Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies [1st ed.] 9789811546334, 9789811546341

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Jiansheng Hu

Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies

Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies

Jiansheng Hu

Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies

123

Jiansheng Hu School of Humanities Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai, China

This book is funded by the Institute for Mythological Studies of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

ISBN 978-981-15-4633-4 ISBN 978-981-15-4634-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1

(eBook)

Jointly published with Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press The print edition is not for sale in China Mainland. Customers from China Mainland please order the print book from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press. © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Contents

Part I Cultural Theory of Big Tradition 1

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A Comparative Study on Chinese Big Tradition and Western Great Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Cultural Arrogance Complex of Great Tradition: Literary Text . 2 Launch of the Big Tradition Theory and Cultural Text . . . . . . 3 Archetype of Big Tradition: Reconstruction of Mythic History by Prehistoric Archetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Epilogue: Poetic Reveries of Big Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Culture as Text: Producing New Texts for Non-text Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 New Text Called by New Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 New Text as Non-text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Producing an Effective Cultural Text . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Retelling: A New Turn in Knowledge Archaeology . 5 From Deciphering to Retranslation . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Knowledge Innovation of the Big Tradition in Chinese Literary Anthropology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Transferal of Cultural Values: Pre-historical “Little Tradition” to Cultural “Big Tradition” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Originality of Meaning Generation: From the Quadratic Code of Written Culture to the Material Image of Oral Culture . . . . . . 3 The Existence of Cultural Imagination: Textual Expression and Material Image Representation, Which One Is True? . . . . . . 4 The Contradiction of Knowledge Innovation: From Structuralism-Oriented to Mythologies-Oriented . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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New Development of Chinese Literary Anthropology 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Post-modern Concept of Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Return to the Sacred Context of the Big Tradition . . 4 Cultural Expansion of Mythological Prototype . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Discoveries of Things from Cultural 1 Things Are Not “things” . . . . . . . 2 Presence of Things . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Narration of Things . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Presentation of Real Things . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Part II Mythical China 6

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Review on Contemporary Studies of Chinese Myth 1 New Conceptual Turn of “Myth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mythological China: Recognizing the Standpoint of China’s Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Origin of Humanity: Images on Prehistoric Colored Pottery and Chinese Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Arguments Over the Origin of Taiji Chart Theory in Ancient Classical Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Yin and Yang Dualism Shown on Prehistoric Colored Pottery . 3 Cross-Cultural Study on Image of yin and yang on Prehistoric Colored Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mythological Fantasy and Archetype Coding of the Divine Bear Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 From “only emblematic figures for the construction of implements” to “emblematic figures underlying the construction of implements”: The Divine Imagery Convention in the Era of Big Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Mythological Fantasy of the Bear: The Imagery of the Divine Bear Operating in a Sacred Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Archetype Coding and Spatial Order of the Divine Bear Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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10 Original Way from the Cultural Big Tradition: A Study on the Divine Belief and Mythological Images of “Tao” . . . . . 1 Understanding “Tao” from the Live Verbal Evidences . . . . . . 2 Mythological Ceremony and Divine Belief of “Tao” . . . . . . . 3 Prototype of the Transformation of “Tao” in Circular Motion References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Image Combination of Goddess Prototype . . 1 School of Realistic Art of Style . . . . . . . . . 1.1 School of Totem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 School of Primitive Religious Symbol 1.3 Urn Coffin and Secondary Burial . . . . 2 Cultural Connotations of Birds and Fishes . 3 Cultural Connotation of the Zax Image . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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11 What is Man: Original Strength and Psychological Structure Revealed by Chinese Genesis Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Man, Heaven and Earth: Complete Generation of Man in Chinese Creation Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Man and Things: In Chinese Creation Mythology Man and Things Share the Same Origin but Differ in Essences . . . . . 3 Differentiation of Man in the World: In Chinese Creation Mythology the Primitive Strength of Man Gradually Decays . . . 4 Man and Disease: Lost of the Divine Strength of Creation and the Corresponding Remedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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12 Mythical Identity and Juristical Authority of Yueruo Jigu . 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Restoration to the “Big Tradition” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Identity of “Yueruo” in Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Mythical Juristical Authority of “Jigu” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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13 The Cultural Interpretation of “Golden Sound and Jade Vibration” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Big Tradition in the Sacred Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Golden Sound Mythology of Evil Dispelling and God Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Symbolic Representations of Jade Vibration Mythology 4 The Psychic Realm of the Sage Communicating with Gods . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Part I

Cultural Theory of Big Tradition

Based on the actual materials and practical experience of Chinese local culture, literary anthropology refers to the cultural tradition and civilization state in the period before the emergence of writing as the big cultural tradition, and the cultural tradition and civilization state after the emergence of writing as the small cultural tradition. The distinction between big and small cultural traditions provides a new cultural perspective and sacred value for the interpretation of early Chinese culture and literary theory.

Chapter 1

A Comparative Study on Chinese Big Tradition and Western Great Tradition

In his book Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization published in 1956, American anthropologist Robert Redfield put forward the western cultural theory of great tradition and little tradition. Here, the great tradition refers to the written tradition spread by philosophers, theologians and writers among schools and temples, which is the rethinking tradition of a small number of men of letters; while the little tradition refers to the oral cultural tradition of the peasants in rural areas, which is the non-rethinking tradition for a majority of peasants.1 In recent years, Ye Shuxian has made a new cultural transformation on the western theory of great tradition and little tradition, saying that “It is necessary to transform Redfield’s concepts from an opposite angle. According to the classification index in semiology, we should review the cultural tradition by calling the character-coded cultural tradition as the small tradition, and the cultural tradition in nonverbal era, the big tradition.”2 In literary anthropology, the big tradition refers to the cultural tradition in prehistoric non-writing era, while the small tradition refers to the one after the invention of writing. Chinese literary anthropologists, based on the spiritual characteristics of local culture, initiate the big tradition that has local cultural significance in rediscovering the origin of Chinese civilization and cultural wisdom. In the expression of great tradition from European and American culture, the word “great” implies “grand”, “elite” and cultural approval, which belongs to the “high culture” (as opposite to the low culture), the “classic culture” (opposite to the folk culture) or the “learned culture” (opposite to the popular culture)3 , which signifies the dual opposite judgment of western rationalistic consciousness. In the “big tradition” in literary anthropology, the word “big” means “infinite”, “non-existent”, “extremely large”, and “tremendously 1 Robert

Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956, p.70. 2 Ye Shuxian, Big tradition and small tradition in Chinese culture, Dang Jian, 2007, vol.2, pp.49–51. 3 Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956, p.70. © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_1

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long-lasting”, which stands for modern culture root-seeking and unconsciousness unification. There are huge differences between these two concepts.

1 Cultural Arrogance Complex of Great Tradition: Literary Text Redfield used great tradition to refer to the literary cultural system, which is the hierarchic culture (opposite to the lay culture)4 that fully confirms and expects the posthistoric elite culture. This will easily lead to a dual structural antagonism between the elite and the secular cultures. In Han Officials and Cultural Communication, Yu Ying-shih accepted the theory of great and little traditions, deeming that “After the 1950s, Robert Redfield’s theory of great tradition and little tradition was once popular and has not disappeared until now. However, in the recent years among the western academic circle in history science, there is a trend that the concepts of elite culture and popular culture may replace the former theory. Although the names are different, they are similar in nature. Generally speaking, the great tradition or the elite culture is for the upper class or intelligentsia, while the Little Tradition or the popular culture belongs to ordinary people who do not receive formal education… At an early stage, the Chinese culture was categorized into two levels, ‘elegance’ and ‘popularity’, which are equivalent to the Great Tradition and Little Tradition, or the discrepancy between the two.”5 Yu Ying-shih mechanically transplanted the theory of great and little traditions onto the Han culture by directly converting it into two cultural levels, “elegance” and “popularity”, which highlighted the superiority and highness of the elite culture while belittling folk culture and tradition among those non-educated. As a result, he directly introduced the cultural bias of western anthropology to the discussion of Han culture. Here, let’s take a look at the cultural features of great tradition: Great tradition points to post-historic time. As an empirical intuition, the existence of time has endurance and continuity of past, presence, and future. In particular, as the historical extension of natural time, the existence of later time is not only extended from the previous time but also changes the past historical experience and life energy into the present existence of time. There is no cultural difference of life energy among the past, presence, and future of the existence of historical time. If we call the post-historic culture “the great tradition”, we will amplify the life existence and energy value of post-historic time and neglect and repulse the original life time and energy, leading to a cultural conflict between time processes. If we transplant

4 Robert

Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956, p.70. 5 Yu Ying-shih, Bachelors and Chinese Culture, Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Press, 2003, pp.117– 118.

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the time concept of the great tradition into the oriental cultural explanation, the post-historic humanistic value will act as the origin of the Chinese culture. For example, Dai Maotang mentioned in Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Values that “The great tradition of the Chinese value concepts originated in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and took shape in the Spring & Autumn and the Warring States periods, during which numerous schools of teachings and thoughts had emerged and developed, creating a prosperous scene in the academic circle. This had laid down the foundation for the values of China’s great tradition.”6 He regarded the cultural tradition after the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, especially the one in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods as the great tradition of the Chinese culture, which reflected the cultural value in the post-historic axial era. Such a judgment will mislead others to have a one-sided opinion that the post-historic elite culture is the original value of the Chinese spiritual value. The restriction of historical time of the western cultural concept of the great tradition is exactly the crux of cultural crisis in the time of industrial civilization. The expression vehicle of the great tradition is literary text. Admittedly, the invention of writing (in the case of China, the Chinese characters) is one of the greatest creation of mankind, reflecting the progress of human civilization and cultural development. Nevertheless, if we exaggerate the miraculous effect of it, we will overlook the long history of oral culture prior to the emergence of writing, during which mankind had created their own unique cultural spirituality through different expressions. The invention of writing did not necessarily mean the total abandonment of the spiritual heritage in the pre-writing era. Writing as meaning carrier was at first the auxiliary communication tool and had indeed played a positive role in preserving memories of human culture. However, as a visible existence, it was designated to deviate from the invisible cultural spirit. If we replace the intangible spirit with written language, the latter will present itself in the visualized form in front of the invisible spirit, showcasing the absolute superiority of literary text. The superiority implies that language has two inborn sides, one is the substitute of the invisible spirit, the other is the replacement of the invisible spirit. The former remains to be the auxiliary existence of the invisible spirit while the latter is unwilling to be secondary. Rather, it replaces the superior existence of the invisible spirit by its visible existence. It is thus clear that concerning literary text as an expression vehicle, the signal significance may hide its function as the symbolic significance. The mechanical adoption of the great tradition theory will also acknowledge the cultural arrogance of writing, causing single-faceted comprehension of the Chinese culture. Dai Maotang pointed out in Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Values that “The hierarchical discrepancy of the Chinese traditional values is reflected in the classification of the great tradition and the little tradition of the Chinese value concepts. Among it, the great tradition refers to the 6 Dai

Maotang, Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Value Concepts, Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press, 2016, p.14.

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social mainstream value concepts processed, set and expressed by ideologists and advocated by rulers, which respond to the ideological and ruling classes in traditional Chinese society. On the other hand, the little tradition refers to the undefined, subconscious social mentality, traditions and customs that are expressed in oral form and spread among the people, which represent the poor and the masses in traditional Chinese society.”7 He took writing as the great tradition and oral culture as the little tradition, and particularly, restricted the great tradition in the literary text and ideology proposed by the “rulers”. This is not good for discovering the essential spirit of the traditional Chinese culture, especially the basic cultural concept of emphasizing and respecting people in the Chinese culture. The cultural subject of the great tradition focuses on elites, which consist of philosophers, theologians, writers, and theorists. Culturally based on literacy and identified by school attending, they have formed a cultural group centering written text. This cultural group specialized in writing attaches great importance to written symbols and highlights the essence of literary knowledge. Compared with oral culture, it is embedded with a sense of superiority. They neglect and depreciate other non-literary forms of cultural expressions. Such an arrogant cultural attitude will lead to hierarchy and division of the knowledge classes. In particular, the literary vehicle will reject and deny other forms of expression, and a value concept of literary text centralism will be exaggerated to the utmost. Dai Maotang wrote in Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Value Concepts that “People who lay claim to the great tradition are essentially inclined to the little tradition, while people who stand for the little tradition, in fact, admire and identify the great tradition from time to time.”8 He held that the elite culture as the core of social culture, played a significant role regarding value in the society. This showed the arrogance and unscrupulousness of the elite culture. Such a one-sided attitude has forgotten that the real elite tradition in the Chinese culture is consistently rooted among people instead of demanding them to follow its lead. The cultural spirit of the great tradition excessively highlights the significance of human consciousness. Human mentality gradually discovered the light of consciousness from unconsciousness. At the very beginning, human beings were greatly immersed in unconsciousness, which created fear for the darkness of unconsciousness. Meanwhile, as the rational consciousness emerged, man maintained the dim light of rational consciousness with all available cultural manners. Rational consciousness gradually became the positive energy of human mentality while unconsciousness, the psychological shadow. Rational consciousness always depresses and repulses unconsciousness. But human consciousness is born of unconsciousness, so

7 Dai

Maotang, Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Value Concepts, Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press, 2016, p.13. 8 Dai Maotang, Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Value Concepts, Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press, 2016, p.36.

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the light of rationality can only manifest itself in the endless chaos of unconsciousness. Therefore, the light at the sharp corner of consciousness is reflected in unconsciousness right from the beginning, and continuous energy is transmitted and secured in the chaos of unconsciousness. If we partially stress the importance of human consciousness but neglect the root of rational consciousness, the root, branches, and leaves of human mentality will be separated, and narrow biases concerning human consciousness will be produced. Based on the cultural value of arrogant consciousness of great tradition, a consciousness-oriented cultural illusion of the great tradition is prone to come into being. Pu Jiao wrote in A Study on Stability of Folk Temple Fair: Citing Huanghui Fair in Tianjin as an Example that “The great tradition overly emphasizes social order and ethic morality such as national system, bureaucratic organization, and is extremely rigorous in issues concerning the distinguishing of the schools and source steams among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. But in the world of peasants, they cannot understand such a sophisticated system according to the intention of the great tradition. Of course, this cannot prevent them from expressing it in their own way, which, maybe, is just a manifestation of narrow world outlook.”9 Pu classified the cultures of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the Chinese society as the great tradition and the peasants’ cultural world, the little tradition, and held that the quality and style of the great tradition was “rigorous” while the little tradition extremely “narrow”. This evidently shows the ideological concept of the great tradition. Since the theory of great tradition overly relies on written words and highlights the rational consciousness of human elites, it naturally repulses other forms of human expressions, greatly narrows the relevant threshold of human spiritual world and distorts the reasonable structure of the Chinese cultural spirit, leading to the cultural shortcoming of word-centric, ideological, and elitist culturism. Only after getting rid of the narrow vision and ration-oriented thinking mode of the great tradition can we broaden the new cultural vision and production mode of human knowledge. Given to this, literary anthropology, by combining the characteristics of local Chinese culture, puts forward the new theory of big tradition.

2 Launch of the Big Tradition Theory and Cultural Text After over 30 years of decoding local culture and tracing the development of Chinese civilization, the Chinese literary anthropology has explored the origin characteristics and extension mode of the Chinese cultural spirit. By integrating the structure of creation and communication in semiology, it has proposed the cultural theory of big tradition, which not only overcome the limitation of western rational cognition

9 Pu Jiao, A Study on Stability of Folk Temple Fair: Citing Huanghui

Beijing: Chinese Literature and History Press, 2016, p.124.

Fair in Tianjin as an Example,

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centralism, but also highlighted the significance of cultural archetype in the prehistoric non-literary period, with a focus on the inheritance of cultural value from the non-writing era to the literary period. This theory is consisted of the following main components: First, the big tradition focuses on prehistoric time. The critical point of the original times of the universe and human beings in the prehistoric time can be stretched endlessly. The big tradition and the big history are different in approach but equally satisfactory in result, both of which pay attention to the length and depth of prehistoric time. When prehistoric time becomes the key topic of cultural studies, the issues concerning prehistoric human existence and cultural inheritance will in turn become the fundamental value for researches on post-historic culture. Only by unveiling the truth of prehistoric culture can we sort out the emergence conditions of post-historic literary text and reinterpret the original codes of the post-historic literary writing. At this time, the time concept of human existence changes from the present state of the great tradition into the inter-relating state where the past, present, and future are in harmoniously blended in. The past plays a crucial guiding role in the human community of common destiny by offering an expected intellectual possibility to the present and the future, while the present and the future are cultural accumulation of the past experiences. Secondly, the expression vehicle of the big tradition has shifted from literary text into cultural text. Chronically speaking, cultural text is the human expression form in the prehistoric non-literary period, which had existed prior to literary text. This priority decides that cultural text is significantly fundamental for the post-historic literary text. Cultural text emphasizes on the discussion of cultural spirit, while writing is nothing but a superficial vehicle attached to the cultural spirit which acts as the core accordance to the cultural text. Compared with form priority of material image in cultural text, literary text is of literary priority, both of which are greatly different from each other. During the process of character replacement, the issue with regard to character hegemony takes shape in literary text. First of all, cultural text is the deconstructed form of literary text, which is a kind of temporary sublation instead of total abandonment of the literary form. The primary sublation of literary text enables us to have the opportunity to construct cultural text and their original meanings and effectively give into full play the hidden cultural spirit depressed by literary text. Besides, cultural text is the cultural construction of the original spiritual significance that emphasizes the spiritual existence and conceptual phenomena of the original human culture. In his work Big Tradition and Small Tradition of the Chinese Culture, Ye Shuxian argued that “the proposal of the Big Tradition theory aims at the traditional biases that history was created by writing, therefore when there was no writing there would be no history. We acknowledge that the history of writing is only the history of the Small Tradition. However, to gain a more profound understanding of the history in the non-literary period, it is necessary to explore the existence of the Big Tradition.”10 10 Ye Shuxian, Mythological Study on the Origin of the Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Social Sciences

Academic Press (China), 2015, p.101.

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He further added that “if we do not shake off the bias limit of the small tradition of character, we can hardly see the real existence of the big tradition.”11 The prehistoric cultural text is the expression form of substantial images in the non-literary era. The big tradition is the small traditional culture that sets off to banish the bias in character and sets sail afresh literary writing with the use of the significance of substantial images in prehistoric times. Thirdly, the expression subject of the big tradition is mainly the subject of archetype, which is different from the general subject of consciousness. The former is the subject that has understood the archetypal status of human heart while the latter is often the subject of rationality, namely, the one that hides the subject of archetype. Subject consciousness is the mental representation of human rationality. Human rationality overly emphasizes the subjective value of individuals and expands greed and desire. It puts man as center of the universe while ignoring the life value of the nature, thus hiding the archetypal images on the object. Although the subject of archetype is the existence of man, it is not the industrially rational existence of man. Instead it is the transitory stage from unconsciousness to consciousness in human’s childhood, or the comprehensive status of unconsciousness–consciousness integration, which features “the integration of divinity and humanity”. “Divinity” refers to the unconscious status of human soul, which is the cultural foundation and motivation of human nature, while “humanity” refers to the light of consciousness burst out in unconsciousness. It is mentally based on the light of “divinity” which is the source of energy for humanity. In the spiritual value of the Chinese culture, the subject of archetype is a mental structure and real existence of “immortal”, “djinni”, “deity”, and “sage”. It has a solid cultural foundation that is totally different from the general subject of rationality. Ye Shuxian mentioned in Big Tradition and Small Tradition of the Chinese Culture that “China entered the Jade Age 8,000 years ago, and the sages were also the product of this Big Tradition.”12 The “sages” were the individual manifestations of the subject of archetype in the world. In addition, Ye also remarked in his book Viewing the Source of Witchcraft of Confucianism and Taoism from the Myths of Jade that “The Spring and Autumn Period when Confucianism and Taoism existed obviously belonged to the Small Tradition, approximately 1,000 years after the emergence of the Chinese characters. By analyzing the teachings of Laozi and Confucius, we may be able to find out the same original roots shared by them despite their superficial divergence and opposite approaches: the worship of sage (the divine emperor) versus the worship of sacred thing (jade), which had been correlating with each other from an early time, maybe more than 2,000 years earlier than the period of Laozi and Confucius.”13 The sage is the subject of archetype while the sacred thing is the object of archetype, which 11 Ye Shuxian, Illustrated Handbook of the History of the Chinese Civilization, Guanghzou: Southern

Daily, 2015, p.9. 12 Ye Shuxian, Illustrated Handbook of the History of the Chinese Civilization, Guanghzou: Southern

Daily, 2015, p.11. Shuxian,The Golden Bough VS the Jade Leaf: A Chinese Perspective of Comparative Mythology, Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2012, p.123.

13 Ye

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is the projected outcome of the unconscious status of the subject of archetype on the object. Both the sage and the sacred thing are visible vehicles with certain mysterious features and image statuses that highlight the comprehensive structure of subjectobject integration. Thirdly, big tradition highly values the cultural significance of mythic archetype. In contrast, human rationality makes its comprehensive judgements mainly based on logics and reasoning, and heavily relies on it’s apperceive and integrative effect. The final cognitive outcome of this type of rationality centralism is often presented as the real betrayal of rational unity and empirical facts. The cultural significance of mythic archetype cannot live without the apperceive effect of man’s mentality. Nevertheless, it is not the purely rational apperception but the projected apperception of direct imagination, a combination of intuitive experience and mental unconsciousness and the easy fit-in between the life energy of collective unconsciousness and the divine spirits of nature object, or the apperceive effect of “seeing Tao is comprehending Tao”. On one hand, the mythic archetype produces and obtains a mythic image depending on man’s intuitive apperceive effect and the tangible form of the target. On the other hand, it is the intuitive apperception of collective presentation and divine participation. The integration of both parties makes it hard for us to draw a clear line between the subject and the object, the presentation and the target as well as the mentality and the world. It is the organic combination of mythic archetype that avoids the unitary arrogance of human rationality and meanwhile, builds a synchronized, homogeneous, and appositive relationship between the collective unconsciousness of human mentality and the divine spirits of the universal world. It is the result of mysterious penetration and the unity within and without, indicating a “Big Science” status before the emergence of modern science. It is the focus and contribution of the big tradition to discover and explain the cultural status and collective imagination of such “Big Science”.

3 Archetype of Big Tradition: Reconstruction of Mythic History by Prehistoric Archetype The cultural theory of big tradition points to the original source of the Chinese culture and pushes forward the rethinking of human rationality to the point of its beginning. Ye Shuxian wrote in Big Tradition and Small Tradition of Chinese Culture that “There is an obvious dividing line to distinguish the Big Tradition from the Small Tradition of the Chinese culture from the perspective of the history of culture, that is, the existence of the writing system of the Chinese characters. Such a classification according to symbols will help the present educated people get rid of the cognitive limit caused by the Small Tradition, fully realize that tradition is the unification of extension and disruption of history and thoroughly understand the original coding effect of

3 Archetype of Big Tradition: Reconstruction of Mythic History …

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the Big Tradition from the chronic cover of the Small Tradition of character.”14 Chinese literary anthropology aims to discover and rebuild the original code of the big tradition, hoping to retell Chinese stories and rebuild the mythic history in the early stage of the Chinese culture based on prehistoric cultural text. Big tradition highlights the cultural tradition and contextual spirit in the prehistoric non-literary period and turns to unearthed prehistoric cultural objects in its search for cultural significance. The rapid developments in archeology and anthropology over the century have resulted in a great many cultural texts emerging from cultural sites and prehistoric relics, which have vastly enriched the understanding of prehistoric culture and history and offered new possibility to construct the mythic history of the big tradition. The unearthed prehistoric objects not only become the primary evidences for the big tradition to understand afresh the prehistoric civilization and cultural spirit of ancient China, but also serve as the new starting point for literary anthropology to review the source of the Chinese civilization. First of all, the historic facts not recorded in historic books begin to emerge, such as the prehistoric myth of jade, Liangzhu divine emblem, the ancient state of Shimao in present Shenmu and the Sanxingdui Bronze culture, all of which will be key for the extension of the cultural theory of big tradition and provide new evidences for constructing the original significance of the prehistoric cultural text. Besides, the fragmentary records of prehistoric culture in passed-down literature are evinced in the unearthed objects and sites. According to the excavated substantial images and the oral culture, together with passed-down literature and unearthed documents, we should be able to make a comprehensive investigation, an all-round interpretation of the ancient history, a bold assumption, and careful confirmation so as to unveil dozens of questions concerning post-historic literary writing. This will also be the new beginning of reinterpreting the cultural spirit and the mythic history of ancient China. Among the four evidences proposed in literary anthropology, substantial image is lastly put forward, yet it is the most important cultural text and the most effective material evidence. Compared with other three evidences, i.e., oral narrations, passed-down literature, and unearthed documents, substantial image is superior for its irrefutable and convincing proof. Ye Shuxian mentioned in Big Tradition and Small Tradition of the Chinese Culture that “The existence of the big tradition builds on the study and reconstruction of nonliterary symbols, the majority of which come from the anthropological excavation.”15 In the prehistoric non-literary period, despite the absence of written symbols, the Chinese ancestors had expressed and spread the original human mental images and cultural meaning in the forms of objects and images. By referring to archeological findings and prehistoric mythical images, we can retrieve the original thoughts and mythical imaginations of early humans as well as explore the mental structure and mythic archetype hidden behind these mythic images. 14 Ye Shuxian, Mythological Study on the Origin of the Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Social Sciences

Academic Press (China), 2015, p.101. 15 Ye Shuxian, Mythological Study on the Origin of the Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Social Sciences

Academic Press (China), 2015, p.101.

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The big tradition unveils the mythic genes and substantial archetype of the core of Chinese prehistoric culture, namely, the prehistoric jade worship. Jade ware and sacrificial jade vessels were made in the period of prehistoric culture before writing was invented, and have become the original genes of the early Chinese culture. Ye Shuxian named the special form of the prehistoric jade culture and jade worship as “jade religion”. The discovery and proposal of “jade religion” is of great cultural significance to know anew the source of the Chinese culture. Jade religion originated from the Xinglongwa culture over 8,000 years ago. The widespread prehistoric mythic belief and substantial symbols of the denomination of jade in the geographical region of the Chinese civilization tremendously manifest its core status in the prehistoric Chinese civilization. Around 5,000 years ago, from the Hongshan culture in northern Liaohe River Basin, to Yangshao culture, Longshan culture and Qijia culture in the Yellow River Basin, to the Hemudu culture, Lingjiatan culture and Liangzhu culture in the southern Yangtze River Basin, jade worshipping had been found everywhere that the Chinese civilization touched before the state’s political unity, signifying the cultural herald and the belief phenomenon that the jade culture united ancient China. From this we can see that as a cultural community, China, at the beginning of the prehistoric culture, has showcased its spirit in the mythic belief of jade, which has revealed the political possibility of a to-be-united China. From prehistoric times to post-historic periods, the mythic belief of jade has become the core symbol and spiritual strength of citizen cohesion, ethnic group building, and national unity in the Chinese cultural spirit. From the flourishing ancient jade worship, we can see the cultural deposits and fundamental value of the prehistoric Chinese spirit. The jade culture does not exist in the form of literary text but presents itself as a pure non-literary substantial symbol and cultural text. With jade as the symbolic core, this cultural text has constructed the uniform structure of the spiritual world and cultural value of prehistoric Chinese people before the existence of literary text. The cultural text of prehistoric jade was more than 3,000 years earlier than the Confucian literary text of “a noble man likens his virtues with jade” and the Taoist literary text of the sage’s “dressing shabbily in order to hide his real worth (jade)”. To some extent, the cultural text of prehistoric jade myth is where the root of the Chinese cultural spirit lays, while the Confucian and Taoist literary text on the jade culture can only be counted as the golden branches of prehistoric jade religion before the emergence or writing. The big tradition theory not only discovers the original coding meaning of jade religion but also deciphers different historic written codes. It has put forward the N-level coding theory, stressing the diachronic cut-through effect of the prehistoric archetypal codes in each historic period. Ye Shuxian explained in his work N-Level Codes: The Historical Semiology of Culture that “From the Big Tradition to the Small Tradition, we can arrange the Nlevel coding procedure in period order. Objects and images in the non-literary period have the original coding effect of cultural significance, hence, they can be called the primary code, which is dominated by mythic thinking. The Chinese characters can be called the second-level or secondary code… The third-level code refers to the early recorded classics … As for today’s writers’ work it is undoubtedly at the

3 Archetype of Big Tradition: Reconstruction of Mythic History …

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top of the symbolic coding procedure, thus being called by a joint name the N-level code.”16 According to the N-level code theory, the prehistoric mythic archetype is the primary code, the oracle inscriptions, secondary code, the Confucian classics, and the literature in the Warring States Period, third-level code and all types of written texts since the Qin and Han dynasties, N-level code. Previously, academic circle paid excessive attention to the evolution of culture in each historic stage and the heterogeneity of written texts but neglected the spiritual foundation and mythic archetype of the prehistoric Chinese culture. The multi-leveled codes of big tradition help disclose the stable factors and hereditary characters of the prehistoric cultural genes in cultural inheritance and extension, just as decoding the DNA in human body. The cultural inheritance of the original code ranges from prehistoric times to different periods, enjoying limitless natural vitality. The genetic effect of the prehistoric cultural archetype is embodied in a variety of written texts in different historic periods, especially the prehistoric cultural genetic code, which makes the archetypal homogeneity and contextual relationship prominent.

4 Epilogue: Poetic Reveries of Big Tradition Unlike the rational contemplation of natural science, what the theory of big tradition triggers a poetic reverie at the beginning of human civilization, in which all types of mythical images are presented in thousands of forms and integrated randomly, creating a fantastic wonderland. The mythical image is not a blind copy of the substantial object. The external substantial object can trigger and stimulate an individual’s cultural reveries. But the revered image is not the object, instead, it is the existing cultural heritage in the subject’s unconsciousness which is born at the right moment. The object is just a real accidental event that initiates the ancestors’ poetic reveries, makes them indulge in a train of thoughts, and arouses sophisticated voice deep in people’s heart. The great sound seems soundless while the great image seems formless. The great image of myth is attached to the object, which, therefore, becomes a spiritual being that surpasses the object itself. Such a mythic image is not the solid rule of words and phrases. The movement of words and phrases is a vocal stream of human rational meta grammar. As the replacement of the object, words, and phrases are not the scientific representation of the object but the needless duplication of their own grammatical rules. The reveries are not the same as the stream of words and phrases in grammar because they neither have fixed grammatical rules nor have comprehensive and uniform grammatical components. They are nothing but a number of symbolic signs burst out from man’s heart. When the symbolic images come in great numbers in perplexed forms, the subject of reveries is immersed with confusion and acts with perplexity without the 16 Ye Shuxian, Zhang Mili, Liu Qianyue, Cultural Semiology: A New Perspective of Big Tradition and Small Tradition, Xi’an: Shaanxi Normal University Press Group, 2013, pp.6–7.

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slightest amount of clear consciousness and cognition. On the contrary, the symbolic images are culturally critical in an all-round deconstruction to the grammatical rules of the great tradition. What it presents are the ups and downs of an islet and a humanistic picture of poetry, profoundness, and enchantment. Such a mythic image is not the rational logic thinking. Before the disperse, floating, hasty, and casual mythic images, rational logic cannot help but bemoans its inadequacy in the face of a great task just as River Uncle does when he sees the sea. The arrogance of rational consciousness suddenly disappears when it faces the boundless sea. Again, rationality returns to man’s peaceful mind. When rational consciousness flies back to the poetic mythic reveries, and the written words of the small tradition go back to the big tradition, a warm current from the heart will naturally overflow and the poetic lives will again be full of vigor. The river of rationality will eventually run into the sea. The big tradition enables the river of rationality in industrial civilization to run into the sea, where the water of life awakens to prepare for a new mythic cycle.

References Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956. Ye Shuxian, Big tradition and small tradition in Chinese culture, Dang Jian, 2007, vol.2. Yu Ying-shih, Bachelors and Chinese Culture, Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Press, 2003. Dai Maotang, Basic Structure and Contemporary Construction of the Chinese Traditional Value Concepts, Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press, 2016. Pu Jiao, A Study on Stability of Folk Temple Fair: Citing Huanghui Fair in Tianjin as an Example, Beijing: Chinese Literature and History Press, 2016. Ye Shuxian, Mythological Study on the Origin of the Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2015. Ye Shuxian, Illustrated Handbook of the History of the Chinese Civilization, Guanghzou: Southern Daily, 2015. Ye Shuxian,The Golden Bough VS the Jade Leaf: A Chinese Perspective of Comparative Mythology, Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2012. Ye Shuxian, Zhang Mili, Liu Qianyue, Cultural Semiology: A New Perspective of Big Tradition and Small Tradition, Xi’an: Shaanxi Normal University Press Group, 2013.

Chapter 2

Culture as Text: Producing New Texts for Non-text Representations

In the mid-1990s, Chinese literary anthropology accepted the influence of cultural anthropology and proposed initially a connection between “culture and text”. At that time, the “culture and text” proposed illustrates the fact that “literary research is no longer confined to the traditional literary scope, and it is becoming an integral part of integrated cultural studies”.1 In the book of “Culture and Text”, “culture” refers to the method of “cultural study”, and “text” refers to the research object of “literary text”. “Culture and text” means to place “literary text” in “cultural vision” to expand academic research. With the accumulation of practice in text culture research and the gradual maturity of theoretical construction, literary anthropologists deeply experience the great theoretical potential and research prospects of the integration of culture and text. After more than two decades, based on interdisciplinary research, the structural relationship of “culture and text” is re-engineered, proposing a new paradigm of “culture as text”. This will breakthrough the limitations of “written text”, highlight the meaning of coding that is guided by “culture”, reorganize and summarize the theoretical construction, cultural spirit and textual value of the “cultural text”. Moreover, this effort will clarify the future construction direction and theoretical transformation of the subject.

1 New Text Called by New Era The traditional definition of text is extremely narrow which usually refers to writing text. “In the general sense, the text refers to any written or printed document.”2 This written text includes different forms of cultural writing, such as oracle bones, 1 Ye Shuxian. “The Trend of the Studies of Literary Anthropology.” Culture and Text. Xi’an: Shaanxi

Normal University General Publishing House, 2018. p1. Minan (ed.). Keywords for Cultural Research. Nanjing: Jiangsu People Publishing, 2007. p339. 2 Wang

© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_2

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gold text, simplifications, scripts, stone tablets, jade plates, transcripts, manuscripts, engravings, printing, and books. From the passing of the text, it can be divided into passing on documents and unearthed documents, including all forms of written texts. The text is the form carrier of the writing culture. It emphasizes that the information is directly obtained from the interpretation of the written text. Reading texts is straightforwardly simple and clear, but the limitations of this translated text are self-evident. First of all, since the text is solid, how could the text translation live alive without falling into the words? Zhuangzi’s vigilance of “obtaining the significance and forgetting the words” can reflect the essence of the translation of texts. Secondly, the narrative of writing conveys partial meaning. Therefore, the historical narrative of the text is always incomplete. Understanding the narrative of partial meaning does not mean obtaining the full meaning. Thirdly, words always exist as substitutes. There is an unbalanced cultural relationship between the things they refer to and the words. The words as substitutes have certain priority. This priority is obscured by things the words refer to. Thus, between the words and the facts it carries, there will always be a paradox between one thing and the other. Placing the text as priority is inevitable. Finally, verbal narrative is the expression of artificial narrative. In the human speech, the needs of rhetoric are unavoidable, such as the power system, ideology, discourse power, and many other desires to penetrate into it, which results in the disguise and misinterpretation of various words. Additionally, since the birth of mankind, the form of its expression is extremely rich, and the text is only one of the main forms of human expression. The cultural hegemony formed by the texts and texts makes modern people only focus on written texts, while neglecting and even despising other forms of expression of human beings, resulting in extremely serious self-confidence and arrogance. In view of the multiplicity and disparity of texts, rediscovering various forms of expression of human beings has become a common demand of disciplines such as literature, history, mythology, philosophy, and classical science. Meanwhile, the endless discoveries of cultural relics are also changing the public’s recognition of the world history and the origin of civilization, constantly refreshing the meditation on cultural significance. As a result, various doubts about the expression of texts and curiosity about new things unearthed are generated. Compared with the old written texts, the promotion of new cultural texts is a matter of time. The cultural text as the new text is relative to the written text. Moreover, the invention of new texts has specific academic needs. The emergence of new cultural texts has a special historical narrative appeal. For instance, the archaeologically unearthed the LiangZhu Site, the “ShiMao” Site, the SanXingDui culture are excluded in the existing historical texts and are the areas where the written texts are absent. These newly discovered ancient civilizations, in the written words, have no records, no traces, but they are reemerged nowadays. On the one hand, the discoveries highlight the inadequacy and omission of writing. On the other hand, they bring us cognition of these civilization models. The new symbolic forms, such as the LiangZhu jade artifact, the ShiMao wall jade knife, and the SanXingDui gold-faced copper head all tell the world about the splendid existence and cultural essence of ancient civilization. Before the twentieth century, the transcripts became the criterion for the existence

1 New Text Called by New Era

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of civilization. Since archaeology had not yet appeared, those unwritten things were considered to be non-existent things. Nowadays, although written texts are absent, those civilizations such as LiangZhu, ShiMao, and SanXingDui still exist in history because of these unearthed relics. Those relics are telling stories about the history and the development of civilization beyond the text. Since the LiangZhu jade artifact (Fig. 1), the ShiMao wall jade knife (Fig. 2), the SanXingDui gold-faced copper head (Fig. 3) had unearthed, these artifact images are expressing the magical stories of ancient civilizations. They are a non-textual method delivering vivid historical stories and become a unique expression of the ancestors’ narrative. They appear in contemporary society with the invisible history of the presence, and they are calling for a new form of text that is different from the written text. The new text is unique to express the meaning of human ancestors and the order of social power. As a symbolic form of material image, jade, bronze, gold, and silver objects were unearthed from cultural relics during various historical periods. Meanwhile, as a unique cultural symbol of Chinese civilization, jade presents a particular cultural and spiritual meaning to the academia. In the handed down documents, Confucianism has an expectation of “gentleman’s virtue as gorgeous as jade”; Taoism has a longing, “a saint wearing coarse clothes but holding jade”. Only placing Fig. 1 Liang Zhu God emblem

Fig. 2 Shi Mao wall is embedded with a jade knife

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Fig. 3 San Xing Dui copper head with gold face

the metaphors of gentlemen form Confucianism and saints from Taoism in the jade culture of early great traditions, the original code of cultural meaning can be obtained, and the spiritual continuity and cultural inheritance between ancient civilization and later civilization can be recognized. Professor Ye Shuxian has studied the jade culture in early Huaxia for a long time, and he summarized the early Chinese cultural spirit as either the jade religion or the jade myth belief, which manifests the spiritual beliefs and cultural genes of jade in the traditional Chinese culture. Moreover, Professor Ye reveals that the early Chinese residents constructed the cultural beliefs and spiritual values of the tribes by jade. As a new cultural text, the jade symbol has transferred into an important symbolic for uncovering the origin and spirit of Chinese civilization. It narrates the early Chinese ancestors’ spirit yearning and living conditions before the appearance of writing, which is a special text form in non-literal era. The cultural significance of the new cultural text is immeasurable, and its cultural function is expanding at any time. As the study of cultural texts changes, it will increasingly show its infinite expression of vitality and interpretation energy, which will bring about a possible paradigm innovation for future academic innovation.

2 New Text as Non-text The most notable feature of the original cultural text is non-text. The term of nontext refers to the text form that could not be written, an expression of no words or

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pre-texts. The original form of the new text is not written in words. In other words, as long as it isn’t written text, it can be regarded as a form of new text. Since cultural elements can be seen by eyes, there is a difference between the things of culture and the things of nature. Everything that tells a human story is a cultural thing. Otherwise, it is a natural thing. Cultural things are not written words, but can be named which is not written down. Written words might replace cultural objects, but they do not equal to the objects they replace. This is why the text representing the cultural object includes both image text and material text. The cultural things of the great traditional period have a certain priority in terms of cultural expression, and bear the original first-level code, because there is no written text then. Due to the emergence of a large number of texts, the cultural ideographic functions of the cultural objects in the small traditional period are relatively weak; however, their auxiliary ideographic functions are not negligible. Therefore, literary anthropology regards the cultural expression of material images as the fourth evidence, but its evidence effect is the cultural function of primary coding. Similar to the oral sound can be heard, the dynamic sound can be divided into daily life narratives and its voice form passed down. The oral communication mainly refers to the oral voice, especially the culture of the minority without literary. It is a living culture that has been passed down from generation to generation and has close connections with the early big traditional culture. Literary anthropology considers the living oral culture as an important new text form and regards it as the third evidence, which demonstrates the stability and sacredness of oral culture. Similar to the ritual text of comprehensive audiovisual, it is a comprehensive ideographic system whether it is an ancient ritual activity or a variety of ritual activities that are now in existence, such as music, artifacts, dance, procedures, dialog, singing, manners, manners, all of which become comprehensive expressive elements of the system. Furthermore, ritual text reflects the intertextuality and comprehensiveness of the new text. For example, literary anthropology emphasizes the comprehensive use of various cultural forms and the overall interpretation, so as to obtain a comprehensive cultural understanding. Besides, there are other expressions from sense of taste, touch, or body, which can all be included in the scope of new texts. The cultural text is an open and dynamic expression system. It is a cognitive paradigm of knowledge archaeology for exploring the cultural base. It is also a form of expression that can be continuously discovered and enriched. As long as it is not a written form, it can gradually incorporate into the scope of cultural texts. It can be seen that the extension of the new text is extremely broad. As long as it is not expressed in the form of written text, it can be regarded as the scope of experience of the new cultural text. From the perspective of historical development, the new text is not new at all, even older than the old written text. The reason why the new text is to be crowned is that the new cultural text is a non-textual form of new discoveries and new inventions. Previous scholars have ignored existence of this expression, and they only care about the evidence and text appreciation. Hence, literary anthropology attaches great importance to the promotion of new cultural texts, highlights the leading and

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architectural role of cultural texts in textual texts, and regards new texts as the golden key to uncovering textual codes.

3 Producing an Effective Cultural Text The original cultural text excludes written text, but at present, it is necessary to explain the origin of civilization and the coding of the text in a cultural text without words. The most essential cultural procedure is to re-create and reconstruct an effective cultural text which has no text. As a result, the production of cultural texts requires a certain cultural construction. The construction of cultural texts is a cultural invention and a special cultural translation. In other words, it is a cultural invention, that is, to express various cultural expressions, such as material images, live oral, and body rituals, and to reveal the meta-language or cultural genes of culture in the form of linguistic signs. It is also considered as a special cultural translation due to any cultural text is transformed from this form. Thus, the translation behavior becomes an inevitable process of cultural text construction. There is a question: is the cultural text translated from the original expression into a constructed form reliable? There have always been two views. Some believe that cultural text is a kind of living text without words. Once translated into text, it may become an invalid solid text. This kind of voice is especially manifested in scholars who study oral culture, such as Houston Smith clarified in his book The World’s Religion: “We can’t understand the special features of the original oral sex until we face its exclusivity, it regards writing as not speaking. The aid is the enemy. Because once the writing is introduced, it cannot affect the effectiveness of orality, and cut these effects in important places.”3 Written text will naturally cause irreparable replacement to cultural text, which results in the meaning loss of culture translation. Other researchers insist that the production of cultural texts is cultural rescue work, because many unearthed objects are difficult to preserve in the style of excavation, which is easily destroyed by descendants, and the unearthed context is collected by the museum immediately. Therefore, it is imperative to protect this original context with a fresh text. In addition, if oral culture would not be converted into text form, it will gradually extinct, losing a large amount of cultural text. James Clifford proposed, “The other disappeared in the time and space of disintegration, but it was preserved in the text”4 , any cultural text without textualization will probably vanish. This suggests that the production of cultural texts is an urgent task. These two opinions on the production of cultural texts could be described as wise seeing wisdom.

3 Houston

Smith. The World’s Religion. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 2001. p397. Clifford & George Marcus (ed.). Writing Culture. trans. GaoBingzhong etc. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2006. p153.

4 James

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It should be ensured that the production and translation of cultural texts are objective and effective, which is not affected by various human factors. Consequently, cultural texts are supposed to obtain both textual expressions and new texts about historical stories in the process of production. Literary anthropology proposes an empirical approach to making cultural texts, namely quadruple evidence and five-fold narrative. Utilizing the quadruple evidence comprehensively can ensure the credibility of cultural translations, reaching the true essence through the numerous cultural phenomena and refining the meta-language or grammatical rules of culture. There are two specific explanations. Firstly using multiple evidences can construct a comprehensive cultural text. The cultural text construction of literary anthropology should not only pay attention to the symbolic meaning, formal inheritance, cultural chain of cultural texts, but also pay attention to the effective participation of literary texts (transportation texts and unearthed documents), ensuring cultural new texts are a comprehensive cultural expression. Secondly, the overall interpretation of the ancient is advocated. Cultural metalanguage is the original driving force of all forms of expression, such as text form, material form, image form, and oral activity. Although there are many differences in expression form, it is also one of the meta-symbol forms of mythological prototype. Only in the cultural significance of the mythical archetype can we grasp the complicated expressions of the whole, and the mythical prototype becomes the core value for the comprehensive unification of cultural texts. In general, the cultural textual production of literary anthropology is cultural behavior which is deeply cultivated, instead of a language game of artificial puzzles. It stresses the archetypal meaning of the unearthed material image and takes full advantage of the epic story of oral communication, combining with the relevant records of various documents. It carefully clarifies the fact and provides evidence and constructs a new cultural text of the mythical prototype in a scientific and empirical way. In this way, the textless text could be avoided. At the same time, the creation of the whole process from the meta-meaning to the numerous forms is realized by using various comprehensive expression forms of the new invention.

4 Retelling: A New Turn in Knowledge Archaeology In the written text, as a witness and participant of a historical story, the cultural object is always in a state of being lost for being neglected. The written text emphasizes the symbolic form of writing and uses linguistic symbols to mark cultural objects. Meanwhile, the markup symbols that were originally used for representational culture have now become a language that can express meaning independently from the alleged object. It means that the discourse of the written text encourages the linguistic symbol to be a producer that can express meaning independently from the alleged object. Language can refer to the subject of the discourse. The grammatical rule becomes the predicate. The text is completely closed. The cultural things have eventually been

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abandoned, and the original mark of the object has transformed to a form of discourse that is waiting for being enriched. The cultural text values the cultural existence of the object, re-places it from the forgotten edge state, and places it in the center of the cultural expression. As the participant and witness of the historical culture, the object first escaped from the neglected and abandoned culture. So, the treatment expresses a new attitude as a historical participant and constructor. The new discourse and new attitude of this object are preserved and transmitted by the nature of the material. For instance, in the original culture of the world, the forms of matter such as jade and metal are not purely produced by the earth; they are substances that fall from the sky to the earth. The preciousness and strength of its material materials are incomparable to the earth’s soil and grass. Because jade and metal were the sacred beliefs and cultural carriers of the early human culture, the original sacred materials have become important symbolic transmitters of cultural texts to uncover the human spiritual world. Additionally, this sacred material is not accomplished by a rational analysis, but with cheerful myths. According to the mythological saying of the open space, it is a kind of metaphorical saying that this special sacred material culture will directly display the divine light and material belief at the beginning of human civilization, in order to reveal the early human civilization. The cultural dynamics and spiritual essence of origin provide new clues. In the “Mythological Study of the Origin of Chinese Civilization”, Ye Shuxian said: “The beauty jade dream and the golden dream are how to act as a driving force for the historical events, and they will play a role in the civilization between the East and the West. The ancient Chinese book ‘Mu Tianzi Biography’ and the new archaeological interpretation of the Western Homer epic ‘The Golden of Troy’ will be more empathetic to the cultural differences in the pursuit of the sacred objects of the ancient emperors in the East and West.”5 The mythological image of the original divine material became an important way to recapitulate the original cultural significance of mankind. Various early jade images and metal images are extremely bizarre and visually shocking. Previous scholars only studied and studied in the forms of artistic imagery and archaeological techniques, but ignored the cultural functions and genetic coding of these material mythological images. It also obscures the original material image as an important expression of the early human expression. Since the early material image is far from the modern world, its cultural significance is confusing and difficult to understand. Modern people are constrained by the cognitive function of modern self-consciousness. Using the way of conscious thinking, not only fails to uncover the veil of divine material, but also increases the difficulty of understanding early images, and directly leads to the cultural interpretation of these sacred images. The cultural text should retell the cultural things, especially to retell the mythological image of the early special material. If you want to translate the mythological language of the sacred object, you can’t just stick to various texts, exegetical evidence, and scientific and technological means to achieve it. It is necessary to carry out the 5 Ye Shuxian. Mythological Study of the Origin of Chinese Civilization. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2015. p43.

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study of the archaeological knowledge of cultural objects in the grand vision of global culture, so that the local mythological image can get the echo and evidence of the knowledge of globalization archaeology. At the beginning of mankind, the cultural coding activities of special substances became a universal cultural expression behavior in the world. The similarity of this cultural expression is extremely obvious in various ethnographies, and as well as the sacredness of literary anthropology. The archaeological study of matter provides a new perspective and opens up a new dimension for Foucault’s knowledge archaeology in the new century. The archaeology of material images worldwide has become a new methodology for cultural texts. In the “Mythological Study of the Origin of Chinese Civilization”, Ye Shuxian indicates that “The development of mythology and archaeology, art history, cultural anthropology, cultural communication research and material culture research, and the expansion of knowledge Changes in academic research patterns are unprecedented.”6 Global vision, global communication, global comparison, and global cultural maps have become the fundamental driving force for the current study of material image mythology and have become the foothold of the new narrative of cultural texts. Retelling does not mean complementary interpretation, but a quiet transition of a cultural center instead, which can be seen as a material turn proposed by the Chinese academic community after the turn of the twentieth century. This kind of material turn is not a material and cultural study in the general sense of Western academic circles, but a change from a thing in daily life. From a marginalized and neglected object to a research center that makes things become human culture. This way tells the genetic coding of human culture. Retelling objects, especially retelling the objects and sacred objects of the great traditional era, have become a symbolic declassification activity in the era of no words, and the material has become the spiritual power and basic value of uncovering prehistoric history and culture.

5 From Deciphering to Retranslation Chinese literary anthropology begins with the interpretation of Chinese culture from “cultural deciphering”. More than 20 years ago, Ye Shuxian and Xiao Bing declared in the “Description of the Anthropological Deciphering Series of Chinese Culture”: “We believe that the model of research method to contemporary anthropology is of great significance for studying ancient Chinese culture. Starting from the model of universally adaptable archetypes and symbols, it is possible to transform the traditional Chinese tradition, which is known for its microscopic interpretation, into the direction of ‘cultural deciphering’, so that the trainings that have been limited to a single culture—the literature studies are worldwide. Re-finding their own position, through the deductive function of the universal model of anthropology, the ‘password’ for ancient culture that cannot be fully recognized by the traditional textual 6 Ye Shuxian. Mythological Study of the Origin of Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2015. p45.

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research school will be cracked under the cross-cultural comparative analysis and perspective.”7 The previous cultural deciphering is aimed at the study of domestic traditional philology and the study of literature and history, drawing on the research model of anthropology, focus on solving the “password” of ancient culture that traditional evidence cannot fully offer explanation. At the beginning of the cultural “deciphering”, literary anthropologists only obtained deciphering pleasure, which solved the “password” that others could not recognize, but did not form a “cultural gene” to uncover Chinese culture, the academic ambition and grand ambition of the prototype code. After more than 20 years of deciphering practice and theoretical construction, literary anthropologists have further expanded the academic task of “cultural deciphering” and proposed a new theory of cultural texts, and the purpose of this endeavor is to achieve the overall effect of “cultural retranslation”. Ye Shuxian mentioned in his article “Cultural Tradition”: “in the current two famous national projects of the ‘Xia Shang Zhou Dynasties Project’ and the ‘Chinese Civilization Exploration Project’, the present research emphasize mainly on archaeological excavation and the dating of astronomical data. This fails to effectively accommodate the relationship of cultural anthropology, folklore, mythology and other disciplines, nor can it provide sufficient understanding of the mythological issues of ancient history, or effectively open the boundaries of literature, history, philosophy, religion, and psychology, so that the unearthed cultural relics only reveals people the information of particular age. Nonetheless, the lack of depth of cultural interpretation limits the overall understanding of the ancient Chinese tradition, and fails to consciously pay attention to the evolution and change relationship between large and small traditions…. Only by combining the elements of archaeological artifacts, oral traditions or ancient myths, can it be possible to really erase the thick dust covering in the ‘mystery’…. The methodology of integrating multidisciplinary knowledge is the four-element evidence method. Its research power can be summarized as six words — restoring the Great traditions, and reinterpreting Small traditions.”8 The fourelement evidence method, which focuses on cultural texts, is not for the purpose of translating “passwords” that others cannot understand, but to construct cultural genes of “great traditions”. Furthermore, based on the cultural construction project, it aims to return to “textual texts” and to finally achieve “reconciliation” and “retranslation” of the cultural effect produced by the small written tradition. The encoding of the early cultural texts is utilized as the original encoding, and the textual texts that appear later are based on the original encoding of the cultural texts, which belongs to the secondary encoding. The original code of the cultural text was constructed, and the texts appearing successively in the history, such as Oracle, Jinwen, Book of Songs, and Book of History, can obtain a cultural inheritance and continuity of the original meaning. Because they are far from the modern world, these original texts are mysterious and meaningless, although modern scholars have 7 Xiao

Bing. Cultural Decipherment of Chu Ci. Wuhan: Hubei People Publishing, 1991. p2. Shuxian. An Illustrated History of the Origin of Chinese Civilization. Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2015. pp17–19.

8 Ye

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done much pioneering work, the fact of lack the decoding of the original text in early culture, and different cultural vision and humanity of modern civilized value, will surely lead to misunderstandings of the cultural significance of the early words. Therefore, the emergence of new cultural texts and the decoding of new meanings can provide a new possibility for text interpretation from the era of pre-words. For instance, Ch¯ıxi¯ao (owl) is a negative image today. With this modern image, it is complicated to understand the “Book of Songs: Chixiao” and Jia Yi’s “PengNiao Fu” (the poetry of pengornis). However, by examining cultural texts and summarizing the sacred meanings of cultural texts, it is possible to update the cultural imagery for modern people. As the jade Chixiao was unearthed in Hongshan (Fig. 4), and Xiaoyou (Fig. 5) and Xiaozun (Fig. 6) were unearthed in the Bronze Age, from the jade image to the bronze statue, the Chixiao’s image in the great traditional period shows the cultural distortion image of the early goddess, indicating that the image is a sacred object of human Fig. 4 The jade Chixiao in Hongshan culture

Fig. 5 The bronze Xiaoyou from Shang, collected in Henan museum

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Fig. 6 Xiaozun from Shang, collected in Sen-okuHakukokan museum

culture. By using the sacred images and cultural codes of the early shackles and reexamining the sly images in the written texts, the cultural significance of written texts can be reinterpreted. The construction of new cultural texts can not only construct the mythological beliefs of early human culture, but also assist to re-translate and reread the ancient and difficult parts of the early texts, and even reinterpret the inscriptions in the oracle bones and gold texts using the material images in the early days. “Cultural Deciphering” is a revision of the textual textualism. It has not completely broken through the formal hegemony of the textual text, as it only moderately corrects the misunderstood part of the textual exegesis and has not really surpassed the central position of the textual text. The basic project of “cultural retranslation” is “constructing a cultural tradition”. The “cultural tradition” not only deconstructs the central position of the text, but also establishes the core position of the cultural text, making the cultural text from the edge state to the central theme of discourse, and becoming the expression form and reliable text carrying the original cultural implication. On the basis of constructing the cultural prototype and genetic coding of the cultural tradition, utilizing the cultural codes of the early great traditions, re-translating, and reinterpreting the texts at all levels, the texts are reconstructed from the roots. Eventually, the overall translation of Chinese culture and the early written texts could be realized. From “cultural deciphering” to “cultural retranslation”, Chinese literary anthropology has found an academic method and a local path to release the spirit of Chinese culture. It is no longer mechanically following Western anthropology and archaeology, or merely commits to repairing Chinese culture. Instead, it will consolidate the great traditional Chinese culture to construct and re-translate Chinese spirit from the moment when it came into being by fully utilizing traditional cultural texts and cultural codes. This will be a new project for interpreting local cultural theory

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and or highlighting traditional spiritual value. It is worth to expect because of its extraordinary grandeur and marvelous academic temperament.

References Houston Smith. The World’s Religion. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 2001. James Clifford & George Marcus (ed.). Writing Culture. trans. GaoBingzhong etc. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2006. Wang Minan ed. Keywords for Cultural Research. Nanjing: Jiangsu People Publishing, 2007. Xiao Bing. Cultural Decipherment of Chu Ci. Wuhan: Hubei People Publishing, 1991. Ye Shuxian. An Illustrated History of the Origin of Chinese Civilization. Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2015. Ye Shuxian. Mythological Study of the Origin of Chinese Civilization. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press, 2015. Ye Shuxian. “The Trend of the Studies of Literary Anthropology.” Culture and Text. Xian: Shaanxi Normal University General Publishing House, 2018.

Chapter 3

Knowledge Innovation of the Big Tradition in Chinese Literary Anthropology

In the year of 1956, American anthropologist Robert Redfield came up with his renowned concept “Great Tradition” and “Little Tradition” in his book of Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization. By Great Tradition, he refers to the writing traditions of philosophers, theologians, literature writers, which is to say that a tradition that intentionally to be inherited and learned at schools or temples, while Little Tradition referring to the folk inheriting tradition that transmitted orally.1 In the “Big Tradition” and “Small Tradition” of Chinese Culture, Ye Shuxian re-create and innovate the implied meaning of the Great Tradition and Little Tradition, “I think there is an necessity to reverse the definition of Redfield, and re-examine the cultural tradition according to the classification index of semiotics. We can define the cultural tradition encoded by Chinese characters a small tradition and regard the cultural tradition of the pre-literary era as a great tradition”2 He thus transposes “small tradition” and “big tradition”. By doing this, he completely reversed the terminology and meaning of the big and small traditions. This seemingly binary oppositional structural terminology has embodied the endless possibilities for knowledge innovation, which has ushered a new direction and vista for the innovation of academic knowledge. The thought pattern and value system of big tradition will provide a possibility of switching academic perspectives at the fields of traditional Chinese literature, history, and philosophy and is endowed with a great sense of culture innovation. This article mainly focuses on a rational analysis on the innovative significance and the knowledge pattern of Ye Shuxian’s big tradition theory, unveiling the legally transmitting of great tradition and its principles and cultural values, prompting the contribution of big tradition upon academic innovation. Meanwhile, it will also analyze the rigid pattern and over-simplification in the process of the academic innovation of big 1 Robert

Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956, P70. 2 Ye Shuxian ‘The Big Tradition and Small Tradition of Chinese Culture’ Dang Jian, 2007(2), P49–51. © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_3

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tradition theory and further advises on its spatiality and diversification in theoretical application.

1 The Transferal of Cultural Values: Pre-historical “Little Tradition” to Cultural “Big Tradition” When distinguishing the terminology of “great tradition” and “little tradition” from Robert Redfield’s definition, we got to know the dual concept is developing from the following concepts “higher culture” and “lower culture”, “folk culture” and “classical culture”, “popular culture” and “academic culture”, “sacred culture” and “mundane culture”.3 From all there dualistic academic expressions, we can clearly conclude that: according to the anthropologists, cultural “great tradition” and “higher education”, “classical culture”, “academic culture”, and “scared culture” belong to the same cultural level, which symbolize the upper class, higher end, orthodox and legitimacy, while cultural “little tradition” and “lower culture”, “folk culture”, “popular culture”, and “mundane culture” belong to the lower class, unorthodoxy and illegitimacy, namely, the “great tradition” terminologies are welcomed by the ruling class, thus the occupation of expression has divided the ruling class and the ruled class. The cultural “little tradition” represents the folk cultural tradition, which is inherited from generation to generation in an oral way and is restricted to villagers whole educated level is relatively low. Thus it is the negative valued cultural tradition that belongs to the ruled class. So we can see that from the perspective of anthropologists, the dual expression of great tradition and little tradition, written transmission and oral transmission can be symbols to distinguish the civilized and the barbarian, the advanced and the unadvanced, the legitimate and the illegitimate, from there the contradicted relations between social classes can be represented. The new theory of big tradition is an innovation of anthropologists upon the Great tradition and Little tradition, which on one hand fully borrows from the dual terminologies of anthropologists, and boldly reversed the cultural value and cultural meanings of the terms; on the other hand the new theory of big tradition of culture naturally gains the legitimate transferring from the terminological aspect and with Ye’s recreation, the cultural significance and cultural value are more refined and innovative, with a much more significant influence. Ye refers the pre-historical folk culture as big tradition, which reflecting the originality of coding in pre-historical cultural tradition and transferring the legitimate value of anthropological “big tradition” to folk cultural tradition, making the once “debased”, “folk”, “popular”, and “mundane” culture regaining a sacred and absolute coding significance and cultural value, and reverse them into energetic, valuable and legitimate cultural expression. Meanwhile, Ye degrades the once orthodox written culture into “small tradition”

3 Robert

Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956, P70.

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and thus definitions like “higher culture”, “academic culture”, “sacred culture”, and “classical culture” are accordingly reversed, losing their cultural legitimate position. Ye Shuxian’s innovative transformation of the anthropologist’s cultural expression has enabled the academic community to refresh the understanding of the prehistoric cultural symbolic meaning and its originality. Its cultural innovation value is immeasurable for providing effective and legislative knowledge innovation to understand the true value of the early Chinese cultural history.

2 The Originality of Meaning Generation: From the Quadratic Code of Written Culture to the Material Image of Oral Culture In the traditional system of “great tradition” and “little tradition” of anthropologists, the written great tradition was placed on the center of meaning generating. Thus, making the written great tradition the inevitable cultural tradition and even give out a misunderstanding that written culture can symbolize all the cultural construction and whereas the oral culture was discriminated and outlawed, even can be dismissed. The culture and pictures inherited from the era of oral culture played the sacred and authorized role of the supplement of written system. Especially when anthologists link great tradition with adjectives such as higher, scared and civilized, which even more heightened the authority and reality of written system, and equalize the little tradition to mundane, barbarian and lower end, thus the originality, primitiveness, and intriguing of little tradition have long been ignored. The whole theoretical system impresses one that history is rooted in written tradition and the significance of history must be traced back in written texts. The recreation and reinvention of the new theory on anthropological big tradition and small tradition reveal the purposefully covering of historical fact and regains the cultural achievement on historical fact and cultural fact. Ye Shuxian’s replacement of the meaning of the great tradition from the written tradition to the oral one has great cultural significance for rediscovering and highlighting the generative and original nature of cultural meaning. Firstly, the new theory of great tradition enhances the language expression to the cultural material and picture expression, and the significance of cultural code turns from written characters to primitive mythological meaning, and hence define the material expression and picture expression as the first-level code of human’s history and culture, which has lasting effects on further culture and history, and also is the prototype of the written code. So various archaeological relics were left in an unknown state, and further turned into the original text and imaginative cultural root, which can be further traced as the primitive state of all civilization and cultural significance. Secondly, the new theory of big tradition turns written code from the first level to the second level and has undergone the swift from center to the secondary state. Meanwhile, the oral code was transformed from the second level to the first. Thirdly, the redefinition of big tradition and small tradition

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certifies that the two layers of code meaning are not imaginatively generated by the written system. All the confidence and arrogance of the words, which is expressed by “the book is definitely believed”, had been largely doubted, which means the meaning of writing code must be gained from material expression and prototype significance. So the new theory of big tradition has re-ranked the great tradition and little tradition, which certifies the rank of cultural code and symbolization. At the new theory of big tradition, the unearthed antiques and pictures turn into the firstlevel cultural code and only if one understand the hidden code behind them can one illustrate the second-layer code of primitive significance. Traditional Chinese culture has been endowed with thousands years of notes and commentaries, which had been legitimate and authorized at earlier stages. But if we can be certain of the first level of code at the big tradition and combined with early material culture and picture narration, the second-level written interpreting system can be misread and misunderstood, which can only be clarified at big culture tradition. Meanwhile, some unclear or contradicted part of classical interpretation can be reasonably explained only in a situation of primitive first-level codes. The cultural big tradition, as a form of cultural innovation, has provided numerous possibilities for meaning generation. Due to this fact, Ye Shuxian came up with the quadruple evidences formula, especially the fourth layer, which has unveiled the illustrative function of the cultural gene and code in traditional Chinese culture, and an expressive significance in the prototype culture.

3 The Existence of Cultural Imagination: Textual Expression and Material Image Representation, Which One Is True? The reinvention of the big tradition and little tradition of anthropology directly challenged the issue of reality and fictional at the cultural expression and transmitting medium. In the anthropological system of little tradition and great tradition, the written form is by no doubt the most realistic historical expression, and all the written form can be the evidence of the historians and literacy authors, and all historical expression deviating away the written evidence has turned into illegitimate fictional history. Thus we can learn that the historical view of anthropologists are based on written history and they think only written history is reliable and truthful and definitely trustworthy, that is to say, they establish the authenticity of history on the base of the second-level cultural code and has ignored the inheritance and willingness of written or oral form. The new theory of big tradition has unveiled the reality and existence of culture and history, namely, the starting point of history is not the second-leveled code, but the primitive first-level code. Early human history usually explores man’s perception and cultural imagination in a material narrative and picture narrative. So we can conclude that the early unearthed materials are no longer inaudible subjective matter

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but a material cultural expression. The literature anthropology aims at real voice of history in order to restore the cultural reflection and perception of early human beings. All images in early human stages are substitutive depiction of realistic culture or relics of picture expression, which is the re-abstracted existing form of material culture, and it has the same cultural imagination and cultural significance. In the switch of perspective of the new theory of big tradition, the material culture and mythological image have gained the perception and reality, which could ushered the new key and path of the origin of the historical civilization. Ye Shuxian paid special attention to the new unearthed material all over the world, and the materials in museums and libraries, from which he can utilize all these images and subjects to prove the cultural belief and mythological values, and thus highlight the restoring way and its cognitive affect the principle of “confronting with the truth” which phenomenology had always stressed. The new theory of great tradition has endowed the existing and reality of cultural imagination and perception. Ye Shuxian repeatedly stressed that the concrete objects are better evidence than written languages, and he believes that we should put the material narration, picture narration as the more important evidence than the first, the second and the third evidence, then we can gain an illustrative effect of “cubist interpretation of history”, which can further result in a new understanding of “cultural integration”.4 We can conclude that whether evidence effect or reality of cultural imagination, the new theory of big tradition believed that the authenticity and credulity of material and picture expressions which all belong to an original category, and its significance greatly exceeds the written narrative.

4 The Contradiction of Knowledge Innovation: From Structuralism-Oriented to Mythologies-Oriented Recently, Ye has published a series of thesis concerning “jade”, respectively “The Evolution of Godness”, “Confucian Mythology”, and “Descendants of Royal Families”, which have rose wide attention in academic circle. As to theoretical research, he has come up with quadruple evidences and five-layers of narrative mode, as well as N-polar cultural coding theory. In the origin of pre-historical civilization, he creatively constructed the “jade” tradition and the invention of pre-historical road of “jade and stone”. Thus we can conclude that the great energy and contribution of innovative theory of great tradition is of great cultural illustrative significance. But we should also be aware that the new theory structure of big tradition is an innovation upon the anthropological conception of “great tradition” and “little tradition”, and is established on the definitive basis of the binary contradiction of anthropologists. Ye Shuxian said “it’s necessary to transfer Redfield’s definition” and established the new contradicted relations of the new theories of big tradition. Actually, Ye borrowed this transposed way from Western deconstructionism and postmodernism, 4 Ye

Shuxian, Literary Anthropology, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2010, P376.

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and it is quite different from the entanglement of modern conventional knowledge and structuralism methodology and has already regained the theoretical innovative effect via the substitution of binary definitions. The subjective significance of the academic innovation is very obvious, but we should also be attentive that the knowledge reproduction and theoretical construction is an intentional academic behavior, which has a sheer subjective constitution and knowledge willingness. Ye had been long devoted to the mythological theory and cultural interpretation, and he has a deep understanding of how Western modernity had un-charmed the rationality of cultural spirit, religious belief, and mythological imagination. He has come up with the opinion that we should reply modern crisis directly with culture, and he concluded these strategies as black thunderstorm, Celtic resurrection, Goddess resurrection, Oriental Transformation, and ecological transformation.5 Thus we could conclude that the most basic feature and constructing strategy of cultural root-seeking is a path from rational “disenchantment” to cultural “reenchantment”, which aims at the recollection of man’s mythological and sacred consciousness in early historical stage and restore man’s spirituality and imagination of culture. Once we combine the knowledge productive strategy of the new theory of great tradition with the contradicting structure of cultural “reenchantment”, we can clearly know the cultural meaning of dual expressive structure and reversed moving. The transposed mode of cultural construction, with a cultural logic that being contradicted with modernity, has indeed gained a fierce theoretical effect. Also it has arose attention from academic circle and revealed numerous knowledge innovation and academic wisdom. Since the knowledge innovation of big tradition is a pair of transposed knowledge, which has endowed with a great sense of self-willingness. The current Western academic transformation, for example, from structuralism to deconstructionism, from subjectivity to objectivity, from structure-centered theory to wisdom-centered theory, from materialism to theology, from the one end of dual contradiction to the other end, and from one kind of cultural crisis to another kind of cultural crisis. The Western innovation of mechanical knowledge on the contradictory of the subjective and the objective has ignored the reliance and variety of dual contradictory. So we should not only be clear of that in the new theory of the big tradition, the contradiction between great tradition and little tradition is a contradiction between the major and the minor, the primitive and the derivative, and we should also aware that the material and picture expression in the big tradition theoretical system is one of the modes of cultural behaviors, and both are man’s collective cultural value and cultural practice concerning the judgment of interest. On one hand, the cultural expression of big tradition has offered certain amount of foundation of cultural significance for small tradition, and small tradition has inherited the primitive cultural meaning of the big tradition. No matter it is the narrator of big tradition or small tradition, his cultural value structure and expressive willingness tendency, and the cultural situation in concrete context and the cultural phenomenon of narration. The meaning of cultural code in cultural expression might undergo coherent adjustment and updating. Thus 5 Ye Shuxian, The Crisis of Modernity and Cultural Root-seeking, Jinan: Shandong Education Press,

2009, P3–5.

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the significance of cultural code is historical. The relationship from first-level code to the second-level code is never a mechanical and fixed cultural inherited relationship, but a sense of continuous production and reproduction. In addition, no matter it is material narration, picture narration in the big tradition, or the narration in the written tradition, they are all organic unity of material and perception, subjection and objection, structure and function, which are all mechanical contradiction of structure toward function, and vise versa. When constructing local knowledge of China, Only by transcending the binary opposition between structure and function but organically combines structure and function together, and organically taking the social space position of the narrators and their will of expression, can we avoid subjective and artificial knowledge innovation in the binary opposition structure. Consequently, we can find a new way of cultural integration with more national characteristics, in order to give the cultural traditions a new theory with richer connotations and more rigorous academic significance.

References Robert Redfield (1956), Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press. Ye Shuxian (2007), The Great Tradition and Little Tradition of Chinese Culture, Dang Jian, No.2. Ye Shuxian (2010), Literary Anthropology, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press. Ye Shuxian (2009), The Crisis of Modernity and Cultural Root-seeking, Jinan: Shandong Education Press.

Chapter 4

New Development of Chinese Literary Anthropology

1 Introduction In China, Chinese literary anthropology, growing out of comparative literal researches and cross-cultural studies at the end of the twentieth century, is a notably innovative research paradigm and enters into a new stage at the very beginning of the new century. Ye Shuxian, one of the famous scholars in cross-cultural studies and comparative literature, is the main initiator of Chinese literary anthropology. In recent years, he has lots of publishments on various topics, such as Series of Mythistory, Books of Mythology and Exploring the Mythological Origin of Chinese Civilization, which has declared a new paradigmatic shift of Chinese humanity studies. This anthropological turn can be seen as the second revolution of Chinese literary anthropology, from the scientific paradigm of humanities to the interpretation of culture. The most outstanding achievement is his book Series on “Mythistory”. These works endeavor to construct the local core of knowledge from three aspects—Explaining how the Chinese literary anthropology has responded to new trends in the academic development of the international anthropology and mythology, realizing the renewal of the concept of mythology and mythological knowledge patterns in Chinese cultural text, and creatively constructing the local core knowledge—the Confucian doctrine with theoretical innovation by proposing the academic proposition of “Confucian mythology”.

2 Post-modern Concept of Myth Since scholars such as Liang Qichao梁啟超 (1873–1929) and Jiang Guanyun蔣觀云 (1866–1929) introduced the mythical concept to Chinese academia in 1903, there has been literature research of Chinese mythology represented by Zhou Zuoren周作人 (1885–1967), Mao Dun茅盾 (1896–1981), Xie Liuyi謝六逸 (1898–1945), etc. and the historical research of myth and legend is also represented by Gu Jiegang顧頡剛 © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_4

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(1893–1980), Yang Kuan楊寬 (1914–2005), etc. The former focuses on constructing the myth from the classical Chinese texts, and the latter is concerned with restoring the mythical and legendary features of ancient history by making use of myth. The mythical concept has been neglected in Chinese literature for more than one hundred years, and been taken to be “fictional, fantasy, unreal, irrational, literary”. When Ye Shuxian discussed his early mythological research at the end of the twentieth century, he pointed out: “I literarily study myth, and attempt to break down the disciplinary boundaries among philosophy, epistemology and literature.”1 At the beginning of the twentieth century, Ye Shuxian started to jump out of the boundary of the literary concept of myth, and investigated the local concept of myth in the light of the international mythological development. He wrote a series of essays on the post-modern concept of myth such as “Post-modern Mythical Concept”, “Discuss New Mythicism Again”, “Comparative Mythology Perspective of Exploring Origin of Chinese Civilization”, “Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology”, and translated essays such as “The Sacred Occurrence of Narrative—Rectification of the Name of Myth.” He insists that we can never discuss history and thought unless we understand myth. He also made an advocate that Chinese academia should awaken from the selfenclosed concept of myth, so that myth could be released from the confinement of written text. He writes in Meeting the Paradigmatic Shift of Mythology: “I hope that myth can be liberated from the sphere of literary concept, and be used as the cultural gene, so that it will be the effective tool of breaking down the disciplinary boundaries among literature, history, philosophy, religion and psychology.”2 His preface of “Myth: Archetypal Code of Chinese Culture” to “Series of Mythistory” accurately summarizes the concept of new-mythicism in the twenty-first century. He argues: “the past experience has shown, when we break the literary limitations in Chinese mythology, the new mythical concept will play an important role in the interdisciplinary knowledge integration, and guide humanists to keep open-minded, to seek the cross-discipline way, to discover and solve the new problems.”3 and “Myth will be the common source of literature, history, philosophy, art, religion, psychology, politic, education, law, etc. so the various disciplines which we classify, all related to myth, especially, if we trace the primal stage of these subjects, inevitably, we will be come into the common field of mythic narrative.”4 He does not take myth 1 Ye

Shuxian, Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009)20. About Ye Shuxian’s early mythic concept, see his mythological masterpiece: Chinese mythological philosophy (China Social Science Press, 1992). There are three parts including eight chapters: The titles of the three parts are “Meta-language of Myth”, “Temporal and Spatial Philosophy of Myth” and “Bio-philosophy of Myth”. He uses the theory as structuralism, anthropology and archetypal critical to study Chinese traditional myth, which undoubtedly taking many new methods to Chinese modern academia. But due to the limitation of the thoughts, his mythical concept basically belongs to the scientific paradigm of anthropology. 2 Ye Shuxian, Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009)20. 3 Ye Shuxian, “Myth: Archetype Code of Chinese Culture”, in Tang Qicui, Ritual Institutional Civilization and Mythical Code, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)2. This book is one of Series of Mythistory which makes use of new mythical concept to interpret the mythological thinking and cultural genes in Confucian classic Liji禮記. 4 Ye Shuxian, Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009)22.

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as a literary concept, but as a tool which can effectively integrate the advantages of multi-disciplinary to study Chinese traditional culture. Likewise, he also argues that myth as a cultural gene can help us to understand the basic structure and coding function to interpret the cosmologies, values, and rituals of a given culture. Therefore, only if myth is liberated from the ruptured discipline and restored to its property of cultural gene, can we really access Chinese culture and avoid serious sheltering and misreading by the disciplinary separation. Since the middle of the twentieth century, Ye Shuxian’s reinvention and transformation of mythical concept have been certainly inspired by the rapid development of international mythology, anthropology, and post-modern thinking. In regard to the post-modern concept of knowledge, he was influenced by French philosophy of the post-modernists such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. He also repeatedly recommended Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition to Chinese readers. In comparative religion, comparative mythology and anthropology, he accepted the symbolic and mythological theories of Mircea Eliade, Ernst Cassirer, Roland Barthes, and Claude Levi—Strauss, Geoges Dumezil, Clifford Geertz, etc. He often introduced the six volumes of Myth Theory edited by the international mythologist Robert Siegel to Chinese academia, in order to inspire domestic scholars who have pure literary concept of myth, to keep up with the mythological development in the post-modern era. As to the archaeomythological perspective, he directly took inspiration from exploring the origin of the Western civilization and biological research as German anthropologist Walter Burkert, and the archaeomythological research paradigm of the famous American prehistoric archaeomythologist Marija Gimbutas, and British comparative mythologist Charles Penglase, etc.5 Of course, the direct influence made him reflect on modern Chinese concept of myth is from A Short History of Myth written by British comparative religious scientist Karen Armstrong. He clearly summarizes and evaluates her concept of myth in his essay “Post-modern Mythic Concept”: “Originally, the author wants to express neither the mythic narrative like the history of literature which we have already been familiar with or even tired of, nor the entire evolutional history of mythical stories, but the concept of myth focusing on sacred context. In short, it is a short history of myth investigated not from the literary perspective, but from the perspective of thinking pattern, which is the declaration of invoking mythic thought and human spirit to reproduce, and a comprehensive pattern of post-modern concept of myth.”6 He clearly realizes that Armstrong focuses on the interactive relationship between myth and ritual activities. Especially, as regards 5 For more information, mainly see Foucault, The Order of Things; and Derrida, Writing and Differ-

ence; and Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, The Myth of the Eternal Return, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy; and Cassirer, An Essay on Men, Philosophy of Symbolic Form; Levi-Strauss, the Savage Mind, Mythology; Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures. He has translated Gimbutas’ The Living Goddesses. And Charles Penglase puts forward the similar mythic concept when he investigates the oriental characteristics of Greek mythological thought. See Charles Penglase, Greek Myths and Mesopotamia (London: Routledge, 1994). Also see Wang Qian, The Brief History of Greek Mythological Research in twentieth Century (Xi’an: Shanxi Normal University Press, 2011)94. 6 Ye Shuxian, Post-modern Concept of Myth, Chinese Comparative Literature, 1 (2007)53.

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ancient Chinese myth in the Axis Period, she argues that the archaic peoples pay more attention to the ceremony than to the writing. Based on Armstrong’s viewpoints, he points out that post-modern concept of myth has offered a fresh angle to reinterpreting Confucian myth. Inspired by the post-modern concept of myth, Ye Shuxian insightfully discovers that the key to interpret Confucian myth is the keyword “holy” (聖). From this point of departure, he is no longer confined in his research only to the non-mainstream ideological texts such as Laozi老子, Zhuangzi莊子, Shanhaijing山海經, Chuci楚辭, and Huananzi淮南子. He finds out how to access the mainstream ideology of Chinese culture——Confucianism, and he cracks the literary presentation of Confucius socalled “ the Master never talked of prodigies, feats of strength, disorders of spirits or spirits”子不語怪、力、亂、神, and opens up a large door to the local core culture for mythology in the new century. He says: “the characteristic of local religion and myth, as the keywords indicates, is not the ‘gods’, but the ‘holy’……Combination of gods and holy is the basic subject of comparative religion and mythology……Confucian construction of saint worship is not only the biggest myth in China, but also the most far-reaching myth.”7 The new concept of myth avoids the one-sided commentary of mythological research in Chinese cultural context. It also deals with the differences between Chinese and Western myths to show that the former stresses the saint worship of the individual or the collective while the latter remains detached from the man’s world, namely the great man who has the sacred characters of saints. At the same time, he puts forward the six essential aspects when exploring the origin of Confucian thought system and discourse pattern. A. Confucian mythical image system represented by feng鳳, lin麟, jade ware and other sacred objects; B. Confucian mythistorical concept of the genealogy of the sacred king based on the saint worship such as “Yao堯, Shun舜, Yu禹, Tang湯, Wen文, Wu武”, etc. C. Confucian mythical philosophical keywords focusing on destiny命, virtue德, mind心, ren仁, yi義, etc. D. Confucian mythical ritual and sacred space focusing on ritual and music, Confucian temple and ceremony of offering sacrifices. E. Mythical code of compiling literary structure, procedural words and phrases, ceremonial oath and alliance of Confucian classic. F. The mythical context of the Confucianism during the early period.8 This new mythic concept, based on the above six aspects of sacred objects, saints, the holy way, ritual and music, sacred books, sacred context, etc. will be quite thoughtprovoking for Confucian studies.

7 Confucian Myth, edited by

Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)63– 64. 8 For more information, see the preface of Confucian Myth, Edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)9. Also see Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, On Confucian Myth, Social Science Front, 9 (2011)126–134.

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In short, the Confucian mythic concept demonstrates the paradigmatic turn of Chinese literary anthropology in recent years. If we apply the new mythic concept to Confucian myth, it will invest cross-cultural vitality into Confucian tradition, and we can finally perceive the archetypal function of myth as cultural genes.

3 Return to the Sacred Context of the Big Tradition Through his interpretation of Chinese classics and prehistoric culture, Ye Shuxian discovered the big tradition in local culture. The concepts of the big tradition and the small tradition are borrowed from Western cultural anthropology, put forward by the American anthropologist Robert Redfield in Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization in 1956. In his book, he adopts the great tradition is referred as the state and power, which is the written culture controlled by the educated class while the little tradition is viewed as the countryside, which is the popular culture that the peasants inheriting along with the oral pattern.9 But he doesn’t rigidly adhere to the definition of the anthropologist. According to specific reality of local knowledge, he carries out a change of the great tradition and the little tradition that their meanings are entirely opposite to their original meanings. He says in The Big Tradition and the Small Tradition of Chinese Culture: “in accordance with the classification of semiotics to re-examine the cultural tradition, we view the tradition of character coding as the little tradition, and that of the pre-text period as the great tradition. There is an easily identifiable mark to distinguish them which is the presence or absence of the character system.”10 And he argues again in An Introduction to Literary Anthropology: “The written text is in this big field of vision, neither occupying the primary position nor enjoying the privilege as the written form alone. The written history of three or four thousand years should not become a hotbed for cultivating literary arrogance. It can only be relatively restored to the end of the 100,000-year-old oral culture history.”11 Apparently, the simple change of the great tradition and the little tradition gives us profound enlightenment and can be used as an effective tool for Chinese literary anthropology, especially when entering the Confucian myth. Since Confucian scholars over two thousand years ago living in the small tradition, inevitably trapped into the written texts when they studied the Confucian classics all of their lives. Likewise, they didn’t have the ability to go beyond the limit of the 9 For

more information, see Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization (the University of Chicago Press, 1956)70. He comments the two concepts as: This pair of phrases is here chosen from among others, including “high culture” and “low culture,” “folk and classic cultures,” or “popular and learned traditions.” I shall also use “hierarchic and lay culture.” 10 Ye Shuxian, Great Tradition and Little Tradition of Chinese Culture, Journal of Party Building, 7 (2010)49. 11 Ye Shuxian, An Introduction to Literary Anthropology, (Beijing: Chinese Social Science Press) 99.

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written tradition, and could not thoroughly understand the cultural essence in prewritten times. It is very typical in Chinese classical studies that Confucian scholars focus more on explaining the words and sentences in the Confucian classical texts according to philosophical connotations and text structure, and attempt to simply explore the cultural tradition by literature analysis. The differences between the great tradition and the little tradition will remind us, when entering Confucian tradition, not to be eclipsed by the little tradition, but to do well in grasping the writing in the actual context outside of the written text. Zilu子路(a.542–480BCE), a student of Confucius, has already said: “Learning consists in other things besides reading books”何必讀書, 然後為學. These words, quoted from The Analects, also seem to warn the late researchers not to merely concentrate on the written texts, but pay more attention to the great tradition in pre-written times. After analyzing the written history of major civilizations in the world in his essay The Analects of Confucius and the Oral Tradition, Ye Shuxian proposes that there is a profound oral tradition at least lasting more than 100,000 years, while the character was only invented about 5,000 years ago (in China, only more than 3,000 years ago). Although oral tradition as a whole has gradually been replaced by written culture, the far-reaching influences, due to twenty times longer than written tradition, will not immediately stop. There was quite a long transitional phase in early civilization—that is to say, the coexisting of both the communicational and educational ways of oral culture and written culture. Until the writing tool and condition technically attain the considerable social penetration, the information exchange pattern of oral culture will be probably replaced by written culture. Relating to the transmission from oral tradition to written tradition, he reevaluates Confucius: “Although Confucius is regarded as the great saint by the written culture, but, in fact, his real identity is closer to the last saint of oral tradition. In other words, Confucius is the old-fashioned traditionalist who still fully retains the oral cultural values when the era of written culture comes in. Especially, the value system, with his extreme preference to the communicational pattern of oral culture such as music and poetry, etc. leads to his political ideal to restoring to the ritual system of Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771BCE). The past research of Confucianism basically ignored the value elements of oral cultural origin because they laid excessive emphasis on Confucius thoughts in politics and history.”12 The selections quoted here thoroughly display that Confucius inherited oral culture of Chinese civilization, and also criticize the past scholars who ignore oral cultural origin and misread Confucian thoughts. He repeatedly suggests us that The Analects, which being viewed as Confucian Bible, factually is not written by Confucius, but the “living fossil” of traditional education with oral communication. Therefore, we can’t rely solely on the written text of Confucius, but rather focus on its profound value elements of oral culture. Thus, we should pay special attention to oral tradition in which “Confucian myth” is produced; we would not fully grasp the significance which is often concealed

12 Ye

Shuxian, Confucius Analects and Oral Cultural Tradition, Journal of Lanzhou University, 2 (2006)2.

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by written texts. In order to make the reader properly understand the mother–children relationship between big tradition and small tradition, Ye Shuxian outlines the following formulas in the essay Examination of Chinese Saint Archetype: Literature = Small tradition of written culture = Signifier Quadrupleevidence = Big tradition behind the literature = Signified He also “lays much emphasis upon the technique of interpreting quadruple evidences, which is the new method to go back to the deeper tradition.”13 In Chapter 3 of Confucian Myth, I Heard Them with Docile Ear at Sixty: the Metaphor of the Sanctification 六十耳順:成聖的隱喻, he makes full use of the intellectual context of oral culture to analyze the hidden myth in Confucianism. Ye frequently suggests: “What needs searching is the real context of a given oral culture which is difficult to understand for the later generations……Owing to the long history of accumulation during the unwritten period, the transmitting mode of knowledge and experience of oral education for hundreds of thousands of years has long been overlooked. Undoubtedly, the hearing organ is the primary organ through which the ancient people receive information……The concept of body and learning in oral culture, constitutes the long tradition before the emergence of written text. For instance, the problem of hearing memory in information exchange and thought stimulation by mouth and ear and the epistemological sense of auditory perception represented by the ear, are not easy to comprehend for later generations if not restored into oral culture……In oral tradition, the standard of the saints will not be literal, but superior hearing capability of comprehension and memory of oral context.”14 We list these discourses to prove that, if we neglect the sacred context of big tradition, we cannot thoroughly understand the Confucian myth. Of course, Ye Shuxian’s emphasis on oral tradition will make us wonder: Though Confucianism and Taoism both come from the big tradition, there is no literal record in oral culture. Then, what is the symbolic indicator of the living myth and belief of the primal inhabitants? Recently, based on his research on prehistoric culture, he has discovered that there is a latent and unique prehistoric belief in the divinity of jade, that is, a jade religion in early Chinese civilization. The original jade religion can be traced back to northern culture of Xinglongwa (興隆窪文化) about eight thousand years ago, then continues from the cultures of Hongshan (紅山文化), Xiaoheyan (小河沿文化), Longshan (龍山文化) to Erlitou (二里頭文化), and the southern cultures of Liangzhu (良渚文化), Shijiahe (石家河文化) and western Culture of Qijia (齊家文化) absorbed, and evolved into Shang and Zhou Dynasty ceremonial music institution, and eventually became the Confucian Junzi (君子) ideal tradition 13 Confucian Myth, edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)74.

For more information, also see his essay, New Examination of mythical archetype of Chinese Saint, Wuhan University Journal, 3 (2010)277–286. 14 For more information, see “I Heard Them with Docile Ear at Sixty: the Metaphor of the Sanctification”, in Confucian Myth, Edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)83–88.

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of “good moralities as jade” (比德於玉) and the Taoist seeking immortal belief of “eating jade for eternal life” (食玉永生). The mythical tradition of jade,which was the common origin of Confucianism and Taoism,belongs to the big tradition.15 Prehistoric sacred objects and symbolic belief—jade religion, which is discovered by Ye Shuxian, is a significant path to enter the great tradition, and also is an important clue to interpret the Confucian saint system. He argues in Confucian Myth: “We clearly realize, by means of the unearthed jade, that the great tradition of divine jade is much deeper than the written tradition…Chinese mythic concept will be unusually meaningful if we don’t rigidly adhere to the concept of gods. With the concept of holy and the special symbolic clue of jade ware, the lost tradition behind the Confucianism will be reinvented……jade, a holy thing, which is naturally and uniquely transmitted in Chinese culture, undoubtedly, is a special character and a meaningful symbol.”16 The recognition of the importance of the sacred object of jade religion, as well as the emphasis on its great transformation from oral tradition to written tradition, will methodologically provide new evidence for reinterpreting Confucian myth. If we merely focus on the written texts and deviate from the concrete context which originally determines the meaning of oral discourses, then the explanation of traditional culture will be fully subjective.

4 Cultural Expansion of Mythological Prototype In the three decades, Ye Shuxian has continually reflected on the cultural criticism of local context and strived to explore the effective way to integrate the Occidental and Oriental academic patterns. He puts in The Footprints of Two Kinds of Travel: “The long history of Chinese studies is precisely the lack of such cross-cultural comparisons. Once this macroscopic comparative vision is introduced, things that were difficult to understand in the past are likely to become clear.……In terms of discourse construction, I suggest the translation, interaction and reinterpretation of the local discourse with foreign one. It also regards the formation of the future world discourse as an absolute goal, and regards the closed self-sufficiency of local discourse as a relative historical legacy phenomenon, so as to resolve the narrow prejudice and national arrogance mentality behind the pure local discourse of myth.” He argues that “cross-cultural comparison” is the effective way to go out of traditional 15 For more information, see the series of essays about jade religion written by Ye Shuxian: Construction of the Belief of Eating Jade and Western Myth, Journal of Seek Roots, 4 (2008); The Narrative of Jade, Chinese Social Science Newspaper, July 1, 2009; The Jade Religion and Mythical Origin of Ideas of Confucianism and Taoism, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2010); New Examination of Mythical Archetype of Chinese Saint, Wuhan University Journal, 3 (2010); Nüwa Repairs the Sky and the Mythic Concept of the Sky Made by the Jade, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 1 (2011); International Perspective of Jade Ware Period and the Original Research of Civilization, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 2 (2011). 16 Confucian Myth, Edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)65– 68.

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text-centrism. At the same time, he attempts to establish the basic principle which enables us to communicate internal culture with external culture. Thus, when he and his colleagues choose some Chinese classics such as Shijing (詩經), Chuci, Laozi, Zhuangzi and Shuowen jiezi (說文解字) to practice the cross-cultural interpretation, they “expect to transfer the micro-textual critical pattern of Qianjia School (乾嘉學 派) in Qing Dynasty (1664–1911) to the cross-cultural interpretational paradigm.”17 The process is long-term, hard and not straight forward, but the results have been gradually advancing and greatly fruitful. Especially in methodology, he successively brings up “triple evidence” and “quadruple evidence” to show that there is a wide gap to bridge between Chinese literary anthropology and cross-cultural studies. The following chart made by Ye Shuxian illustrates the “quadruple evidences” and the “five kinds of narratives”.18 Classification of method

Material scope

Classification of narrative

Single evidence

Written document

Literal narrative

Duel evidence

Unearthed and written document

Literal narrative

Triple evidence

Living oral material and cross-cultural anthropological material

Oral narrative Ritual narrative

Quadruple evidence

Unearthed and written objects and pictures

Graphic narrative Object narrative

The “quadruple evidences” should be approached from its profound structure and theoretical essence instead of being regarded merely as the superposition of many materials. We think that the rise of “quadruple evidence” marks that mythical archetype criticism has new progress in local cultural context. In the late of 1980s, he started to introduce Northrop Frye’s archetypal criticism, and the mode or scope of which are fundamentally confined within the realm of literature. He reevaluates literary archetype in Meeting the paradigmatic Shift of Mythology: “We no longer simply focus on the archetype of the literary sense like that in the 1980s, but explore the cultural archetype outside the traditional paradigm of Frye, Mao Dun and Yuan Ke (1916–2001). We are going to trace the cultural archetypes represented by pictures and articles, which are more abundant than those represented by written 17 Ye

Shuxian, The Footprints of Two Kinds of Travel, (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Press, 2000)144–146. For more information, see Ye Shuxian, “Methodology”, the forth part of an Introduction to Literary Anthropology (Beijing: Chinese social science Press, 2010)343–366. 18 For more information, see the documents as follows to quadruple evidence: Quadruple Evidence: Vision Persuasion of Comparative Iconology, Literary Review, 5 (2006); Erlitou二里頭 Bronze Medal and Xia Dynasty Mythic Research, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 4 (2008); General Explanation of the Myth about Gun鯀, Yu禹, Qi啟 Changing into Bear化熊, International Conference Proceedings of Literature and Myth, (Taibei: Taiwan Zhong Xing University, 2008); Xuan Yuan軒轅 and the Bear 有熊, Journal of Guangxi University for nationalities, 5 (2008); “Rongchengshi” Xia Yu Jian Gu  容成氏 夏禹建鼓, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 1 (2009); Exploring Iconological Origin of Xuanniao’s 玄鳥 Archetype, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009); Lawful Research of Evidence and Forecast of Textual Critical of National Culture, Journal of Evidence Science, 4 (2009); New Examination of Mythical prototype of Chinese Saint, Wuhan University Journal, 3 (2010); An Introduction to Literary Anthropology, (Beijing: Chinese Social Science Press, 2010.

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text. By means of creating some new knowledge with graphic narrative and object narrative, we will redefine the boundary of literary narrative. Thus it will be enough to go beyond the disciplinary boundary among literature, history and philosophy, especially with the help of the mythical pictures and objects which are continually unearthed by archaeologists, we would probably find out the mythical archetype of cultural gene.”19 In this paragraph, he argues that Frye’s literary archetype, which is the product of the written culture, is so narrow that it seriously impedes the academic development. Only through the big tradition can we probably explore the real cultural gene. We can see that, on the one hand, the post-modern concept of myth prompts him to reinvent the literary archetype, and on the other hand, the wisdom of big tradition helps him to complete the paradigmatic shift—from literary archetype to cultural archetype. And these shifts, from “single evidence” to “triple evidence”, in other words, from literary text to oral text, are undoubtedly the result of the symbolic ages. However, we should ask whether there is a non-linguistic and non-literary period, namely the period of pictures and objects before language emerges. Do the pictures and objects produced by the primitive inhabitants have cultural function and aesthetic implication? Are they the so-called pure arts? We argue that instead of being purely decorative and aesthetic, they constitute a type of silent symbols which has profound cultural significance and transmits the particular beliefs and values of the prehistoric inhabitants. We point out that the art image or literary archetype, which is created by the writing, is the transformation of cultural coding hidden in the pictures and objects. If we simply take them as natural objects or objective phenomena, undoubtedly, we will lose the ideographic system produced by the archaic peoples. At the same time, if the “quadruple evidence” is regarded as the mythical archetype, we will gain new insight to surpass the written archetype, and releasing more energy to enter the origin of Chinese civilization, we will be freed from the superficiality and misunderstanding caused by the literary archetype. He writes in the preface to Goddess with a Thousand Faces: “The so-called comparative iconology, which can be viewed as archetypal iconology, strives to grasp the basic archetype, to thoroughly investigate the origin and evolution of the goddess image in different cultures, to realize the mainstream to overcome the short sight which only see the part but not the whole, but to keep an eye on global system instead.”20 Obviously, we realize that the transformation from “triple evidence” to “quadruple evidence” is a substantially big leap from the literary archetype to the cultural archetype. It also shows that Chinese literary anthropology apparently attains the significant breakthrough by methodologically reconstructing the concept of “cross-cultural interpretation”. He exhaustively defines the concept and function of quadruple evidence in The Quadruple Evidence: Visional Persuasion of Comparative Iconology.

19 Ye

Shuxian, Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009)25–26. Shuxian, Goddess with a Thousand Faces, (Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2004)1.

20 Ye

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“Besides the limited unearthed materials, I hope to seek enough evidences to provide an opportunity for self-reconstructing the basic knowledge of textual criticism, and to apply the local methodology to obtain the cultural characteristics through dialogue and interaction with Western culture. So I will especially regard material culture and graphic documents as quadruple evidence of humanities.”21 We think that his “quadruple evidence” and cultural text of mythical archetype are greatly related to the “concept of culture” and “the interpretation of culture” as suggested by Clifford Geertz. These are possible through the integration of many disciplines such as cultural anthropology, phenomenology and comparative mythology and so on. We also realize that cultural transformation of mythical archetype is synchronized post-modern concept of myth with sacred context of big tradition. So they are the concrete demonstrations of the new turn of Chinese literary anthropology at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Certainly, prehistoric pictures and objects cannot be entirely separated from the historical texts; otherwise their tremendous potential will not be demonstrated fully. Therefore, Ye Shuxian insistently highlights the significance of “quadruple evidence” on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also suggests that we should comprehensively apply to the various evidences, of which “quadruple evidence” proves the most effective, to achieve the recognition of cultural integration and to obtain the new pattern of three-dimensional interpretation. Just as he points out, we “try to explore the quadruple evidences, and want to amend the three-dimensional representation and multi-dimensional interpretation to go beyond the debates between Doubting Antiquity (疑古) and Interpreting Antiquity (釋古) in modern Chinese context. Specifically, we need integrate four kinds of evidences: literature text in the history, unearthed Silk or Bamboo text, the field investigation of ethnography and the interpretation of the unearthed materials, so the silent objects will have a narrative function and can extremely expand the new insights into the history of culture.”22 With this new perspective we believe that Confucian myth is not only the product of linguistic symbol period—but also the product of transitional period from oral culture to written culture. So it is a mediator which mingles prehistoric tradition with post-historic tradition, and also is the system of belief and idea which evolves from prehistoric graphic archetype. So if we are confined to literary archetype, it will be dangerous for the academic for being limited by linguistic symbol, and it also will cause cultural misreading and sheltering. Therefore, from the single literary archetype to organic integration of cultural archetype with literary archetype, the archetypal transformation gradually makes us understand the essence of Confucianism. In this process, we can not only catch the archetypal coding of Chinese culture, but also compare the evolution of various kinds of cultural archetype during the prehistoric period and post-historic period.

21 Ye

Shuxian, the Quadruple Evidence: Visional Persuasion of Comparative Iconology, Literature Review, 5 (2006)173. 22 Ye Shuxian, the Comparative Mythological Perspective of Exploring Origin of Civilization, Journal of Jiangxi Social Science, 6 (2009)20.

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Ye Shuxian, eagerly informing his readers of the essence of cultural archetype, often discusses “quadruple evidence” and “three-dimensional interpretation of the antiquity” in his academic works and speeches. He argues recently in Confucian Myth: “how to link the modern comparative mythology with anthropological knowledge to establish the quadruple evidences and to apply them to the three-dimensional interpretational paradigm of cultural integration, which will promote the development of archaeological materials and methods, is the most urgent task……How to transform the research paradigm from mythical research of pure literature to cultural integration of quadruple evidences and five kinds of narratives, with the help of anthropological perspective, is the new opportunity for contemporary scholars to go beyond the ‘Doubling Antiquity’ School (疑古學派) and to renew the way to enter the history of religion and civilization.”23 Owing to the perspective of material culture, he naturally finds out the prehistoric great tradition—jade religion. He proposes that jade is the most sacred thing in Chinese civilization. The primal inhabitants combine jade with various types of sacred animals and plants which have special values and beliefs, to form a complex holy genealogy. Thus the special values and beliefs will be transformed into the sacred images of the written text. By relating material culture to mythical image, which can provide kinds of clues to enter prehistoric civilization, we will really experience the being of Confucian. For example, he makes use of the unearthed materials as “quadruple evidence” and oral materials as “triple evidence” to draw the outline of the sacred jade bell belief and its post-historic formal evolution. The practice of cultural interpretation fully proves the effectiveness and rationality of cultural archetype. In conclusion, it is of great methodological significance that Ye Shuxian transforms literary archetypal criticism to cultural archetypal criticism in Chinese local context. From perspective of the time, the cultural archetypal criticism turns culture from written to material. In terms of the symbolic values, it restores symbolic coding of speechless period from literary archetype which is changed by the linguistic symbol. From the perspective of evident effect, the archetypal values of primitive visual images go beyond that of the reconstructed symbolic archetype. In terms of the generating origin of human civilization, the material archetype can show the original source of primal religious rituals. The introduction of the “quadruple evidence” method and the turn to the cultural textual archetype indicate a new localized knowledge-based cross-cultural research model, and it will eventually be an effective tool in understanding the Confucian myth.

References Ye Shuxian, Meeting the Paradigm Shift of Mythology, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 3 (2009)20. Ye Shuxian, “Myth: Archetype Code of Chinese Culture”, in Tang Qicui, Ritual Institutional Civilization and Mythical Code, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)2. 23 Confucian Myth, Edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011)59–

75.

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Ye Shuxian, Post-modern Concept of Myth, Chinese Comparative Literature, 1 (2007). Confucian Myth, edited by Ye Shuxian, Tang Qicui, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2011). Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization (the University of Chicago Press, 1956). Ye Shuxian, Great Tradition and Little Tradition of Chinese Culture, Journal of Party Building, 7 (2010). Ye Shuxian, An Introduction to Literary Anthropology, (Beijing: Chinese Social Science Press, 2010). Ye Shuxian, Confucius Analects and Oral Cultural Tradition, Journal of Lanzhou University, 2 (2006). Ye Shuxian, The Footprints of Two Kinds of Travel, (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Press, 2000). Ye Shuxian, Quadruple Evidence: Vision Persuasion of Comparative Iconology, Literary Review, 5 (2006). Ye Shuxian, Erlitou二里頭 Bronze Medal and Xia Dynasty Mythic Research, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 4 (2008). Ye Shuxian, General Explanation of the Myth about Gun鯀, Yu禹, Qi啟 Changing into Bear化 熊, International Conference Proceedings of Literature and Myth, (Taibei: Taiwan Zhong Xing University, 2008). Ye Shuxian, Xuan Yuan軒轅 and the Bear有熊, Journal of Guangxi University for nationalities, 5 (2008). Ye Shuxian, “Rongchengshi” Xia Yu Jian Gu 容成氏 夏禹建鼓, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, 1 (2009). Ye Shuxian, Goddess with a Thousand Faces, (Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2004). Ye Shuxian, the Quadruple Evidence: Visional Persuasion of Comparative Iconology, Literature Review, 5 (2006). Ye Shuxian, the Comparative Mythological Perspective of Exploring Origin of Civilization, Journal of Jiangxi Social Science, 6 (2009).

Chapter 5

Discoveries of Things from Cultural Big Tradition

Due to Western influence on objectified concept of knowledge, various cultural relics have been materialized, which has covered the real significance of things. In other words, the identities of things have been erased. The theory of “cultural big tradition” in Chinese literary anthropology leaps out of the conventional framework set by Western anthropologist which is centered on writing (characters in the case of China). In contrast, it refers to the culture of pre-writing or non-character era as the “big tradition”, and the culture that appears after characters as the “small tradition”, thus has completely overturned the writing-based rational value and “great-little” traditions pattern of the West and brought upon a brand-new spiritual value and cultural ideal to Chinese indigenous culture. In big tradition culture characters are absent but things are present; the things are uncovered and placed in the center of the culture. Evaluated from the perspective of big cultural tradition, things, with the identity of the present, participate in the construction and formulation of earlier culture. Any cultural construction with the removal of things is incomplete and constitutes neglect of the big tradition. Reassessment of the cultural value and presence meaning of things in the big tradition can help us leap out of the doctrine that has only characters as the center. This will also produce magical effects in constructing the origin and cultural meaning of Chinese early civilization and solving early character fog and cultural dilemma.

1 Things Are Not “things” Things are not “things”. This proposition seems a little abstruse. The former “things” are in the big tradition where there are no characters, and the latter “things” are in the era when character writing occupies the central place. To differentiate the two states of things, we add quotation mark to the latter. While characters as writing tool are by itself things, it is difficult to distinguish things and “things”. When we use a name to replace a thing that actually exists, © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_5

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this thing experiences a kind of estrangement. Firstly, since characters are things that actually exist, when we use characters to replace a thing that actually exists, this thing becomes a visible character object. Secondly, when a thing that actually exists becomes a name, there appears convergence of things and characters, causing a kind of confusion, and consequently leading to double covering of things. The first cover is, with disappearance of the actual things, the value of the characters replacing the existence of the things. The second cover is that the original meaning of things disappears, with only the meanings of the characters per se left over. It can be said that things experience estrangement caused by “things”, the latter actually being characters. Things themselves are replaced by their own representative “things”—the characters. The former formed things gradually become blurry while the latter formed things are sustained and gradually take over the dominant role. At the same time, the original meanings of the characters gradually disappear, causing things devoid of meanings. Evidently, things exist in “things” but do not equal with “objects”, and “things” contain things but do not constitute things. We take (“牛”ox) as an example. In oracle bone script this character is written as , and in Chinese bronze inscriptions it is written as . In Words and Expressions Xu Shen defines “牛” as a big livestock or a reason of the cattle. Yet from the pictogram of an ox we can only notice an obvious mark of it—horn. From the definition by Xu Shen, we know that an ox is a large livestock; as to defining ox as “件” (reason of things), its meaning becomes abstract and baffling (Figs. 1, 2). In the theory of twenty-eight constellations which were formulated in ancient China, the Ox star ranks the first among the seven constellations in the eastern sky, which was dominated by the Green Dragon according to ancient Chinese myth. On the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, ox falls into the category of “丑”. All these reveal the holy significance of ox in early Chinese culture. There is a popular saying in China: “soaring to the sky with the energy of an ox”, which is used to refer to fortune and Fig. 1 Eight-bull shell container (Western Han) (Chinese Collection of Bronze Wares (Vol.14))

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Fig. 2 The character “牛” on oracle bone inscription (Ancient Chinese Character Explanation)

achievement. Ox “牛” represents a kid of fresh, vigorous, and rising Yang energy, which would go all the way to the sky and return to heaven. In the Chapter “Ox and Goddess” of The Goddess: Evolution of An Image, Anne Baring and Jules Cashford thinks, in the Neolithic Age (era of Catal Huyuk) Europe ox and its horn were already powerful symbols of life mastered by goddesses.1 This was true in ancient China. Take the “eight-bull shell container” of Western Han Dynasty as an example. On the lid of the shell container eight bulls are cast. While the term “eight bulls” are generally used to represent accumulated fortune according to folk culture, here the “eight bulls” asymbolize purity and uprightness, with a strong holy force which can deter the evil spirit brought by the money in the shell container. While in the container the accumulated shells (ancient Chinese used shells as money) carry strong evil energy, only the divine force of the “eight bulls” can prevent this kind of energy from overflowing. Hence besides the characters and images, the thing of “eight bulls” has displayed the cultural construction of “ox” according to the ancient Chinese. Bull becomes reason just because in the earlier culture it represents a positive energy of firmness and righteousness, or the earlier life belief in goddess. While bull as existential object is the original carrier of reason, this meaning is extended to the

1 Anne

Baring and Jules Cashford: The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of An Image, London, Penguin Group, 1993, p.41.

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character of bull, yet only from the character it is difficult to find the trace of the original meaning. According to the theory of big tradition, the culture of non-character era is regarded as the big tradition, and the culture of character era is regarded as the small tradition, which tells us that small tradition is nothing more than the character writing form of the cultural value of the big tradition, or in other words the formed state, which can not only carry the cultural value of the big tradition, but also covers it in which it inhabits. When character writing becomes the popular mainstream culture, its legitimacy and justification fully hold absolute parole dominion and value hegemony, which in turn endlessly expand the absolutism and reliability of writing of big tradition, with its innate characteristics of covering and symbolizing not mentioned at all. The theory of big tradition exposes the decadence and arrogance of character writing, and warns scholars born in the modern civilization era against being obsessed with ancient books while reading them. Mencius says, “It is better to have no books than have complete faith in them,” as is very thought-provoking for we contemporary people. He warns contemporary scholars, if one plunges into the books and are enticed by the characters on them, he will sink into the formed text of existential “things”, thus estranged from the original meaning of books. This is worse than having no text at all. In 1928 in The Seventeenth Annual Report of History and Language Institute of State Central Academy Fu Sinian noted, “The so-called tortoise-shelled script writing was discovered thirty years ago from Anyang, the ancient capital of the Yin Dynasty. But it was Mr. Wang Guowei who made a greatest discovery out of these relic materials. However, ancient knowledge didn’t just exist in writing, the non-writing things and materials were also crucial elements to aide research. Knowledge of the underground condition was the ultimate goal of modern archaeology. If we do excavation only to obtain writing, out loss will be one thousand times our acquisition… This preliminary exploration has high lined the direction of research work, and reminded us that what has been buried underground is a wealth of endless knowledge, not just writing.”2 According to Fu Sinian, though discovery of the tortoise-shell writing is conducive for exploring the conditions of ancient China, single reliance upon characters will cause enormous loss, and knowledge thus acquired will rather cover history. He claimed that “the limitless knowledge hidden underground is not confined to writing,” which deconstructed the absolutism of “things” in the form of writing and emphasized the important role played by “non-character things” in discovering ancient history and exploring earlier civilization. Therefore, when reading ancient books, modern scholars should not only go into writing and be enlightened, but also leap above writing and find new clues among various things so as to achieve “acquiring the meaning and forgetting about writing.” Reading ancient books is a process of searching the original meaning of the existing writing “things” passed down along history, and to explore the prototype revealed by “things”. Apparently this is a process of going from “things” to things, just like going from things to “things”. But since human audiovisual sense and 2 Fu

Sinian: Collected Works of Fu Sinian (Volume Six), Changsha, Hunan Education Publishing House, 2000, p.14.

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intelligence are easily confined to the state per se of formed things, we are readily to be satisfied with tangible theory of knowledge, ignoring that this rational knowledge fails to reach the primitive existential things, or only partially gets close to them. Either with part replacing whole, or falsity replacing truth, there is a possibility to create an eccentric cultural phenomenon dominated by “things”. Instead of looking at things with writing, the theory of big tradition advocates looking at writing with things. Since in the period of big tradition there was no writing, the meaning-making function of things appeared before writing. Since what is carried by “things” usually leads people astray, aren’t we getting closer to the original cultural meaning if we lay down the “things” and go direct to the prototype things? According to Ye Shuxian, from the historic development of cultural prototype, symbols of things came before symbols of writing. There existed a large quantity of oral text before the appearance of writing. Yet they did not have physical symbols and did not get passed down. Hence in order to explore original statement or original coding, we can only resort to narrations of things and images.3 Discovery of things by big tradition is to deconstruct the power of “things” first, then establish the culture of thing, which is used to reconstruct the cultural meanings of “things”. Big tradition takes on a more cautious approach toward writing “things”, in that it first discards “things”, and then picks them up again. Hence different from text centralism that has completely relied on writing “thing” or text nihilism that just abandons writing “things”.

2 Presence of Things In the culture of big tradition, things do not appear in the form of writing “things”, but directly present themselves. By this way, things do not appear in the cultural field in the form of substituent, but they appear in real existence. Real-existing things and cultural meanings concur in activity fields and historical events. Presence of real-existing things in cultural field is a major discovery of the big tradition. Firstly, real presence of things has certain cultural preference. This preference enjoyed by things that are present greatly leaps out of the substitutability of the character forms of “things”, and enable things to reveal their true identities hidden by “things”. Secondly, thanks to preferential presence of things that really exist, the absolute hegemony of writing is broken. While we used to explore the value and meaning of culture and civilization amid characters, now there appears a physical world that has earlier and more plentiful meaning than characters; moreover, the things of big tradition are not evidence unrelated to cultural meaning. Instead they are direct participants in the cultural field and its meaning construction. Since writing “things” originally are character narrative of things, now narrative of things directly appear before narrative of characters, making it possible that narrative of 3 Ye Shuxian: Cultural Semiology: New Horizon of Big and Small Traditions, Xi’an, Shaanxi Normal

University Press, 2003, p.5.

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“things” acquire new meaning. This new meaning lies not in human invention of character narrative, but in uncovering the things that are covered by narrative of character “things”, thus highlighting the meaning and value per se of things. Thirdly, in the theory of big tradition, the renewed presence of real-existing things in the field for construction of cultural meaning does not imply phasing out of character “things”. Rather, it implies that character “things” have richer and more truthful meaning and can better display the original cultural meaning, preventing seclusion of things and the covering of the original meaning of them caused by the forms of character “things”. Now in accordance with the sequence of generation of historical culture, both real-existing things and character “things” can display their own cultural meanings, and become cultural agents that complement each other. Unlike writing “things”, real existence of things in terms of originality does not cover presence of things. Instead, it brings the character “things” from blurry state to clear and vivid state. Fourth, things become the preferred evidence for disclosing historical truth. Because traditional academic work focuses on textual research, sentence analyzing, and system authenticating, and doing complementary work in character fields, many truths of historical events are hidden, distorted, or misinterpreted amid the game of study and comparison. Things, present in history, are not only participators of historical events, but also narrators of historical and cultural meanings. When they reveal history, demonstrate cultural meaning, and relate their own worth in their real identities, they have better historical effectiveness and reliability. Fifth, with development in archeology and the study of heritage, more and more cultural relics are accumulated before the world people. While the narrative capability of one item of thing is limited, the historical relics that are gathered from all corners of China are powerful in narrating history. Not only can they make up for the oversight of character narration, but reveal and correct the historical truths that are intentionally covered or not mentioned in literature. So the things in the big tradition are no longer muted historical relics. They not only participate in the specific historical events and witness the evolution of history, but actually narrate historical events in the real identity. Their function of historical narration, therefore, should not be overlooked. In New Approach of Archaeology Fu Sinian remarks, “Studies of ancient history has been mostly centred on antique objects due to lack of other reliable historical materials. Since Song Dynasty archaeological events have occurred, but they were not combined with history. When we get closer to antiquity, we draw nearer to nature, so it is necessary to provide proof in the form of antiques.”4 From Song Dynasty to the present many relics have been unearthed, yet the biggest regret is that they are not “combined with history”, so that the “historical voice” of unearthed objects are drowned. We hardly imagine that the remoter their history is, the antique objects have more energy of revealing historical civilization, and they are more capable of retaining historical truths. In the tombs of Hongshan culture jade vessels and items were just present. Buried with the dead, together with the imaginary construction of holy culture, the jade 4 Fu

Sinian: Collected Works of Fu Sinian (volume three), Changsha, Hunan Education Publishing House, 2000, p.88.

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Fig. 3 Jade burial of Hongshan culture

performed its function. Its presence not only implies that they are exquisite and fine stones, but inherit the holy belief and cultural coding of prehistoric jade religion by way of jade jue, jade ku (hoop), jade bi(disc), and jade pai (plate) (Fig. 3). Things using jade symbols by means of the action that is present, the prehistoric residents relate a remote cultural legend to the holy strength; they hope that the dead can obtain the strength of rebirth from the goddess at an earlier date. The jade vessels, by means of holy presence, convey the profundity of the historical culture and special expressing ways of earlier mankind. The presence of historical things not only decides the cultural function and value and meaning of things in historical events, but also pinpoints the significance when things have full qualifications to express the meaning of their presence with the cultural identity of event participants. Martin Heidegger in What is Object says, “A kettle is present as an object. A kettle is only itself as thing. But how is thing present? A thing materializes itself. Materialized activities accumulate.”5 While things are present in the form of materials, materialized activities, due to presence of things, transmit the cultural code and focus it on things. Besides taking up their own forms, things bear the presence identity and cultural value that are focused on themselves. Historical events and cultural activities confer things with a cultural presence that transcends themselve. 5 [Germany]

Heidegger: Tired in a Solitary Journey/Heidegger Poetry Interpretation Family, translated by Huo Qiong, etc., Tianjin, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2009, p. 214.

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Existential narration by things of the big tradition is different from artificial narration or article entertainment in that things objects speak with the present identity as participants, and narrate with the tone of witnesses. Unlike oral narrations or text narrations, narrations of things have innate effectiveness and authenticity. Though we would not say text narrations are totally unreliable, which undergo conversion and substitution of characters, they can easily produce empty proof, false proof, or even mistaken proof. In formulating quadruple evidence, Ye Shuxian says, “From the perspective of evidence law, the trend of new historical studies is to liberate from the partiality and shadow of traditional historical science which takes only written evidence as authentic, and rather it turns to the scholastic efforts of taking material evidence as historical narration clues.”6 By means of presence, evidence, and authenticity, things in the theory of big tradition have core value and evidence producing effect. This new scholastic paradigm takes material evidence as the core. Not only does it overturn the traditional academics which centres the documentary evidence, but also constructs a new academic tradition with material evidence as key value. The presence of things in historical events and contemporary academic fields with their new cultural identity determines that they have significant function of historical narration and value judgment. The big tradition focuses on presence of things, emphasizes the evidence role of them, and makes up for drawback of character narration in revealing historical truths, thus opening up a new academic horizon. Liberation and discovery of things by the theory of big tradition will create new opportunities for Chinese civilization and cultural origin, and provide tools and guidance for decoding Chinese indigenous cultural codes and historical narrations.

3 Narration of Things Things themselves have no writing. So how do they carry out historical narration? And where does their significance come from? Firstly, narrations by things do not require direct speaking, but simply by reappearing as on-the-spot participants in the cultural fields. From then on things would start to tell their own stories in history to audiences and researchers alike. However, the language of things is a special lingo and tends to be neglected by the general public, just like the great music with few sounds. In contract, to the experts, the appearance of things is enough to unfold truths and facts in history. Through their reappearance things prove their own original presence as well as their participation in historical events. The way experts decipher the language of things is nothing mysterious. Rather they comprehensively utilize things and other presenting participants to decode the message. In the era of big tradition, historical events and their meaning are not just expressed by things as the only one media symbol. In order to fully state the cultural meaning which has complete value, is energetic and worth preserving, the original 6 Ye Shuxian: Course of Literary Anthropology, Beijing, Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House,

2010, p.374–375.

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cultural narrators make comprehensive use of an ideographical system. In this cultural system of comprehensive ideographical expression, things are part of the ensemble of participants, which consists of sound, dance, rite, music, image, poetry, musical instrument, discourse, rhythm, idiom and expression and formula. Together these elements collaborate to create and preserve cultural meanings. Although there is no writing in original cultural activities, by means of these comprehensive ideographical expressions, the integrated cultural meaning is able to commonly stated, and there appears a cultural ideographic system in the minds of the aboriginals, which belongs to the earlier oral culture. Human-imposed disintegration and even isolation of this cultural system will give rise to eccentric cultural phenomena. Hence narrations of things are not carried out by things alone, but also involve cultural forms such as poetry, music, dance, rhythm, and formula. In Analects, when asked by Yan Hui on how to govern the state, Confucius answered, “To follow the calendar of Xia Dynasty, ride the carriages of Yin Dynasty, wear the costumes of Zhou Dynasty, and perform the music of ‘Shao’ and ‘Wu.’”7 Confucius did not govern the state mystically. His ruling ideal consisted of the calendar, instruments, and music from the three dynasties. “Following the calendar of Xia” means that the labor time should be in compliance with the original time concept, which reflects the time-fate conception of the ancients. “Riding the carriages of Yin Dynasty” refers to the horse carriage ritual system of Shang Dynasty, and “wearing the costumes of Zhou Dynasty” refers to the dressing ritual system of Zhou Dynasty. By means of instruments and objects, Confucius conveys the ancient cultural sequence and meaning coding. “The music of Shao and Wu” represents vivid oral culture. To the great sage, calendar, instruments, and music had common social effects, and provided plentiful social meaning for constructing national order and cultural ideals. Making comprehensive use of such cultural elements as time-fate, instruments, and sound, Confucius constructed the comprehensive value and cultural meaning of an earlier-period state. As cultural relics, carriages, and costumes cannot be separated from other cultural elements including calendar, music, and poetry in expressing meanings, otherwise the cultural coding carried by instruments is submerged. Ye Shuxian argues that “According to the quadruple evidence approach, the handed-down literature and unearthed literature respectively belong to the first layer and second layer of evidence. Oral and intangible cultural heritage is living culture, which is still transmitted among the public, belonging to the third layer of evidence. And ‘carriages of Yin Dynasty’ and ‘costumes of Zhou’ are inheritance of physical culture, belonging to the fourth layer of evidence.”8 If we evaluate the state-ruling cultural inheritance of Confucius from the perspective of evidence approach, calendar as oral form belongs to the first layer of evidence, and as written form it belongs to the third layer of evidence. Music as oral living culture belongs to the third layer of evidence. “Carriages of Yin Dynasty” and “Costumes of Zhou Dynasty”, expressing ritual system with instruments, belong 7 Yang

Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1980, p. 164. 8 Ye Shuxian: Mythology Study for Chinese Civilization Exploration, Beijing, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2015, p.71.

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to the fourth layer of evidence. That is to say, in imparting the culture and system for ruling a state, Confucius had subconsciously made comprehensive use of various cultural forms to express their own cultural meaning. Disregarding any of the cultural genes will result in inadequacy to comprehensively express the cultural meaning. Book of History/Opinion of Gaoyao describes for us the real situation of earlier Chinese oral culture: “Kui says, ‘I play musical instruments for eulogy. The ancestral gods come, the distinguished guests are present, and the rulers exercise virtue. The instruments include pipe and drum. Even birds and animals dance. With Shao musical ceremony completed, phoenix come to celebrate.’ Kui says, ‘Ah! Animals dance to my instrument playing. And officials and residents live in harmony.’ The emperor makes a song, saying, ‘I follow the order of Heaven reverently.’ He sings, ‘The courtiers are happy, the emperor rises, and all trades are prosperous.’ Gaoyao kowtows and says, ‘Remember this! A ruler should rise and revere the law. Only after careful examination the affairs are completed!’ He then sings and says, ‘If the ruler is clairvoyant and the officials are good, the state affairs will prosper.’ He then says, ‘If the ruler is slothful and the officials are lazy, the state affairs fall!’” 9 In this historical event and ceremonial activity, discourse and poetry of such historical figures as Kui, Gaoyao, and emperor, the music Xiaoshao and dances of phoenix and birds and animals are living oral culture and belong to the third layer of evidence. The musical instruments, including harp, drum, and flute, as things present in the events, belong to the fourth layer of evidence even though the music they had created has been lost in time. If these historical relics are unearthed and gathered again in front of historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, they do historical narration not only concerning physical forms, but they, as participators of historical events, universally express comprehensive cultural meaning together other cultural elements. Evidently, to help things produce historical sound, we should not only resort to things themselves, but integrate other elements in related comprehensive ideographical system in observation. If other cultural elements are neglected or forsaken, things will become speechless, even distorted. In proposing evident effectiveness and authenticity of things, the cultural big tradition does not isolate things as historical narrators, but returns them to their original position where they produce sound in synchronization with other cultural elements. Together these utter the genuine, original sound of history. The theory of big tradition advocates narration by things and physical image evidence, not using things in isolation in writing history, but taking them as priority historical participants. Such historical participating factors as handed-down literature, unearthed literature, oral material, music and image are put into comprehensive utilization to produce synthetic effect. With oral poetry, mythological image, folk stories, and unearthed material producing voice in harmony, the historical stories and mythological meanings can be expressed and formulated clearly. In the theory of big tradition, physical evidence and other layers of evidence are mutually complementary, both acting carriers and narrators for comprehensive cultural meaning. Any voice separated from 9 Gu

Jiegang, Liu Qiyu: On Collation, Annotation and Translation of Book of HIstory, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2005, p.477.

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the comprehensively stated cultural system will become odd language that cannot be understood. Hence the methodology of big tradition especially emphasizes utilization of multiple evidences. In this way, the evidence effect of overall cognition and stereo interpretation can be produced. Voices of things do not come from objects; it is the original voices that are produced by participating factors of historical events that are accumulated. On one hand, in historical events objects return their original positions to tell stories that have no sound. On the other hand, there is a kind of coexistence between the objects and the overall cultural meaning. Cultural formulation without objects is incomplete in meaning; solitary object narration without other factors is partial. There is a close and genuine relationship between the historical meaning of objects and the overall cultural meaning. While objects convey comprehensive cultural meaning, in the statement system of the overall cultural meaning objects are extremely important symbols. Evidently objects utter voice in a very special way; the culture of big tradition attaches much importance to the participating stance and ideographic function of objects, emphasizes digestion and stereo interpretation of antiquity, and acquires overall effects. Living voice is uttered with combined observation of the objects and other oral cultural factors.

4 Presentation of Real Things In the culture of big tradition things speak but not alone. That is to say, things present themselves in historical activities but have meaning that is not limited to themselves. How can we understand the cultural paradox concerning things? In other words, how would things become the real ones of historical events? Real things are those participate in historical events and assume the function to express culture. But the expressivity of things does not solely lie in the form of things. Only things that participate in historical events are real things and have cultural ideographic function. But such a function does not lie completely in the formed state of things. That is to say, presence of things is not only reflected by the tangible forms of themselves, but by their real selves of them. The real selves of things are referred to as real things, which is the true meaning of things. Such real things lie in the tangible forms but are not totally equal to the tangible forms. They confer cultural meaning upon them. In other words, the cultural forms and cultural value of things are the reason for the presence of them. By participating in earlier cultural activities and historical events by things, we mean the property of event and participation of the truthful forms and cultural forms of them, while the tangible forms of the things are nothing more than the external symbols of their cultural forms. In terms of truthful and cultural forms, things are not perceived as objective existence of purely physical forms, but as tangible objects integrated with their cultural forms. Things go estranged from their own cultural forms, or in other words, existence of real things is the real body of presence of them. In On Objects Bill Brown says, “Only after separating from the material issues and the dialectics of objective materials can historians, sociologists,

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and anthropologists turn their attention to things (social life, property, or evolution of things).”10 The truths of things (real things) will not appear until after shaking off the tangible forms of things. They are not abstract truths derived from objective bodies, but the cultural imagination or mythological narration on things by the primordial humans. Hence the existence of real things is the ultimate rationale and cultural meaning of the presence of things. It is difficult to make a clear separation between truth of things and things. While the former displays the cultural meaning of the overall ideographic system, the latter is the tangible existence where the overall meaning lies. How can we actually perceive real things? Firstly, we must make good use of the comprehensive presence system of things. Only in ceremonies and events concerning comprehensive presence can things display their own ideographic function and sign value. Secondly, things are only the dwelling place of real things, but are not real objects per se. Hence we should not purely study the tangible forms of things, since such studies are likely to be covered by the tangible forms of things, overshadowed by discourses, resulting in cultural existence of real things being neglected. Thirdly, only when we place things back to the comprehensive world and ceremonial context of primitive presence and enliven them and other cultural elements, and only in this enlivened context with a shared language, can things demonstrate their own truth existence and effectively participate in expressing the overall meaning of culture. Fourthly, since objects present themselves, they utter the truth of cultural meaning. When real things are absent and things are present, they cannot utter voice. Only with presence of both will things begin to tell the story of history and reveal the true meaning of culture. The culture big tradition advocates utterance by things, not utterance by the tangible forms of objects, but by the real things. Here the real things are presented and returned to things, conferring clear cultural meanings upon things. In Plain Master/Internal Articles Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty tells such a story, “Under the reign of Jing emperor in Wu Kingdom, a garrison of soldiers led by a general was digging up graves in Jiangling (or Guangling) to obtain boards to build city wall. They found a large grave, with double-layer stone gates which could automatically open and close. Inside there were passages broad enough to allow carriages and horses through. There were also scores of bronze figures, which were five chi (one chi equals to approximately 33 cm) tall, well clothed, and armed with swords to guard the dead. On the stone walls opposite the backs of the bronze figures were inscriptions about a general or vice-minister, indicating that this could be a grave of a royal member. After the coffin was broken and opened, it revealed a body with shiny peppery white hair and a complexion of a live person. In the coffin there were micas, around several chi thick, and thirty pairs of white jade bi. When the soldiers removed the dead body and leaned it against the stone wall, immediately a jade instrument, one chi long, resembling wax gourd, fell from the breast of the body onto the ground, and gold pellets, the size of a date, fell from his ears and nose. These objects explained why the body hadn’t decayed.”11 There are a lot of objects in the grave mentioned in the story, including the dead 10 Meng

Yue and Luo Gang: Material Culture Textbook, Beijing, Beijing University, 2008, p.80. Yan Kejun: Collected Articles of Jin Dynasty, Beijing, Commercial Press, 1999, p.242.

11 [Qing]

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body, the coffin, the bronze figures, the bronze swords, the wall inscriptions, and the gold and jade objects. All these present in the field have cultural functions and divine meanings that connect with each other: they “explain why the dead body hadn’t decayed.”. Hence the objects in the grave are not only physical existence, but they are objects that lend hand, and “not decayed” is the mythological code and true meaning of the objects. Without these objects that really exist, “not decayed” has no dwelling place. Similarly, if all the instruments, including gold and jade, found in the grave tell a story of “real things”, they are not purely existential materials, but material forms carrying deep cultural meaning. Here objects become the present forms of “real things” and “real meaning”, and “real things” with their own forms tell us the cultural meaning they carry. Amid the numerous evidences of the big tradition, real things have the greatest effectiveness and the cultural value of prototypical coding. According to Ye Shuxian, the cultural relics and images in the pre-writing era perform the prototypical coding function in terms of cultural meaning, which are referred to as primary or firstclass codes, and the fundamental principle governing these codes is mythological thought. Then formation of Chinese characters can be called second-class or secondary codes.12 In big cultural tradition things play the important role of cultural primordial codes. Moreover, the cultural meaning carried by things is much earlier than writing, and can function as prototypical codes. Ye Shuxian refers the cultural meaning undertaken by things as “primary/first-class codes”, which demonstrates the primordial coding value of real things. These primordial codes of culture represent estrangement function performed by the earlier Chinese to things. Through combining the existing things with other cultural elements the ancients encoded as well as preserved their cultural imagination and mythical narrations. Later writing carried on the narrating functions, instilled detail and formatted meaning to the cultural codes of earlier things. However, compared to the original narrations by original things, writing as secondary coding has the cultural characteristics of derivation and subordination. Evidently, in accordance to the occurrence of historical culture, as one of media that carry on human culture, things go through the first important stage from “nothingness” to “existence”. And as an important writing tool invented by mankind, characters experience an important leap from existence to existence, belonging to secondary cultural coding. In cultural fields and ceremonial activities intangible mythological prototypes are passed on first by forms of things, and then transmitted onto characters and symbols from things. Narrations of things and writings are both evolution phases in the symbolization process of primordial mythological imagination. During this process, the original encoding of things is the closest to the holy existence of nothing. It also constitutes the earliest, most lasting, and truthful narrative symbols of the primitive men. The cultural big tradition focuses on things, especially the historical meaning and prototype codes carried by things, in an effort to return original things to the central 12 Ye Shuxian: Cultural Semiology: New Horizon of Major and Minor Traditions, Xi’an, Shaanxi Normal University Press, 2003, p.6.

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position in the primitive cultural structure and re-endorse the significance of things. It makes comprehensive use of the multiple elements of historical events, enabling things to speak the original voice of history. Things become a great discovery of the theory of big tradition, and at the same time constitute the new starting point for us to retell the historical stories.

References Anne Baring and Jules Cashford: The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of An Image, London, Penguin Group, 1993. Fu Sinian: Collected Works of Fu Sinian (Volume Six), Changsha, Hunan Education Publishing House, 2000. Ye Shuxian: Cultural Semiology: New Horizon of Big and Small Traditions, Xi’an, Shaanxi Normal University Press, 2003. Ye Shuxian: Course of Literary Anthropology, Beijing, Chinese Social Sciences Publishing House, 2010. Ye Shuxian: Mythology Study for Chinese Civilization Exploration, Beijing, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2015. [Germany] Heidegger: Tired in a Solitary Journey/Heidegger Poetry Interpretation Family, translated by Huo Qiong, etc., Tianjin, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2009. Yang Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 1980. Gu Jiegang, Liu Qiyu: On Collation, Annotation and Translation of Book of HIstory, Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2005. Meng Yue and Luo Gang: Material Culture Textbook, Beijing, Beijing University, 2008. [Qing] Yan Kejun: Collected Articles of Jin Dynasty, Beijing, Commercial Press, 1999.

Part II

Mythical China

Based on the whole field of vision of the cultural big tradition, this part makes full use of the resources of advantage and the spirit of the whole knowledge of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research, integrates the latest discoveries and the latest methods of cultural anthropology, archaeology, comparative mythology, material image study, archaeology, ethnology, and many other disciplines, trying to rebuild cultural rupture and loss of information between big and small traditional chain, founds the most basic of the national spirit and cultural identity of Chinese culture, reveals the cultural coding and innovation characteristics of the Chinese early civilization, as to recognize “China”, and refine the Chinese spirit, provides an effective new way of the mythical belief.

Chapter 6

Review on Contemporary Studies of Chinese Myth Centering on Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology

When the academic circles in China and other learned societies of the world are still arguing about and debating on the exact time when the western concept of “myth” opens its floor for discussion, as well as its cultural relationship with Logos rationalism, Chinese contemporary research circle on mythology, based boldly on the knowledge circumstances and historical facts of the native culture, has developed a new path by putting forward a new theory of myth from the perspective of “big cultural tradition”, emphasizing the primary media and prototypical value that may breed the Chinese myth. In a new century, such transformation of the cultural paradigm in the contemporary research on Chinese myth is of great significance. The well-written Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology (hereafter referred to as Mythological China) by the research group of mythology led by Ye Shuxian is an agglomeration of the contemporary research on myth, which represents a brand new thinking concerning the issue of myth and China-related issues among the contemporary mythological circle in China. The authors of Mythological China come from different specialized professional fields, including mythology, comparative literature, folklore, anthropology, archaeology, and molecular anthropology. There is a cultural consensus and close cooperation among scholars from various disciplines, which fully demonstrates the new interdisciplinary structure of studies on Chinese contemporary issues. The book not only focuses on the topic of “Chinese myth” but also explains the local theoretical answers to Chinese contemporary problems from the mythological circle with the application of the unique theoretical system and knowledge discourse of “mythological China”.

© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_6

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1 New Conceptual Turn of “Myth” The so-called “philosophical breakthrough” in western academia is naturally the cultural breakthrough of interpreting myth with philosophy, namely, the man-made transcendence of mythological thinking by rational thinking. One of the important tasks for such “philosophical breakthrough” is its cultural exile of myth. From this, myth begins to stand oppositely against philosophy, becoming the pronoun of fiction, imagination, and unreality. Since contemporary and modern times, as the theoretical discourses such as “axial age” and “philosophical breakthrough” have been introduced into China, the accompanying mythological concepts are also mechanically transplanted in modern China and become a significant theoretical category of studies on Chinese traditional culture and history. Mythological China not only deeply reflects the cultural hypothesis of “philosophical breakthrough” but also clarifies and criticizes the study tendency of submitting to the western concept of myth. Scholars hold that the foreign concept of myth highlights “the God’s stories” and stresses on looking for the stories in passed-down literature and if such a concept is indiscriminately copied, the local experience of the Chinese myth will be greatly shadowed. As being pointed out by Lyu Wei, “In ancient Chinese language culture, there are obviously the transcendental and unified belief-narration practices. But early mythologists turned a blind eye to them, and they insisted that ‘the God’s story’ and other mythological phenomena in ancient Chinese culture are only scattered non-systematical existence. This is exactly the result that the original being and practice of man is obstructed by the phenomenon and experience of myth dominated by theoretical concepts (‘the God’s stories’).”1 According to the western concept of myth, the characteristics of the Chinese myth are “scattered and non-systematical”. Lyu Wei said that such a cultural summary of the characteristics of the Chinese myth is overshadowed by the western theoretical concept of myth (“the God’s stories”), which is also totally inconsistent with the characteristics of Chinese mythology. Chen Lianshan conducts an in-depth theoretical analysis of the research on mythology in modern China, indicating that the mythological concept of “the God’s stories” has penetrated into a large number of specific disciplinary studies. First of all, the creation of series Chinese literature history adopts the modern western concept of myth. According to Chen Lianshan, “Numerous versions of ‘History of Chinese Literature’ written by modern scholars start from myths of the remote antiquity, which can be read as the endeavor to borrow the mode of western history of literature in order to establish a new mode in China. The introduction of the modern western concept of myth and the discovery of myth in ancient Chinese literature enables Chinese to seek a common ground with the western culture.”2 Besides, studies on ancient history also adopt the modern western concept of myth. As far as Chen Lianshan is concerned, 1 Tan

Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.77. 2 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.144.

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“with the help of the modern western concept of myth, the school of ancient history overturns the historical outlook that the traditional Chinese culture is completely divine. The introduction of the concept of myth is utterly vital for the Chinese people to reject their traditional culture and build a new one that is close to the modern western culture.”3 It is thus clear that dozens of subjects in China are telling Chinese ancient literature history and history in accordance with the western concept of myth. A great many disciplines immediately adopt such an imaginary western concept of myth, which leads to doubts and denials of traditional Chinese culture and history. “People are too busy to consider whether this borrowed concept of myth conforms to the reality of the Greek myth? Does it fit the fact of the ancient Chinese literature? And should it be revised?” says Chen Lianshan.4 “The modern Chinese mythology is the fruit of bringing in modern western culture, the research on Chinese myth will surely be done through ‘a comparison between China and the West’. Nevertheless, the fact that the west is stronger than China makes people consciously or unconsciously set the western culture as a learning example, and thus treating western understanding of myth as a standard for the Chinese mythological researches instead of regarding it as an equating side. In the long history of over a century, western myth and its concept seem to fully shroud the research on Chinese mythology.”5 The cultural disadvantages of mechanical application of the western concept of myth go without saying. Talking about the East with the West directly results in the lack of confidence in the Chinese culture. Chen Lianshan also states briefly that “it is a fault for the Chinese mythological studies to concentrate on digging ‘the God’s stories’ but neglect the historical narration about ancient emperors, the major form of divine narrative in ancient China.”6 “I think that by simply imitating the western mythology that we cannot solve the real problem in China and may even produce more false academic statements. Many people blindly believe in western theories and take them to randomly prune the Chinese mythological materials without a second thought. This is a deadly weak point in modern Chinese mythological studies. The western culture and the Chinese culture are two distinctive cultural systems, in which myth will have different social positions and social functions.”7 For the sake of satisfying the western concept of myth, mythological specialists turn a deaf ear to the reality of the Chinese mythological historical materials and cut them randomly, fabricating a lot of false propositions. This kind of mythological research adhering to other concepts of myth actually leads the research nowhere. 3 Tan

Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.145. 4 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.145. 5 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. pp.146–147. 6 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 20192019. p.155. 7 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.163.

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Li Chuan is also dissatisfied with modern scholars’ methods of “recreating Chinese myth”. From his point of view, “Since the western countries (ancient Greek) have their myth, China, which is not inferior to them, should have its own myth, too. Under the western scientific theories, the sole academic purpose of ‘recreating Chinese myth’ is only to compete with the West, and Chinese classics become the object of Western theoretical interpretation. In the empirical mode of objectifying the local resources, modern scholars only discover the ‘fragments’ similar to the Western ‘myth’ in Chinese classical books. But not reconstructing the texts by ‘inserting and piecing up’ materials to build a complete system of Chinese mythology. As a consequence, it seems to be problematic when entering specific academic practices.”8 The thought of comparing is deeply rooted in the minds of the modern Chinese people. They obstinately hold that since the western world has philosophical thoughts and myths, so has China. Under such a thinking pattern, sayings like “philosophical breakthrough” or “mythological stories” become settled down in the Chinese academic circle. However, with regards to its cultural essence, the research on modern Chinese myth under the view of “philosophy” is after all incompatible with China’s reality. The idea of breaking some principle without making a new one is the academic standpoint from the post-modern scholars. Mythological China should not only explode the out-of-date concept of myth but also, based on local culture and practical experiences in mythological research, audaciously transform the old-fashioned concept of myth into a new one to fit China’s actual conditions. Ten years earlier, Ye Shuxian had published his work named “Chinese history of myth – From ‘Chinese myth’ to ‘mythological China’”, in which he initiates a brand new great outlook of myth studies. He writes, “it is a big mistake to classify myth into literature in today’s disciplinary system for the concept of myth is far broader than literature. As the expression of the ancestors’ wisdom, myth represents the genes of culture. The subsequent branches including literature, history and philosophy cannot cover all concepts that myth implies. Myth, the divine narration, coexists with the prehistorically religious beliefs and ritual activities and acts as the joint source for literature, history and philosophy.”9 Ye Shuxian believes that myth not only refers to all fragmented mythic stories in written literature but also points to the common cultural origin of literature, history, and philosophy, which is the special indication of the Man’s intelligence in primitive age as well as the cultural genes of national spirit. This big concept of myth immediately jumps out of the literal textual concept of myth and gets rid of the western concept of myth themed around “God’s stories”. In the book of Mythological China, Ye Shuxian juxtaposes the expression of “western concept of myth” and “axial breakthrough” and makes in-depth theoretical reflection. He says that “the beliefs in destiny, divine virtues and son of heaven have never escaped Chinese history. If we say that myth, as a research object, appears as an independent mythology because it is opposite to philosophy and science, then the 8 Tan

Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.169. 9 Ye Shuxian. “Chinese history of myth – From ‘Chinese myth’ to ‘mythological China’”. Journal of Baise University, No. 1, 2009.

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best account for the existence of myth without mythology in China is that there has never an authority of philosophy and science in Chinese tradition. This fact subverts the saying that ‘axial breakthrough’ is suitable for the Chinese cultural history.”10 The key terms that represent traditional Chinese culture including “destiny”, “divine virtues”, and “son of heaven” convey the cultural belief and the myth of divine heaven. Ye Shuxian underlines although China has no philosophy or mythology, it does not mean that the China has no myth. He particularly emphasizes that despite of the fact that traditional China does not have western-styled mythological stories; it has overwhelming mythological narrations regarding the Chinese culture. Other writers of Mythological China have their unique understanding of “myth”. They attempt to interpret the concept of myth based on traditional and modern understanding of China. Lyu Wei considers that “because mythology pays special attention to the belief forms of myth and further purifies the belief forms so as to target at the possibility to practice and understand man’s original form of existence… Only under the conditions of sanctifying man’s true nature of morality, transcendence and divinity can man act as a man and become a man. Myth tells no other than the religion-formed stories of how can a man act as and become a man.”11 Starting from human being’s self-imagination of myth, Lyu Wei reveals that the myth is a form of faith and a transcendence of the true faith as well. Hu Xiaohui thinks that myth is not an external knowledge that has nothing to do with people.“Myth is the discourse concerning the ‘divinity’ of things. Its divinity is reflected in the presentation of the integrity of man and things instead of segmenting them partially in perception or knowledge.”12 Hu Xiaohui suggests people move forward from the epistemology of myth to the ontology of myth and finally activate myth within man’s life being so that myth opens itself to the real world. It can be concluded that myth and man’s life are two sides of the same coin, and that myth is the live life experience other than the stiffed and rigid knowledge. Yang Lihui promotes the opinion of “now-oriented” neo-mythicism, which gives attention to effective activation and cultural application of traditional myth in today’s society. She points out that “‘neo-mysticism’ refers to the large-scale renaissance trend treating myth as magic in the global literary world and art world, thanks to the electronic technology and virtual reality since the end of the 20th century.”13 “I put forward the concept of ‘mythicism’ for the sake of exploring the situations where mythical tradition is misappropriated and reiterated in contemporary society.”14 “An unquestionable social fact is that the development of the emerging electronic technology is far from accelerating the disappearance 10 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.17. 11 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.65. 12 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.100. 13 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.123. 14 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.130.

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of myth, instead, it revitalizes myth and spreads “mysticism” widely. In particular, the young people increasingly rely on electric media to comprehend mythic tradition.15 Neo-mythicism holds that myth is not only an old cultural tradition but also the cultural manifestation across time and space. In the era of industrial civilization, myth can survive as a form of civilized residents and a cultural pattern of the symbiosis of historical tradition and current existence. Mythological China profoundly rethinks about the concept of myth in contemporary China, calls for the big concept of myth within local knowledge, demystifies the big spirit of myth where myth is regarded as genes and the source of culture and builds a new-type of big tradition in on myth studies that suit both traditional and modern China, which immensely surpasses the time-space concept at all times and all over the world.

2 Mythological China: Recognizing the Standpoint of China’s Myth In his work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn calls the cultural phenomenon of “a shift of the professional promise of scientific mélange” in an unusual period as “scientific revolution” or “paradigm shift”.16 Mythological China both criticizes the bad habit of blindly following the western theories in contemporary Chinese academy and renews the written concept of myth of little tradition in the westward “God’s stories” from the standpoint of local culture, so as to advocate to recognize China with the new outlook on myth of big cultural tradition to establish a new paradigm of myth studies on the origin of human civilization. At this time, the primal myth that is antagonistic to and suppressed by “philosophy” changes itself from the edge to the center and from fiction to history. Myth, once misunderstood as irrelevant to culture by the academia, suddenly turns itself into an edged tool to understand the Chinese cultural spirit. The theory in Mythological China deconstructs the actual philosophy breakthrough and the false concept of myth in the West. Meanwhile, it evinces the mythic codes and cultural genetic functions to understand “China is China for china’s sake”. Ye Shuxian holds that “for this reason, we should advertise the powerful topic of the theories of ‘mythological China’ and ‘mythological history’ to resist or replace the misleading theory of ‘axial breakthrough’. It has a history of seven to eight years since it was initiated in 2009, during which more updated academic propositions have been derived, such as ‘the determinism of concept of myth’ and the theory of ‘cultural genes’. The pregnancy of such propositions can be regarded as a process to attempt to suspend foreign theoretical discourses that are inappropriate for the local, and harbors a more 15 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.131. States) Thomas S, Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, trans. Jin Wulun & Hu Xinhe. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2003. p.5. 16 (United

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in-depth understanding of the local historical recount and the intellectual history.”17 In the light of the fabled concept of myth, the Doubting Antiquity School believes that the early history of China is the historization of mythological legends, which is unreliable and questionable. Now, if we review the early-stage Chinese civilization by shifting the standpoint to the local concept of myth as a cultural gene, or from the mythic perspective of big traditional culture, we will obtain a new paradigm. With the mythical cultural resources, the Chinese aborigines tell the origin of China and humanistic history and simultaneously reconstruct a cohesive and eternal Chinese spirit belonging to mythologization of cultural history, which further gives birth to the new historical outlook of “mythological history”. By comparing mythological history and mythological historization, we can find that the former is a divine narration of history and mythic ideas believing that history both serve as a mythological recount and real expressions of man’s emotions in myth telling. By contrast, mythological historization takes ancient history as fabrication that is totally doubtful and even denies historical traditions, which goes too far. Based on the big mythical tradition in the corresponding period, Mythological China creates a series of related local theoretical propositions and cultural systems, such as “the determinism of myth”, “cultural genes”, and “n-level cultural codes”. From the comprehensive viewpoint of Mythological China, “China” is released from the standard of the written small tradition. “China”, in this context, is no longer what it used to be in 3,000 years ago when oracle bone inscriptions emerged but the one with a ten thousand-year cultural tradition and mythic beliefs. If redefining “China” in the ten thousand-year belief in jade myths and taking a broad view of “China” under the big cultural tradition, China will change itself from a three thousand-year literal China to a mythological China with a civilized history and mythic beliefs of over 10,000 years. Starting from this point, to explain “China is China for China’s sake” is to discover the most fundamental national spirit and cultural identity in China’s culture, we should not only point at the cultural significance of written words but also focus on the belief in jade myths of big tradition protected and inherited by the Chinese ancestors more than 10,000 years ago. Mythological China not only eliminates the conclusion of civilization source in western literary criteria but also offers us an effective and surpassing new path of mythic outlook to recognize “China” and refine the Chinese spirit. In “Chinese history of myth – from “Chinese myth” to “mythological China”, Ye Shuxian holds the opinion that “the initial Chinese history vividly features ‘mythic history’. The consistent perspective of literary anthropology and historical anthropology is the channel to reenter Chinese civilized tradition and re-comprehend the Chinese mythic history. These ancient classics like Book of Documents, Spring and Autumn Annals, Rites of Zhou to Shuowen Jiezi reflect the uniform logic as mythic thinking codes. With reference to the jade myths and sage myths that are passed down from 8,000 years earlier, we hope the academic circle change from the literary ‘Chinese myth’ to the culturally

17 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.17.

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comprehensive ‘mythological China’.”18 Only after abandoning the concept of myth in western benchmark can we break away from the extremely narrow literary written outlook of “Chinese myth” and produce fire-new paradigm which will shift recognizing China from the narrow written mythic stories to the big tradition of mythic thinking under the culturally comprehensive view, so “Chinese myth” will become “mythological China”. Tan Jia agrees and addresses that “For long, the international academia has just admitted the Chinese history since the emergence of inscriptions on bones in the Shang Dynasty, which is more than 3,000 years later than the birth date of characters. Meanwhile, there are numerous scholars at home and abroad comprehend ‘China’ simply on the standpoint of modern nationality but negate or neglect the big Chinese cultural tradition that has lasted for several thousand years, denying a Chinese cultural community of more than 5,000 years and ignore the fact that Chinese culture based on the origin of civilization has been expressed and passed down for thousands of years.. Myth – It should be the best vehicle for us to integrate history.”19 Mythological China, born in mainland China, is not only suitable for understanding the origin of the Chinese civilization but also fits for knowing the undiscovered origin of civilization from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age when characters are not existed. The concept of myth in big tradition discovers a brand new “China”. And, to some extent, it discovers a brand new “mythological world”, in which a share of the global village is welcomed. Mythological China shows us that to recognize “China is China for china’s sake”, researches cannot be limited in the written world but should stretch to the timehonored big tradition to discover the cultural genes of “China”. After extracting the mythic codes and cultural genes of the big cultural tradition, we can decode the multi-layers of cultural codes in small tradition. Ye Shuxian underlines that “all critical prototypes of the Chinese culture come from big tradition of the non-literary age. The coinage and analogy of pictograph, which is represented by inscriptions on tortoise shells, is itself from big tradition. There is no atheism at the time of big tradition, thus the core ideas and concepts of the coinage and analogy in question are undoubtedly dominated by the concept of myth. If we fail to escape from literary inquisition, only investigating the flow of myths without tracing its source, we have no idea to find out the true prototype.”20 The previous prototype concept in academic circles targets the prototype of little traditional culture in literary age, which is not yet the primary form of the Chinese culture. Inscriptions on oracle bones signal the burgeoning period of the Chinese characters. Their cultural significance cannot only be interpreted through written words. We should place ourselves in the big tradition in the non-literary stage in order to find out the truth of cultural codes of coinage and

18 Ye Shuxian. “Chinese history of myth – From ‘Chinese myth’ to ‘mythological China’”. Journal

of Baise University, No. 1, 2009. 19 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.17. 20 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.45.

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analogy. It is obvious that to understand the authentic China, we should touch and see the real prototype of mythic beliefs in big cultural tradition. Mythological China can also help us know a fresh value of some concept in Chinese traditional culture, such as “Tao begets one (nothingness; or reason of being), one begets two (yin and yang), two begets three (heaven, earth, and man; or yin, yang, and breath qi)”, “yin and yang as well as wuxing (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water)”, and other traditional cultural topics. Previously, the academia banished a whole set of cultural concepts of the Chinese traditional culture to the cold palace of superstition and absurdity, taking them as a betrayal of “science” and a symbol of backwardness and barbarity. Only based on Mythological China can we know that such concepts of myth standing for “China is China for China’s sake” can precisely facilitate us to understand once again a brand new China of culture with a horizon of sustainable development. For instance, Yang Rubin probes into the cultural judgment of “scientific” rationalism on wuxing, commenting that “At a time when the word ‘science’ becomes a popular slogan, wuxing is naturally considered as a symbol of China’s backwardness and the chief culprit for China’s underdeveloped science. Like foot binding, queue and opium, wuxing is deemed as the leftover of feudal China, which should be thrown into the ashes of history.”21 At the same time, by putting wuxing into the new view of Mythological China, Yang Rubin illuminates and discovers the epidemic perception of mutual promotion and restraint among the five elements, holding that such a cultural restriction will, on the contrary, endow “science” with an entirely different scientific notion. According to him, “the perspective is shifted; source tracing is a radical reform. The previous ‘theory of wuxing’ may be a promising trend instead of a thing of the past. It unveils the primitive and neoteric physics which is greatly different from the current technological physics.”22 Wuxing is neither superstition nor the opposite side of science any longer. It is an initial concept of myth that can be integrated with science. Wuxing (the five elements) not only need to be rediscovered, but also need to be explained. Only by attaching an importance to “yin and yang as well as wuxing” can we get to know the most crucial cultural genes of “China”. In Yang Rubin’s opinion, “With the ever-changing history, however, history itself is squeezed to the corner of the society and becomes a sign of backwardness and superstition. What’s more, the ‘theory of wuxing’ that constructs these artistry theoretical factors is regarded as a ‘stronghold of superstition’. Nevertheless, when returning to the source to observe the birthplace of wuxing, its noble status can be easily seen. When it comes into being, it had been listed as the first of nine divisions in Book of Documents – Great Plan. It also plays a key role in the implementation of the national law.”23 Mythological China not only frees wuxing and transforms it into “science”, but also reminds Chinese in the period 21 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.224. 22 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.228. 23 Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing:

SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. p.230.

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of industrial civilization that only with the foothold of the Chinese spirit can they get a clear understanding of the social question of “Why China is China for China’s sake?” Or the cultural question of “why Chinese are Chinese?” Mythological China is not only a cultural proposition that needs urgent attention, but also a paradigm innovation with a visionary direction. It is a kind of academic gift of literary anthropology from the diligent, enthusiastic, and dedicated contemporary Chinese academic scholars. We cannot neglect or even separate ourselves from myth to understand China,. Otherwise, the misinterpreted China will be far away from China in its essence. Only by going back to the mythic world of big Chinese tradition can we truly see the mythic beliefs and cultural root of the Chinese nation. Setting off from this point, a huge number of cultural concepts once suppressed and veiled by scientism in the traditional Chinese culture, in some way, will be liberated in the paradigm revolution of mythological China and the exclusive great wisdom of early Chinese will be revealed. Moreover, a great variety of mythological propositions like mythological lives, mythological world, and the mythological outlooks on both man and thing is waiting for being discussed by the open-minded scholars who gets rid of the bad habit of following the western pattern and standing on our own native theoretical foundation in the academic circle, so as to enrich their connotation and build a new cultural theoretical system that fits our local reality. In short “Mythological China” makes the first meaningful attempt and endeavors to inspire more talented ideals. It aims for the future yet looks forward to more contemporary innovation at the same time.

References Tan Jia Ed. Mythological China: Retrospection and Development of Chinese Mythology. Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2019. Thomas S. Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, trans. Jin Wulun&Hu Xinhe. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2003. Ye Shuxian. “Chinese history of myth – From “Chinese myth” to “mythological China”, Journal of Baise University, No. 1, 2009.

Chapter 7

Origin of Humanity: Images on Prehistoric Colored Pottery and Chinese Spirituality

As an activity of world creation by the sages, the production of prehistoric earthenware has gone through stages from the formless clay state of the Chaos to gaining independent expressions of the universe. In term of cultural significance, the concepts of heaven and earth conveyed in the prehistoric pottery are in line with the actual world in the universe, which became the cultural origin of the sacred world found in the art of ceramic pottery. From the separation of the dark chaos to the creation of heaven and earth, and the generation of Yin and yang from Taiji, the most outstanding manifestation of the creation myth in pottery production is the emergence of the Yin– yang image. This is crucial in helping us to understand the cultual significance of prehistory pottery, in particular, the Yin–yang Taiji theory as core value of China’s spirituality from a new perspective.

1 Arguments Over the Origin of Taiji Chart Theory in Ancient Classical Literature In classical literature, the theory that Taiji (the Great Ultimate) separated and generated the two energies, yin and yang, has become the core of Chinese spirituality and creation myth. Zhou Yi/ Xi Ci 周易 /繫辭上 (Book of Change/Xi Ci vol. I) wrote, “Therefore, a door closed is called Kun坤, an opening door is called Qian乾. To close and open the door is called a change or Yi. The continuous coming and going without interruption is called tong 通 (constant course of things). What we see is called Xiang 象, an image; the form of Xiang is called Qi 器, a definite thing. The production and application of Qi is called a method or law. What is practiced and followed by all people is called divinity. Therefore, from Yi (Changes) comes Taiji, which produced the two elementary forces as yin and yang.”1 1 (Kingdom

of Wei) Noted by Wang Bi, (The Tang Dynasty) commented by Kong Yingda, Notes and Commentaries on Book of Changes, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1999, pp.288–289. © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_7

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Liu Xie wrote in his work the Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons that “Humanity originates from Taiji. It is the trigram images in Book of Changes that cast light on this subtle truth.”2 Originally illusory and shapeless, the divine Tao, after heaven was separated from earth, is changed by destiny, opening and closing as well as ascending and descending repeatedly and endlessly. The transformation and variation of such an invisible force are demonstrated by different astronomical, geographic, humanistic, and objective phenomena. The trigram images in Book of Changes showcase the space-time changes of yin and yang in the universe, implying the initial value of the Chinese spirituality. However, as the literary explanations of literature increase repeatedly and become complicated, the origin of Taiji and Yin–yang theory is gradually forgotten, giving rise to a variety of arguments over it. In the Book of Changes by the sages, there are only trigram images but no graphs of Yi. By the Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars had held that Taiji chart was created by a profound scholar named Chen Tuan. For example, History of Song Dynasty (vol. 435)—Biography of Zhu zhen records that Zhu Zhen wrote in his work Han Shang Yi Jie (Interpretation of Yi), “Chen Tuan passed down Xian Tian Tu, the Chart of the Primordial to Zhong Fang, who passed it on to Mu Xiu, then to Li Zhicai and Shao Yong respectively. Zhong Fang handed down He Tu (Image of the Yellow River) and Luo Shu (Book of the Luo River) to Li Gai, then to Xu Jian, to Fan Echang, and to Liu Mu. Mu Xiu passed on Taiji chart to Zhou Dunyi, and to Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi. At that time, Zhang Zai was giving a lecture to Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Shao Yong. Thus, Shao Yong wrote Huangji Jingshi Shu, Liu Mu stated the 55 numbers of heaven and earth. Zhou Dunyi and Cheng Yi respectively wrote Tong shu and Yi Zhuans, Zhang Zai compiled Taihe and Can Liang. Now, based on Yi Zhuan and the comments by Shao Yong and Zhang Zai, I will cover the contents ranging from the Dynasties of Han, Wei, Wu, Jin, Tang up until today. By seeking common ground while preserving differences, it is expected that we will arrive at the same end by different means.”3

Here Zhu Zhen had made a detailed inheritance diagram of Taiji chart in the Song Dynasty. Major specialists of the Confucian school at that time have their relevant own works, such as Shao Yong’s Huangji jingshi shu, Liu Mu’s Yi shu gou yin tu, Zhou Dunyi’s Taijitu shuo, Zhu Zhen’s Han shang yi zhuan, Zhu Xi’s Original Meaning of Book of Changes and Yi xue qi meng. They all believed that taijitu was invented by Chen Tuan. From the Song Confucians’ understanding and recognition of taijitu, the relationship between taiji and taijitu is as follow: the inherited thought of taiji was firstly born before a number of Song Confucians including Chen Tuan created taijitu shuo. Taiji is ahead of taijitu theory. Taijitu was invented by the Song Confucians, but did not exist before that (Figs. 1 and 2). 2 (Southern Liang Dynasty) Noted by Liu Xie and Fan Wenlan, Notes on the Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 2001, p.2. 3 (Yuan Dynasty) Compiled by Tuo Tuo et al., History of Song, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1977, p.12908.

1 Arguments Over the Origin of Taiji Chart Theory in Ancient Classical Literature

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Fig. 1 Fuxi Drawing the Bagua, extracted from (Ming Dynasty) Sancai tuhui, compiled by Wang Qi and Wang Siyi, Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 1985, p.527

The Taiji chart invented in the Song Dynasty led to divergence between traditional philology and bibliography of Book of Changes, and thus caused many doubts. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some scholars came up with different conclusions in regard to the origin of Taiji chart through textual research on literature. They considered that Taiji chart was not invented by Chen Tuan or Zhou Dunyi during the Song Dynasty, but passed down by ancestors. Some of them deemed that the pattern of Taiji chart came from Taoism, which included Huang Zongyan’s Taijitu shuobian, Mao Qiling’s Taijitu shuo yiyi, and Zhu Yizun’s Taijitu shoushou kao. In particular, other scholars insisted that the traditional teachings of Yi were a study of the sages, while the study of images from the Book of Changes was related to the practice of Neidan health preservation originated from the Taoist school. Both were different and there was a great gap between them. In his work Yitu mingbian tici (Explanations of Images of Yi), Hu Wei of Qing Dynasty commented, “All additional contents attached to the images of Book of Changes can be disregarded… It will be beneficial to treat the Image of Taiji created by later scholars and Book of Changes as two different subjects, for it will cause more harm to both if combine them as one.”4 To briefly summarize the trajectory of Taiji chart theory from its emergence, development to doubt, we can see that since the Song Dynasty, scholars have attached great importance to the research and interpretation of the traditional study of Yi (let’s call it Yi-ology). First of all, their cultural visions were limited by the literary literature of the traditional Book of Changes. Whether Taiji chart was invented by the Song 4 (Qing

Dynasty) Hu Wei, Yitu mingbian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.1.

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Fig. 2 Zhou’s Taiji Chart, extracted from Zhou Dunyi’s Collection, compiled by Zhou Dunyi, Changsha: Yuelu Publishing House, 2002, p.1

Confucians or the debates over this issue by their counterparts in Ming and Qing period, both belong to arguments within the small tradition. In addition, both sides regarded the traditional thought of Taiji as two categories of knowledge: The Song Confucians viewed that the Taiji image study reflected the thought of yin and yang in the Book of Change, which scholars in the Ming and Qing Dynasties considered as related to the Taoist teaching and different from the yin and yang theory in the Book of Change written by the sages. In other words, the study of Taiji chart by the Song Confucians is a subject emerged later in history, which has inconsistent contents with the thought of yin and yang in the Book of Change at an earlier time. Now that the key issues concerning the Taiji chart debated by scholars since the Song Dynasty are sorted out, we can move away from the text prototype of the small cultural tradition and re-trace the cultural origin of the Taiji chart theory from the culture prototype of the big cultural tradition (namely, prehistoric pottery). In this way, we may be able to gain a clearer scientific understanding.

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2 Yin and Yang Dualism Shown on Prehistoric Colored Pottery Recently, Chinese literary anthropologists have advocated the cultural theory of “big tradition” and “small tradition”, which overturns the concepts of “great tradition” and “little tradition” proposed by western anthropologists regarding cultural structure and symbol significance. American scholar Robert Redfield initiated the theory of great tradition and little tradition supported by western anthropologists in his book Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization, which regarded written cultural tradition as great tradition while oral cultural tradition as little tradition. In contrast, literary anthropology considers cultural tradition after writing (in the case of China, the Chinese characters) was invented as small tradition while the pre-writing tradition as big tradition. There is no denying that the Book of Changes, as ancient classical written text, belongs to the early coding symbols of the small tradition, which is very close to the prototype of the big tradition. Yet before the book was written, had the thoughts of yin and yang and Taiji already existed or not? If it did, how were they expressed at a time when there was no writing? In Han Shu/Yi Wen Zhi 漢書: 藝文志 the Book of Han— Records on Literature, Ban Gu commented that “The doctrine of Book of Changes has a long history and far-reaching meaning, which was built on the works of the Three Sages and has expanded three eras.”5 Here the “Three Sages” are Fuxi the creator of bagua, King Wen of Zhou the inventor of the hexagram and Confucius the writer of Shi Yi 十翼 Ten Wings, whose combined works have laid down the foundation of the Taiji and the yin and yang theory and established the symbol system of the Book of Changes. And the so-called “three eras” refer to the early, mid, and late ancient times. In 周易本義 Zhou Yi Benyi the Original Meanings of Book of Changes, Zhu Xi of Song Dynasty remarked that “During the early ancient time of Fuxi, there was no written language but pictures and images, which calsl for in-depth contemplation and appreciation. It also indicates the subtle meaning of the original thought of Taiji and the yin and yang. From the mid-ancient era of Zhou King Wen, with the invention of writing, Taiji theory was turned into the Book of Changes as it is today.”6 Zhu Xi’s cultural explanation on the origin and inheritance of the Book Of Changes shows that the Book of Changes may have taken the form of images in the period of big tradition. The theory of big tradition advocated by literary anthropology highlights the original cultural form in prehistoric non-writing age, when substantial images as a cultural text became a vital code of expression to narrate the prehistoric cultural spirit. Archeological findings during the past 100 years have provided rich and abundant evidences of substantial images for the interpretation of the Chinese ancient history and spiritual order in the pre-writing age. As the eyewitnesses and participants of history, these unearthed materials and images are prehistoric cultural prototypes that 5 (Han

Dynasty) Ban Gu, Book of Han, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1964, p.1704. Dynasty) Zhu Xi, Original Meaning of Book of Changes, punctuated and collated by Liao Mingchun, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2009, p.28.

6 (Song

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are more qualified to prove the cultural significance of the ancient history, since they represent the symbolic expression of early cultural order and core values, especially the implicit transformations of creation myth in prehistoric time. Prehistoric pottery is not only a kind of unearthed ancient utensil but also a special cultural text, integrating pictorial art to ceramic vessel production. It is these special images that convey the early sages’ creation inspiration and original codes of the cosmic world. As a mini-universe created by the sages, prehistoric pottery has color paintings that are not just a pure artistic form but a critical symbolic expression and cultural extension accompanying creation mythic imagination. Chinese creation myths focus on the chaotic world, the origin of Taiji and the birth of yin and yang. Fuxi established bagua in the form of painting. Among various preserved earliest humanistic images, such as cliff paintings, frescoes, pottery, and jaded and boned artifacts, pottery had the closest relation with the lives of the early people. This is because the loess worship of the early people and prehistoric pottery are homologous in nothingness and isomorphic in form and destiny. Both are “made of clay”. The emphasis of prehistoric pottery, especially paintings by the sages on them, can help us understand the mythic imagination experienced by the sages during pottery production in relation to creation myths. The differentiation of Taiji and yin and yang is a dual structure and complementary movement of interaction of yin and yang. The colored clay pot (Figs. 3 and 4) decorated with genital image unearthed in Hongshanmiao Village, Ruzhou, Henan Province is a utensil with a history of 6,500 years in the middle era of the Yangshao culture. It was hand-made and kneaded with red clay and used as a special burial

Fig. 3 Clay pot, Miaodigou category of Yangshao culture, approximately 4,500 BCE, unearthed at Hongshanmiao Ruins, collected by Henan Museum, from Ruzhou Hongshanmiao, colored version 1 and colored version 3

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Fig. 4 Pattern of yin–yang interaction on pottery jar, extracted from Ruzhou Hongshanmiao Figure 33

container. The patterns on it reflect the worship of male reproduction in the Yangshao culture, which showcase the imagination of the transformation of lives and the universe, implying that residents in the period of the Yangshao culture had had the concept of the yin–yang dualism. In the image of Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother of the Yi ethnic group (Fig. 5), the embracing Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother are depicted as two dragons, which also represent the relationship of yin and yang in their Taiji image. If we compare these two images with those on the clay pots unearthed at Hongshanmiao Ruins, we will find that the former patterns may not necessarily refer to two male genitals but indicates the dual interactions between heaven and earth and the yin and yang, which are opposing, embracing, and reciprocating at the same time. Of course, it is hard to assume that such an embracing pattern of yin and yang signifies that Yangshao people had the cultural awareness of Taiji image. Nonetheless, it is quite obvious that the early concepts of the differentiation and mutual transformation of yin and yang in the universe had rooted in the collective unconsciousness among the Fig. 5 Image of Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother, Yi ethnic group, from Yiwen Dianji Tulu, compiled by Wang Jichao and Chen Guangming, Guizhou Publishing Group, 2013, p.9

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Yangshao people more than 6,500 years ago, which may become the initial cultural codes of the traditional thought of Yi-ology (Fig. 6). Then comes the bird pattern on the clay urn (Fig. 7) collected in Weinan, Shannxi Province. In the middle, there is a circle, which is divided in half by a beak-shaped image, with a black dot on both the upper and the lower semicircles. The image looks as if two round beads are naturally moving in the round plate with the two halves resembling two encircling crescents, which fits in the dual structure and can be interpreted as the dual differentiation and opposition of the mythic thought. The grid-patterned urn (Fig. 8) unearthed in Qin’an County, Gansu Province in 2002 belongs to the Dadiwan category of the Yangshao culture. Dual separation is reflected in the circular pattern on the protruding part of the vessel. On both sides of the oval patterns are the images of two embracing crescents, which are decorated with plant ornamentation, implying the pregnancy and differentiation of life power. Fig. 6 Taijitu of Yi ethnic group, from Arts of Ethnic Group of Yi in Northwest Guizhou: Nashi, Illustrations in Ancient Classics in Yi Language, compiled by Chen Changjiu, 1993, p.57

Fig. 7 Abstract bird-patterned colored clay urn, Miaodigou category of Yangshao culture, with a history of nearly 6,500 years, extracted from Chinese Original Colored Pottery, p.126

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Fig. 8 Grid-patterned colored urn, Dadiwan category of Yangshao culture, unearthed at Qin’an County, Gansu Province in 2002, collected by Lanzhou Research Society for Majiayao Culture, extracted from Appreciation and Recognition of Majiayao Colored Pottery, compiled and edited by Wang Haidong, Lanzhou: Gansu People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, 2005, p.20

The grid-patterned pottery pot (Fig. 9) excavated in Dadiwan, Qin’an County, Tianshui, Gansu Province, was produced in the middle period of the Yangshao culture with a history of 5,500–6,000 years. The patterns on the side of the container manifest layers of surrounding crescents. The colored clay pot (Fig. 10) found in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province with a history of about 5,500–6,000 years is categorized as the Miaodigou category of the Yangshao culture. At the belly of the utensil is a jade disk encircled by crescents. The vortex-patterned colored protruding pot (Fig. 11) discovered in Miaodigou, Shanxian County, Henan Province is also a component of the Miaodigou category of the Yangshao culture. It has decorative patterns of revolving dots and crescents that look rather solemn and gorgeous. To sum up, the colored patterns on the pottery of the Yangshao culture embody universal mythic images polarized from a chaotic status in the creation myth. Some Fig. 9 Grid-patterned clay pot of Dadiwan category in Qin’an County, Tianshui, Gansu Province, mid-period of Yangshao culture (with a history of 5,500–6,000 years), extracted from Colored Pottery, p.23

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Fig. 10 Colored clay pot, Miaodigou category of Yangshao culture, with a history of 5,500–6,000 years, unearthed in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, collected by the Palace Museum

Fig. 11 Vortex-patterned colored pottery protruding pot, Miaodigou category of Yangshao culture, with a history of 5,500–6,000 years, unearthed at Miaodigou, Shanxian County, Henan Province, collected by Xi’an Banpo Museum

of them are in the form of integrated two dragons, such as the pottery jar unearthed in Ruzhou. Others are presented with the image of embracing crescents that represent the cultural concepts of yin-yang. In the pre-writing period of Yangshao culture, such thought of yin and yang was manifested by mythic images instead of written words. In addition, it resembled the form of Taiji chart invented by the Song scholars. This provides us with substantial image evidences from big tradition to discuss the cultural source of Taiji chart in the Chinese civilization and broadens the cultural horizon while extending the historical time of the Chinese spirit to a large extent. Moreover, the mythic images in the Yangshao culture had been developed rapidly by the time of Majiayao culture, which featured a central jade disk embraced by two crescents or leaves-shaped pieces on both sides. In archeological term, it is called the “vortex pattern”. In fact, based on their cultural consciousness of the yin–yang dualism, we can name the vortex pattern yin–yang embracing pattern in order to highlight the structural awareness of yin–yang interaction. The vortex-patterned color pottery vase (Fig. 12) collected in Qin’an County, Gansu Province belongs to the utensils at the late stage of the Yangshao culture. The patterns of the pot preserve the characteristics of the Yangshao culture that a jade disk is surrounded by two crescents.

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The painted-in double-fish color pottery bowl (Fig. 13) unearthed at No.1 Tomb, Wang Baobao Fortress, Lanzhou, Gansu Province in 1966 is in the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture. In the bowl draws two opposite fish, a jade disk is decorated on both sides of the fish and grid patterns are filled between and at the external of the fish. The vortex-patterned color pottery pot (Figs. 14 and 15) excavated in Jinquan, Yongjing County, Gansu Province in 1974 falls typically into the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture and is with a history of 4,050–5,300 years. The dual structure of the patterns on the protruding part of the vessel is representative: in the middle is a dot embraced by two leaf-shaped pieces, which eminently showcases the yin–yang cultural structure. Fig. 12 Curved vortex-patterned colored pottery jar, Shilingxia category at the preliminary stage of early Majiayao culture, with a history of nearly 6,000 years, collected in Qin’an County, Gansu Province

Fig. 13 Painted-in double-fish colored pottery bowl, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, unearthed at No.1 Tomb, Wang Baobao Fortress, Lanzhou, Gansu Province in 1966, collected by Gansu Provincial Museum

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Fig. 14 Vortex-patterned color pottery pot, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–5,300 years, unearthed at Jinquan Ruins, Yongjing County, Gansu Province in 1974, collected by the Museum of Lin Xia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, extracted from Chinese Cultural Relics Classics, p.403

Both the vortex-patterned color pottery pot (Fig. 16) found in Jinquan, Shuijing County, Gansu Province in 1974 and the vortex-patterned color pottery vessel (Fig. 17) found in Wangwan Village, Lianhua Country, Qin’an County, Gansu Province pertain to the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture with a history of 4,600–5,300 years. The patterns on the protruding part of the vessels are in the yin–yang structure of central circles surrounded by two leaves. By comparing this classic yin–yang structure on prehistoric pottery with the Taiji chart created by Lai Zhide in the Ming Dynasty (Fig. 18), we can discover that although there is a gap of several thousand years, the two forms are almost identical. It is thus clear that the original cultural image of the Majiayao culture can be culturally inherited in the later collective unconscious world of the early Chinese people, which is culturally corresponding to the issue concerning cultural inheritance put forward by Carl Gustav Jung when studying the prototype of collective unconsciousness. The vortex-patterned color pottery jar (Fig. 19) unearthed in Yongjing County, Gansu Province in 1956 is a variant of the yin–yang structure in the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture. There are a number of overlapped circles on the central jade disk and an increasing amount of leaf patterns on the rim. The vortex-patterned vase (Fig. 20) discovered in Xinghutai, Lanzhou, Gansu Province in 1973 is also a transformed case of the yin–yang structure of the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture. The jade disk in the middle is bright and clear, and the peripheral overlapped vortex patterns are generated by the dual structure, which is a new trend. As for the vortex-patterned double-ear urn (Fig. 21) collected in Yongjing County, Gansu Province, the middle circular part is decorated with two opposite crescents with diversified surrounding patterns.

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Fig. 15 Vortex-patterned pottery jar, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,600–5,300 years, extracted from colored picture of Colored Pottery, p.38

Fig. 16 Vortex-patterned color pottery pot, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,600–5,300 years, unearthed in Jinquan, Shuijing County, Gansu Province in 1974, collected by Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Museum

The colored earthen bowl (Fig. 22) and the colored pottery bowl (Fig. 23) excavated in Linjia Village, Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province belong to the Majiayao category of the Majiayao culture, in the middle of which showcase the mythic images of two embracing birds or dragons that evidently weaken the central circle. The decoration of yin and yang in the Majiayao culture was distinctly differentiated in the Banshan category and the Machang category, the late stage of the Majiayao culture. In the Banshan category, the jade disk was gradually changed into a round

90 Fig. 17 Vortex-patterned color pottery vessel, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,882–5,369 years, unearthed in Wangwan Village, Lianhua Country, Qin’an County, Gansu Province

Fig. 18 Taijitu, Lai Zhide of Ming Dynasty, extracted from Iconography of Book of Changes Noted by Lai Zhide

7 Origin of Humanity: Images on Prehistoric Colored Pottery …

2 Yin and Yang Dualism Shown on Prehistoric Colored Pottery Fig. 19 Vortex-patterned colored jar, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–5,300 years, unearthed in Yongjing County, Gansu Province in 1956, collected by National Museum of China

Fig. 20 Vortex-patterned vase, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,600–5,300 years, unearthed in Xinghutai, Lanzhou, Gansu Province in 1973, collected by Gansu Provincial Museum, extracted from Chinese Pottery (vol. 1)

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Fig. 21 Vortex-patterned double-ear urn, Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, with a history of approximately 5,000 years, collected in Yongjing County, Gansu Province

Fig. 22 Colored pottery earthen bowl (plan view), Majiayao category of Majiayao culture category, unearthed in Linjia Village, Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province, extracted from Chinese Colored Pottery Atlas (with picture), p.168

dot, creating a new layout of an integration of the jade disk with the peripheral dual lines (Figs. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29). The greatest feature of the Machang category pottery of the Majiayao culture is the synchronization of the central jade disk, which emphasizes the cultural image of the two embracing dragons and therefore demonstrates the integration of the yin– yang structure. Such a cultural structure is seen in the Majiayao category of the early Majiayao culture at a relatively late stage, such as the abstract bird-patterned colored

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Fig. 23 Colored pottery bowl (plan view), Majiayao category of Majiayao culture, unearthed in Linjia Village, Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu Province, extracted from Chinese Colored Pottery Atlas (with picture), p.169

Fig. 24 Vortex-patterned contracted-mouth double-ear colored pottery vessel, Banshan category of Majiayao culture, unearthed at Dibaping Ruins, Guanghe County, Gansu Province

pottery bowl (Fig. 30) collected in Yongjing County, Gansu Province with a history of about 5,100 years. The round pattern in the middle has disappeared, replaced with a dual image of two embracing phoenixes. If we compare the yin–yang patterns of two embracing dragons or phoenixes of the Majiayao culture to the Taiji chart created by Zhang Qicheng in the Song Dynasty (Fig. 31), once again we can see the extreme similarity between them. Influenced by the Yangshao culture and the Majiayao culture, the painted vortexpatterned inclined straight-neck jug (Fig. 32) unearthed at Taosi Ruins, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province have a typical pattern on its protruding part. In the center was a round dot, surrounded by leaf-shaped ornamentation. It is the most representative cultural structure of the unitary center surrounded by a dual outer edge in the Central Plains Yellow River culture. The pottery ding (Fig. 33) unearthed in Dawenkou has multiple jade disks over-

94 Fig. 25 Vortex-patterned pottery pot, Banshan category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,300–4,600 years, extracted from Chinese Original Colored Pottery, p.30

Fig. 26 Pottery jar, Machang category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–4,300 years, a collection of Liu Lansheng

Fig. 27 Pottery jar, Machang category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–4,300 years, a collection of Liu Lansheng

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2 Yin and Yang Dualism Shown on Prehistoric Colored Pottery Fig. 28 Vortex-patterned jug, Machang category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–4,300 years, a collection of Liu Lansheng

Fig. 29 Pottery jar, Machang category of Majiayao culture, with a history of 4,050–4,300 years, extracted from Gansu Colored Pottery

Fig. 30 Taiji chart by Zhang Qicheng, Song Dynasty; extracted from Yi Yuan, (Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1985) p.8

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Fig. 31 Abstract bird-patterned colored bowl, Majijayao category, early Majiayao culture, with a history of 5,100 years, collected in Yongjing County, Gansu Province

Fig. 32 Painted vortex-patterned inclined straight-neck jug, Taosi culture, with a history of 3,900–4,600 years, unearthed at Taosi Ruins, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province

lapping in the middle and the yin–yang structure in two distinct colors, red and white, at the outer edge, which is the variant form of the Yangshao culture. The pottery jug (Fig. 34) unearthed in Dawenkou has almost removed the middle circle and is painted with multiple encircled lines of yin and yang at the periphery, which closely resembles the Machang category of Majiayao culture. From this, we can see that the colored pottery of the Dawenkou culture is a variant based on the Yangshao culture.

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Fig. 33 Pottery ding, Dawenkou culture, with a history of 4,600–6,100 years, unearthed in Wucun Village, Guangrao County in 1986, extracted from Shandong Cultural Relics Quintessence, p.43

Fig. 34 Colored jug, Dawenkou culture, with a history of 4,600–6,100 years, extracted from Picture Catalogue of Prehistoric Colored Pottery in Shandong Province, p.7

In the Yangtze Basin, a large number of vortex-shaped pottery spinning wheels (Figs. 35 and 36) were unearthed in the region of the Qujialing culture. In the middle of the wheel is a round hole, surrounded by two colored fishtails. This pattern has already had the central element of the later Taiji chart and developed the yin–yang structural mode of the unitary center surrounded by a dual outer edge, which is a relatively mature idea.

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Fig. 35 Vortex-shaped colored pottery spinning wheel, Qujialing culture, with a history of approximately 4,500 years, unearthed at Qujialing Ruins, Jingshan County, Hubei Province

Fig. 36 Colored pottery spinning wheel, Qujialing culture of upper and middle Yangtze River, unearthed at Qujialing Ruins, Jingshan County, Hubei Province, extracted from Chinese Cultural Relics Classics, p.456

Apart from the unitary center surrounded by a dual outer edge, the yin–yang structural mode of the prehistoric colored pottery is also represented by male and female genitals, which act as specific mythic images. A good example is the colored pottery pot with a nude image (Fig. 37) of the Majiayao culture discovered at Liudu Ruins, Ledu County, Qinghai Province in 1974. The head is sculpted on the pot neck, while the chest and abdomen are painted on the front, with the breasts of a female. The genital, however, consists of a penis and a vagina. Such a hermaphrodite implies that the pot is a dual substance of yin and yang and explicitly reveals the dual concept of yin and yang in prehistoric colored pottery. On the silk paintings of the Tibetan Empire (Fig. 39) and the porcelain vases in the Qing Dynasty (Fig. 38), there are images of the intercourse between Fuxi and Nüwa. The yin–yang image of the ancient god Fuxi and goddess Nüwa is culturally inherited from the hermaphrodite in the time of colored pottery. From this, we can experience that from the integrated concept of yin and yang in the big tradition to the

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Fig. 37 Nude colored pottery pot, Majiayao culture, unearthed at Liudu Ruins, Ledu County, Qinghai Province in 1974, collected by National Museum of China

images of intercourse between Fuxi and Nüwa in the small tradition, some changes may take place in their forms, but the mythic codes remain consistent (Fig. 39). Vivid examples of this vortex-shaped dual structure can be found in oral culture and other art forms. For instance, the Munao Zongge (collective dance), a gala of singing and dancing for ancestor worship of Jingpo People in Yunnan Province, Fig. 38 Porcelain vase with image of intercourse between Fuxi and Nyuwa, Qing Dynasty

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Fig. 39 Image of intercourse between Fuxi and Nyuwa, Xizhou, Tang Dynasty, unearthed at Astana Cemetery, Turpan, now collected by Turpan Museum, extracted from Turpan Cultural Relics Quintessence, p.153

shows their respect to ancestors and manifests the uniform spirit of the whole people by music and dances. After Dongsa (shaman) serves the Munao pillar of Mudai, the greatest Lord of the Jingpo religion, the dance ceremony begins. Tens of thousands of dancers enter the stage following the drum beats and dance strictly according to the patterns on the Munao column after the leading dancer. (Refer to the road map of the dance team for the detailed route, Fig. 40). They first walk from north to south, imitating the process of their ancestors’ immigration from the north (reportedly the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) to the south. Then, they return from south to north, demonstrating that their ancestors’ tracing back to the place of their origin and acquiring the regression to and integration with their ancestors mentally and psychologically. A dancer is demanded to make no mistake concerning the dance steps. Otherwise, he will be blamed by the God and suffer disasters.7 Despite the Jingpo people’s explanation that this sacrificing dance aims to enact the people’s immigration from the north to the south, the cycle from north to south and back to north tallies with the destiny cycle of heaven and earth as well as yin and yang. It is itself a mythic practice of the yin–yang structure. Now let us have a look at the “Cosmic rotating chart of Qi” (Fig. 41) drawn by the Northern Shamans. It shows two wriggled and spiral snakes representing yin and yang, which is the same as the dual outer edge on the colored pottery, providing a material evidence as oral culture for the duality reflected on the colored pottery. In Chinese folk paper cutting (Fig. 42), there are a large number of designs that depict the yin–yang concept and “bagua fish” patterns that manifest the unity of man and Mother Nature. Besides, Shebianpo (Figs. 43 and 44), patterns at the split of 7 Jiang

Shuzhuo, On Religious Art, Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 2005, p.42.

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Fig. 40 Road map of the Munao dance group of Jingpo people

Fig. 41 “Cosmic rotating chart of Qi” drawn by Northern Shamans, extracted from Shaman Arts, Fu Yuguang, Academe Publishing House, 2010, p.113

the traditional Oroqen female robe and other patterns have the ancient bagua vortex patterns that provide another vision for us to unveil the dual outer edge of yin and yang of the prehistoric colored pottery. In particular, the Taiji chart passed down by generations of the Yi people (Fig. 45) is not an image of two embracing rigid fish but two encircling dragon-like snakes. This extends the mythic image of yin and yang.

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Fig. 42 Yin–yang concepts and “bagua fish” patterns in Chinese paper cutting Fig. 43 Shebianpo, patterns at the split of the traditional Oroqen female robe and other patterns are the ancient bagua vortex patterns

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Fig. 44 Oroqen clothing pattern

Furthermore, it breaks through the structure of yin and yang in the mode of two embracing fish and shows that in mythic ideas, the dual structure of yin and yang can be expressed in many ways including a pair of fish, dragons, leaves, and snakes. That the opposite image can be used to express the unity of opposites of yin and yang in the myth is distinct from the double-fish image in the passed-down texts.

3 Cross-Cultural Study on Image of yin and yang on Prehistoric Colored Pottery Looking beyond the traditional “twin-fish” yin and yang image, we can find that the yin and yang creation concept conveyed on prehistoric pottery is not just the mythic imagination of early Chinese people—all around the world, prehistoric human beings had created a variety of images of dual opposite structure. International archeological discoveries have proved that with regards to the consciousness of the dual opposite yin–yang structure, the prehistoric man has a global prehistoric cultural form. For instance, the mammoth ivory carving (Fig. 46) unearthed at Malta Ruins, Siberia, with a history of about 24,000 years, has spiral patterns like a coiling snake. Such a great discovery does not necessarily prove that the Chinese Taiji chart originated from here, but at least it offers the cultural information that the indigenous

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Fig. 45 Taiji chart of the Yi ethnic group, extracted from Yiwen Dianji Tulu, compiled by Wang Jichao and Chen Guangming, Guizhou Publishing Group, 2013, p.10

people in ancient Europe during the Paleolithic Period had the idea of dual differentiation concerning yin and yang, which acted as a cultural source for the later derivation of human thoughts. Another example goes to the clay seal in the Neolithic Period (Fig. 47) excavated at Catal Hüyük Ruins, Anatolia, in 6,500 B.C., which also has helical snake patterns. The pottery clay seal and pottery jar (Fig. 48) unearthed at Frumus, ica Ruins, northeast Romania, a component of the Tripolye–Cucuteni culture in 4,500–4,300 B.C. has obvious dual opposite decoration of yin and yang. The pottery vase (Fig. 49) unearthed in Trus, es, ti, Northeast Romania belongs to the second phase of the Tripolye–Cucuteni culture around 4,500–4,400 B.C. On its large pear-like bottom features two reverse coiling snake patterns and at the head of the snake carves a small hole. This pattern closely resembles the Taiji chart appeared from the Song Dynasty and onward in China. The ancient Ukraine neighbored the current region of Xinjiang. On the pottery jar (Fig. 50) with a history of over 6,000 years unearthed in Ukraine, there are distinct yin–yang patterns. On the head of the pattern lies a pair of eyes. The Kamares ware dated 2,000–1,800 BCE (Fig. 51), unearthed in the Crete Island on the Mediterranean Sea, is a typical kind of West Asia prehistoric pottery

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Fig. 46 Coiling snake-like spiral patterns, mammoth ivory carving unearthed at Malta Ruins, Siberia, with a history of about 24,000 years, extracted from The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization, (America) Marija Gimbutas, translated by Su Yongqian and Wu Yajuan, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press (China), 2016, p.93

with colored drawings. In the colored drawings, there is a red fish above and a sky dark fish below, two of which are embracing each other. On both sides of the fish paints the decoration of two coiling snakes. The pottery bowl (Fig. 52) discovered at Ondashi Ruins Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, was produced in the early J¯omon period (5,000–2,500 B.C.). At the belly of the utensil decorates the yin–yang pattern of two encircling snakes, which greatly resembles the late patterns of Majiayao culture. The pottery jug (Fig. 53) with an immortal figure unearthed at Moheji Ruins, Hokkaido, Japan, belongs to later J¯omon period (1,500–1,000 B.C.). The front and back of the jug feature two almost identical human figures which are placed symmetrically. The differences of them lie in that for the front figure, the eyebrows and the nose are presented as a “T” shape and the ears are perforate while for the rear figure, the eyebrows and the nose, a “Y” shape and the ears, non-perforate. It can be seen that such tiny discrepancies demonstrate the dual opposite structure of yin–yang differentiation and hermaphrodite on the pottery pot (Fig. 54). According to the Four-level Evidence Method proposed by Chinese Literary Anthropologists, the prehistoric artifacts unearthed in and outside China are classified as the quadruple evidence, while the oral myths and substantial images of ethnic groups belong to the triple and quadruple evidences. If we make an all-round observation by combining these cultural phenomena and substantial evidences in different times and spaces with the Taiji chart appeared in post-writing literature, we

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Fig. 47 Snake patterns on pottery clay seal in the Neolithic Period, 1 Anatolia Neolithic Period, unearthed at Catal Hüyük Ruins, about 6,500 B.C.; 2/3 Tripolye-Cucuteni culture, unearthed at Frumus, ica Ruins, Northeast Romania, 4,500–4,300 B.C. Extracted from The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization, p.135 Fig. 48 Pottery jar, Tripolye-Cucuteni culture (2nd phase), 4,500–4,400 B.C., unearthed at Frumus, ica Ruins, Northeast Romania, extracted from The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization, p.353. Two reverse brown coiling snake patterns on the pottery jar of Tripolye-Cucuteni culture (2nd phase)

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Fig. 49 Pottery vase, Tripolye-Cucuteni culture (2nd phase), 4,500–4,400 B.C., unearthed at Trus, es, ti Ruins, Northeast Romania, extracted from The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization, p.353

Fig. 50 Pottery jar, with a history of 6,000 years, Ukraine, photo by Yi Hua in National Museum of the History of Ukraine

can explain the cultural source of the dualism of yin and yang as well as the theory of Taiji chart in a brand new, comprehensive way.

4 Conclusion The patterns of the prehistoric colored pottery in the Yangtze River Basin show that the prehistoric Chinese residents had the cultural mode of the unitary center surrounded by a dual outer edge of yin and yang, which offers a prehistoric cultural

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Fig. 51 Vortex-shaped pottery jar, photo by Zhai Yuzhong in Oleksandr Polishchuk Private Museum, Kyiv, extracted from Genes of Human Civilization: The Dividing Line between Human Dual Concepts and Global Culture, Beijing: Central Compilation & Translation Press, 2017, p.39

Fig. 52 Kamares ware, 2,000–1,800 B.C, unearthed in Crete Island on Mediterranean Sea, collected by Heraklion Archaeological Museum, extracted from Foreign Porcelain Art Classics, p.225

source to understand the passed-down Chinese Taiji cahrt. During the period of the big cultural tradition, the dual structure of yin and yang did not exist in the form of written words but was expressed with substantial images. Such a cultural structure and mythic codes of unitary jade disk with a dual yin–yang structure belongs to the original code of the cultural spirit of Book of Changes. In the era of Fuxi, the dual combination of yin and yang was drawn into the form of bagua, shaping the primary code of image culture in Book of Changes. By the time of King Wen of Zhou, bagua

4 Conclusion

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Fig. 53 Japanese pottery bowl, early J¯omon period (5,000–2,500 B.C.), unearthed at Ondashi Ruins Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, collected by Agency for Cultural Affairs, extracted from The Treasure Japanese Art Objects, p.23

Fig. 54 Pottery pot with an immortal figure, later J¯omon period (1,500–1,000 B.C.), unearthed at Moheji Ruins, Hokkaido, Japan, collected by Tokyo National Museum, extracted from The Treasure Japanese Art Objects, p.24

had been derived into hexagram and the passed-down texts of Book of Changes had come into being, which acts as the tertiary code of the book in question. When it comes to the Han, Wei, Tang and Song Dynasties, the literary texts coexisted with the image texts, therefore, producing the N-level cultural code of Book of Changes. From this, it is clear that since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Taiji chart created by Confucian scholars is nothing but the reproduction of the cultural heritage, namely,

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the secondary code of yin and yang. Even when the Ming and Qing scholars traced it back to the Taoist origin work of Cantong qi, they only found the N-level code of the Book of Changes rather than the intended prototype. The drawings on the prehistoric colored pottery, instead, are the original cultural prototype of the Book of Changes.

References (Kingdom of Wei) Noted by Wang Bi, (The Tang Dynasty) commented by Kong Yingda, Notes and Commentaries on Book of Changes, Beijing: Peking University Press, 1999. (Southern Liang Dynasty) Noted by Liu Xie and Fan Wenlan, Notes on the Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 2001. (Yuan Dynasty) Compiled by Tuo Tuo et al., History of Song, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1977. (Qing Dynasty) Hu Wei, Yitu mingbian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2008. (Han Dynasty) Ban Gu, Book of Han, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1964. (Song Dynasty) Zhu Xi, Original Meaning of Book of Changes, punctuated and collated by Liao Mingchun, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2009. Jiang Shuzhuo, On Religious Art, Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 2005.

Chapter 8

Mythological Fantasy and Archetype Coding of the Divine Bear Imagery

Professor Ye Shuxian called the year 2006 “My Year of the Bear”, in which he dedicated all his wisdom to the study of “Bear Culture” that led to the publishing of Bear Totem. Since ancient time, the Chinese people have regarded themselves as “descendants of the dragon”. However, Professor Ye used a large number of archaeological objects and images to prove that the Chinese people were originally “descendants of the bear” before gradually becoming “descendants of the dragon”. The “Bear Totem” theory proposed by Professor Ye started with the famous mystery of the bear’s skull (Fig. 1) found in Niuheliang Site, Hongshan Culture dated 5000 years ago. In his essay Enlightenment about Bear Totem on Pilgrimage to Niuheliang, he recorded how he gained his spiritual insights on the significance of the clay bear paw and the bear skull used as sacrifice at Niuheliang, saying: “There seems to be three possible explanations: (1) the existence of the skull of the bear represents the divine bear as the subject of worship by the Hongshan people; (2) as tribal totem, it embodies the concept of blood relationship with the bear as the ancestor of the tribes; and (3) the bear was deemed divine messenger, a medium of communication between man and the bear god.” Of course, Professor Ye’s proposal is not groundless, but supported by many folklore, anthropological and archaeological materials. For this reason, he had cited many cases, such as the worship of bear gods by the Orochi and Northeast Mohe peoples in the Tatar Strait, the bear totem phenomena common in northern Eurasia, the Giliac bear-killing rituals in Sakhalin, the Ainu bear-sacrificing rituals by Japan’s Hokkaido aborigines, and the bear-head altar of the Neanderthals from prehistoric Europe (Fig. 2). In November 2018, a number of media agencies reported about the bear-shaped clay Zun (ancient wine cup) from the collection of Defu Museum of Chaoyang, Liaoning Province. From the alcohol remain found in the cup researchers have confirmed that the cup belongs to the important relics of the Hongshan culture. The fifth issue of Journal of Jilin Normal University in 2018 also published Shao Guotian and Wang Dongli’s Research on the Cultural Value of Bear Clay Zun Cup Discovered for the First Time in Hongshan Culture and Its Alcohol Content as well as Yang Pu and Yang Yang’s Cultural Interpretation of the Modeling Significance of the © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_8

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Fig. 1 Bear mandible, excavated from the ash pit in front of Niuheliang Goddess Temple, has the gum 6 cm in height and the jaw end spacing of 13 cm, which suggests that it is the jawbone of an adult bear. The Hongshan Cultural Relics and Essentials of Jade Ware in Niuheliang Site, edited by Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1997, p.82

Fig. 2 Jade Bear of the Hongshan Culture, collected by Taipei Palace Museum, excerpted from The History of Chinese Civilization in Pictures, 2015, p. 173

Bear Clay Cup as A Symbol of Female Civilization. These two papers, respectively, discussed the cultural connotations of the Hongshan culture in sacrificing wine to gods and goddesses worshipping. The discovery of the bear Zun of the Hongshan culture also provides new archaeological evidence for the study of prehistoric bear culture (Fig. 3). On appearance, the cup features a bear image that looks similar to the shape of a pig, but with a bulkier built and short and stout legs. Zuozhuan—7th year of King Shao says: “I (King Shao) dreamed of a yellow bear coming through my bedroom door.” In Kong Yingda’s commentary to Erya - Shishou, Su Yan annotated: “Bear is a swine-like beast.” In the essay “Hunting Bear as a Brutal Animal” in Zi Zhi Tong Jian 資治通鑒 History as A Mirror - Hanji 24, Hu Sanxing annotated: “Bear,

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Fig. 3 Bear-shaped clay Zun cup, Hongshan Culture, stored in Defu Museum of Chaoyang, Liaoning Province

something like a pig, is of a big size and in black color.” The image of bear seen on the bear clay cup is also very close to the bear described in ancient books. Moreover, it was carved with the unique triangular symbolic of the prehistoric goddess, which Professor Ye described as “as if adding wings to a bear”. As a whole, the cup clearly demonstrates the mythological narration of the belief in the divine bear and serves as the important material evidence after the publication of Bear Totem. This paper has made a further exploration of the image narrative, mythological fantasy, and archetypal coding of the prehistoric bear imagery from the perspective of the big cultural tradition. Especially in evidence material, attention has been paid to the comprehensive use of quadruple evidence method when giving the overall interpretation of the bear imagery and conducting some expanded researches on the prehistoric bear culture.

1 From “only emblematic figures for the construction of implements” to “emblematic figures underlying the construction of implements”: The Divine Imagery Convention in the Era of Big Tradition Based on the situation of local cultural spirit, literary anthropology defines the prehistoric culture and traditions before the invention of written characters as the big cultural tradition, and the civilizations/cultural traditions after the emergence of Chinese characters as the small cultural tradition. The distinction between the big and small cultural traditions can help contemporary scholars break away from the textual limitations and re-establish their viewpoints on the long period of history before the Chinese characters emerged, for a deeper understanding of China as a civilization. In literary anthropology, the academic theory and interest of the big cultural tradition are also directly associated with major historical concepts of the international historians.

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In From Animals to God: A Brief History of Humankind, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari totally abandoned the academic conventions and habits of writing historical stories chronologically. Instead, he extended the human history up to 70,000 years ago and divided this extra-long history into three parts: “There have been three major revolutions in human history: the Cognitive Revolution about 70,000 years ago that officially initiated the history; the Agricultural Revolution about 12,000 years ago that accelerated the history; and the Scientific Revolution about 500 years ago that put an end to the past history and opened a new chapter.”1 From the first cognitive revolution, according to Juval, people began to make up stories of their own history so that they could believe in some common imaginary stories and make it possible for collaboration. After the agricultural and scientific revolutions, as the human egocentrism was expanding, the majority of people on Earth were getting into worse condition. In A Short History of Myth, Armstrong also changed the way a typical mythology book was written. To be specific, Chapter Two of the book is titled “The Paleolithic Age: The Hunting Age (about 20,000 BC–8,000 BC); Chapter Three is “The Neolithic Age: The Farming Myth (about 8,000 BC–4,000 BC)”; and Chapter Four is “The Early Civilizations (4,000 BC–800 BC)”. Armstrong believes that early humans in the “Hunting Age” have formed myths that can overcome the constraints of time, which enable today’s people and their ancestors are linked together. She remarked in the book: “The era of world-creation, which Indigenous Australians can experience again in their sleep and hallucination, has no beginning or ending, and can happen at any time. It serves as a solid background for everyday life, which is dominated by deaths, capricious and endless events and the rotation of seasons. This period belonged to our ancestors, who were deemed as omnipotent archetypal or prototype humans. They taught survival skills to human beings, such as hunting, warring, sex intercourse, weaving and needlework. Therefore, certain divine rituals, rather than secular activities, are necessary for doomed-to-die commoners to be associated with the creation of the world.”2 Modern people believe that the age of creation belongs to the age of ancient myths and legends, and modern people belong to the age of industrial civilization. There are huge cultural differences between the two. However, Armstrong believes that the Paleolithic hunting myths of some 20,000 years ago do not die out over time, because modern people can experience the mythological existence again through sleep and hallucination. To simply put, mythology has gone beyond the barriers and boundaries of time. Big cultural tradition advocated by literary anthropology shares the same principle as “Big History” acknowledged by international academic circles in terms of original narratives of human history. Big tradition aims to re-understand the Chinese spirituality based on the mythological belief in jade over the past 10 thousand years.

1 (Israel)

Yuval Horari, A Brief History of Mankind: From Animals to God. Translated by Lin Junhong. Beijing: CITIC press, 2014, pp. 3–4. 2 (British) Karen Armstrong, A Brief History of Mythology. Translated by Hu Yabin, Chongqing: Chongqing publishing house, 2005, PP15–16.

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However, when it comes to the definition, literary anthropology highlights the differences in the tools of human thinking media and uses the emergence of characters as the dividing line between the big and small traditions. In the pre-writing era of the big tradition, the narrative medium of human civilization and culture cannot be recorded as written tests. So what was the narrative medium for ancient culture at that time? To answer this question, literary anthropology put forward a brand-new concept that is “cultural text”. The cultural text is an important means used by early humans to tell their own stories between 2 million years and 4,000 years ago prior to the invention of writing. Yet due to the absence of written historical records, scholars 2000 years ago found themselves in a perplexed, helpless situation when attempting to piece what had happened during that remote period. For example, Yang Ziju (a contemporary of Laozi) remarked, “The by-gone era has gone forever. Who would have recorded what had happened?” In his epic poem Tianwen (Questions for the Heaven), the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan lamented, “Who recorded what happened at the beginning of the remote past?” As more and more archaeological artifacts have been unearthed, they have provided new opportunities and evidences for the interpretation of ancient human history, the origin of Chinese civilization and the inexplicable ancient memory and cultural laws recorded in some ancient literature. The text of Sanfen (Three Graves) recorded that the cultural representation in the era of ancient Tianhuang Emperors (heavenly emperors) was “制器惟象 constructing implements to reflect images and objects”, as in the following passage from Sanfen - Renhuang Emperor (human emperor) Shen Nong’s Political Canon: “Political Canon says: it is Heaven that gives birth to humans and authorizes the emperors to rule the world; the right rules and teachings are given in regard to people’s food, clothing, funeral and sacrificial ceremonies. These are the political proceedings of a country. The Emperor says: I have no good virtues and need to follow the rules of the ancient sage kings. Alas! The vassals and officials across the country have the right official positions, and of course, the right duties. They may be your sons, fathers, or brothers, all of whom never cause trouble to the political administration. When the two sage kings were ruling the world, there was no paper or writing. They managed their affairs by tying knots and introduced trades to daily lives. That was the way they governed the country. Later the Heavenly Emperor Fuxi formulated the norms for literal and cultural teachings, created Ba Gua (the Eight Trigrams) for divinations, defined the responsibilities of kings and vassals, the tasks of the people, the laws of yin and yang and the military and the signs of war, thus replaced the practice of tying knots to manage daily affairs. As a result, utterance of words was governed by the rules for right speech, emblematic figures were used for the construction of implements, actions were taken as per the law of changes and decisions were made by means of divinations.”3 This paragraph thinks that during the period from the two sage kings to Fuxithe Tianhuang Emperor, history narration was 3 (Ming)Cheng

p. 21.

rong, Series of Han and Wei Dynasties, Changchun: Jilin university press, 1992,

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carried out first by tying knots and then gradually evolved to speeches according to discourse code, constructing implements based on emblematic figures, taking actions following the laws of changes and consulting divinations for decisions-making. This period belonged to the big cultural tradition according to literary anthropology, when oral story-telling and utensil making were the main cultural media. In modern terms, it is from the hunting and gathering age to the early agricultural age, which belongs to the mythological age of mankind’s emblematic figures and oral transmission. The main cultural texts behind the age of emblematic figures are image narration and material narration. The Book of Changes - Xici I also says: “In the Book of Changes there are four things characteristic of the way of the sages. We should set the highest value on its explanations to guide us in speaking; on its changes for (the initiation of) our movements; on its emblematic figures for (definite action as in) the construction of implements; and on its prognostications for our practice of divination”. Both “only emblematic figures for the construction of implements” and “emblematic figures underlying the construction of implements” reveal that in the period of the big cultural tradition, the historical narration of human beings mainly took “images” as the main form of expression. Anyone who has undertaken archaeological field studies will have first-hand experience and some basic idea of “Zhi Qi Wei Xiang 制器惟象 constructing implements to reflect images and objects”. Even after the emergence of characters, the mythological mode of “emblematic figures underlying the construction of implements” remained popular. For example, the bird-shaped clay jug (Fig. 4) of Hongshan culture is a practical daily utensil that also conveys the mythological imagination of the divine bird imagery. The eagle-shaped clay Ding (wine cup) (Fig. 5) of Yangshao culture Fig. 4 Bird-shaped clay jug, found in the Hongshan cultural site of Danangou, Wengniute Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, excerpted from Picture Book of Cultural History of Chinese Minorities: Northeast Volume, pp. 20

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Fig. 5 Eagle-shaped pottery Ding (wine cup), Yangshao culture, excavated in Taiping Village, Huaxian County, Shaanxi Province in 1958, and now stored in the National Museum

uses the mysterious and solemn eagle to describe how the soul relies on the mysterious power of the eagle to cross the earth’s surface and ascend the heaven after death. The three-legged-bird-shaped clay vessel (Fig. 6) of Liangzhu culture shows us the mythological image of the three-legged ravine, which, according to ancient legends, carries the sun across the sky. The phoenix twin cup (Fig. 7) of the Warring States Fig. 6 Three-legged-bird clay vessel, Liangzhu culture, photographed in Jiaxing Museum

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Fig. 7 Phoenix Twin Cup (top view), Warring States Period, unearthed at Baoshan, Jingmen, Hubei Province, 1986, excerpted from Ancient Fine Arts in the Yangtze River Valley Prehistory to the Eastern Han Dynasty: Lacquered Wooden Ware, pp. 59

period seems to tell us that the wine contained in the cups is the magic wine brought by the divine bird from the sky, which will bestow magic power upon us. The tortoise-shaped clay vessel of Hemudu Culture (Fig. 8) highlights the divine tortoise as the core representation of Chinese culture. Divination using tortoise shells and the later oracle bone inscriptions on them was closely related to early mythical narrations. Found in Dawenkou, Shandong Province, the dog-shaped pottery Gui (Fig. 9) depicts the energetic, mischievous and lovely nature of a dog with an air of Fig. 8 Turtle-shaped pottery vessel, Hemudu Culture, photographed at Hemudu Museum

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Fig. 9 Dog-shaped pottery Gui utensil, Dawenkou Culture, found in Dawenkou, Tai’an County, Shandong Province, and stored in Shandong Provincial Museum

mysteriousness, implying the mythical imagination that the divine dog would bring in good luck and blessings. The clay bowl inscribed with a pig (or bear) image unearthed in Hemudu (Fig. 10) has a circular symbol in the middle of the porcine pattern, which Fig. 10 Pig-pattern pottery bowl, Hemudu Culture, found in 1977 from Hemudu Site, Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province, excerpted from Hemudu, Color Edition 14

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represents the integration of mythological narration and practical utensils. In the Bear You (or Pig You) wine utensil of late Shang Dynasty (Fig. 11), the bear has a fat and large body, which symbolizes a source of energy for mythological life. The exquisite twin-sheep Zun cup of late Shang Dynasty (Fig. 12) reminds us of the mythical and legendary world of fine food and reveals the aesthetic concept of sheep as sign of Fig. 11 Bear-shaped or pig-shaped You wine container, late Shang Dynasty, now housed in Shanghai Museum, excerpted from China Bronze Dictionary (Volume 4), pp. 1048

Fig. 12 Twin-sheep Zun cup, late Shang Dynasty, now housed in Nezu Museum, Japan, excerpted from China Bronze Dictionary (Volume 4), pp. 891

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Fig. 13 Jade bear-shaped Zun cup, Qing Dynasty, stored in Taipei National Palace Museum

beauty in ancient mythology. This tradition in utensil making has been carried on through history, as shown by the jade bear-shaped Zun of the Qing Dynasty (Fig. 13), which shares the same origin with the bear pottery cup of the Hongshan culture. As more and more archaeological relics and utensils are unearthed, prehistoric relics and material images have become important cultural texts about ancient history and culture. By making full use of these cultural texts and multiple evidences such as the existing historic documents, unearthed documents, and oral cultural heritage as narration, we will be able to holistically reinterpret the mythical beliefs and cultural essence conveyed in the unique cultural texts of image and material narrations. The spiritual beliefs and human narrative of the big cultural tradition are the real origin of human prehistoric civilization, the first ray at the dawn of civilization in the spiritual world of mankind.

2 Mythological Fantasy of the Bear: The Imagery of the Divine Bear Operating in a Sacred Form Mythological fantasy is the collective unconscious cultural patterns in the mythological age of mankind, representing the collective experiences and memories of the early human beings and reflecting their archetypal imagination on the origination

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story of the universe. The Book of Changes ·乾 Qian ·彖 Tuan says: “Vast is the Qian Yuan乾元, the ‘great and originating power’. All things owe to it their beginning. Hence it contains all the meaning belonging to (the name) heaven. The clouds move and the rain is distributed; the various things appear in their developed forms. The sages grandly understand (the connection between) the end and the beginning, and how (the indications of) the six lines (in the hexagram) are accomplished, (each) in its season. (Accordingly) they mount (the carriage) drawn by those six dragons at the proper times, and drive through the sky. The Way of Qian is to change and transform, so that everything obtains its correct nature as appointed (by the mind of Heaven); and (thereafter the conditions of) great harmony are preserved in union. The result is ‘what is advantageous, and correct and firm. (The sage) appears aloft, high above all things, and the myriad states all enjoy repose.”4 In other words, “Qianyuan (the great element)” was the Initial State of the Divine Tao in the tangible form before the visible form, which was also the initial tangible state of all things. Afterward, Qianyuan became a giant visible object as the primitive existence of the visible heaven and presided over it. This was followed by the forming of clouds and rains and all kinds of things, which were constantly changing with the weather. It can be seen that Qianyuan is the initial archetype of all things between heaven and earth, which is eternal and immortal. The celestial sphere as the earliest visible giant object was born out of “Qianyuan”, and therefore, it is considered the closest to the “Qianyuan”. The celestial body is also the most long-lasting tangible thing. Although all things were also born in Qianyuan, all things were actually the result of the movement of cloud and qi. In this sense, the existence of all things should keep pace with the times and move at any time. The word “Liuxing (various forms)” should have two meanings. One is that all things are given life by “Qianyuan”, and the other is that they exist for eternity. The other is that all things change because of “time and Qi”, and they are in the process of change, and the movement of all things at any time is in a state of eternal movement. This is how everything is made due to creation. The mythological fantasy stems from the collective unconscious imagination of “Qianyuan”, which abounds with complete and unvarying divine power. It is the dominant and original source of all things that is invisible, inaudible, and untouchable. Everything originates from Qianyuan, but its physical existence is influenced by the changes in qi movement, which is a kind of mobile and endless existence. Therefore, the cultural feature of mythical fantasy is changing yet unvarying, that is, remaining unchanged in changes. The existing structure of all things can be imagined as the AB organic form. A is the unchangeable part of “Qianyuan”, which belongs to the invisible part of the sacred source. B is a variable and changeable part of the qi movement, representing the movements of all things as the visible divine physical existence, the changing states of the sacred form. The so-called sacred form of movement means that the original natural life existence A is eternal and constant, whereas the visible external existence B naturally 4 (Wei Dynasty) Annotated, Wang Bi; explained: (Tang) Kong Yingda: Accurate Implications of the

Book of Changes, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2000, pp. 8–10.

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moves from one mythological form B1 to another BN. Therefore, “Liuxing” means that BN (number) types of concrete and visible mythological archetypes have been obtained, which correspond to the Eight Tri-grams and the Sixty-four Tri-grams in the text of the Book of Changes. We sum up this mythological structure as follows: A Qianyuan (invariant)—B Liuxing (1-N archetypes), abbreviated as AB (1-N). The mythical fantasy about the movement of sacred objects belongs to the collective unconscious cultural pattern of the early human beings, which differs greatly from the later development of human consciousness alienation. The movement of sacred objects is a kind of natural collective behavior of unconscious sanctification and movement, with the basic unit being the mythological archetypal image AB (1N). The movement of sacred objects is based on the qi movement between heaven and earth. Such movement varies with the change of the qi movement, not subject to any artificial factor enforced by people. In the natural state, all forms of things arrange their own external behavior according to the emblematic archetype of sacred objects. Its structural model is below: invariant A—qi movement B (eternal flowingchange)—sacred object B (1-N)—mankind and all things. However, the alienation of human consciousness is a kind of self-distinction and self-unity of human consciousness, mainly in the units of concept and category. The consciousness constantly uses the concept and category to make various artificial cultural distinctions of their own existence, and then chooses from the self-defined categories he/she thinks is the best part of themselves in the real world, becoming integrated into such part. At the same time, it dislikes the part of themselves which they think is bad in the world, separating that part away. The alienation of human consciousness becomes the cultural root of human egocentrism. In particular, after the emergence of characters, human consciousness relied upon all kinds of characters to carry out word puzzles of wisdom splice, conjured up different cultural imaginations of ego and self-existence, and made new shackles of self-existence in a continuous and rational manner. The small cultural tradition of characters is doomed to the rational predicament and artificial destiny centered around self-consciousness. It can be, therefore, said that the universality and unity of human self-consciousness are built upon the illusive superposition of concepts and intentional acts. As a tangible object, a man gradually loses the mythical fantasy and ecological wisdom of AB (1-N) in the archetype of sacred objects. Therefore, mythological fantasy is the ecological model of the unity between nature and mankind, as it is existent in terms of qi and movement and in realities. On the other hand, consciousness alienation is but the abstract unity of self-rationality and conceptual splice. Between mythological fantasy and consciousness alienation, there are huge differences in both cultural and thinking patterns. In prehistoric hunting times, early people realized from their hunting experience that the hibernation behavior of the bear fully showed the seasonal changes of the universe in qi movement. That is why they had the mythical illusion of the bear, and why they believed that the natural movement and change of the divine bear was a kind of sacred behavior which conformed to the destiny of heaven and became the form of flesh. In The Living Goddesses, Gimbutas wrote: “The bear’s history as the nurturer of the universe can be traced back to the late Paleolithic period. At that

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Fig. 14 Hunting Bears and Long-tailed Monkeys, Lanchiga, India, World Collection of Rock Paintings, pp. 74

Fig. 15 Bear rock painting, Chauvet Cave, Alderdale Canyon, France, about 30,000–28,000 B.C., edited, H.W. Jensen: Jensen Art History, Beijing: World Publishing Company, Beijing, 2012, pp. 3

time, people must have observed the bear’s annual hibernation and resuscitation pattern, and the bear becomes the perfect symbol of death and regeneration: when it hibernates, it figuratively enters the underworld; when it comes out of the cave, it’s a figurative rebirth.”5 A rock painting of a bear-hunting scene in Lanchiga, India shows that when spring comes the bears will come out from hibernation. It’s a good time to hunt for fat bears (Fig. 14). As described in the bear rock painting of 30,000 years ago found at the mouth of the cave at Chauvet in France’s Alderdale Canyon (Fig. 15), hunters seemed to have waited a long time for the hibernating bear to emerge from its den in time. After the winter sleep, the bears became fat and oily. They climbed out of the dark caves, which meant that the spring season had arrived. Another example is the two bears carved on the edge of a prehistoric bear pottery pot 5 (US)

Gimbutas, The Living Goddesses, translated by Ye Shuxian, Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008, pp. 13.

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Fig. 16 Bear sketch on a prehistoric pottery pot, Negada Phase I excavation, Egypt, some 5,900–5,650 years ago, now stored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA

(Fig. 16) unearthed in Phase I Negada, ancient Egypt. The pot is shaped like caves. When the bear comes out of the cave, it means the arrival of vitality for all lives. The bear is also integrated with the other plant images on the pot. Shuowen Jiezi says: “Bear熊, is a pig-like beast that lives in mountains and hibernates in winter; its character follows ‘能’ (ability), pronounced as Xiong.” 6 “Hibernation in winter” reveals the physiological characteristics of bear hibernation, so bears are also called hibernating beasts. When spring comes, the thunder awakens the bear from hibernation, and the bear begins to recover. In Annotations to Plants, Birds, Animals, Insects and Fish in the Book of Songs (Volume II), Lu Ji wrote: “A bear can climb tall trees. When seeing a man, it turns the body upside down and plummets into the ground. In winter, it goes into a cave to sleep; in summer, it comes out of the cave. The fat of the bear is called ‘bear’s white’.”7 The bear is considered as the cultural symbol of the cosmic phenology and festivals. The bear hibernates in winter and emerges in spring, which is completely in line with the qi movement between heaven and earth. Because of its natural habits, the bear is destined to become the divine bear in human culture. Huainanzi Vol. 10 - Miuchengxun says, “A honest and trustworthy person is always happy and reliable, just like an owl that loves singing or a bear that prefers regularity (hao jing 好經). Are they being self-important by doing

6 Edited,

Wang Ping and Li Jianting: Shuowen Jiezi with Punctuation Marks: Classified Retrieval as Attachment, Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore Press, 2016, pp. 260. 7 (Wu State during the Three Kingdoms Period) Lu Ji, Annotations to Plants, Birds, Animals, Insects, Fish in the Book of Songs, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, pp. 50.

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Fig. 17 Jade ring with two bears and two monkeys, West Han Dynasty, unearthed from Dou’s Tomb in the eastern suburbs of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, from Complete Works of Jade Unearthed in China 14 (Shaanxi Volume), pp. 144

so?”8 The theme of this paragraph is that the innermost voice is never categorized as false behavior. As to the “Hao Jing 好經” in the divine bear, “Jing” means maintaining the normality as usual (e.g. hanging). The cultural representation of the bear’s Jing fully embodies the archetypal characteristics of sacred objects of the divine bear. In the jade ring of the Western Han Dynasty (Fig. 17), the two bears and the two monkeys form a contrast, dividing the space and time of the universe into four parts. This shows the element of the cultural code of the bear and the monkey formed in the period of big cultural tradition. Because the bear’s physiological behavior is in sync with Mother Earth’s seasonal changes, Gimbutas called it the bear goddess or mother bear (Figs. 18, 19 and 20). Mythological fantasy is also characterized by the fact that mortals are no longer earthly beings if they approach the sacred objects and move with them; rather, their behaviors are dominated by their own mythological fantasy or sacred objects. All kinds of human myths about the bear fully represent the natural pursuit of the perfect unity of bear nature and bear form. When man changes into the divine bear, he is close to the mythical fantasy of destiny and can feel the synchronic and consistent relationship between himself and nature. As a result, man becomes a sanctified person. People completely disguise themselves as the bear by mimicking bear-like rituals, such as wearing a bear coat, bear skin or a bear mask, or copying a bear’s movements. Through these mythical rituals of bear transformation, the ritual performer (human)

8 Liu

Wendian: Notes to the Collected Works of Honglie in Huainan, revised by Feng Yi, Qiao Huadian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1989, pp. 330.

2 Mythological Fantasy of the Bear: The Imagery of the Divine … Fig. 18 Mother Bear on a modern Haida carpet with buckets, excerpted from American Mythology, pp. 19

Fig. 19 Bear Goddess: Yakin Lovendori, Shaman Goddess Paper Cut, excerpted from Guan’s Shaman Paper Cut, pp. 115

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Fig. 20 In Slavic mythology, the Greater Bear god Velez (Eastern Europe) is the guardian god for livestock, property, and commerce, and a symbol of gold and wealth. Velez is associated with agriculture worship, regarded as the god of the whole people, and sometimes linked to with the worship of bears. It is also known as “Volos”. the Greater Bear god Velez (Eastern Europe). Excerpted from Humanities and Religion, pp. 192

acquires a bearish physical experience as well as the invisible divine existence A like the divine bear B (1-N). The ritual outfit of northern shaman (Figs. 21 and 22) portrayed 58 mythological images including 9 dragons, 6 deer, 7 birds, 4 bears (2 in front and 2 in back), 4 snakes, 4 frogs, 4 flies, 2 tigers, 2 lizards, 14 human figures, and 2 celestial spheres, which are basically symmetrically arranged. These images are drawn by shamans (most of them are female), and fully embody the unique ancient cultural pattern of imagery narration. Most of the bear and other animal images on the outfits act as spirit messengers between shamans and the gods and demons of heaven and earth, which have become the central mythological tool for shamans to travel around the earth and soar into the sky. The bear-shaped armor of the Qing Dynasty (Fig. 23) showed the distinct feature of the soldiers becoming bears. Clad in such bear-shaped armor, a soldier seemed to have

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Fig. 21 Shaman outfit in the North (front), excerpted from the Collection of Traditional Patterns Collection of the Hezhe People, pp. 174

become a very fierce bear and obtain the courage of the bear to show extraordinary, invincible force in the battlefield. Another example is the bronze mirror of the Warring States period (Fig. 24) engraved with two warriors, a bear and a tiger. Many scholars used to believe that this bronze mirror depicted the hunting of bear and tiger. If putting the mirror under the cultural background of the bear belief during the hunting times, we may understand that the warrior could get rid of their own banality by imitating the motions of a bear or a tiger, and become as strong as them, powerful and intimidating. Since the Paleolithic Age, the bear and tiger had become cultural symbols of sacred power and divine wisdom, hence, the sacred objects imitated by warriors. Shiji: History of the Five Emperors states: In the time of Xuanyuan (Yellow Emperor), the reign of Shen Nong had weakened greatly. The vassals raised wars with each other and harassed the people, but Shen Nong could not chastise them. It was Xuanyuan who overcame them all. The vassals all surrendered and paid homage to him except Chiyou, the fiercest of all, could not be subdued. Meanwhile, Yandi (the Flame Emperor) was planning to invade the vassals, so they turned to Xuanyuan, who practised virtue, marshaled his men, controlled the five elements, cultivated the five kinds of grains, pacified the nation, and brought in laws and orders to all parts of his country. He trained black bears, grizzly bears, foxes, panthers, lynxes, and tigers to fight.

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Fig. 22 Shaman outfit in the North (back), excerpted from the Collection of Traditional Patterns of the Hezhe People, pp. 175

Together they fought against Yandi the ‘Flame Emperor’ in the desert of Banquan. After three battles, Xuanyuan won the war and eventually realized his wishes.9

Here in the Battle of Banquan mentioned above, the so-called “Huangdi training black bears, grizzly bears, foxes, panthers, lynxes, and tigers” actually means that the Yellow Emperor clothed his soldiers in beast-like amours which gave them the beast’s divine nature, thereby obtaining the incomparable spiritual strength and finally claimed the victory of the war. As for bear dance, tribal people believe that when they dance to the drum beats, the bear will give them the strength and wisdom they need to make a successful hunt. When a Hezhe shaman wears a bear mask made of fish-skin (Fig. 25), it means that he is riding on the spirited bear and can travel all over the sky and into the earth 9 (Han dyansty) Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959, pp. 3.

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Fig. 23 Bear-Shaped Armor, Qing Dynasty, excerpted from Selected Works of Shandong Provincial Museum, pp. 154

to acquire the unique magical ability to connect with spirits and gods. Chukchen shaman, who is dressed in bear skin and holding Shaman’s drums in his hand, seems to have acquired magical powers of communicating with gods and ghosts (Fig. 26). In North American, Indian shamans need to be in contact with the spiritual forces of nature to ensure the health and well-being of the tribes. In order to attract, lure, or control these forces, shamans need to find objects of special texture that would bring them “great mana (supernatural power)”. The shamans are dressed to heal, by wearing bear skins, snake skins, and other talismans.”10 (Fig. 27). A bear ceremony is very important to the Crees, and they have to make careful preparations for it before each bear hunt starts. This is because the bear spirits are so immense and powerful. Each step of the ceremony, from the hunters’ clothing to the cutting and consuming of the bear meat, has detailed instructions, prayers, and sacrifices. The grand ceremony takes place in the hall. Hunters never forget to pay 10 (UK)

Jones, J. Moreno. American Mythology. Trans. Yu Shiyan. Guangzhou: New Century Publishing House, 2011, pp. 19.

132 Fig. 24 Bronze Mirror with Bear-Tiger Pattern, Warring States Period, unearthed from the Qin Tomb at Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hunan Province in 1975, now stored in the National Museum of China, excepted from The History of Oriental Arts and Crafts, pp. 267

Fig. 25 Hezhe people’s fish-skin bear totem mask

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Fig. 26 Sketch of the Sacrificial Ceremony of Chukchen Shaman

homage to the bear’s spirit. They cut a piece of meat from the bear’s heart and throw it into the fire, praying that the bear’s owner will give them more bears to hunt. At the end of the ceremony, the hall gate is opened and the bear spirit flees into the forest and returns to its owner. If the steps are correct, the bear will return to its original form so that the hunter can kill it again. Sometimes, a hunter who returns home with a good catch will place the bear’s head in the house overnight, thinking that he will dream of the bear and this will bring good luck to the future.11 (Fig. 28). In ancient Greece, the ritual of changing of a woman into a bear was a true portrayal of the social conventions of some ancient Greek states. In the Athenian town of Blaurent on the Attica peninsula, there was a temple for the goddess Artemis, where the ritual of turning a girl into a bear was popular. Athenian girls were said to arrive at the temple of the goddess at the age of eleven or twelve, dressed in brownish-red robes to play the role of bear in the bear-changing ritual. A girls’ race event was included as well. According to local myths, the goddess (Artemis) was very fond of bear and deer, and there was a domesticated female bear kept in a cage in the temple. A local young girl fought a female bear and was scratched in the face by the bear. The girl’s brother shot the bear. The goddess was so angry that she spread epidemic there. When there was nothing they could do to ease the situation, they went to the Temple 11 (UK)

Jones, J. Moreno. American Mythology. Trans. Yu Shiyan. Guangzhou: New Century Publishing House, 2011, pp. 19.

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Fig. 27 Shaman clad in Bear Skin, nineteenth Century Painting by George Catlin, excepted from American Mythology, pp. 22

Fig. 28 Tribal Bear Dance Ceremony, excerpted from Jones, J. Moreno. American Mythology. Trans. Yu Shiyan. Guangzhou: New Century Publishing House, 2011, pp. 19

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Fig. 29 The two bears standing in front of Xuanyuan Temple, the hometown of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)

of Apollo in Delphi to pray for a solution. The priestess of the temple instructed that the Athenian girls must perform the ritual of changing into a bear, in which they were dressed as bear; each of them had to kill a goat as a substitute for themselves and enter the temple as a virgin priest to serve the goddess before returning to the society after a period of isolation. After this their identities would change from a girl to a marriageable young woman. This ritual may be one of the coming-of-age ceremony for girls, symbolizing the demise of a young girl’s past and the rebirth of her new life.12 In prehistoric China there were also a lot of myths about the sages’ transformation into bear. For example, the Yellow Emperor called his country “Kingdom of You Xiong (Bear)” and adopted the title of “You Xiong Shi (literarily bear owner)”. Gun turned into a yellow bear after he was killed. His son Yu changed into a stone bear after he died, and the stone opened and gave birth to Qi. Both man and bear are tangible existences. When a man becomes the divine bear, he gets rid of the banal existence of human body and obtains the divine attributes as the divine bear. Afterward, the man enters the state of the heavenly movement and the bearish existence, without need for cyclic corrections. In the bear-changing event, the bear serves as the sacred object, while the man imitates the features of the bear as the sacred object, so as to approach the original natural divinity and obtain the divine characteristics beyond the individual existence. In front of the temple in the Yellow Emperor’s hometown (Fig. 29) stand two solemn statures of bear to commemorate the emperor’s legendary battle during which he took the form of a bear, which has become the sacred symbol of the Yellow Emperor. On the lacquerware unearthed from the Han tomb at Dabaotai in Beijing (Fig. 30) are written the four characters “Huang Xiong Wei Shen 黃熊為神 (Yellow 12 Edited:

Wang Qing: Illustrating the Ancient Greek Mythology, Jinan: Shandong People’s Publishing House, 2014, pp. 124.

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Fig. 30 The four characters “Huang Xiong Wei Shen (Yellow Bear as God)” written on the lacquerware unearthed from a Han tomb at Dabaotai, Beijing, excerpted from The Dabaotai Han Tomb in Beijing (picture edition 54)

Bear as God)” (Fig. 31), which shows the state of a man turning into “Yellow Bear” and the mythical illusion of becoming one unity with heaven. Both the standing bear man and the bear man of the Six Dynasties unearthed from Marquis Haihun’s Tomb in Nanchang (Figs. 32 and 33) have a bear’s head and a human body, which reveals the process of man turning into bear as he becomes sanctified. The transformation of a man to bear means that through the imitation of the bear, a man starts to develop bearish vitality and divinity to achieve transformation of the inner spirit and the outer body. In other words, only when one becomes a sage can he obtain the divine experience after the bear transformation. Both the sage and the bear are the manifestations of the universe. The ancestor worship picture (Fig. 33) in the Yitong Folklore Museum consists of two parts: one is within the wall where the images of ancestors sitting upright in the pavilions, the other is outside the wall with various animal spirits, including two sacred bears. This shamanic ancestor painting implies that within the wall one exists as a human being; outside he becomes the divine bear. The wall is nothing but a compartment of time and space. In different compartments, man can become bear and bear become man. However, as the acquired beings, men are often trapped in the quagmire of the pragmatic world and unable to break free from it. As a result, they are falling further and further from their own spiritual existence, which leads to premature damage to their vital energy, causing various diseases even death at an early age. Since bears can live subconsciously according to the natural phenology and keep in pace with the cosmic movement, they belong to the long-living creature among the beasts. The ancient classic Baopuzi 抱樸子 records: “According to Yu Ce Ji (Jade Strategies), a bear can live 500 years, after that it obtains immortality.”13 The 13 Li

Fang et al., Taiping Yulan (Reading of the Taiping Era), Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education Press, 1994, pp. 253.

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Fig. 31 Jade Bear, unearthed from Marquis Haiwu’s Tomb of the West Han Dynasty, Nanchang

Inner Chapter of Baopuzi - Duisu says: “When reaching 500 years old, a bear can transform (into god).”14 People of the remote past imagined that if men could turn into a bear, mimic its movements and behaviors, they would be able to keep the qi movement of the internal body at the same pace with that of nature and live a long life like the divine bear. Because of this, the mythical imaginations of health protection initiated by the concept of bearish changing have evolved in Chinese culture and the traditional Chinese medicine. Section 15 of Zhuangzi - Keyi goes: “Breathe out cold air to rid the old, breathe in warm qi to cultivate the new; imitate bear’s climbing up the tree to regulate circulation, and stretch legs like birds flying in the sky. All these are aimed at guiding the Qi to maintain the form and soul, thus are the way for longevity and pre-longed youth. Pengzu, who lived a life of 800 years, owed his long life to these techniques.”15 Li Shizhen said: “A bear looks like a large pig with slanting eyes, with feet of a human in black color. In spring and summer, its fat is thick. Each time it climbs up a tree to introduce qi, and when it falls off, this is called 14 Revision and Annotations to Baopuzi - Internal Chapter, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, pp. 47. 15 (Jin)Guo Xiang, (Tang)Cheng Xuanying, An Introduction to the True Classic of South China, Beijing: zhonghua book company, 1998, p. 314.

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Fig. 32 Yu bear of the Six Dynasties, Museum of Asian Art, San Francisco, USA, edited, Chen Wenping: Lost National Treasures Abroad, Shanghai Cultural Publishing House, 2001, pp. 338

“shedding the fat”. Such movement is actually what Zhuangzi called “Moving like a bear and stretching like a bird”. In winter, it hibernates and eats nothing. When it feels hungry, it will lick its paws. So the best part of food lies in the bear’s paw, called Xiongfan.”16 Moving like a bear and stretching like a bird helps to keep the qi movement of the body at the same pace with the natural qi movement and in tune with the natural phenology, which infuses the principle of maintaining and preserving one’s health. The Bear and Bird Exercise Chart (Fig. 34) unearthed from a tomb in Mawangdui details the imitation movements of the bear and the bird. It can be seen that the mythical fantasy of the divine bear’s qi movement had played a spiritual role in ancient Chinese health protection model.

16 (Ming)

Li Shizhen, Compendium of Materia Medica: A Collection of All Hand-painted Colored Pictures (I), Beijing: China Medical Science and Technology Press, 2016, pp. 2182.

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Fig. 33 Ancestor Worship, stored in Yitong Folklore Museum, Research on Shaman Culture and Styling Art in Northern China (picture 26)

Fig. 34 Bear and Bird Exercise Chart, unearthed at Mawangdui Tomb 3, Changsha City, Hunan Province in1973, excerpted from Essentails of Mawangdui Han Tomb’s Cultural Relics, pp. 100

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3 Archetype Coding and Spatial Order of the Divine Bear Imagery As the biological and physical habits of the bear reflect the seasonal changes of Mother Earth, the bears are regarded as nature’s spiritual messengers and spiritual animals that carry the life of nature. Such mythical fantasy need to be linked with the celestial stars above in order to truly unlock the more profound archetypal code behind the divine bear, as noted in the Chu Bamboo Slip Manuscripts I: “Before heaven and earth took shape, the world was in chaos. When the Great Bear (Fu Xi) came out of the cave, changes began to happen: he married the goddess Nuwa and had four sons, who became the gods for the four seasons because they understood the rules of yin and yang and the changes. Yu and Qi came to rule the earth and formulate the calendar system, so that the stars rose and fell in good order, the mountains and hills were made unobstructed. The qi of yin and yang was therefore circulating between the mountains and hills and the seas and rivers. Because there was no sun or moon at that time, the four gods manifested to represent the four seasons by turns. The oldest one of the four gods is called Qing Gan; the second one, Zhu Sidan, the third one, Bai daran and the youngest one, Mo Gan. After more than one thousand years, the sun and the moon were created. Since then, the nine states were in peace, and the mountains and hills were quiescent. Yandi Emperor dispatched Zhurong to underlie the three skies and the four poles using the power of the four gods. People all held a sacrificial ceremony with the Nine Heavens music to secure world peach, not bold enough to disdain the heavenly gods. Emperor Di Jun then defined the rules for the movements of the sun and the moon. Later on, Gonggong set up the ten heavenly branches, the leap month and the more accurate calendar, and divide one day into night, morning, daytime and evening.”17 The above description can be summed up as the following table to show the structural schema of creation myths in the Chu silk manuscripts. Structural Schema of Creation Myth in Chu Silk Manuscripts One element

Two elements

Four elements

Chaos

Two Gods: Fuxi the Great Bear and Nuwa

Four Gods Four seasons and four directions: green, red, white, black Earth, sun, moon, sky Five Woods: Green, Red, Yellow, White, Black Calendar

At the beginning of the universe there was chaos. The creation myth of the universe began with Fuxi the Great Bear, who married Nuwa and had four sons. The sons 17 Dong

Chuping, The Creation Myth in Ancient China, Chinese Social Sciences, 2002, 5th issue.

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became the four gods who created the four seasons, four directions, heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, five woods, and others. The reason why the Great Bear can create the world is that after the Great Bear hibernates, it climbs out of the dark cave, which symbolizes the chaotic primitive stage. The Great Bear wakes up from the black hole and climbs out of the black hole, which carries the mythical meaning of recovery and regeneration. Besides, it can be seen from this creation myth that “the Great Bear”, like the archetypal code of “Qianyuan”, has become the source of all lives. This seems to embody the mythological order and spatial relations arising when the two gods (including the Great Bear) lived in the unity of the universe and the four gods separated the unity into myriads of parts. Beyond that, there is the connection between the Great Bear and the mythical fantasy of Beidou (the Big Dipper). Homer wrote in Iliad 18, THE GRIEF OF ACHILLES, AND NEW ARMOUR MADE HIM BY VULCAN: “Then first he form’d the immense and solid shield; Rich various artifice emblazed the field; Its utmost verge a threefold circle bound; A silver chain suspends the massy round; Five ample plates the broad expanse compose, And godlike labours on the surface rose. There shone the image of the master-mind: There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design’d; The unwearied sun, the moon completely round; The starry lights that heaven’s high convex crown’d; The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team; And great Orion’s more refulgent beam; To which, around the axle of the sky, The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye, Still shines exalted on the ethereal plain, Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.”18 Hephaestus painted a cosmic world on the armor he had made for Achilles, including the constellation of the Big Dipper. In ancient Greek myths, a woman called Callisto enraged Hera after she gave birth to a child with Zeus. The furious Hera turned her into a ferocious-looking female bear and sent hunters after her. However, Zeus turned her into the constellation Ursa Major (the Greater Bear), with the spoon of the Big Dipper as her body and the handle her tail (Figs. 35 and 36). From the perspective of mythological fantasy, Beidou and the divine bear share similar functions as nature’s indicators. Looking up at the sky, people will find Beidou. Looking down at the geography, people will spot the divine bear. Heguanzi the Chapter of Huanliu says: “When the handle of Beidou (the Big Dipper) points to the east, spring comes; when it points to the south, summer arrives; when it points to 18 Luo Niansheng: Complete Works of Luo Niansheng (Volume 5), Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2015, pp. 478.

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Fig. 35 The Big Dipper and the Greater Bear

Fig. 36 Portrait of Beidou Emperor on a Wagon, from Wuliang Temple, Jiaxiang, Shandong Province

the west, autumn is here; and when it points to the north, winter prevails. When the dipper moves upward, things may be accomplished under heaven. When the dipper points to one direction, one will achieve something if he works along that direction, regardless of obstacles and difficulties. This is how the law of the Way works.”19 Ancients had used Beidou to discern directions and identify the right season to a very accurate extent. Shuowen Jiezi goes: “The essences of all things will ascend to become stars in the heaven.” In the sky, Beidou has a sacred function as seasonal and solar terms indicator; and on earth the divine bear has become an important phenological symbol. Therefore, Beidou and the divine bear are interconnected as the divine manifestations. That is why Beidou is also referred to as the Greater Bear. Due to the cultural connection of this mythical fantasy, the space position of Beidou in the celestial sphere also shifted to the illusive divine bear. In Hou Han Shu (the Historical Records of the Later Han), Li Gu was quoted as saying: “Now 19 Huang

Huaixin, Heguanzi collation, Beijing: zhong hua press, 2014, pp. 71–70.

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that Your Majesty have the prime minister, it is like heaven has the Beidou. Beidou is the mouthpiece of the heaven, just as the chief minister is the mouthpiece of the court. He will execute all Your Majesty’s important orders.”20 In Shiji (Records of the Historian)/Tian Gong Shu (Book of Heavenly Palace), it comments: “Beidou includes seven stars, which correspond to the seven political mentioned in Shangshu. The handle of Beidou is connected to Jiao mansion in the seven mansions of the East Palace; the middle is facing the Yin mansion of the south; the end is sitting overhead the Can mansion of the seven mansions of the West…the Scoop Dou is the wagon that carries the Emperor, running in the center of the celestial sphere to govern the four directions. Beidou defines yin and yang, clarifies the four seasons and balances the Five Elements that make up everything. It also serves as reference for the time of stellar movements, and to decide the relative positions of the 12 zodiac areas.”21 The ancient astronomy book Chunqiu Yundoushu records the names of the seven stars of Beidou stars: “The first Beidou star is called Tianshu; the second one, Xuan; the third one, Ji; the fourth one, Quan; the fifth one, Yuheng; the sixth one, Kaiyang; and the seventh one, Yaoguang. The first to fourth stars are collectively called Kui; the fifth to seven stars are collectively called Biao; Kui and Biao are collectively called Dou. Because the seven stars stand in the north sky but face south, this orientation is called Bei (north).”22 Beidou can govern the four seasons according to the primordial qi. It is in the center of the celestial sphere, like the great king’s wagon. Therefore, it can emit yin and yang, foretells the phenology and climate of the four seasons, and become the governor of the four directions.23,24,25 Archaeological findings have shown that in the remote past, the Chinese ancestors had already understood the mythological spatial position of Beidou. According to the Dragon and Tiger Carving Layout (Fig. 37) on clampshell at Tomb No. 45, Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan, the tiger and dragon are on the sides, with Beidou at the top and center. The Official Astronomical Map of the Eastern Han Dynasty (Fig. 38) also shows that the North Pole is in the center within the inner ring, the Twenty-eight Constellations are between the inner ring and the outer ring. The astrology chart from the Ming Dynasty (Fig. 39) found in Longfu Temple, Beijing also shows that the center of the inner ring is the seven stars of Beidou, highlighting the central position of Beidou in the celestial space. Beidou’s mythical role as center of the sky and seasonal indicator is also directly projected upon the image of the divine bear. With regard to the movement of the four seasons, the divine bear completely coincides with the movement and qi of the four 20 (Song)Fan

Ye, (Tang)Li Xian, Records of Later Han, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1965, p. 1068. 21 (Han) Sima Qian, Records of the Historian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1963, p. 1291. 22 (Japan) Anju Xiangshan, Nakamura Zhangba, Weishu Integration, Shijiazhuang: Hebei People’s Publishing House, 1994, P713. 23 Annotated: (Song Dynasty) Fan Ye, (Tang Dynasty) Li Xian et al.: The Book of the Later Han: Historical Records, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1965, pp. 1068. 24 (Han) Sima Qian, Records of the Historian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1963, pp. 1291. 25 (Japan) Anju Xiangshan, Nakamura Zhangbajie, Weishu Collection, Shijiazhuang: Hebei People’s Publishing House, 1994, pp. 713.

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Fig. 37 Dragon and Tiger Carving Layout on Clampshell at Tomb No. 45, Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan, excerpted from Chinese Astronomical Archaeology, pp. 279

seasons and becomes a human spirit to imply the seasonal climates and festivals. In mythological fantasy, the divine bear inherits the mythological space position of Beidou in the celestial sphere, taking up the central position as its earth counterpart. • In the expanded picture of clay Zun wine cup (Fig. 40) unearthed from Xiaoshan, Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, there is a bear (or pig), a deer and a bird. In the book Chinese Astronomical Archaeology, Feng Shi wrote: “If we place the wild pig (bear) in the center of the picture, then all the contents of the picture can be interpreted from an astronomical point of view… the bird and the deer represent the north and south respectively. What puzzles us most in the picture is not the bird and the deer, but the pig (bear). What is the exact implication of the pig (bear)? It’s always puzzling. Now we know that it is the incarnation of Beidou.”26 Given the mythical fantasy about Beidou and the Greater Bear, Feng Shi’s intuition is believed to be right. Imagery of the bear directly obtains from the imaginative space of Beidou as the center of the mythical illusion. 26 Feng

p. 108.

shi, Chinese Astronomical Archaeology, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2001,

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Fig. 38 Official Astronomical Chart of the Eastern Han Dynasty, excerpted from Astronomical Archaeology of China, pp. 322

The mythical spatial imagination of the divine bear is also shown in the bear wagon (Figs. 41 and 42) unearthed from Tomb No. 1 in Yuandingshan Hill, Lixian County, Gansu Province. It is adorned by four birds and four tigers around the sides with a bear and a person in the middle. By referring to the creation stories of Fuxi the Great Bear and Nuwa in the Chu silk book, we can see why the bear wagon has one bear and one person in the center. As to the bear and the person, the bear is no doubt the sacred core in the center. Many stone reliefs of the Han Dynasty also showcase the mythical illusion of the bear. In the portrait of the dancing bear, Fuxi and Nuwa (Fig. 43), the figures of Fuxi and Nuwa were under the bear. Later, in pictures about Fuxi and Nuwa, the bear image gradually disappeared and eventually was forgotten (Fig. 44). The jade accessory with the bear and the dragon and tiger pattern (Fig. 45) of the Han Dynasty now kept Tianjin Museum of Art clearly shows the spatial relationship among the three animals, with the dragon and the tiger on the sides and the bear in the middle. It is the same with the jade Bi with picture of the dragon, the tiger, and the bear (Fig. 46) found in No.2 stone coffin in Pixian County, Sichuan Province: the bear holding the Jade Bi is flanked by the dragon and the tiger on the sides. The stone carving (Fig. 47) on top of the Han Dynasty tomb from Shenmu site, Shaanxi Province depicts the sun

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Fig. 39 The Astrology Chart of Ming Dynasty found in Longfu Temple, Beijing, Atlas of Ancient Chinese Astronomical Relics (Picture edition 93)

Fig. 40 The expanded picture of clay Zun wine cup, item No. F2 :30, unearthed from Xiaoshan, Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, dated back to about 5,000–4,700 BCE, excerpted from the Inner Mongolia Team of the Institute of Archaeology of China, The Hill Site of Aohan Banner, Inner Mongolia, Archaeology Magazine, Issue 6, 1987

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Fig. 41 Side view of the bear wagon

Fig. 42 Front view of the bear wagon, Spring and Autumn Period, unearthed at No. 1 Qin Tomb, Yuandingshan, Lixian County, Gansu Province in 1998, excerpted from Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Lixian County Museum, Qin Tomb of the Spring and Autumn Period in Yuandingshan, Lixian County, Cultural Relics, 2002 (2), photo 18

and the rooster-headed Eastern King on the right and the moon and the ox-headed Queen Mother of the West on the left, and the divine bear in the middle. The lacquer stature (Fig. 48) of the Han Dynasty unearthed at Dujiazui, Lianshan, Guanghan City portraits a turtle, a frog, and a bear crouching on the back of the frog, with two dragons curling around the center of the three animals. Another example is the bear pattern gold plate (Fig. 49) of the Tang Dynasty unearthed in Hejia Village, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, in which the bear is located in the center of the plate. On the jade ornament with three playing bears (Fig. 50) of the Qing Dynasty, a bear is carved in the center with two others on the edge. The images of all these unearthed and handed-down utensils retain the mythological imagination of the early humans about the bear as center. Unfortunately, this has never been well understood.

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Fig. 43 Stone relief of Han Dynasty with the images the dancing bear, Fuxi and Nuwa, From Complete Works of Chinese Stone Paintings, Henan Volume, pp. 103

4 Conclusion The Chu Bamboo Slips II of the Warring States Period - the Chapter of Rong Chengshi, now stored in Shanghai Museum records: “Yu the Great then began to appoint the flags to distinguish the directions, so that the people would not get confused. The flag for the east had the emblem of the sun; the flag for the west, the moon; the flag for the south, the snake; the flag for the middle, the bear; and the flag for the north, of the bird.”27 In the past, we could not understand why the bear flag was put in the center. However, thanks to the mythological imagination of the big cultural tradition, we now understand the mythology of the bear’s central position is derived from the mythology of the Beidou as center of the sky. It can be concluded that in the Warring States period with the very prosperous writing of the small cultural tradition, the texts and characters of the small cultural tradition still carried the myth of “divine bear in the center” of the early big cultural tradition.

27 Edited:

Ma Chengyuan: Chu Bamboo Slip Inscriptions of the Warring States Period Kept in Shanghai Museum (2), Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2002, pp. 265–266.

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149

Fig. 44 The picture of Fuxi and Nuwa in Mating, unearthed at Asitana Cemetery in Turfan during the Xizhou Period of the Tang Dynasty, now stored in the Turfan Museum, excerpted from The Essentials of Turfan Cultural Relics, pp. 153

Fig. 45 Jade accessory with Bear and Jade Tiger Patterns, Han Dynasty, stored in Tianjin Museum of Art, excerpted from Complete Works of Chinese Fine Arts - Art and Crafts Collection 9 (No. 194)

Mythological fantasy is not a random and irrelevant utopia, but a unique ecological wisdom and cultural model formed by the Chinese ancestors according to nature’s qi movement. The mythological connection between the divine bear and Beidou the Big Dipper enables us to realize that the two are the executors of the divine forces, the enforcers of the changes of Qi, and the visible mythological archetypes

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Fig. 46 Picture of Dragon-Tiger-Bear Jade Bi, found in No. 2 stone coffin, Pixian County, Han Dynasty Sarcophagus Art Collection in Sichuan Province (No. 87)

Fig. 47 Stone carving on the Han Dynasty tomb in Shenmu, with the sun the rooster-headed Eastern King on the right, the ox-headed Queen Mother of the West on the left, and the divine bear in the center

of the invisible divine rulers. The mythical illusions B (1-N) produced by mythical illusions are magically correlated due to the invisible dominant divine force A. Since Beidou is imagined as center of the celestial sphere which produces awe on four directions, this also gives the divine bear the mythical spatial position in the center. In the four-emblem culture, there has long been a lack of gods in the middle. Only by rediscovering the bear image of the big cultural tradition and its mythological space can we rectify the cultural oversight for the divine bear’s position as center of the four-emblem culture.

4 Conclusion Fig. 48 Painted stature of tortoise–frog–bear–dragon, Han Dynasty, unearthed at Dujiazui Village, Lianshan, Guanghan, during 1993–1994. From Essentials of Guanghan Cultural Relics and Art, pp. 197

Fig. 49 Bear-pattern gold plate, Tang Dynasty, unearthed in Hejia Village, southern suburb of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province in 1970, stored in Shaanxi Provincial Museum of History. Excepted from Appreciation of 100 National Treasures of All Dynasties in China, pp. 36

151

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Fig. 50 The jade ornament with the three playing bears, Qing Dynasty, excerpted from Shaanxi Precious Cultural Relics Collection: Jade Articles Volume, pp. 217

References (Israel) Yuval Horari, A Brief History of Mankind: From Animals to God. Translated by Lin Junhong. Beijing: CITIC press, 2014. (British) Karen Armstrong, A Brief History of Mythology. Translated by Hu Yabin, Chongqing: Chongqing publishing house, 2005. (Ming)Cheng rong, Series of Han and Wei Dynasties, Changchun: Jilin university press, 1992. (Wei dynasty) Annotated, Wang Bi; explained: (Tang) Kong Yingda: Accurate Implications of the Book of Changes, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2000. (US) Gimbutas, The Living Goddesses, translated by Ye Shuxian, Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008. Edited, Wang Ping and Li Jianting: Shuowen Jiezi with Punctuation Marks: Classified Retrieval as Attachment, Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore Press, 2016. (Wu State during the Three Kingdoms Period) Lu Ji, Annotations to Plants, Birds, Animals, Insects, Fish in the Book of Songs, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1985. Liu Wendian: Notes to the Collected Works of Honglie in Huainan, revised by Feng Yi, Qiao Huadian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1989. (Han dynasty) Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1959. (UK) Jones, J. Moreno. American Mythology. Trans. Yu Shiyan. Guangzhou: New Century Publishing House, 2011. Edited: Wang Qing: Illustrating the Ancient Greek Mythology, Jinan: Shandong People’s Publishing House, 2014. Li Fang et al., Taiping Yulan (Reading of the Taiping Era), Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education Press, 1994. Revision and Annotations to Baopuzi - Internal Chapter, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1985. (Jin)Guo Xiang, (Tang)Cheng Xuanying, An Introduction to the True Classic of South China, Beijing: zhonghua book company, 1998. (Ming) Li Shizhen, Compendium of Materia Medica: A Collection of All Hand-painted Colored Pictures (I), Beijing: China Medical Science and Technology Press, 2016. Dong Chuping, The Creation Myth in Ancient China, Chinese Social Sciences, 2002, 5th issue.

References

153

Luo Niansheng: Complete Works of Luo Niansheng (Volume 5), Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2015. Huang Huaixin, Heguanzi collation, Beijing: zhong hua press, 2014. (Song)Fan Ye, (Tang)Li Xian, Records of Later Han, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1965. (Japan) Anju Xiangshan, Nakamura Zhangba, Weishu Integration, Shijiazhuang: Hebei People’s Publishing House, 1994. Feng shi, Chinese Astronomical Archaeology, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2001. Edited by Ma Chengyuan: Chu Bamboo Slip Inscriptions of the Warring States Period Kept in Shanghai Museum (2), Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2002.

Chapter 9

Image Combination of Goddess Prototype New Exploration of Cultural Symbolization of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture

The Stork, Fish and Zax Picture is engraved on a painted pottery, as classified into the Miao-di-gou type in mid-term of Yangshao Civilization in the Neolithic Age. 37 cm high and 44 cm wide, the picture is drawn at the belly of a pottery jar that was 47 cm in height, 32.7 cm in top diameter, and 19.5 cm in bottom diameter. As the largest painted pottery picture of the primitive society discovered to date, it takes up half of the area of the entire pottery jar. On the left of the picture is a huge stork, with round eyes, long neck, long beak, round and extrusive back, short tail, and long feet. There was a fish on its beak, and on the right is a solemn zax. The picture is depicted with smooth lines in a plain and brief manner (see Fig. 1). When revealed to the public, the picture has aroused attention among scholars. After enthusiastic discussion, there have proposed insights on the themes and cultural connotations of the picture, claims can be generalized into three schools of thoughts.

1 School of Realistic Art of Style Zhang Shaowen holds that the pottery painting was “created on the utensil to express the artist’s understanding, emotion, dream and wishes”. Specifically, this picture shows the scene “a fishing stork”1 . Appreciating the picture as a piece of artistic works, Zhang claims that it was the artist’s artistic attempt to re-represent scenes in the real life, and unfortunately, such advocate has neglected the historical background of the era when pottery paintings were popular, and failed to delve deeper into

1 Zhang

Shaowen: Treasure of Primitive Art – On Stork, Fish and Zax Picture on Painted Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 1, 1981, pp.21, 23. © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_9

155

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Fig. 1 Stork, Fish and Zax Painted Pottery Jar (abstracted from the Investigation on Neolithic Relics in Yan’s Village, Linru County collected by Linru County Cultural Hall Fig. 1/1)

the cultural connotation of pottery paintings. “Prehistoric art is a form of symbolization.”2 We deem this sort of graphic images intended to express the religious philosophy of primitive people that contains some sacred information.

1.1 School of Totem This opinion firstly appears in the Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture by Yan Wenming, “The stork and the fish must be totems of the clans. While the stork marks the clan totem of the dead, and the totem of brother clans in the tribal union, the fish turns out to be the totem of the dominant clan of the enemy tribal union. This chief must have been a brave man good at fighting, who used to raise high the zax, a symbol of power, to lead people of the Stork Clan and the tribal union in a deadly fight against the Fish Clan, and win the final victory”3 . Later, this claim is supported by scholars Niu Jipu, Zheng Jiexiang, Fan Yuzhou, and Ma Shizhi, who volunteered to take the opinions further. For instance, Niu Jipu deems it a picture “showing the totem worship, a superstitious behavior widely seen in primitive society, to pray for blessings”4 . Zheng Jiexiang further deduces that, “while the stork and fish must be the clan totem of the dead, the zax may mean that the spirits of the dead are carrying his tool or weapon to safely return to the homeland of the totem…During the Yangshao 2 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas: Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008 edition, pp 6. Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 3 Yan Wenming: Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol.12, 1981, pp.81. 4 Niu Jipu: Valuable Painting of Primitive Society – Colored Painting on Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization in Linru, Fine Arts, Vol.9, 1981, pp. 60.

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157

Civilization Period, there used to live an ancient clan in the Yan’s Village along the Ruhe River today, which took stork as their totem. Known as the Stork Clan, it’s very likely that the Guandou Clan referred to in the literature.”5 Agreeing on Zheng’s judgment, Fan Yuzhou reckons that “The scene that a fish in the stork beak on pottery painting unearthed in the Yan’s Village Relics may be the totem worship of the Stork Clan that lived in the local areas”6 . Ma Shizhi then argues that “An egret holding a fish could be regarded the establishment of marital or peaceful relationship…After a battle, the Stork Clan and the Fish Clan forged marital relationship for peace.”7 Though these scholars have different opinions on what bird it is, they show basically the same attitude to the totem connotation of the scene depicted on the pottery. He Nu articulates on whether the “fish in a bird beak” has a totem sense in his article Discussions on Incarnation Witchcraft of Fish in a Bird Beak Scene that, fish may be a major totem of the Banpo type, but bird may not be. Fish in the bird beak definitely has “further implication”8 . Sun Yan adds that it’s not well-grounded to “interpret the symbolic meaning of the picture from a totem worship angle”.9

1.2 School of Primitive Religious Symbol With update of the study horizon and methods, scholars start to discuss the deeper symbolic meaning of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, which greatly expands and completes the study on cultural connotation of pottery paintings. He Nu reckons that the “fish in the bird beak” pattern has “gone beyond the totem scope of pregnancy to become a symbol specially used in the tomb to refer to the incarnation witchcraft via the sign of sexual intercourse”. However, he also underscores that this “incarnation witchcraft” is put under the premise that “the relation between sexual intercourse and reproduction, and the role of man’s reproductive organs are understood”,10 thus showing certain limits. With reference to archaeological and literature materials, Sun Yan deems the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture a symbol of the spiritual immortality and incarnation of the dead. We agree with the view that the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture contains primitive religious connotation, and endeavor to quote and refer to the research methods and 5 Zheng

Jiexiang: New Understanding on Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 2, 1982, pp.50. 6 Fan Yuzhou: Trial Explanation of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture Unearthed in Neolithic Age Relics in Yan’s Village in Linru, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 3, 1983, pp.10. 7 Ma Shizhi: On Painting Image on Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization in Linru, Henan, Academic Journal of Zhongzhou.Vol.6, 1984, pp 131. 8 He Nu: Discussion on Connotation of Reincarnation Witchcraft of the Bird Carrying Fish Picture, Jianghan Archaeology 9 Sun Yan: Analysis on Symbolic Connotation of Themes in the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics of Central China. 10 He Nu: Discussion on Connotation of Reincarnation Witchcraft of the Bird Carrying Fish Picture, Jianghan Archaeology.

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Fig. 2 1. Colored Pottery Jar. 2. Type IV Pottery Jar. 3. Type II Pottery Jar. 4. Type III Pottery Jar

1 Colored Pottery Jar

2 Type IV Pottery Jar

3 Type II Pottery Jar

4 Type III Pottery Jar

findings of iconology, semiotics, and archaeomythology at home and abroad, thus this project will delve further into the cultural connotations of the pottery jar and painting pattern.

1.3 Urn Coffin and Secondary Burial Analysis of the main idea and cultural connotation should not ignore the carrier jar. Investigation of the manufacturing, function, and symbolic meaning of the jar will offer us great reference to interpret the religious and cultural connotation of the patterns on the jar. Yan Wenming depicts in detail the appearance of the jar: “Made of red sandy clay, the jar features a big size, 47 cm in height, 32.7 cm in top diameter, and 19.5 cm in bottom diameter. In a slightly straight cylinder shape, it has flat bottom, thick and round lip, and four symmetric olecranon-shape mud extrusions. Like all other jars unearthed in the same relics, it has a round hole at the center of the bottom. As a funeral tool, the jar is supposed to be coupled with a semispherical cover on its top.”11 (see Fig. 2, abstracted from the Investigation on Neolithic Relics in Yan’s Village, Linru County collected by Linru County Cultural Hall Fig. 1/2-7)

11 Yan

Wenming: Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol. 12, 1981, pp 79.

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Urn coffin was popular in early Yangshao Civilization Period for burial of infants. Many urn coffins were seen for secondary burial of adults in some tombs at latter stage of early and mid-term Yangshao Civilization Period (Phase II of Jiangzhai and Hongshanmiao relics). All urn coffin burials involve different types of practical/dedicated potteries, mainly urns, jars, bowls, and basins in early times, chiefly sectioned sharp-bottom bottle, specially burnt big-mouth straight-wall jar and semispherical cover in mid-term, and primarily urns, jars, vessels, bowls, basins and covers in the late stage. There are also holes at the bottom of bowls or basins used in the urn coffin burial. Researchers believed that “the holes must have something to do with the worship, such as the spirits and souls. Some would regard the holes an entrance/exit for souls”.12 We could see potteries found in urn burials were mostly used as the funerary objects, which gradually became a carrier of religious beliefs of primitive men. Resembling the farming cycle, seeding—harvest—re-seeding, the living process (birth, breeding, death, and rebirth) was regarded as another everlasting cycle by the primitive people. Marija Gimbutas, a renowned American knowledge archaeologist, deems that “In the religious belief of Neolithic men, death and reincarnation form a repeated cycle. Like in the organic world where new life is always born in residues of some old one, birth marks the start of a cycle that naturally contains death, to an ancient European. Likewise, the Goddess’ womb gives birth to us and also brings us back to death. In a symbolic sense, one returns to the Goddess’ womb to wait for the rebirth.”13 When used as the burial object, pottery jars, together with the pottery covers (or basins, bowls, urns, and pots), shape a religious sign—the Goddess’ womb, a sacred place to give birth to new lives. The mysterious vent hole then turns out the uterine or vaginal orifice, acting as the green passage for new lives. Mircea Eliade argues, “Religious reasons are the only explanation why their bodies were preserved.”14 Since preservation of the bodies meant something religious for the primitive, it has more to explore why residents of Yan’s Village of Yangshao Civilization Period put the corpses into a womb-shaped pottery jar. Imitating the Goddess in charge of death and rebirth, the pottery jar marks a spiritual symbol. “Womb became one of the most influential funerary themes in ancient Europe. In the ancient Europeans’ understanding of life and death, new life is born from death through a spiral cycle—birth, living, death, and rebirth.”15 Ancient Europeans always built the tombs in a shape like the womb, such as the oval cave and niche found in Malta crypt caves. Tombs on Sardinia Island are also carved on the cliff in 12 Gong Qiming and Gong Wen: On the Burial System of Residents of Yangshao Civilization, China Prehistoric Archaeological Study Collection to Congratulate on the Half-century Archaeological Contribution by and the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of Mr. Shi Xingbang, Sanqin Press, 2003, pp 214, 227. 13 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas, Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press. 2008 edition. pp 6. Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 14 [U.S.] Mircea Eliade: History of Religious Thoughts, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press. 2004, writes, and Yan Kejia, Wu Xiaoqun and Yao Beiqin translate. 15 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas, Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press. 2008 edition. pp 6. Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al.

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the oval or kidney shape. We reckon these “Womb-shape” caves feature the same cultural functions and connotations with the pottery jars unearthed in the Yangshao Civilization relics. Both the oval caves and the womb-shape pottery jars were intended to imitate the Goddess of death and rebirth, symbolizing the fruitful reproductive organ of the Goddess. These pottery jars were mainly used in secondary burial. This religious funerary ritual offers clues for us to understand the cultural connotation of the funerary object of pottery jar. Yan Wenming wrote in the Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, “The Yichuan Jar is big, but not big enough to accommodate the body of an adult. Therefore, only major bones were stored in the jar. The M9 of Qiugongcheng Relics features relatively well preserved bones. It could be clearly seen that the skull was laid at the middle, pelvis at the bottom, spine at southeast, and thigh bone at northwest. With bones laid at random and no small bones in sight, it’s obviously a tomb for secondary burial. It’s the characteristics of the Yangshao Civilization in Yiluo (Zhengzhou region) to use pottery jars in the secondary burial of adults.”16 Gong Qiming and Gong Wen articulate on the application of pottery jars as funerary object in mid-term of Yangshao Civilization in On Funerary System for Residents of Yangshao Civilization that, “As one of the major burial forms back then, urn burial was popular even in the mid-term of Yangshao Civilization. Statistics show there were 537 urn tombs unearthed already, in which infant tombs (392 pcs) were mostly for primary burial and adult tombs (145 pcs) chiefly for secondary burial. With respect to the overall distribution of the Yangshao Civilization, urn burial mainly distributes in the mid-west of Henan, south Shanxi, Guanzhong region, southwest Henan and northwest Hubei. In Ruzhou, Lushan and surrounding areas, large-mouth, straightwall jars and hemispheric covers were specially used for secondary urn burials, such as the 136 discovered in Hongshanmiao, 5 in Qiugongcheng and 11 in Yan’s Village.”17 In the minds of primitive people, when one dies, his soul doesn’t leave right away, but may return to the corpse to do harms to the living beings. Thus, they would hold various rituals for the dead, such as the secondary burial. Primitive minds thought that, “Non-rotten bodies are terribly horrifying.”18 How to make the soul of the dead leave the body as soon as possible and help the soul embark on a new life journey? Lois Gugham describes various religious rituals for primitive people to cope with the spirits of the dead, “corpses were abandoned in the woods, and dismembered to be pecked by birds. People shall leave as soon as they die, leaving the body in the room…”19 Obviously, abandoning the corpse doesn’t mean that the primitive have no understanding of the post-life existence. Instead, they were convinced that death 16 Yan

Wenming: Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol.12.

17 Gong Qiming and Gong Wen, On the Burial System of Residents of Yangshao Civilization, China

Prehistoric Archaeological Study Collection to Congratulate on the Half-century Archaeological Contribution by and the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of Mr. Shi Xingbang, Sanqin Press. 2003. 18 [France] Levy Bruhl, Primitive Thoughts, The Commercial Press, 1985. pp.310, 314, 333, Translated by Ding You. 19 [U.S.] Mircea Eliade: History of Religious Thoughts, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press. 2004, writes, and Yan Kejia, Wu Xiaoqun and Yao Beiqin translate

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marked the start of the reincarnation and rebirth. For the primitive ritual to dismember the corpse to be pecked by birds, Marija Gimbutas explains, “In the dismembering ritual, instead of being buried immediately, the dead would be put on an outdoor platform, waiting for birds to carry off the meat and leave only the bones. Ripping off the meat was regarded an imperative process to complete the death. Only when there left nothing else but bones can the dead be buried and the reincarnation starts.”20 It could be known that “ripping off the meat” gets the rebirth started and the Goddess always plays as the unit of death and rebirth. The primitive would radically draw the spirits out of the body and then present the ending ceremony, i.e., the secondary burial. French scholar Levy Bruhl depicted the secondary burial scenes of Boluoluo people in Brazil, “Primary burial is conducted the next day or the day after the next day of the death…the corpse is buried at a place near water in the woods. Two weeks or so later when there’s no meat on the body, the closing ceremony would be staged to decorate and swathe the bones left…Upon completion of the secondary burial ceremony, no one would worry about the dead anymore.”21 We’re thus convinced that the secondary burial bears far-reaching religious significance for the primitive, symbolizing not only the completion of death, but the start of rebirth. From the urn coffin and secondary burial, we could learn that the pottery jars function simply as the symbol of the prehistoric Goddess prototype. While the secondary burial was intended to help the soul of the dead get reborn, “the reincarnation would be completed by means of pregnancy”22 . The urn coffin apparently acts as the substitute of the “pregnant” Goddess, and the womb to bear new lives. When one passes away, his body would be put in this religious urn coffin, meaning that it was borne by the womb to wait for the rebirth.

2 Cultural Connotations of Birds and Fishes With regard to the sexual connotation of the “fish in the beak” image, Sun Yan has made detailed analysis in Interpretation of Symbolic Significance of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture. To avoid following the post-historic cultural convention, we would prefer to name it “bird-fish image”. Sun Wen also investigated the bird-fish images in relics from prehistoric times to Han and Wei Dynasties, such as the “Water Bird Carrying a Fish Picture”, an early Banpo type of Yangshao Civilization unearthed in Beishouling Relics in Baoji, Shaanxi in 1958, the “Cormorant Carrying a Fish Picture” on a gray jade of West Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Liutaizi, Jiangji Township, Jiyang County, Shandong Province in 1979, the “Two Birds Carrying a Fish” brick 20 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas, Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press. 2008 edition. pp 21.

Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 21 [France] Levy Bruhl, Primitive Thoughts, The Commercial Press, 1985. pp.310, 314, 333, Translated by Ding You. 22 [France] Levy Bruhl, Primitive Thoughts, The Commercial Press, 1985. pp.310, 314, 333, Translated by Ding You.

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found in Xuchang, Henan, and the “Bird-fish Picture” on a coffin unearthed in No.2 Tomb of Dayi Dam, Luzhou, Sichuan. Besides, he counted the bird images showing alone on burial objects or funerary objects and appearing in jades and stone carvings, which mainly involve cranes, eagles, wild geese, egrets, phoenixes, cormorants, and swallows. He holds that “Bird and fish images appearing in tombs feature the same functions and connotations with the ‘stork, fish and zax image’.”23 We basically agree with his opinions. The discussion whether the bird is a crane, egret, or stork in the academic circle is of little significance. (We call the picture on the pottery jar the “Stork, Fish and Zax Picture” to carry on the old name, not to confirm the true breed of the bird.) It’s worth noticing that, birds in both the “Water Bird Carrying a Fish Picture” of early Yangshao Civilization Period and the “Stork, Fish and Zax Picture” of mid-term Yangshao Civilization Period, as well as in individually unearthed burial objects, are all water birds, such as cranes, wild geese, and cormorants. We also discovered that both the water birds and fish live in the water. Does it mean further meaning? What is it if yes? Let’s look into water birds first. Marija Gimbutas argues that, water birds could “live by lakes of inland area, or fly to the sky where rainfalls. So, they represent a connection between the worldly lives and the outside world. Appearing on ritual containers, they imply that the sacrifice wine has the power to give birth”24 . The hydrophily of water birds brings fluid that needed by the “new lives”, thus guaranteeing the energy fuel for the rebirth of souls. Besides, water birds, rising from the lakes and unfolding their swings to fly to the sky, are also deemed the escort to guide the soul of the dead to the heaven, playing the role of the Goddess of rebirth. Wutekeshe said, Heron symbolizes that the soul is selected by the God. Afraid of the worldly rainstorm, herons would try every possible means to escape the mortal world and fly to the heaven in their minds.”25 Hall (American) said, “Birds are widely believed to symbolize the soul, so that it could fly to the sky”, and “In the Chinese funerary art, it (crane) carries the soul of the dead to the sky.”26 Moreover, some birds are migrant, which could more vividly reflect the mysterious death and rebirth process. Let’s shed lights on the fish image. Given birth, growing, and playing around in the water, fishes resemble the new lives that are borne and develop in the womb of the Goddess. Marija Gimbutas argues that, “Fish’s symbolization of rebirth comes from its aquatic living environment, something similar to the amniotic fluid in the womb that allows rebirth to occur…In those bottle paintings with fishes painted 23 Sun Yan: Analysis on Symbolic Connotation of Themes in the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics of Central China. 24 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas, Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press. 2008 edition. pp 14, 28–32, 20–21, Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 25 [Germany] Hans Biederman: Dictionary of World’s Cultural Symbols, Lijiang Publishing House, 1999, pp.27, 424, 432, Translated by Liu Yuhong et. al. 26 [U.S.] James Hall: Hall’s Illustrated Dictionary on Symbols in Eastern and Western Art, China Youth Publishing Group, 2000. pp 19–20, 39, Translated by Han Wei et. al.

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inside the Goddess’ bodies, fish represents the birth-giving womb of the Goddess.”27 Besides, fish features powerful capacity of rebirth, used often to represent fertility. In addition, fish also symbolizes transformable new lives in both western and eastern myths. (German scholar Hans Biederman said, “In Indian myths, Vishnu transforms into a fish to rescue Manu, the earliest ancestor of humans.”)28 Carefree Journey, Zhuangzi makes a vivid description of the transformation of “fish”, “There was a fish in the northern ocean, known as Kun who was large enough to cover thousands of miles. It transformed into a bird, called Roc. The back of the roc was big enough to cover thousands of miles. When Roc flied away irritated, its wings hung in the air like clouds. It migrates along with the sea waves to the southern ocean. The southern ocean was simply the Tianchi.” “Fish” was regarded by the primitive people as an important sign of circulation, transformation, and rebirth of life. In a word, both the water birds and the fish are associated with “water”, indicating the endless energy fuel for the souls. Linked with the birth-giving womb of the Goddess, it turns out the sign to represent the rebirth of new lives. Here, we also need to say something about the olecranon around the pottery jar (Fig. 2). As we introduced in previous paragraphs about secondary burial, birds of prey have played the double roles in life cycle to symbolize the unity of death, decline, and rebirth. Marija Gimbutas said, “Birds of prey, which live on meat, mostly stand for death in the symbolism system of ancient Europe…Explanation of the corpseripping behavior helps us figure out the role birds of prey play in the religion of the Neolithic Age, especially the role they play in the death…Vultures and hawks then symbolize the Goddess who brings in death and takes charge of birth and delivery.”29 Birds of prey function as the Goddess for both death and rebirth. It not only accelerates the soul’s departure of the dead, but promotes the rising and rebirth of the soul. Hans Biederman (German) said, “Eagles could be reborn like phoenixes, which need to dive into the water for three times. Here, the eagle represents the baptism in the sacred basin and its flying symbolizes the ascension of Jesus Christ.”30 Hall (American) said, “In the burial art of Rome, the eagle beaks were sometimes decorated with halos to indicate eternality. The halos were believed to be able to bring the soul to the heaven. The myth where the eagle of Zeus carries Ganymedes to fly to Olympus is equally symbolic. Another myth of a ceremony of the Roman emperor depicts that, an eagle was freed to mean that its soul flew to the heaven…In Christian art, eagles symbolize ascension.”31 27 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas: Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008 edition, pp 6, Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 28 [Germany] Hans Biederman: Dictionary of World’s Cultural Symbols, Lijiang Publishing House, 1999. pp.27, 424, 432, Translated by Liu Yuhong et. al. 29 [Germany] Hans Biederman: Dictionary of World’s Cultural Symbols, Lijiang Publishing House, 1999, pp.27, 424, 432, Translated by Liu Yuhong et. al. 30 [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas: Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press. 2008 edition, pp 6, Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 31 [U.S.] James Hall: Hall’s Illustrated Dictionary on Symbols in Eastern and Western Art, China Youth Publishing Group, 2000, Translated by Han Wei et. al.

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With reference to the eagle beak and fish-bird images, we have unveiled the deep and mysterious religious information the primitive put in the painting on the pottery jar. Death doesn’t necessarily mean the end of life, but marks the beginning of a new life. Behind the life cycle, there is a super-natural Goddess who takes charge of the permanent process of death and rebirth.

3 Cultural Connotation of the Zax Image There are mainly two opinions on the connotations of the zax in the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture. I. It’s believed to represent the social status and power of the owner of the tomb. Yan Wenming holds that, “Definitely not a labor tool for ordinary people, it (zax) is a practical object and a sign of power to rival the social status of the chief. It reflects the objects the chief used to use.”32 This opinion was later acclaimed by scholars Niu Jipu, Zheng Jiexiang, and Ma Shizhi. Fan Yuzhou pushes the opinion of “worship to zax” further to “worship to production tools”, reckoning that “The shanked zax in the picture represents, to some extent, the authority of the clan. Apparently also, the worship to zax equals to the worship to production tools that are used by men to conquer nature. This worship shows the belief of people back then to curb nature.”33 II. It’s convinced to indicate the sexual intercourse. Mr. Ye Shuxian takes the opinion that, “(Zax) represents the sacred power of chief of the primitive masculine society to take the ‘first night’ of all virgins in his tribe.” And the insertion of shank into the zax simply symbolizes the “sexual intercourse”34 . We argue that, the proposer of the first opinion has neglected the background of the picture—the funerary object of urn coffin, and artificially separated the picture away from its carrier. While Mr. Ye Shuxian emphasized on the connotation of zax in male-centered society after the third generation, it’s rather unconvincing to see a zax of the prehistoric Yangshao Civilization in this way. We found through investigation of zax in Neolithic Age unearthed that, zax carries both practical and religious functions. For example, jade zax and stone zax for funeral of early Yangshao Civilization Period (about 6200BC–5400BC) were unearthed in the Xinglongwa Civilization in northeast China (see Fig. 3). A polished stone zax, laid transversely at northwest side of the head of the tomb owner, was unearthed from Site M118 of Xinglongwa Civilization. A pored zax engraved with facial patterns, against cave wall at southwest of the room, was unearthed from Site F2 of Xiaoshan Relics of Xinglongwa Civilization. A polished zax of plain appearance was found laid flatly at the bottom

32 Yan

Wenming: Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol. 12, 1981. Yuzhou: Trial Explanation of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture Unearthed in Neolithic Age Relics in Yan’s Village in Linru, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol.3, 1983. 34 Ye Shuxian: Cultural Explanation of the Book of Songs – Study on Origin of Chinese Poems, Hubei People’s Press, 1994. 33 Fan

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1 Xinglongwa Jade Zax

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2 Xinglongwa Jade Zax (from Jadeware of East Asia)

Fig. 3 1. Xinglongwa Jade Zax. 2. Xinglongwa Jade Zax (from Jadeware of East Asia)

of a rectangle pit of the Dongshanzui Altar Relics.35 Some scholars hold that, zax of this sort might be the “ritual object” or scepter used in the worship ceremonies.36 Wang Ningsheng comments on these zax “symbolic but not practical, though in the shape of practical tools”, and calls it the “ceremonial axe”.37 Zax buried with the dead that features religious functions should be the symbol of worldly “ceremonial axe” in the ghostdom. Stone (jade) zax, funerary object associated with religious rituals, has also been unearthed from Neolithic Age tombs in China. For instance, jade zax was discovered in tombs of the Shizuitou Relics in Baoji,38 and in Banpo type tombs of Longgangsi Relics.39 In the southern areas, two pieces of stone zax were discovered from Site M58 and Site M44 of Xuejiagang Relics, which were delicately manufactured and engraved with patterns.40 Then, what does the zax of religious function actually mean? With reference to the above analysis of cultural connotation of the “urn coffin and secondary burial” and “bird and fish”, we deem the “zax” in the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture closely associated with the worship to Goddess, and its religious connotation symbolizes the special energy of the Goddess. Yan Wenming depicts the zax, “The zax, erecting at the right side with arc blade and a pore at the center, looks quite like the 6D/6E type pored flat zax of Phase I, Miaodigou Relics in Shanxian, with a more extruded blade. It’s not very clear how the zax is linked to the shank. It seems like zax was inserted into 35 Yang Hu and Liu Guoxiang: Primary Discussion on Jade Ware of Xinglongwa Culture, editorin-chief Deng Cong: Jadeware of East Asia, Center for Chinese Archaeology and Art of Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998 36 Lu Sixian: Mythological Investigation of Facial-pattern Zax and Facial-pattern Stone Shovel – Also on Mythological Tradition of “Dragon Shrine” Ceremony of Xiongnu Nationality, Archaeological Collection of Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics: Vol.1, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 1994. 37 Wang Ningsheng: Trial Explanation on Usages of Some Stone Wares, Collection of National Archaeological Papers, Beijing Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1989. 38 Baoji Archaeological Team: Baoji Fulin Fort, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1993. 39 Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology: Longgang Temple, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1990. 40 22. Anhui Archaeology Research Institute: Xuajiagang Neolithic Age Relics in Qianshan, Acta Archaeologica Sinica 1982, Vol.3.

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the shank to be tied with a leather belt, and the two dotted strips on either side indicate the belts. The black cross at the center of the shank is obviously not an ornament, but a special mark…There are a great number of engraved patterns at bottom of the shank, like the linen marks of the Phase I of Quanhu Relics in Huaxian County, Shaanxi.”41 There are special patterns between the zax and shank, at the shank center and shank tail, mainly in meshes, circles, triangles, and crosses. We couldn’t see these patterns from a practical perspective. An in-depth exploration of its cultural connotation indicates that these patterns refer to the Goddess in certain ways. Marija Gimbutas believes the triangle zax “symbolizes the special power of the Goddess.” “In the Neolithic Age, dual-blade zax and three-blade zax simply symbolize the Goddess of death and rebirth: both referring to generation.”42 Archaeologists have discovered objects for Goddess worship in the cellar of the Knossos Temple complex: dualblade zax. Besides, archaeologists also unearthed relics with gigantic ceremonial dual-blade zax, as well as dual-blade zax images carved on three-side or four-side pillars. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s first epic by the Babylonian Empire, Gilgamesh had a dream, where he met a zax on the Uruk Avenue. Regarding the zax the embodiment of a woman, he fell in love with it at the first sight. He said to his mother: “Mom, I had a [dream], again.

On Uruk Avenue with a square, There was a zax Surrounded by people. It was the embodiment of something. I couldn’t help feeling delighted. It seemed like a woman, whom I had fallen in love with. I bent to it Took it in my hands And laid it flat by my side.”43 Yan Wenming is convinced that in Banpo type tombs of the Yangshao Civilization, stone zax is the best seen funerary object.44 We have investigated relics with “zax” unearthed according to the List of Tombs of Yangshao Civilization attached to the paper On Burial System for Residents of Yangshao Civilization by Gong Qiming and Gong Wen, finding that there were zax, jars, and bowls in an 8-body tomb of the Great Temple Relics in Xunxian County; abundant objects were unearthed from a female tomb of the Taiping Village Relics in Quanhu Village of Huaxian County, including a respective piece of bottle, bowl, owl tripod, pored zax, stone shovel, and 41 Yan

Wenming, Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol. 12, 1981. Marija Gimbutas: Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008 edition, pp 6, Translated by Ye Shuxian et. al. 43 Epic of Gilgamesh: Liaoning People’s Publishing House, 1981, pp.26, Translated by Zhao Lesheng. 44 Yan Wenming, Study on Yangshao Civilization, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1989. 42 [U.S.]

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stone hairpin, a set of kettle stove and 14 stone knives; and there was a spinning wheel at Site W2 and 8 stone arrowheads and stone balls at Site W5 of an infant urn burial of Ma’s Village Relics in Ziyang. Since the religiously significant “zax” has been discovered in the multi-burial tomb, female tomb and infant tomb, it couldn’t be interpreted from the power and military perspectives. It thus indicates that zax refers to the Goddess of rebirth in the religious beliefs of residents of Yangshao Civilization of the Neolithic Age. Zax was discovered in religious rituals also in the Dawenkou Civilization, which was at the same period with Yangshao Civilization. Su Bingqi argues in Ancient Times Volume of the General History of China that, “In the Dadunyu Tomb of Liulin Period of Dawenkou Civilization at around 4000B.C., fishing or hunting tools such as arrowheads and fish darts were seen only in male tombs, while spinning wheels were only discovered in female tombs. Axes and adzes were also found in female tombs, but at a smaller proportion than in male ones. Shovels and chisels, as well as complete-set of stone tools such as axes, adzes and chisels, were only discovered in male tombs.” The cited sentences indicate that, zax hadn’t become an exclusive funerary object for male tombs in the Dawenkou Civilization Period, but for general religious rituals during that period of time (equal to the time of Miaodigou Culture of Yangshao Civilization). Afterwards, with division of labors in society, when males gradually became the center of social life, zax turned out to be a symbolic funerary object. Thus, its social symbolization of males gradually took place of its former indication of the Goddess. Later on, it tends to function as the symbol of social power. To sum up, the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture on the urn coffin unearthed in the Yan’s Village Relics of Linru County stands for an image combination of the Goddess prototype, embodying the worship of residents in the Yangshao Civilization period to the Goddess in charge of people’s birth, death and rebirth, and has little to do with the clan totem.

References Zhang Shaowen: Treasure of Primitive Art – On Stork, Fish and Zax Picture on Painted Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 1, 1981. [U.S.] Marija Gimbutas: Living Goddess, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008 edition. Translated by Ye Shuxian et.al. Yan Wenming: Postscript for Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics, Vol. 12, 1981. Niu Jipu: Valuable Painting of Primitive Society – Colored Painting on Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization in Linru, Fine Arts, Vol.9, 1981. Zheng Jiexiang: New Understanding on Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 2, 1982. Fan Yuzhou: Trial Explanation of the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture Unearthed in Neolithic Age Relics in Yan’s Village in Linru, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol. 3, 1983. Ma Shizhi: On Painting Image on Pottery Jar of Yangshao Civilization in Linru, Henan, Academic Journal of Zhongzhou. Vol.6, 1984.

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He Nu: Discussion on Connotation of Reincarnation Witchcraft of the Bird Carrying Fish Picture, Jianghan Archaeology, Vol.3, 1997. Sun Yan: Analysis on Symbolic Connotation of Themes in the Stork, Fish and Zax Picture, Cultural Relics of Central China, Vol.1, 2008. Gong Qiming and Gong Wen: On the Burial System of Residents of Yangshao Civilization, China Prehistoric Archaeological Study Collection to Congratulate on the Half-century Archaeological Contribution by and the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of Mr. Shi Xingbang, Sanqin Press, 2003. [U.S.] Mircea Eliade: History of Religious Thoughts, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2004. Translated by Yan Kejia, Wu Xiaoqun and Yao Beiqin. [France] Levy Bruhl, Primitive Thoughts, The Commercial Press, 1985, Translated by Ding You. [Germany] Hans Biederman: Dictionary of World’s Cultural Symbols, Lijiang Publishing House, 1999, Translated by Liu Yuhong et. al. [U.S.] James Hall: Hall’s Illustrated Dictionary on Symbols in Eastern and Western Art, China Youth Publishing Group, 2000, Translated by Han Wei et. al. Ye Shuxian: Cultural Explanation of the Book of Songs – Study on Origin of Chinese Poems, Hubei People’s Press, 1994. Yang Hu and Liu Guoxiang: Primary Discussion on Jade Ware of Xinglongwa Culture, Edited by Deng Cong: Jadeware of East Asia, Center for Chinese Archaeology and Art of Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. Lu Sixian: Mythological Investigation of Facial-pattern Zax and Facial-pattern Stone Shovel – Also on Mythological Tradition of “Dragon Shrine” Ceremony of Xiongnu Nationality, Archaeological Collection of Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics: Vol.1, Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, 1994. Wang Ningsheng: Trial Explanation on Usages of Some Stone Wares, Collection of National Archaeological Papers, Beijing Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1989. Baoji Archaeological Team: Baoji Fulin Fort, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1993. Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology: Longgang Temple, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1990. Anhui Archaeology Research Institute: Xuajiagang Neolithic Age Relics in Qianshan, Acta Archaeologica Sinica 1982, Vol.3. Epic of Gilgamesh: Liaoning People’s Publishing House, 1981, pp.26, Translated by Zhao Lesheng. Yan Wenming: Study on Yangshao Civilization, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1989. Editor-in-chief Su Bingqi: General History of China (Ancient Times Volume), Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1994.

Chapter 10

Original Way from the Cultural Big Tradition: A Study on the Divine Belief and Mythological Images of “Tao”

From the ancient days to the modern times, there are three major ways to interpret the cultural significance of “Tao”, the core cultural concept of the Chinese civilization. The first one is to make comprehensive use of handed-down documents, such as Laozi, to explain the meaning of “Tao”; the second one is to make a pure analysis on the handed-down and unearthed characters and images including Xu Shen’s Shuowen Jiezi, Shang Chengzuo’s A Research on the Prose in Shuowen Jiezi, Yan Yiping’s Shi and Guo Jingyun’s About the Essence of “Tao” from Characters in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties; and the third is to discover the mythological prototype of “Tao” from the perspective of cultural anthropology, such as Ye Shuxian’s Cultural Interpretation of the Work Laozi and Xin Yuan Dao. Since the twenty-first century, the Chinese literary anthropology has transformed the theory of great cultural tradition and little tradition followed by western anthropologists into the new theory of big cultural tradition, which regards the preliterate culture as the great tradition and the post-literate culture as the little tradition. The new distinction between big tradition and small tradition jumps out of the narrow view of character centralism in the academic circle and manifests the spiritual belief and mythological codes in the preliterate period. Here, putting ancient Tao of the Chinese civilization in the prehistoric big cultural tradition context, we will rediscuss its cultural origin and divine belief with the comprehensive application of the four-evidence-based method.

1 Understanding “Tao” from the Live Verbal Evidences Although the voice of “words and phrases” mentioned in the verbal tradition is written in water and unpreservable, such tradition is still retained in the current alive word-of-mouth activities, from which we can appreciate the divine existence of the ancient “Tao”. In his work “Rediscussing the Saying of Divine Singers in Gesar”, Xu Guoqiong records the divine rituals before folk artists’ word-of-mouth performance © Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_10

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as the following, “Before his performance, the divine singer hangs a ‘Thang-ga’, a Gesar colored portrait. In front of the portrait lays a white round rock on which several balls of butter are smeared. A bowl of water and a censer with burning cedar incenses stand near the rock. After everything is settled, the singer closes his eyes and sits cross-legged before the portrait coiled by incense smoke murmuring imprecations. After a while he shivers all over, yawning continuously and grinding his teeth in turns. It seems as if there is an unsearchable power attaching to his body.”1 Through the mysterious ritual, the artist gains a “mysterious power” and begins to sing effusively. It is visible that his singing is superficially a voluntary behavior, but in reality, the artistic show will not happen until the “mysterious power” is attached to the singer. This also indicates that the singing behavior at this time is carried out by the artist but actually driven by the “mysterious power” dependent on the artist, which is the ultimate force and divine intelligence of the performer’s words. In the vocal music, the most crucial part is the falling of the mysterious soul. Only after the soul falls into the artist’s body can he represents the God. In his thesis “The Structural Form of Shamanist sacrificial Ceremony in North China”, Huang Qiang observes the ethnic groups of Oroqen and Manchu and summarizes three features of the structural form of Shamanist sacrificial ceremony in the north, namely, preparation for receiving the God, God-man communication, and farewell to the God.2 The Shamanist dancingfor-the-God ceremony in each ethnic group includes three stages: God welcoming, God landing, and God leaving, among which chanting is of great significance in that it is the way for Shamans to summon the deities to arrive at man’s world. For instance, when holding a dancing-for-God ceremony, the Shamans in the Tujue tribes in the Altay region sings, “Oh! The floating clouds, please come to step on my shoulders! All of you, holding my shoulders, please come to me! Don Sakin, you are the God’s favored one, the son of Urken Khan, oh, Kergoval, for the sake of seeing, you are my eyes; for the sake of catching, you are my hands; for the sake of running, you are my legs; for the sake of wrestling, you are my feet… You shake in the thunder, you dance in the lightning, the autumn clouds gestate thunder, the spring clouds breed lightning. Whose footsteps are they? Oh, it is my father Mergen Khan who, rustling like Yalama, is coming right next to me!”3 In the singing of Shaman, we can feel that as the God approaches, the Shaman’ body begins to change substantially, his eyes, hands, and feet turning into the deity’s eyes, hands, and feet. The “footsteps” of the God implies that a mysterious “Tao” for the God to fall into the Shaman is opened, along which the God comes down. “Coming right next to me” means that the Shaman’s raising hands act as an occult body signal to greet the God as well as build an arcane channel for the God, in other words, the way of miraculous brightness that connects human with heaven and earth, through which the God befalls from 1 Xu

Guoqiong, Rediscussing the Saying of Divine Singers in Gesar, compiled by Zhao Bingli, Gesarology (vol.3), Lanzhou: Gansu People’s Publishing House, 1990, p.1857. 2 Huang Qiang, The Structural Form of Shamanist Sacrificial Ceremony in North China, Journal of Beifang University of Nationalities, 2000, p. 2. 3 Guo Shuyun, The Original Active Culture: The Shamanism Perspective, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2001, p.334.

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the far-away sky. From the Shamanist God welcoming ceremony, we can see the following cultural structures. First, a man in man’s world is usually not attached by divinity. That is to say, there is no connection between a man and the God in human body. Second, through mythological rituals, Shamans get rid of their own earthly spirit and find back the true God. They themselves also return from an earthly spirit to a true God. Such mythological return is essentially the divine transformation of a man’s mental status from the vanity-chasing secularity to the sky-falling desire of Tao from the true God. According to the oracle bone inscription, from the Shang Dynasty when the kings offer sacrifices to the God, there must be rituals in which a “dead body” plays the role as the deity. Before the sacrifice ceremony, the performer of the divine corpse must make himself a God-attached existence of divinity and a tangible embodiment of the God through spiritual rituals including God greeting and God falling. After the God befalls, the “dead body” becomes a divine corpse, all of these rituals and activities that produce speech such as banquet and birth celebration represent the divine words and behaviors of the God. As to the ethnic groups of Yi, Hani, Lhoba, Hezhen, and Tujia, a grand sacrifice ceremony should be held before hunting. The procedure of the ceremony includes God welcoming, divination practice, sacrifice offering to the God, mountain observation, and sacrifice informing. In his book La Mentalité Primitive, Bruhl discusses the collective phenomenon of “hunting and fishery” and thinks that the key to fishery and hunting lies on the acquisition of a “mysterious power” before fishermen and hunters set off their work. In addition, the acquisition of such a mysterious power originates from the “mysterious action” before venery, namely, the sacrifice ceremony for hunting.4 As is pointed out by the English specialist in comparative religion Karen Armstrong, “When an Australian aboriginal goes hunting, he will try hard to imitate the behaviors of a so-called ‘prototype hunter’ until he feels that the ‘prototype hunter’ integrates with his own body so that he can reach a more powerful prototype world.”5 The so-called “prototype hunter” is imagined as the hunting God in the hunter’s mind. Only when experiencing the God’s unsearchable identification to the hunter himself can he succeed in hunting. The German scholar J. E. Lips writes in his book The Origin of Things that “Nowadays, the African Bushmen and the Australian aboriginals will gather for a ceremony with sorcery dance before hunting in order to ensure a fruitful hunting result… These tribes firmly believe that without such ceremony, they will fail to capture preys the next day.”6 Judging from the discussion on hunting ceremonies in tribes at an early stage by anthropologists and mythologists, during the rituals and ceremonies, hunters’ gaining of divine powers including the “mysterious power”, “the hunting God”, and the “prototype hunter” is a critical 4 (France)

Lucien Levy-Bruhl, La Mentalité Primitive, translated by Ding You, Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1981, p.220. 5 (Britain) Karen Armstrong, A Short Story of Myth, translated by Hu Yabin, Chongqing: Chongqing Publishing Group, 2005, p.16. 6 (Germany) Julius E. Lips, The Origin of Things, translated by Wang Ningsheng, Guiyang: Guizhou Education Press, 2010, pp.58–59.

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decisive factor of the prehistoric hunting outcomes. For any individual hunter, he will get nothing with his temporal mental status. If he gives up his temporal mental status and obtains a mysterious power hidden at ordinary times, an enormous change will take place in his mind, which is the vital guarantee for hunting activities. It is thus clear that in the indigenous people’s hearts, it is culturally significant for the God to befall into and bring great changes to man’s heart.

2 Mythological Ceremony and Divine Belief of “Tao” With the discovery of original cliff paintings, frescoes, and sacrifice utensils in different parts of the world, we can investigate and experience how the early singers or hunters gain the “mysterious power” from a number of substantial images. In the cliff fresco in Huashan Cliff, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Fig. 1), a group of Wizards are dancing. At the center of the fresco is a strong wizard who raises his hands holding a musical instrument with an edged tool at his waist, standing high on a hound. He is praying devoutly for the falling of the hunting God. We can see clearly that above his head draws a befallen slim hunting God between his arms. Such instructive mythological signal tells us that the hunting God has arrived and the wizard’s heart is shifted into a status of God. The cliff painting in Balai Mountain, Zuojiang River Valley, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Fig. 2) describes an extremely similar scene as Fig. 1, but only differs in that farther from the great wizard’s head comes slowly a hunting God between his arms. The sorcerers in Figs. 3 and 4 resemble the above-mentioned postures and images, but they are distinctive for the two unearthly dots on their heads to embody the God. These two dots are signs of light with divine significance that represent the sacred light given out by the God after it falls along the divine way above the wizards’ heads. The necromancer in Fig. 5 wears tall panache, which undoubtedly stands for the mysterious pathway for the God comes down above the wizard’s head as well as the divine radiance during the God’s coming. Figures 6 and 7, respectively, depict a wizard holding a musical instrument horizontally with a sign of divine light above Fig. 1 Cliff fresco in Huashan Cliffs, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

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Fig. 2 Cliff painting in Balai Mountains, Zuojiang River Valley, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Fig. 3 Cliff fresco in Huashan Cliffs, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Fig. 4 Cliff fresco in Gaoshan Cliffs, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

his head. Figure 8 portrays a complex of three overlayed men and the God with their arms and legs overlapped. This signifies that the God falls gradually down from high, its four limbs slowly overlapping the wizards’ ones. The arrival of the God is realized through the integration and transformation of the arms and legs between the deity and the wizards. All of them have a consistent posture so that it is hard to tell who wizards are and who the God is. They jointly form a divine pass by intercourse and integration, which means a miraculous strength is acquired in man’s mind. Figure 9 is a relatively comprehensive drawing of hunting, in which a flock of wizards are dancing and jumping with brilliant rays flashing above their heads. This shows that at this time, sorcerers have more or less gained a “mysterious power”, which then becomes the divine sign after the God’s coming. The buffalo at the top

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Fig. 5 Cliff painting in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

Fig. 6 Cliff painting in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

Fig. 7 Cliff painting in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

of the painting hangs its tail down and is caught submissively without resistance. We can see that it is not human strength but the divine drive that subdues the buffalo and make it obedient. The wizard in the middle of Fig. 10 heads a tall decorative symbol, which proves to be the arcane passage for the God to come to the wizard. The necromancer at the top right corner is an unsearchable combination of two figures, among which the upper godlike figure lands stably on the shoulders of the lower human figure, just as the song in Shamanist dancing-for-the-God ceremony goes, “Please come to step on my shoulders!” This kind of mythological pictorial symbol fully demonstrates that the hunters have succeeded in the God falling ceremony. The cliff paintings in North China have different approaches but equally satisfactory results in the mythological images. The petroglyph in Kangjia Shimenzi, Hutubi County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Fig. 11) picture that a mass of wizards are singing and dancing around a paralyzed tiger. Apart from the special shining symbols on the top of their heads, there are

2 Mythological Ceremony and Divine Belief of “Tao” Fig. 8 Cliff painting in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Fig. 9 Cliff painting in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

Fig. 10 Cliff painting in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Yunnan Province

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Fig. 11 Petroglyph in Kangjia Shimenzi, Hutubi County, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

other mysterious portraits beside their heads or at their abdomen. These portraits, like ghosts, become an appendage to the wizards, indicating that the wizards are in a status of divine attachment. It is such a supernatural power that allows them to frighten and surrender the ferocious tiger. Take another look at the tiger, it is lying on the ground and is too exhausted to fight back. In the petroglyph in Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Fig. 12), the sorcerers each hold a musical instrument on a courser, from their heads falling slowly a God. In Fig. 13, the body of the wizard is thoroughly simplified, with only two big eyes on his head. However, his arms and legs remain unchanged. Meanwhile, above his right hand draws a pair of eyes and below, a similar godlike image, both of which act as pivotal symbols of divine attachment. In Figs. 14 and 15, with his four limbs simplified, the wizard is Fig. 12 Petroglyph in Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Fig. 13 Petroglyph in Helankou of Helan Mountains, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

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Fig. 14 Petroglyph in Helankou of Helan Mountains, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Fig. 15 Petroglyph in Helankou of Helan Mountains, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

reduced to a head, on which accompanies another divine sign. In Fig. 16, the necromancer holds the slight body and feet of the God, which manifests the light falling of the God. Figures 17 and 18 display the facial expression of the wizard after receiving the God, which is beaming and buoyant in spirits with a sense of mystery. In Fig. 19, the Fig. 16 Petroglyph in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

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Fig. 17 Portrait in Dongshengmiao, Langshan Mountains, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Fig. 18 Petroglyph in Shaoshaogou, Zhuozi Mountains, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Fig. 19 Petroglyph in Ge’eraobaogou, Yinshan Mountains, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

necromancer is highly simplified to raising hands and separated legs with luminous feathering on his head and light shadow around his waist. The wizard image in Fig. 20 is greatly resembled with the character “道 (Tao)” in the Chinese bronze inscriptions, ( Ding), (Zengbo Bronze Ding), and (San Family such as (Hezi You), Plate). As for the wizards in these pictures, their lifting arms are simplified as the , and only the outline of “mysterious path” is preserved, through which shape of a divine image with scattering splendor falls down onto the man’s head. Meanwhile, the separate bent legs are also simplified. From these mythological images and earlystage rituals, we can judge that the later character of “道 (Tao)” in the inscriptions on ancient bronze objects is evolved from these simplified mystical images. “Tao” has become the mysterious passageway for the God to befall on man, which is a simplified signal referring to the return of the true God.

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Fig. 20 Petroglyph in Molehetugou, Yinshan Mountains, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

The image of the hooked cloud-shaped jade of the Hongshan culture unearthed at the Nasitai site, Bairin Right Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region looks like the follow:

. Make a comparison between this image and the aforementioned

image of the divine path, and you can find that this jade plate looks like a jademade wizard. In the middle of the jade is the head of the wizard. The teeth above and below the head is the mysterious light after inviting the God. On both sides at the top of the jade are the sorcerer’s raising arms while at the bottom, his separate legs. This jade image vividly showcases the mythological path for the God’s advent. The image of the jade trident unearthed from the Fanshan cemetery (M10:6) is the following image:

. This figure is left with a path of two raising hands, while

the divine dignity is reflected by the image of a mythical ferocious animal at the abdominal part of the trident. Regarding the ornamentation on the bronze ware from the Shang Dynasty, such as

, the wizard has completely gained the holy

strength because there is a pair of ox horn on the top of his head, which indicates the sign of the mysterious strength. The unsearchable “Tao” in the primary big tradition is also seen in the images of inscriptions on ancient bronze objects. For instance, (San Dai 14.24)

Fugui Yan, Ji Cheng 822)

(San Dai 16.43)

(

Yan, Ji Cheng 777)

(

(Ding Ding, Ji Cheng 1288). All these images

in Chinese bronze inscriptions contain a figure of wizard who stretches, raises, or levels his arms and slightly bends his legs to form a divine path for the God’s arrival. Above his head exists a feathered path, waiting for a falling God or ancestors (such as Zi, Fuyi or Fugui), and it also serves a path for the wizard to freed his spirit from his body or waiting for a descending jade disc. Another example goes to

(Ji

cheng 793). Here, the picture depicts two wizards going down on their knees with their hands raised as if they were welcoming something. Besides, in the mid-path,

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there is a God (Zi) wearing feathering decorations descending slowly, which also signifies the pathway for the God’s coming. The arrival of the God through “Tao” enables people to have divine experience and gain mysterious power. It is obvious that “Tao” is not an ordinary path but the way for the true God’s return. People cannot obtain the original strength of life unless the true God comes back, which demonstrates the power source and cultural significance of “Tao bears the world”. Zhuang Zi—The Great and Most Honored Master writes, “This is the Tao—There is in it emotion and sincerity, but it does nothing and has no bodily form. It may be handed down (by the teacher), but may not be received (by his scholars). It may be apprehended (by the mind), but it cannot be seen. It has its root and ground (of existence) in itself. Before there were heaven and earth, from of old, there it was, securely existing. From it came the mysterious existences of spirits, from it the mysterious existence of God. It produced heaven; it produced earth. It was before the Tai Ji, and yet could not be considered high; it was below all space, and yet could not be considered deep. It was produced before heaven and earth, and yet could not be considered to have existed long; it was older than the highest antiquity, and yet could not be considered old.”7 “Tao”, in Zhuang Zi’s comprehension, is the root of everything, which has emotion and sincerity but does nothing or has no bodily form. It can produce everything but is not as direct and clear as the recipient. Everything can get it but cannot see it. “Tao” is rooted and grounded on “nature”, thus we say “the way of Tao follows nature”, namely, the way of Tao is nature based. It is before heaven and earth, and it is an eternal existence. “Tao” awards divinity to “ghosts” and “emperors” and produces heaven and earth. So, we can see that heaven and earth as well as ghosts and gods are from the initial “Taoist” world and gain divine power from “Tao”. “Tao” is before and produces Tai Ji. It exists everywhere and is never considered old. Wenzi Daoyuan writes, “This is the Tao—It moulds everything but stays shapelessly, statically and runs through the trackless and endless space. It is profound and extensive so that it is impossible to define its external boundary. It is deep and subtle so that it is impossible to probe into its internal limit. Although it has no surrounding bound, it has the root of producing tangible and intangible things.”8 “Tao” is an intangible and static existence while “Tai Ji” is the existence of yin and yang as well as dynamic and static states. The disposition structure of “Tao” can be expressed as 0+0 while the one of “Tai Ji”, 0+1. “Tao” is nothingness with nothingness while “Tai Ji” is nothingness with being. “Tao” is the cultural root of nothingness and being. It is the field of epiphanies for the God of nothingness or the way of return for the true God. “Tao” exists in “Tai Ji”, “ghosts and gods”, “gods and emperors” and all things on earth, but from a great number of beings, we see no nothingness that supports beings. “Tao” is an insubstantial power of existence. Mawangdui Silk Texts—Tao and Law writes, “Tao produces law. Law decides success or failure by ruling and regulating right and wrong like a line marker measuring curve and straight. So the executor of 7 (The Qing Dynasty) Written by Guo Qingfan, proofread by Wang Xiaoyu, Explanation of Zhuang

Zi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1961, pp.246–247. by Wang Liqi, Explanation of Wenzi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2000, p.18.

8 Written

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Tao produces the law and dares not offend it, and once he establishes the law, he dares not abolish it. If he can rule and regulate like a line market does, he will see and understand the world without confusion. Tao is insubstantial and shapeless, silent and profound, depending on which all things on earth survive.”9 All the existing “laws” are born by “Tao”, and all laws become tangible rules of living. All “executors of Tao” will surly “produce the law” and “abide by the law” instead of “abolish the law” if knowing the intangible Tao in their minds. “Tao” is the ultimate source, which is intangible while “law” is the derivation, which is tangible. Everything, as a tangible being, is produced by the life source of “Tao”. Taking all evidences including the verbal form of mouth activities, substantial images, handed-down literature, and unearthed documents into consideration, we integrate the divine images in rituals drew by the indigenous people with the Godreceiving ceremony and build the original force and cultural imagination of the ancient “Tao”. In ancient times when big tradition exists, “Tao” refers to the state that people temporarily give up their individual tangible existence and worldly logic to expose the true God in their minds so as to purify their innermost being into a satisfactory and comfortable true world during the God-welcoming rituals (or called mind concentration activities). That is to say, due to the presentation of the God, human being gains a divine world with radiance, which enables him to gain a godsend and therefore entering a magical state of selflessness like the true God does. This mysterious “Tao” is a returning path for the true God, a way to express the divinity of the true God as well as the conveying channel of destiny. This “mysterious path”, since ancient times when great tradition exists, has gained orthodoxy and legality, becoming a bright passageway to decode the Chinese culture and metalinguistic genes. In his book Das Heilige und das Profane, Mircea Eliade describes the shift between religious ceremonies and different universal forms, stating that “it is this path that makes it possible for a life mode to change into another one, and a circumstance of existence to another one.”10 In Chinese cultural tradition, a man’s gaining the “Taoist heart” is similar with the divine “Narrow Gate” in religious rituals. Only when the Sacred mental Gate is opened can a man’s heart completes tangible cultural transcendence and his body be divinely replaced by the spiritual world, and the true God can be further introduced in front of their own disposition. The “destined” divinity shadowed by worldly hearts cannot give out its magnificent radiance or give into full play the unparalleled “prehistorical” powers unless the divine path is opened. With a “Taoist heart”, man can be vitalized and enlightened by exhaling the old and inhaling the new.

9 Edited

by Qiu Xigui, Collection of Mawangdui Silk Texts (4), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2014, p.130. 10 (Romania) Mircea Eliade, Das Heilige und das Profane, Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2002, p.104.

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3 Prototype of the Transformation of “Tao” in Circular Motion The inborn “Tao” is nameless, shapeless, and indescribable. Hence, it is difficult to display it with specific tangible images. Nevertheless, when it changes from nothingness to being, “Tao” inhabits visible vital essence and spirits so that it can transform the good into materials. In this way, substantial images can bear the nameless and shapeless existence of “Tao”. Laozi—Chapter 25 writes, “There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before heaven and earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger of being exhausted! It could be regarded as the Mother of all things.”11 The mentioned undefined and complete thing taking shape before heaven and earth is the indescribable “Tao”, which is transforming continuously. Only when “Tao” reaches everywhere and is no danger of being exhausted can it become the “Mother of all things”. Laozi—Chapter 11 writes, “Thirty spokes radiate from a hub. When there is nothing in the hub, the wheel can roll.”12 Laozi uses a series of metaphors to describe the eternal movement of “Tao”, comparing it to a wheel, a vessel, and a room. Among them, the “hub” of the wheel is compared to the initial intangible status of “Tao” while the “spokes” of the wheel, the space-time transformation of the tangible status of “Tao”. The “hub” and the “spokes” of the wheel are integrated as an organic unity of being and nothingness. Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals—The Cyclic Way writes, “The heaven way is cyclic, the earth way is square. The emperor follows the example by establishing a hierarchical system the monarch himself and his subjects. Why do we say the heaven way is cyclic? The vital essence runs up and down in circle without a stop, so we regard the heaven way as a cycle.”13 “Tao” produces heaven and earth, thus creating a specific shape difference between the cyclic heaven and the square earth. Here, the “heaven way”, which can be traced back to the era of Qianyuan (758–760), is the primary stage of “Tao”. Thus, “Tao” is the circular motion of vital essence. Relying only on the narration of literal texts, we cannot vividly grasp the tangible form of “Tao”. Literary anthropology deems that in big cultural tradition, the substantial images are codes of the preliminary culture, manifesting that when the immaterial “divine path” turns into a visible form, it is displayed in a specific and visible form of substantial image. As the possessor of the Taoist heart, early sages narrate the prototype of the “divine path” with the use of round-shaped materials. Since the twenty-first century, Chinese literary anthropologists have discovered the hidden myths and beliefs on jades in textual literature. The jade material has become a crucial symbol to represent myths and beliefs in big cultural tradition. 11 (The Kingdom of Wei, one of the Three Kingdoms) Annotated by Wang Bi, proofread by Lou Yulie, Annotation and Proofreading of Laozi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, pp.62–63. 12 (The Kingdom of Wei, one of the Three Kingdoms) Annotated by Wang Bi, proofread by Lou Yulie, Annotation and Proofreading of Laozi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.26. 13 Xu Weiyu, Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2009, pp.78–79.

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Among them, the hole of the jade disc represents nothingness, a spiritual but shapeless image of Tao. The outer edge of the disc is made of jade, which embodies the substantial and tangible Polaris. The round-shaped image of the jade disc with internal emptiness and external entity is consistent with the integration and connection between being and nothingness of the divine path. That the ancient people ritualized heaven of jade discs shows the common feature between the jade disc and heaven and man, which is the life source of divine path. The jade discs vividly showcase the transformation of “Tao” in circular motion. Both the Taoist heart and the cores of heaven and earth are transformed into cyclic track. The jade disc in Fig. 21 belongs to the middle of the Neolithic Age, which represents early sages’ cultural imagination of the being and nothingness of the Taoist body. Figure 22 shows a jade disc in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Citizens in this period added two dragons images end to end, the image of which, in form, is almost a carbon copy of the passed-down picture of Tai Ji in the Book of Changes, such as the diagram of the universe created by Lai Zhide in the Ming Dynasty (see Fig. 24). During the Period of Warring States, the decorative design of jade engraving was further developed from the neck-to-neck two-dragon style to four-dragon pattern (see Fig. 23). From external one-dragon integration, to neck-to-neck two-dragon style, and to four-dragon parallel, the jade disc ornamentation vividly expresses the natural transformation procedure of the Taoist body. On the potteries unearthed in the big tradition period, there are some symbolic signs of the round-shaped Taoist body, which, along with the shape of the essence, is the materialized manifestation of the cultural imagination of the Taoist body. The typical patterns on the colored pottery of Majiayao culture are flowing circles that move along the outer edge with the disc circle as the center, such as the models in Figs. 25, 26 and 27. The colored pottery pot with a coiled dragon pattern excavated at Taosi site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi is more true to life (Fig. 28). The Fig. 21 Jade disc, Middle of the Neolithic Age (9000–7000 years from now), unearthed at the site of Tuanjie Village, Hake Town, Hailar District, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Extracted from The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang), edited by Gu Fang, Beijing: Science Press, 2005, page 52

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Fig. 22 Jade disc, the Western Zhou Dynasty, unearthed at No.63 tomb at Jin dukes’ Cemetery, Quwo County, Shanxi Province, currently collected in Shanxi Archaeology Institute, extracted from The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (Shanxi), edited by Gu Fang, Beijing: Science Press, 2005, page 113

Fig. 23 Jade disc, the Period of Warring States, unearthed at No.1 tomb at Yangjia Mountain, Dangyang, Hubei Province, currently collected in Yichang Museum, extracted from The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China (Hubei and Hunan), edited by Gu Fang, Beijing: Science Press, 2005, page 66

depicted dragon is entrenched in a ringlike shape in the pot, properly demonstrating the transformation of the Taoist body in circular motion. Since the Xia and Shang Dynasties, Chinese ethnic groups had entered into the Bronze Age. The bronze ware put a great emphasis on decoration and the intangible and invisible strength of “Tao” was displayed with special symbolic signs by craftsmen. For instance, Fig. 29 is a bronze you with an owl pattern in the Shang Dynasty. At the abdomen of the owl draws a fine pair of decorative swirls, which is in

3 Prototype of the Transformation of “Tao” in Circular Motion Fig. 24 Lai Zhide’s diagram of the universe in the Ming Dynasty, extracted from Explanation of the Book of Changes composed by Lai Zhide, Kangxi reign, 27th year Bao Lian Tang block-printed edition, Yi Xue Ji Cheng (1), Sichuan University Press, 1998, page 625

Fig. 25 Vortex-decorated pottery, Majiayao culture, unearthed in 1956, in Yongjing County, Gansu, currently collected in National Museum of China

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Fig. 26 Circular waved conical vase, Majiayao culture

accordance with the transformation of “Tao” in circular motion. Figure 30 is an owlshaped zun in the Shang Dynasty. At the wings of the owl craves a curved dragon, representing the transformation power of “Tao”. Figure 31 is a tray with a curled-up dragon pattern in the middle age of Yinxu. A dragon hovers in the plate surrounded by a group of fish, which implies that the main power of “Tao” produces a dragon and the rest power, a group of fish. Figure 32 is a rabbit-shaped zun in the Western Zhou Dynasty. At the rabbit’s belly draws a disc-like decoration. Vital essence gathers from three directions together to the mid-hole and two dragons embrace each other at the center, surrounded by a full dragon. From the images of jade discs, colored potteries to bronze ware, the round-shaped “Tao” is a continuously transforming eternity. The unearthed substantial images display the transformation of the Taoist body in the form of round-shaped mythological prototype, embodying the origin of nothingness of the divine “Tao” and unfolding the life power and transformation process of the ancient “Tao”. This shows that after knowing the divine Tao can be turned into integration, vital essence, real form and entity, the sages and men of virtue in the ancient time have used the expression of

3 Prototype of the Transformation of “Tao” in Circular Motion

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Fig. 27 Swirl-decorated urn with double ears, Majiayao culture

Fig. 28 Colored pottery pot with a coiled dragon pattern unearthed at Taosi site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi, extracted from An Illustrated History of the Origin of Chinese Civilization, composed by Ye Shuxian, Guangzhou: Southern Daily Publishing House, 2015, page 82

material images to demonstrate the eternal changes and endless reproduction of the divine Tao from various aspects.

188 Fig. 29 Bronze you with owl pattern in the Shang Dynasty, collected in Henan Museum

Fig. 30 Owl-shaped zun in the Shang Dynasty, collected in Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan Museum

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3 Prototype of the Transformation of “Tao” in Circular Motion

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Fig. 31 Tray with curled-up dragon pattern, the middle age of Yinxu, collected in National Palace Museum

Fig. 32 Rabbit-shaped zun in the Western Zhou Dynasty, collected in Shanxi Museum

References Xu Guoqiong, Again of the saying of divine singers in Gesar, compiled by Zhao Bingli, Gesarology (vol.3), Lanzhou: Gansu People’s Publishing House, 1990. Huang Qiang, The structural form of Shamanist sacrificial ceremony in North China, Journal of Beifang University of Nationalities, 2000. Guo Shuyun, The Original Active Culture: The Shamanism Perspective, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2001. (France) Lucien Levy-Bruhl, La Mentalité Primitive, translated by Ding You, Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1981.

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(Britain) Karen Armstrong, A Short Story of Myth, translated by Hu Yabin, Chongqing: Chongqing Publishing Group, 2005. (Germany) Julius E. Lips, The Origin of Things, translated by Wang Ningsheng, Guiyang: Guizhou Education Press, 2010. (The Qing Dynasty) Written by Guo Qingfan, proofread by Wang Xiaoyu, Explanation of Zhuang Zi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1961. Written by Wang Liqi, Explanation of Wenzi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2000. Edited by Qiu Xigui, Collection of Mawangdui Silk Texts (4), Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2014. (Romania) Mircea Eliade, Das Heilige und das Profane, Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2002. (The Kingdom of Wei, one of the Three Kingdoms) Annotated by Wang Bi, proofread by Lou Yulie, Annotation and Proofreading of Laozi, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2008. Xu Weiyu, Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2009.

Chapter 11

What is Man: Original Strength and Psychological Structure Revealed by Chinese Genesis Myth

What is man? How should modern human perceive themselves? Bafflement and bewilderment of the people in this regard have posed a major problem to consciousness of the age of industrial civilization. In the era of booming technology, mankind pays more attention to outside things, and attaches importance to rational discovery of and cognitive research into objects by means of science, However, human rational cognition and artificial calculation of things have caused mankind’s desire for wealth and fame to swell and its sense of crisis to worsen, which in turn intensifies the coverup of human inner spirit and natural characteristics. As a result, mankind gradually loses not only its previously processed holy strength, but also its self-reflection and natural self-protection due to its logic of rational culture. Westerners have never stopped their inquiry into the issue of Man. To the Ancient Greeks, “man is the measure of things” and “the master of things”. Aristotle defines humans as “social animals”, “political animals”, “speaking animals”, “rational animals”, etc.; and Descartes gives a rational judgment concerning man: “I think, therefore I am”. In the twenty-first century, Derrida proposes that “man is animal”. French scholar Lyotard in L’inhuman: Ramble of Time uses “inhuman” to summarize the cultural misinterpretations and humanistic paradoxes brought by various humanistic thoughts upon mankind. He says, “From the perspective of humanism, is man forced to become inhuman? Or does man ‘originally mean’ a being who is obsessed with inhuman? Therefore, there may be two types of inhuman, which must be differentiated. (In particular) The inhuman who solidifies its system in the name of development should not be confused with the inhuman who is extremely

© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_11

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secretive and has offered its soul as pledge.”1 In Dits et Ecrits Foucault reveals the knowledge characteristic and subject value of the human science of the nineteenth century, “Human science was invented in the nineteenth century. Apparently it made man the subject of study for such a possible knowledge. By doing so people hoped and fantasized to forge some sort of salvation myths for themselves, hoping that this kind of knowledge on man could liberate them from the phenomenon of estrangement, and set them free from the realm that was beyond their control, so that man could unprecedentedly become his own master. In other words, people changed man into the subject of knowledge in order to make it the object of its own freedom and existence.”2 When modern human science turns man into the subject of rational knowledge, man becomes fragmented and estranged by all kinds of knowledge. Post-modern scholars propose questioning and deconstructing the concept of “man” in modernity culture, making us realize the rational defects and humanistic crises of “human centrism” ideology in the age of industrial civilization, yet they have not found the new dimension and model for solving the cultural crisis of mankind itself. Chinese traditional culture contains traditional wisdom of China as well as the thinking elements of western anthropocentrism. Such an unfading and continual cultural advantage can help modern Chinese to leap out of the human-caused logic and knowledge value of western industrial civilization age and anthropocentrism, thus again viewing, perceiving, and experiencing essential characteristics and natural properties of man. Chinese creation myth is the source and beginning of Chinese fine traditional culture, and an important fountain and mythological dimension of reinterpreting the value of Chinese culture. Today, rediscovery and reformulation of Chinese creation myth can provide a new possibility for the world to again perceive the past, present, and future of man from the oriental primitive perspective. Chinese creation myth is a valuable heritage passed on to the written culture by the prehistoric oral culture, which represents the original coding and mythological prototype of earlier Chinese culture and carries the primitive experience and imagination of earlier sages for the world, humans, and things. In this primordial imagination, we can explore the primitive order and cultural nature that exist between man and natural world and social world, thus refresh the understanding of what man is.

1 [France]Lyotard:

L’inhuman: Ramble of Time, Translated by Luo Guoxiang, Commercial Press, 2000, p. 2. 2 M. Foucault. Dits et Ecrits, Paris: Gallimard, 1994, p. 663, Chinese version cited from On New Humanities of the Twenty-First Century by Gao Xuanyang, carried by Social Scientists, issue No. 9 of 2011, p.7–13.

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1 Man, Heaven and Earth: Complete Generation of Man in Chinese Creation Myth The knowledge of modernity emphasizes man’s cognition of things, even regards man itself the rational object of knowledgeable cognition, especially perceiving man from the perspective of its social relations, natural physiology, material life, and life events, thus neglecting the mythological life and thought unique to man as the existent. Based on mythological dimension, Chinese creation myth uncovers the primitive imagination and life source for man by man from the occurrence moment and mythological thought of primordial cultural tradition, which is conducive for discovering the mythological prototype and value wisdom of earlier humans to man. Where does earlier creation myth come from? Yangziju remarks, “Since the events of the remote antiquity have lost, where can I find their records?”3 Quyuan also laments in his epic poem Tian Wen (Questions for Heavens, “From the very beginning who recounts the ancient story?”4 Both of them express their humanistic bafflement concerning the world creation events of the remote antiquity. Since the twentieth century both Chinese and western academic worlds have found that there existed a very remote oral cultural tradition before the invention of written culture. Chinese literary anthropology classify the cultural tradition formed by early oral transmission culture as “Da Chua tong” or Big Tradition, while the written cultural tradition that appeared after the invention of characters as “Xiao Chua tong” or Small Tradition. This classification from the perspective of media channels is inspiring the contemporary academic world to reevaluate the source of Chinese civilization. While Chinese creation myth originates from Big Tradition, the mythology we see in handed-down records and excavated literature is nothing more than the cultural relics of the earlier oral creation stories in the character writing age.

3 Yang

Bojun: Collective Annotation of Articles of Liezi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1979, p.234.

4 [Song] Hong Xingzu: Supplementary Annotation of Chuci, Zhonghua Book Company, 2002, p.85.

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In contemporary study of Chinese creation mythology there are three cultural inclinations: First, the study of mythological motifs, which focuses on the classification and narrative knowledge variation of the creation.5 Second, the research on origin of the world and mankind, which emphasizes the natural evolution of creation mythology from disorder to order.6 Third, the focus on the power intention of creation myth presentation, which aims to reveal the wording politics and discourse tactics of creation mythology.7 The first two trends are in line with the knowledgeable concept of modernity, and the third is agreeable with the discourse power viewpoint of postmodernity. Here we step outside these three models and advocate to uncover the cultural value and humanistic mentality of the Chinese creation myth based on the existence dimension and mythical thinking of man. To better demonstrate how Chinese creation mythology provides answers to the question of “what is man?”, we compile the following generating schemes of Chinese creation mythology (see next page) using some typical examples from historical literature and excavated documents to showcase their structural relationship, so as to reveal the structural schemes and mental characteristics of man in the creation mythology. Generating Scheme Table of Chinese Creation Mythology8

5 Refer to Chinese Genesis Mythology Type Research Review by Zhang Kaiyan, carried on Journal

of Hubei Institute for Nationalities, issue No. 3 of 2014, p. 1–6; Gods and Heros: Theme of Chinese Ancient Mythology by Chen Jianxian, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 1995, p. 10–15. 6 Tao Yang & Zhong Xiu, Chinese Genesis Mythology, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1989, p.2. 7 There is a chapter “Mythology and Genesis” in Mythological History of South Korea by South Korean scholar Lin Bingxi, discussing “order and paradigm”, mentioning “social order” in Chinese genesis mythology. Refer to Mythological History of South Korea by Lin Bingxi, South Daily Press, 2012, p.33. 8 The author makes the graphs according to historical and excavated literature.

Taiyi Taichu Taishi Taisu

Dao

One

Changes 易Yi

Taiji

Harmonious Qi begets man

Three

The host of things

Saint

The host of things

Quintessential energy generates man

Two gods Heaven and earth Yin and Yang

Taizhao Xu Dao

Huainanzid

The host of things

Heaven and earth Deity Yin and Yang

Tai Yi, Water

Guodian Bamboo Slipse

Fuxi, Nvwa Heaven and earth Sun, moon, and four seasons

Water

Chu Silk Manuscriptf

Chaos

Taiyi Taichu Taishi Taisu

Qianzaodug

Heaven and earth

Taiji Tianyi

Taiyi Taichu Taishi Xuwu Taisu

Emperors Annalsh

 11

Man The host of things

Heaven and earth

Chaos pool heavens

Taichu Taishi Taisu

sensei Guangyaj

Baihu general

The host of things

Three emperors Man

Heaven and earth

Chaos, Pangu, Air

Pangu mythologyk

Man Bare insect Scale insect Hair insect Feather insect Shell insect

Heaven and earth

Chaos

Wuneng zil

The host of things

Form Taiyi

Dao Xu Shen Qi

Hua shum

 15

Taisu Male and female Three talents

Heaven and earth Taiyi Yin and Yang Taichu

Chaos Taishi Taiji

sanfenn

Gu

is generated. Deities mutually assist, so Yin and Yang are generated. Yin and Yang mutually assist, so the four seasons are generated. The four seasons mutually assist, so coldness and hotness are

a [Wei dynasty] Wang Bi annotating, [Tang]Kong Yingda: Precise Collection of Book of Changes, Beijing University Press, 1999, p. 389 b [Wei]Wang Bi annotating, Lou Yulie proofreading: Collations and Explanations of Daodejing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.117 c Yang Bojun: Collective Annotations of Articles of Liezi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1979, p. 5–8 d Hening: Collective Annotations of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998, p. 165–166, p.503–504 e Guodian Chu Slips/Taiyi Begets Water: “Taiyi begets water, and water assists Taiyi in turn, heaven is thus created; heaven assists Taiyi to create earth.: Heaven and earth mutually assist, so deity

The host of things

Heaven and earth

Two forms Two Yin and Yang Heaven and earth Four images and eight Diagrams

Chaos One

Liezic

The Book Laozib of Changesa

1 Man, Heaven and Earth: Complete Generation of Man in Chinese Creation Myth 195

generated. Coldness and hotness mutually assist, so humidity and aridness are generated. Humidity and aridness mutually assist, so years come into being. Thus years are generated by humidity and aridness. Humidity and aridness are generated by coldness and hotness. Coldness and hotness are generated by the four seasons. The four seasons are generated by Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang are generated by Deity. Deities are generated by heavens and earth. Heavens and earth are generated by Taiyi. Taiyi hides in water, operates with the four seasons, goes round and round, and regards itself as mother of all things. Waxing and waning, it is the line of all things. Thus it cannot be killed by heavens, cannot be buried by earth, and cannot be generated by Yin and Yang.” Li Ling: Proofreading and Annotations of Guodian Chu Slips, Beijing University Press, 2002, p.32 f Chu Silk Manuscripts: “Daxiong(Fuxi) was born in Zhen and lived in Suikou… He was innocent and strong. He was able to command water, wind, and rain. He married Nüwa (daughter of…), who gave birth to four sons. He walked in compliance with law, following the steps of Yu and Qi. He brought into harmony mountains and rivers across the landscape covering Long, Ri, Yi, and Li, falling into the categories of Yin and Yang. He coexisted with four gods, namely Qinggan, Zhusidan, Baidaran, and Mogan, who, having a lifespan of one thousand years, absorbed the essence of green wood, red wood, yellow wood, white wood, and black wood. So Yan emperor commanded the four gods to reside in Zhurong, guarding the four poles, feared by all. The emperor visualized the operation of the Sun and the Moon… Then all gods lived in harmony and undertook their respective work day and night.” Dong Chuping: Compilation of Lost Materials on Chinese Genesis Mythology in Remote Ages, Chinese Social Sciences, issue 5, 2002 g [Japan] Anju Xiangshan, Zhongcun Zhangba: Collection of Apocrypha (Section One), Hebei People’s Press, 1994, p.11 h Xu Zongyuan compiling: Recording of Emperor Centuries, Zhonghua Book Company, 1964, p. 1–2 i [Qing] Chen Li: Annotation of Baihutonl, punctuation and collation by Wu Zeyu, Zhonghua Book Company, 1994, p.421 j [Qing] Wang Niansun: Annotation of Guangya, punctuation and collation by Zhong Yuxun, Zhonghua Book Company, 1983, p.280 k [Tang] Ouyang Xun: Collection of Arts and Literature, proofreading by Wang Shaoying, Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House, 1982, p.2 l Wang Ming: Annotations of Wunengzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1981, p.1 m [Five Dynasties] Tan Qiao: Conversion Book, Zhonghua Book Company, 1996, p.1 n [Ming] Cheng Rong: Collected Books of Han and Wei Dynasties, Jilin University Press, 1992, p. 20

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From the generating scheme we can clearly see that from The Book of Changes to Pangu Mythology they all share almost the same cultural structure and thinking pattern for world creation mythology, especially from the stages of “chaos”, “Taiji”, and “Taiyi” to “Heaven & Earth Generation”, the cultural structure is almost identical. This has showed that in the diffusion process of the creation myth, the original “Taiji” tradition carried by The Book of Changes undergoes little changes. It can be said that the old cultural tradition that “humanities originated from Taiji” has been the original cultural mode of Chinese creation myth. Prior to the “Taiji 太極 tradition”, Chinese creation myth even involves some indescribable and deep cultural elements such as “Wuji 無極”, “Dao道”, “Taiyi 太一”, “Taichu太初”, “Taishi太始”, and “Taisu太素” (the Noneness, the Way, the Supreme One, the Supreme Origin, the Supreme Beginning, the Supreme Element). The cultural characteristic of this deep code is the state of “Xuwu, 虛無” (Noneness and nothingness). This is the generating phase of “nothingness” gradually evolving into “air”, “form”, and “substance”, yet the “body” has not come into being and cannot be marked with numbers. In order to better understand the deep cultural structure of this kind of mythology, we refer it as “0-0”, namely “nothing - nothing”. Thus we can express the mythological level structure of “Taiji”, “Chaos”, “Yi”, “Taiyi”, and “Tianyi” as 0-1, namely “nothing—existence/having”. The mythological structure of “Wuji”, “Taiji”, “Dao”, and “Yi” has sameness, namely divine structure of “deity nothing” (0), and the difference is transformation of “formlessness” (0-0) to “form” (0-1). As the world of “Taiji” and “Chaos” has not undergone differentiation, with the appearance of the culture of “Taiyi”, “Tianyi天一”, and “Water”, the birth of the world by means of “separating heaven from earth” becomes the inevitable result of cultural development. The structural mode of generation of heaven and earth is the further differentiation of “Yi-Dao” structure (0-0) and “Taiji” structure (0-1). Hence the heaven and earth structure of Chinese creation myth can be expressed as 0-2. As heaven and earth are extremely great, the heart of heaven and earth is in communication with the heart of “Yi-Dao” and “Taiji - Chaos”. In other words, from “Yi-Dao” (0-0) to “Taiji” (0-1) and then to heaven and earth (0-2), the basic theme of emptiness value or “deity nothing” remains unchanged, and the creation of the world begins from the shapelessness of Dao—Nothing (0), which evolves into “Taiji shape”(1) and then into the two things of Yin and Yang(2). In Chinese creation mythology, man is born of the vital essence from heaven and earth after the generation of heavens and earth. The appearance of man in creation mythology fully reflects the mythological cognition of Chinese primitive ancestors concerning what is man. This cultural mode of mythological cognition fully demonstrates the holy strength transmission relationship between man and heaven and earth, Taiji, and Dao. Zhou Yi 周易Book of Changes/Xici 繫辭 I says, “Therefore, of all things that furnish models and visible figures, they are none greater than heaven and earth; of things that change and extend an influence on others, they are none greater than the four seasons; of things suspended in the sky with luminance, they are none greater than the sun and moon; of the lofty and honoured, they none greater than the wealthy and the noble; of things that are prepared for practical use and

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the benefit of all under heaven, they are none greater than the sages; to explore the complex and the hidden, to undercover what lies deep, and reach to what is distant, so as to determine the good or ill of all events under heaven, thus make all men full of strenuous endeavours, there are none greater than those of the stalks and the tortoise-shell. Therefore, as heaven creates divine things, the sages comply with them. As heaven and earth change and transform, the sages imitate them. As heaven reveals signs of auspice and ill fortune, the sages interpret them. As the Yellow River gives forth the map, and the Lo River the writing, the sages follow them. In the Book of Changes there are the four symbolic images Xiang, informing men the future. The copulative explains, thus auspice and omen is determined and revealed.”9 “The Heart of the sages” can explore such deep cultural elements as to understand “the heart of heavens & earth”, from which the sages further grasp variation of Yin & Yang and the four seasons, and masters the heart of “Taiji” and “Yi-Dao”. Evidently, the mental structure of the sages is in communication with “heavens & earth” (0-2), “Taiji” (0-1), and “Yi-Dao” (0-0). Book of Rites/Operation of Rites has this message about Man: “Man is (the product of) the virtues of Heaven and Earth, the interaction of Yin and Yang, the union of gods and spirits, and the finest subtle matter of the five elements…. Therefore, Man is the heart of Heaven and Earth and the embodiment of the five elements. He lives on the food of all flavours, enjoys sounds of all kinds and dresses in clothes of all colours.”10 Liu Xie comments in Wen Xin Diao Long 文 心雕龍 (the Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragons)/Original Dao, “In the sky there are brilliant signs, while on earth there are magnificent sceneries. The high and low positions of heaven and earth have formed the two main bodies of the universe. Later mankind is created with the essence of nature and bestowed with the finest wisdom and ability. Therefore, human beings and heaven & earth are regarded as ‘San Cai三才, the Three Talents’. As the most outstanding among all things, man is the core of heaven and earth, with thoughts and feelings. To express his feelings and thoughts, languages are invented, followed by writings and articles. Such is the Way of Nature.”11 Heaven, earth, and man are collectively called “San Cai 三才(the three talents)”. Man is born of heaven and earth, but is also equal to heaven and earth. This is due to the divine strength (the original soul) arising from the divine Way impacting on the human body, which enables man to stand between heavens and earth and connect and interact with the Qi of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. Thus the heart of man is linked with the heart of heaven and earth. In other words, in terms of mental structure, the heart of the sages and the heart of heaven and earth share the same divine strength in that both arise from the primordial structure of “Yi & Dao” (0-0) and Taiji (0-1).

9 [Wei]

Wang Bi annotating, [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Changes, Beijing University Press, 1999, p.289–290. 10 [Han] Zheng Xuan Annotating, [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Rites, Beijing University Press, 1999, p.690–698. 11 [Liang]Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragons, annotated by Fan Wenlan, People’s Literature Publishing House, 2001, p.1.

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In Chinese creation, the Yi-Dao (0-0) is the original or primary code of the creation of the world, while Taiji & Chaos (0-1) is the first-level code, heaven and earth and Yin and Yang (0-2) are the second-level code, and man (0-3) is the third-level code. There is a continual and holistic transmission of primitive force from the primordial code of Yi & Dao to Taiji, then to heaven and earth and man. As the third-level code, the essence of man doesn’t lie in the physical body, but the heart of heaven and earth and the great Dao that is understood by the heart of man. To find out “what is man”, it calls for exploring the primitive structure and strength mode of the heart of man and the understanding that heaven and earth and Yin and Yang are the deciding cultural foundation and sacred power for human life. As the primordial mode of man’s mental structure, the heart of heaven and earth decides all the other cultural structures for man to exist in the world. Judging from the deep structure of the cultural strength and primitive elements, Chinese creation mythology explains what man is, and intends to use the cultural way of divine narration to demonstrate the original essence and prototypical characteristics of man, with “heart of heaven & earth”, “heart of Taiji”, and “heart of Dao” as the mental structure and strength source of the heart of man.

2 Man and Things: In Chinese Creation Mythology Man and Things Share the Same Origin but Differ in Essences Modern people are overly relying on external things (like reputation, fame, and money), and placing them above their own natural lives, which has upset the primitive order and cultural relationship between man and things. Chinese creation mythology can rectify unhealthy social behaviors and practices such as material supremacism (consumerism), mammon (money worshipping), fetishism, and material extravagance, and is conducive for returning to the natural relationship between humans and things. In Chinese creation mythology heaven and earth is the common life source of man and things. Book of Changes/Xi Ci Copulative part II says“Heaven and earth intermingle, thus all things are created and thrive; Male and female intercourse, thus all things survive.”12 Book of Changes/Xu Gua says, “First there were heaven and earth, then the creation of all things. Between heaven and earth is filled with all things.”13 Analects/Yanghuo says, “Does heaven speak? Although heaven does not speak, the four seasons carry on their course, and new things are continuously born.”14 Li Tong 禮統 says, “Heaven and earth are where energy comes from and the originator of all things.”15 Zhuangzi/Da Sheng 達生 Understanding of Life says, 12 [Wei] Wang Bi annotating, [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Changes, Beijing University Press p310, p335. 13 Yang Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Zhonghua Book Company, 1983, p. 188. 14 Yang Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Zhonghua Book Company, 1983, p. 188. 15 [Song] Li Fang compiling, Xia Jianqin collation: Taiping Imperial Encyclopedia, Hebei Education Press, 1994, p.1.

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“Heaven and earth are the father and mother of all things: in their union, there is body: and in their separation, there is beginning.”16 Liezi 列子/Tian Rui Pia天瑞 篇Heavenly Auspice says, “The clear and light Qi floats upwards and become heaven, the muddy and heavy Qi sinks downwards and becomes earth, and the moderate Qi becomes man. Therefore, the essences contained inside heaven and earth evolve and become the host of things.”17 Chun Qiu Fanlu 春秋繁露Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals/Guan De 觀德 Observing of Virtue says, “Heaven and earth are the roots of all things and the origin of the ancestors.”18 Huainanzi 淮南 子/Tianwen Xun 天文訓 On Astronomy says, “The collective essence of heaven and earth becomes Yin and Yang; the special essence of Yin and Yang becomes the four seasons; the dispersed essence of the four seasons becomes all things.”19 Chinese creation mythology applies the sequences of the primitive strength of Yi–Dao (00), the first-level code of Taiji & Chaos (0-1), and the secondary code of Yin and Yang and the four seasons of heavens and earth (0-2) to understand the hierarchy relationship between man and things, believing that the source of man and things lies in the core structure of Yin and Yang of heaven and earth. Thus, the mythological conception that all things share the same source and strength may help modern men dispel their over obsession with things. Since man and all things are result of operation of Yin and Yang energy with the same and interconnected heaven and earth structure and cultural meaning, by nature there is little difference between man and things. As Wang Chong points out in Lun Heng 論衡 On Balance/Ziran Pian 自然篇 On Nature/Item 54: Heaven and earth combine their Qi and give birth to all things, just like husband and wife combine their essences and have children. Among all living things, men are those with blood inside their bodies, who know hunger and cold. Noticing the five grains are edible, they take and eat them; seeing silk and hemp can be used for clothing, they take and wear them. Some suggest that it is heaven that produces the five grains to feed men, and silk and hemp to cloth men, hence heaven is regarded as the farmer and weaver laboring for men. This opinion is against the Dao (Nature), therefore, it’s questionable and should not be followed. Let’s explain it according to Dao’s theory: The Qi of heave is inside all things. Naturally grains can satisfy hunger while silk and hemp can keep out the cold, that’s why men eat the grains and wear silk and hemp. Heaven doesn’t make grains or silk and hemp for the purpose of feeding and clothing men, because there are disasters and changes which it is not willing to inform men. Things grow naturally, and men use them for food and clothes; Qi changes accordingly and bring on disasters, so men fear it. If we explain it this way, it will be more sensible and persuadable. Otherwise if all of these good things are the work of heaven, where is Dao’s Way of nature? Where is Wu Wei, non-action? And how can we know the Way of heaven? The fact is, heaven has no mouth or eyes. In contrast, those who act belong to the type with mouths and eyes. Mouths wants to eat and eyes want to see. The desires from inside motivate the actions at the outside, so the mouths and eyes pursue them for one’s benefit and greed. When mouths and eyes desire nothing, there will be no want of things, so what is the 16 [Qing] Guo Qingfan: Collective Annotation of Articles of Zhuangzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, p.632. 17 Yang Bojun: Collective Annotation Liezi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1979, p.8. 18 Su Yu: Correct Meaning of Luxuriant Dew of Spring and Autumn Annals, Proofreading by Zhong Zhe, Zhonghua Book Company, 1992, p. 269. 19 He Ning: Collective Explanation of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998, p. 166.

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need for action? One may ask, the how can we know the Way of heaven? From earth. The body of earth is soil, which has no mouth or eyes. Heaven and earth are like husband and wife. If we know earth has no mouth or eyes, we also know it is the same with heaven. If we say heaven has body, then its body should be the same as that of earth; if we say heaven is Qi (air), then it is like clouds and smoke. How could clouds and smoke and the like have mouths and eyes?20

Someone says, heaven and earth create things for a purpose, which is to feed and nourish mankind. For example, heaven produces grains for men to eat, and silk and hemp for men to wear. Wang Chong objects to this opinion. He argues that heaven and earth create all things according to the wills of Yi-Dao (0-0) or Taiji (0-1), which are the results of “Wu Wei 無為 (non-action)” and “Wu Xin 無心 (non-purpose)”. If heaven and earth create things for the benefit of mankind, then it would mean that heaven and earth act out of desires and motivations, which goes against Dao’s nonaction and nothingness nature. Since all actions and desires are caused by such organs as mouths and eyes, how can heaven and earth, having no mouths or eyes, change the heart of Yi-Dao and become human heart that has desires and takes actions? Evidently the heart of heaven and earth is the source of natural value of man and things; we should not leave man who has desire and action cover the primitive value of things, for the primitive value of all things come from the natural operation of heaven and earth, which has the same value structure with man. Wunengzi/Sheng Guo 聖過 Holy Error Item One says, Before heaven separates from earth, the world is chaos filled with single Qi. The overflow of Qi splits into the two special forms called Yi 儀, one is clear and light while the other foul and heavy. The light and clear form floats upward and becomes the Yang and heaven, the foul and heavy form sinks downwards and becomes the Yin and earth. Heaven is strong and moves while earth is gentle and still, as is the nature of Single Qi. When heaven and earth are properly located and Yin and Yang mix with Qi, living things are born, including the naked, the scaled, the hairy, the feathered and the shelled. Man, as the naked type, is the same with other living things, all born amidst heaven and earth by means of Qi and have no difference. Some say that there IS difference, even men think themselves different from those with scales, hairs, feathers and shells, because men have wisdom and worries, and speak language. However, all animals, from birds and beasts to all crawling creatures, all try to stay alive and avoid death. They build their nests or dens, look for food and water, breed their offspring, nurse and protect their young ones. By comparison, men also try to stay alive and avoid death, build their houses and palaces, search for food and drinks, give birth to the young and care and protect them, which is no different from what the animals do. Who say that animals don’t have intelligence and thoughts? From birds to beasts to all crawling and moving creatures, each has their own sound, be that chirping, hauling, cloaking or quacking. How can one assume they don’t have language among their kind? Men don’t understand their sounds and hence conclude that they can’t speak. How would one know that birds and beasts may also think that men do not speak language simply because they don’t understand human’s sounds? The fact is, the sounds of the animals are their own “utterances”, so how can we say they can’t speak? Men and all creatures are the same in that all have intelligence and thoughts, and speak their own language. The only difference lies in the forms and substances. Even among the scaled, the hairy, the feathered and the shelled, they differ in forms and substances; dare we say that they are only different from humans? It is the same with men. Among men, there are similarities and differences in forms and 20 Huang

Hui: Annotations of Balance, Zhonghua Book Company, 1990, p. 775–776.

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substances too; dare we say that they are only different from other living creatures? Alas! Heaven and earth are the giant matters amid the Yin and Yang Qi. All living things are born thanks to the union of heaven and earth, and exist inside heaven and earth, just like rivers and seas sustain fish and turtles and hills and mountains grow grasses and trees.”21

According to Wunengzi, since heaven and earth couple and produce the host of things, man, as the bare kind, has the same life source with those with scales, hair, feathers, and shells, namely, “the Chaos Single Qi” and “Heaven & Earth and Yin & Yang”. Yet humans like to highlight their difference with other creatures in terms of language, intelligence and thoughts, form and substance, etc. From the cultural stance that arises from the creation mythology, Wunengzi argues that “the Chaos Single Qi” contains heaven and earth, and that heaven and earth are the giant matters amid the Qi of Yin and Yang. All living things, be that bare/naked, scaled, hairy, feathered, or shelled, are born out of the Qi of Yin and Yang and exist amid the Qi. Qi of heaven and earth and Yin and Yang become the great sameness of humans and things, which makes the differences between man and things trivial and neglectable. Although humans and things have the same life source and all of them are formed by the Yin and Yang Qi of heaven and earth, humans are endowed with the finest and harmonious Qi of heaven and earth, and are where the spirit of heaven and earth is accumulated, so naturally man becomes the spirit of all creatures. Shang Shu 尚書 /Tai Shi 泰誓I Great Declaration says, “Heaven and earth are the parents of all things, among which man is the highly endowed spirit.” Kong Anguo annotates, “Birth reminds us of father and mother. Spirit refers to god. Of all the creatures of heaven and earth, man is the most valuable.” 22 Wenzi says, “Man is the heart of heaven and earth and the terminal of the five elements. Born to Qi of the five elements of heaven and earth, man is the master of the creatures, and together with heaven and earth, they are regarded as the three talents.”23 Chun Qiu Fan Lu春秋 繁露/Yin Yang Yi 陰陽義 49 says, “Heaven has feelings of happiness and anger, sadness and delight, which is the same as man. In this sense, heaven and man belong to the same kind.”24 Chun Qiu Fan Lu春秋繁露/Ren Fu Tian Shu 人副天數 FiftySix says, “Of the creatures born of the essence of heaven and earth, nothing is more valuable than man. Receiving instructions from heaven, man is superior in nature. Other beings cannot convey benevolence and righteousness, only man can convey benevolence and righteousness; other beings cannot match heaven and earth, only man can match heaven and earth.”25 鬻子Yuzi/湯政 Tang Zheng says, “After heaven and earth separate and the host of things are born, man exercises governance… 21 Wang

Ming: Annotations of Wunengzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1981, p.1–2.

22 [Han] Kong Anguo [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of History, Beijing University

Press, 1999, p. 270. 23 [Sui] Xiao Ji: General Meaning of The Five Elements, Li Ling: Chinese Arts of Necromancy, Astrology, and Medicine, People’s Publishing House, 1993, p.140. 24 [Qing] Su Yu: Correct Meaning of Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, Proofreading by Zhong Zhe, Zhonghua Book Company, p. 341. 25 [Qing] Su Yu: Correct Meaning of Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, Proofreading by Zhong Zhe, Zhonghua Book Company, p. 354.

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Man develops goodness and animals develop evils, so humans who are not good are called animals.”26 Huainanzi 淮南子/精神訓 Jingshen Xun Spiritual Lecture says, “The world is made of Qi: the turbid air becomes animals, and the fine air becomes humans.”27 Huangdi Nei Jing 黃帝內經 The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor/素 問 Su Wei Plain Questions/Bao Ming Quan Xing Lun 寶命全形論 On Valuable Life and Complete Form No. 45 says, “When a man is born, his life is closely connected with nature, since it’s the combined Qi of heaven and earth that gives man his life. If man can adapt and adjust to the changes of the seasons, then heaven and earth will become his continual source of lifeline. The one who understands the Dao of all things has the attributes to be the Son of Heaven.”28 黃帝內經 Huang Di Nei Jing Inner Canon of Huangdi/Su Wen 素問 Plain Questions/Zhi Zhen Yao Da Lun 至真要大論 On the Ultimate Truth and Principle No.74 says, “The fundamental law of Nature shows that man’s physical activities correspond to the changes of heaven and earth.”29 黃帝內經 Huang Di Nei Jing Inner Canon of Huangdi/Ling Jiu 靈 柩/刺書真邪 Ci Shu Zhen Xie Truth and Falsity Discernment No. 75 says, “Let me explain the theory of man’s illness. Human body corresponds with heaven and earth and coordinates with the four seasons, therefore man’s illness can be referred to and explained by natural phenomena. For example, reeds grow on wet land and low areas. By observing their growth one can know how deep the water level underneath may be. Likewise, by observing the physical condition of man’s body, we can know about his inner health.”30 In Lei Jing Tu Yi 類經圖翼 Classified Canon Illustration Zhang Jiebin says, “Endowed with the intermediate energy of the three talents, man is the most spiritual of the creatures. His eyes can take in all the colours, ears can hear all sounds, nose can detect all odors, and mouth can taste all flavours.”31 Yi Xue Yuan Shi 醫學原始Primitive Medicine/Tian Ren He Yi Lun On the Unity of Heaven and Man says, “By the mandate of heaven, man gains his life; with coupling of Yin and Yang, he takes form. All of his movements and thoughts accord with heaven and earth, so man is called a miniature version of heaven and earth.”32 Shi Ming 釋名 Explanation of Names and Terms says, “Man, meaning benevolence, is a begetting creature.”33 Endowed with the complete quintessence of heaven & earth and Yin & Yang, man operates in line with heaven and earth, and the three are collectively called “the three talents”, and man is called “son of heaven”. By contrast, created with the “turbid energy” and “coarse energy” of heaven and earth, things are partial 26 Zhong

Zhaopeng: Collation of Yuzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 2010, p. 20. Ning: Collective Annotation of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998, p. 504. 28 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotation of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.194. 29 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotation of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p. 596. 30 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotation of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.434. 31 [Ming] Zhang Jiebin: Annotations of Classified Canon Illustration, Shaanxi Science and Technology Press, 1996, p.4. 32 [Qing] Wang Honghan: Primitive Medicine, Shanghai Technology, 1989, p.1. 33 [Eastern Han] Li Xi: Name, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, p.26. 27 He

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and extreme in nature, and cannot be put in the same category with heaven and earth. At the same time, man can “know of things”. According to the space and location of the things, man can understand the quantity of energy and dimensional characteristic of the things, and can thus benefit them. Man has the same life source with things, and at the same time it is the spirit of things. Is that self-conflicting? In Chinese creation mythology the samenessdifference relationship between man and things is not generated but arises naturally from the heart of heaven and earth. Both coming from Qi of heaven and earth, man and things have the same life source. Yet while man obtains the fine energy of heaven and earth and the four seasons, which is the complete strength of heaven and earth, things obtain energy of one season and one distance, which is partial and incomplete, so things cannot match the complete state of heaven and earth, and man is the spirit of the creatures and can match heaven and earth.

3 Differentiation of Man in the World: In Chinese Creation Mythology the Primitive Strength of Man Gradually Decays During the period of creation, man is the complete heart of Taiji Chaos (0-1) in the Yi-Dao (0-0) realm; man is where spirit accumulates and is subject to no spoil. In Ancient Three Graves Cheng Rong of Ming Dynasty says, “The three talents realize completeness of heaven and earth. Anything that moves and is spiritual, so the creatures that fly, walk, swim, and change, including animals, plants, insects, and fish, fill heaven and earth. This is the state of Yuan Gu, or remote antiquity. Remote antiquity is the beginning of living citizens.”34 In “remote antiquity”, or beginning of living citizens, heart of man is the complete state of heart of heaven and earth. In the era of remote antiquity, man retains the primordial mental state, and has the same holy strength with Yi-Dao and Taiji. The Inner Canon of Huangdi/Plain Questions/On Innocence in Remote Antiquity Item One says, “In remote ages, those who know of Dao follow Yin and Yang, accord with heavenly numerals, restrain their food and drink, balance work and rest, and do not work in vain, so they can retain both form and spirit, fulfill their natural life span, and live to the age of one hundred years.”35 The Inner Canon of Huangdi/Plain Questions/On Innocence in Remote Antiquity Item One also says, “I hear in remote ages there are true men, who guide the operation of heaven and earth, master Yin and Yang, inhale and exhale spiritual air, retain their soul in independence, and sustain their bones and muscles, so they can live as long as heaven and earth and have no end. This is the result of

34 [Ming]

Cheng Rong: Collected Books of Han and Wei Dynasties, Jilin University Press, 1992, p.20. 35 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotations of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.1–2.

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their keeping up with Dao.”36 In other words, “True man” retains the complete state of “Dao” in the beginning of Chinese creation, so his divine strength is not spoiled, and he has the same life span with heaven and earth. When it comes to “medieval age”, the divine strength of “true man” begins to be spoiled. With gradual decline of the holy strength, certain degree of space differentiation occurs to man. Humans begin to distinguish from each other due to their variation in quantity of divine strength. The Inner Canon of Huangdi/Plain Questions/On Innocence in Remote Antiquity Item One says, “In the medieval era there are perfect men, who are pure in virtue, accord with Yin and Yang, adapt to the four seasons, are secluded from the worldly affairs, accumulate their spirit and retain their soul, ramble amidst heaven and earth, and have sight and listening reach beyond the eight distances, so they can lengthen their life span and become strong, and are put in the same category with true men. Next there are saints, who reside in the harmony of heaven and earth, follow the rationality of the eight winds, and accommodate their desire to the world. They do not tend to be angry, do not live separated from the world, wear colorful clothes, act not looking to the custom, labor not tired, have no worries, try to be delightful, regard self-contentment as achievement, have body not worn out, and have spirit not dispersed, so they can reach the age of one hundred years. Next there are worthy persons, who follow the operation of heaven and earth, resemble sun and moon, are distinguishable like stars, are servile to Yin and Yang, discern the four seasons, act in line with Dao as of the remote age, and thus can lengthen their life span and fulfill their destiny.”37 “True man” and “perfect man” differ in that the former possesses the unspoiled strength of the creation and equals the heart of heaven and earth; whereas the latter lives in the world and has his divine strength somewhat spoiled, yet can “separate from the worldly affairs” and return to the primitive complete state of spirit, thus can still reach the level of “true man”. “True man” has complete mental structure of creation, and “perfect man” returns to complete mental structure through self-cultivation. Compared to the complete mental structure of “true man” and “perfect man”, sages are those who live in worldly life and can get close to the primitive strength of the creation; though living in the world, he can retain the heart of wateriness and inaction, and sustain their spirit not dispersed with material. And the worthy persons follow the step of heaven, earth, sun, and moon, accord with Yin and Yang, and also comply with the operating law of the Dao, acquiring divine mental structure. Zhuangzi has explained the social space differentiation of true man, perfect man, divine man and sage in accordance with relationship between humans and the Dao in remote antiquity. Zhuangzi/Great Master says, “Thanks to the true man, true knowledge can be passed down to later generations. What is a true man? A true man of old times does not attempt to abandon the state of loneliness, does not boast about achievement, and does not seek to become a nobleman. In his state, he trespasses 36 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotations of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.6. 37 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotations of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.6–7.

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yet does not regret, and earns praise yet does not feel proud. Moreover, he does not tremble at height, does not get wet in water, and does not feel hot in fire. This is how a true man who has knowledge can attain Dao. A true man of old times does not dream in sleep, does not worry when awake, does not taste sweetness in eating, and has deep breath. A true man breathes with ankle, and a common man breathes with throat. A yielding man chokes like vomiting, and a man who has strong desire has slim chances of contacting heavens. A true man of old times does not feel glad for living, does not feel bad for death, does not like going outside, and does not hate staying inside; he goes and comes all by nature. He does not forget his beginning, nor seek his end; he receives presents and feels glad, and he forgets again and again, so he does damage Dao with heart, and does not help heaven in person. This is the way of a true man… Hence he sustains his wholeness both in liking and hating. In whatever circumstances, he remains whole. When he is whole, he forms a fellowship with heaven, and when he is not whole, he forms a fellowship with man; heaven and man does not overcome each other, so he is called a true man.“38 Zhuangzi/Xuwugui says, “He is not much close to anyone, and he does not stay much separate to anyone; he embraces virtue and feels zealous for harmony in order to be in line with the world; he is called a true man… A true man of old times follows the wills of heaven, but does not attempt to replace heaven.”39 Zhuangzi/Carefree Journey says, “The perfect man does not have self, the divine man does not have achievement, and the sage does not have fame.”40 In regard to the space differentiation of man in the world, Zhuangzi takes heaven in as the complete state of a primitive man; the true man, having complete nature, “follows the wills of heaven” as his mark. Though living in the world, the perfect man, a divine man, and the sage, respectively, attain no self, no achievement, and no fame; they also manage to sustain their cultural mentality undamaged. With damage and loss of the Yi-Dao tradition and complete mentality of the creation, man begins to sink into depravity in the world, his mental structure is covered, and experiences increasing differentiation and fission in social cultural space. For instance, the nobility differentiates and are divided into three classes: upper, middle, and lower. Laozi/Chapter 41 says, “A nobleman of upper class hears of Dao and diligently practices it; a nobleman of middle class hears of Dao but pays more or less little attention to is; and a nobleman of lower class hears of Dao and laughs about it. One who does not laugh is still inadequate to attain Dao.”41 A nobleman of upper class keeps an attitude of belief and practice toward Dao, the divine strength of creation; a nobleman of middle class is indifferent to it; and a nobleman of lower class sneers at it. When a man in worldly affairs abandons the 38 [Qing] Guo Qingfan: Collective Annotation of Articles of Zhuangzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, p.226–235. 39 [Qing] Guo Qingfan: Collective Annotation of Articles of Zhuangzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, p.865–866. 40 [Qing] Guo Qingfan: Collective Annotation of Articles of Zhuangzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985, p.17. 41 [Wei]Wang Bi annotating, Lou Yulie proofreading: Collations and Explanations of Daodejing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.111.

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value of Dao and Deity-Nothing mentality of the creation mythology, he overindulges in all his wicked desires, and he exposes the filthiness of his heart, which implies that the heaven–earth heart in the beginning of creation begins to subside and elapse. Book of Ritual/Operation of Ritual says, “Food and sex are what humans desire most for, and death and indigence are what humans hate most. So desire and hatred are the major terminals of the heart. Human heart is hard to fathom. Both love and hatred lie in heart and not in appearance. So with what can one discern the desires but ritual?”42 In accordance with the quantity of the divine strength of the genesis mythology that humans retain in the world, they culturally and naturally differentiate into sages and mean men. This kind of space difference of humans comes not from social space and material wealth, but from heaven–earth mentality and spiritual maintenance. Wenzi says, “According to Zhonghuangzi, just as there are five elements, five hills, five sounds, and five colors, humans have five classes. Amid the heavens and earth, humans are divided into twenty-five kinds. The top five are divine man, true man, man of Dao, perfect man, and sage. The next five are virtue man, worthy man, good man, middle man, and distinguished man. The middle five are benevolent man, ritual man, trusted man, righteous man, and wise man. The next five are noble man, common man, farming man, commercial man, and working man. The last five are mediocre man, mean man, stupid man, foolish man, and loss man. What the top five to the last five is humans to beasts.”43 Confucius’ Family Instructions says, “Humans have five forms: Yong Ren 庸人 mediocre man, Shi Ren 士人noble man/scholar, Jun zi 君子superior man/gentle man, Xian Ren 賢人 man with virtue/worthy man, and Sheng Ren 聖人 sage. A man who can tell the differences among them and identify them has the ability to rule the kingdom.”44 Huainanzi/Miu Cheng Xun 繆稱訓 False Saying Lecture says, “The one who has no integrity with his words and action is a Xiao Ren 小人small man/mean man; the one who discerns a thing and masters a technique is a Zhong Ren 中人middle man;and the one who accommodates all things, can achieve everything and employ others based on their skills and abilities is a sage.”45 In Lei Jing Tu Yi 類經圖翼 Classified Canon Illustration Zhang Jiebin says, “One who acquires clear and upright Qi is a sage or superior man. One who acquires turbid and partial Qi is a foolish or unworthy man.”46 In the secular world, the decline of man’s original divine strength from creation has contributed to various human-caused space variations.

42 [Han] Zheng Xuan, [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Ritual, Beijing University Press, 1999, p.689. 43 [Sui] Xiao Ji: General Meaning of the Five Elements, Li Ling: Chinese Arts of Necromancy, Astrology, Medicine, People’s China Publishing House, 1993, p.142. 44 Wang Guoxuan: Confucius Family Instructions, translated and annotated by Wang Xiumei, Zhonghua Book Company, 2011, p.57. 45 He Ning: Collective Annotations of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998, p.757. 46 [Ming] Zhang Jiebin: Classified Canon Illustration: Shaanxi Science and Technology Press, 1996, p.5.

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4 Man and Disease: Lost of the Divine Strength of Creation and the Corresponding Remedy Due to long-term obsession with the material world, humans in the era of industrial civilization have forgotten and lost the strength of creation that they have at the times of birth, resulting in physical decay, weakening health, and disease epidemics. In Capitalism and Schizophrenia: One Thousand Plateaus Deleuze says, “Whatever the circumstances, you are forming a body without organs. Unless you form a one, you have no desires. Its awaiting you, and this is a kind unavoidable training and experiment; it is finished when you go round with it, and once you stop, you cannot finish. This is not risk-proof, because you may mess up. Or it is fearsome and will lead you to death. It is non-desire, and at the same time it is desire.”47 According to Deleuze, man living in the age of industrial civilization owns a body of “no organs”. This kind of body is obsessed with the materials of the world, and is in an ill state of externality, decadence, and materialization. “A body without organs” vividly reveals modern man’s state of droopiness and emptiness. In the creation mythology, man has complete mentality (0-3), and has the same divine strength as the Original Dao (0-0), Taiji Chaos (0-1), and heaven and earth (0-2). Therefore, the primitive man in the creation mythology, like true man, divine man, perfect man, sage and man of Dao, can usually preserve its primordial divine strength and maintain an intact mental structure. Yet as long as man lives in the world, his divine strength is more or less damaged; and those who are overly obsessed with the materials of the world gradually lose the divine strength of the creation. The Inner Canon of Huangdi/Plain Questions/On Innocence in Remote Antiquity Item One says, “Humans of the contemporary days are not like this. They drink and work vainly, go into the chamber drunken, exhaust their spirit with desire, do not know sustaining their energy, seek utmost pleasures, and do not rest regularly, so they wither at around fifty years of age.”48 Lü Shi Chun Qiu 吕氏春秋 Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals /Original Life says, “Man, having his soul and life span affected by materials, cannon gain longevity. Materials nourish soul, but should not be nourished by soul. Humans of contemporary days mostly nourish materials with their spirit, so it can be said that they do not know what is light and what is heavy. They regard something light heavy, and regard something heavy light, so whatever they do, they fail.”49 Shen Zhai Yi Shu 慎齋遺書Writings from Caution Chamber/Internal Organs of Yin and Yang says, “The Dao of Medicine resembles the Dao of heaven and earth. Since man exists between heaven and earth, he accords with heaven and earth. Therefore, when man falls ill, it’s like the Yin and Yang of the heaven not having their respective positions. When one falls ill due to diet, worries, overwork, or indulgence, it is man’s inner 47 [France] Deleuze [France] Guattari: Capitalism and Schizophrenia: One Thousand Plateaus (Volume 2), translated by Jiang Yuhui, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2010, p.206. 48 [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotations of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.2. 49 Xu Weishi: Collective Annotations of Mister Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Zhonghua Book Company, 2009, p.13–14.

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heaven becomes ill itself.”50 Worldly things are originally intended to nourish man’s and soul. But because one excessively indulges in materials, he has his primitive spiritual Qi spoiled and wasted; when he is not good at spiritual nourishment and indulges sensually, he violates the seasonal change and the conformance relationship between man and heaven and earth. Physical and spiritual nourishment is root while external enjoyment is to follow. When humans reverse what is original and what is following, they gradually get estranged from their primordial holy strength, and are on the verge of decay, falling ill, and even death. When worldly men gradually lose their primordial strength, the sages, by means of cultural salvation, educate them, help them return to the primitive strength of creation and cure them. Laozi Chapter Twenty-Five says, “Man follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows Dao, and Dao follows nature.”51 Laozi Chapter Seventy-One says, “When one acknowledges his ignorance, that is the best; when one is ignorant of knowledge, he falls ill. A sage does not fall ill because he acknowledges his illness. When he acknowledges his illness, he does not fall ill.”52 Laozi warns us that we should follow heaven–earth (0-2), Yi-Dao (0-0) and nature (0) in order to return to nature, which is the reverse of the generating process of man from natural Dao (0-0) to Taiji (0-1) and to heaven–earth (0-2) in the creation mythology. In other words, a sage turns to the creation mythology in order to save the worldly men. Knowing the divine strength that men are ignorant of, a sage has complete mental structure. The worldly men do not acknowledge their ignorance and fall ill. A sage does not fall ill because he acknowledges real disease; by contrast, the worldly men do not realize what disease is. By real disease, Laozi means the cause for human in the world losing their original strength (0-3) and becoming dissipated, not the physical disease. In Hua Shu 化書/Dao Hua 道化Dao Conversion, Tan Qiao of the Five Dynasties says, “Ancient sages pursue the cure of illness, and acquire the source of creation. They abandon form to nourish Qi, forget Qi to nourish spirit, and dismiss spirit to nourish the intangible. When the tangible and the intangible are in communion, great unity is realized. So a sage preserves the unity and cultivates it into original spirit, uses it and sees universal spirits, contains it and sees Utmost One, and releases and sees Utmost Purity. When obstacle & separation appear and disappear in one body, wind & cloud are released from the seven apertures, true Qi evaporates and leaves no winter or summer, and pure Yang flows and reveals no life or death. This is the work of Dao.”53 A sage becomes a doctor who cures all the diseases of the worldly men. The fact that a sage cures the world people with the divine strength of returning to the creation mythology is curing the mental state of the obsessed world; in other 50 Zhou

Zhigan: Writings From Caution Chamber, Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 1959, p.2. 51 Wang Bi annotating, Lou Yulie proofreading: Annotations and Collations of Daodejing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.64. 52 Wang Bi annotating, Lou Yulie proofreading: Annotations and Collations of Daodejing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2008, p.178. 53 [Five Dynasties] Tai Qiao: Conversion Book, Zhonghua Book Company, 1996, p.1.

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words, to help the human heart that is not genuine pick up its lost divine strength, in order to correct the inharmonious or pathological state of the spirit per se and the formed body. Confucius says, “The gist of Three Hundred Poems is thinking without evil.”54 By means of poetry, a sage returns the human heart from the wicked state to the innocent state. Huang Di Nei Jing 黃帝內經 Inner Canon of Huangdi/Su Wen 素問 Plain Questions/On Symbols of Yin and Yang No.5 says, “Yin and Yang are the Way/Dao of heaven and earth, law of all things, parents of changes, beginning of life and death and residence of gods. To cure diseases one must resort to the foundation.”55 In other words, to cure the diseases of the worldly people, one should pursue heaven and earth and Yin and Yang, which is the fundamental way of curing diseases. Huainanzi/Word Interpretation Lecture says, “A gentleman exercises upright Qi, and a mean man exercises wicked Qi. The inner mind should conform to soul and accord to righteousness. What follows rationality and does not cling to materials are upright Qi, and what likes taste, indulges in sensual pleasure, gives way to pleasure and anger and neglects outcomes are wicked Qi. Upright Qi and wicked Qi damage each other, disease and soul harm each other. Since the two cannot coexist, the sage conserves one and eliminates the other, and follows soul and damages desire.”56 When there is wicked Qi that harms the upright Qi, human desire swells and conceals man’s true nature. A sage or a gentleman should promote the exercise of upright Qi and advocate Tian Xing, natural instincts in order to help man resist the wicked desire of the worldly human heart.

5 Conclusion Creation mythology is the gold key to unlock the prototype code of Chinese fine traditional culture. In creation the complete state of man becomes the mythological prototype and source of holy strength. Even though physically different, the mental structure of man (0-3), heaven–earth (0-2). Taiji Chaos (0-1), and Yi-Dao (0-0) have the same source, which is the complete generation of heaven–earth heart and Dao strength in the human fate. During creation man and all things have the same life source, but they have certain cultural difference. Primitive man inherits the complete mentality of heaven and earth, and is created by the essence of nature, whereas the host of things are generated with turbid energy, so in terms of inherited divine strength, the primitive man far surpasses the host of things and becomes the spirit of the universe. With passing of time, differentiation occurs to the divine strength acquired by man from creation. While true man, perfect man, divine man, and sage sustain their primitive strength, worldly man or mean man, indulging in materials, ruin its primitive 54 Yang

Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Zhonghua Book Company, 1980, p.11. Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotations of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejjiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002, p.34. 56 He Ning: Collective Annotations of Huai Nanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998, p.1014. 55 [Qing]

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strength. Hence in accordance with the primitive strength of creation, the worldly man experiences difference in terms of cultural space. For worldly men, due to the loss of the primitive divine strength and excessive dissipation of their spirit and body, encounter with problems such as pre-matured aging and disease epidemics. To educate them, sages propose returning to the natural Dao, so as to regain the divine strength to counteract the distorted mentality and diseased body of men. In the early-period culture, sages educate and save the world with the mental structure of Dao strength. In the age of industrial civilization human heart is harassed with market and matters and is prone to diseases for not being genuine. The primordial strength and complete mentality of Chinese creation mythology, as well as the practice of returning to the creation proposed by earlier sages, provide contemporary people with a new mental remedy.

References [France]Lyotard: L’inhuman: Ramble of Time, Translated by Luo Guoxiang, Commercial Press, 2000. M. Foucault. Dits et Ecrits, Paris: Gallimard, 1994. Gao Xuanyang: On New Humanities of the Twenty-First Century, carried by Social Scientists, issue No. 9 of 2011. Yang Bojun: Collective Annotation of Articles of Liezi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1979. [Song] Hong Xingzu: Supplementary Annotation of Chuci, Zhonghua Book Company, 2002. Zhang Kaiyan: Chinese Genesis Mythology Type Research Review by, carried on Journal of Hubei Institute for Nationalities, issue No. 3 of 2014. Chen Jianxian: Gods and Heros: Theme of Chinese Ancient Mythology, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 1995. Tao Yang & Zhong Xiu: Chinese Genesis Mythology, Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 1989. Lin Bingxi: Mythological History of South Korea, South Daily Press, 2012. [Wei]Wang Bi annotating, [Tang]Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Changes, Beijing University Press, 1999. [Wei]Wang Bi annotating, Lou Yulie proofreading: Collations and Explanations of Daodejing, Zhonghua Book Company, 2008. Hening: Collective Annotations of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998. Li Ling: Proofreading and Annotations of Guodian Chu Slips, Beijing University Press, 2002. Dong Chuping: Compilation of Lost Materials on Chinese Genesis Mythology in Remote Ages, Chinese Social Sciences, issue 5, 2002. [Japan] Anju Xiangshan, Zhongcun Zhangba: Collection of Apocrypha(Section One), Hebei People’s Press, 1994. Xu Zongyuan compiling: Recording of Emperor Centuries, Zhonghua Book Company, 1964. [Qing] Chen Li: Annotation of Baihutonl, punctuation and collation by Wu Zeyu, Zhonghua Book Company, 1994. [Qing] Wang Niansun: Annotation of Guangya, punctuation and collation by Zhong Yuxun, Zhonghua Book Company, 1983. [Tang] Ouyang Xun: Collection of Arts and Literature, proofreading by Wang Shaoying, Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House, 1982. Wang Ming: Annotations of Wunengzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1981. [Five Dynasties] Tan Qiao: Conversion Book, Zhonghua Book Company, 1996.

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[Ming] Cheng Rong: Collected Books of Han and Wei Dynasties, Jilin University Press, 1992. [Han] Zheng Xuan annotating, [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of Rites, Beijing University Press, 1999. [Liang]Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and The Carving of Dragons, annotated by Fan Wenlan, People’s Literature Publishing House, 2001. Yang Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Zhonghua Book Company, 1983. [Song] Li Fang compiling, Xia Jianqin collation: Taiping Imperial Encyclopedia, Hebei Education Press, 1994. [Qing] Guo Qingfan: Collective Annotation of Articles of Zhuangzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985. Su Yu: Correct Meaning of Luxuriant Dew of Spring and Autumn Annals, Proofreading by Zhong Zhe, Zhonghua Book Company, 1992. He Ning: Collective Explanation of Huainanzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 1998. Huang Hui: Annotations of Balance, Zhonghua Book Company, 1990. [Han] Kong Anguo [Tang] Kong Yingda: Correct Meaning of Book of History, Beijing University Press, 1999. [Sui] Xiao Ji: General Meaning of The Five Elements, Li Ling: Chinese Arts of Necromancy, Astrology, and Medicine, People’s Publishing House. Zhong Zhaopeng: Collation of Yuzi, Zhonghua Book Company, 2010. [Qing] Zhang Zhicong, Fang Chunyang: Collective Annotation of Inner Canon of Huangdi, Zhejiang Chinese Classics Press, 2002. [Ming] Zhang Jiebin: Annotations of Classified Canon Illustration, Shaanxi Science and Technology Press, 1996. [Qing] Wang Honghan: Primitive Medicine, Shanghai Technology, 1989. [Eastern Han] Li Xi: Name, Zhonghua Book Company, 1985. Wang Guoxuan: Confucius Family Instructions, translated and annotated by Wang Xiumei, Zhonghua Book Company, 2011. [France] Deleuze [France] Guattari: Capitalism and Schizophrenia: One Thousand Plateaus (Volume 2), translated by Jiang Yuhui, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 2010. Xu Weishi: Collective Annotations of Mister Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals, Zhonghua Book Company, 2009. Zhou Zhigan: Writings From Caution Chamber, Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 1959. [Five Dynasties] Tai Qiao: Conversion Book, Zhonghua Book Company, 1996. Yang Bojun: Translation and Annotation of Analects, Zhonghua Book Company, 1980.

Chapter 12

Mythical Identity and Juristical Authority of Yueruo Jigu

1 Introduction Among Confucian Classics, Shangshu尚書is one of the most incomplete and problematic texts. In this book, “yueruo jigu”曰若稽古is one of the most popular yet difficult issues.1 In the beginning of the twentieth century, the school of defending the ancient history (古史辨派) followed the scientific paradigm of Western modernity which regarded myth and legend as “pseudo-history”. Undoubtedly, in this onesided scientific paradigm in humanities, history and myth are opposed as are reality and fiction, where we can’t effectively perceive the mythic elements of history and distinguish what is real from what is myth.2 At the same time, French sinologist Henri Maspero (1883–1945), who argues in Myth in Shu King that the mythological knowledge has lost the miraculous light in historical books, points out that “we should trace the mythical foundation in the unreal narrative of history.”3 The mythic concept deployed by Maspero can help us out of the one-sided view form traditional scholars, and help us to re-examine the indispensable role of myth in historical studies. With the development of international mythology, our concepts of the mythic have changed from literary stories to encompass archetypal coding and cultural genes. These are effective tools to go beyond the disciplinary boundary of literature, history,

1 See

the concrete summary in the main text of this essay. Shuxian葉舒憲, A new understanding of Chinese culture, China reading daily, Novermber2, 2011. He also writes in this essay: the Israel historian Joseph Mali’s book Mythistory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), puts the English words “myth” and “history” together into “mythistory”, and uses it as the book title, which not only recovers the mythic concept of the father of western history Herodotus’ History, but also shows the genealogical process of mythical thinking in modern history. 3 Henri Maspero, Myth in Shu King, translated by Feng Yuanjun馮沅君, (Shanghai: The Commercial Press, 1939) 1. He also says: Chinese scholars only use one academic method to explain myth and legend which we view it as school of “éphémère”. In order to find out the core of history in myth, historians have to rule out the fantastic parts to preserve the plain residue. Unfortunately, his point of view has not been paid more attention by Chinese modern academia. 2 Ye

© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_12

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philosophy, religion, anthropology, archeology, etc.4 We can regard myth in terms of cultural genes to interpret the world views, values, and rituals of traditional culture. Only when myth is liberated from the ruptured discipline of traditional scholars, and restored to cultural origins, will we effectively enter Chinese civilization, and avoid prejudice and misunderstanding. This article will claim that the concept of neo-mythicism has great significance for reinterpreting the implications of “yueruo jigu”. In this essay, we will first review in detail the interpretations that traditional scholars have provided “yueruo jigu”, and explore why they pay more attention to the written text. Then we will appeal to academia to re-examine “yueruo jigu” by restoring it into the oral tradition. Second, I intend to integrate the new knowledge of mythic iconology, cultural anthropology, comparative religion, and archeology in order to interpret the cultural characteristics and ritual function of “yueruo”曰 若. Third, I will restore “jigu”稽古in relation to the sacrificial ritual activities, and analyze its literary misappropriation and orality. At the same time, we will prove it to be the juristical authority of sacred behavior by relating it to ancient ritual context.

2 Restoration to the “Big Tradition”5 Before the emergence of written culture, there was oral culture. In other words, our early ancestors inhabited a culture without writing, probably up to a hundred thousand years ago, from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age. Therefore, we view oral culture as the “Great Tradition” before the emergence of written characters, and written culture as the “Little Tradition” which developed from oral tradition. This relationship is like that of a mother and her children. When studying the literary texts that spread during the transitional period from oral to written culture, scholars, immersed in their worship of written texts, were easily impressed by the written word, and entirely overlooked the relationship between the oral and the written. 4) See the total preface in Series of Mythistory written by Ye Shuxian, which titled Myth: the Archetypal Code of Chinese Culture. In Tang Qicui唐啟翠, Ritual Civilization and Myth Code禮制 文明與神話編碼, (Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2012) 1–4. He argues in the Preface: “the past experience has shown, when we break the literary limitations in Chinese mythological research, that the new mythic concept will give full play to the inter-disciplinary knowledge to through literature, history, philosophy, religion, psychology, and guide humanists to keep open-minded, to try to think the cross-discipline, to discover, propose and solve the new problems. Also see his other essays: Welcome the Paradigm Change of Mythology迎接神話學的範式變革 in National art,2009.3:20–26. 5 American anthropologist Robert Redfield brings up the concepts of the great tradition and the little tradition in Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization (Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956)70. Redfield views the great tradition as written tradition and the little tradition as oral tradition. In this essay, we use these concepts with new definitions of Chinese literary anthropologist Ye Shuxian, who views the great tradition as oral tradition and the little tradition as written culture. See Ye Shuxian, The Big and Small Traditions of Chinese Culture中國文化的大傳統和小傳統, Dangjian 2007.2:49–51.

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As Mencius孟子 (372–289BCE) once said, “It would be better to be without The Book of History than to give entire credit to it” (盡信書,不如無書).6 “The Book of History”, that Mencius says, refers to the written text of Shangshu. We can sense that Mencius’ words demonstrate his suspicion of the written text, and point to the misunderstanding caused by scholars of the tradition. Ye Shuxian vividly describes this phenomenon: “if the history of human being is presumed as the twelve months in a year, then, the time span of the writing history is only as the last few days of December. Therefore, we, the civilized people living in the last few days, should not underestimate the significance of oral culture which has continued for more than eleven months. Especially, the influence of oral culture, until the early period of written culture, is still highly important.”7 In this paragraph,he reminds us that the early written culture is virtually influenced by oral culture. Shangshu, which was first born in oral culture, undoubtedly, is a written text during the transitional period from oral to written culture. After it emerged in textual form, the traditional researchers obviously read it as a historical text. However, they wholly overlooked the oral context and ritual origin in which it was produced, so that it has largely been misunderstood for a long time. Today, we should go beyond the text-centrism, and re-interpret it by returning to the concrete context of Chinese ancient ritual and musical civilization. It will only be restored to the great transformations of cultural history, when we recover the “absent” significance which has been overlooked by the written text. As Wu Rui吳銳 points out: The widespread phenomenon of oral history provides a valuable insight for our classical studies. When the Confucian classics are mentioned, many great books will spring to our minds. In fact, these texts imply oral culture, such as the myth of “Jueditiantong” (ending communications between Earth and Heaven絕地天通) in Lüxing吕刑, “yueruo jigu” in Yaodian堯典, “wowenzaixi” (I have heard stories about happened long long ago我聞在昔) in Hongfan洪範, and “ruoguyouxun” (the good teachings of ancient times若古有訓) in Lüxing. All of them clearly show that these narratives had once been popular.8

6 The Chinese Classics, the Works of Mencius, translated by James Legge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895) 479. 7 Ye Shuxia, The Analects of Confucius and its Oral Tradition孔子 《論語》 與口傳文化傳統, Journal of Lanzhou University, 2006.2:2. He also says in this essay: “We strongly have the stereotype that written records is better than oral culture,because we are the civilized people as soon as we are born. With the role of arrogant attitude, consequently, the special significance of oral culture to human nature has been entirely forgotten.” 8 Wu Rui吳銳, Explanation “Shang Shu” – “Shang Shu”: the Sacred Book of Heaven釋“尚書”— 尚書: 尊而重之的天書,Journal of Qilu, 1997.5:50. Zhu Ziqing朱自清 (1898–1948) also says: “The discourses, originally seems to what just be saying, is not a written statement” (這些辭原來似 乎只是說的話,並非寫出的文告). See Zhu Ziqing朱自清, “Shang Shu,” in Zhu Ziqing, Discussing the Common Sense of Classic經典常談, (Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1999)16.

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The phrase “yueruo jigu” appears frequently in pre-Qin books,9 and has also been used repeatedly by scholars since the Han Dynasty (202BCE–220ce).10 Huan Tan桓 譚(23BCE–56CE), the Dong Han scholar, records in Chapter 3 of Xinlun新論 that Qin Gong秦恭,the Confucian scholar of the Xiaoxiahou School小夏侯學派, uses “twenty or thirty thousand words” to interpret the meaning of “yueruo jigu”,11 from which we can See that a great deal was overlooked by the written text. His mention of using “twenty or thirty thousand words”, on the one hand, shows the complicated procedures of Confucian scholars in the Han Dynasty. On the other hand, it also indicates that their thinking is seriously limited by being restricted to the written text. Later, Ma Rong馬融 (79–166CE), who has the same viewpoint as Kongzhuan孔傳, interprets “yueruo jigu” as “Shunkaogudao” (to examine and obey the ancient Way順 考古道), Kongshu孔疏 criticizes the viewpoint of Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200) who views it as “Jigu tongtian” (studying antiquity is equal to studying heaven稽古同 天), and deduces literally the abstract “Gu Dao” (Ancient Way古道). Since the Song Dynasty (960–1279), scholars mostly tended to interpret “yueruo jigu” using the insight of written tradition. For example, Chen Daqiu陳大猷 (1198–1250) quotes Cheng Yi程頤 (1033–1107)in Shu jizhuanhuowen書集傳或問: “When recording what happened in the past, historiographers begins their writing withe examining into ancient Di Yao, etc.” (史氏記前世之事,曰稽古之帝堯其事云云). Lin Zhiqi林之奇 (1112–1176) says in Quanjie全解:“Master Cheng said: Jigu was the style used by historiographers and the discourses discussed by writers. The historiographer records the past in ways similar to past similar to how the ancient ones spoke. (程氏云:若稽古 者,史官之體,發論之辭也。史官記載前世之事,若考古某人之事言之). Cai Zhuan 蔡傳also says, “When historiographers narrate what Yao has done, they will first talk about studying the ancient Yao, and then follow-up by discussing his virtues” (史臣將 敘堯事, 故先言考古之帝堯者, 其德如下文所云也). Jiao Xun焦循 (1763–1820) in his Shang Shu Bushu尚書補疏viewed it as: “It is a term that we now narrate what had happened in the past we now use to recount what had happened in the past” (自今述 古之稱). Therefore, both Liu Fenglu劉逢祿 (1776–1829) in Jijie集解 and Wei Yuan 魏源 (1794–1857) in Shuguwei書古微label it as: “a term used by historiographers 9 See

for example, Yaodian堯典, Gaoyaomo皋陶謨, Dayumo大禹謨 in Shangshu, Wumujie武穆 解in Yizhoushu逸周書, Baihe捭闔in Guiguzi鬼穀子. 10 See, for example, Dongxunsong東巡頌written by Ban Gu班固 (32–92), Lulingguangdianfu魯 靈光殿賦 written by Wang Yanshou王延壽 (a.124–148). 11 There are several records about this matter. Huan Tan桓譚says in Xinlun新論:“Qin Jinjun (秦 近君,即延君) uses more than one hundred thousand words to explain the title of Yaodian, and uses twenty or thirty thousand words to explain ‘yueruo jigu’” (秦近君能說 堯典 篇目兩 字之誼, 至十余萬言; 但說“曰若稽古”, 二三萬言). Huan Tan桓譚, “Zhengjingpian”正經篇, in Zhu Qianzhi朱謙之 (1899–1972), Xinjiben Huantan xinlun新輯本桓譚新論 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2009) 9.38. Ban Gu班固 also has the similar records about it, he says in the Hanshu‘Bibliographic Treatise’漢書·藝文志: Use twenty or thirty thousand words to explain the meaning of five words(說五字之文,至於二三萬言). Hanshu, (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962) 10.1723. He also says in Rulinzhuan 儒林傳: Qin Gong Yanjun(秦恭延君), who was born in Xindu信都, strictly complies with what Xiaoxiahou小夏侯 explains the Confucian Classics, and expands them to a million words (信都秦恭延君……守小夏侯說文,恭增師法至百萬言). Hanshu (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1962) 88.3605.

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in Zhou Dynasty (1100–256BCE)” (周史臣之詞). Wang Xianqian王先謙 (1842– 1917) has the same view in Shangshu kongzhuan canzheng尚書孔傳參正.12 Famous contemporary historians, such as Gu Jiegang顧頡剛 (1893–1980), Liu Qiyu劉起釪 (1917–), and Jin Jingfang金景芳 (1902–2001), who also can’t transcend the “Little Tradition”, fundamentally tend to stick to interpreting “yueruo jigu” as the narratives written by historiographers. In their book Shangshu jiaoshi yilun (hereafterSSJSYL), Gu Jiegang and Liu Qiyu regard it as: “a term that historiographers usually use to trace and recount the beginning of ancient matters” (是史 官追述古事的開頭用語).13 Jin Jingfang and Lü Shaogang呂紹綱 put in Shangshu: yuxiashu xinjie尚書·虞夏書新解: “The man, who writes Yaodian, uses it to show who and what he is talking about with regard to the past” (是寫成 堯典 的 人開篇交代所敘述的是古代的人和事).14 All of them especially demonstrate the narrative characteristics of written culture. After briefly reviewing this tendency of text-centrists to interpret the use of “yueruo jigu” in traditional scholarship, we argue that, in order to better understand this phrase, we should move out of the “Little Tradition” and return to the “Great Tradition”. By fully returning to the living oral tradition and tracing its factual significance in oral culture, we will understand again, from the perspective of a cultural genealogy, the mythical narrative and ritual functions of “yueruo jigu”.

3 Identity of “Yueruo” in Myth Academic interpretations with regard to Pre-Qin phrases as “yueruo”曰 若,“wangruoyue”王若曰 can’t really go beyond the limitations of text-centrism. Thus, the interpretations of the character “ruo” are extremely varied and complicated. If we summarize these interpretations, there are five arguments as follows: A. “Ruo” has no specific meaning, since “yueruo” and “wangruoyue” are auxiliary words used to start a sentence.15 B. “Ruo” means “obedience” (shun順).16 12 Gu

Jiegang and Liu Qiyu顧頡剛、劉起釪,Shangshu jiaoshi yilun尚書校釋譯論 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2005) 6. 13 SSJSYL“Yaodian”, 6. 14 Jin Jingfang and Lü Shaogang,Shangshu: yuxiashu xinjie (Shenyang: Liaoning Ancient Books Publishing House, (1995)10. 15 See,for example, Yang Yunru楊筠如says :“It is used to start an article, its function is the same with wei” (用在文首者, 則並與惟同). In Yang Yunru, Shangshu hegu尚書覈詁. (Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Publishing House, 1959)2; and Gu Jiegang, Liu Qiyu, SSJSYL; and Wang Ying王穎. Xizhou jinwen ji Shangshu zhong zhi “ruoyue” kao西周金文及 尚書 中之“若曰”考. Journal of Langfang Normal University, 2004.1:94–96; etc. 16 See, for example, Kong Anguo孔安國 (156–74BCE), Kong Yingda孔穎達 (574–648), Shangshu zhengyi尚書正義 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2003); Ma Rong馬融,Shangshuzhu尚書注, Hanwei yishu chaoben; Rao Zongyi饒宗頤,“Jigu jitian shuo”稽古稽天說,in Chengxinluncui澄心 論萃, Edited by Hu Xiaoming胡曉明 (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House).

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C. “Ruo” means “like this”.17 D. “Ruo” means “like, as”, “written as”.18 E. “Ruo” means “Shishenzhixiang” (spirit medium of serving the gods事神之像), relating to “Shendaoshejiao” (using the divine Way for education神道設教).19 In the last case, Shirakawa Shizuka already acknowledged that “the king ” is “the leader of diviners”神巫之長, but places it in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty, and still renders “wangruoyue” as “the king declares that it be this” (Chapter 7 in Jinwen tongshi金文通釋). Wang Zhankui王占奎is aware of the significance of the context in his essay“WRY” BDJZ “WRCS”, but he adds a further comment: “‘Ruoyue’, which is always used with reference to an official appointment, is neither an oral element added, ad hoc, by the historiographers referring to these appointments; nor is it a written element inscribed by the receiver of the appointment that is announced by the historiographer instead of the king.”20 Ultimately, he states that “wangruoyue” can be viewed as: (1) “the king speaks like a diviner”; (2) is “the king’s announcement from a divine source” (Shengyushuo聖諭說), that is, the king gets the oracle from a spiritual source.…… Of the two explanations, he says,“ I prefer the former.”21 It is clear from these citations that he too is bound up with the context of written text, and so does not pay enough attention to the influence of oral context. Moreover, he also seems at times to be lost in confusion. At the same time, Xin Yihua and Ye Xiucheng maintain that “ruo” is related to the ancient ritual activities, but they don’t pursue this line of investigation. “Yueruo” is often written as different characters such as “yueruo”粵若,越若,雩 若. So we can perceive from the different character forms the cultural trace that has been transferred from oral culture to the written tradition Next, we will examine the 17 See Cai Shen蔡沈 (1167–1230), Shujizhuan書集傳 (Nanjing: Phoenix Press, 2010); and Huidong

惠棟 (1697–1758), Jiujing guyi九經古義, Congshu Jichengben; and Wang Xianqian王先謙 (1842–1917),Shangshu kongzhuan canzheng尚書孔傳參正 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2011); and Chen Mengjia陳夢家 (1911–1966), Shangshu tonglun尚書通論 (Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education People’s Publishing House, 2000); and Tang Lan唐蘭 (1901–1979),Xizhou qingtongqi mingwen fendai shizheng西周青銅器銘文分代史征 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1986); and Yu Xingwu于省吾 (1896–1984), “Wangyueruo”xinshi“王若曰”新釋, Zhongguo yuwen 1966.2:136,147–149; and Zhang Huaitong張懷通. “Wangyueruo”xinshi“王若曰”新釋, Lishi yanjiu. 2008.2:182–188. 18 See Dong Zuobing董作賓 (1895–1963), “Wangyueruo”guyi“王若曰”古義, Shuowen yuekan 1944.4:327–333. 19 See Japanese scholar Shirakawa Shizuka白川靜 (1910–2006),Jinwen tongshi金文通釋, (Shenhu: Baihe meishuguan, 1962; and Katouji Youken加藤常賢,“Wangruoyue”kao王若曰考,in Zhenguwen shangshu jishi真古文尚书集释, (Tokyo: The Meiji Academy, 1964); Xin Yihua辛怡 華, Shishi jinwenzhong de “wangruoyue”試釋金文中的“王若曰”, Huaxia wenhua, 2002.2:11–12; Wang Zhankui王占奎, “Wangruoyue” budang jiezuo“wangrucishuo”“王若曰”不當解作“王如此 說” (hereafter“WRY” BDJZ “WRCS”), in Culture Studies of Zhou and qin周秦文化研究, (Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Publishing House, 1998) 359–377; Ye Xiucheng葉修成.On the mechanism of the generation and cultural implication of Gao Style in Shang Shu論尚書誥體的生成機制及其文 化意蘊, Journal of Hainan University, 2009.5:566–574. 20 “WRY” BDJZ “WRCS”, 360. 21 “WRY” BDJZ “WRCS”, 375.

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pictograms of “ruo”, which is written as (Jia甲二0五)、 (jia甲九六八)、 (qian 前四.一一.三) in the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions. These hieroglyphic symbols represent a kneeling person holding up his hands, wearing a shaman’s feather hat, and being extremely sincere and humble. It vividly brings us to the factual site of ancient religious rituals. Shirakawa Shizuka believes that the character “ruo” depicts diviners serving the gods. Zang kehe臧克和 says in his essays Shi Ruo釋若: Originally, the character “ruo”, which is depicted as a witch, whose hands wave in the air, (even with the hair disheveled), shows him in the company of the gods who descend from heaven, using magic to communicate with the infinity…… the picture of “ruo” is miraculous, that is, serving the gods on the one hand; on the other, “ruo” is the voice of approval, akin to one body which has two duties, or a coin having two sides, enabling the communication between the gods and human beings.22

Relating to the mythical context of the Shang king’s divination, Ye Shuxian argues that the usages of “ruo” are inextricably linked with the religious phenomenon of divination undertaken in order to ascertain the will of the gods. It can be viewed as a symbolic mark of communication with the gods.23 The graphic characteristics of character “ruo”,combined with the interpretation that the above scholars restore to the mythical context of “ruo”,can enable us to rethink the close relationship between “ruo” and primal religious activities. Based on these scholars’ interpretation of “ruo”, we will further explore the interactive and living oral narrative in religious activities, and study the mythical ritual features of “yueruo” and “wangruoyue”. In the oracle inscriptions, we found some records relating to “yueruo” and its speech changes, such as: 1. The king read the cracks (the practice of pyromancy (where the diviner reads the cracks on the burned shell of a turtle) and said: ruo. (Wangzhanyue, ruo王占曰,若。 (HeJi5611/back,6778/back 合集 五六一一反、六七七八反) 2. On Guisi day, Zheng divined and made the burnt offering: the king will ruo (Guishibu, Zhengzhen, liao, wangqiyouyueruo.癸巳卜, 爭貞, 燎, 王其有曰若。Heji15563/front 合 集 一五五六三正)) 3. The king read the cracks and said: Di only favors this settlement site, not ruo (Di disagrees). (Wangzhanyue, Di wei ziyi chong buruo.王占曰,帝惟茲邑寵不若。HeJi94/back 合集 九四反) 4. The king read the cracks and said: They are auspicious, and ruo. (Wangzhanyue, ji, ruo. 王占曰吉,若。HeJi376/back 合集 三七六反) 5. The king read the cracks and said: They are auspicious, and everything will ruo. (Wangzhanyue, ji, yu wuburuo.王占曰, 吉, 餘無不若。HeJi376/back 合三七六反)

There is yet another example of “wangruoyue” in the oracle inscriptions, as in Yinxu wenzi jiabian殷墟文字甲編: “the king did ruo and said: Qiang, you said……” 22 Zang

Kehe, Shi Ruo, The Journal of Yindu 1990.1: 13–16. Shuxian. “Holy word”神聖言說, in Ye Shuxian, Course in Literary Anthropology文學人類 學教程 (Beijing: China Social Science Academic Press,2010) 206.

23 Ye

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(Wangruoyue: Qiang, ruyue.王若曰: 羌, 女曰……二五0四). We can understand, from these examples that “yueruo” and “wangruoyue” recorded in documents such as Shangshu and Bronze inscriptions certainly have a profound cultural origin. As a result of scholars merely focusing on the hieroglyphs for more than two thousand years, the significance of oral culture hidden in the written texts has been overlooked. Qu Wanli屈萬里 (1907–1979) comments on the above oracle inscription in Yinxu wenxi jiabian kaoshi殷墟文字甲編考釋: “It is advisable that the traditional commentary of ‘wangruoyue’ is ‘wangrucishuo’. Nowadays, there are various arguments, but none of them is better than the traditional interpretation” (舊釋為“王如 此說”, 義可取。今人頗多異說, 似尚未若舊說為得).24 Thus, Mr. Qu, as we can see from his commentary, fails to go beyond the written text as well. The oracle inscription, which records the religious ritual activities, is regarded as the “living fossil” of oral culture. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in the studies of sacrificial ritual activities of the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions, especially whether there must be “‘shi’ in the sacrificial ritual” (Jibiyoushi祭必有 尸). Fang Shuxin方述鑫 stresses in Yinxu bucizhong suojian de “shi”殷墟卜辭中 所見的“尸”: The records of the sacrificial “shi” of Yinxu oracle inscriptions, are convincingly in accord with that of ancient documents. Namely, “there must be ‘shi’ in the sacrifice”(Jibiyoushi), meanwhile, “the grandson of ancestor acts as ‘shi’”(shibiyisun尸必以孫) . The diviner first guides “shi” to the temple where the sacrifice is held, that is, the activity of “guiding shi”(Yanshi延尸) in the oracle inscription, which is the counterpart of “diviner guiding shi” (Zhuyanshi 祝延尸) in ancient documents. Afterwards, “shi” easily sits in the middle of the hall, that is, the process of “putting shi in position”(lishi 立尸),which is the counterpart of “making shi stand in Xia Dynasty”(Xia lishi夏立尸) and “making shi sitting in Shang Dynasty”(Yin zuoshi殷坐尸) in ancient documents. Then, sacrificial offerings are contributed to “shi”, and the ritual is started, that is, the activities of “the diviner make ‘shi’ to drink and eat, and ‘shi’ confers the blessing to the king and his ministers,and they pray to each other.” (Yinshicezhu飲尸册祝), that “the diviner pray to ‘shi’”(Zhuyushi祝於尸), and “the diviner offers cattle to ‘shi’”(Xianshiniu獻尸牛) in the oracle inscription, which, in ancient documents, are those of “the diviner offers sacrifice to ‘shi’ and holds the ritual, ‘shi’ bless the diviner”(Shijizhi, jidian, zhuzhu尸祭之,祭奠,祝祝), that of “Shi drinks, and the diviner offers the sacrifice”(Shichangli, dianzhi尸嘗醴,奠之), and that of “offerings are fragrant, ‘shi’ is addicted to the food” (bifenxiaosi, shenshiyinshi 苾芬孝祀,神嗜飲食).25

Fang Shuxin, in the above paragraph, makes a comparative study of the sacrificial ritual activities, focusing the written words about ancient sacrificial ritual recorded in the oracle inscription and the ancient documents. He attempts to restore the ritual context of the writing, and help us clearly understand the narrative function of concrete context. In addition, Ge Huiying葛英会also argues in Shuo jisi lishi buci說 祭祀立尸卜辭, that the erecting “shi” institution (Lishizhidu立尸制度), shows in the oracle inscription, and choosing the best candidate for “shi” by divination, has already been built during the Shang Dynasty. It is the same as the ritual system of 24 Qu

Wanli, “Yinxu wenzi jiabian kaoshi”, in Song Zhenhao宋鎮豪, Oracle Bone Literature Integration甲骨文獻集成, vol.4(Chengdu: Sichuan University Press,2001)318. 25 Fang Shuxin, Yinxu bucizhong suojian de “shi”, Archaeology and Heritage 2000.5:27.

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guiding “shi” (Binshizhili儐尸之禮).26 With regard to the ancient documents, “‘shi’ must be used to show the descending of the ancestor spirit or the gods in the sacrificial ritual. According to the ritual system, Qing serves as ‘shi’for Tianzi, Dafu serves as ‘shi’ for Zhuhou, grandsons serve as ‘shi’ for Qing and Dafu”(祭必有尸者, 節神也 。禮, 天子以卿為尸, 諸侯以大夫為尸, 卿大夫以下以孫為尸).27 We can be sure that the erecting “shi” institution had already been established in Shang Dynasty (a.1600–1046BCE), because, “shi”, who acts as the ancestor spirit or the holy spirit, is undoubtedly present in the ritual site and plays an important role in the sacrificial activities. Sun Xidan孫希旦 (1736–1784) quotes Chengzi程子 (1033–1107) in Liji jijie禮記集解: ‘Shi’is often used in the ancient sacrifice in which is of great significance. The spirit of the dead ancestor, who had left their body upon death, cannot be depended on without a wooden tablet, and woll not eat and drink without a ‘shi’.28

Thus, it is very clear that the “shi” in the sacrifice represents the ancestor or the holy spirit, namely, it is the temporary representative of the spirits at the ritual site. Meanwhile, Chen Mengjia陳夢家accurately summarizes the role of the Shang king who is described in the oracle inscription: Even though the king is the political leader, at the same time he is still the leader of the witches. There are some phrases as ‘the king divines’ and ‘the king asks’ in the oracle inscriptions, which show that the king divines by himself, or asks whether it will be rainy, or asks about the sacrifice, war and hunting.……So the king does concurrently what the witch does, namely he is a witch as well. 29

According to paragraph above, we clearly understand that the king is the leader of the witches and the diviners such as Zhu祝, Zong宗, Bu卜, Shi史, Zhenren貞人, mainly to communicate with the sacred “shi”. So the diviners make all the speeches and actions in the sacrificial ritual. On the one hand, the diviners conduct the ritual and represent their master (usually the king, the royalty or the aristocrat), expresses the piety and regards to the sacred “shi”, and offers all kinds of sacrifices to the spirit. On the other hand, he likewise represents the sacred “shi” to convey the blessing of the spirits to his master, that is, the so-called phrase of Zhugu祝嘏之辭. After having briefly explored the sacrificial activities in the oracle inscriptions and the vivid oral communication among the sacred “shi”, the diviner and the king, we can determine that the oracle inscriptions are nothing more than a written text of the speeches and actions in the Shang Dynasty religious ritual activities. Therefore, when interpreting 26 Ge

Huiying, Shuo jisi lishi buci, The Journal of Yindu 2000.1:4. He Xiu’s何休 (129–182) commentary of “the next day of sacrifice” in the eighth year of King Xuan of Lu宣公八年 (601BCE)“祭之明日”之何休注, Chunqiu gongyangzhuan zhushu春秋公羊 傳注疏, (Beijing: Peking University Press,1999), 338. 28 Chengzi also stresses that the spirit should descend on someone who is similar with him in consanguinity and clean. See Sun Xidan, in “Qulishang”, in Sun Xidan, Liji jijie (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company,1989)73. 29 Chen Mengjia, Myth and Witchcraft in Shang Dynasty商代的神話與巫術, Journal of Yanjing, 20(1936):535. 27 In

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the ritual phrases such as “ruo”, “yueruo”, and “wangruoyue”, we can’t ignore the extensive information provided by oral culture outside of the written text. In the oracle inscriptions, there are many phrases which show the holy ancestor’s spirit of “ruo” or “buruo”. For example, “Ancestral Father Ding ruo” (Zudingruo祖丁若), “Ancestral Father Ding does not ruo” (Zudingfuruo祖 丁弗若,HeJi合集151); “Ancestral Father Yi ruo” (Zuyiru祖乙若,HeJi合集1637); “Father Yi does not ruo” (Fuyiburuo父乙不若,HeJi合集2276); “The older Jia ruo the king” (Dajiaruowang大甲若王,HeJi合集3216); “Ancestor ruo” (Shiruo 示若,HeJi合集150); “Ancestor does not ruo” (Shifuruo示弗若,HeJi合集14889); “Di descends and ruo” (Dijiangruo帝降若), “Di descends and does not ruo” (Dijiangburuo帝降不若,Cui粹1113); “Wei shi ruo” (惟尸若,Yi乙6233) and so on. And there are also many phrases which show that the king and the diviners “ruo” 若and “buruo”不若. For example, “Divine and ask whether the king does not ruo” (Zhenwangburuo貞王不若), “Divine and ask whether the king ruo” (Zhenwangruo貞王若,HeJi合集2002); “The king does not go and does not ruo” (Wangwuwang,buruo王勿往不若), “The king goes and ruo” (Wangwangruo王往 若,HeJi合集7427); ”Xiaochen ruo”(小臣若,HeJi合集5583); “Yin ruo” (尹若,HeJi 合集5611); “Ya ruo” (亞若,HeJi5678); “Ya does not ruo” (亞無若,HeJi合集5691) and so on. The speeches of the spirits as “Zuding”祖丁, “Zuyi”祖乙, “Dajia”大甲,“Shi” 示, “Di”帝, if we relate them to the concrete context of the sacrificial ritual in the oracle inscriptions, should be the speech-acts of the sacred spirit medium “shi” or the diviners who represent the sacred “shi” in the sacrificial ritual. So the speech-acts of “ruo” or “buruo” are the indispensable symbolic signs, which show whether the communications between the sacred “shi”and the diviners or the king are successful. They demonstrate the mythical relationship of the interactive identities between the holy or ancestor spirit and the king or the diviners, and also reveal the integrating process of the willpower between the above (the spirits) and the below (the witches). Therefore, the character “ruo” is neither a meaningless auxiliary word, when placed in the context of the primal religious activities, nor is it simply able to be substituted by the terms of “obedience” (shun順). Instead, it is the living relationship in which the interactive identities between the sacred “shi” and the king or the diviners in the sacrificial activities can be enacted. It is a symbolic mark of bilateral interaction between the spirit and the spirit medium, which is also reconcilable with Ye Shuxian’s interpretation of “the state of communication with the spirit.” The phrases such as “yueruo” and “wangruoyue” in the oracle inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and the written history document Shangshu, similarly, are entirely the cultural remnants from the transition of oral to written culture. They are significant symbolic marks in the primal religious ritual, which strongly implies the mythical narrative function influenced by the oral tradition.

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4 Mythical Juristical Authority of “Jigu” Chen Cisheng陳次升, a scholar in Song Dynasty, says in his essay Jigu稽古: The king takes responsibilities of everything all by himself, but if he is hardly proficient in the histories of the past and present, he can’t understand how the king seeking advice and the virtuous official cultivate their morality and manage affairs of state, how the great political career and general strategy are successfully implemented, how autocracy and rebellion emerged, and to distinguish right from wrong, and to apply the ancient Way to deal with the current social situation. Therefore, he is not qualified to be a king. Of course, it is why Yao and Shun “ruo” and are obedient, “ji” and study as well, and why Gaozong study with their teachers. (高宗武丁, r.1250–1192BCE) and Chengwang (成王, 1055–1021BCE)30

The paragraph quoted above tells us that Chen Cisheng takes “jigu” as “applying the ancient Way”執古道,which is influenced by the thinking of the Tang-Song Dynasty prosers. These reflections can be traced to the ancient way. Wang Mingsheng (王鳴盛) (1722–1797), The famous historian in Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), says in Chapter 82 of Shiqishi shangque(十七史商榷) and “Pre-Tang Dynasty Phonics” (唐以前音學諸 書): The way that knowledge was achieved, generally, is easily understood by going from past to present, the past to present. Those knowledge is limited to the present, merely scratch the surface; Those knowledge is confined to the past, are no more than the pedantic Confucians. And those have the thought of “jigu” in their minds, employ it whenever necessary, and practice according to it, are the master Confucians.31

It is also clear that Wang Mingsheng has tended to return to the Ancient Way when discussing the relationship between “jigu” and “the present”. Guo Kangsong郭康 松sharply criticizes the Qing Dynasty textology清代考據學. He thinks that the textology one-sided view equates “jigu” with “restoring to antiquity”. He says: “Factually, it is a misunderstanding to regard ‘jigu’, Whilst studying the ancient knowledge, in terms of a restoration. The accurate definition of this restoration should be the thought and practice which views the ancient culture and its institutions as being better than that of today, and in a historical regression, use them as a yardstick for examining today’s culture and institutions.”32 Our review of the interpretations of “jigu” in traditional scholarship, especially with regard to the above-mentioned examples prompts us to rethink the cultural phenomena associated with “jigu”. Nakamura Hajime (1912–1999), a Japanese scholar, has a keen analysis of the features which prompted the ancient Chinese like “jigu”: “Chinese people often stress more the precedent than the abstract principle. Therefore, they have a wealth of 30 Quansongwen.Vol.102全宋文102册,edited by Zeng Zaozhuang曾棗莊,Liu Lin劉琳. (Shanghai:

Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House,2006) 385. 31 Wang Mingsheng, in“Pre-Tang Dynasty Phonics”, in Wang Mingsheng, Shiqishi shangque (Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore Press,2005) 724. 32 Guo Kangsong, Textual Research in Qing Dynasty清代考據學研究 (Wuhan: Hubei Dictionary Publishing House,2001) 233.

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historical allusions and idioms. The nation, Chinese, who emphasize the individuality and concreteness of perception, tend to establish a set of basic standards from past conventions and their recurrent facts, invariably regards respect for precedent as the prerequisite mode of inquiry. In other words, For the Chinese people a sense of reality is psychologically associated with their the past experiences. Therefore, they are bound to be uneasy when their life principles are merely fixed by abstract thinking, as opposed to life experience. Hence, the psychological appeal of life principles grounded in experience for Chinese people, which explains why ‘jigu’ is attractive for most Chinese people, because in ‘jigu’ knowledge is based on past precedents.”33 Nakamura Hajime undoubtedly goes beyond the traditional scholars who are rigid text-centrist. He argues that the behavior of the Chinese “jigu” is just opposed to western thought which stresses abstract thinking. The Chinese pay more attention to the life experience, the precedent and the mythical thinking constituted by “the past convention and the recurrent fact.” He does not refer to the thought in the ancient way, however, without relating “jigu” to oral culture, he exquisitely depicts the distinctive characteristics of Chinese thinking. The defining characteristic of “yueruo”, which our analysis of pre-orthographic culture shows to be inextricably connected with religious ritual, is that the king, the witch or the holy spirit attain a concord in the course of this ritual. That is to say, the speeches of the king and the witches come in the course of this ritual to coincide with the idea of the sacred “shi” and the spirit medium, thereby enabling the king to attain a mythical identity with this holy spirit. We have stressed that this revelation is not expressed by abstract concepts, but rather by the experiences and inspirations of the individual in the religious ritual. Only through these ritual activities, in which the sacred is deeply sensed through nonverbal channels, can a sense of the holy be received by the participant in the ritual. Huston Smith, the American comparativist of religious traditions, indicates one of the main features of primal religious culture, he says in The World’s Religions: Orality has “the capacity to sense the sacred through nonverbal channels, though writing can grapple with meaning explicitly, sacred texts tend to gravitate to a position of such eminence as to be considered the preeminent if it is not an exclusive channel of revelation. This eclipses other means of divine disclosure. Oral tradition does not fall into this trap. The invisibility of their texts, which is to say their myths, leaves their eyes free to scan for other sacred portents, virgin nature and sacred art being the prime example. ”34 Smith first compares oral tradition with written tradition in his book. Then he says, when purely written text gradually becomes primary, other means of expression seem inadequate and inferior, thereby eclipsing the effective means of divine disclosure. In contrast, orality protects the special human capacity. “Oral content” is not the product of abstract thinking, but THE “invisible myth”. Myth becomes the origin of all things. All of these oral stories reflect the archetypal 33 Nakamura

Hajime, The Way of Thinking of Oriental People東方民族的思維方法,translated by Ma Xiaohe馬小鶴 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House,1989) 127. 34 Huston Smith,“The Primal Religions”,in Huston Smith, The World’s religion. (New York: Harper Collins, 2009) 370.

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story of sanctity. It is not hard to see, from Huston Smith’s views on oral tradition, that both oral culture and sacred context are the indivisible products of a primal mythical thinking. In order to understand the mythical function of “jigu”, we should first examine in detail the picture of the character “ji”. There are some ancient writing pictures of the character “ji” which are kept in ancient character documents such as Hanjian 汗簡 and Guwen sishengyun古文四聲韻. For example, the writing pictures of “ji” in Hanjian汗簡 are (Wangshuzibei王庶子碑), (Shangshu), (Shangshu), (Shangshu); and the character pictures recorded in Guwen sishengyun古文四聲 (Gushangshu古尚書), (Qieyun切韻), (Qieyun), 韻 are 35 (Shangshu). From the ancient character pictures, we can make sure that there are three kinds of character pictures of “ji” as bu卟, ji乩 and qi . Xu Shen許 慎 (a.58–147CE) says in Shuowen jiezi說文解字: “Qi” means bending head ( , 下首也). Shang Chengzuo商承祚 (1902–1991) writes in Jianglingwangshan erhaochumu zhujian qiance kaoshi江陵望山二號楚墓竹簡遣策考釋: “‘Qishou’ is the common term of ‘koubaili’叩拜禮 in ancient times and is often used in bronze inscriptions. The characters of ‘qi’ or ‘qi’ , which were later replaced , 為古代叩拜禮用辭, 金文銘文習見, 其 with ‘ji’稽,are finally discarded” ( ).36 According to Shang Chengzuo, “qishou” 字作 , 後世以稽代之, appeared before “jishou” in the written records稽首, so “ji” 稽is the later alternative of “qi” . Basically,we deny that the character “qi” is the original shape of character“ji”稽. From the unfolding origin of ancient character pictures, the character “ji”稽 is mostly developed from “bu” 卟or “ji” 乩. Shuowen jiezi says: “‘Bu’卟, is the divine to answer the questions. Combining ‘kou’口with ‘bu’卜, its , 讀與稽同). Gu pronunciation is the same as ‘ji’稽” (卟, Jiegang and Liu Qiyu comprehensively analyze the different Written versions of “ji” 稽 in SSJSYL. They write in the item of “yueruo jigu” in Yaodian堯典: “ji” 稽, is written as “ji”乩 in Weiguwen偽古文. It is also written as “ji”乩 in Jingdian shiwen 經典釋文of Dunhuang Tang xieben敦煌唐寫本, and Shangshu of Neiyeben內野本 and Xueshiben薛氏本, which are Weiguwen偽古文. It is rewritten as “ji”稽 in the popular Weiguwen偽古文.37 They also discuss on the item of “buqihuoji” 不其或 稽in Pangeng盘庚: “ji” 稽, written as “di”迪 in Hanshijing漢石經, and as “ji”乩or “chan” in Ligudingxieben隶古定寫本. Feng Dengfu馮登府 (1783–1841)claims that “ji” 稽 and “di” 迪become different with the change in pronunciation (Hanshijing kaoyi漢石經考異). It means “examining”. “Buqihuoji” means “to not examine this at all.”38 In conclusion, there are many written changes such as “ji”稽, “ji” 乩, “chan” , “di”迪, “bu”卟 and so on, from the written text of Shangshu, which 35 See

Guwenzigulin.Vol6古文字詁林第6冊, (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press,2003)110.

36 Shang Chengzuo, Jianglingwangshan erhaochumu zhujian qiance kaoshi, in Guwenzigulin.Vol8

古文字詁林第8冊, (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press,2003)45. 5. 38 SSJSYL“Pangeng”, 909. They also analyze the different writings of “buji”卜稽 in the item of “bujiyueqirutai”卜稽曰其如台in Pangeng 盘庚, SSJSYL, 932. 37 SSJSYL“Yaodian”,

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are very complicated. However, by restoring the various character changes to the oral context, we will immediately find that these different changes have the same or similar pronunciation of “ji” in oral culture, because of the transition from oral sounds to written words are written as different shapes. Furthermore, Ye Yusen葉玉森 (1880–1933), Qu Runmin瞿潤緡, Chen Mengjia and other scholars have expanded the character pictures of “ji” to the oracle inscriptions. For example, Ye Yusen says in Yinxu shuqi qianbian jishi殷虛書契前編集 釋: The phrase “Wangzhanyueji ”王 曰吉 frequently appears in oracle inscription, the character picture of

is also inscribed as

, Wang Guowei王國維

(1877–1927) views it as the same character as “zhan” . Wang Xiang王襄 (1876– 1965) considers it to be the character “qi”啟 in Shangshu“Jinteng” 書·金縢, which originally exists in the oracle inscriptions. But we regard it as the character “ji”稽 of the phrase “mingyongjiyi”明用稽疑 in Hong Fan洪範, it is written as in Hanjian 汗簡 quoted from Guwen shangshu古文尚書, which is very similar to , the book of Xu Shen許慎 renders it as “bu” 卟.39 Qu Runmin writes in Yinxu buci kaoshi殷虛 卜辭考釋: “Ji”稽 means examining, namely, to decide right or wrong according to the omen, so I think that the character “zhan” in the phrase “wangzhanyue”王 曰 is character “ji”稽, not character “bu”卟 in shuowen說文.40 Chen Mengjia argues in Shi Gua釋冎: “Ji”稽and “gao” are the same character, and the pronunciation of “ji”稽 is like “jiu”咎,so the character of “zhan” in the oracle inscription sounds like “jiu”冎,which is the same as “bu”卟 which sounds like “ji”稽 in Shuowen說 文. In addition, the phrase “wangzhanyueqiyu”王 曰其雨 is repeatedly used in oracle inscriptions, which is the discourse of inquiry, so “zhan” and “bu”卟 should be the same character.41 Though these scholars have some differences regarding the argument of characters such as “ji” 稽,“ji”乩,“bu”卟 and so on, they share the belief that the character “zhan” in the oracle inscription, which depicts the practice of Shangwang’s商王 divination, as “ji” 稽. “Ji”稽is originally the product of oral culture and the sacred speech spoken in the sacrificial ritual, which also demonstrates the mythical relationship between the Shangwang or diviners and the holy or ancestor spirit in the interactive communication. Gu Jiegang and Liu Qiyu argue that: Ma Rong views “ji”稽 as “kao” (examining考), which is the same in Kongzhuan 孔傳, Kongshu孔疏, Caizhuan蔡傳, but Zheng Xuan鄭玄 takes it as “tong” (being the same同). We think, “kao”考 usually means “cha”查, the character “cha”查 in modern Chinese is similar to the character “ji”稽 in archaic Chinese, so the character “cha”查 is commonly used at the beginning of the modern official documents, which is the same usage of “ji”稽 in antiquity.42 We think that the secular interpretation of “ji”稽 by the Confucian scholars such as Kong Anguo, Ma Rong, Kong Yingda, Cai Shen, and historians such as Gu Jiegang, Liu Qiyu, if relating to the sacred context

39 See

Guwenzigulin.Vol6古文字詁林第6册,(Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press,2003)111. 111. 41 Chen Mengjia陳夢家,Shiwa釋冎,Kaogu 1936.2:21. 42 SSJSYL, 6. 40 Ibid.,

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of communication with the holy spirit in the oracle inscription and the bilateral interactive ritual activities between the witch and the spirit medium, can convincingly be viewed as a great oversight on the part of the written text. After analyzing the character picture of “ji”稽 and its original relationship with oral culture, we will examine the mythical juristical function of “jigu” 稽古. There is a story recording Baiyunshiweng’s白雲師翁 opinion on the function of “jigu” in Chanlin baoxun禪林寶訓, which was discussed by Buddhists Yuanwu圓悟 and Fojian佛鑒 in early Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). It says that Baiyunshiweng stresses first and foremost “jigu” when he does anything. He says: it will be a breach of juristical norms if not “jigu” is not said when doing something. I am highly familiar with the words and behaviors of the ancient people, thus, I can successfully attain my goals. However, it doesn’t mean I particularly like the Ancient Way, because the people of that time are not worthy of imitation.43

Though Baiyunshiweng doesn’t theoretically understand the mythical implication of “jigu”, he empirically emphasizes that the speech and action of “jigu” is more juristical than that of people at the present time, so he highlights the juristical authority of “jigu”. On the one hand, Sun Xingyan孫星衍 (1753–1818), the famous scholar in Qing Dynasty, is opposed to Zhengxuan’s鄭玄 opinion of “jigu tongtian”稽古同天, and on the other hand, he lists the mythical stories of Wudi五帝, Yao堯, Shun舜, Gaoyao皋陶 which demonstrate the mythical function of “jigu”, namely “imitating Heaven”法天.44 The Contemporary scholar Lü Simian呂思勉 (1884–1957) quoted many classical documents such as Shangshuwei尚書緯, Zhoushu“Zhouzhu”周書·周 祝, Liji“Ziyi”禮記·緇衣, Liji“Jiyi”禮記·祭義, Hanfeizi“Dingfa”韓非子·定法, and Guanzi“Renfa”管子·任法and so on, to discuss the problems posed by “jigu” which is in item 251 “Jigu tongtian”稽古同天 in Lü Simian dushi zaji呂思勉讀史劄記, then he writes: The oldest antiquity (Xiangu先古), is the terms known as Heaven (tiangu天古), so these are the duplicated terms. The Way of Heaven and Earth is infinite and boundless, so Heaven can be viewed as the oldest. At the same time, Heaven can also be taken as the highest uppermost realm, and since the uppermost in terms of time is the oldest, this oldest can also be regarded as Heaven.45

Lü Simian not only agrees with Zhengxuan鄭玄 understanding of “jigu tongtian”, but also specifically stresses the mythical juristical authority of “Heaven”. Relating to oral culture and the ritual context, we believe the interpretations of “jigutongtian” baoxun jiangshi 禪林寶訓 講釋,(Chengdu: Bashu Publishing House,2006)188. 44 See Sun Xingyan孫星衍, “Di Yao Gaoyao jigu lun”帝堯皋陶稽古論,in Sun Xingyan, Wenzitangji問字堂集, (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company,1996) 85–87. He also says: “Jigu”, namely imitating the heaven, is the greatest in politics……so when the saint engages in politics, “jigu” is the most important (政莫大乎稽古,稽古即法天也……聖人立政,莫大于稽古). 45 Lü Simian, Lü Simian dushi zaji, (Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House,2005) 552. 43 Hongxue弘學,Chanlin

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稽古同天 or “jigufatian” 稽古法天 by these scholars are actually right. The orators succeed in these trans-rational ritual activities by invoking the connection between eternal life and natural experience. And their conduct with regard to “jigu” shows the ancient people to be anxious about popular writing. Simultaneously, they revere and worship the far-away oral tradition and reflect the existence of a sacred world in the thinking of our ancestors, which is closely linked to oral culture and coexists with the real world. Therefore, this world, which is the endless source of juristical authority and justice force for the earlier inhabitants, undoubtedly, is more authentic, abundant, powerful, and lasting than the real world. Only by living in the sacred world, can they attain both spiritual and earthly rewards and likewise obtain rules to guide their lives. In fact, about the mythical function of “jigu”, we can also find the proof in Shaogao 召誥, which says: Examining the men of antiquity, there was the (founder of the) Xia dynasty. Heaven guided (his mind), allowed his descendants (to succeed him), and protected them. He acquainted himself with Heaven, and was obedient to it. But in process of time the decree in his favour fell to the ground. So also is it now when we examine the case of Yin. There was the same guiding (of its founder), who corrected (the errors of Xia), and (whose descendants) enjoyed the protection (of Heaven). He (also) acquainted himself with Heaven, and was obedient to it. But now the decree in favour of him has fallen to the ground. Our king has now come to the throne in his youth; let him not slight the aged and experienced, for it may be said of them that they have studied the virtuous conduct of the ancients, and have matured their counsels in the sight of Heaven.46

Rao Zongyi饒宗頤 comments on this paragraph in Jigu jitian shuo稽古稽天說: The author mentions “mianjitianruo”面稽天若 twice. It means that with the power of the holy spirit, men of antiquity can understand the holy implications and totally comply with Heaven’s will.47 To conclude, the phenomenon of “yueruo jigu” is the historical remains from oral culture to written tradition, which can’t be simply viewed as a formulaic expression, a meaningless auxiliary word, or a pure symbol of the written text. However, we should go beyond the limits of text-centrism, and relate to the far-reaching cultural origin and sacred context of oral tradition, and restore it to the primal religious ritual activities, so as to comprehend the deep meaning implied by the mythical rituals. Only by this way can we obtain a trans-rational mythical experience and understand its cultural coding and mythical juristical authority outside of the written text.

46 The Sacred Books of China: the Texts of Confucianism, Part I the Shu King, the Religious Portions of the Shih King, the Hsiao King, translated by James Legge, 2nd edition, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899) 185. 47 Rao Zongyi, “Jigu jitian shuo”, in Rao Zongyi, Chengxinluncui (Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe,1996)412. Wang Zhankui also views: “Mianjitianruo”面稽天若 means making a bow with hands and Kowtow to the spirit of heaven. See “WRY” BDJZ “WRCS”,372.

References

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References Ye Shuxian葉舒憲, A new understanding of Chinese culture, China reading daily, Novermber2, 2011. Henri Maspero, Myth in Shu King, translated by Feng Yuanjun馮沅君, Shanghai: The Commercial Press, 1939. Tang Qicui唐啟翠, Ritual Civilization and Myth Code禮制文明與神話編碼,Guangzhou: Nanfang Daily Press, 2012. (USA) Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization, Chicago: the University of Chicago Press, 1956. The Chinese Classics, the Works of Mencius, translated by James Legge, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895. Ye Shuxia, The Analects of Confucius and its Oral Tradition孔子 《論語》 與口傳文化傳統, Journal of Lanzhou University,2006.2:2. Wu Rui吳銳, Explanation “Shang Shu” – “Shang Shu” : the Sacred Book of Heaven釋“尚書”— 《 尚書》 :尊而重之的天書,Journal of Qilu, 1997.5:50. Gu Jiegang and Liu Qiyu顧頡剛、劉起釪,Shangshu jiaoshi yilun尚書校釋譯論, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2005. Jin Jingfang and Lü Shaogang,Shangshu: yuxiashu xinjie,Shenyang: Liaoning Ancient Books Publishing House, 1995. Yang Yunru, Shangshu hegu尚書覈詁, Xi’an: Shaanxi People’s Publishing House,1959. Kong Anguo孔安國(156–74BCE), Kong Yingda孔穎達(574–648), Shangshu zhengyi尚書正 義(Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2003. Zang Kehe,Shi Ruo,The Journal of Yindu 1990.1. Ye Shuxian, Course in Literary Anthropology文學人類學教程, Beijing: China Social Science Academic Press,2010. Chen Mengjia, Myth and Witchcraft in Shang Dynasty商代的神話與巫術,Journal of Yanjing, 20(1936):535. Guo Kangsong, Textual Research in Qing Dynasty清代考據學研究, Wuhan: Hubei Dictionary Publishing House,2001. Nakamura Hajime, The Way of Thinking of Oriental People東方民族的思維方法,translated by Ma Xiaohe馬小鶴, Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House,1989. Huston Smith,“The Primal Religions”,in Huston Smith, The World’s religion. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.

Chapter 13

The Cultural Interpretation of “Golden Sound and Jade Vibration”

1 The Big Tradition in the Sacred Context The earliest existing documentation on the “golden sound and jade vibration” can be found in Mencius: Wanzhang II, which says: “Confucius is said to be a man of great accomplishments. A man of great accomplishments also has golden sound and jade vibration. A man with golden sound can initiate the ordinance and law. A man with jade vibration can finalize the ordinance and law. The ordinance initiation is the responsibility of the wise, while the ordinance finalization is the responsibility of the sage.”1 Scholars from different ages all believe that this paragraph uses the rhythm of music as a metaphor for the virtues of a sage. This statement originated in The Notes by the scholar Zhao Qi of the Han Dynasty. Since then, Shu by Sun Shi, Jizhu by Zhu Xi and Zhengyi by Jiao Xun have all interdepended upon each other for creation and inheritance. The modern scholar Yang Bojun translated it as ‘having great accomplishments’ in The Interpretations and Notes to Mencius: (e.g., playing music) first knock on the bell and then end with the special chiming, a process with both the beginning and the end. The knock is the rhythmical beginning and the chiming the end of the rhythm.2 Mr. Yang also completely explained the meaning of “golden sound and jade vibration” in the form of mechanical rhythm of music. When it comes to “golden sound”, “jade vibration”, “courtesy difference”, and “courtesy indifference” (Shu by Sun Shi), the sound characteristics and cultural imagination, as well as the musical functions and knowledge of “demonstrating the sound” and “controlling the rhyme” (Jizhu by Zhu Xi) have been completely abandoned, so that the cultural symbol of “having great accomplishments” is “already as diluted as the boiled water”.3 The original cultural function and symbolic meaning of “golden sound and jade vibration” become more confusing and obscure.

1 Jiao

Xun: The Right Notes to Mencius, Zhonghua Book Company. Bojun: The Interpretations and notes to Mencius, Zhonghua Book Company. 3 [Canada] McLuhan et al, He Daokuan (translator): McLuhan Essentials, Nanjing University Press. 2 Yang

© Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020 J. Hu, Big Tradition and Chinese Mythological Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4634-1_13

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13 The Cultural Interpretation of “Golden Sound and Jade Vibration”

The Five Elements chapter of Guodian Bamboo Slips of the Chu State and Mawangdui Brocade Book recently unearthed give written records about “golden sound” and “jade vibration”, and provide a new opportunity to further explore the deep cultural structure and symbolic function of “golden sound and jade vibration”.4 The chapter states: “The kind practice of a gentleman has a beginning (Guodian version has no character ‘ye’ and we use the Mawangdui version) and an end. The virtuous practice of a gentleman has a beginning and no end (Li Ling adds, ‘six characters’ are missing; Brocade version is better by saying ‘no ending’; we use the Brocade version). This is what a sage does. Golden sound represents kindness, and jade vibration, sageness. The kindness is the humane way; the virtue is the heavenly way. Only the virtuous can start to have golden sound and jade vibration”.5 As for the authoring era of Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips, the academic community basically believes that it was written earlier than Mencius. In the article “Golden Sound and Jade Vibration and Related Issues”, Liu Xinfang puts forward a unique opinion on the meaning of “golden sound and jade vibration” in connection with the relevant unearthed documents. He believed that “golden sound and jade vibration” is not a music issue, but an “epistemological problem”, for it used golden sound to represent the outside world, jade vibration to represent the resonance with the inner heart, ‘golden sound and jade vibration’ reveals the relationship between the subject and the object vividly. Liu broke away from the shackles of the structure theory of music, and expanded the “golden sound and jade vibration” into philosophical thinking of metaphysics. which is somewhat innovative. However, Liu also simply inferred from the internal literature and character structure of the unearthed documentation, without fully emphasizing and leveraging the big tradition of the remote ancient sacred context from which “golden sound and jade vibration” is derived. The sacred context mentioned above refers to the fact that profaness and sacredness are one to the ancient inhabitants, and the visual symbols they saw and the auditory symbols they heard are all related to the sacred world. As Iliad said, everything, no matter how insignificant, contains divinity.6 We believe that “golden sound and jade vibration” is not only an auditory symbol generated by a secular instrument, but also a vocal symbol produced by an indispensable instrument in religious etiquette; it represents a kind of symbolic narrative with divine meaning. Ye Shuxian wrote the article “Rong Chengshi Knowledge Archaeology Paradigm of Five General Interpretations to Jian Drum Mythology about Xia and Yu” to give a detailed discussion of the mystery of the narrative and drum music system of the Jian drum mythology about Xia and Yu, re-interpreting the cultural connotations of the drums from the new perspectives of mythology and archaeology of knowledge. Ye said: “The original percussion instruments such as bell and drum are inseparable from the prehistoric 4 The

Ancient Literature Research Office of the National Cultural Relics Bureau: (Edited): The Mawangdui Han Tomb Brocade Book, Cultural Relics Publishing House. 5 Li Xueqin: The Nature and Age of Confucian Classics in Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips, (in) Li Xueqin’s Anthology, Shanghai Dictionary Press. 6 [USA] Mirsey Eliad: Mythology, dreams, and mysterious rituals: The encounter between contemporary beliefs and primitive realities, Translated by Philip Merritt, London.

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religious context of the sacred faith, and even the instruments themselves are symbols of the gods or holy wills.” Ye also concluded that “Whether it is a signal drum that simply emits sound information or a musical instrument in a ritual music system, the original root lies in the background of the belief in the divine drums and the ritual activities of prehistoric religious leaders to communicate with ghosts and spirits.”7 Therefore, the cultural symbolic practice of Mr. Ye attaching importance to the divine context provides an epistemological and methodological guide for us to investigate in depth the cultural functions and mythological implications of “golden sound and jade vibration”. In order to further explain the symbolic function of “golden sound and jade vibration” and the connotations of mythology, we may also cite the musical scenes of the Duke of Zhou who presided over the sacrifices recorded in Shangshu Commentary: Luo Gao Story.8 The Story reads: Foretell the Luo city, make it capital city of Zhou, change the calendar system, establish the imperial ancestral temple, standardize the sacrificial ritual, change the sacrificial ceremony, and establish the ritual and music system…The imperial temple is so vibrant that it looks like fine brocade. The princes and dukes of the world all come to the reign of Duke Zhou. There are 1,730 figures representing the roles of princes and dukes in the sacrificial ceremony. All of them heard the Qingzhe chiming of jade tone, golden sound, and jade color. Then Duke Zhou orders the singing and string playing of the music pieces of the eras of Kings Wen and Wu of Zhou. The princes and dukes in the imperial temple swear their oaths and sing in harmony, feeling sorrowful as if they suddenly see the formation of Kings Wen and Wu, saying: Alas, this may be the grandeur style of the our forefathers Kings Wen and Wu.9 This passage allows us to experience the strong penetrating power and profound influence of the musical symbols on the spiritual dimensions of the princes and dukes of the Zhou Dynasty. Of course, such penetrating power and influence are more than the aesthetic effect of the rhythm of music; more importantly, it represents the mysterious experience and divine satisfaction of the illusion and ecstasy found in the ritual participants in the religious rituals. The ancient song “Pangu Creating the Heaven and the Earth” by the Landian Yao ethnic group in Xilin County, Guangxi, gives a wonderful account of the sound generated by the musical instrument in the sacrifice ritual. The account can also help us to understand that the sound symbol of the instrument is a symbol of divinity for the Yao residents, or a “hierophany.” The song goes, “Look up, toward the clear sky; my sincere heart supports the devout gaze; lift up the hands and play the instruments of sacrificial ceremony; sing the opening hymns with the most respectful awe.” This paper attempts to connect with the big tradition of the sacred context, to take into account the knowledge horizons of cultural anthropology, religious anthropology, ethnology, mythology and archaeology, and to widely use the folk culture and 7 Ye Shuxian: “Rong Chengshi” Knowledge Archaeology Paradigm of Five General Interpretations

to Jian Drum Mythology about Xia and Yu, National Art. Sheng, Zheng Xuan, Chen Shouqi: Shangshu Commentary, series of books, 9 Lv Daji and He Yaohua eds.: Integration of Primitive Religious Data of Chinese Ethnic Groups (Yao Minority Volume), China Social Sciences Press. 8 Fu

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cross-cultural materials. This paper tries to break away from the one-sidedness and limitation of the musical formalism structure theory of “golden sound and jade vibration” and focuses on the structural function and cultural prototype coding of native traditional cultural knowledge and reconstructs the narrative tradition and cultural symbolic meaning of the “golden sound and jade vibration” mythology that has been obscured or omitted by the handed-down literature. There also forms a deep cultural exploration of how the sages think of Confucius as “having great accomplishments”.

2 Golden Sound Mythology of Evil Dispelling and God Invitation The Chinese music classic The Book of Songs records the musical instruments of bell (see the chapters of Zhounan Songs: Guanju, Songs of Tang: Shanyoushu, Songs of Gufengzhishi: Guzhong; Songs of Gufengzhishi: Chuci, Songs of Putianzhishi: Bingzhichuyan, Songs of Yuzaozhishi: Baihua, Songs of Wengwangzhishi: Lingtai, Songs of Qingmiaozhishi: Zhijing, and Songs of Jiayuzhishi: Tonggong; the Yong bell (see Songs of Wengwangzhishi: Lingtai, Songs of Shang:Na); Zheng (see Songs of Jiayuzhisi: Caiqi); and small bell (See Songs of Chengongzhishi: Zaijian). According to the statistics of archaeological materials unearthed in recent years, the types of metal instruments discovered from archaeological discoveries from pre-history to the Han Dynasty are: 1) for the Shang Dynasty: bronze drums, bronze bells, Yong bell, Bo bell. 2) for Western Zhou: Bo bell, Yong bell, Duo bell, Zheng, Niu bell. 3) Eastern Zhou: Bo bell, Yong bell, Duo bell, Zheng, Niu bell, Goudiao, Chunyu, flat Yong bell. 4) for the Han Dynasty: Bronze drums, Bo bell, Yong bell, flat Yong bell, Duo bell, Zheng, Niu bell, Goudiao, Chunyu.10 It can be seen from the literature and unearthed artifacts that the musical instruments belonging to the “golden sound” in the ancient times are mainly composed of bells, small bells, and Bo bells, accompanied by metal instruments such as Duo bell and Zheng. According to Zhouli: Artificer’s Record, “The two sides of the bell are called Xian; the ends of the two Xian are called Yu; the part of the top on Yu is called Gu; the part above the Gu is called Zheng; the part of the top of the Zheng is called Wu. The handle above Wu is called Yong; the plane at the top of Yong is called Heng. The circular bell hanging in the lower part of Yong is called Xuan; the Xuanchong which runs through Xuan is called Gan. The bell belt is called Zhuan. The protruding stalactite between Zhuan is called Mei, and Mei is also called Jing. The slightly concave and shiny part above Yu is called Sui.”11 Judging from this paragraph, we know the “bell” can be an independent artifact, or it can be a “bell” of a large-scale musical instrument that is a combination of “Xian, Yu, Gu, Zheng and others”. Therefore, the sound of bells enjoyed a prominent position in the ancient audio symbolic system. 10 Fang

Jianjun: Discovery and Types of Ancient Chinese Ancient Musical Instruments, Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music. 11 Edited by Li Xueqin: Notes to Zhouli, Beijing University Press.

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Commentary on Han Shi Story and Shanghu Commentary state that an ancient emperor must first hit the bell and then play music on occasion of both going out and returning. According to Commentary on Han Shi Story, “In ancient times the king will have five bells on the left and five drums on the right. Before going out, Huangzhong music will be played, when the right five bells will vibrate accordingly. The horse hissing accords with the rhythm; the riders follow the decrees and rules; walking and turning accord with the rules. Then official Taishi plays the music of wagon initiation, proclaiming the departure. When coming in, Ruibin music will be played; the manners will be unified, and appearances will be serene. As Ruibin chimes, the horses hiss, and the domesticated animals will stretch their necks for listening. The people inside have jade colors, the people outside, golden sound. Then the official Shaoshi plays the music of hall assembly, meaning that all people will be seated. This is what we call the harmony of music, the response of the animals and the resonance between the bells.”12 Shangshu Contemporary says, “When the king is going out, the bell of Huangzhong music will chime, and the left five bells will resonate; when coming in, the bell of Ruibin music will chime, the right five bells will resonate. The official Taishi begins to conduct the music playing.”13 “Why did the ancient emperors repeatedly use the “golden sound” without feeling bored? What kind of cultural function does this “golden sound” have? Coincidentally, in the 28th chapter of The Bible: Exodus, on the robes thereof thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, round about the robes thereof; and bells of gold between them round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not. In other words, the priest’s clothes have golden bells, and when he walks in and out of the sanctuary, the golden bells will make harmonious sound, otherwise it may lead to death. This is similar to the religious function and cultural significance of the ancient Chinese imperial bells struck when the king enters and exits the palace gate. With regard to the cultural implication of “golden sound” on priest costumes, Fraser cited in Folklore in the Old Testament various cross-cultural materials from around the world for a comprehensive analysis. He argued: “People think that the harmonious jingle of the bell can drive away the sly and evil ghosts or spirits lurking at the gate of the temple. These spirits are preparing to attack and kill the glamorously dressed priest when he is crossing the threshold and performs his holy ritual…. You can scare away evil spirits and ghosts by the sound of metal, whether it is the harmonious jingle of a small bell, the low roar of the big bell, the squeaky bang of the cymbal, the buzzing of the bronze gong, or the noise generated by using a hoe or a wooden stick to strike a bronze or iron plate or simply the sound of copper and iron plates colliding with each other.”14 Lv Yahu wrote in Study on Witchcraft in the Literature of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Warring States Period that “drum” and “Duo bell” are artifacts that can make a loud noise. Therefore, 12 Xu

Weijun: Commentary on Han Shi Story, Zhonghua Book Company. Weijun: Commentary on Han Shi Story, Zhonghua Book Company. 14 [Britain] Fraser (author): Tong Yugang (translator), Folklore in the Old Testament, Fudan University Press. 13 Xu

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when using an aweing threat to dispel certain ghosts, these two objects can be used together to create a more powerful deterrent to accomplish the effect of intimidation and dispelling.15 In order to clarify and prove that “golden sound” has strong exorcism and cultural implication in the native traditional culture, we mainly use and examine the live cultural heritage through oral instructions to describe and demonstrate the scared aspects embodied in the “golden sound” under big tradition. In the shamanism, all kinds of collision sounds emitted by the metal instruments of the wizards have the functional meaning of dispelling evil ghosts and spirits. In the north of China, shamans of Manchu, Daur, and Xibo minorities all use waist bells. The earliest waist bells were made of stone and are now mostly made of iron. The bells are worn by shamans, and each shaman usually wears several to dozens of waist bells, each weighing some nearly 300 g. With the weights being three to forty pounds together, some people cannot afford enough strength to carry. According to legend, the waist bell is the thing that the god Abu Kahehe uses around his battle skirt. The tremors of their sound made the demon Yeluli afraid and dizzy, and finally was driven into the hell. The shaman’s waist bells hit, which means that the shaman rises into the natural universe, when the wind and thunder alternates, creating a journey that is far and wide. At the same time, people think that the waist bell ringing is not the manual shaking, but the dominance of God. It is the sound of vibration when God comes and goes.16 The Toli and the bronze bells of the Oroqen shaman are mainly sewn on the shaman’s costume. A shaman’s suit collected in the White Silver Oroqen Culture Station is sewed with 22 bronze bells… There are 6 bells in a row, and the bells are arranged in 3 rows on the left and right side of the dress, with a total of 36 brass bells in 6 rows.17 When the shaman dances, the brass bells collide with each other to make a sound. When the Bo’e shaman in inner Mongolian Kerqing minority has a dance, the old shaman wears 9–13 mirrors. The apprentice must wear at least 5 mirrors. These bronze mirrors are mostly of an odd number, and stringed around the waist in a sequence of small ones on the two ends and large ones in the middle. When they jump and dance, the mirrors jingle and tinkle, giving them an imposing manner to expel evil spirits.18 The metal implements used by the Naxi wizard Dongba mainly include plate bells, contact bells, and gongs. When Dongba is conducting an evil-removal ceremony, he will make full use of the sound of deterrent from these metal instruments. If someone is sick in the Naxi Mingyin area, Lijiang, it is necessary to carry out a ritual ceremony. The ritual procedure is first to scare the evil ghosts. After reading the “Scrapping the Ghosts” in the house, Dongba goes out to the altar and shakes the plate bell for three times. Then he reads “ Inviting Dongba”, “The Origin of the Altar”, “The Origin of Dongshen”, “The Origin of the Sacrifice” and other scriptures, facing the altar and making a request. After telling 15 Lv Yahu: Study on Witchcraft in the Literature of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Warring States Period, Ph.D. Thesis of Shaanxi Normal University. 16 Fu Yuguang, Meng Huiying: The Study of Manchu Shamanism, Peking University Press. 17 Liu Guiteng: The Elunchun Shaman Music, Yuefu New Voice. 18 Wu Bing’an: Mysterious Shaman World. Sanlian Bookstore Shanghai Branch.

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the origins of the weapons, Dongba waves the bell in one hand and waves a long knife in the other, dancing in front of the altar, indicating that God is killing ghosts. In the meantime, Dongba is doing the relevant verses, such as “ Destroying the Ghost Gate” and “Splitting the Ghost Tree”, which means that the ghosts have been thoroughly suppressed.19 Naxi Lijiang County Dadong District has a “Zi Waben” ceremony. When Dongba recites Animal Sacrifice scripture, the chicken placed on the branches of Artemisia scoparia and Rhododendron is sacrificed to gods. After that, Dongba shakes the bells, burns the incense, and sprays some stir-fried mustard around the incense, to dispel evil ghosts and sprites.20 In the Ludian Naxi minority area of Lijiang, when Sangpa is dispelling the ghost, he constantly shakes the iron ring with a handle. The iron ring is called sala, an onomatopoeic word, and it generates “sara, sala” to exorcise the ghost.21 In the Dai minority wedding ceremony, there is a ritual of “driving the Peng god.” According to the creation mythology of the Dai people in the Jiangyi Township of Yuanmou County, after the flood, the only couple called Qipu and Yueye was left alive in the world, and they gave birth to seven boys and nine girls. Among them, the two girls called Zhuwa and Moyo are not married. After death, they became evil spirits and ghosts to often haunt children of the couple’s descendants. Whenever someone else got married, they were both jealous and attempted for trouble-making. So each family holds a happy event, in bids to drive them away, a ritual called “driving the Peng god”. While driving away the Peng god, the shaman “Abi” holds 8–12 bells, a fragrant leaf, four joss sticks, a pine branch, and a wild bamboo section; shakes bells and recites scripture, in order to expel the Peng god.22 When a child of Tujia farm family gets sick, the Tu shaman will have a ceremony. His right hand holds an implement with a handle that has six brass bells and colored cloth strips. The implement is pressed on the legs, when the shaman is tiptoeing on the ground. The bells are swayed up and down. His left hand holds a small knife with a handle fitted with 6 small iron rings. The Tu shaman shakes the rings while reciting.23 There are also spells coming out of the wizard’s mouth, such as “Ghost Beheading Slogan”, which says, “Three sage kings, eight thousand gods; the deities of the Five Mountains, ten thousand guards. Please hold gold swords to cut off heads of ghosts and demons. With instruments on the heads, you just put the hammers to hit the ghosts and the lightening shovels on their necks. Catch the evils; smash the demons and all evil spirits. Five Heavenly Marshals lead the eight thousand soldiers to use electric lightening to shake the four quarters of the earth, turning demons into dust. The three sage kings supervise the killing, to find out all 19 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups (Naxi Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 20 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups (Naxi Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 21 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups (Naxi Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 22 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups (Lisu Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 23 Lv Daji, He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data of Chinese Ethnic Groups (Tujia Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press.

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unrighteous gods. The ghosts, big or small, are scared to lose their souls. Come to the altar and obey the rules; otherwise, they will become dust even after death.”24 In the script of the slogan of exorcism, the sharp “Golden Sword” and the ringing like “Blatant Thunder”, and the majestic “Holy Hammer” and the “Electric Shovel” come to make all kinds of demons extremely scared and they fled in panic. In the ritual of the Yi sorcerer expelling the rheumatism ghost, the Yi sorcerer recites the script and shakes the magic bell. When the ghost is finally smashed, the sorcerer sways the bamboo pole with one hand and shook the bell with the other, turning around at home, suggesting that he is chasing the ghost away.25 The Yi people’s Qu Shaoduo Scripture says, “Exorcism for all, for evil spirits, .The Bimo shaman shakes the ring to expel the evil spirits of four corners. Drive them to the stove altar, where there is a cat. The cat has sharp claws, and this is where you are doomed to perish.” “Shaoduo” means evil spirits. The Yi people think that when their relatives and friends come to their home to report funeral, they will bring filth and evil spirits. After the funeral is reported, they need to ask Bimo shaman to come to their home for reciting evil dispelling scripture. In addition, the wizards of various minorities also use “golden sound” to attract the attention of the gods, which has the effect of asking God to descend. For example, when the Buddhist monk of the Dulong ethnic group, “Nanmu Shaman”, holds a religious activity every time, he must first ring the bell or strike the drum, to inform his “Nanmu” to descend.26 The Tujia people also used the sound of drumsticks to attract the gods. According to Hefeng Regional Records of the Qing Dynasty, “The people and the products thrive where god exists. Each household expects to embrace the coming of god. At the end of the ritual, the family prepares the sweet wine and sacrifices the sheep and pig, a practice called ‘enlightening the god’. Otherwise, some misfortune will fall. In the ritual, with the drumming and chiming, people will sing Miao songs and dance vigorously, as if in a play. When a god descends, he must present himself in a man’s body and speak. The man with the god’s soul will jump, and bite the bowl like the sweet cake; he walks on the heated iron plate and touches the hot oil in the tripod, but shows no signs of pain. This tradition remains the same today.”27 When the Zhuang sorcerer asks for gods to descend, he usually holds a copper chain with bells in his left hand and a fan in the right. The rhythm of the chain bells is to mimic the rhythm of the horse running. During the ritual, the sorcerer sings a witchery song to invite the gods to come. After he finishes singing

24 Lv Daji, He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data of Chinese Ethnic Groups (Tujia Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 25 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): “Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups” (Yi People’s Shrine Volume), China Social Sciences Press, 26 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): “Integration of Primitive Religious Data among Chinese Ethnic Groups” (Duolong Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 27 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): “Integration of Primitive Religious Data of Chinese Ethnic Groups” (Tujia Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press.

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Fig. 1 Chime-bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State

a piece of the song, he stops ringing the bells and puts away the fan, signifying that the god has descended to his body.28 The Japanese scholar Iai Makoto made a special study on the “bells” in the Book of Songs, arguing that “bell” was originally used as a kind of instrument in the songs of the ancestral temple, and later became a common object in other sacred rituals or sacrifices. The ancestral spirits and gods of the Heaven can be requested to descend to the ground through the tone.29 The German scholar Biederman also outlined to us the religious meaning of the “golden sound” around the world to drive away the evil spirits. He believed that in many cultures of the old world, the bell is more than a musical instrument; religiously, it is used by people to gather call in believers and ghosts and gods, so that the bell becomes a symbol in the sacrificial ritual. In East Asia, people use metal bars to ring the bell outdoors. There are many legends about the bell in ancient China… In many legends, the bells drive away supernatural things like gnomes, or prevent the devil from taking the souls of the people it wants; the bells can also repel the storm (meaning to defeat the witch who made the storm). In the Exorcism and Anathema (from Shakespeare’s “The King of John”, Act III, Scene 3), the bell also played a role. Goethe’s folk song “The Wandering Bell” and Schiller’s “The Big Bell” all implicate the importance of the bell in symbolism and superstition. The bell hanging over the T-shaped cross is the symbol of the Egyptian hermit Anthony, with its role being to expel the ghosts who want to seduce him.30 We can also use the unearthed objects and related images to illustrate the mythological symbolic meaning of “golden sound”. For example, in Chime-bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State (Fig. 1), the pillars are shaped like the holding hands of the wizards, which represent a kind of pleading with the gods. On the left side of a mandarin duck-shaped box in the Tomb of Marquis Yi is a drawing of “drum beating”,and the right side a drawing of “striking the bell” (Fig. 2). The statues of 28 Lv Daji and He Yaohua (editor): Integration of Primitive Religious Data of Chinese Ethnic Groups

(Zhuang Minority Vol.), China Social Sciences Press. 29 [Japan] Iai Makoto (author)„ Lu Yue (translator): “Original Intention Research on The Book of Songs”, Jiangsu People’s Publishing House. 30 [German] Biederman (author), Liu Yuhong, et al (translators),:“World Cultural Symbol Dictionary”, Lijiang Publishing House.

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Fig. 2 The bell striking on the lacquer box of the Tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State

Fig. 3 The bell-striking figure on the bronze Dou cast of the Warring States Period

the two birds (beasts) are shaped like a column. There are two layers of beams: the lower beam provides the support for the two facing birds (beak-to-beak), with two bells hanging around; the lower beam is placed on the birds’ foot, with two chimes hanging around. There is a bird-like musician next to it, holding a bell stick to hit the bell. The part beneath the bell is shaped like a hammer with some curvature, which looks elastic.31 The support bell and the strike bell with holy birds (beasts) show the mythological imagination of the “golden sound” of the Chinese residents, perfectly express the imaginative resonance of the “Holy Bell” with the “Holy Drum” and reflect the fact that the drum and bell music symbol is an imaginary symbol that communicates with the world of the gods in ancient times. The bell-figure pattern on the bronze Dou cast of the Warring States Period (Fig. 3 also truly reproduces the sound symbol of the bell and drum t with the world of ghosts and gods. The picture of the stone figure striking the drum in the Eastern Han Dynasty tomb, Beizhai Village of Yinan County, Shandong Province (Fig. 4) and the Tomb of Marquis Yi’s lacquer box shows the very similar drum striking drawing; both are in the ancient tomb, expressing the same mythological belief. The above-mentioned living cultural relics and the pictures of related artifacts throughout China give us a clearer understanding of the original cultural functions of the belief of exorcism or holy invitation via “golden sound”. We are convinced 31 Hubei Provincial Museum (compiler): “The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng”, Cultural Relics Publishing House.

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Fig. 4 The stone figure striking the bell in the Eastern Han Dynasty tomb Beizhai Village of Yinan, Shandong Province

that such belief in ancient times was an extremely common cultural phenomenon. If you re-think of the popular concept of the Five Elements since the Warring State and the legends of “the west belongs to iron element” and “governing punishment and killing”, the Chinese mythology of “golden sound” is enriched. However, Fraser reminded us: “In the original etiquette, the appeal of these instruments is generally not as good as their expulsion. The purpose of using a bell or a small bell is mainly its attraction, not the expulsion, which may belong to the higher stage of religious consciousness.”32 We believe that the “golden sound” exorcism is to cleanse the environment around itself, so that the gods are descending. Therefore, the exorcism is also consistent with the practice of attracting attention of the gods.

3 The Symbolic Representations of Jade Vibration Mythology History is not consistent in a sense. Compared to “golden sound” mythology, “jade vibration” mythology is even less known. With the development of archaeology, physiology, religious anthropology, and comparative mythology, the academic community has gradually realized that there is a period of transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age in the world’s major prehistoric civilizations—the jade era. Mr. Ye Shuxian particularly emphasized that before the emergence of Confucianism and Taoism, the Chinese civilization had a deep and unique prehistoric belief in jade, the jade religion. This jade religion can be traced back to the era of Xinglongwa culture jade artifacts of 8,000 years ago. After that, China experienced the development of Hongshan culture, Xiaoheyan culture, Longshan culture, Erlitou culture, and the absorption of the elements of jade rituals of southern Liangzhu culture, Shijiahe culture, and western Qijia culture. Then the ritual and music system of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties had evolved, and finally differentiated into the Confucian gentleman’s ideal of “comparing virtue to jade” and the Taoist belief of “eating jade 32 [UK] Fraser, Translated by Tong Weigang: Folklore in the Old Testament, Fudan University Press.

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for eternal life”. This jade mythology tradition is the big tradition before the emergence of the small tradition of the literary narrative. It is considered as the common source of Confucianism and Taoism.33 Among the many cultures in prehistoric times, Hongshan culture, Liangzhu culture, and Qijia culture all feature the jade culture tradition of “only jade for funeral”. Here, in order to enable everyone to have a more specific understanding of jade ritual symbol system characterized by “the wizards pleasing gods by jade” (Shuowen), we first enumerate some textual examples here for illustration. The oracle bone inscriptions give a detailed description of the concept of “only jade capable of communicating with gods”. Gengzi hexagram! Pray for fortune, and take jade from the box. (The Collection 4720) Wuxu hexagram! Pray for fortune: As the king is back, play the jade music for the victory. (The Collection 6016) Jiachen hexagram! Pray for fortune: I play the jade music Huangyiruo. Tell: I play the jade music Huangyifuruo. (The Collection 10171) The tripod is served with three jade pieces and dog and sheep (The Collection 30997) Jimao Hexagram! The jade drum is placed…(Tun 441) Shang kings “took jade”, “played jade music”, and “sacrificed jade” to the gods and ancestors, indicating that in the eyes of Shang kings, “jade” has the significance of serving as the sacred medium of communicating with and pleasing gods. Yueshu Book says, “Jade is also the holy object”34 , which vividly reveals the concept of “jade” being hierophany in the hearts of the ancient inhabitants, “Jade” is the medium for the communication between gods and men. It can also be seen that the “ritual jade” and “sacrificial jade” system of the Shang Dynasty is the continuation and development of the prehistoric jade religion. Xia Xin said in Xueliguanshi: Interpretation of Ritual Jade and Sacrificial Jade, “the jade types used in the ancient worship of the Heaven and the Earth include ritual jade and sacrificial jade. Ritual jade is placed on the holy seat, and sacrificial jade held in the hands. Shangshu: Jinteng says, the so-called Duke Zhou is the official holding jade Bi and Gui”. The concept of “pleasing the Heaven with blue jade and the Earth with yellow jade” as mentioned in Zhouli: Chuguan: Dazongbo is also the concrete manifestation of this prehistoric mythological belief in the sacrificial rituals of future generations. The ritual of rewarding gods in the Plate 33 Refer to Ye Shuxian’s series of papers on jade religion: “Jade Eating Belief and the Construction of Western Mythology”, Seeking Roots, 2008, 4; Ye Shuxian: “The Narrative of Jade,:Anthropological Interpretation of the History of Mythology in the Xia Dynasty”, Journal of Chinese Social Sciences, B10 Edition, July 1st 2009; Ye Shuxian: “The Mythical Roots of Jade Religion and Confucianism and Taoism”, National Art, No. 3, 2010; Ye Shuxian: “A New Examination of the Mythological Prototype of Chinese Sages--On Jade Religion as a National Education”, Journal of Wuhan University (Humanities Science Edition), No. 3, 2010; Ye Shuxian, “The Mythological Concept of Nvwa Patching up the Sky and Jade as the Sky”, National Art, No. 1, 2011; Ye Shuxian: International Perspective and Civilization of the Jade Age ; only the Chinese people love jade, National Art, No. 2, 2011. 34 Li Bujia: Notes to Yueshu Book, Wuhan University Press, 1992, p. 267.

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Carving of King Yin of Qin using Jade Burial to Praying Recovery from Diseases and the witchcraft of King Huiwen of Qin using “Jade Bi (Xuan)” to cursing King Huai of Chu who had “multiple sins” can be regarded as the literal evidence of “jade” as a sacred artifact. Of course, the discovery of the prehistoric jade religion big tradition provides us with a new horizon and a new way to explore the sound symbol narrative of “jade vibration”. We believe that “jade vibration” is the concrete manifestation of jade mythology in terms of ritual and music, and it is the mythological symbol at the mercy of the concept of holy jade. According to Shangshu: Yiji, Minqiu (sounding stone) is a kind of ritual jade object. The musician Kui said, “When the sounding stone is tapped or struck with force, and the stringed instruments are strongly swept or gently touched, to accompany the singing, the progenitors (of the Emperor) come (to the service), the guest of Yubin is in his place, and all the princes show their virtue in giving place to one another. (In the court) below (the hall) there are the flutes and hand -drums, which join in at the sound of the rattle, and cease at that of the stopper, when the organ and bells take their place. (This makes) birds and beasts fall moving. When the nine parts of the service, as arranged by the Emperor, have all been performed, the male and female phoenix come with their measured gambolling (into the court).” Commentary by Kong Anguo says, “Tap the sounding stone, cease at that of the stopper. Bofu instrument is made of leather containing the grain shells, for the stopper of a music piece. The stone is the jade bell (inverted). It is the music instrument played in King Shun’s imperial court, which people like to use in ceremony and the gods enjoy in sacrifices. Therefore, the progenitors (of the Emperor) come (to the service).” According to Kong Yinda’s Righteousness, “Strike the Yu and Zhu bells, to produce the chiming of sounding stone.”35 Zheng Xuan said in The Notes: The sounding stone is a kind of jade bell. The bell is hanging to accord with the music in the hall as a token of respect.36 Later scholars considered the sounding stone as jade bell. However, judging from the shape and dimension of the jade bell unearthed, this is not consistent with the facts. Shuowen says, “The stone emits the sound of jade.” These records point out that “sounding stone” is a kind of “jade sound” instrument. Jiangzhai Phase II, Miaodigou Type, Majiayao Type, Machang Type and Qijia Culture, Daxi Culture, Qujialing Culture and Qinglongquan Phase III Culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Xuejiagang Culture and Majiabang Culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and other sites saw the unearthing of a kind of ceramic-sounding musical instrument that is spherical, bell-shaped, and box-shaped. It is hollow and contains small stones, sand grains, or ceramic balls. Archaeologists refer to the spherical and ellipsoidal rattle instruments as “sounding ball”, “ceramic ball”, and “hollow ball”. The bell-shaped rattle is called “ ceramic bell” and “ ceramic jingling bell”. In the ancient times, the concept of jade was rather vague. This kind of “sounding ball” containing some small stones is called “Jade Ball”. In connection with the music scene depicted by the musician “Kui”, we can 35 Li

Xueqin (editor): Shangshu Commentary, Peking University Press. Xuan: Wang Yinglin, Kong Guanglin, “Zheng’s Commentary on Shangshu”, series integration. 36 Zheng

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deduce that “the sounding stone” is the “jade vibration” artifact that has been deified in religious rituals. A horse hoof-like jade piece (shown in Fig. 5) was unearthed in the tomb of Hongshan culture. It is very similar to the oblique mouth shape of the 07M23 tomb of the Lingjiatan site in Anhui, but the latter also bear the oblique mouthpiece with jade stick (see Fig. 6). Mr. Ye Shuxian for the first time linked the jade horse hoof in the Hongshan Culture tomb to the oblique mouthpiece with jade stick found in the Lingjiatan site. With reference to the important instrument bronze bells used by the wizard when the god is descending, Ye thought these jade pieces Fig. 5 Hongshan Culture horse hoof-shaped jade

Fig. 6 The oblique mouthpiece with jade stick in the 07M23 tomb of the Lingjiatan Site in Anhui Province

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should be “sounding instruments”, in which the jade stick can make a wonderful “jade sound”.37 In ancient musical and ritual instruments, the most representative jade article is Qing bell (磬). In oracle bone inscriptions, Qing is written as (Qian 4105) or (He 758), and from the pictograph, it seems that people use a hand-held mallet to hit the hanging stone. According to Shuowen, “Qing is a musical stone.” In terms of the ancient sounds, the words “Qing” and “Sheng (聲)” are of the same pronunciation, and the words “Sheng” and “Sage (聖)” are often interchangeable in the unearthed and handed-down documents. As a result, “Qing”, “Sound”, and “Sage” are the phonetic loan characters. We believe that “Qing” and “Sound” are of the sanctified system of auditory symbols, which represent the mythological imagination of “Sheng”. Judging from the archaeologically unearthed artifacts, we find that the earliest unearthed Qing bell was the Te bell excavated in the early days of the Longshan Cultural Relics of Taosi, Xiangfeng County in Shanxi (the special Qing bell unearthed from the tomb about 4,500 years ago), and the Tuo drums were also unearthed in the tomb. The archaeologist Su Bingqi believes that the bell is attached to the Tuo drum, and they can harmonize with each other when being played. The Te bell can’t be regarded as a general instrument, for it is a high-level musical instrument placed in the imperial temple, a solemn ritual instrument.38 It can be seen that as early as in the Taosi period, the Tuo drum and Te bell already formed a relatively complete instrumental combination for the sacred ritual system. In the late Longshan culture (4,000 years ago), Erlitou culture (from 4,000 to 3,500 years ago), Qijia culture (from 4,200 to 3,700 years ago), Xiajiadian Lower Culture (from 4,000 to 3,500 years ago), and other sites, a number of Te bells were also unearthed. Since the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Bianqing bell started to emerge, such as that found in the second phase of Yinxu Culture in Anyang. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the number of excavated Bianqing bells increased. For instance, the Western Zhou Bianqing bells were all unearthed in Zhangjiapo Jingshu Tomb of Chang’ an in 1984, the Shi State Tomb of Shangguan Village, Jiacunyuan Baoji in 1969, Residential Sites of the late Western Zhou Dynasty of Zhaochen Yi Section, Fufeng County in Baoji in 1980. A large number of Bianqing bells were also unearthed of the middle and late Eastern Zhou Dynasty, such as the Duke Qin Bianqing bells unearthed from the No. 1 Tomb of Nanzhihui Village of Fengxiang in Shaanxi Province; the bells of the late Warring States Period from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty Tom Jincun Village in Luoyang, the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Suixian County, the Spring and Autumn Tomb of Shucheng Jiulidun, Jiangling Tianxingguan No.1 Warring States Tomb of Chu near Jiangling Jinan City; the Bianqing bells from the M13 Shangma Village Site, Houman of Shanxi Province; and the Bianqing bells of the early and middle Warring States Period from the Houchuan M2040 Site, Shanxia County, Henan Province. 37 Ye

Shuxian’s: “New Studies of Chinese Mythological Archetypes of Sages—On Jade Religion as a National Education”, Journal of Wuhan University. 38 Gao Wei, Zhang Yihai: The Paralyzed Drums and Drums of the Caohe River - Su Bingqi’s Exposition on the Archaeological Discovery of the Taosi Site”; Xie Xigong (editor), “Research on the Archaeology of the Taoshi Site”, Science Press.

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The Qing bell pieces unearthed after the Yin and Shang Dynasties are often carved with various animal images, such as the tiger-shaped Te bells unearthed from No. 1 Yinxu Tomb in the Wuguan Village (see Fig. 7), the dragon-pattern Te bells unearthed from the Yin Dynasty Palace Building Site in the south bank of Huan River, Yinxu Xiaotun Village (see Fig. 8), the owl-pattern Te bells in Fuhao Tomb (see Fig. 9), and the Bianqing bells of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty near Jinan City of Jiangling (see Fig. 10). These combinations of sanctified artifacts and deified images (dragons, tigers, and owls) have the function of visual and auditory sensation, which highlights the mythological concept of using the divine Qing bells as the ceremonial ritual and instrument. Ye Shuxian also believed that birds and beasts are the messengers of the Fig. 7 The tiger-shaped Te bells unearthed from No. 1 Yinxu Tomb in Wuguan Village

Fig. 8 The dragon-pattern Te bells unearthed from the Yin Dynasty Palace Building Site in the south bank of Huan River, Yinxu Xiaotun Village

Fig. 9 The owl-pattern Te bells in Fuhao Tomb

Fig. 10 The Bianqing bells of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (unearthed near Jinan City of Jiangling)

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Fig. 11 The rubbing of the Bianqing bells found in Zhaochen Yi Section of Fufeng

Fig. 12 The Bianqing bells in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng

gods or supernatural symbols. The artificially shaped images were very common in the rituals from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. These sacred birds and animals are visually linked to gods and spirits. If these image symbols are combined with the symbols of the instruments that emit sound, the intensively expressed concept of communicating with the world of gods and ghosts becomes more apparent.39 The Bianqing bells found in Zhaochen Yi Section of Fufeng depict the psychic image of the gods and witches (see Fig. 11), a vivid description of the original link between the Qing bell mythology and the shaman-witchcraft concept. In addition, the physical Bianqing bells unearthed in the tomb of Marqui Yi of Zeng in Sui County, Hubei Province are based on the double-beast (bird) columns (see Fig. 12). The double beasts (birds) spread their wings, a vivid demonstration of the communication between the gods and the music symbols of the Qing bells. At the same time, the Chime (Bianzhong) bells were also found in this tomb (see Fig. 1). The physical display of the Bianqing and Chime bells perfectly explains the mythological connotations of “golden sound and jade vibration” in the ancient ritual system. We can also feel the mythological imagination of the Qing bell sound from the paintings of the stone relief in the Han tomb. Examples include the picture of striking the Qing bell-string picture of the stone carvings in the Eastern Han tomb in Beizhai Village of Yinan County, Shandong, (see Fig. 13). In this tomb, there are drawings such as “the witch flying sword and over the circle”, “the drum beating music”, “the drumming 39 Ye Shuxian: The general interpretation of the myth of “Rongchengshi” Xia Yu building the drums: Discussion of the five points on the “Four-Evidence Law” of the Knowledge Archaeology Paradigm, National Art.

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Fig. 13 The Qing bell-striking picture of the stone carvings in the Eastern Han tomb in Beizhai Village of Yinan, Shandong

Fig. 14 The war drumming painting of the stone carvings in the Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in Yinanbei Village, Shandong

of war” (see Fig. 14), “the bell striking (see Fig. 4)”. These mythological images come together to outline the perfect imagination of a shaman communicating with the gods. The ritualized music and dance activities of the early people are the means to improve the supernormal state of the spirit. The shaman’s experience with the god descending and the wizard’s psychic feelings of the spirits are inseparable from the various sound rhythms played out by drums, bells, and Qing bells. The Tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Beizhai Villlage of Yinan, Shandong fully demonstrates the religious needs of the ancient Chinese ancestors for communicating with the gods. Furthermore, the wizards could use the various musical symbols to enter the realm of psychic fantasy. Other similar drawings include the Qing bell-striking picture of the stone carvings in Wenshang Sunjia Village in Shandong (see Fig. 15), and the Qing bell-striking picture of the stone carvings in Jiaxiang Wu’s Shrine, Shandong (see Fig. 16). Next we refer to the relevant writing materials to further enrich the sacred ritual nature of the ritual music and the function of the psychic fantasy. There is a record in the oracle bone inscriptions about the king who used the jade chiming sound to achieve the state of communicating with gods. Tell the kingly chiming… February. (The Collection 8613) Play Wang Zhi Qing bells. So it is. (The Collection 13507) The scholar Zang Kehe believed that the word “Zhi” is “virtue”. Jade Chapter says:

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Fig. 15 The Qing bell-striking picture of the stone carvings in Sunjia Village of Wenshang County, Shandong

Fig. 16 The Qing bell-striking picture of the stone carvings in Jiaxiang Wu’s Shrine, Shandong

Zhi means the practice, which can be understood as the righteous way. In connection with the specific behavioral context in oracle bone inscriptions,40 Ye Shuxian thought that “so it is” is the “state at which the god descends to the body”41 during the ritual. The Oracle Collection 13507 can be understood as such: King of Shang used the beautiful music of jade to achieve the state of psychic fantasy. In this process, the visual symbols of the sacred jade bells and the sacred auditory symbols of the jade sound are of great significance to the realization of the behavior of King of Shang. The Shisai Guiming Script of the era of King Li of Zhou records Bohe paying homage to the gods: “ Strikes the bell once and the Qing bell five times.” King of Zhou gave the subordinates the combination of the metallic “bell” and the jade “Qing” bell, which also confirms the sacred symbol system and functional significance of the Chinese ritual system in the science of sound genesis. In the Book of Songs, there often appears the description of the combination of drums and jade bells, which also provides evidence of the Chinese religious ritual system of “golden sound and jade vibration”. Guzhong (the bells) says, “There go the bells that ring alone. Then zithers and organs sweet in tone, mixed with flutes and sounding-stone.” Zhijing (inspection) says, “The bells and drums resound, with stones and flutes ringing round. Rich blessings come on earth; free blessings come on earth.” Yougu (blind musicians) says, “Blind musicians, a sightless hand. There in the 40 Zang 41 Ye

Kehe: Chinese Writing and Confucianism, Guangxi Education Press. Shuxian: Anthropology of Literature, China Social Sciences Press.

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court of Zhou do stand. The music-stands have been arrayed, with hooks and plumes displayed. There are drums large and small, plus hand-drums and chimes in the hall. Na (admiration) says, “How admirable! How magnificent! We’ve set up drums and tambourines. The drums resound so eloquent, to please our former kings and queens. Tang’s scion has come around. With pleasant tunes to pay salute. The drums and tambourines resound with shrill notes of the flute. The music sounds harmonious and fine, to the rhythm of the sounding chime. Ah, renowned Tang’s scion, the music is so sublime. The sounds of bells and drums rise high. The grand performance is on display. Here my worthy guests stand by. All of them are happy and gay. In days gone by, the ways of the rite were already fixed by former men, mild and pious day and night. They held the service time and again. May our ancestors heed the offering Tang’s scions prepare and bring.” For example, the phrases like “bestow much bliss upon us” and “honor and please our ancestral fathers” all indicate the religious ritual nature of poetry and music. The wonderful combination of sacred instruments or ritual items such as bells, drums, sheng and Qing bells truly reproduces the spiritual realm of the king communicating with the gods. These instruments play the role in sanctifying symbols. According to Zuozhuan Commentary, in the 9th year under King Xiang’s reign (564 BC), King Xiang was back from the banquet on the Jinhou River. With guards on the two sides, he was given a capping ceremony in the temple of Chenggong, and used the bells as a ritual. Although this is an adult etiquette, the instruments of bells and Qing bells played an extremely important sacred role in the religious ceremonies held in the “Chenggong Temple”. This also explains the sacred combination of “golden sound and jade vibration” and its function of the divine symbolization. We believe that only by relying on jade as the sacred big tradition can we truly understand the profound jade pendant complex of the Chinese ancestors. Ye Shuxian believed that a sage not only communicates with the gods through jade sound and has the same natural qualities as jade, he can also use jade as a medium to communicate with the Heaven and the Earth.42 The jade of the ancients and the harmonizing sounds it emitted reflect the harmonious relationship between men and gods. In The Book of Rites: Pingyi, Confucius detailed the perfect quality of holy jade, highlighting its sacred symbol function. The Pingyi chapter says: Anciently superior men found the likeness of all excellent qualities in jade. Soft, smooth, and glossy, it appeared to them like benevolence; fine, compact, and strong—like intelligence; angular, but not sharp and cutting—like righteousness; hanging down (in beads) as if it would fall to the ground—like (the humility of) propriety; when struck, yielding a note, clear and prolonged, yet terminating abruptly—like music; its flaws not concealing its beauty, nor its beauty concealing its flaws—like loyalty; with an internal radiance issuing from it on every side—like good faith; bright as a brilliant rainbow—like heaven; exquisite and mysterious, appearing in the hills and streams—like the earth; standing out conspicuous in the symbols of rank—like virtue; esteemed by all under the sky— like the path of truth and duty. According to the Book of Songs, “he rises in my mind,

42 Ye

Shuxian: Study on the Prototype of Chinese Saint Mythology, Journal of Wuhan University.

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lovely and bland, like jade of richest kind.”43 Confucian scholars believe that always wearing the jade ware represents “the constant virtue”. Kong Yingda made a note to The Book of Rites: Quli, saying that a gentleman always keeps his jade pendant around himself. “Jade is used as a pendant around oneself. The gentleman compares virtues to jade, and that’s why he always wears the jade pendant. The jade on oneself means the constant virtues. Moreover, jade is a good ornament for wearing.”44 The ancient gentlemen also paid special attention to “Jade Sound”.45 The Book of Rites: Yuzao says: “When he was dressed he practiced deportment and listened to the sounds of the gems (at his girdle pendant). In ancient times, when the gentleman stayed at home, he learned etiquette. When he walked out, he wore giggling jade pendants”46 The Book of Songs and Chuci contain a lot of descriptions of gentlemen’s “jade pendant” and “jade vibration”. For example, Hymn to the Sovereign of the East says “Lucky is the hour, and auspicious th’ day. Now homage to th’ Sovereign of th’ East we pay. We lay hold of our swords, which are inlaid. With jadeite, clanking the pendants of jade. Fix’d with opal weights is th’ cushion divine.” Song to Fate the Great says, “My attire is fluttering in th’ haze; My pendants are shedding splendid rays. Where Fragrance and Flagrancy mingle, I find that my inner beauty still in its integrity.” The Voyage says, “For a perfect entity my Moon Pearls glow, and jadeite pendants are pleasant to the eye.” These textual narratives all show that jade pendant and “Jade Sound” are inseparable from the big tradition of sacred jade, and they serve as a metaphor for the mythological imaginations of the sacred rituals and implements of the Chinese ancestors. In today’s de-sanctified or secular era, we can only rebuild the supernatural deity symbol function of “jade vibration” by relying on the ancient Chinese concept of holy jade.

4 The Psychic Realm of the Sage Communicating with Gods According to “golden sound and jade vibration”, the general scholars understand the phrase “having great accomplishments” this way: vocalize with the bell, end with the rhyme with Qing bell, and accomplish the greatness of the different sounds. They may use it as a metaphor for someone’s ability and virtue, or for someone’s wide learning and superb insight. Liu Xinfang interpreted the phrase from the perspective of epistemology, saying: “When learning the external things, a man constantly has their beauty and kindness upon his heart, which build up and become virtue. The more virtues he accumulates, the more brightly he sees, the better he sees. He shows the texture of jade at the virtuous people, because he has achieved the realm of kindness 43 Li

Xueqin (Editor): The Right Notes to The Book of Rites, Peking University Press. Xueqin (Editor): The Right Notes to The Book of Rites, Peking University Press. 45 Li Xueqin (Editor): The Right Notes to The Book of Rites, Peking University Press. 46 Wang Pinzhen, Wang Wenjin (reviser): Dadai’s Commentary on the Book of Rites, Zhonghua Book Company. 44 Li

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by bright eyes. He resonates with the jade vibration at the golden sound, because he has achieved the realm of sageness by good hearing. According to The Five Elements, kindness is humane and sageness heavenly. It is therefore known that golden sound and jade vibration is the highest level of understanding, a state at which a man can communicate with the Heavenly Way. A man at such state can apply benevolence in the four quarters and conduct righteousness in the world. This is what we call ‘having great accomplishments’.” According to Shuowen Jiezi (Literal Interpretations to Words), “The word sage means communication.” We have to ask what the sage communicates. How to communicate? Ying Shao said in General Custom, “A sage is good at hearing. He knows the situation by hearing.” The Five Elements chapter found in Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips and Mawangdui Tomb provides thorough explanations to the word “sageness”. Here are a few of them: Those who have seen and then know are sage; those who have personally observed it are the wise men. The brightness means intelligence, and the grandeur means sageness. The brightness is inferior and the grandeur superior, which is what we used to say. Hearing the Way of a gentleman is what we call brightness. Hearing and knowing the Way, you will become a sage. The sage knows and follows the Heavenly Way. Knowing and practicing it, you will become a sage. The good hearer is a man with sageness hidden in his ears. The good seer is a man with intelligence hidden in his eyes. The good hearing is the initial stage of sagely way. Hear the way of gentleman, and you will have good hearing. Like hearing, if you argue over the gentleman’s way, you will find the way is the sageness hidden in the ears. Hearing and knowing it, you become sagely. Hear and know the Heavenly Way, you will become a sage. The sage knows the Heavenly Way. A gentleman has great accomplishments. The accomplisher seems to have made it and to have it at hands. The great accomplisher is considered to have golden sound and jade vibration. Only the man with golden sound and then jade vibration can have the quality of benevolence, and impose such benevolence on others; have the quality of righteousness, and treat others righteously. The great accomplisher has the sagely ears.47 Summarize the meaning of the “sage” of these items: (1) The sage communicates with the Heaven; (2) the sage has the divine ear that overshadows the ordinary people, that is, to have extraordinary hearing ability; (3) the sage’s hearing is better than his vision. In connection with the mythological interpretation to “golden sound and jade vibration” above, we can link the “sage” communicating with the Heavenly Way to the psychic madness which the ancient shaman had when having a dancing ceremony. In doing this, we can find the genetic pattern of the Chinese ritual music system regarding “the sage to have great accomplishments.” The “sage” is able to successfully expel demons in various religious ceremonies by virtue of divine artifacts, such as bells, drums, jade, or sacred devices, and gain the approval of 47 The Ancient Literature Research Office of The National Cultural Relics Bureau: The Brocade Book of Mawangdui Han Tomb, Cultural Relics Publishing House.

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the gods, and accomplish the ritual effect of communicating with the gods and the ancestors as a religious leader. “Gold sound” is the product of the sacred “metal” worship in the Bronze Era, and “jade vibration” is the product of the “holy jade” belief in the Jade Era. From the Jade Era to the Bronze Era, the wonderful combination of “golden sound and jade vibration” shows the fusion of old and new cultures, and also reflects the roots and development paths of Chinese ritual culture. The “golden sound and jade vibration” is a symbolic system in the ritual music system, and its cultural prototypes can be traced back to the sacred material beliefs of “metals and jade” and the ritual activities of prehistoric religions. “Holy bells” and “holy jade” were originally the sacred props used by the “sage” to communicate with gods, but eventually became the most popular secular instruments in the Chinese ritual system. After the secularized entertainment function of “golden sound and jade vibration” had been revealed, its sacred symbolic representation of “sage” had gradually been forgotten. Nowadays, in order to carry out the exploration activities of ancient Chinese civilization, we must break away from the shackles of the small tradition of the characters, consider the big tradition of the sacred context, and make full use of all kinds of unearthed physical materials and related images. In that case, we are able to truly find and reproduce the sacred belief and functional significance of materialistic and cultural symbols.

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