Chapter Six:

The World of Thought in the Han Dynasty and Later

During the Han dynasty, the classical philosophies of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism merged with theories of numerical correspondence and cosmic resonance to produce an intellectual synthesis that exerted a major influence on the political culture and institutions of later dynasties as well. In previous chapters we examined Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism as separate and largely incompatible philosophies. It is important to realize, however, that there was a strong tendency in Chinese culture to reconcile differences between competing world views. The idea here was that all major philosophies and religions provide insight into fundamental truths. These religions and philosophies are different manifestations of a profound, unitary principle that undergirded the workings of the whole cosmos in all its diversity. In their quest to understand this unitary principle, Han dynasty thinkers borrowed from various intellectual traditions and created new theories that were mixtures of Confucian, Daoist, Legalist, numerological and other ideas. This chapter examines some of these new theories. There were three main intellectual concerns during the Han dynasty: 1) order in the political realm; 2) knowledge of the workings of nature (tian, Heaven); 3) the unity of all phenomena. Furthermore, the Han dynasty was a time of extensive historical writing. The next section addresses the issue of order in the political realm. Subsequent sections address the other two intellectual concerns and the writing of history.

Political Theory

As Cynthia J. Brokaw has pointed out, a belief in cosmic retribution served as a foundation for classical Chinese religious and political visions. During the Han dynasty, this basic belief manifested itself in the idea of Action and Response (ganying 感應). Simply stated, this idea held that every human action invokes a cosmic response that is precisely matched with that action. (Cynthia J. Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and Moral Order in Late Imperial China [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991], pp. 29-30.) When Han thinkers applied the idea of cosmic retribution to the question of how best to order the political realm, their thoughts centered on the person of the emperor. It was the emperor, they argued, who occupied a central, pivotal position in the cosmic order. Specifically, the emperor's role was to regulate and *harmonize the three realms* of Heaven, earth, and humans.

The idea that Heaven-earth-humans form a trinity derives from the late Zhou Confucian thinker Xunzi, who stated that "Heaven has its seasons, earth its resources, and humans their government. This is how people are able to form a triad with Heaven and earth." (Quoted in Wm. Theodore de Bary, Wing-tsit Chan, and Burton Watson, comps., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1 [New York: Columbia University Press, 1960], p. 148.) Building on this basic idea, Han political theorists argued that it was the emperor who harmonized these three realms. In other words, if the emperor did his job properly, the entire cosmos would function harmoniously. If he did not, problems would develop in one or more of the realms. Obviously, this conception of the emperor's pivotal role in the cosmic order and the resulting grave responsibility he bore for proper conduct is closely connected with the older idea of the Mandate of Heaven.

In the context of these ideas, what constituted proper conduct for the emperor? He was *personally responsible* for overseeing certain activities within each of the three realms. Important heavenly activities included sacrificial rites and other state ceremonies, astronomy, and calendar creation, and music. Important earthly activities included agriculture, water and flood control, and other economic affairs. The key to regulating the human realm was the promotion of high levels of morality. One way the emperor encouraged moral improvement among the people was to be a paragon of moral virtue himself. Being morally excellent himself, he would publicly manifest his virtue through li. The sacrificial rites and state ceremonies mentioned above constituted this li. Furthermore, Han political theorists placed great stress on the economic welfare of the people as the basis of their moral improvement. The emperor, therefore, promoted virtue by making sure his government pursued sound economic policies designed to benefit the masses of ordinary people. So it was largely by means of his activities in the heavenly and earthly realms that the emperor affected the moral status of the human realm.

It was the emperor, and the emperor alone, who bore the awesome responsibility of harmonizing Heaven, Earth, and Humans. An early statement of this idea comes from Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒 ca.179-BCE-104 BCE), an important scholar and ideologue of the Han dynasty:

The ruler is the basis of the state. In administering the state, nothing is more effective for educating the people than reverence for the basis. . . . What do we mean by the basis? Heaven, earth, and humans are the basis of all creatures. Heaven gives them birth, earth nourishes them, and humans bring them to completion. . . . The three act together as hands and feet join to complete the body and none can be dispensed with. . . . [T]he enlightened and worthy ruler, being of good faith, is strictly attentive to the three bases [Heaven, earth, humans]. His sacrifices are conducted with the utmost reverence; he makes offerings to and serves his ancestors; he advances brotherly affection and encourages filial conduct. In this way he serves the basis of Heaven. He personally grasps the plow handle and plows a furrow, plucks the mulberry himself and feeds the silkworms [note: these are symbolic, ritual acts; it was not that the emperor was supposed to work in the fields], breaks new ground to increase the grain supply and opens the way for a sufficiency of clothing and food. In this way he serves the basis of earth. He sets up schools for the nobles and in the towns and villages to teach filial piety and brotherly affection, reverence and humility. He enlightens the people with education and moves them with rites and music. Thus he serves the basis of humans. If he rightly serves these three, then the people will be like sons and brothers, not daring to be unsubmissive. They will regard their country as a father or a mother, not waiting for favors to love it nor for coercion to serve it, and though they dwell in fields and camp beneath the sky they will count themselves more fortunate than if they lived in palaces. Then will the ruler go to rest on a secure pillow. (Quoted in de Bary, Chan, and Watson, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, pp. 162-3, with minor modifications.)

Dong brings up many important issues in this passage. Especially note the importance of proper ritual performance in the emperor's serving of both Heaven and earth. He harmonizes the human realm by transforming people via education, by serving as a living example of moral excellence. This moral excellence is expressed via ritualized behavior. An emperor who diligently attends to his ritual and moral duties brings about a perfectly harmonious, prosperous society free of strife. Achieving this kind of society was the ultimate goal in Chinese political theory of any age.

Of the utmost importance was the emperor's correct performance of several complex rites at certain times of the year. The most crucial of these official rites was the emperor's personal worship of Heaven at the time of the new year, a custom that continued throughout all the dynasties. Richard J. Smith describes this rite at the time of the Qing dynasty:

The most awe-inspiring of the great sacrifices was the emperor's personal worship of Heaven, which took place during the winter solstice and on New Year's Day . . . As with most other Chinese ceremonies, great symbolic emphasis was placed on color, form, number, position, music, and sacrificial objects. . . . Contemporary accounts of the elaborate ritual--preceded by a dramatic imperial procession from the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven complex the night before--describe a solemn spectacle of awesome splendor. Attended by an entourage of imperial princes, high officials, and other state functionaries, and flanked by the spirit tablets of his ancestors and various deities of nature, the emperor paid his respects to the tablet representing Heaven with prayers and offerings--all accompanied by hymns, instrumental music, and ritual posturing undertaken by literally hundreds of performers. (Richard J. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty 1644-1912, Second Edition (Boulder, Westview Press, 1994), p. 158.)

To perform their roles in this and other state ceremonies, emperors needed expert training. They also needed expert guidance in moral principles, cosmic correspondences, music, and several other matters if they were correctly to perform their awesome roles as harmonizers of the three realms. Therefore, future emperors usually underwent intense training in ritual affairs, taught by the best scholars of the realm.

But what if an emperor decided not to bother with all this trouble? Because most emperors accepted the world view described here, they took their duties at least moderately seriously. After all, if they did not, they might lose the Mandate of Heaven and disgrace their ancestors. There were a few cynical emperors (e.g., the Wanli 萬曆 emperor of the Ming dynasty) who neglected their ritual duties, but such cases were rare. Even a hard-working, intelligent, serious emperor, however, could not personally keep up with all the details of harmonizing the three realms. Reliance on officials, therefore, was a practical necessity. Among other things, officials provided the training and guidance in ritual matters that emperors needed.

In addition to official ceremonies, the political theorists of the Han and later dynasties regarded music as an essential component of the emperor's harmonizing function. Music, of course, by its very nature is concerned with harmony and proper resonance. It was the emperor's responsibility to see that all official music was in proper pitch, and emperors sometimes changed the official reference pitch of state-sponsored music (from which scales would be derived) after taking office, especially in the case of founders of new dynasties. An official in charge of music maintained a set of imperial pitch pipes and/or chimes by which the instruments used in state ceremonies were tuned. Whenever the fidelity of these pipes or chimes came into question (e.g., often when major natural disasters would strike), the imperial musicians would recast them.

The court music of official state ceremonies differed significantly from popular forms of music. Official music was solemn, steady, and usually slow. It consisted of either a pentatonic (five note) or heptatonic (seven note) scale (#click here# if you read music). The notes of a piece typically all had the same time value and are usually written as whole notes in modern sheet music. Official music supposedly replicated the ancient forms praised by Confucius as morally beneficial, but there was a major problem in this respect. Neither Confucius' comments nor any ancient documents provide enough concrete information to know exactly what kind of music to play. Music theorists of the Han and later dynasties, for example, often debated which was more ancient, the pentatonic or heptatonic scale. One vexing technical problem has to do with harmonizing words and music, since many official pieces of music included singing. Because each syllable in Chinese has a tone associated with it (review the material on language in the first chapter if necessary) and because it was traditional practice to assign one syllable to one note, there was usually a conflict between the tones of the syllables and the contour of the melody. Some music experts forced the words to conform to the melody, which made the words unintelligible, and some did the opposite, resulting an a strange-sounding melody. Others tried more sophisticated approaches such as using light ornamental notes to help blend the syllable-tones into the melody (#click Here,# for an example, if you read music and/or Chinese).

There were other technical problems in official music, perhaps the most fundamental being how best to derive and measure the correct pitch temperament. These problems gave rise to a variety of different theories. Because of the importance of music in state ritual, musical theory necessarily had political implications. Disputes over musical theory at court were often connected with larger issues, and there were cases of official losing their lives after coming out on the losing side of such disputes. (For more details about this and other aspects of official music in premodern China see Joseph S. C. Lam, State Sacrifices and Music in Ming China: Orthodoxy, Creativity, and Expressiveness [Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998].)

Pause now to listen to a #typical piece of Chinese court music# from the Tang dynasty. If you want to listen to more, #here is a page# of modern pieces performed in a traditional manner.

The emperor was also responsible for regulating time, which he did by issuing a calendar. As with music, it is not that the emperor personally produced the calendar--official specialists did--but it was issued in his name, and it was ultimately his responsibility that the calendar be accurate.

As you can surely surmise by now, the emperor needed the assistance of many different kinds of officials in order to do his job well. He could hardly be an expert on astronomy, music, ancient texts, ancient rites, and so forth no matter how hard he studied. Conversely, the officials needed the emperor to legitimize their authority. In some respects, however, the interests of emperors and officials clashed.

Let us first consider the *symbiotic aspect* of the relationship between officials and the emperor. Stated briefly, the emperor held the raw power and his officials held the knowledge necessary to legitimate that power and apply it in the actual administration of government. Officials, on the other hand, often possessed extensive knowledge of rites, rituals, political theory, cosmological correspondences and portents (examined below), and actual conditions of government and society. The emperor was born into supreme authority, but his lofty position as the sole living "Son-of-Heaven" (one of the emperor's titles) imposed substantial moral obligations on him. Sequestered in his palace, most emperors had little or no direct knowledge of actual conditions of the empire. The regular ritual duties of emperors required expert guidance from specialists. There was always the possibility that floods, famines, epidemics, and the like could break out, or that strange atmospheric phenomena might be visible. Such cases required expert advice to discover the precise nature of the message Heaven was trying to send its "son." All these matters required the help of learned officials. By working together, emperor and officials could secure power, prestige, stability and wealth for themselves and their families. They created what was essentially a two-class society of elites and commoners. In such circumstances, conflict was to nobody's benefit and might even lead to a change in the Mandate of Heaven (i.e., the fall of the dynasty), at least in extreme cases.

Undesirable though it may have been, there was nevertheless the strong *possibility of conflict* built into the relationship between emperor and officials. Like most bureaucrats the world over, the typical official stood for order, stability, predictability and routinization. Stated positively, officials stood for the primacy of wen, or civil culture. Stated negatively, officials did not want to rock the boat to do anything innovative or to tackle unpleasant problems. They simply wanted their careers to advance up the ladder of promotion without incident. The official bureaucracy could easily become a vast force for maintaining the status quo, resisting attempts to chart a new direction by the emperor or anyone else. The emperor might perceive bureaucratic inaction as a threat to his authority. "After all, officials exist to do my bidding, not stand in the way of it," an emperor might think. Corruption, of course, was another problem with bureaucracies in any time or place, certainly including China.

In case of conflict, the emperor might resort to wu, intimidating force, to try and shake up the bureaucracy. In such cases, the emperor would stand for unpredictability and disorder--precisely opposite of what the bureaucracy sought. In an all out contest between a capable, strong-willed emperor and the bureaucracy, the emperor usually won, but only after a difficult fight. Because of their potentially conflicting interests, the relationship between emperors and officials in premodern China contained a certain amount of tension even in times when government appeared to be running smoothly.

Han political theorists were greatly concerned with portents (meaningful acts of nature). Dong Zhongshu, the most important political thinker in Han China, described the political significance of portents as follows:

When the first indications of error begin to appear in the state, Heaven sends forth ominous portents and calamities to warn people and announce the fact. If, in spite of these warnings and announcements, people still do not realize they have gone wrong, then Heaven sends prodigies and wonders to terrify them. If, after these terrors, people still know no awe or fear, then calamity and misfortune will visit them. From this we may see that the will of Heaven is benevolent, for it has no desire to trap or betray humankind. (Quoted in de Bary, Chan, and Watson, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, p. 171, with minor modification.)

In other words, Heaven communicates its displeasure with an earthly government gone wrong by a series of unusual natural phenomena of gradually increasing severity. Should the emperor and his officials be sufficiently astute to detect these heavenly messages relatively early on, they would likely be able to prevent disaster by correcting what is improper. Skill at detecting and interpreting heavenly signs, therefore, was an important quality in imperial officials.

Let us consider some specific examples of Han dynasty interpretations of alleged portents by examining a few passages from works of history compiled by official scholars. First:

In the first year of the Yuanfeng era [80 BCE] a yellow rat appeared in Yan holding its tail in its mouth and dancing in the main gate of the king's palace. When the king went to see it the rat continued to dance as before. Then he ordered one of his officials to offer it wine and dried meat, but still the rat went on dancing without stop all day and night until it died. . . . At that time King Ci of Yan . . . was plotting a revolt and this was a sign that he would soon die. In the same month, the plot was discovered and he was condemned to death. (Quoted in de Bary, Chan, and Watson, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, p. 172, with minor modification.)

During the first half of the Han dynasty, there remained a number of semi-autonomous local rulers who administered certain territories within the Han empire. King Ci was one of these local rulers and his rebellion was against the Han court. The next example begins as follows:

On Mount Tai there was a kite that set fire to its nest. A man named Sun Tong and some others, hearing the noise of flocks of kites and magpies in the hills, went to see what was happening. The nest burned up and fell to the ground and three baby kites were burned to death. . . . The kite is of a greedy and cruel nature. . . . Mt. Tai is the first of the five holy mountains and the place where the ruler announces changes in the name or generation of the dynasty. The meaning of Heaven's warning then was this: do not associate with greedy and cruel men or listen to their evil schemes, or you will suffer the misfortune of having your nest burned and your children harmed, your heirs destroyed and your name changed. . . . [The passage goes on to describe a specific example.]  (Quoted in de Bary, Chan, and Watson, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, p. 173, with minor modification.)

According to Han dynasty political theorists, Heaven constantly sends messages to humans, especially rulers. Those who properly read these messages and take heed of them will prosper, and the rest will eventually perish.

The net result of Han dynasty notions of cosmic resonance, the emperor as harmonizer of the three realms, and heavenly portents was to place a great psychological burden on the shoulders of the emperor. It was his duty to be morally upright, perform his ritual obligations scrupulously, and the be ever alert for warning from Heaven. A closely related aspect of the emperor's duty was to select worthy and knowledgeable men as his officials. Han dynasty thinkers stressed the virtue of emperors relinquishing most of the decision making in government to worthy ministers (like themselves!). Of course, many emperors resisted doing so, and the tremendous power of the imperial institution was always a potentially corrupting force. Furthermore, during the Han dynasty, although some officials, typically lower-ranking ones, were appointed on the basis of their moral merit, high-ranking ministers often held their posts by virtue of their aristocratic family status. It was not until the Song dynasty that most officials were selected on the basis of merit (demonstrated by passing rigorous exams--discussed in a later chapter) as opposed to hereditary status.

Han dynasty political theorists sometimes appear to have been haunted by the ghost of the Qin dynasty. They devoted much attention to delineating the faults of the Qin rulers and their rigid Legalism. Nevertheless, the basic institutional structure of the Qin dynasty continued intact throughout Han times and in later dynasties. What Han political theorists did was to rework the theoretical underpinnings of these Qin-Han Legalistic institutions. The essentials of these theoretical underpinnings are the points discussed above in the previous paragraphs. They are essentially Confucian, but with a substantial addition of cosmological theory from a variety of sources. As a general rule, therefore, it is accurate to characterize the political culture of Han China and later dynasties as follows: a paternalistic state employed *Legalist means to achieve Confucian ends.* As far as official rhetoric was concerned, Han emperors from the time of Emperor Wu regarded themselves as Confucian. But their Confucianism differed in certain key respects from the teachings of Confucius and Mencius--most importantly by relying on the two handles of Legalism to engender the moral virtues of Confucianism. Perhaps the clearest example of Confucian ends and Legalist means was the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, discussed in a later chapter.

One other tendency in the political thought of Han China was an emphasis on flexibility and timeliness. This emphasis was another aspect of the Han reaction against the Qin dynasty. Here the idea was that the Qin dynasty's short life, and the social misery it caused, were the results of its rigid adherence to laws and to Legalist philosophy in general. Just as Han thinkers created new ideas by mixing and matching from various intellectual traditions, they urged flexibility in the realm of political policy owing to the inevitability of change. The Huinanzi, an important Han-era text on statecraft, explains the matter as follows:

Under the rule of a sage the laws change with the times and the rites [li] are adapted to popular usage. As clothing and utensils must be fitted to their functions, so laws and institutions must accord with what is proper for the time. Therefore, there is nothing condemnable about modifying ancient ways, and nothing praiseworthy in adhering to fixed principles. Though the hundred rivers rise from different sources, they all find their destination in the sea; although the hundred schools of philosophy teach different methods, they all seek the ordering of the state.

This passage not only exemplifies the stress on flexibility in government administration, it is also a good example of the syncretic tendency in Han dynasty thought. Most intellectuals drew on multiple philosophical traditions for their ideas, and they regarded all schools of thought as having something valuable to offer.

Correlative Cosmology

Amidst the diversity of sources for Han dynasty thought, intellectuals sought a deeper understanding of the inner workings of nature. Many were convinced that this quest would lead to the discovery of a unifying set of laws or principles by which all phenomena could be linked and explained. Correlative cosmology was one result of this quest. To understand correlative cosmology, it is first necessary to know how most educated Chinese of the time envisioned the basic structure of the universe.

The most fundamental idea of Han cosmological thought was that a subtle physical substance called *qi* 氣 constituted all things in the universe. Although there is no perfect English translation for qi, the term "material force" is sufficiently close that we will use it here. This concept of material force is roughly similar to the concept of matter in contemporary science, but the Chinese material force was more subtle and fluid, more like eighteenth-century European theories of ether or phlogiston. For Han Chinese, material force permeated the universe and manifested itself in a variety of specific physical forms. The presence of material force throughout the universe tied the cosmos together into a vast web. All existence, therefore, was interconnected. At the beginning of the section on political theory, I mentioned the Han belief in cosmic retribution. The specific mechanism for this retribution involved material force. Any human action would reverberate throughout the cosmos, propagated by material force. That action would then engender, again, via the mechanism of material force, a specific cosmic response, identical in quality and degree of intensity. Simply stated, good deeds resulted in beneficial cosmic responses and immoral deeds brought forth harmful cosmic retribution. This idea of action and response within a cosmic order comprised of material force is *illustrated here.*

The idea of material force alone was insufficient to explain the workings of nature in all its complexity. Han dynasty thinkers, therefore, developed additional theories and explanations. Because material force unified the cosmos, making it into a vast, complex, interconnected web, Han thinkers devoted much of their attention to exploring the composition and operational laws of this interconnected web of material force. Through these investigations, Han intellectuals developed theories of cosmic correspondence or correlation. In such theories, all things affect all other things, but some things are more directly connected to each other than are others. Numerological formulae were employed to quantify these degrees of correspondence. In later dynasties Chinese scholars continued to develop this correlational approach to understanding the cosmos, and during the Song dynasty, one scholar even attempted to connect every known thing and phenomenon via a complex network of mathematical correspondences. Here, we will avoid the heavy-duty mathematics that comprised Chinese correspondence theory and look only at some of the basic concepts.

In trying to categorize material force, the most fundamental distinction among Chinese thinkers of the Han dynasty or later ages was *yin-yang* 陰陽. Yin and yang were complementary opposites, each defining the other. It is not that yin and yang were actual things, but rather qualities of things or modes of being of material force. Han scholars developed long lists of specific qualities associated with yin and yang. The qualities of yin included dark, moon, hidden, recessive, nurturing, damp, cool, water, female, negative charge (in relatively recent times), earth, and the cold seasons of autumn and winter. The qualities of yang included: light, bright, sun, manifest, dry, hot, fire, male, positive charge, Heaven, and the hot seasons of spring and summer. Notice that these qualities are mutually interdependent. In other words, hot would have no meaning without a conception of cold. Male would have no meaning without a conception of female. The assigning of the specific qualities to yin or yang reflected deep-rooted cultural assumptions of the time as well as some degree of arbitrariness (since every quality had to be primarily yin or yang). It should be noted that the theories of modern science, despite posturing to the contrary, likewise reflect deep-rooted cultural assumptions and a measure of arbitrariness.

Another way of categorizing material force was the theory of the *five agents* (wuxing 五行). In this theory, all things were governed primarily by one of five agents, and all cyclical phenomena moved in a sequence from one agent to the next. In the case of cyclical phenomena, it is also possible to translate wuxing as "five phases." Wuxing can also be translated "five elements" in some contexts, but it is best not to think of the five items as literal things in any narrow sense (a common problem among contemporary students). The most common sequence of the five agents is: wood fire earth metal water, and then back to wood. This sequence is usually called the *production cycle,* because each agent was regarded as producing the next. That wood produces fire or that earth produces metal are probably relatively easy to imagine. Metal's production of water, however, may seem arbitrary and hard to imagine. Again, it is important to stress that the primary role of these agents, as we will see below in more detail, was to serve as a framework for linking a wide variety of things and phenomena. Therefore, it is better to think of them as abstract phases instead of literal substances. Thinking of them in this way will make Chinese correlative cosmology much easier to understand.

An alternative arrangement of the sequence of the five agents, the *conquest cycle,* was based on each agent overcoming the next. The order of this sequence was: fire metal wood earth water, and back to fire. As with the production cycle, fire conquering metal or water conquering fire seems to make intuitive sense, whereas wood conquering earth may seem harder to imagine. The addition of the conquest cycle added tremendous flexibility to what the five agents could explain. If a sequence of events did not seem to fit the production cycle, it might be explained by the conquest cycle, or vice versa.

Both the conquest and the production cycles were employed to explain, among many other things, dynastic change. Wang Mang, for example, the mid-Han usurper, used the production cycle to justify his taking over the throne. He claimed that the Zhou dynasty had ruled by virtue of wood, (the Qin was too short to count) and the Han by virtue of fire. Wang asserted his right to rule on the basis that he was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor (a claim Wang made up), the Yellow Emperor ruled by virtue of earth, and fire produces earth. In other words, the fiery Han dynasty "produced" Wang's rulership.

Although the ideas of Yin-yang and the five agents probably originated independently, Chinese thinkers quickly began to link the two. The expression "two-five" 二五 in classical Chinese texts, for example, was usually a shorthand way of saying "yin-yang and the five agents." At this point we have examined three key concepts: material force, yin-yang, and the five agents. The relationship between them was approximately as follows. Material force consisted of two basic qualities or modes: yin and yang. Notice that it was not the case that material force produced yin-yang but rather that it possessed yin-yang qualities. Yin-yang, in turn, through mixtures containing varying combinations of each, gave rise to the five agents. I use the somewhat vague expression "gave rise to" because Chinese thinkers conceived of the relationship between yin-yang and the five agents in varying ways. For some, the relationship was relatively straightforward and mechanical: different quantities of yin and yang combined to produce five distinct agents. In other conceptions, the relationship was more subtle, with the five agents being five phases or modes of yin-yang. For our purposes, however, we need not be concerned with the fine points of the debates about the precise relationship of yin-yang and the five agents. It is enough to know that in the thought of most Han intellectuals, yin-yang and the five phases were closely interrelated.

Extending the theory further, the five agents gave rise, again through combinations of various proportions, to all things. The typical Chinese expression for "all things" was wanwu 萬物 which literally means "10,000 things," but in classical Chinese, "10,000" was a common way of saying "all" or "every." In an important variation on this idea, all things were directly correlated with each of the five agents. Beyond these direct links with a particular agent, all things were ultimately interconnected through the mutual production and/or destruction of the cycles of the five phases. In other words, they were connected via a complex web of material force. It is important at this point to mention that the word "thing" (wu 物) in classical Chinese had a wider range of meanings than does the English word today. "Things" included emotions, feelings, ideas, social relationships (e.g., filial piety), and other relatively intangible items, in addition, of course, to the material objects we commonly call "things" today. Essentially, anything that could affect anything else via material force was a "thing" (ideas and emotions, for example, motivate people to action, so ideas and emotions are also "things" in the realm of material force). Below is a chart detailing some of the things that were linked with each of the five agents (do not worry about understanding every single item--just understand the general principle and remember two or three specific examples to illustrate it):

(Source: Wm. Theodore De Bary, Wing-tsit Chan, and Burton Watson, comps. , Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 [New York: Columbia University Press, 1960], p. 199.)

Notice that many of the correspondences do not make obvious sense, at least for present-day observers. Why, for example, would a "goatish" smell be associated with an easterly direction, scaly creatures, the planet Jupiter, and, ultimately, the agent wood? There is no obvious answer. The correspondences and associations presented in this chart (which, by the way, is only a sampling of the many links postulated by Chinese thinkers) were the result of observation of the natural world, traditional, pre-Han associations between things, social values and prejudices, and, above all, the need to fit everything into an orderly place in the overall scheme of things.

The *diagram here* attempts to illustrate most of the items in the column under the agent earth. Notice that the items in the column are first and foremost linked with earth, secondarily linked with each other (through earth), and linked in a tertiary manner with all other things through the web of material force (and, therefore, through the cyclical nature of the five agents). Admittedly, viewing the cosmos as interconnected webs of specific manifestations of material force is hard for many of us to do. But it is in this way that most educated Chinese tended to view the world until at least the eighteenth century if not later. Furthermore, this world view gave rise to some of the most sophisticated science and technology the world had ever known. Keep in mind that China was the world's most technologically advanced society throughout most of world history, and this technology was based on the correlative cosmology described in this section.

(Now, pause to take this *brief quiz.* Next, study *Prof. Jordan's excellent page* and work through the quiz.)

Having examined the concepts of material force, yin-yang, the five agents, and their relationship with the larger world of things, we now turn to a final major set of concepts: the eight trigrams (bagua 八卦), the 64 hexagrams (liushisigua 六十四卦--all possible combinations of the eight trigrams), and the Book of Changes (Yijing 易經 or Zhouyi 周易 also known as the Classic of Changes). The eight trigrams consist of all possible combinations of three broken and/or unbroken lines. A broken line indicates the quality of yin; and unbroken line indicates the quality of yang. The eight trigrams, therefore, each contain different degrees of yin and yang. The trigram consisting of three unbroken lines is called qian 乾 that consisting of three broken lines is called kun 坤. In addition to (and because of) being pure yang, qian is associated with strength, activity, Heaven, deep red, early night, the sovereign, horses, and more. Kun, the pure yin trigram, is associated with docility, receptiveness, earth, the mother, black, afternoon, the abdomen, a mare or ox, and more. Each of the other trigrams also has a set of characteristics associated with it, much like the long lists of things associated with the five agents. In classical Chinese thinking, the *eight trigrams* are a concentrated guide to or diagram of the workings of the cosmos and are too profound for the average person to comprehend. There were two different sequences of the trigrams, but we need not go into this point here.

Like yin-yang and the five agents, it appears that the eight trigrams originated independently of notions of yin and yang. By Han times, however, the two had merged. With close ties between yin-yang and the five agents on the one hand, and yin-yang and the eight trigrams on the other, it is hardly surprising that Han scholars sought to unify these three systems. In other words, they sought to create a *set of correlations and correspondences* between yin-yang, the five agents, the eight trigrams, and, of course, all things. Trying to reconcile sets of correspondences based on fives and eights was no easy task, and multiple interpretations and correlating schemes developed during the Han and later dynasties. As time went on, scholars sought to link yin-yang, the five agents, and the eight trigrams with even more phenomena and numerical sequences, for example, the directions, the seasons, the divisions of the zodiac, sets of animals, and other divination charts. The resulting webs of correspondence, as you can surely imagine, were immensely complex and amenable to multiple interpretations by specialists. An investigation of these advanced, multi-scheme correspondence networks is beyond the limited scope of this introduction.

In addition to becoming tied to yin-yang and the five agents, the eight trigrams formed the basis for one of the most influential books throughout East Asia, The Book of Changes. Combining the eight trigrams into all possible combinations (8 x 8) produces *64 6-line hexagrams.* These 64 hexagrams and the commentaries on their meanings comprise the bulk of the Book of Changes. The origins of this book are obscure, but it seems to have been one of several divination manuals that circulated in China during the Zhou period. Confucius never mentioned this book and appears to have had no interest in it. Nevertheless, when the Book of Changes became popular in Han times, scholars began to attribute it to Confucius. Supposedly, Confucius was so impressed with the profound content of the book, that he wore out his copy three times in intense study. Then, as the story goes, he wrote the "Ten Wings" commentary section of the Book of Changes to explain its profound meaning to lesser minds. This text gradually came to be regarded as one of the "Confucian" classics after the Han dynasty and played a major role in shaping the Confucianism of the Song dynasty (discussed in a later chapter).

Broadly speaking, there were two views of the Book of Changes. Some viewed it as a high-powered divination manual. In other words, it was a practical tool to assist in making the major decisions of life such as marriages, major business ventures, or deciding the best time for a funeral or other ceremony (still a major use of the Book of Changes throughout East Asia). In this view, the book's content need not be thoroughly understood to be effectively utilized, just as today it is possible to use a computer or an automobile without a deep knowledge of their inner workings. The second view of the Book of Changes regarded it as a profound *blueprint or road map of the cosmos* and its inner workings. It was a text to be studied in detail for the wisdom it contained. These views, incidentally, were not mutually exclusive. In other words, an individual might have regarded the Book of Changes as both a divination tool and a cosmic guide. (Read the Yijing: #Legg translation (old);#  #Wilhem-Baynes translation (probably the best);#  #Other Yijing resources--do some divination on the web.#)

The actual practice of divination using the Book of Changes was, typically, highly complex. First, of course, there would be a question or issue to be decided. Then, the diviner, usually a professional specialist, would follow an elaborate, ritualized procedure for producing a hexagram. Usually, though not always, this procedure involved casting milfoil stalks. Once the hexagram was derived, it would have to be interpreted in light of a wide (potentially endless) variety of factors. Some of these factors included the personal circumstances of the person for whom the divination was being done, the text of the commentary of the hexagram as a whole, the meaning of the two trigrams that comprised the hexagram, and the meaning of each specific line of the hexagram, especially lines 2-5 (for some reason, the first and last lines were relatively unimportant). While the details of an actual example of divination would be too involved for our purposes here, let us consider the text and basic commentary for a specific hexagram.

Hexagram #40 is Xie 解, and its basic title is "Deliverance." Its top trigram is Zhen, "Thunder, The Arousing," and its bottom trigram is Kan, "The Abysmal, Water." According to the most authoritative scholarly translation of the Book of Changes, here is the basic text of the hexagram:

Deliverance. The southwest furthers.

If there is no longer anything where one has to go,

Return brings good fortune.

If there is still something where one has to go,

Hastening brings good fortune.

In addition to this "Judgment," there is also an "Image" associated with the hexagram:

Thunder and rain set in:

The image of Deliverance.

Thus the superior man pardons mistakes

And forgives misdeeds.

Then, there is a specific commentary for each line of the hexagram (starting with the line at the bottom). Here, "six" indicates a broken line and "nine" indicates a solid line:

Six at the beginning [bottom] means:

Without blame.

 

Nine in the second place means:

One kills three foxes in the field.

And receives a yellow arrow

Perseverance brings good fortune.

 

Six in the third place means:

If a man carries a burden on his back

And nonetheless rides in a carriage,

He thereby encourages robbers to draw near.

Perseverance leads to humiliation.

 

Nine in the fourth place means:

Deliver yourself from your great toe [not a typo!].

Then the companion comes,

And him you can trust.

 

Six in the fifth place means:

If only the superior man can deliver himself,

It brings good fortune.

Thus he proves to inferior men that he is earnest.

 

Six at the top means:

The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall.

He kills it. Everything serves to further.

(Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes, trans., The I Ching or Book of Changes [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, 1977], pp. 154-157.)

Suppose that this hexagram had been generated because a man wanted to know if it would be a good idea for his son to marry Miss Li. What would the answer be? Of course, there would be many possibilities. Notice, for example that in the line commentaries perseverance can lead to good fortune, in one line, and humiliation, in the next. You should also be aware that there is much more commentary not included here. Basically, every line of text above has to be explained with further commentary. You are probably dying to know, for example, how to deliver yourselves from your great toes, lest you be without trustworthy companions. The answer is found in the text's additional commentary:

In times of standstill it will happen that inferior people attach themselves to a superior man, and through force of daily habit they may grow very close to him and become indispensable, just as the big toe is indispensable to the foot because it makes walking easier. But when the time of deliverance draws near, with its call to deeds, a man must free himself from such chance acquaintances with whom he has no interconnection. For otherwise the friends who share his views, on whom he could really rely and together with whom he could accomplish something, mistrust him and stay away.

(Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes, trans., The I Ching or Book of Changes [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, 1977], p. 157.)

Now, hopefully, you understand the finer points of toe liberation!

Notice that the main text of the Book of Changes usually makes no sense without extensive commentary. Even with the commentary, there are so many factors involved in even a simple divination, that the final recommendation about what to do or not do requires extensive interpretation. Ordinary Chinese, and even many well educated ones, left this task of interpretation to well-paid specialists.

What is the overall significance of correlative cosmology in Chinese history and culture? First, it formed the intellectual basis of Chinese science, technology, and medicine. Second, it contributed much to Chinese political theory and institutions. Third, in various forms correlative cosmology spread from the intellectuals to the common people, where it influenced many aspects of life. Even today, although most Chinese are well-versed in European-derived modes of scientific thought, correlative cosmology continues to inform many Chinese cultural practices.

Historical Scholarship

The Han dynasty was a time of great activity in the writing of history. Han historians faced a difficult task when they sat down to make sense out of the past (or pasts). Some background knowledge is required to understand the task that Han historians faced.

The vast territory of China was and is home to different cultural and ethnic groups, and the Shang and Zhou dynasties were times of particularly widespread human and cultural diversity. What today we call "Chinese" high culture was originally a product of the Inland Yellow River areas. Although over the centuries this culture spread far and wide, during ancient times, many areas outside the Yellow River region were not culturally Chinese. Recall that the Zhou people themselves were originally a tribe living on the western fringes of the Chinese cultural region.

The different cultures and ethnic groups living in the territory comprising present-day China all had their myths, (stories that described something of collective importance for the group). These myths served as concrete dramatizations of key social values and practices, the lack of which would have been detrimental to social order. Many of these myths featured a wise, sagacious ruler or king, who often possessed superhuman powers. The earliest formal histories of China date back to the late Warring States and early Han periods. It was the job of historians, particularly during the Han dynasty, to take the wealth of myths from different parts of the empire, remove many of the supernatural or fantastic elements, and fit them together into a linear narrative story line. This processing of old myths was how Han historians rendered pasts into history. Notice that what I am calling "pasts"--the complex array of events--and "histories"--the written accounts of those events--are not and can never be congruent.

The formal histories written during the Han dynasty describe a relatively neat, linear succession of rulers, using the form A begot B, who begot C, and so forth. Documents prior to the Han histories contained a wide variety of mythical accounts, reflecting the cultural diversity mentioned above. Different groups had different myths, and even when two groups shared one or more myths in common, they often had significantly different versions of that myth. What, then, were the origins of the Sage Kings and culture heroes that inhabit the pages of China's earliest formal histories? Lewis explains as follows:

As is now generally agreed, the sage-kings were partially-humanized transformations of earlier, supernatural beings who figured in shamanic rituals, cosmogonic myths, or in tales of the origins of various tribes and clans. The sages arose independently in various regions or among different tribes, and they were drawn into a single 'pantheon'--or, rather, a 'genealogy'--through the centuries-long process of amalgamation and assimilation that created Chinese civilization. (Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China [Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990], p. 168.)

In the process of rendering "China's" diverse mythical pasts into a singular historical narrative, Han scholars tended to rationalize, humanize, and "tame" the sources Lewis mentions here. (*diagram of the process*)

Taking a variety of diverse pasts as their raw material, Han dynasty historians forged reasonably coherent linear, genealogical narratives. The diagram on the previous page depicts the process of "taming" the past to produce a coherent historical narrative. The names in the diagram, although unfamiliar to most of you, include major figures from ancient Chinese myths, most of whom also took their places in the lineup of Han dynasty histories. (By the way, it was not the case that all of the content of the Han dynasty histories was re-worked mythology. Once past the earliest periods, the histories spoke of people and events that definitely existed). If we had more time in the course, we would examine the mythical/legendary tales of the Sage Kings and culture heroes in more detail, for they reveal much about classical Chinese values and thought processes. They are also an interesting lens through which to explore modern cultural nationalism, and if you want to read more about this matter, #click here#.

>>Now, read the following excerpts from two major historical works of the Han dynasty, both of which seek to explain the origins of Chinese civilization. Based on your study of this and previous chapters, what cultural values and ways of thinking do these tales reveal?<<

Legendary Culture Heroes and Sage Kings

The accounts of the ancient history presented here were probably first written down in the late Zhou period and then refined and systematized in the Han period. Remember that the stories appearing here were written many centuries after the events they speak about allegedly happened. Also bear in mind that the renditions of history presented here derived from numerous versions of each story and different accounts of the past that had been circulating throughout China in the Zhou period. Many of these different versions of the past contradicted each other. What the authors of these texts did was to select out certain parts of the diverse accounts, systematize them, and organize them into a single, relatively coherent story. This process is the typical way of writing narrative history anywhere, anytime. Notice also the strong influence of Confucian ideas. The text below is the author's translation, derived from several Chinese, Japanese, and English sources. The live links bring up either an image of the item in question or the relevant passage of text. You need click on them only if you are curious.

"Origins of Civilization" Chapter, Classic of Changes (Yijing)

In ancient times, Fuxi came to rule the realm. He looked up and perceived the patterns in the heavens. He looked down and perceived the paradigmatic contours of the earth. He observed the markings on wild creatures and how they adapted to their habitats. He started with his own body as a model and extended his quest to various other objects, thereby creating the eight trigrams. With these he gained insight into the power of clear spirituality, and the means to classify all creatures and things on the basis of their conditions. He knotted cords and fashioned baskets and nets from them to use for hunting and fishing. This idea probably derived from the hexagram li.

After Fuxi died, Shennong arose. He cut wood to make a plowshare and bent wood into a handle, teaching the entire realm the benefits of plowing open the earth. This idea probably derived from the hexagram yi. He set up markets at midday, thereby causing all the people to go and bring together all the goods of the realm, exchange them, and return. Each item thereby found its proper place. This idea probably derived from the hexagram shihe.

After Shennong died, the Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun arose. They fully understood the process of transformation, thereby preventing the people from growing weary. They allowed their spiritual power to transform the people so that they naturally came to do the right things. When a particular change reached its limit, they altered the course, achieving continuity through alteration. They thereby brought about a state of affairs in which all received the assistance of Heaven, good fortune abounded, and all things benefited. The Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun allowed their upper and lower garments to hang down and the world was properly ordered. This probably derived from the hexagrams qian and kun.

They dug out tree trunks to make boats and shaved down branches to make boat poles, benefiting the realm by lengthening the range of human transportation. This probably derived from the hexagram huan.

They yoked oxen to pull heavy loads, and mounted horses to travel long distances, to the benefit of the realm. This probably derived from the hexagram sui.

They set up double gates and watchmen with wooden clappers to guard against robbers. This probably derived from the hexagram yu.

They split wood to make pestles, and fashioned mortars by hollowing out the ground. The use of mortars and pestles was of benefit to all human beings. This probably derived from the hexagram xiaoguo.

They strung a piece of wood to make a bow and whittled down wood to make arrows. They thereby created the benefits of the bow and arrow, which awed the realm. This probably derived from the hexagram kui.

In ancient times people lived in holes or out in the open, but later sages set up buildings that had ridgepoles and sloping roofs to shelter them from wind and rain. This probably derived from the hexagram dazhuang.

Ancient burials were conducted by covering the dead with a thick layer of brushwood and placing them out in the open. There was neither a burial mound nor trees to mark the grave site, nor was there any set period of mourning. The later sages replaced this practice with inner and outer coffins. This probably derived from the hexagram daguo.

In ancient times, people used knotted cords in governing, but later sages used written documents and tallies. This way, officials were kept in check and the people could be supervised. This probably derived from the hexagram guai.

Selections on Yao, Shun, and Yu from the Classic of Documents (Shujing)

"Canon of Yao" Section

Examining antiquity we find that Emperor Yao was called Fang Xun [meaning "most outstanding"]. He was reverent sagacious, cultured, thoughtful, and calm. Possessed of a sincerely reverent attitude, he yielded to others. His light penetrated the four corners of the realm, above and below. He succeeded in fully manifesting his moral authority, thereby causing the nine branches of his family to regard each other with affection. When his entire family had become harmonious, he transformed the various people in nearby areas. After making the local households virtuous, he harmonized the myriad principalities. Oh! how the people had all been transformed, all living in harmony!

He ordered Xi and He to respectfully conform to August Heaven (tian) and map out the movements of the sun, moon, stars, and other heavenly bodies, respectfully bestowing [set units of] time on the people. [Fearing the task would be too great for these two alone], Yao ordered Xi Zhong to reside in the eastern extremity of the realm, which is known as Yanggu. There, he reverently greeted the sun on the day of the vernal equinox, and established the proper seasonal order for agricultural cultivation. Taking note of the day when day and night are the same length and the bird star is in the night sky, he correctly discerned the mid-point of spring. During this period, people would emerge from their winter quarters and roam, and the various creatures would mate.

Yao then ordered Xi Shu to go reside in the southern extremity of the realm. Xi Shu established the order by which all things mature, and respectfully calculated the peak of summer. By noting when the day is longest and when the fire star is in the night sky, he correctly discerned the mid-point of summer. During this period people vigorously worked in the fields and the living creatures shed their coats and feathers and gave birth.

Yao then ordered He Zhong to live in the western extremity of the realm, called Meigu. There, he solemnly went to observe the sun at the time of the autumnal equinox, and established the proper seasonal order for harvesting crops. By noting when the day and nights are of equal length and the xu star is in the night sky, he correctly discerned the mid-point of autumn. During this period, the people were calm and the living creatures' coats and feathers began to grow out.

Finally, Yao ordered He Shu to go live in the northernmost extremity of the realm, known as Yudu. There, he established the smooth transition from old to new. By noting when the day is shortest and the ang star is in the night sky, he correctly discerned the peak of winter. During this period, the people lived inside and the living creatures grew thick coats and feathers.

The emperor said: "Ah, Xi and He, you have found out that the year has three hundred sixty-six days and that by means of an intercalary month the four seasons are adjusted and the year completed. By following the calendar, yearly observances proceed without error and the officials are encouraged. Achievements will increase in all matters."

The emperor said: "Who will be able to govern in accord with the movement of time? I want to raise up such a person." Minister Fang Qi said: "Your son and heir, Zhu, is wise." The emperor said: "Alas! he is deceitful and quarrelsome. How could he be acceptable?"

The emperor said: "Is there not someone fit to inherit my work?" Minister Huan Dou said: "Gong Gong has built up quite a record of achievement." The emperor said: "What? Though a skilled talker, he is not someone for the job. Outwardly, he looks impressive, but inwardly his heart is contrary to tian (heaven, the cosmos)."

[more of the same]

The emperor said: "Oh! chief of the four mountains. I have been the emperor for seventy years. Should you be fit to carry out the mandate I shall resign my throne to you." The chief of the four mountains said: "I lack the moral authority. I would only bring disgrace to the August imperial office." The emperor said: "Then nominate someone already illustrious or raise up a fitting person of humble status." The ministers all said: "There is a single man of mean status called Shun of Yu." The emperor said: "I have heard of him. What is he like?" The chief said: "He is the son of a blind man. His father is stupid, his mother deceitful, and his half-brother Xian is arrogant. Nevertheless, by means of filial piety he has been able to live with them in harmony." The emperor said: "I will try him. I will wed him to my two daughters and observe his behavior." He ordered that the daughters be sent to the bend of the Gui river to be wives in Shun's household. The emperor said: "Be reverent!"

"Canon of Shun" Section

In pondering the accomplishments of the ancient emperor Shun, it is fair to say that he added his own to the glorious light of the moral authority of Yao. He is someone who acquired penetrating insight, clear wisdom, warmth, and sincerity. When the realm came to hear of this incomprehensibly high level of moral attainment, the emperor Yao raised him up. . . .

The emperor said: "Come Shun!" In the affairs about which I have consulted you, for three years your advice has consistently been on the mark. Ascend to the imperial throne. " Shun considered himself lacking in moral authority and was not pleased. But on the first day of the new year, he accepted Yao's abdication in the Temple of the Cultured Ancestor. He used a globe of the heavens in assessing the situation so as to govern. He performed the lei sacrifice to the Lord-on-High (shangdi); he performed the yin sacrifice to the six venerables; he performed the wang sacrifice to mountains and rivers; and sacrificed widely to all spirits. . . . He rectified the seasons, months, and days. He made the pitch pipes uniform, as well as measures of length, capacity, and weight. He mastered the five ceremonial forms (wuli) and then standardized their practice in each locale and standardized the implements used in each. Having done this in one district, he went to the next and did it all again.

[. . .]

Once in five years the emperor would travel to inspect each domain of the realm. Each local lord would come to the court once in four years, and there would offer advice. Shun would try it out and when it proved efficacious he would reward the person with vehicles and robes, and put it into practice.

For the first time, the realm was divided into twelve districts, each with a sacred mountain. The rivers in each district were deepened.

For all to see he codified the five punishments, though was lenient in applying banishment to distant places when there were mitigating circumstances. The whip was used to punish officials negligent in their duty; the rod to punish those lazy in their study. Fines were levied for minor offenses, but those in positions of authority who caused great harm or repeat, unrepentant offenders were punished to the letter of the law without fail. And Shun warned: "The utmost caution must be used in carrying out punishments so that there will be no injustice." Thus, he banished Gong Gong to the northern hinterlands and Huan Dou to the southern hinterlands.  . . .

Shun instructed the head officials of the twelve districts as follows: "Adequate food for the people is the highest priority, so dare not make errors in agricultural matters. Take pity on those from afar, and get along with those nearby. Make use of and rely on those with moral authority, and shun those with evil intent. If you do as I instruct, all parts of our empire and even the barbarian lands will submit [to moral authority]."

Shun said: "I asked the four mountains about someone with the ability to expand on the past accomplishments of Yao to employ as Prime Minister. We need someone who can control all the myriad affairs and ensure that the myriad sacrifices are all properly carried out." The members of the court said: "Yu is currently Minister of Works. He's the one." The emperor said: "I see." Shun consulted with Yu on policy matters. After some time, Shun said: "As Minister of Works you have regulated the land and water of the realm. Henceforth you are to become Prime Minister." Yu bowed low and asked that Ji, Qi, or Gao Tao be appointed instead. Shun said: "They are good men to be sure, but you are to take the office."

[Detailed accounts of the many other ministers Shun appoints.]

"Councils of Great Yu" Section

[. . . ]

Emperor Shun spoke: "Come Yu! Heaven sent down floods to test you, and you successfully put into practice the flood control measures you presented to the court. This truly revealed your sagacity. Furthermore, for the sake of the whole country you imposed a simple, frugal lifestyle on your own household, without any feelings of being holier-than-thou. This, too, revealed your sagacity. You do not show off your ability and achievements yet there is nobody in the realm who could compete with you in terms of ability and accomplishments. I know that your moral authority (de) is vast and I applaud your great accomplishments. The heaven (tian)-ordained imperial succession has fallen on your person. Yu! Ascend to rulership!"

Shun spoke further: "The human mind is precarious; the mind of the Way is subtle. Be refined and single-minded. Hold fast to the mean!"

[Further advice from Shun]

[Shun urges Yu to take military action against a rival.]

[Description of Yu's military campaign] (#Yu memorial#)

Although figures like Fuxi, Shennong, the Yellow Emperor, Yao, Shun, and Yu did not actually exist in the flesh, they became important cultural icons to generation after generation of educated Chinese until this century. To some extent, they remain cultural icons to this day, more so in Taiwan than on the mainland. Notice that these accounts describe the creation of civilization and culture and the contribution of the early rulers to the cultural legacy. It was this legacy that Confucius called siwen.

(List of the major #official histories# compiled during premodern times.)