not prove that the one has drawn upon the other. May we not, therefore, likewise conclude that the similarity between the Po hu t'ung and Sung Chung's Commentary, with respect to their explanations of the names of the several kinds of music, does not necessarily mean that the former has used the latter?

Two objections raised by Hung remain to be faced: Why does the Han shu, composed by Pan Ku, not contain the same state- ments as the Po hu t'ung, ascribed to Pan Ku? And why does the Fêng su t'ung i quote from the Han shu, if it had at its disposal the completer material of the Po hu t'ung?

As to the first objection I may add further instances of the dis- crepancies between the Han shu and the Po hu t'ung to those given by Hung.

The Po hu t'ung says:

"[The note] chüeh means Yüeh 'to leap'; the yang-fluid moves and leaps. [The note] chih means chih 'to stop'; the yang-fluid has stopped. [The note] shang means chang 'to expand'; the yin- fluid begins to expand, [while] the yang-fluid begins to contract. [The note] yü means yü 'to twist'; the yin-fluid is above, the yang-fluid is below. [The note] kung means jung 'to contain'; han 'to hold'; it contains and holds the Four Seasons"Ch. Rites and Music, see par. 51c of the translation..

The Han shu, on the other hand, explains:

"[The note] shang means chang 'to display'; when the [ten thousand] things have completed their maturation they may be displayed and estimated. chüeh means cho 'to knock against'; the [ten thousand] things knock against the earth to come out; they carry 'the horns' chüeh of the sprouts. Kung means chung 'the middle': from their position in the centre [the ten thousand things] expand towards the Four Directions; [the note kung] stimulates the beginning and dispenses life; it holds together the four [other] Notes. Chih means chih 'blessing'; the [ten thousand] things having reached their full size confer blessings in abundance. Yü means yü 'to cover'; the [ten thousand] things having been gathered and stored are covered up"Ch'ien han shu, ch. , 21 . 3b..

The inevitable conclusion is: the Han shu and the Po hu t'ung cannot be from the same hand. In this conclusion, however, some considerations must be taken into account. First, that the Han shu describes the history and the institutions of the Former Han. Second, that Pan Ku, being a historian and essayist, and not a Classical scholar himselfThis was already pointed out by Liu Shih-p'ei in his Po hu t'ung i yüan liu k'ao (Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, Vol. 74, fol. 2b)., was only ordered to compile the material of the Po-hu discussions. Thirdly, that the Po hu t'ung records the opinions of the contending scholars, and is not a handbook. In other words, we may not expect the two works to contain the same ideas, and to have the same composition; they are of a different characterOf course I do not mean to say that Pan Ku wrote the Han shu in his own, personal style, whereas he compiled the Po hu t'ung in an indifferent, objective fashion. Both works are 'compilations'..

With respect to the second objection, it is a curious thing, indeed, that the Fêng su t'ung i does not quote from the Po hu t'ung, as Hung says. However, though the passage on the names of the music and their meaning in the Fêng su t'ung i is a verbatim parallel of that in the Han shu, the source is not indicated. On reading further, however, we come across another passage in the Fêng su t'ung i, which again is a verbatim parallel of the passage in the Han shu which I have noted before, viz. the explanations of the names of the Five Notes (shang, chüeh, kung, chih, yü)Fêng su t'ung i, 6. 2b-3a.. And here the source is indicated: the Fêng su t'ung i quotes this statement from Liu Hsin's Chung lü shu . The work has since long been lost.. We cannot say that the first passage (on the names of the music) is also from the Chung lü shu In the edition of the Chung lü shu by Huang Shih (Han hsüeh t'ang ts'ung shu) the passage is not included.. But Pan Ku seems to have used this work for the chapter Lü li chih, in which the second passage (on the Five Notes) occursSee Une famille d'historiens et son oeuvre, by Mlle Lo Tchen-ying (1931), p. 78.. This means, that for this passage Pan Ku and Ying Shao made use of a source accessible to both of them. Now Ying Shao quotes the Han shu more than once, naming his sourceSee the Index du Fong sou t'ong yi, prepared by the Centre franco-chinois d'ètudes Sinologiques (1943), p. 77. Not only is the Han shu quoted by name, but in two places also by its chapters and .. Can we, then, not suppose that the passage in the Fêng su t'ung i on the names of the music of the ancient Sovereigns and their meaning, though they are parallel to the passage in the Han shu, is not necessarily a quotation from this work, but may be derived from another source, not indicated, which was accessible to both Pan Ku and Ying Shao In fact, Pan Ku, for his Essay on Rites and Music, draws chiefly on the writings of four men, among them Liu Hsiang (Gardner, Chinese Traditional Historiography, p. 36, n. 39).?

The fact remains, however, that the Fêng su t'ung i never quotes the Po hu t'ung. But the Fêng su t'ung i is not a Bibliography, and there are dozens of works, ancient and of a non-suspect nature, which are not quoted in it. It would be incorrect to say that, on these grounds alone, they must be later than Ying Shao. Another question is: Have we reasons to expect that the Fêng su t'ung i should have quoted the Po hu t'ung? The book is an exposition of ideas current in Ying Shao's time, illustrated by quotations of all sorts, among others from the Classics and some of the Apocryphal Books, to which Ying Shao adds his own opinion. It is certainly strange that he never invoked the material contained in the Po hu t'ung. We shall see later whether parallel passages can be found in the two books, which might lead us to some conclusion regarding this curious fact.

 14.The parallel statements on the Nine Distinctions

The third example which Professor Hung gives in order to prove that the Po hu t'ung must be of the end of the later Han and the beginning of the Wei, belongs to the same category as the first I have just discussed. The two passages in the Po hu t'ungSee supra, pp. 27-28. dealing with the Nine Distinctions, according to Hung were copied, one from Ts'ao Ts'ao's Edict, one from Sung Chung's Commentary. Now as far as I can judge, the first passage in the Po hu t'ung is not just a summary of the lengthy statement in the Edict: the reasons for granting the Vermilion Door are quite different in the two texts. The way we look at a text, however, depends on the suspicion we entertain about it, and once we have convinced ourselves of the spuriousness of the Po hu t'ung, it is not difficult to see this particular passage as an abridged copy of Ts'ao Ts'ao Edict, just as it is easy to see its statement on the names of the music as an elaborated copy of the Han shu and Sung Chung's Commentary on the Yüeh weiCf. p. 22 and n. 129.. Hung cautiously refrains from deciding which is earlier, Ts'ao Ts'ao's Edict or Sung Chung's Commentary on the names of the Nine Distinctions in the Li wei han wên chiaCf. p. 29.. It seems to me that the same caution should be applied with respect to the incriminated pas- sages in the Po hu t'ung. The case would be different if the institution of the Nine Distinctions had been a novelty, introduced in the time of Ts'ao Ts'ao. But they were already conferred upon Wang Mang in 5 A.D., in an Edict as exalted as Ts'ao Ts'ao'sSee the Biography of Wang Mang, in the Ch'ien han shu, 99 . 21a-22a., while their names were already mentioned in the Han shih wai chuan by Han Ying, who lived in the second century B.C, , ch. 8, fol. 6b of the Ku ching chieh hui han ed., and partially in the Shang shu ta chuan by Fu Shêng, who lived in the third century B.C., , ch. l, fol. 21a and ch. 3, fol. 10a of the Ku ching chieh hui han ed. For the work see Woo Kang, Les trois thèories politiques du Tch'ouen ts'ieou (1932), p. 230.. It is true that neither Han Ying nor Fu Shêng supplied explanations on the conferring of the Distinctions, but we may assume that during the first and second centuries A.D. the institution of the Nine Distinc- tions was widely known, and speculated upon by several scholars in different, yet to some extent similar, waysHo Hsiu (129-182) in his Commentary on the Kung yang chuan, Chuang 1, has, however, restricted himself to an enumeration of the Nine Distinctions, quoted from the Li (wei han wên chia), and to the brief remark "they are all [conferred] to stimulate the capable and to support the incapable" (Kung yang chu shu, 6. 6b).. In any case, to con- sider, on the strength of it, the Po hu t'ung passage as a summary of the Edict seems to me an assertion not wholly warranted.

The second passage in the Po hu t'ung adduced by HungSee p. 28. would seem to have more convincing force. The similarity to Sung Chung's CommentarySee p. 25. is so striking that Lu Wên-ch'ao thought it necessary to substitute the former for the latter, without, however, implying that the Po hu t'ung was derived from Sung Chung. Ch'ên Li, on the contrary, preferred the original Po hu t'ung reading Cf. n. 122.. I think it is safe to regard the one statement as a copy from the other. But which from which? I am reluctant to give a judgment on the ground of a difference of 'style', feeling myself incompetent in this matter. The most I can say is that Sung Chung's Commentary runs more smoothly and is perfectly balanced, whereas the Po hu t'ung contains several deviations from its own enumeration, e.g. it writes State Carriage with Teams of Horses instead of Carriage and Horses, the King's Music instead of Musical Instruments, Jade Libation- cup instead of Black Millet Herb-flavoured Liquor. But what stan- dard is here to be applied? In the same way as either elaboration or abridgment may be used against the originality of a text or in favour of it, so a polished style may be made a witness for the prosecution or a witness for the defence, while with some ingenuity we may prove either that the corruptness of a text testifies to its spuriousness, or to its genuineness. To say, on the strenght of it, that our Po hu t'ung passage must be a, rather clumsy, copy of Sung Chung's Commentary, is therefore, I think, an assertion not sufficiently substantiated.

 15.The statement on the ti-sacrifice

Hung's second example is of a different kind. According to him the statement in the Po hu t'ung that "[every] three years a ti- sacrifice is offered" is not confirmed by the statements in the Hou han shu and the custom in the Later HanSee p. 25., and therefore this discrepancy is another proof that the Po hu t'ung dates from the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the WeiHis Prolegomena to the Index, p. VI..

We have seen that the Po hu t'ung passage was supplied by Ch'ên Li from a quotation in the Chiu t'ang shu, and that Liu Shih- p'ei contests the correctness of this quotationSee n. 114.. It is interesting to follow Hung's argumentation, which has led him to disagree with Liu. Whereas Ch'ên Li gives the quotation from the Chiu t'ang shu: "[Every] three years a ti-sacrifice is offered", Liu prefers the reading of the quotation in Hui-lin's I ch'ieh ching yin i , - , in the Taishō Tripitaka, Vol. 54, p. 912. Hui-lin wrote this work towards the end of the chien-chung period (780-783), according to its Preface (o.c., p. 311)., viz.: "The Po hu t'ung says: [Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice, [every] five years a ti-sacrifice is offered". Hung bases his mistrust in Hui-lin on the following grounds: 1. Hui-lin's explanations on the word ti in the same work are self-contradictory, therefore he is unreliable; 2. the Commentary of a Buddhist priest cannot be preferred to the opinion of the Grand Master of Ceremonies (who quoted the Po hu t'ung in the Chiu t'ang shu); 3. the discussions on the rites described in the Chiu t'ang shu (during which the question of the ti- and hsia- sacri- fices was raised) took place in 739 A.D., more than forty years earlier than the date of the composition of the I ch'ieh ching yin i; 4. moreover the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao, for its section on the ti- and hsia- sacrifices Ch. 90, fol. 4a-5a., often quotes the Po hu t'ung, but it quotes the Li wei for a statement: "[Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice, [every] five years a ti-sacrifice is offered"; therefore the edition of the Po hu t'ung used by Yü Shih-nanThe compiler of the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao, see n. 90. cannot have contained the statement "[every] five years a ti-sacrifice".

Now if we read the incriminated passage in the Chiu t'ang shu in its contextCh. 26.(7). 11b., we see that the discussions in 739 A.D. were con- cerned with this point: the rites require, not that every three years one sacrifice is performed, and independent from it every five years the other, but that every five years there should be a ti- and a hsia- sacrifice. As to which should come after which, the following opinions were adduced by the Grand Master of Ceremonies during the dis- cussions: The Li wei and the Commentary on the Lu li ti hsia . I do not know what is meant by this Commentary. There is a Lu li ti hsia i by Chêng Hsüan, re-edited from fragments by several scholars. The edition by Ma Kuo-han (Yü han, ch. 28, fol. 39a-43b) is called Lu li ti hsia chih . I think that Commentary chu is simply an error for i or chih . say: [Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice, [every] five years a ti- sacrifice is offered; the Po hu t'ung, the Wu ching t'ung i, Hsü Shên's [Wu ching] ii, Ho Hsiu's Ch'un ch'iu [Commentary?], and Ho Hsün's Chi iFor the Wu ching t'ung i see n. 74, for Ho Hsiu n. 158. For the Ch i of Ho Hsün (260-319), i.e. his Expositions on the Sacrifices, see his Biography in the Chin shu, 68 (38). 11a ff. of the Po-na ed., where, however, the question of the ti- and hsia- sacrifices is not dealt with. Ho Hsün, an authority on ritual, was made Grand Master of Ceremonies t'ai-ch'ang in 317 A.D. Fragments of his works have been edited in the Yü han, ch. 23, fol. 12a-25a. say: [Every] three years a ti-sacrifice is offered.

The problem of the ti- and hsia- sacrifices is so complicated and confused that I cannot even contemplate an attempt at a survey of the conflicting opinions. In the special case of the Po hu t'ung quotation I therefore only relate Ch'ên Li's and Ch'ên Shou-ch'i's opinions on the matterCh'ên Li in his Po hu t'ung shu chêng, 12. 6b. Ch'ên Shou-ch'i (1771-1834) in his Wu ching ii shu chêng (Huang ch'ing ching chieh, 1248, 40a-41a)., namely that the statement "[Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice is offered" represents the view of the Tso chuan and Chou li Schools, and that the triennial ti-sacrifice perhaps belongs to the rites of the ancient KingsThis is Ch'ên Shou-ch'i's interpretation of Hsü Shên's obscure wording.. That means that according to the opinion of the Old Text scholarsThe Tso chuan and the Chou li belong to the so-called Old Texts of the Classics. the regular custom was the triennial hsia-sacrifice, and that the triennial ti-sacrifice seems to have been so unusual that it had to be assigned to early antiquity.

Further, is there nothing to be said in favour of Liu Shih-p'ei's emendation? He does not explain why he prefers Hui-lin's reading to the quotation in the Chiu t'ang shu. Now the Chiu t'ang shu, besides the Po hu t'ung, also quotes Ho Hsiu's Ch'un ch'iu. What exactly is meant by this work I do not know, but it seems probable that it refers to Ho Hsiu's Commentary on the Kung yang chuan. Now in his Commentary on Wên, 2d year, we read: "[Every] three years a hsia-sacrifice is offered, [every] five years a ti-sacrifice"Kung yang chu shu, 13, 8b.. Can it be that a mistake was committed by the Chiu t'ang shu, and that Liu Shih-p'ei, knowing that the Po hu t'ung is nearly always in conformity with Ho Hsiu's statements (representing the views of the New Text School I.e., the Kung-yang School.), suspected the Po hu t'ung quotation in the Chiu t'ang shu, and took that in the I ch'ieh ching yin i as the orig- inal one? I must leave the question as it stands, because doubt of the positive quotation in the Chiu t'ang shu cannot be further substantiated; moreover this is not necessary for the conclusion which I am venturing to draw.

It is important that both the Old Text and the New Text Schoolsare in agreement with respect to the triennial hsia-sacrifice. The Po hu t'ung, usually following the interpretations of the New Text SchoolSee infra, p. 70., here presents a view contrary to those of both Schools. But, because the statement is too brief, and detached from its original context, it is difficult to say whether it represents the Po hu t'ung's own opinion (i.e. an opinion authorized by Imperial approval), or, as it often occurs in the Po hu t'ung, only the record of 'another opinion'See infra, p. 67.. To me, the chances are in favour of the latter supposition, and in that case we need not see the statement as a discrepancy from the actual custom of the time, but only as a statement for the sake of completeness and curiosity. Besides, the way in which Hung uses the quotation against the Po hu t'ung, is not altogether correct. If the Wei Dynasty had actually adopted the use of the triennial ti-sacrifice--and I have not been able to find such a statement--, then the Po hu t'ung might be said to be in accordance with that use, and thus to date from that period. But the fact that the Po hu t'ung says: "[Every] three years a ti-sacrifice is offered"-- a description of a ritual which evidently was never practised, so that Hsü Shên, as he is corrected by Ch'ên Shou-ch'i, is obliged to explain it, hypo- thetically, as the custom of the ancient Kings--, whereas according to all historical evidence only the triennial hsia-sacrifice was actually performed, such a fact cannot be used as a proof that the Po hu t'ung must date from the Wei.

Hung's bias against the Po hu t'ung also appears in his fourth objection against Hui-linSee p. 40.. If the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao, in the matter of the succession of the ti- and hsia-sacrifices, does not quote the Po hu t'ung, as it often does in other matters, but the Li wei, then logically it can only mean, either that the Po hu t'ung edition used by Yü Shih-nan did not contain that passage -- any more than the Yüan ta-tê edition --, or that Yü failed to quote it, but not, as Hung concludes, that the Po hu t'ung cannot have contained the passage "[Every] five years a ti-sacrifice is offered", with the facile but unfounded implication that it did contain the statement "[Every] three years a ti-sacrifice is offered".

 16.Summary of objections against Hung

My criticism of Professor Hung's argumentation does not in the least diminish my appreciation of the method he has followedRightly called 'très étudiée' by Pelliot in a review of the Index (T'oung Pao, Vol. 28, 1931, p. 513)., namely to take the text itself as the starting-point of the investigation. I only disagree with the way he handles the method. Hung is full of inconsistencies. Apart from the objections I have raised against the data which he uses, I may point to a curious arbitrariness in his interpretation of the evidence. He discovers parallel passages in the Po hu t'ung and Sung Chung's Commentary, and concludes that the former must have borrowed from the latter. He discovers a complete absence of quotations from the Po hu t'ung in the Fêng su t'ung i, and concludes that the former must be later than the latter. This reasoning amounts to the following: There are parallel passages in Sung Chung's Commentary (A) and the Po hu t'ung (C); conclusion: C is later. The Fêng su t'ung i (B) does not quote C; conclusion: C is later. In an exaggerated way this means:

A = C, therefore C is later;

B = not C, therefore C is later,

which would, of course, be nonsense. Starting with two known data, viz. Sung Chung's Commentary and Ying Shao's Fêng su t'ung iBoth of the end of the Later Han, but we must not forget that we only assume that these texts provide safe data. As a matter of fact they are as problematic as the Po hu t'ung. But we could not work if everything is questioned; we must begin with some assumption, however provisionnally., and comparing them with an unknown, viz. the Po hu t'ung, we should have asked: Why is C, if it were as early as it pretends to be, not quoted by A and B? Are there passages in A and B which are parallel to C? If there are, how to explain these parallels? Only in this way sufficient justice can be done with respect to the suspect text.

My chief objection to Hung's conclusion is, however, that, on the ground of some passages which he considers as late, he regards the entire work as late, while on the ground of a single quotation by a man who died in 245 A.D. he regards the entire work as being of that date at the latestTo be strictly fair I should say: 1. that Hung has limited himself to giving two instances of parallel passages in the Po hu t'ung and in Sung Chung's Commentary, because it would not do for him to give all, nor is it necessary; 2. that he supposes the Po hu t'ung to be a concoction of material from the discussions plus Commentaries on the Classics and Aprocrypha. Nevertheless his conclusion is that the Po hu t'ung may be regarded as a faithful representation of the beliefs of a certain period, namely the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the Wei, i.e., from that time on the Po hu t'ung is homogeneous and reliable.. Thus he assumes a homogeneity of the text which should still be proved, and necessarily implies judgments working in two opposite directions: nothing in the text is of the beginning of the Later Han, while suddenly everything in it is of the end of the Later Han and the beginning of the Wei. Actually we are still in the dark about those early texts. The only real thing is the present edition. Hung's terminus ante quem non (213 A.D.) only applies to Ts'ao Ts'ao's Edict and, if we accept his opinion, to the passage in the Po hu t'ung which is a summary of it. His terminus post quem non (245 A.D.) only applies to some edition seen by Miu Hsi. The former does not necessarily mean that in the present edition there are not passages which came from a period before 213 A.D., the latter does not necessarily mean that in the present edition there are not passages which were interpolated after 245 A.D. The only positive thing we can say is that there was a Po hu t'ung in 245 A.D. at the latest. But on the basis of what is said in the Hou han shu we may as well say--as has been done by Hung's predecessors--that there was a Po hu t'ung, or whatever it was called, in 79 A.D. There is here a confusion of two questions, that of authenticity, and that of first appearance. The parallel passages prove, at the most, that the present edition is not authentic, in this sense that parts of it are later interpolations, but it does not mean that the whole of the present edition is of a later period. The quotation of 245 A.D. proves, at the most, that there was an edition of the Po hu t'ung at that time, but it does not mean that the whole of the present edition must be the same as that.

 17.The problem of parallel passages

"The question how to judge parallel passages in ancient Chinese works is very delicate", says KarlgrenThe Authenticity of Ancient Chinese Texts, p. 171., and he points out the difficulty, which in many cases is an impossibility, of proving their anteriority or posteriority. Indeed, it is always hazardous, in the case of parallel passages, immediately to think of borrowing and to try to settle the problem "who borrowed from whom", with the exclusion of the possibility that several writers may have used the same source, each quoting in his own way and for his own purpose. We must always remember that Chinese scholars had the habit of quoting, and mostly quoting by heart, from revered books, and that many quotations from the fact of their having been handed down so many times ceased being quotations and became common property. We must also remember that despite the desire to preserve the original ideas as much as possible in their original form--we are all acquainted with the scrupulous care the Chinese scholars ob- serve in this matter--it is inevitable that deviations did arise in the course of time. The form may first have undergone an alteration, and then a new idea be put into the new vessel; or unconsciously a re-interpretation was felt necessary and a new form accordingly adopted, without the intent to make a change. Parallel passages as such have not much convincing force. If they are exactly alike they may be copies from each other, but they may also have no mutual relation at all, except that they may be traced back to some ancient stock; besides, their form may be the same, but the purpose for which they are used may be quite different. If they are not exactly alike they may be clumsy borrowings, but they may also be individual expressions of the same ideas or of ideas almost similar, or they may have no mutual relation at all, except again that they may be traced back to some ancient stock. In all these things ab- solute certainty as to what is what can only be achieved in very rare cases; mostly we have to be content with more or less plausible reconstructions, which at any moment may prove wrong by the discovery of new material or by deeper insight into the problem. The idea of direct borrowing in the case of parallel passages is very tempting, but we must beware of the error of the man who was widely read in literature, and when one day presented with a Bible, with which for some reason he was unacquainted, remarked that it was just a collection of quotations.

Of course the Po hu t'ung is a different case. It is a collection of quotations. It abounds with them, with or without indication of sources. As it presumes to be the report of the discussions on the Classics, when scholars from several Schools attended and each defended his own opinion, backing it with statements of his masters, we may expect passages in it which are parallels of those in older and contemporary works. This need not raise problems, unless we distrust those older and contemporary texts. The difficulty arises, when we discover parallels in works which are of a later date than the Po hu t'ung claims to be. Then we begin to doubt and to wonder whether it is a case of borrowing by or from those later works. On the evidence of the fact alone we cannot say anything definite. It depends on the way we look at the Po hu t'ung. If we deem it suspect we shall be inclined to explain the parallels as borrowings by it from the other texts; and the fact that the Po hu t'ung has not been actually quoted until a certain, comparatively late, date will confirm our suspicion. If we deem it reliable we shall be inclined to see the parallels as borrowings from it by the other texts; and the fact that the Po hu t'ung, when it quotes, names its source, will confirm our trust. Both attitudes easily lead to interpretations which are arbitrary as well as subjective, and I think that, unless more material can support a contrary view, it is not unscientific to regard parallel passages as just 'parallel passages', i.e., to assume that they have come from a common stock.

The quotations in the Po hu t'ung from the Classics and the Apocryphical Books with indication of source I have listed in Appendix A. There are further numerous passages which are not indicated as quotations but correspond with passages in the Classics or the Apocrypha, either verbatim or paraphrased. I have not listed them, but in my notes to the translation of chapters I, II, XVIII, and XL I have indicated them as fully as possible. It is not so important for our problem, because I am not going to question the authenticity of the works quoted by the Po hu t'ung, with or without indication of source. However, there are parallels with works later than the time the Po hu t'ung is supposed to have been composed, i.e., works of the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century A.D. These are the crucial data, and we have to examine them. It is impossible to give a comprehensive list of those passages, because it would have surpassed the limits of this study. Moreover, it is not really necessary: an absolutely comprehensive list is a fiction, for the reason alone that so many works of that period are either lost or highly defective. Furthermore I have restricted myself to a few authors, again for reasons of space and for clarity's sake: for the purpose of giving an impression of the nature of those parallel passages too many examples would only cause bewilderment. The authors in whom I have looked for parallels are Ts'ai Yung, Sung Chung, Ying Shao, Chêng Hsüan, and Ho Hsiu. Ts'ai Yung, because he was the man who may still have had the opportunity to see the Po hu i tsou; Sung Chung, because according to Hung his Commen- tary has been profusely used by the Po hu t'ung; Ying Shao, because he never quotes the Po hu t'ung; Chêng Hsüan, for the same reason; Ho Hsiu, because he represented the School of Kung-yang, so often quoted by the Po hu t'ung.

 18.Parallels in Ts'ai Yung

The following parallels are from Ts'ai Yung's Tu tuan , Pao ching t'ang ts'ung shu ed., Yüeh ling chang chü, and Ming t'ang yüeh ling lun, , in the Huang shih i shu k'ao.:

Po hu t'ung Tu tuan 69: What does ching-shih 'capital' mean? It is the denomination of the city [within the King's domain] of one thousand li [square]. Ching means ta 'great'; shih means chung 'multitudinous'. [Ching-shih is the place where] the Son of Heaven has his residence. Therefore [it is indicated] by the words great and multitudinous, meaning that it is ten times [as large as the abode of] a Feudal Lord. It models itself on the sun and moon, both having a diameter of one thous- and li. 7a: The capital of the Son of Heaven is called ching-shih. Ching means shui 'water'; of the mul- titude [of things] below the earth nothing surpasses water; of the multitude [of things] upon the earth nothing surpasses man. Ching [also means] ta 'great', shih [means] chung 'multitudinous'. Therefore we speak of ching- shih. Ching-shih is [the city with- in] the Son of Heaven's domain of one thousand li [square], it resembles the sun and moon, the diameter of which is one thousand li. 33b: The Chiao t'ê shêng chi says: "The God of the Earth of a vanquished state is roofed in". It indicates that it is separated from [the influences of] Heaven and Earth. 10b: The upper part [of the Warning God of the Earth] is covered that it may not be in communication with Heaven. Round its lower part a pallissade is built that it may not be in communication with Earth. It indicates that it is separated from [the influences of] Heaven and Earth. 2b: Hou means 'to be on the alert', to be on the alert as to [whether his acts will be] against or accord- ing to [the Kings's commands]. 17b: Hou means 'to be on the alert', to be on the alert as to [whether his acts will be] against or according to [the King's commands]. Po hu t'ung Yüeh ling chang chü 79c: T'ai also means ta 'great'; ts'ou means tsou 'to collect'; [t'ai-ts'ou] means that the ten thousand things have begun greatly to col- lect [their forces against] the earth to break through. 3a: Ts'ou means tsou 'to collect'; [t'ai-ts'ou] means that the ten thousand things greatly collect [their forces against] the earth to break through. 79d: Chieh means fu-chia; [chieh- chung] means that the ten thous- and things have emerged out of their scales fu-chia, dividing themselves according to their spe- cies. 12a: Chieh means fu-chia; [chieh-chung] means that the ten thousand things have emerged out of their scales fu-chia, dividing them- selves according to their species. 79e: Ku means ku 'old'; hsi means hsien 'fresh'; [ku-hsi] means that the ten thousand things all leave their old [dwelling], and turn to their new [one], none of them failing to wear a fresh appearance. 18b: Ku means ku 'old'; hsi means hsien 'fresh'; [ku-hsi] means that the ten thousand things leave their old [dwelling], and turn to [their] new [one], none of them failing to wear a fresh appearance. 79f: [Chung-lü] means that the vang- fluid is about to reach its extrem- ity; chung means full and great; therefore, taking advantage of its middle [position], it obstructs [the rising yin]. 24b: [Chung-lü] means that the yang- fluid is about to reach its extrem- ity; it takes advantage of its middle [position] to obstruct [the rising yin]; chung 'middle' means full and great. 79g: Shêng means hsia 'inferior'; p'in means ching 'to respect'; [shêng- p'in] means that the yang-fluid is at its top and extremity, while the yin-fluid begins to rise; there- fore [the yin] pays [the yang] its respect as a guest. 28b: [Shêng-p'in] means that the yang fluid is at its top and extremity, while the yin-fluid begins to rise; therefore [the yin] pays [the yang] its respect as a guest; Shêng means hsia 'inferior'. 79h: Lin means chung 'multitude'; the ten thousand things have fully developed their maturity and their species abound in num- bers. 33b: [Lin-chung] means that the ten thousand things have fully de- veloped their maturity, and their species abound in numbers; lin means chung 'multitude'. 79i: I means shang 'to afflict'; tsê means fa 'law'; [i-tsê] means that the ten thousand things begin to be afflicted and to undergo the law of penalty. 37a: I means shang 'to afflict'; tsê means fa 'law'; [i-tsê] means that the ten thousand things begin to be afflicted and to undergo the law of penalty. 79j: Nan means jên 'to charge'; [nan- lü] means that the yang-fluid still has its charge [to fulfill], producing greens and wheat. Therefore the yin opposes it. 39b: Nan means jên 'to charge'; [nan- lü] means that the yang-fluid still has its charge [to fulfill], pro- ducing greens and wheat. 79k: I means chung 'end'; [wu-i] means that the ten thousand things, following the yang, have reached their end, and have to follow the yin in order to rise again; there is nothing which has [not] its end. 41a: I means chung 'end'; [wu-i] means that the ten thousand things have followed the yang to its end, and have to follow the yin to rise [again]; there is nothing [which has not] its end. 791: Ying means ying 'to respond'; chung means tung 'to move'; [ying-chung] means that the ten thousand things, responding to the yang, move and lie low. 44b: [Ying-chung] means that the ten thousand things, responding to the yang, move and lie low. 79a: Huang 'yellow' is the colour of equilibrium and harmony; chung means tung 'to move'; [huang- chung] means that the yang-fluid moves under the Yellow Sources, and nourishes the ten thousand things. 48a: [Huang-chung] means that the yang [-fluid] moves under the Yellow Sources; chung means tung 'to move'. 79b: Ta means ta 'great'; lü means chü 'to oppose'; [ta-lü] means that the yang-fluid wishes to break out, but is repulsed by the yin. Lü means 'to oppose', that is: the host [of yin-forces] oppose and obstruct [the yang]. 50b: Lü means chü 'to oppose'; [ta-tü] means that the yang-fluid wishes to break out, but is repulsed by the yin. 29: Millet has [absorbed] the equi- balanced and harmonious fluids of the yin and the yang, while its use is most general. There- fore it is considered as the princi- pal [of the species of grain]. 36b: Millet is sowed in autumn, it ripens in summer, it traverses the four seasons and completely [absorbs the influences of] the yin and the yang; it is the most valuable of the [species of] grain. 25: The Yüeh ling says: . . . . . [in winter] they sacrifice to the wellThe Li chi has 'lane', in st. of 'well'.. 53a: [The Yüeh ling says:] They sac- rifice to the well. Po hu t'ung Ming t'ang yüeh ling lun 120c-d: The ming-t'ang is round at the top, and square at the bottom. It has eight windows and four doors. It is the building whence the orders of the state proceed, and it is situated south of the capital. The top is round in imitation of Heaven, the bottom is square in imitation of Earth. The eight windows represent the Eight Winds, the four doors the Four Seasons, the nine compartments the Nine Provinces, the twelve seats the Twelve Months, the thirty-six single doors the Thirty- six Rains, the seventy-two win- dow-openings the Seventy-two Winds. 5b: The eight doors [of the ming- t'ang] represent the Eight Tri- grams, the nine compartments the Nine Provinces, the twelve apartments correspond with the Twelve Earthly Stems; [it has further] thirty-six single doors and seventy-two window-open- ings.

The impression created by these parallels is a little flattering. It would be easy to give a number of passages which definitely differ from those in the Po ha t'ung. From a man who had seen the Po hu i tsou we might expect that he would have made more use of it. That he did not do so may have been due to various causes. 1. Ts'ai Yung in reality had no access to the Po hu i tsou, because his mention of it does not implicitly mean his actual knowledge of its contents. 2. He made use of it, but the present edition of the Po hu t'ung is a later forgery, therefore his writings only tally with it on a few points. 3. He made use of it, but his writings, as we know them in their fragmentary form, are forgeries, so that the discrepancy may be explained in the same way. 4. He made partial use of it, but main- tained his own views on several points. I think that the fourth case is the most probable, even though it is only a supposition, as the other three are.

 19.Parallels in Sung Chung

The following passages are from Sung Chung's Commentary on the Apocryphal Books Yüan ming pao, Kan ching fu, Yüan shên ch'i, Yen k'ung t'u, and Han wên chia . I have used Ma Kuo-han's ed. in the Yü han shan jang chi i shu.. The curious thing about Sung Chung's Commentary is that, apart from the two examples given by Hung, there are no other parallels equally striking. The Po hu t'ung contains numerous quotations from the Apocryphal Texts themselves, with and without source-indication, but a perusal of Sung Chung's Commentary has, as far as I could discover, not yielded the results which might be expected from Professor Hung's statement that the Po hu t'ung in very numerous cases copied from Sung Chung Cf. n. 128.. As the editions which I have used are not com- prehensive Namely those by Ma Kuo-han and Huang shih in the Yü han shan fang chi i shu and the Huang shih i shu k'ao. I have not been able to consult the other editions of the Apocrypha, for which see infra, p. 106. I cannot contradict this statement; in fact, even if I could, it would not very much affect my reasoning, which is, that the occurrence of parallels as such does not prove a great deal. Sung Chung's passages in my list cannot strictly be regarded as parallels of the Po hu t'ung; on some points they even show con- spicuous differences.

Po hu t'ung Sung Chung's Commentary on: 78a: Ch'un 'spring' means ch'un . which means tung, to move'; its position is in the eastern quarter. Ch'un ch'iu wei yüan ming pao (Yü han, 57.5b): Ch'un 'spring' means ch'un .; tung 'east' means tung 'to move'. 1a: The King has Heaven as his father, and Earth as his mother; he is the Son of Heaven. Ch'un ch'iu wei kan ching fu (54.63a): [The King] serves Hea- ven as his father in the sacrifice on the Round Mound, he serves Earth as his mother in the sacri- fice on the Square Swamp, he serves the sun as his elder brother in the eastern suburb, he serves the moon as his elder sister in the western suburb. 113d: [San-lao] means that he has grown old in the understanding of the Ways of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Wu-kêng means that he has understood the change of things by the way of the Five Elements. Hsiao ching wei yüan shên ch'i (58.19a): San-lao [means] an old man who knows the affairs of Heaven, Earth, and Man . . . Wu-kêng [means] an old [man] who knows the affairs of the alter- nation of the Five Elements. 120c-d: The ming-t'ang is round at the top, and sqare at the bottom. It has eight windows and four doors. It is the building whence the orders of the state proceed, and it is situated south of the capital. The top is round in imi- tation of Heaven, the bottom is square in imitation of Earth. The eight windows represent the Eight Winds, the four doors the Four Seasons, the nine compartments the Nine Provinces, the twelve seats the Twelve Months, the thirty-six single doors the Thirty- six Rains, the seventy-two win- dow-openings the Seventy-two Winds. Li wei han wên chia (54.14b): The ming-t'ang has eight windows and four doors, to be in commu- nication with the emanations of the Eight Trigrams. It is the building whence the orders of the state proceed, and it is situated south of the capital. [On each] side there are three compartments, on [all the] four sides twelve, in imitation of the Twelve Months. 195d: The Six Emotions are: joy, anger, grief, happiness, love, and hate. Ch'un ch'iu wei yen k'ung t'u (56.54a): The Six Emotions [re- present] the Six Songs: the first is called fêng, the second fu, the third pi, the fourth hsing, the fifth ya, the sixth sungcf. Chou li chu shu, , 23.16a, where the Six Songs liu-i are called liu-shih (Biot II, p. 50: les six sortes de chants notès)..

20.Parallels in Ying Shao

Po hu t'ung Fêng su t'ung i 29: Land is wide and extensive and cannot be worshipped every- where. The species of grain are too numerous, and cannot be sacrificed to one by one. There- fore a tumulus of earth is erected for an Altar of the God of the Earth, which denotes that there is [a god] to be worshipped [there]. Millet is the most important of the species of grain. Therefore an Altar of the God of the Millet is erected, to which sacrifices are made. 8.2a-b: The God of the Earth is the host of the land. Land is wide and extensive, and cannot be worshipped everywhere. There- fore a tumulus of earth is erected as an Altar for the God of the Earth to be worshipped; [it has the meaning of a] thanksgiving for its merit. Millet is the most important of the species of grain. The species of grain are too nu- merous, and cannot be sacrified to one by one. Therefore an Altar of the God of the Millet is erected, to which sacrifices are made. 126a: On the very day that [the King] receives the mandate [of Heaven], he changes the institutions [of the previous Dynasty, acting thereby] in response to [the will of] Heaven. In all under Heaven general peace [has been restored], and his efforts have come to a successful end: [now] he offers the fêng- and shan-sac- rifices to announce [the accom- plishment of this] general peace. 2.3a: The King upon receiving his mandate [of Heaven] changed the name [of the previous Dyn- nasty] and its institutions in response to [the will of] Heaven. In all under Heaven general peace [has been restored], and his efforts have come to a successful end: [now] he offers the fêng- and shan-sacrifices to announce [the accomplishment of this] peace. 126b: Why must [the fêng- and shan- sacrifices be offered] on Mount T'ai? It is the place where the ten thousand things originate shih, and where [the yin and the yang] interchange. 2.3a (10.1b): [The fêng- and shan- sacrifices] must be [offered] on [Mount] Tai-tsung, because [tai means] 'chief'; [it is the place] where the ten thousand things originate tsung, and where the yin and the yang interchange. 126c: Why must [the sacrifice take place] on the top [of Mount T'ai]? Taking advantage of the height [of the mountain] the announce- ment is made to the high [Heaven, thus acting] in conformity with the latter's nature. Therefore by ascending [the mountain, and erecting on its top an altar] for the fêng-sacrifice its height is increased. 2.3a-b: [The sacrifice] must [take place] on the top [of the mountain], meaning that its height is in- creased [by the erecting of the altar]. 126c: At both [fêng- and shan-] sacri- fices a stone is engraved record- ing the appellations [of the King and his predecessors], to show the results of their accomplish- ments, and to stimulate them- selves to more toil. 2.3a-b: A stone is engraved recording their appellations and showing their achievements. 126d: Some say: At the fêng-sacrifice a gold stamp [is used with] silver bindings. Others say: A stone stamp [is used with] gold bind- ings and sealed with a seal. 2.3b: Some say: A gold stamp [is used with] silver bindings, sealed with a seal.

If we can regard the above passages as parallels, then the question which Hung asks with respect to the Fêng su t'ung i loses its point: though neither Sung Chung nor Ying Shao quote the Po hu t'ung by name, both show a certain number of parallel passages, which, however, does not imply direct borrowing. There is another in- teresting fact.

The Po hu t'ung, paragraph 42d, says the following:

"There is none who, hearing the note chüeh, does not feel com- passion and act accordingly; there is none who, hearing the note chih, does not rejoice in nourishing [the needy] and does not love bestowing [goodness]; there is none who, hearing the note shang, does not become strong and decided, and embark on enterprises; there is none who, hearing the note yü, does not deeply reflect and take precautionary measures against far-off [eventualities]; there is none who, hearing the note kung, does not become mild and liberal, and act beneficently and harmoniously".

The Fêng su t'ung i Ch. 6, fol. 3a-b. has an almost identical passage, without indication of source: "Hearing the note kung causes man to be mild and liberal and expand his greatness; hearing the note shang causes man to be straight and love principles; hearing the note chüeh causes man to be serene and love ritual [behaviour]; hearing the note chih causes man to feel compassion and make his love all-embracing; hearing the note yü causes man to be proficient in nourishing [the needy] and love bestowing [goodness]".

Now this passage of the Fêng su t'ung i corresponds word for word, with but slight deviations, with what is said by Ho Hsiu in his Commentary on the Kung yang chuan Yin 5, Kung yang chu shu, 3.6a.; it does, however, not occur in the Han shu, from which, according to Hung, the Fêng su t'ung i has quoted the statement on the names of the music See supra, p. 22.. Did Ying Shao copy from the Po hu t'ung or from Ho Hsiu? Did Ho Hsiu copy from the Pu hu t'ung or from Ying Shao? Or did the Po hu t'ung copy from Ho Hsiu and Ying Shao, so that it must be later than both of them? But then we find a passage, similar to that of Ying Shao and Ho Hsiu, in the Han shih wai chuan, ascribed to Han Ying, who lived in the second century B.C. Ch. 8, fol. 13a; cf. n. 156.. Is it not more prob- able that the Po hu t'ung used the Han shih wai chuan as its source? Why it altered the latter's style, while Ying Shao and Ho Hsiu did not, is inexplicable, but this is no valid argument against its use of the Han shih wai chuan.

 21.Parallels in Chêng Hsüan

Po hu t'ung Chêng Hsüan's Commentary on: 110g-h: Why is it that the great officer and the common officer in arch- ery use [a target with the figures of] two animals? Both are the servants of man; it means that on behalf of their Lord they have to attend to their affairs and to toil and moil personally. Another opinion is: The subject represents the yin; therefore his number is even. I li chu shu, Hsiang shê li (5.61b): [On the target of] the Lord one [animal] is depicted, whereas [on that of] the subject two [animals] are depicted, because the number of the yang is odd, and the num- ber of the yin is even. 118e-g: On the outside [the pi-yung is] round, so that visitors have the same view of it [from all sides]. . There is only water on the south- ern side [of the p'an-kung], the region [towards which the sub- ject is to perform his] ritual duties. Ode 299 (Mao shih chu shu, 29.11a): For the pi-yung earth is heaped up to dam yung the water [sur- rounding it]. On the outside it is round like the pi [-jade ring], so that visitors coming from all sides have the same view of it. [The p'an-kung has] gates to the east and the west, on the south- ern [side] there is communicating water, on the northern [side] there is none. 266e: Hun means that the rites [of meeting the bride] are performed at dusk hun. . . it indicates that the yang descends to the yin. I li shih hun li yüan mu (3a): The rites for a common officer taking a bride are performed at the time of dusk. . . . it must be at dusk, because [then] the yang goes and the yin comes.

These three passages, of course, prove nothing. But we have a case which is more interesting. In the Po hu t'ung (170 f) we come across the statement: "The Ch'ü li says: 'A Minister offers a young sheep as a present, a great officer a wild goose, a common officer a pheasant; the common man offers a p'i. . .'. P'i means mu 'tame duck"'. Now this appears to be a contamination of the passage in the Ch'ü li, where indeed the present of the common man is said to be a p'i . Li chi chu shu, 5. 28b., and a corresponding passage in the Chou li, where the present of the common man is said to be a mu, i.e. a tame duck . Chou li chu shu , 18.27a.. The explicit identification of p'i with mu I think p'i should be taken in the usual sense of 'mate', 'equal', hence the Ch'ü li passage should be translated: the common man offers a present, equal to [his capacities]. seems to occur for the first time in the Po hu t'ung. Chêng Hsüan, in his Commentary on the statement of the Li chi, mentions it in the words: Some inter- preters take p'i to mean mu 'tame duck' .. Should we assume copying from Chêng Hsüan by the Po hu t'ung, or may we suppose that Chêng Hsüan refers, not necessarily to the Po hu t'ung, but to some theory known to both?

 22.Parallels in Ho Hsiu

Po hu t'ung Ho Hsiu's Commentary on: 53d: The Three Ducal Ministers, the Nine Ministers, the twenty-seven great officers, and the eighty- one common officers form to- gether one hundred and twenty officials, corresponding, below, with the Twelve Earthly Stems. Kung yang chuan, Huan 8 (Kung yang chu shu, 5.6a): The Son of Heaven appoints three Ducal Ministers, nine Min- isters, twenty-seven great of- ficers, and eighty-one common officers, forming together one hundred and twenty officials, which correspond, below, with the Twelve Earthly Stems. 90: Anciently, when an army set out, [the expedition did] not exceed a season, because it would [other- wise] cause resentment and solic- itude. Yin 6 (3.11a): Anciently, when an army set out, [the expedition did] not exceed a season. 46: In continuing the performance of the music of the former Kings at his sacrifices it is made clear that there is a law, and that the origins should not be forgotten. The performance of the music which [the King] has himself created is to show his own accom- plishment. Chao 25 (24.9a): [The perform- ance of] the pantomime with the music of the former Kings means that there is a law. [The performance of] the pantomime with his own music means that there is a rule. 47a: Why does [the King] perform the music of the Four Barbarian Tribes? That his spiritual power may be extended unto them. Chao 25 (24.9a): [The perform- ance of] the pantomime with the music of the Four Barbarian Tribes [means] that his great spiritual power may be extended unto them. 238a: [The present for the completion of the preliminaries consists of] black silk, three [rolls of two pieces], as a symbol of Heaven, red silk, two [rolls of two pieces], as a symbol of Earth. Yin 1 (1.18a): Black silk, three [rolls], as a symbol of Heaven, red silk, two [rolls] as a symbol of Earth. 245: After the wife has been in [her husband's home] for three months, she takes part in the sacrifices [to his ancestors]. . . Three months [constitute] a season, [in which] the things have their [seasonal] completion, and the good and bad [qualities] of man can be known. After this [period of trial] she may participate in the rites of sacrificing in the ancestral temple. Ch'êng 9 (17.23b): Anciently, the wife was presented to the an- cestral temple three months after [her marriage], and [not until then was she] called 'wife'. . . . . It was necessary [to wait] three months, because one season [was considered] sufficient to distin- guish her chastity and faithful- ness. If these were proved, the rites of becoming a wife were completed. 248b: Some say: The Son of Heaven marries twelve wives, modelling himself on Heaven with its twelve months, [during which period] the ten thousand things are bound to [complete their cycle of] life. Ch'êng 10 (17.26a): It is only the Son of Heaven who [is allowed to] take twelve wives.

Ho Hsiu represents a special case. His affinity with the Po hu t'ung through the Kung yang chuan is so close that it is difficult to say which quotes from which Cf. Woo Kang, o.c., p. 197.. The following parallels are, however, revealing:

11a: In response to the wish of his people and subjects, they should not be without a ruler [even] for one day. Chuang 32 (9.13b): In response to the wish of his people and subjects, they should not be without a ruler [even] for one day. 11b: According to the principle of suc- cession there could not be two rulers in one [and the same] year. Chuang 32 (9.14a): According to the principle of succession there [could] not be two rulers in one [and the same] year.

The wording is so identical that the thought of borrowing imme- diately arises, until we discover that the original source is probably the Kung yang chuan, Wên 9th yearKung yang chu shu, 13.22b., where the two sentences occur in exactly the same form. We may, therefore, assume that for the other parallel passages some common source may also have been used.

 23.Later interpolations in the Po hu t'ung

Hitherto I have given examples of passages which are not nec- essarily fatal to the Po hu t'ung. But there are others which, to some degree of certainty, prove that the Po hu t'ung contains state- ments of a later date than it claims.

In paragraph 172 it says:

"Therefore [even] the Queen uses for her presents dates, chest- nuts, and dried spiced meat tuan-hsiu. . . Tuan-hsiu means fu 'prepared meat'. Therefore the Ch'un ch'iu chuan says: It is not according to the rites that the wives of great officers offer presents of silk on their visits. But what is then to be used? Dates and chestnuts with the appropriate words, dried spiced meat tuan- hsiu with the appropriate words".

If we look up the Kung yang chuan, we find immediately after its statements: "To present silk on their visits [by the wives of great officers] is not according to the rites. But what is then to be used? Dates and chestnuts with the appropriate words, dried spiced meat tuan-hsiu with the appropriate words" Ho Hsiu's Commentary: "Tuan-hsiu means fu 'prepared meat"' Kung yang chu shu, Chuang 24, 8.13b..

We see that the Po hu t'ung's quotation from the Kung yang chuan is slightly different, and that the order of Ho Hsiu's Commen- tary, immediately following upon the expression tuan-hsiu in the Kung yang chuan, is more logical than that in the Po hu t'ung, where the sentence "tuan-hsiu means fu" more or less hangs in the air. It is not too bold to assume that Ho Hsiu's Commentary is here prior to the Po hu t'ung.

In paragraph 181a the Po hu t'ung quotes the Ch'un ch'iu chuan:

"The King preserves the descendants of the last two Dynasties; he allows them to employ their own colour, and to practise their [own] rites and music".

None of the three Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals--Kung yang chuan, Ku liang chuan, Tso chuan--contains this statement, but we find it in Ho Hsiu's Commentary on the Kung yang chuan in the following form: "The King preserves the des- cendants of the last two Dynasties; he allows them to regulate their [own] correction of the first month, to use their [own] colour for their clothes, and to practise their [own] rites and music"Ibid., Yin 3, 2.8a..

It is evident that the Po hu t'ung in this case has simply quoted Ho Hsiu, mistaking it for the Ch'un ch'iu (kung yang) chuan.

In paragraph 142c the Po hu t'ung says:

"The Ch'un chiu says: 'Chi-chiang, [daughter of the Marquis] of Chi went as bride to the capital'. The relation between parents and daughter is such that, even if she becomes the Queen, her dignity does not affect [her attitude] towards her parents".

Again we look up the Kung yang chuan Ibid., Huan 9, 5.7a., and there we find that after the entry of the Ch'un ch'iu: "Chi-chiang of Chi went as bride to the capital", there first comes the Chuan of Kung-yang, reading: "The relation between parents and daughter is such that, even if she becomes the Queen by Heaven['s decree], still she is called: Our Chi-chiang", and then Ho Hsiu's Commentary "It means that the dignity of the child does not affect [its attitude] towards its parents".

We may conclude that the Po hu t'ung, in this case, combined the Kung yang chuan and Ho Hsiu's Commentary, presenting the com- bination as its own statement.

We may proceed further, and discover passages in the Po hu t'ung, which are evidently even later than Ho Hsiu's time.

In paragraphs 2b and 57a there is a statement which, as it stands, is unintelligible () ., but, as I have tried to show in my note to my translation, appears to be a contamination of two sentences, the one being the text of the Hsiao ching wei yüan shên ch'i ., the other Chia Kung-yen's Sub-commentary on the Chou li .. Chia Kung-yen lived in the seventh century A.D. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he was made a po-shih in the period yung-hui (650-656), see the Chung kuo jên ming ta tz'ŭ tien, p. 1328..

Paragraph 10e of the Po hu t'ung contains a passage which is clearly an interpolation. Not only does its 'informative' character differ from the terse, matter-of-fact style of the Po hu t'ung, but it also avoids the tabooed word shih, occurring in the name of the T'ang Emperor Li Shih-min ., using the synonym tai . instead. Lu Wên-ch'ao, probably correctly, supposes it to be from the hand of Hsü Chien (659-729), the composer of the Ch'u hsüeh chi, where the incriminated passage occurs See the note to my translation of the passage. The occurrence in a text of a word for a tabooed name does not, in itself, mean that the text dates from the period in which the taboo was observed. The rule is very loose (see Ch'ên Yüan's Shih hui chü li, , in the Yen ching hsüeh pao, 1928, p. 591). Besides the word the Po hu t'ung avoids the tabooed words , writing (par. 120a), and , writing (par. 86), the former occur- ring in the name of Sung Jên-tsung (1023-1064), acc. to Lu Wên-ch'ao, 2 11b; the later in the name of Han Ching-ti (156-141 B.C.), Lu, 2 . 21b..

In paragraph 168k it is said that "the uses of the Five Jade [tablets] are not limited to one; they cannot be described exhaust- ively; only the most important have been presented", which state- ment likewise strikes us as having an 'informative' character, so that it is probably an interpolation of some later date.

That interpolations of a rather late date occur in the Po hu t'ung is not surprising. We may safely say that all important Chinese books contain interpolations of some sortGardner, o.c., p. 25, who says that "interpolation in the transmission of Chinese texts . . . . . . . is always to be suspected" gives an enumeration of the causes which may have effected it.. The more a text has been studied the greater is the possibility that it has not retained its original form and character. We may, however, not immediately think of deliberate forgeries. For a text which deals with the norms of social and political behaviour, as so many Chinese texts do, has perforce to be 'interpreted', i.e., to be made intelligible to the time of the reader, while obsolete ideas have to be converted into new ones. So long as it is regarded as a living text, it is subject to alterations, however imperceptible, and only after it has become dead, that is, seen as an historical curiosum, can it be treated as a fossil, and can detached, impersonal methods be applied in order to assign it its historical setting. It is admirable to note how well most Chinese scholars succeed in combining, on the one hand, their personal entanglement with a text from which they expect a message, with, on the other hand, a loving and meticulous care in the preservation of the original wording. But the influence on them of the former factor should always be borne in mind and to some extent condoned, for though the modern scholar in his scientific attitude is chiefly interested in the question of objective, historical authenticity, he is never free from a personal bias, inevitable, because he, too, by the fact of his existential setting, interprets.

 24.Early fuller editions of the Po hu t'ung

Before I proceed to sum up the results reached thus far, I should mention another point. Hung says that, judging from the fact that the T'ai p'ing yü lan contains numerous quotations from the Po hu t'ung which are not found in the edition of 1305 A.D. of this work, the edition used by the T'ai p'ing yü lan must have been a completer oneProlegomena, p. x.. In a review of Hung's Index Pelliot pointed out that this statement is not correct; the T'ai p'ing yü lan, as is proved by a Tun-huang manuscript, has, for the period before the T'ang, simply and wholesalely copied from the quotations it found in the Hsiu wên tien yü lan of 572 A.D., and the quotations from the Po hu t'ung in the T'ai p'ing yü lan are probably to be ascribed to the Hsiu wên tien yü lan . T'oung Pao, Vol. XXVIII, 1931, p. 514.. Hung then subjected the entire problem to a re- examination In an article , in the Yen ching hsüeh pao, 1932, p. 2499-2558.: he proved that the Tun-huang manuscript actually is not the Hsiu wên tien yü lan, as was stated by Lo Chên-yü, and, on his authority, by Pelliot, but the Hua lin p'ien lüeh ., which was begun in 516 A.D., and completed eight years later in 700 chüan. It served as material for the Hsiu wên tien yü lan, and the I wên lei chü, which was completed in 624 A.D. The compilers of the T'ai p'ing yü lan, having no longer access to the Hua lin p'ien lüeh, could only rely on the material contained in the Hsiu wên tien yü lan, the I wên lei chü, and other extant works.

It is not clear whether the Hua lin p'ien lüeh has made use of the Po hu t'ungThe Tun-huang fragment, which is subjected to an analysis in Hung's article, does not contain any quotation from it.. If it did, we may admit the transmission through the I wên lei chü, or Hsiu wên tien yü lan, to the T'ai ping yü lan of a fuller edition than the present Po hu t'ung already before 516 A.D. Liu Shih-p'ei, on the contrary, says that the edition used by the T'ai p'ing yüi lan was unreliable (Kuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, Vol. 72.2a)..

This supposition is corroborated by other data. We have seen that Miu Hsi (died 245 A.D.) quoted from the Po hu t'ung, and though the single quotation does not suggest much as to the edition he had at his disposal, the fact that the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao, three centuries later, contains an almost identical quotation not occurring in the present edition of the Po hu t'ung Cf. n. 126., may be taken as an indication that Miu Hsi's edition was probably, like that used by the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao, fuller than our edition of 1305 A.D.

For the composing of the "Lacunae in the Text of the Po hu t'ung" Chuang Shu-tsu and Lu Wên-ch'ao have ransacked a great number of works. They took quotations from several lei-shu, such as the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao (by Yü Shih-nan 558-638), the I wên lei chü (624 A.D.), the Ch'u hsüeh chi (by Hsü Chien 659-729), the T'ung tien (by Tu yu 735-812), the T'ai p'ing yü lan (completed 983 A. D.); from several Sub-commentaries on the Classics, such as that by Huang K'an (488-545) on the Lun yüLun yü i shu.; by K'ung Ying-ta (574-648) on the Tso chuan, Li chi, Mao shih all incorporated in the Shih san ching chu shu.; by Chia Kung-yen (po-shih in the period 650-656) on the Chou li and the I liCf. n. 204. The and the are also edited in the Shih san ching chu shu.; by Yang Shih-hsün on the Ku liang chuan , in the Shih san ching chu shu. Yang Shih- hsün lived in the T'ang, his exact dates are unknown., by Hsing Ping (932-1010) on the Erh ya , in the Shih san ching chu shu.. They further used a quotation by Tsang Tao (end 4th-beginning 5th century A.D.) occurring in his Biography in the Sung shu , Sung shu, 55 (15). 4b of the Po-na ed., and quotations from the Commentary on the Hsü han chih by Liu Chao (± 510 A.D.) ., from the chapters on the Rites in the Sui shu by Wei Chêng (580-643) by ., from the Kuang yün by Liu Fa-yen (completed 601 A.D.) , by . See Têng Ssŭ -yü, o.c., p. 176., from the Commentary on the Hou han shu by Li Hsien or Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ (651-684) (), ., from the Commentary on the Wên hsüan by Li Shan (died 689 A.D.) . See Têng Ssŭ -yü, o.c., p. 250., from the Chiu t'ang shu by Liu Hsü (887-946) .. Ch'ên Li supplied new material from the Sui ching chu by Li Tao-yüan (d. 527) ., Liu Shih-p'ei from Hui Lin's I ch'ieh ching yin i (780-783) See supra, n. 165. and the Chi jui by Liu Kêng, who lived in the T'ang by ..

Thus it seems that uninterruptedly from the beginning of the third century until the beginning of the eleventh the Po hu t'ung was transmitted, probably in various editions and in a completer state than the edition of 1305 Of course it is possible that separate, fuller editions were lost after they had been used by the Hua lin p'ien lüeh, i.e. after 516 A.D., and that quotations from the Po hu t'ung by later scholars were either quotations from the lei-shu, or from editions made up of quotations from these lei-shu. This is, however, unlikely. Lu Wën-ch'ao, on whom I have relied, carefully mentions the sources from which he took the quotations to supply the lacunae; when a quotation occurs in several works, he enumerates all these works, so that the fact of his referring to one work only, e.g. Hsing Ping's Sub-commentary on the Erh ya (see Section , fol. 8a in his ed.) may be seen as a proof that the particular quotation is only to be found in that text, and that this text had a separate edition of the Po hu t'ung at its disposal..

 25.Recapitulation of the data and provisional conclusion

I now may recapitulate the data we have found. There is at one end the statement in the Hou han shu on the discussions in the Po-hu kuan in 79 A.D., as a result of which a Po hu i tsou was composed, or a t'ung-i was written, or a Po hu t'ung tê lun was made. At the other end there is the edition of 1305 A.D., called the Po hu t'ung tê lun, in ten chüan, which we possess. Between these two ends the gap has to be bridged.

We have at our disposal the following facts: Ts'ai Yung (133-192) mentioned a Po hu i tsou in more than one hundred chüan; in the writings of Ts'ai Yung, Ho Hsiu, Chêng Hsüan, Ying Shao, Sung Chung, all men living in the second century A.D., there are passages which run parallel to certain passages in the present Po hu t'ung; Miu Hsi (died 245 A.D.) quoted from the Po hu t'ung; however, his quotation is not found in the present Po hu t'ung, but it figures, in an almost identical form, in the Pei t'ang shu ch'ao by Yü Shih-nan (558-638); the Sui shu, describing the history of the Sui Dynasty (589-619) mentions in its Bibliographical Chapter a Po hu t'ung in six chüan. In a great number of works, from the beginning of the fourth century to the beginning of the eleventh century, numerous quotations from the Po hu t'ung occur, many of which are missing in the present edition. The present edition contains interpolations of the second century A.D. (Ho Hsiu), and of the T'ang.

Unless we want to doubt everything that was not actually written under our eyes, we have to accept the fact that there was a discussion on the Classics in 79 A.D., and that as a result of the discussion a report was made. Why the names given to this report differ in the statements of the Hou han shu is a puzzle. The explanations sup- plied by our scholars are ingenious but hypothetical. We may as well suggest another: Po hu i tsou probably was not the title of the report, but only a general appellation: 'the Memorialized Discussions in the Po-hu [kuan]'; Po hu t'ung tê lun and Po hu t'ung i were more specific names of the same thing, having assumed the character of a proper name. This is a hypothesis, no more. Pan Ku was charged with the compilation of the material; he probably did not take part in the discussions, not being a Classical scholar; neither did he write a Po hu t'ang (tê lun) with his own hand. The report was voluminous, consisting of more than one hundred chüan; it was extant in the second century A.D., which means that not only T'sai Yung may have had access to it, but also his contemporaries Ho Hsiu, Chêng Hsüan, Ying Shao, Sung Chung, and other scholars. The parallels in their works suggest that at least they were acquainted with the ideas contained in the Po hu t'ung. Why they did not quote the work by name remains unexplained. Such a quotation first appeared from the brush of Miu Hsi, who died in 245 A.D. From then on quotations from the Po hu t'ung abound. Hung uses this date as a terminus post quem non, i.e., according to him the Po hu t'ung in its present form dates from that time at the latest. Actually we only know that Miu Hsi's quotation does not occur in the present edition of the Po hu t'ung, and we can only say that there was some edition of this work which differs from the one we possess. Judging from the quotations in texts coming after Miu Hsi we may perhaps go a step further, and say that there were, from 245 A.D. until the beginning of the eleventh century, many editions of the Po hu t'ung, different from the present one in so far as they contain passages which are not found in the latter. We have assumed that they were fuller texts, including Miu Hsi's, but it cannot be definitely proved.

The really important question is however: what happened in the second century A.D.? Should we say, as Hung does, that the re- port on the discussions, with the existence of which Ts'ai Yung (133-192) was still acquainted--he even knew its number of chüan-- was neglected and left to perish, until between 213 and 245 A.D. somebody came to pick up the poor remnants, and with the help of Sung Chung's Commentary concocted a book which he dubbed Po hu t'ung? And should we conclude that the Po hu t'ang, as we have it, therefore represents a true picture of the text existing in the period between 213 and 245 A.D.? It all turns round the parallel passages, on which Hung bases his opinion. However, those passages may be called upon to tell a different story: they suggest a general knowledge of the contents of the Po hu t'ung among the scholars of the second century A.D.; the Po hu t'ung known to Miu Hsi may not be a concoction of the time between 213 and 245 A.D., but a genuine representation of what has been discussed in the Po-hu kuan in 79 A.D. The present edition, though containing a number of later interpolations and many omissions, may also be regarded as derived from the earliest edition, and therefore as representing, with the above reservations, the Po-hu discussions on the Classics.

Our conclusions on the ground of the available material are not satisfactory. Perhaps we have paid too much attention to the facts about the text, and too little to its contents, i.e., we may have made insufficient use of 'internal evidence', by which I mean the analysis of the text itself in order to localize its ideas and to see whether they fit in the time from which the text professes to date. Such an attempt has its dangers and its difficulties. It is dangerous, because in many instances we have to interpret, and in this interpretation a great deal depends on 'feeling'. It is difficult, because we have to reconstruct an ancient period, and this reconstruction, even with an abundance of material, can never be completely achieved. Moreover, Chinese material for early periods is mostly deficient, in the sense that numerous works have been lost and are irretrievable, while the extant ones are all more or less suspect. We have to work with so many unknown factors, that almost every conclusion is provisional and always subject to revision.

In the case of the Po hu t'ung we may try to discover whether the ideas contained in it tally with the background of the discussions in 79 A.D. Is it probable that a book like the Po hu t'ung, such as we actually know it, was the result of those discussions? To give a picture of such a background, however, involves a study of the entire Han period. The Po-hu discussions were held to determine the meaning of the Classics, they represent the opinions of the Han scholars as to what the Classics meant to them. In order to under- stand their opinions properly a study has to be made of the history of the Classics. As the Classics cover the whole of human life and provide the rules for man's behaviour and his rôle in society, such a study would involve a study of ancient Chinese culture in its entirety, i.e. a study of all ancient Chinese documents, not only the Classical writings and their innumerable Commentaries, but also all historical and philosophical texts, in order to know the social and political factors, and the interplay of the various streams of thought. Granting that the existing documents may be considered as representative, granting that we have read them correctly, we may then form a picture of that ancient period, but even so we must take into consideration that our ordering of the material will have proceeded according to a preconceived plan -- otherwise it would remain a bewildering mass of mute facts --, so that our personal vision colours the whole picture, which is thus necessarily 'subjective'.

Such an undertaking is of course out of the question; not only would it require a lifetime, and more, but my own strength would be inadequate. Moreover, within the scope of this introductory study I should avoid building a mountain which would only be delivered of a mouse, and I have perforce to restrict myself to a very brief sketch of the development of Classical studies in the Han period, just enough to make the background of the discussions a little clearer, being, nonetheless, well aware of its incompleteness.

 II: 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" In his Po hu t'ung ed., 2 . 11a., 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" In his ed., 1. 4b.. 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, in- dicated by the words "The I says"; there are 75 quotations from the present Book of History, indi- cated 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"Mostly Shih yün, sometimes Shih yüeh. Lu Wên-ch'ao remarks that Shih yün is the rule (3 . 5a)., 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'Tung Fêng-yüan (chin-shih in 1751 A.D.) in his Shih hsiao pien , p. 35 (Ts'ung shu chi ch'êng ed.) says that the I li forms the root of the Rites, while the Li chi forms their branches and leaves. He quotes Chu [Hsi], who in composing his Commentaries on the Classics regarded the I li as ching.. 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 chiKuo ts'ui hsüeh pao, Vol. 72, fol. 4a. The Po hu t'ung, however, contains many deviations from its own rule.; 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'iu chih i, one is said to be from the Ch'un ch'iu wên i . It is not clear what is meant by this work. There is an almost identical passage in the T'ung tien, which has been quoted from the Ch'un ch'iu ta i ; Chavannes (Le T'ai chan, p. 451, n. 2) wishes to identify it as the Ch'un ch'iu li i by Ts'ui Ling-ên (beginning 6th cent. A.D.), which would imply that the quotation of the Po hu t'ung, if Ch'un ch'iu wên i is a misprint for Ch'un ch'iu li i, is a late interpolation. But the fact that in the Tu tuan by Ts'ai Yung almost the same statement occurs (pointed out by Chavannes in his note) is an indication that the Ch'un ch'iu wên i was probably the same source for both Po hu t'ung and Tu tuan.;

there are 4 quotations from the Commentary of Ku-liang, in- dicated 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" In the one case , in the other is used.;

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 hsün The first Shih chuan , occurring in par. 45a, is probably a Com- mentary on the Shih of the Lu School; Ho Hsiu in his Commentary on the Kung yang chuan, Yin 5 (Kung yang chu shu, 3. 6b) gives an analogous, but fuller, quotation from the Lu shih chuan . The second Shih chuan, par. 206j, is acc. to Lu Wên-ch'ao (3 . 20b) the Han shih nei chuan. The Shih hsün is again a Commentary on the Shih of the Lu School; the quotation is entered in Ma Kuo-han's ed. of the Lu shih ku , attributed to Shên P'ei (2nd cent. B.C., see the Yü han, 12. 66a).;

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 i For all these 'Apocryphal Books' see infra, pp. 102-106.;

there are 2 quotations from the present Kuan tzŭ , indicated as Ti tzŭ chih , now ch. 59 of the Kuan tzŭ . In the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu the Ti tzŭ chih still figures as a separate work in the group Hsiao ching, after the Wu ching tsa i, so that it was considered as belonging to the General Studies on the Confucian Canon. Apart from the text there was a Commentary shuo in 3 ch. (Haloun, Frühkonfuzianische Fragmente, in Asia Major, IX, 1933, p. 467).;

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 Book of History all belong to the 29 chapters of Fu-shêng See Wang Hsien-ch'ien's Comm. on the I wên chih (Ch'ien han shu, 30. 5b), and the Table of Contents of the Shang shu chin ku wên chu shu by Sun Hsing-yen (1753-1818)., 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 pien in the Huang ch'ing ching chieh, ch. 1251. 27b-29a. Fêng Yu-lan, Chung kuo chê hsüeh shih, II, 1935, p. 506, also says that the Po hu t'ung represents the theories of the New Text scholars..

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 fore- father 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 state- ment 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: 'Dili- gently 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 re- markable 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) The figures between round brackets refer to the paragraphs in my translation. I have followed the original wording of the Po hu t'ung as much as possible.. 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 descrip- tion 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 repre- sentation 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 sub- jects 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 Con- stant 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 in- dications of the importance of numbers in this system of classi- fications. 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 inter- action of the yin and the yang (115a). Man harbours the Five In- stincts 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 in- ferior 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 ela- borate 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; every- body 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 res- ponsible 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 en- coffined 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 be- ginning 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 super- stition; 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 cul- ture (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 sacri- fices 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 deer- skin 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 re- latives (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 sub- ordinated 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 him- self 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 bureau- cratic, 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 See China's First Unifier by Derk Bodde (1938).; this unity had not only been effected by the sword, but it was perpetuated by force and intimidation. The philosophy of lawFor which see The Book of Lord Shang by J. J. L. Duyvendak (1928), ch. III., 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 Such is my view of the character of the state of Ch'in, which I hope later to be able to substantiate in detail. The Confucian conception of the state, however ineffective it may have appeared compared with the realistic conception of the School of Law, afterwards proved its intrinsic value, not only by the confirmation of historical accident, but also, in my opinion, by its greater insight in the nature of man and society.. 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 I deliberately use this rendering of the Chinese terms jên and i , which I have usually translated as 'consideration for others' and 'sense of the correct (social) principles'. In dealing with the Confucian concepts in the Han I think the terms 'love' and 'duty', as opposed to the 'force' and 'fear' in the Ch'in, are not inappropriate. Cf. my note to par. 12b of the translation of ch. 11 of the Po hu t'ung., 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 See Homer H. Dubs, The Victory of Han Confucianism, in his The History of the Former Han Dynesty, 11, 1944, p. 341-353. Cf. also O. Franke, Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches, 1, 1930, p. 268-320.. 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 ritesThere must have been something in the Confucian doctrine which appealed even to a man like Liu Pang, the first Emperor. He himself possessed the qual- ities of simple-heartedness, faithfulness, and magnanimity, -- even if some of his acts may shock a modern mind --, which made him worthy to be Son of Heaven, and his aversion to the Confucian pedant did not diminish his appre- ciation of his Confucian advisers who were men of courage and integrity. The word 'Confucianism', to denote the doctrine of the ju-chia , is used here with all reservations; we should avoid the association with the well-established, omnipotent, 'theocratic', state doctrine, which the word usually arouses in us. For the meaning of ju see Hu Shih's study Shuo ju , originally published in the Bulletin of the National Research Institute of History and Philology of the Academia Sinica, Vol. IV, Part 3 (1934), later included in the Hu shih lun hsüeh chin chu , Vol. 1, 1937, p. 1-81, and translated by Wolfgang Franke as Der Ursprung der Ju in Sinica Sonderausgabe, Jahrgang 1935, p. 141-171; Jahrgang 1936, p. 1-42., 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-shih . See Ch'ien han shu, 6.3b; Dubs' History of the Former Han Dynasty, II, p. 32. 'Erudites for the Five Classics' in 136 B.C., Confucianism offi- cially 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 booksCh'ien han shu, 2.5a; Dubs, o.c., I, p. 182., 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 thoughtWang Kuo-wei , Han wei po shih k'ao ch. 4, fol. 4a-b of his Collected Works, sect. .. 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 ya Ibid., fol. 5a. These works were called chuan-chi .. 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 Ibid., fol. 5b-7a.. 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 Ibid., fol. 7a-b..

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. Namely Kuan-kung for the Tso chuan (Ch'ien han shu, 88. 25a), and Mao-kung (= Mao Ch'ang ) for the Mao shih (ibid., 88.20b).. 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 The filiation of the masters given in this chapter (88) differs in many respects from that in chapter Ju lin chuan of the Shih chi. Ku Chieh-kang has drawn up a convenient table showing the divergencies between Shih chi, Ch'ien han shu, and Ching tien shih wên in an Appendix to the Ku shih pien, Vol. 5..

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 esteemCh'ien han shu, 88.6b-10b. The complicated filiation may be seen on table I..

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 Ibid., 11a-14b. See table II..

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 Ibid., 15b-20b. See table III..

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 Ibid., 20b-21b. See table IV-VI..

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 Ibid., 21b-23a. See table VII..

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 Ibid., 23a-24b. See table VIII. The Ju lin chuan also includes the name of Fang Fêng among the Ku-liang Schools, but only a few lines earlier Fang is said to have received tuition in the Tso chuan from Yin Kêng-shih, together with Yin Hsien and Chai Fang-chin. Yin Kêng-shih was a Ku liang and Tso chuan scholar..

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 Ch. Ju lin chuan, Ch'ien han shu, 88-2b., or where, according to the Shih chi, the occupation with studies was of old a natural disposition Ch. Ju lin chuan, Shih chi, 121 (61). 2b.. Lu was the country where

INSERT TABLES I-VIII

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 im- perturbably 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 EmperorCh'ien han shu, 88.3a; Shih chi, 1.c.; two of them refused, considering Shu-sun T'ung's purpose contrary to the ancient idea of proprietyCh'ien han shu, 43.15a.. The Lu School was moreover said to have preserved the best tradition of the original meaning of the Book of Poetry Ch. I wên chih, Ch'ien han shu, 30.10a.. 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 See Duyvendak, o.c., p. 73-74.. 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 Ma Tsung-ho , Chung kuo ching hsüeh shih (1936), p. 46. Cf. also P'i Hsi-jui (1850-1908), Ching hsüeh li shih (1925), fol. 22a-b of the unpunctuated Commercial Press ed.. 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 Quoted by Ma Tsung-ho, o.c., p. 38.. 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 Acc. to Liu Shih-p'ei, quoted by Ma Tsung-ho, o.c., p. 39.. 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 Wang Kuo-wei, o.c., fol. 14b, 15a., 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 Ch'ien han shu, 88.4b.; 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.) bid., fol. 6a.; 30.000 under Hsiao-shun (126-144 A.D.) Wang Kuo-wei, o.c., fol. 12a. -- 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 See the Biography of Tung Chung-shu, translated by O. Franke in his Studien zur Geschichte des konfuzianischen Dogmas und der chinesischen Staats- religion (1920), p. 93, and by Woo Kang, Les trois théories politiques du Tch'ouen ts'ieou (1932), p. 25.. 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 repre- senting the Kung-yang School which originated in Ch'i Wang Kuo wei, fol. 5a.. 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)Ch'ien han shu, 88.25b.. The omission of the Book of Poetry is probably due to an error. shên Ch'in-han (1775-1832). See Hummel, Eminent Chinese, p. 640., quoted in Wang Hsien-ch'ien's Commen- tary 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 Poetry Wang Kuo-wei, fol. 5b., re- presenting 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 accountCh'ien han shu, 88. 23a-24b. I have followed Dubs' rendering of the titles in his translation of The History of the Former Han Dynasty.: "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 [Com- mentary] 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 [Commen- tary] 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 Bio- graphy 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]Ch'ien han shu, 36.7a; Dubs, o.c., II, p. 272..

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" Dubs, l.c..

The Annals of Hsiao-hsüan, relating the event of the discussions on the Five ClassicsThe Hou han shu, Biography of Chai P'u (48 (38). 11a), referring to the discussion, says that "[Emperor] Hsiao-hsüan had the Six Classics discussed in the Shih-ch'ü [Pavilion]", thus deviating from the statements in the Ch'ien han shu, which all speak of the Five Classics. Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ , commenting on the Hou han shu passage, suggests that, as the Ku-liang Commentary had just been officially established, this work was meant as the sixth Classic. Wang Hsien-ch'ien, quoting Chou Shou-ch'ang in his Sub-commentary on the Ch'ien han shu (8. 23a), accepts Chang-huai T'ai-tzŭ 's opinion; so also Dubs (o.c., II, p. 272). As the Kung-yang and Ku-liang Commentaries are not originally to be considered as 'Classics', I think six is merely an error for five; only a few pages earlier the same Hou han shu (48 (38). 3b, Biography of Yang Chung) says that "[Emperor Hsiao-]hsüan widely summoned the Confucian scholars to discuss and determine [the meaning of] the Five Classics in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion". Probably the statement in the Epilogue to the Annals of Hsiao-wu (Ch'ien han shu, 6. 39a; Dubs, o.c., p. 119) on the Six Classics being rendered illustrious, also contains the same error; Yen Shih-ku's opinion, in his Commentary, that the Book of Music was included in this enumeration does not take into account that this book was not officially established until under P'ing-ti (see n. 297)., 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]"Ch'ien han shu, 8.23a; Dubs, o.c., II, p. 260.. 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 See n. 284., the Biography of Hsieh Kuang-tê Ch'ien han shu, 71.8b., the Biography of Wei HsienIbid., 73.8a., and several times in the Ju lin chuan Ibid., 88. passim..

According to Ch'ien Ta-chao there were twenty-three partici- pants 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 Rites See his Biography in Chi'ien han shu, 78.1 a-b.. 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 Cf. Dubs, o.c., II, p. 272-273. The list, provided by Ch'ien Ta-chao, is not wholly reliable. He includes the ten persons who deliberated on the Kung-yang and Ku-liang controversy in the number of participants in the Shih-ch'ü discussions, but this is not substantiated by the statements in the Ch'ien han shu, as is the case with the other thirteen. It is possible that only a few out of the ten Kung-yang and Ku-liang scholars attended the discussions in the Shih-ch'ü Pavilion, so that the total number would be less than twenty, the same as later in the Po-hu discussions (see infra, p. 163). Besides, it is curious that the three representatives of the Book of Poetry were all from the School of Lu. The other two Schools Ch'i and Han, certainly must have been represented also.. 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" Cf. n. 287.. 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 o.c., fol. 8a.: 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 partici- pants 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 Wang-Kuo-wei, o.c., fol. 8a.. 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 Annals Ibid.. 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' ching So is e.g. P'i Hsi-jui's opinion (Ching hsüeh li shih, fol. 1a-2a)., 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 Ch'ien han shu, 88. 8a-9a.. 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 re- pudiated by the scholars Chai Mu and Po Kuang Ibid., fol. 10a..

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 deter- mined 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 For the term cf. n. 250. 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 Con- fucianism 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" Hu Shih in the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1929, p. 34-35.. This popular superstition consisted in the belief in sacred objects, genii, immor- tals, oracles, alchemists, which had commanded the worship of all the different regions now forming part of the Empire Ibid., p. 29-33.. 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 Cf. Dubs' study on The Victory of Han Confucianism, in The History of the Former Han Dynasty, II, p. 341 ff.. 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 Taoism was deliberately applied to government in the beginning decades of the Han Dynasty, and even achieved some success when the circumstances required a laisser-faire policy more than planned administration. See Hu Shih, o.c., p. 21-23.. So it was Confucianism Cf. n. 250., 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 phil- osophy of Mencius" Hu Shih, o.c., p. 39. The term 'agnostic' is not quite correct.. Even when the crude forms of popular superstition had been gradually banished from the sphere of Con- fucian 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 Especially of the Yin-yang School, for a description of which see the Shih chi, 130. 3b, 4b. It is uncertain when the yin-yang theory arose. Ku Chieh-kang thinks that, together with the theory of the Five Elements, it originated in the period of the Warring States (5th-3rd century B.C.) and reached its full development in the Han (Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 2)., 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 me- chanically 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 I have to limit myself to this very brief characterization. For a fuller description see Fêng Yu-lan, Chung kuo chê hsüeh shih, II, 1935, ch. 1-3, and the delightful book by Ku Chieh-kang, Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, 1936. Cf. also W. Eberhard, Beiträge zur kosmologischen Spekulation Chinas in der Han- Zeit (Baessler-Archiv, Sonderabdruck, Band XVI, 1933)..

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. Acc. to Woo Kang, o.c., p. 25, end of note 3.. He was also the first who made the speculation on the yin and the yang the principle for Confucian studies Acc. to ch. Wu hsing chih of the Ch'ien han shu, 27. 2a.. 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 Fêng Yu-lan (o.c., II, 492) divides the history of Chinese thought into a Period of Philosophers, from Confucius to Huai-nan-tzŭ (died 122 B.C.), and a Period of Classical Studies, from Tung Chung-shu to K'ang Yu-wei (1858-1927). I think that in the term 'Classical Studies' the theological aspect of Confucianism is not sufficiently emphasized.. The ideas of Tung Chung-shu are contained in his chief work, the Ch'un ch'iu fan lu , for which see Franke's and Woo Kang's studies mentioned in n. 278. I do not agree with Franke's opinion (p. 169) that the work is not important enough to be translated in full., and in his replies to the Edicts of Emperor Hsiao-wu In his Biography, ch. 56 of the Ch'ien han shu. The Edicts and the replies have been translated by W. Seufert, Urkunden zur staatlichen Neuordnung unter der Han-Dynastie, in the Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen, Vol XXIII-XXV (1922), p. 1-50, the greater part also by L. Wieger, Textes historiques, Tome I (1903), p. 453-463.. 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 Cf. also Fêng Yu-lan, o.c., II, ch. 2.. 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 under- standing them the origins of the yin and the yang, and of the Four Seasons may be known Woo Kang, p. 78-81.. 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 Hu Shih, o.c., p. 38.. 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 Woo Kang, p. 99-100.. For the three periods different terms are used for the same events, distinguishing the degree of affection Confucius bore towards the princes of Lu Plus la période est proche, plus l'affection que l'auteur doit aux princes de Lou (patrie de l'auteur) est profonde. Ceci est une allusion à la manière de gouverner que le souverain d'un empire doit observer: l'affection et les bienfaits que le souverain doit à ses sujets se développeraient par degrés (Woo Kang, p. 104).; 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'ung ; Woo Kang, p. 104-106.. The Dynasty of Lu together with the two pre- vious Dynasties (Yin and Chou) made up the Three Kings, re- presenting the Three Reigns san-t'ung ., and preceded by the Five Emperors, representing the Five Categories wu-tuan . I have followed Woo Kang's rendering of the term (les cinq catégories; o.c., p. 118). Cf. however his note 1 on p. 119, where he gives the translation 'cinq principes ordinaires'.. Lu should revert to the institutions of the Hsia Dynasty, adopting e.g. the colour black Woo Kang, p. 112. and instructing by loyalty Ibid., p. 62., 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 Ibid., p. 80.. 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-wang ; ibid., p. 175..

The Spring and Autumn Annals were not the only book to be interpreted in this curious way. The Book of Change The Schools of Mêng Hsi and Ching Fang had already connected the Book of Change with the yin-yang speculations and the theories on disasters and extraordinary events (Ch'ien han shu, 88. 8a, 10b)., 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 Hu Shih, o.c., p. 39..

 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-wei .. 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 re- presented a branch of the Classics, providing additional meanings; later the two were combined and lost their distinction Ssŭ k'u ch'üan shu tsung mu, 6. 14a-b.. 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 P'i Hsi-jui, Ching hsüeh li shih, fol. 22b.. 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 Bibliographical Chapter, 32 (27). 30b.. 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 , in his Tung han tsung chiao shih (1935), p. 12. Sung probably follows the Imperial Catalogue, where, however, it is only stated that "since the Ch'in and the Han the distance from the Sage daily became greater, so that the scholars in their explanations and discussions each composed books, which originally were not appended to the Classics" (ch. 6. fol. 14b)., and Fêng Yu-lan, who ascribes it to the middle of the Former Han period o.c., p. 546.. 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 shu Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 188. Cf. n. 549.. Chu I-tsun also holds that there were no Apocrypha in the Former Han period Quoted by Ma Kuo-han, Yü han, 52.1a. Chu I-tsun (cf. n. 73) was the author of the Ching i k'ao , a descriptive catalogue of lost and extant works on the Classics., while Hsü Yang-yüan (1758-1825). is of the opinion that, though the ch'an had come from antiquity, the wei originated in the beginning of the Later Han period Quoted by Yen Chieh (1763-1843) in his Ching i ts'ung ch'ao (Huang ch'ing ching chieh, 1390. 26a).. 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. Cf. infra, p. 117., 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 o.c., p. 498.; 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 Acc. to the Imperial Catalogue, l.c. Tung Chung-shu's work is here indicated Ch'un ch'iu yin yang , by which I think the Ch'un ch'iu fan lu is meant. For the Shang shu ta chuan see n. 157., though neither of these books was presented as such. The Imperial Catalogue l.c. 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" , Shih chi, 130. 10b. P'ei Yin (5th cent. A.D.) already says in his Commentary that the quotation given as from the I, is in reality from the I wei.; 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" , Ch'ien han shu, 77. 3b, Biography of . The quotation is there said to be, not from the I but from the Han shih i chuan . This was a work by Han Ying, who, besides being the originator of the Han School of the Book of Poetry (see supra, p. 86), also taught the Book of Change and wrote a chuan 'Commen- tary' on it; but as the people of Yen, the country where Han Ying came from, and Chao liked his teaching of the Book of Poetry better, his School of the Book of Change declined; Ko K'uan-jao, who had first studied the Book of Change under Mêng Hsi, later turned to that of Han Ying (Ch'ien han shu, 88. 20a). The I wên chih (Ch'ien han shu, 30. 3a) mentions under the section on the I a Han shih in 2 p'ien..

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 Cf. Fêng Yu-lan, o.c., p. 572. The Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu, 32(27) 30b, relates that at the end of the (Former) Han a certain Ch'ih , who was a Gentleman at the Palace, began to collect the t'u , the wei, the ch'an, and the 'miscellaneous divination books' tsa-chan , making of them 50 p'ien and calling them the Ch'un ch'iu tsai i ..

The names of the books are very peculiar and hardly intelligible Cf. Ku Chieh-k'ang's remark on p. 187 of his Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh.. Chuang-huai T'ai-tzŭ gives in his Commentary on the Hou han shu an enumeration of the books which together constituted the Seven wei in all 35 works; Hou han shu, , 82 (72 ). 19b.. 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 .; 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 (= ) .; for the Book of Poetry there were: the T'ui tu tsai, the Fan li shu, the Han shên wu (the Hou han shu erroneously writes ) Hou shan hu: ).; for the Book of Rites there were: the Han wên chia, the Chi ming chêng, the Tou wei i .; for the Book of Music there were: the Tung shêng i, the Chi yao chia, the Hsieh t'u chêng (inst. of ) .; for the Book of Filial Piety there were: the Yüan shên ch'i, the Kou ming chüeh ; 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 (or ), , (the Hou han shu has ) ..

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 : Sui shu, ch. 32(27), fol. 29b-30a.. But in its discussion it says that there were the Ho t'u in 9 p'ien, the Lo shu . in 6 p'ien, other works [of this kind] in 30 p'ien, the Seven wei of the Classics . in 36 p'ien, all together forming 81 p'ien; besides there were the Shang shu chung hou, the Lo tsui chi ., the Wu hsing chuan ., 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'an ., and other worksSui shu, ch. 32(27), fol. 30b..

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 ; Huang ch'ing ching chieh, 1390. 25b..

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 (or or ., edited by Ma Kuo-han from quotations, and all accom- panied by a Commentary by Sung Chung Yü han, 58.67a ff. For Sung Chung, cf. supra, n. 107.. 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 chi . With the six others (see n. 348) they form the 'Eight Classes of Apocryphal Books of Change' I wei pa chung . They are the only wei which have been transmitted as books, though they are from different periods. See Percy Bruce, The I wei, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. LXI, 1930, p. 105. There is a good edition in the Ku ching chieh hui han, with a Commentary by Chêng Hsüan.; for the Book of Music: the Yüeh yüan yü . We have seen that this work was twice quoted in the Po hu t'ung, see supra, p. 69.; for the Spring and Autumn Annals: the Ming li hsü and the Nei shih ; ed. by Ma Kuo-han, Yü han, 57.65a-72b, with a Commentary by Sung Chung.; 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 pi ; Yü han, 58.40a ff. The first four have a Commentary by Sung Chung..

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" Ch. 32 (27), fol. 31a-b.. 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 Acc. to Wang Wei , Ch'ing yen ts'ung lu , quoted by Ch'ên Têng-Yüan in his Sui chih chin wei (ch. 3, p. 50 of his Ku chin tien chi chü san k'ao (1936)).. In the Sung period (960-1276) the wei were almost extinct Sung P'ei-wei, o.c., p. 15., while what was known of them was considered so absurd that Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072) , style Yung-shu . advised to strike off the wei quotations from the Commentaries on the Classics, which advice was not followed Hsü Yang-Yüan, o.c. (Huang ch'ing ching chieh, 1390.27a).. 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 shu . See the Ssŭ k'u ch'üan shu tsung mu, 33.12b.. 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 shu , also called Huang shih i shu k'ao . The huai-ch'üan-shih ed. contains a preface by Wang Chien of the year i-ch'ou (1865?).; Ma Kuo-han 40 in his Yü han shan fang chi i shu (1794-1857), . The work was printed and published after his death, see Hummel, o.c., p. 557.; Chao Tsai-han published the Seven wei in 38 chüan , acc. to Sung P'ei-wei completer than the other collections.; Ch'ên Ch'iao-ts'ung the Shih wei chi chêng in 4 chüan (1809-1869, see Hummel, o.c., p. 98), . For these data I have followed Sung P'ei-wei, o.c., p. 15-16. Pelliot, T'oung Pao, Vol. XIX, 1920, p. 356, mentions a recent work by Chiang Ch'ing-i , the Wei hsüeh yüan liu fei hsing k'ao in 3 ch.. The Chinese love of learning had overcome the aversion to unortho- doxy, for, as Hsü Yang-yüan said, "it would not do to reject [books, only] because they are not Classics" o.c., 1390.27b..

 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 "Il y a là une littérature importante pour la connaissance des traditions courantes sous les Han, mais nul sinologue n'en a encore abordé l'étude", T'oung Pao, Vol. XIX, p. 356. Cf. however Karlgren's opinion on the wei in the Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Vol. 18, p. 232, n. 1.. Since then, as far as I know, it was only Professor Percy Bruce who, in 1930, attempted an investigation of the Apocryphal Books of ChangeThe I wei, A Problem in Criticism, in the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. LXI, p. 100-107. Cf. n. 365. Bruce's study is unfortunately very short, and not altogether satisfactory.. 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 Ku Chieh-kang is probably right in stating that the kaleidoscopic contents of the wei in reality are only elaborations of the yin-yang and Five Elements theories (Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 190).: 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 corres- ponding with the yin and yang (57.19b-21b) I.e. the art of physiognomy hsiang , against which the philoopher Hsün-tzŭ (first half 3rd Century B.C.) already wrote a refutation (see Dubs, The Works of Hsün-tze, 1928, p. 67).; 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 zodia- cal mansions extending 15,000 li to the four directions -- called the Extremities of the Four Wanderings ssü-yu chih-chi . -- (53.51a); on the diameter of the sun being 1000 li (57.25a); on the sun re- volving 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 com- parable 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 corres- pond 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(?), there- fore 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 corres- pond 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 pas- sages 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 stan- dards (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 con- sidered 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-arrange- ment in the system of the Three Reigns (54.26b, 62a), by the ap- plication 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 corres- pondence 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 The less relevant passages may be briefly indicated in this note: Confucius' conversations (54.7b, 30a, 42a; 57.12a; 58.81a); his disciples (58.70a-b, 73b, 77a-b, 79a); Mencius (56.54b); Confucius' love of the Book of Change (58.70b)..

In a dream Confucius' mother had intercourse with the Black Emperor, and gave birth to Confucius in a hollow mulberry-tree The connection of the tree with persons of supernatural qualities is a common feature in myths. I cannot enter into this particular case of Confucius without adducing comparative material from other cultures, which would go far beyond the scope of this study. Acc. to W. Eberhard, the birth in a hollow mulberry-tree also occurs as an extension of a deluge fairy-tale in Shan-tung (which was the native country of Confucius), see his Typen chinesischer Volks- märchen, 1937, p. 84. Karlgren mentions the story of I-yin who was also born in a hollow mulberry-tree (Legends and Cults in Ancient China, B.M.F.E.A., 18, p. 329; esp. his note). It is tempting to associate the word k'ung-shang 'hollow mulberry-tree' with the word k'ung of Confucius, which also means 'hole', 'hollow', but we must beware of the danger of making new stories of the wei type.; 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) . This corresponds with the statement in the Po hu t'ung (par. 164c): "[The head of] Confucius was like a vault upside down, therefore he was called Ni-ch'iu Muddy Hill". The Shih chi says that Confucius' personal name was Ch'iu, and his appellation Chung-ni , because his mother had prayed (for a son) at (Mount) Ni- ch'iu , and because the child had a head like the indented top of a hill (See E. Chavannes, Les mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien, V, p. 290, n.l.).. On his chest, which con- formed 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) . Cf. Lun yü, III. 24 (Legge's translation, p. 164).. 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'êni.e. 'Titular Minister'. To Tso Ch'iu-ming or Tso-ch'iu Ming is ascribed the authorship of the Kuo yü and the Tso chuan. (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 mo- delled the Five Classics, which taught the destinies of Heaven and Earth, which were to be examined as plans and pictures ., 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 Discriminationssan-k'o , ace. to Sung Chung's Commentary: the division into the Three Periods, the preservation of the Three Reigns, the distinction between inside (Lu) and outside., and that of the Nine Indications chiu-chih , ace. to Sung Chung: the entries of the season, the month, the day, the word wang 'King', the term t'ien-wang 'King [by the mandate] of Heaven', the term t'en-tzŭ 'Son of Heaven', reproof, blame, omission. (56.52b); they record the Seven Defectsch'i-ch'üeh , i.e., ace. to Sung Chung, the defect in the way of the husband, of the wife, of the Lord, of the Minister, of the father, of the son, in the rites of the Duke of Chou.(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-col- oured 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, [con- taining] the characters [for] grain and child, all under Heaven shall submit'" I.e., the characters mao, chin, and tao constitute the three elements in the character liu (cf. however Karlgren's Analytical Dictionary of Chinese and Sino- Japanese, 1923, nos. 254 and' 602: the element in liu is not mao, but yu (?); mao is said to mean 'open double-door', yu 'a double door closed by a bar at the top'), the characters ho 'grain' and tzŭ 'child' are the two elements in the character chi; 'character' also means 'style'. The first Han Emperor bore the surname of Liu, his style was Chi, while his personal name was Pang. Probably, however, as a man of the people, he originally had no given name, chi merely meaning 'the fourth [son]'. Cf. Homer H. Dubs, The Name and Ancestry of Han Kao-tsu, in T'oung Pao, Vol. XXXII, 1936, p. 59-64. Though I cannot furnish any evidence I think that the surname Liu is also an invention, the common people in ancient China not being included in the 'Hundred Clans' po-hsing , which bore clan- names or surnames shih. The passage quoted occurs in the Hsiao ching yu ch'i (Yü han, 58.42b-43a); Sung P'ei-wei, o.c., p. 16, ascribes it to the Hsiao ching wei yüan shên ch'i. In the Ch'un ch'iu wei han han tzŭ (Yü han, 56. 3a) a further explanation is given for the name Liu: mao is in the eastern quarter, [the region where] the yang arises and where 'consideration for others' is manifested; chin 'metal' is in the western quarter, [the region where] the yin arises and where 'sense of the right principles' is accomplished; [the character] tao 'knife' is put to the right of them to complete the manifestation; with his 'knives' he beats the cruel arrows of Ch'in . . . . . . ..

We saw that Confucius could not succeed the Chou, whose spir- itual power was that of the green wood, because he had the essence of the Black Dragon See supra, p. 113.. 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 . (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 The statements in the wei are ambiguous (cf. 54.9b; 56.13a). In one place Liu Chi himself was born after the dragon had sported with a dame Liu, in another it was his father Chih-chia , who was the product of the inter- course.. 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 . I.e., when Ts'ao P'ei usurped the throne in 220 A.D. and changed the name of the district Hsü into Hsü-ch'ang. See P'ei Sung-chih's Commentary on the San kuo chih, Wei shu, 2.6a; cf. also the Shui ching chu, 22.17b, Po-na ed. (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 under- lying 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 HanBut is is curious to note that Tung's idea of the state of Lu, the Black Reign, runs counter to the ideas in the wei.. 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 cos- mological speculations and their classifications provided the back- ground 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 polit- ical 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 pre- vailing beliefs, on the other hand these beliefs were 'authorized' by enlisting the support of the Classics. Ultimately the 'Confu- cianization' 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 incor- porated 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 , in the Shih hsüeh nien piao, Vol. 2, no. 2, 1935, p. 208-248).. 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 exis- tence of the wei In the postface of his article Ku Chieh-kang emphasizes the importance of this literature, which he had no opportunity to discuss in his study (o.c., p. 247)., independent from the Classics and yet consid- ered 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" See the Biography of Tung Chung-shu, Ch'ien han shu, 56.20a, Woo Kang, o.c., p. 23-24. The fires occurred on March 9, and May 25, 131 B.C. (Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, II, p. 33)..

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 Cf. Dubs, o.c., II, p. 19-20., 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 Ibid., p. 17.. 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.)The thirteen years' reign of Emperor Hsiao-chao (86-74 B.C.) was prim- arily a time of recuperation; under Emperor Hsiao-hsüan (73-49 B.C.) the country had recovered; under Emperor Hsiao-yüan (48-33 B.C.) deterioration began (see Dubs, o.c., II, pp. 143, 180, 279). the atmosphere has become different. Confucianism now "reigned supreme as the official philosophy and religion" Dubs, o.c., II, p. 365.. 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 Ibid., and p. 418.. 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'êngCh'ien han shu, ch. 10. The references in my extract are to the pages of Dubs' translation. 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 re- bellion 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 Dubs, o.c., p. 364.. 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 tran- quillity, that he had not received the blessing of Heaven (413); etc. etc. He changed the names of his year-periods six times, con- tinuing 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'ing . '[Yellow] River-Peace' was adopted, and in 24 B.C. after a fire had started among the rocks, when the period yang-shuo .'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 ching ., 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 ., 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 Em- peror'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-chiang ., a new appellation adopted: Ch'ên Shêng- liu t'ai-p'ing huang-ti ., 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-establishedCh'ien han shu, 11.5a-6a; 75.31b-32a. See also Ku Chieh-kang, Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 45..

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 EmperorCh'ien han shu, 99 .25a; Hans O. H. Stange, Die Monographie über Wang Mang, 1939, p. 80. The following references in the text are to these two works, the division in three parts of ch. 99 of the Ch'ien han shu being indicated by A, B, and C.. 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 Ch'ien han shu, 99 .7a; Stange 133-134. The words for metal knife [] are part of the character liu , cf. supra n. 394.. 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 See Dubs, Wang Mang and his Economic Reforms, T'oung Pao, Vol. XXXV, 1940, p. 219-265.. Ominous portents appeared: appari- tions of dwarfs (B 18a; 170), the death of a yellow dragon (B 26b; 195), the curious behaviour of the tiger-striped clothes of the body- guard (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) chih ., 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 , see n. 428.. In 23 A.D. the State Master Liu Hsin, who on account of this prophecy had changed his personal name to Hsiu Ch'ien han shu, 36.35b, Commentary of Ying Shao., attempted a conspiracy, but it leaked out and he com- mitted 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 O. Franke, Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches, I, p. 384.. 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 . (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 Franke, l.c.. 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 mani- pulation 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 See Franke, o.c., p. 385-386., 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 prophecySung P'ei-wei, Tung han tsung chiao shih, p. 13.; 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" , Hou han shu, 1 .20a; i.e., acc. to the Commentary, from Kao-tsu until the ascension of Kuang-wu there will be 228 years.; later, in his contest with Kung-sun Shu he set portent against portent See the Biography of in the Hou han shu, 13(3). 23b ff. For other instances of Emperor Kuang-wu's belief in portents see Ku Chieh-kang, Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 206-208.. 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 Pa- vilion a number of 'Memorialized Discussions' i-tsou were written, which are described in the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu Supra, p. 13. See also notes 69-71.. 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 sub- jects were discussed Sun I-jang, observing that the Wu ching tsa i (which was also connected with the Shih-ch'ü discussions) has not been preserved nor ever quoted, said that the Wu ching t'ung i and the Wu ching yao i (both ascribed to Liu Hsiang) probably were only different editions of the Wu ching tsa i (see supra, p. 14). Considering the uncertainty of the value of the Wu ching t'ung i, which has been re-edited by Ma Kuo-han from quotations (Yü han, 52.2a-13b) I refrain from using it in this connection.. Still the existing fragments can give us an impression of the procedure which was followed, and they are there- fore, 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 . Ma Kuo-han chiefly collected the quotations in the T'ung tien. In this work the source is indicated as Shih ch'ü i , or Shih ch'ü li , or Shih ch'ü li i. I have not translated the stray statements which Ma Kuo-han took from the Sub-commentaries on the Shih and the Li chi.; following the Bibliographical Chapter of the Sui shu See n. 70., 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 commence- ment 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 ClassicI li, ch. Hsiang shê li; Couvreur's transl. p. 116. 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 Chuan . I do not know what is meant by this Chuan. 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 re- spect 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 Min- isters considered [Wei] Hsüan-ch'êng's exposition the correct one.

3. The three years' deep mourning is worn by the father for his eldest sonI li, ch. Sang fu; Couvreur, p. 388..

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 . Cf. n. 29. 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 I.e., the son ignores her having remarried by wearing the mourning as if his father were still 'alive, instead of the three years' mourning which he should have worn for her, because his father is already dead.. 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 hus- band'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 ClassicI li, ch. Sang fu; Couvreur, p. 404-405. 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 dimin- ished. 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 prin- cipal 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 Ibid., p. 426..

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 Ibid., p. 421.. 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 Chi Li chi, ch. Wang chih, Couvreur, I, p. 304. 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 em- ployed 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 au- dience".

The Gentleman in Attendance [Liang-ch'iu] Lin, the Expectant Appointee Wên-jên T'ung-han These titles do not correspond with those given in the Ch'ien han shu, cf. Dubs, quoted in n. 293., 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 I li, ch. Sang fu, Couvreur, p. 429.. If the son of a great officer has a wet nurse, the question was asked: Does the great officer dim- inish 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 , omitted by Ma Kuo-han, occurs in the T'ung tien, p. 399.:] "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 fu . Hung, who writes Shih chuan, thinks that it refers to Hou Ts'ang, the teacher of Wên-jên T'ung-han, Tai Shêng and other scholars (Prolegomena to his Index to Li chi, 1937, p. XXXVII). 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. There- fore [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 liLi chi, Couvreur, I, p. 14. 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 Chi bid. 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 cappedIbid., p. 8..

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 chi Li chi, Couvreur, I, p. 763. I have followed Legge's translation (II, p. 53), only changing the past tense into the present. 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 ChiLi chi, ch. Tsa chi, Couvreur, II, p. 118. says: "The death of a Lord is announced to the Lord of another state as pu-lu , i.e. 'has ceased to receive his emoluments', cf. Legge's translation of the Li chi, II, p. 133., [that of his spouse] as kua hsiao-chün pu-lu , i.e. 'my [spouse, the] Little Lord has ceased to receive her emoluments'.. [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 hung ..

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 Ma Kuo-han, in the Preface of his edition.. 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 chüan See notes 67 and 70. The difference in the number of p'ien and chüan may, however, simply be due to re-arrangement, cf. n. 93.. 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'ien See supra, p. 13., 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 ex- plications 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 See supra, p. 94..

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 'mod- ernism', 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 By the scholar Liu Fêng-lu (1776-1829), for whom see Hummel, Eminent Chinese, p. 518-520.; in the 19th century the problem had achieved enough importance to be fought over in an open battle By K'ang Yu-wei (1858-1927), for whom see Hummel, o.c., p. 702, and Franke, Studien zur Geschichte des konfuzianischen Dogmas.; 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 Cf. A. W. Hummel, Autobiography of a Chinese Historian (1931).. 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 Cha- vannes, Paul Pelliot, Henri Maspero, and Bernhard Karlgren All mentioned in Gardner, Chinese Traditional Historiography., 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 under- stood 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 Ch'ien han shu, 88.14b., who lived round about 100 B.C.Chavannes, Les mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien, Vol. I, p. CXVIII; Pelliot, Le Chou king en caractères anciens et le Chang chou che wen, p. 135., that of the Book of Poetry by Mao-kungCh'ien han shu, 88.20b., 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. . Cf. Karlgren, The Early History of the Chou li and Tso chuan Texts, B.M.F.E.A., Vol. 3, pp. 14 and 18. For the dates of Hsün-tzŭ , cf. Duyvendak, The Chronology of Hsün-tzŭ , T'oung Pao, Vol. XXVI, p. 73-95. Duyvendak ascribes to Hsün-tzŭ the dates ± 300 to ± 230 B.C., 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 Ch'ien han shu, p. 88.25a.; Chang Ts'ang was made Marquis of Pei-p'ing in 201 B.C. ; ibid., 16.31b., Chia I (199-168 B.C. Acc. to Maspero, La composition et la date du Tso tschouan, Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques, Vol. I, p. 198.) was made po-shih under Emperor Hsiao-wên (179-157 B.C.), when he was a little over twenty ; Ch'ien han shu, 48.1a., Chang Ch'ang lived in the reigns of Emperor Hsiao-hsüan (73-49) and Hsiao-yüan (48-33 B.C.) ; ibid., 76.12b ff.. 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 Poetry See n. 257., while he was also in possession of the Chou kuan (or Chou li) and the Old Texts of the Rites Acc. to his Biography, see Karlgren, o.c., p. 3..

b. The Old Texts were not merely fabrications of unscrupulous people The present Book of History, however, contains chapters (the 'Old Text' parts) which are falsifications of the 4th century A.D. (See Pelliot's study).. 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 Cf. Franke, o.c., p. 62 ff.. Karlgren and Maspero have effectively refuted this contention Fêng Yu-lan (Chung kuo Chê hsüeh shih, II, p. 575) denies the possibility of Liu Hsin having forged all the Old Texts single-handed, because he would have had to be a superman. Ku Chieh-kang (Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 209) still believes that 10 or 20% of the Tso chuan was a fake of Liu Hsin's. William Hung thinks that the Tso chuan might have been written in the reign of Em- peror Hui, i.e. between the years 194 and 188 B.C., probably by Chang Ts'ang, Marquis of Pei-p'ing (cf. n. 468); see Chi ssŭ -ho's synopsis of Hung's study on the Tso chuan (which appeared in the Prolegomena of his Combined Con- cordances to Ch'un-ch'iu, Kung-yang, Ku-liang and Tso chuan, and in the Shih hsüeh nien pao, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1937) in the Yenching Journal of Social Studies, Vol. 1, 1938, pp. 70-71., the former by proving on linguistical grounds that the texts must all be earlier than the Han period In his On the Authenticity and Nature of the Tso chuan, Göteborg's Högs-kolas Arsskrift, XXXII, 1926., 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 Maspero, o.c., p. 154.. 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 Wang Kuo-wei, Han wei po shih k'ao, ch. 4, fol. 8a-b.. It is not clear when exactly the new chairs were established. According to Maspero the Tso chuan was officially acknowledged in 1 A.D. o.c. pp. 144 and 151.. 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" ; Ch'ien han shu, 99 . 19a. Stange's translation (p. 60): "Ferner erhöhte er die Zahl der mit der Fest- setzung der Musik und der kanonischen Bücher betrauten Akademie-mitglieder auf fünf für jedes kanonische Buch" is not quite correct.; he further summoned the scholars in all under Heaven and those who possessed Old Texts, Apocrypha, and other texts Ch'ien han shu, l.c.. 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 Ibid., 12.9b..

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 HistoryCh'ien han shu, 88.14b.. Hsiao Wang-chih, who had studied the Book of Poetry of the Ch'i School (Table IV), showed a great predilection for the Tso chuan Ibid., 25b.. Yin Kêng-shih, a Ku-liang scholar (Table VIII), also studied the Tso chuan Ibid.. Hu Ch'ang, likewise a Ku-liang scholar (Table VIII), was a student of the Old Text Book of History, and the Tso chuan Ibid., 14b, 25b..

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. , in the Ku shih pien, Vol. 2, p. 311.. Further instances of these differences are given by Ku Chieh-kang In his Preface to the Ku shih pien, Vol. 5, p. 18-20., while in the Wu ching i i by Hsü Shên, which is a treatise on the diver- gencies between the interpretations of the Old Text and the New Text Schools, about one hundred of these subjects of contention are discussed See the Wu ching i i shu chêng, in the Huang ch'ing ching chieh, ch. 1248- 1250, and cf. n. 123 and 171..

e. The Old Text scholars seem to have revolted against the mys- tical 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 The tradition about Mao Hêng's native-country is, however, not uniform. Ch. Ju lin chuan of the Ch'ien han shu (88.25a) says that he originated in Chao. Cf. further Karlgen's Early History, pp. 12 and 16., while the Tso chuan was also connected with that region See Karlgen's Authenticity, p. 4.. The School of Lu was, as we have seen, characterized by its observance of reverence and its maintaining of the transmitted rules, in contra- distinction to the School of Ch'i, which was interested in things wonder- ful and miraculous Supra, p. 87.. 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 enthusiasmChung kuo ching hsüeh shih, p. 48. Ma probably only repeats the statement of the Sui shu, 32.(27).31a: "[The official New Text scholars] in their explanation of the Five Classics all relied on the oracle-books ch'an; it was only K'ung An- kuo, Mao-kung, Wang Huang (see n. 537), Chia K'uei, and their disciples, who condemned them".. 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 o.c., p. 574..

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 specu- lations on the Five Elements and catastrophes Fêng Yu-lan, o.c., p. 576., 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 care- fully prepared policy of usurpation, thus basing himself on 'histor- ical' precedents and on Classical predictions Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 158-161, 209.. 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 See supra, n. 406., 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 polit- ically 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 ex- pected. 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 in- creasing 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 In his Epilogue to the Ju lin chuan, Ch'ien han shu, 88.25b. p. 3621, "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 saysCh. I wên chih, Ch'ien han shu, 30.27a. Cf. L. C. Porter; Aids to the Study of Chinese Philosophy, 1934, p. 60.: "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' Lun yü, II. 18; Legge's translation p. 151.; 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 So it is stated in Liu Hsin's Biography, confirmed by Yen Shih-ku's Commentary. According to Maspero, however, there was one po-shih who had the courage to express his positive opposition against Liu Hsin's idea (La composition et la date du Tso tchouan, p. 145, n. 5).. 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 dog- matic 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 .; 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 Biography of Liu Hsin, Ch'ien han shu, 36.33b-34a. Cf. also E. J. Eitel's translation in The China Review, Vol. XV (1886), p. 90-95.. . . . 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 Ibid., fol. 34a. . . . . . [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 . . . ." Ibid., fol. 34b..

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 Pan Ku says that "both [Liu Hsiang and Liu Hsin,] father and son loved [the study of] antiquity, were [men] of wide experience, and possessed a strong memory far surpassing [that of] others" (Ch'ien han shu, 36.31b). Cf. also Karl- gren's appreciative opinion of Liu Hsin as a scholar in his Early History, p. 44., 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 Maspero, o.c., p. 161., he ven- tured 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 inappro- priately the opposition of the Old Texts scholars against the New Text Erudites is called revolutionary By Fêng Yu-lan, o.c., p. 574..

Liu Hsin, however, himself no more free from the beliefs in mys- tical 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 temp- tation, and betrayed his scholarship, as he was afterwards to betray Wang Mang Cf. supra, p. 126..

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 specu- lations 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 deficienciesCh. Ju lin chuan of the Hou han shu, 79 (69 ). 1b.. He abolished the chairs for the Old Texts, reminiscent of Wang Mang's usur- pation, 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 Ibid., 1b-2a. According to Wang Kuo-wei, Han wei po shih k'ao, fol. 8b-9a, the Book of Rites was first represented by the School of Ch'ing P'u, and only later replaced by the Schools of the Elder and Younger Tai.. Thus not only were the Old Text chairs abolished, but the po-shih for the Ku-liang Commen- tary, appointed by Emperor Hsiao-hsüanSee supra, p. 91., 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 discon- tinued See supra, p. 94., was reinstituted. In other words, the situation of the time before the Shih-ch'ü discussions was more or less restored hough the Erudites, appointed by Emperor Hsiao-hsüan, were more numerous than those under Emperor Hsiao-wu, they all represented Schools which originated from the recognized Schools under Hsiao-wu (cf. supra pp. 88 and 93), with the exception of Ku-liang..

Orthodoxy was now more rigid than ever. The existence of the Old Texts The principal ones were the Old Text of the Book of History, the Book of Poetry with the Commentary of Mao, the Chou kuan or Chou li, and the Spring and Autumn Annals with the Commentary of Tso. 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 Ch. Ju lin chuan of the Hou han shu mentions two po-shih who had studied the Old Text of the Book of History, viz. Chou Fang and Yang Lun (79(69 ).16b, 21b). Wang Kuo-wei considers both statements to be a mistake for the Book of History of Ou-yang-Shêng (Han wei po shih t'i ming k'ao . fol. 22a and 6b)..

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 oraclesSui shu, 32 (27).31a., 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 For examples, see Ku Chieh-kang, o.c., pp. 103, 106-107., 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 removedHou han shu, 79 (69 ). 15a-b; 69 .5b-6a.. In 56 A.D. he had them promulgated in all under HeavenIbid., 1 .30a-b.. 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 . He died about 97 A.D. according to A. Forke, Lun hêng, I (1907), p. 8., 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 in- visible" Lun hêng, 28.1a of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. (cf. Forke, o.c., p. 447)..

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 ; Hou han shu, 45(35).7b. Ma Tsung-ho, Chung kuo ching hsüeh shih, p. 59, wrongly says that yüan Ching studied the Book of Change of Ching Fang. The expression yen is curious; it either means tzŭ 'character', or 'word-unit' consisting of a combination of two characters. Counting 300 characters for one page, 300,000 'words' would amount to a book of at least 1,000 pages.. There was Chou Fang, who had studied the Book of History of Ou-yang-Shêng, and composed a Tsa chi in 400,000 words ; Hou han shu, 79 (69 ).16b. Cf. also n. 517.. There was Chang Huan, who, having studied the same Book of History, considered the Mou shih chang chü , i.e. the Shang shu chang chü 'Expositions in Chapters and Sentences on the Book of History' by Mou Ch'ang , cf. Wang Kuo-wei, Han wei po shih t'i ming k'ao. .6a., which contained more than 450,000 words, too long-winded, reduced it to 90,000 words Biography of ; Hou han shu, 65(55).11b., but himself wrote a Shang shu chi nan in more than 300,000 words ; ibid., 17b.. 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 ; Hou han shu, 37(27).9a.. There was Fu Kung, who had studied the Book of Poetry of the School of Ch'i, his father Fu An having written an Expo- sition 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 ; ibid., 79(69 ).4b.. And there was Chang Pa, who had received tuition from Fan Shu in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yen An-lo; he consid- ered the work too extensive, and shortened it to 200,000 words ; ibid., 36(26).26a..

Emperor Kuang-wu already complained of this long-windedness, which was only a continuation of the habit of the Former Han Cf. supra, p. 143-144.. 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 ; ibid., 79(69 ). 13a-b.. 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 See supra, p. 6.. 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"Hou han shu, 79(69 ).4a..

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 Ibid., 79(69 and ). .

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 , which seems to have belonged to the Old Texts. Wang Huang, who had also studied the Old Text of the Book of History, was one of its transmitters (Ch'ien han shu, 88.10b).. 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 incon- clusive, 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 chuan See the Biography of , in the Hou han shu, 36.(26). 10b ff.. 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 Biography of , Hou han shu, 36(26).14b ff.. 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 ., 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 abolishedHou han shu, 36(26).17b.. 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 ac- cepted the task of editing anew the ch'an-wei, which had been refused by the scholar Yin MinSee the Ju lin chuan, Biography of and Yin Min, Hou han shu, 79(69 ). 5b-6a, and ibid., 69 . 15a-b.. 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 EmperorHou han shu, 79(69 ).15b.. 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, con- sulting 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 See the Biography of , Hou han shu, 28(18 ).1a-7b.. 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 serviceBiography of , ibid., 36(26).1a-6b.. A little later we hear of a certain Chang Hêng, who lived from 78 to 139 A.D. , acc. to Giles' Chinese Biographical Dictionary, no. 55.. He was well-versed in the Five Classics, but had also studied mechanics, astronomy, the yin-yang theory, the Hsüan ching by Yang Hsiung (53 B.C.-18 A.D., acc. to Giles, o.c., no. 2379). The Hsüan ching or T'ai hsüan ching is 'ein Wahrsagebuch' according to Forke, who gives a short summary of the work in his Geschichte der mittelalterlichen chinesischen Philosophie, p. 84 ff.; 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 MêngHsia-hou Shêng was a master of the Book of History, Sui Mêng of the Kung-yang Commentary, see Tables II and VII., 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 I.e. the catalogue which served as the basis for the Bibliographical Chapter of the Ch'ien han shu, cf. Woo Kang, Histoire de la bibliographie chinoise, 1938, p. 2-3. I think that Ku Chieh-kang, in denying the Apocrypha an earlier origin than the time of Wang Mang, bases himself on this statement (cf. n. 335).; 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'ueiChang Hêng said: "Formerly the Palace Attendant Chia K'uei had picked out more than thirty mutually conflicting statements of the ch'an, and those who were adepts in the ch'an were, none of them, able to explain them" (Hou han shu, 59(49). 16a-b). This statement of Chang Hêng's runs counter to what is told in the Biography of Chia K'uei, where Chia K'uei brought forward thirty instances from the Tso chuan to prove its superiority to the Kung yang chuan and the Ku liang chuan, and where he said that only the Tso chuan was in confirmity with the t'u-ch'an (Hou han shu, 36(26).20b, 21b; cf. infra, n. 563). Ku Chieh-kang uses Chia K'uei's Biography to prove that the wei were especially connected with the Old Text School, and that Kuang-wu's motive for wanting to establish a chair for the Tso chuan was this very fact (Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 161). The statements in Chia K'uei's Biography are undeniable and clear, though, following upon Chang Hêng, the Sui shu says that Chia K'uei belonged to those Old Text scholars who opposed the ch'an (Sui shu, 32(27). 31a). I therefore think that it is not correct to connect the ch'an (i.e. the abuse of the Apocrypha) with either the Old Texts or the New Texts exclusively; both Schools believed in the Apocryphal Books and used them for the interpretation of the Classics, both Schools condemned and opposed their being manipulated for divination and fortune-telling. Chia K'uei was taught the Tso chuan by his father Chia Hui , who in his turn had studied it under Liu Hsin; the connection with the latter thus could be taken as an ex- planation for Chia K'uei's love of the Old Texts and the oracle-books. But Huan T'an and Chêng Hsing had also been pupils of Liu Hsin, and both were opposed to the oracle books.; 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 pic- tures 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"Biography of Chang Hêng, Hou han shu, 59(49).15a-17a; cf. Ku Chieh- kang, Han tai hsüeh shu shih lüeh, p. 211-212..

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 centuryCf. supra, p. 105..

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 Supra, p. 5-6. 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 I may here draw attention to an error committed in these Annals. They say that Emperor Hsiao-hsüan erected chairs for the Book of History of the Elder and the Younger Hsia-hou, and later for the Book of Change of Ching Fang. In fact, the latter chair was not established until the time of Hsiao-yüan (see supra, p. 94).; 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.The Annals of Emperor Hsiao-ming are silent on this event, but the Biography of Fan Shu in the Hou han shu, 32(22).5a, says that Fan Shu, who had studied the Spring and Autumn Annals of the School of Chuang P'êng-tsu, in 58 A.D. together with the Ducal Ministers and Ministers edited the works on sacrificial rites, making them conform to the ch'an-chi ('records of oracles'), and corrected the different meanings of the Five Classics. Probably the meeting of scholars referred to was not an official council, see infra.; 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 verdictsIt is curious that the account of the Shih-ch'ü discussions, occurring in the Annals of Hsiao-hsuan (cf. p. 92), which were taken as the example for the Po-hu discussions, does not say anything of a scholar appointed to put questions. The process of the Po-hu discussions, described in the Annals of Hsiao-chang is confirmed in Hou han shu, 37(27).16b..

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 Supra, p. 91.. 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 disciplinesHou han shu, 3.1a.. 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 TsoBiography of Chia K'uei, Hou han shu, 36(26).20b.. 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 MaoCf. n. 550., soon succeeded in gaining the Emperor's confidence and favour. Chia K'uei was not only pro- ficient in the Tso chuan, but also in the interpretation of the different Schools of Ku-liangHou han shu, ibid., 19b.. 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 Annals Ibid., 20b.. Chia K'uei did so in a long memorial In which he proved that only the Tso chuan was in conformity with the oracle-books ; ibid., 21b; cf. n. 550., 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 chuanHou han shu, ibid., 23b.. 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 Poetry Ibid., 24a..

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 textSee supra, p. 150.. 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 Biography of , Hou han shu, 79(69 ). 15b-16a..

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"Biography of , ibid., 48(38). 1a, 3b.. 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 orderCf. Dubs, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, II, p. 180.. 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 discussionsSee supra, p. 91.. 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 HoCf. Table I, supra., 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 illnessCh'ien han shu, 67.5a.. I refer to the debate on the Tso chuan in 28 A.D. Supra, p. 150., and to the meeting in 58 A.D. alluded to in the Annals of Hsiao-changSee p. 6.. 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 HistoryCf. supra, n. 529., 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 EmperorTung kuan han chi by Liu Chên (died ±126 A.D.), edited in the Hou han shu pu i by Yao Chih-yin in 1713 A.D., ch. 5, fol. 17a. The Biography of Huan Jung says that those present were, besides the Emperor, the King of Tung-p'ing, Ts'ang , and other dignitaries, and several hundreds of Huan Jung's disciples (Hou han shu, 37(27).5a). The respect paid to Huan Jung was due to his being a wu-kêng (for which see supra, p. 51), whom the Emperor should treat as his elder brother (Hou han shu, 2.9a).. 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 lun . See Esson M. Gale, Discourses on Salt and Iron, 1931.. 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.Acc. to the Annals of Hsiao-ming, Hou han shu, 2.6a. The description occurs in the Ju lin chuan, ibid., 79(69 ).2a-b..

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 CanonCf. P'i Hsi-jui, Ching hsüeh li shih, fol. 24a.. 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 . Emperor Kuang-wu made it his capital on November 27, 25 A.D. (Hou han shu, 1 .23a), probably motivated by his superstitious belief in oracles. Wang Mang had already contemplated the removal of the capital from Ch'ang-an to Lo-yang, as a result of an oracle announcing the establishment of Lo-yang (Ch'ien han shu, 99 .21b).. 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 ; Hou han shu, 37(27).16b. 'White Tiger' at first indicated the western hemisphere, later the Seven Mansions of the western quarter (G. Schlegel, Uranographie chinoise, 1875, p. 65-68, 316 ff.).. The Shui ching chu, describing Lo-yang, men- tions the Po-hu ch'üeh, and identifies ch'üeh with kuan, meaning, 'look-out tower', ; Shui ching chu, 16.17a-b.. 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 ko ; San fu huang t'u , 6.1b of the Ssŭ pu ts'ung k'an ed. It is strange that Po-hu 'White Tiger' is here situated in the east.. 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 ; Hou han shu, 50(40).1b.; tien meaning 'hall; palace; tem- ple' ; Karlgren, Analytic Dictionary, no. 474.; a large, high hall Tz'ŭ hai, s.v. tien.. We saw that Chia K'uei was sum- moned 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 ; see supra, n. 562. The description pei-kung po-hu kuan also occurs in the Biography of Ting Hung, Hou han shu, 37(27).16b, and is the passage commented upon by Chang- huai T'ai-tzŭ , supra.. All these different descriptions make it probable, that kuan is not to be understood as meaning 'look- cut 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' Besides its sonority the word Hall also bears some connotation of solemnity. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following meanings: a large place covered by a roof; a temple, palace, court, royal residence; the large public room in a mansion, palace, etc., used for receptions, banquets, etc.; a large room or building for the transaction of public business, the holding of public meetings, or the like; a formal assembly held by the sovereign, or by the mayer, etc. of a town..

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, ; Ssŭ k'u ch'üan shu tsung mu, 118.1a.. 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 In his Pu Hsü han shu i wên chih , edited in the Erh shih wu shih pu pien , Vol. II, p. 2098 of the K'ai-ming shu-tien ed.. 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 repliesSee supra, p. 6.. 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 PoetryHou han shu, 79(69 ).3b-4a.. Shun-yü Kung's Biography relates that he was pro- ficient in the doctrine of Lao-tzû's quietism, but nothing is said of his participation in the Po-hu discussions ; ibid., 39(29).9a..

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 Ibid., 50(40).1b. Cf. n. 584..

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 sum- moned 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 ; ibid., 37(27).15a-16b..

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 ; ibid., 79(69 ).14a..

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 Ibid., 37(27).6b. On Huan Yü, see also supra, n. 529..

Ch'êng Fêng . 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.Hou han shu, 79(69 ).16a. But Chia K'uei was summoned to the White Tiger Hall in 76 A.D. to expound the Old Texts, see supra, p. 156., but his participation in this Council is confirmed by the Biography of Li Yü Cf. infra, n. 604..

We have seen that the discussions in the Po-hu kuan were held upon the suggestion of Yang ChungSee supra, n. 568.. 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 CouncilHou han shu, 48(38).4a..

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; ibid., 25(15).5b..

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 Ibid., 79(69 ).16a. Cf. n. 567..

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 Catal- ogue.

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 See his Biography, of which the incriminated passage has been translated on p. 7, supra..

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 , cf. n. 602..

Chang P'u was a scholar of the Book of History, but his Biography says nothing about his connection with the Po-hu discussionsHou han shu, 45(35).14a.. The same applies to Shao Hsün, who was a scholar of the Book of Poetry of the Han School Ibid., 79(69 ).6b.. 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" (mistake for ) . . . . . ; Hou han shu, 37(27).8a.. As we know, Chia K'uei was summoned in 76 A.D. to expound the Old Texts Cf. n. 587., 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"; Hou han shu, 3.15b.. "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" Ibid., 36(26).24a.. Chia K'uei's pupils all attained important positions Ibid..

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 assur- ance. 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 indi- cations 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 Ibid., 79(69 ).3b.. 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 Ibid.. Yet at the end of his reign the same situation had returned See n. 535.. 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 TextsHou han shu, 79(69 ).4a. The task was entrusted to Ts'ai Yung (133- 192), see his Biography in the Hou han shu, 60(50 ).11b. Cf. also Pelliot, Les classiques gravés sur pierre sous les Wei en 240-248, T'oung Pao, Vol. XXIII, p. 1-4.. Being a po-shih was no longer regarded as an honour. The scholars Hsün Shuang, Chêng Hsüan, and Ch'ên Chi declined an appointmentWang Kuo-wei, Han wei po shih k'ao, ch. 4, fol. 9b.. Towards the end of the second century the roar of political events drowned the quarrelling voices in the world of scholarship I am referring to the bloody clashes between eunuchs and scholars, for which see Franke, Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches, I, p. 416.. 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 abolishedWang Kuo-wei, o.c., fol. 9a-10b.. 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 HistoryAcc. to Pelliot, o.c., this Old Text of the Book of History seems practically to have been the same as the New Text, except perhaps for some variants and glosses. The so-called Old Text chapters, which are comprised in the present edition of the Book of History, are fakes of the 4th century A.D.. 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 outSee supra, p. 66.. 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 History I.e. the chapters in the New Text version. The spurious chapters of the Book of History, presented as 'Old Texts' in the 4th century, were, however, unknown to New Text as well as Old Text scholars in the Han period., the abundance with which the Kung yang chuan is cited, and the way in which the Classical passages are interpreted This feature of the Po hu t'ung cannot be adequately shown without a detailed comparison with the interpretations of later, orthodox, Confucianism, as adopted e.g. by the editors of the 'Thirteen Classics', and followed in the translations of Legge and Couvreur. I think it would be worth while to under- take such a comparative study, which does not aim at a reconstruction of the original meaning of the Classics by philological means alone--such as was done by Karlgren with respect to the Book of Poetry, and is being done by him with respect to the Book of History in the Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities--, but merely attempts to give a representation of the ideas of a certain School of theologians, as a contribution to the history of Chinese thought. See Orientalia Neerlandica, p. 456 ff.. 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 replySun I-jang says (see supra, p. 14) that the style of the Wu ching t'ung i, as well as that of the Po hu t'ung i, differs from the catechetical form of the Shih ch'ü li lun . This statement is not quite correct; the difference in form between Po hu t'ung and Shih ch'ü li lun (cf. par. 35) is that the latter is a more literal report.. 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.

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