Igor A. Alimov MATERIALS FOR THE HISTORY OF CHINESE TRADITIONAL PROSE. SELECTED ARTICLES

Transcription

1 Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) Russian Academy of Sciences Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental MSS Research Igor A. Alimov MATERIALS FOR THE HISTORY OF CHINESE TRADITIONAL PROSE. SELECTED ARTICLES Saint-Petersburg 2015

2 Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) Russian Academy of Sciences Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental MSS Research Igor A. Alimov Materials for the history of Chinese traditional prose. Selected articles Saint-Petersburg, 2015 This book is a collection of articles over the years. The articles focus on the Chinese written monuments of the 1 st 13 th centuries, including such important and little-studied phenomenon in the Chinese tradition as author collections named biji ( 筆記 ). Biji represents a kind of notebooks made by Chinese and varied greatly in scopes and topics. A number of other articles are devoted to the traditional prose named xiaoshuo ( 小說 ), collections of which were widespread in China since the 4 th century and enjoyed great popularity. Typically, xiaoshuo are amazing records of wonder cases, descriptions of supernatural, magical events or household sketches, witty dialogues, events that are associated with famous people of the time. ISBN Igor A. Alimov, 2015

3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Song Biji Authorial Collections: Preliminary Observations (1999) 2. Song Biji Authorial Collections: Lofty Judgments by the Palace Gates by Liu Fu (2000) 3. The Work by Zhou Cheng: Research on the Eastern Song Capital : Information on Temples and Joss-Houses (2006) 4. More on Sun Guang-xian and His Work Bei meng suo yan (2006) 5. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls (2009) 6. Song Qi and The Notes of Mr. Song Jing-wen (2009) 7. Scientific and Technical Thought of Old China in Meng xi bi tan (2010) 8. The 13th Century Southern China in Ping zhou ke tan (2010) 9. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose: Fifteen Collections from The History of the Han Dynasty (2011) 10. Records of the Delights About the Eastern Capital : Information About the Inner City (2011) 11. Concerning Records of Searching for Spirits of Gan Bao (2012) 12. Good Reviews: Three Early Collections of Buddhist Stories (2013) 13. A Travel to the Cave of Immortals A Lost Novel of the Tang Period (2015)

4 Introduction This book is a collection of articles over the years. The articles focus on the Chinese written monuments of the 1 st 13 th centuries, including such important and littlestudied phenomenon in the Chinese tradition as author collections named biji ( 筆記 ). The emergence and development of such collections belong to the Tang period and the Song Empire was marked by the flourishing of the genre the distinct feature of which is an author's complete freedom in terms of both form and content. Biji represents a kind of notebooks made by Chinese and varied greatly in scopes and topics. Now, these monuments are invaluable and unique source of information on various aspects of material and spiritual culture of traditional China. A number of other articles are devoted to the traditional prose named xiaoshuo ( 小說 ), collections of which were widespread in China since the 4 th century and enjoyed great popularity. Typically, xiaoshuo are amazing records of wonder cases, descriptions of supernatural, magical events or household sketches, witty dialogues, events that are associated with famous people of the time. Xiaoshuo is generally recognized to be significant source that can shed light on different aspects of the cultural life in traditional China, first of all ideas of supernatural and extraordinary, the souls of the dead, magic animals, etc. Unfortunately, nowadays biji and xiaoshuo of this period are studied very little in Europe, and the book is intended to close some gaps in this field of knowledge.

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21 ORIENTAL PANTHEON Hundreds and thousands of texts, and thousands of miniatures, are dedicated to gods who have been prayed to in the East since time immemorial. The journal Manuscripta Orientalia and the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences are unveiling with this publication a new section, Oriental Pantheon. This section is designed for publishing materials on the international project of the same name, with the ultimate goal of creating a complete encyclopaedic reference work on the personages of the traditional religions of Oriental countries, and also votive items, works of arts (primarily written monuments), customs and ritual practices connected with them. The materials which we are planning to publish in this section are of the nature of works in progress, as the ultimate aim of the project Oriental Pantheon is to gather, analyse, and then summarise and classify all accessible information about gods, supernatural beings and items which were believed in at various times in the countries of the East and the scale of this task is such that it may take many years. This is why we consider it necessary to start familiarising the reader with the preliminary results of our studies now, and call on all interested specialists to take part in our work. Project coordinator, I. Alimov THE WORK BY ZHOU CHENG: RESEARCH ON THE EASTERN SONG CAPITAL : INFORMATION ON TEMPLES AND JOSS-HOUSES I. Alimov Song joss-houses (miao) and temples (ci) located in the eastern capital of the empire (the modern Kaifeng, with the Song name Bianjing) is known to us from a number of historical works, and one of the most representative among them is the book by the Qing author Zhou Cheng Song dong jing kao ( Research on the eastern Song capital ). About Zhou Cheng himself we know extremely little: evidently, he lived in the years of the rule of Kang-xi, Yong-zheng and Qiang-long (i. e. from 1662 to 1795), his second name was Shi-pao, and he came from the province Zhejiang. His work Song dong jing kao (20 juans) consists of over 500 fragments, united into 42 thematic sections ( men). It contains various information about Kaifeng over 170 years, while this city was the eastern capital of Song China; in working on the book, Zhou Cheng employed over 300 diverse written sources, a part of which have not survived; the authenticity of the information he gives is in no doubt: according to Wang Mei ( first half of the 18th century), the author of one of the forewords to Song dong jing kao (dated 1731): Zhou Shi-pao visited Kaifeng three times, and he went everywhere in his searches. [He], if he found something in books, immediately wanted to see it with his own eyes; if it was not possible to see it, then he made visits to old residents to hear confirmation [of what he had read] from them. When he could neither see nor hear he went to the so-called unofficial history of the Baiguan officials, and checked their information too [1]. The value of the work by Zhou Cheng, writes contemporary researcher and textologist Dan Yuan-mu, is also that there are very few books devoted to the eastern Song capital: we know that in North Song one Song Min-qiu wrote Dong jing ji ( Notes on the Eastern Capital ), but this book has not survived; the work of Southern Song Meng Yuan-lao Dong jing meng hua lu ( Notes of Vivid Dreams of the Eastern Capital ), for all its uniqueness, is too fictionalised to give a full and objective idea of the Song Kaifeng [2]. I. Alimov, 2006

22 58 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 In Zhou Cheng's book which was mentioned at the beginning, the section Ci contains information about 11 temples, while the section Miao contains information about 24 joss-houses (15th and 16th juans). After the name of each temple or joss-house, Zhou Cheng provides general information about it and its location; this is followed by a selection of fragments by Zhou Cheng from different works relating to each temple. *** *** The religious life of Chinese society was long distinguished by its diversity, which increased especially in the period of the Song Dynasty ( ), when, besides Buddhism and Daoism, numerous minor local popular cults blossomed. Interacting with the main religious and philosophical teachings (Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism), adapting to them and partially changing them, local cults became the foundation of what it is customary to call Chinese religious syncretism. Beliefs in diverse spirits brought numerous temples into being, and temples began to appear everywhere. In the Southern Song city Jiankang there were simultaneously 28 Dao sanctuaries ( guan), 33 Buddhist temple complexes ( si) and 42 temples and joss-houses of minor divinities of the folk pantheon ( miao and ci). In some places the popular temples were particularly numerous for example, in the south, in Fuzhou, where in every district there were up to several hundred of them [3]. A number of temples and joss-houses not approved by the authorities began to go on the register of indecent cults ( yin) and were centrally destroyed: for example, in the first year of the rule of Zheng-he (1111) in the eastern capital of the Song empire, Kaifeng, alone, 1,038 such temples were destroyed. The distribution of popular cults took on such forms that in several areas a certain local spirit was prayed to in literally every house. Modern Chinese researcher Cheng Ming-sheng singles out several types of popular ci and miao temples which were widespread under the Song dynasty: (i) joss-houses of mountain spirits ( yuemiao). Above all they are the spirits of the five sacred mountains of China: Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan, Changshan and Songshan. Among these Taishan stood out particularly, and if the spirits of other mountains could be brought offerings and read prayers in the same temple, for the spirit Taishan special joss-houses were built Dongyuemiao, and in the Song dynasty praying to this spirit reached its zenith. By special decrees, the court gave the spirits of all five mountains imperial titles ( di), and these cults thus gained official status [4]. The joss-houses built in honour of the spirits of sacred mountains were under official supervision, and special officials made inspection trips to examine their state and reported on necessary repairs which were made at government expense; (ii) joss-houses of water spirits ( dumiao). These are above all the four streams : the river of Changjiang (Yangzi), Huanghe, Huaihe and Jihe. Preference among them was given to the spirit of Changjiang, and during drought the emperor appealed (in writing) to this spirit with a request for rain. The joss-houses of these spirits enjoyed special respect among the inhabitants of riverside villages and towns, fishermen, traders and everyone who was connected to the river by their line of work or way of life; (iii) the joss-houses of the patron spirits of cities ( chenghuangmiao). The first joss-houses of this kind appeared under the rule of the Western Han dynasty (206 BC 23 AD), and until the Song dynasty there were very few of them. In the Song dynasty, as cities developed, the cult of chenghuangs did too. Joss-houses of patron spirits of districts ( xianhuang) also began to appear. Chenghuang joss-houses had the patronage of the authorities: spirits were often given honorary titles (not higher than wang), supervision was held over the buildings, etc. Frequently, renowned officials and scholars became local chenghuang spirits, whose work or service was connected with the place; (iv) joss-spirits of patron spirits of a region ( tudishen). Patron spirits of a region were objects of prayer, mainly by village residents, and were frequently very close to cults of patron spirits of cities. At the same time, cults of patron spirits existed completely independently from all other cult buildings and spirits which were prayed to in the region; to this day, on the territory of a Buddhist or Dao temple one can see a small joss-house of a local spirit, who protects the region, and thus the temple on this territory; (v) temples of historical figures ( renwuci). These temples were built in honour of historical figures from emperors and rulers to ordinary officials; those who looked after the people; those who did not spare their lives for the task they served; those who strengthened the state by their work; those who showed loyalty to their duty and devotion to their lord; those who mastered natural disasters and illnesses. Many Song officials had such temples built for them soon after their deaths; (vi) indecent temples ( yinci). The construction of these buildings was carried out by local inhabitants at their own initiative and without any permission from the authorities, and the cults of the spirits of these temples did not get on to official registers and were not officially recognised. Frequently, these temples were connected with long-standing primitive beliefs in these areas, beliefs in evil spirits and werewolves [5]. Some of these spirits were brought bloody human sacrifices [6]. Below the reader will find a translation of general information reported by Zhou Cheng about all these joss-houses and temples and also necessary notes by me (the additional information quoted by Zhou Cheng from other sources is given selectively). There is no numeration of fragments in the original.

23 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 59 Zhou Cheng Song Dong Jing Kao J : Sections Ci ( Temples ) and Miao ( Joss-Houses ) (1) Gui xiang ci ( Temple of the Brown Aroma) On the territory [of the school] of Taixue. [Here] offerings were made to the spirit Wenchang silu hongren dijun, to the right and left [of his statue] two spirits of officials who announced exam results and made appointments to positions. Later, when [the school of] Taixue moved, and the temple remained, it was renamed Zitongmiao. Students who pass exams make prayers here and the [prayers] do not go unanswered. Note. Taixue School an institute of higher education in the capital. The school was founded under the Han emperor Wu-di (r. from 140 to 87 BC). In the Song era, in 1044, it was restored by order of emperor Ren-zong. Up to 200 young men were taught at Taixue every year: both children of noble families and talented children of humble birth. Under Shen-zong (r to 1085) and later, study was divided into three stages ( she), and the number of pupils reached 4,000. After the fall of North Song, Taixue was abolished; it was once more restored in Two spirits of officials. In later traditions these are the spirits Kui-xing and Zhu-yi. The latter was in charge of awarding degrees and was depicted as an old man in red clothing (zhu yi) [7]. This section is about Wengchang, the patron spirit of scholars and those receiving positions, and he was also prayed to for good salaries; according to legends recorded in the Song era in the Daoist work ( Qing he nei zhuan, 73rd chapter of Dao zang ), this divinity appeared on earth at the beginning of the Zhou era ( BC) and was later reincarnated 73 times, until he was finally reborn as the ruler of Western Qin ( ) in Qiqiushan village in Zitongxian region (Sichuan province) as one Zhang Ya-zi ( E-zi). Zhang Ya-zi, whose mother brought him up in the spirit of the highest filial respect, died heroically in battle, and was glorified, and temples began to be built in his honour. The first temple (it still exists today) was built in Zhang's home region of Zitongxian, Sichuan province. It was regionally called Yazimiao, and his spirit was considered to be one of the patrons of the region. According to legend, Zhang Ya-zi protected the Tang emperor Xuan-zong (r ) during his flight from rebels to Sichuan, for which the spirit was given the title of Ji-shun-wang. The spirit was also given honours in the Yuan era, when in 1316 it was given the title of Fuyuan kaihua wenchang silu hongren dijun ( Helping the original, distributing enlightenment [gifted] with great virtue, Lord and Master from the department of appointment Wen-chang), which finally united it with the patron spirit of literature and exam-takers Wen-chang. This is incidentally where the different names of this spirit come from, including Zitongshen ( Spirit from Zitong), after the name of his native region. In the Song era and later, there was mass praying to the spirit of Zitongshan (Wenchang silu hongren dijun) among the scholarly community: In all institutes of higher education of the Heavenly Kingdom there are temples of Wenchang, and praying [to this spirit] is considered very important [8]. (2) Zhen wu ci ( Temple of True Military Character) To the southeast of Fantai. At the beginning of the reign of Kai-bao ( ) a turtle was seen here, [entwined with] a snake, and after this the temple was built here. In the second year of the reign of Tian-xi (1018) a spring began to run next to the temple, [the water in it] had medicinal powers, and then Xiangyuanguan ( Sanctuary of the blessed spring) was built, and the temple [Zhenwuci] also became part of it. Note. In this temple prayers were made to Xuan-wu ( Dark military spirit), the patron spirit of the north. One legend says that a person called Xuan-wu lived in the times of the mythical emperor Huang-di; he refused his father's throne and dedicated himself to self-improvement, for which by the order of his tutor, Dao patriarch Ziyunjun, he left for the mountain of Taiheshan (later, in honour of Xuan-wu, it was renamed Wudangshan, Hubei province) and attempted to make a potion of immortality there. After he achieved the desired results after long efforts, Xuan-wu came to know Dao and ascended to the heavens [9]. The first mention of Xuan-wu was recorded in Chu ci ( Chu stanzas ), in the poem by Qu Yuan ( 340? 278? BC) Journey Afar. In the Jin collection Yi Lin ( Forest of the Astonishing ), it is stated: In the light, the existing sculptures of Zhen-wu have everything with turtles, [entwined with] a snake. Rumour explains [this by the fact that] the turtle was an evil shape-changer ( yao), and Zhen-wu served it, but this is not so. In Wu dang zhi ( Information about Wudang ) it says that seven stars of the north part of the sky form Xuan-wu. And Xuan wu is the turtle, [entwined with] the snake. The colour of quan is red and black. The turtle and snake are covered in scales, and this is an image of the military spirit ( wu). Zhen-wu is the spirit of the North Pole. His image resembles a turtle with a snake [10]. Xuan-wu, who appears as a turtle with a snake or a kind of hybrid of these two animals in early legends had by the time of the Song era gained the appearance of an official, whose permanent attributes were a turtle and a snake.

24 60 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 He is depicted as the spirit of the north, with hair and in black clothes, resting on a sword and with his leg on a turtle with a snake; following him are a retinue with black banners [11]. At the end of the 10th century the spirit of Xuan-wu was canonised, and under emperor Zhen-zong, in the years of the rule of Da-zhong xian-fu ( ) the spirit was given a new name Zhen-wu, as the sign xuan became taboo because it was part of the name of a relative of the emperor. The spirit also enjoyed great authority under the Mongol dynasty of Yuan, and in 1344, by personal order of Hubilai, the Dazhaoyinggong palace was built in the capital, specially in honour of Zhen-wu, and some time later the spirit was given an imperial title, in accordance with which Zhen-wu was proclaimed the most important spirit of the North. The cult of Zhen-wu enjoyed its greatest popularity in the time of Ming, when by the order of the court his native mountain Taiheshan (then already Wudanshan) was given the name Dayue Taiheshan, i. e. The Great peak of Mount Taiheshan, and numerous temples and joss-houses were built on the mountain, after which Taiheshan quite soon became known as one of the most important mountains in the Dao table of holy places. In the capital, the special temple Zhenwumiao was built, which received the status of one of the nine most important cult buildings in the capital. (3) Chi di si ( Temple of the Red Emperor) In the apartment of Anyefang, within the city walls. [There] offerings were made to the spirit Zhurong; it is also called Huoshenmiao ( Joss-house of the spirit of fire). Hui-zong [on the throne from 1101 to 1125 I. A.] desired to build the sanctuary of Huoxingguan ( Sanctuary of the Fiery Star) next to the Taiyigong palace, but the advisor Ren Bo-yu made a reproach and stopped [the ruler]. It is unknown in what time this temple was built, and details [about it are also] unknown. Note. Ren Bo-yu ( ) a Song court and state figure, served in the provinces and the court. In half a year in his position in the censor department he submitted 108 reports to the throne. He had a very strong knowledge of canonical works. Zhu-rong (Zhu-yong) fire divinity, who is mentioned in Shan hai jing ( Catalogue of Mountains and Seas ): Zhu-rong has the body of a beast and the face of a man, he rides two dragons (section Hai wai nan jing ); according to legend, he is a distant descendant of the mythical emperors Huang-di and Yan-di. In a number of sources he is an assistant of Yan-di (Fiery Emperor) [12]. (4) Xiao long ci ( Temple of the Little Dragon) Outside the city walls, on the shore of Bianhe. Note. The following legend is linked with this dragon, and is contained in the collection of the Song Cai Dao ( 12th century) in Tie wei shan cong tan ( Collection of Talks from the Mountain of Teweishan): The little dragon from the region of Huanghe and Huaishui is called divine and amazing. Witnesses describe the dragon in the smallest details In the years of Chong-ning ( ) on the river of Huaishui the water suddenly rose very high, and large boats could not get out of the mouth of Bianhe. But before sunrise a dragon appeared, and settled by the stern of [a] boat. The wife of the helmsman did not realise that it was a dragon, called it a lizard and pushed it away. The dragon grabbed the oar and began to climb up it. Then the woman got angry, grabbed a torch and hit the dragon on the head. As soon as she hit it, there was a terrible thunderclap, and the boats in the mouth of Bianhe official and private, over 700 of them crashed into each other and broke up. Several thousand people were killed. This news was mourned at the court and orders were given to the local authorities to provide aid [to the families of the people killed]. One fine day, when the tax emissary of the province was travelling to the capital, the dragon appeared once more. The official became extremely frightened, began to light incense and said to the dragon: I want to go to the capital for a report together with you, lord, so you can appear before the Son of Heaven. May I? The dragon instantly looked very happy, twisted himself and vanished into the box of incense and stayed there. The emissary hurried to take him to the capital and presented him to Lu-gong [Song Minister Cai Jing I. A.], so he could report to the throne. The lord [i. e. emperor Hui-zong I. A.] ordered to take [the dragon] within [the forbidden city] and prepare wine and fruit there for the ceremony of prayer. The dragon suddenly jumped out of the book, took a gold cup in his claws and drank several gulps. The Son of Heaven was amazed, and taking a glass box, put the dragon in it, and personally sealed it. [The box with the dragon] was sent to the temple Bianshui Xiaolongci ( Temple of the Dragon from Bianshui), which is outside the capital. In the evening the box was examined. The seal was still on it, but the dragon was not there it had vanished! The lord was happy about this. But the box and the imperial seal on it stayed in the temple for everyone to view [13].

25 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 61 (5) Jia ying hou ci ( Jiaying-hou Temple) In a southeast suburb, outside the city walls. In the years of the rule of Xi-ning ( ) it was built by ordinary people who shared the cost. Tradition has it that the surname of [this] spirit was Zhang, from Huaiying [in Jiangsu I. A.], became a spirit after death, and was sent to the source [steward] of the Eastern Peak, and is in charge of affairs in the world of darkness. In many regions and districts, east of the capital, there are such temples. He who is called taiwei Zhang is this spirit, and he is also called sheren. In the years of the rule of Yuan-feng ( ) empress Guang-xian taihuang taihou read a prayer here and as a sign of gratitude the spirit was given the title of Jiaying-hou. Later [the temple] was destroyed. Note. Taiwei in the Song era, from 1112 this official was the head of all part-time (i. e. with a rank and salary, but without a specific position) officials in the military department. Sheren part-time secretary of the Court Ministry. Guang-xian taihuang taihou i. e. empress Cao ( ), received the title of empress in After the death of her husband, emperor Ren-zong (in 1063), owing to the youth and weakness of his heir, she ruled the country for almost a year. She received the title of taihuang taihou under emperor Shen-zong (r. from 1067 to 1085). According to Chinese popular ideas, the existence of the human soul did not end after the physical death of the body, but continued in another world, where a similar secular structure of organisation existed. In written monuments, there are frequent mentions of outstanding commanders, just officials, and people known for their virtue and wisdom taking up various important posts in the afterlife and showing this to the living by various signs (in dreams, in reality, by omens etc.). Temples were built in their honour, where the dead were brought offerings, prayers were read and requests were made temples traced by Cheng Min-sheng to tudishenmiao, chenghuangmiao or renyumiao. For example, there is a well-known legend connected with the name of the Tang poet and philosopher Liu Zong-yuan ( ) who appeared after his death to the inhabitants of the region which he ran, and told them that in the afterlife he had been appointed to this region once more, and so a temple would have to be built in his honour [14]. This involves quite a high position which Zhang from Huaiyin occupied after his death: in the office of the very spirit of the mountain of Taishan (the Eastern peak, dong yue), one of the five (the most important) holy mountains of China. (6) Xü zhen jun ci ( Temple of zhenjun Xü) Previously located on the territory of the palace of Shangqingzhuxianggong. Zhenjun lived under Jin ( ), and held the position of head of the Jingyang district [in Hubei I. A.] In the second year of the rule of Zheng-he (1112) [this spirit] was graciously granted the title of Shengong miao-ji zhenjun ( Perfect ruler holding divine services and giving treasured help). The 120 poems left after [Xü] were copied on to bamboo tablets and kept in a special box. They were pulled to determine whether there would be success or not. [This place] was called Shengxianci ( Temple of very wise tablets). It was later destroyed. Note. According to tradition, his mother gave birth to the perfect ruler (zhenjun) Xü Sun ( ) five months after she saw a divine bird flying towards her from the heavens. The bird was holding a pearl in its beak, which the woman swallowed. Despite the short term of pregnancy, the boy proved to be very able and was quick to grasp everything. This is what is said about Xü Sun in the collection of Liu Fu ( 11th century) Qing suo gao yi ( High Judgements at the Palace Gates ): Xü's name was Sun, and his second name was Jing-zhi, he came from Runan [in Henan I. A.] His grandfather and father enlightened him in Dao, and Jing-zhi in his youth also studied under the tutor Wu Meng (, the legendary Dao mage of the time of Jin ( ), who preached the practiced the teaching of the Three Purities [three heavenly spheres where Dao immortals dwell I. A.] After passing his exams, Xü was given the position of head of the Jingyang district. Disturbances began in Jin, and Xü left his position. Together with Master Wu he went on a journey to the lands to the north of the Yangzi. Here Wang Dun raised a rebellion, and Xü and Wu made a visit to him, as if they intended to congratulate him, but in fact to stop Wang and preserve Jin. Once they came to Wang Dun together with Guo Pu ( ). Dun, hiding his irritation, looked at them and said: Last night I dreamt of a tree which tore the sky with its top. Does this mean that the emperor will take my throne. Please, tutors, explain this! This is an unhappy dream, said Xu. If the tree top tears the sky, then this gives the character wei, and this means that you, master, should not commit impulsive acts! said Wu. Then Dun ordered Guo Po to tell his fortune, and the answer was: The matter will not end in success. He asked about his lifespan, and received the reply: The matter has been started, and soon there will be disaster. But if you lived in Wuchang, then nothing would threaten your lifespan. Well, and how long will you live?! Dun cried in anger. My lifespan runs out today, Guo Pu replied. Then Dun ordered soldiers to seize Pu and take him away to be executed. Xü and Wu stayed with Dun to drink wine, but during the repast they disappeared imperceptibly. When they reached the mouth of the Lujiang, they tried to hire a boat to reach Zhongling [both in Jiangxi I. A.], but the boatman refused, saying that there was no one to haul the boat. Then take us, and we will move the boat from its place ourselves! Wu and Xü said to him. You must shut your eyes tight. When you hear the splash of water, don't

26 62 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 look! The boatman really did hear a splash, and then a sound like leaves falling from trees. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw two dragons dragging the boat the peak of Mount Jiyaofeng [the main peak of Mount Lushan, Jiangxi I. A.]! The dragons felt that someone was looking at them, abandoned the boat and vanished. You broke our oath and ended up here. What should we do? Wu and Xü asked the boatman. And they ordered him to live on his own on this speak, and taught him to gather medicinal herbs and revealed the secrets of immortals. The remains of the boat can be seen in this place to this day. Subsequently Xü met a young man in Yuzhang [the ancient name of Nanchang, in Jiangxi I. A.] a man of very refined manners and appearance. The man called himself Shen-lang. After talking to him, Xü realised that he was not of the human race, and as he left he said to the door-keeper: This man is a dragon shape-changer. I remember the damage that the floods in Jiangxi did because of him! Unless he is destroyed, he will probably run away! He looked at the youth with his all seeing eye, and the youth turned into a yellow bull standing on sand. Xü called on his pupil Shi Tai-yu: He is a yellow bull, I will turn into a black bull with a white scarf, and will fight him. As soon as you see this, attack him with a sword. And a moment later the two bulls began to fight. Tai-yu struck the yellow bull's leg with the sword, and it jumped into a well. The black bull jumped after it, but the shape-changer had already escaped. [ ] On the first day of the eight moon of the second year of the rule of Ning-kang (374) Xü and his entire family ascended to heaven in broad daylight from Mount Xishan [in Jiangxi I. A.], in Hongzhou [15]. (7) Zhao ling fu ren ci ( Temple of Mrs. Zhao-ling) 45 li to the northeast of the city. Mrs. Zhao-ling was the most august mother of Han Gao-zu. Her grave was destroyed by water from [Huang]he, and later people erected a temple on this spot. Note. Han Gao-zu temple name of Liu Bang ( 256/247? 195 BC), founder of the Han dynasty. From the peasants. On the throne from BC. (8) Li wei gong ci ( Temple of Li Wei-gong) In [the village of] Naozhanbao to the southwest of the city. [Here] offerings are made to Tang commander Li Jing. Note. Li Jing ( ) outstanding military leader from the beginning of the Tang dynasty. An expert on military treatises. Held a number of high positions at court, including the head of the military department. In 629, inflicted a shattering defeat on the Turkic kaganat, and in 630 captured the kagan Selim himself. For his services to the throne (including his successful resistance to the tufans and kidans) he was given the title of Weiguo-gong, i. e. Standing on guard of the country of the ruler, here used in abbreviated form. (9) Wei chi gong ci ( Temple of Master Weichi) To the south of the city. [Here] offerings are made to the Tang commander Weichi Jing-de. Note. Weichi Jing-de this is Weichi Gong ( ), whose second name was Jing-de, another glorious commander from the beginning of the Tang dynasty. He was especially trusted by emperors Gao-zu and Tai-zong (ruled from 627 to 649). He actively helped the first Tang emperor to ascend the throne. In his last years he was extremely interested in Dao magic and lived as a recluse. (10) San xian ci ( Temple of Three Wise Men) In a little over three li to the south of the city on the terrace of Chuitai, behind the joss-house Erniangmiao. Previously [here] there were three niches, and in them were Bixia yuanjun plaster statues. In the Ming dynasty, in the year of ding-chou under the rule of Zheng-de (517), the highest representative inspector Mao Bo-wen [ordered] these statutes to be replaced with [statues of] three wise men, and a note was made on this. The three wise men were Gao Shi ( ), Li Bo ( ) and Du Fu ( ). In the year of xin-you in the rule of Jia-qing (1561) the highest representative imperial emissary inspector of the capital district Cai Ru-nan ( ) added Li Meng-yan and He Da-fu and renamed the temple Wuxianci ( Temple of five wise men). According to the Tan dynasty story, Gao Shi, Li Bo and Du Fu in the years of the rule of Tian-bao ( ) travelled together through Liang and Song and feasted on the terrace of Chuitai, made merry and composed songs as if no one was near. Du Fu wrote these lines: I remember the meeting with Gao and Li, The talk with friends over a jug of wine. Your refined thoughts, gentlemen, Inspired an invigorating force in me! Drunk from the wine, I climbed up to Chuitai, And thought about ancient times. Around me was wasteland

27 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 63 At that time [Li] Bo and [Du] Fu left the country, pursued by evil slander, and [Gao] Shi was appointed as head of the Fengqiuxian district. Note. Bixia yuanjun, Primordial sovereign of the Azure dawn, a Dao saint, daughter of the lord of Mount Taishan. The Song emperor Zhen-zong gave her the title Tianxian yuniu bixia yuanjun, i. e. Heavenly saint, Jade maidon, Primordial sovereign of the azure [16]. Li Meng-yang and He Da-fu Li Meng-yang ( ) renowned Ming poet, together with He Da-fu ( Dafu shanren, Hermit from Dafu, literary pseudonym of He Jing-ming, ) and another five poets formed a literary society, who in their work realised the idea of the Tang literary movement for the return of the simplicity of literature to the ancients (fugu). Cai Ru-nan, incidentally, was also a gifted poet, and also an expert on classical works, and was famous among his contemporaries. (11) Bao xiao su gong ci ( Temple of Master Bao Xiao-su) The name of the master is Zheng, second name Xi-ren, posthumous name Xiao-su. He once ruled Kaifeng, and his rule was exceptional. Later inhabitants of Bianjing, remembering Bao, built a temple to the north of the city. It is unknown when construction began. Under Ming, in the years of the rule of Cheng-hua ( ), the ruler of Kaifeng Sun Yu moved [this temple] into the wasteland to the east of the city. Note. Song official Bao Zheng ( ) held various posts at the court and in the province. He was known for his fairness and sagacious wisdom in conducting criminal cases. He became especially famous at the time when he ruled Kaifeng, and by his incorruptibility he was even compared with the lord of the kingdom of the dead, the master of the fates of dead souls Yanlo-wang whose gaze no one can avoid. After his death he was deified and became a high-ranking official of the afterlife for the Chinese people. For example, the work Xu Yi-jian zhi ( Continuation of the Notes of Yi-jian ) by Yuan Hao-weng ( ) contains the following fragment: They report that after his death, Bao Xi-ren was appointed head of the department for immediate retribution on the Eastern Peak [i. e. on Mount Taishan I. A.] Ordinary people inhabitants of the mountains and valleys all know about this. In autumn of the year geng-zi, Taian Jie brought a captive woman to the south from a military campaign. He said that she was the granddaughter of Xi-ren. The woman was extremely beautiful, and her owner was offered large sums for her from brothels, but the woman did not agree, threatening to commit suicide. Then the owner, worrying about his profit, ordered her to be beaten as severely as possible with sticks, and the woman lay down. The neighbours only sighed in sympathy, but could not help. One shaman woman lived nearby. I can help this woman find a worthy husband! she said. The shaman appeared to the owner of the woman, closed her eyes, began breathing heavily and writhing, showing that the spirit was leaving her. Suddenly, with closed eyes she called the owner by name and began swearing at him. The owner lit incense and fell down, begging for forgiveness and asking how he had offended the respected spirit. The shaman began swearing again. I am the head of the department of immediate retribution, how could you make my granddaughter a singer?! the shaman yelled. I give you 10 days! If you do not marry her in this time to a worthy husband, then I will destroy your entire family! The owner did not stop begging. Several days later he married her off [17]. Subsequently, several episodes from the life and criminal cases investigated by Bao Zheng, which sometimes bristled with improbable details, became the basis for many works of literature: stories, novels, plays and even novels [18]. The figure of Bao Zheng was at the basis of the cult of the incorruptible judge Bao-gong, in honour of whom joss-houses and temples were built all over China. (12) Cang wang miao ( Joss-House of Cang-wang) Outside the gates Xinzhengmeng, on the shore of the River Jinshuihe. Subsequently destroyed by Jin troops. Note. Cang-wang or Cang-di one of the four patron spirits of the corners of the world, symbol of the east. The green dragon is associated with him ( qing long [19]. Usually depicted as a person with a sword in hand, with a dragon at his. Wooden sculptures of this deity in temples to his honour began to appear in the Song era [20]. (13) Gao yao miao ( Gao-yao Joss-House) In the prison institution of the Xiangfuxian district. Note. In the collection of the Song scholar Fang Shao ( 1066 after 1144) Bo zhai bian ( Notebooks of Bo-zhai ) it reads: Currently in the prison institutions of all regions and districts there are temples of Gao-yao, and prayers are regularly made in them. And this [custom] dates from the Han era.

28 64 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 When Fan Pang was in prison, he was persuaded to make a prayer to Gao-yao. The all-wise Gao-yao knows that I have no guilt on me, and he will restore the truth before the Supreme Emperor. But if [the souls of the dead] have no consciousness, what is the point of praying? Fan answered [21]. The legend states that Gao-yao (Yan Gao-yao) was one of the subjects of the legendary emperor Shun, and was in charge of punishments and prisons. Later he was deified in this quality, and his name became associated with a just and unbiased judge. In the fragment given above, the East Han Fan Pang ( ), who was captured on false slander in 166, appeals to Mo-zi: If the dead man has no consciousness, then this will be the end of it all [22]. (14) Wu cheng wang miao ( Joss-House of Wu-cheng-wang) To the southwest of the Leijiaqiao bridge; was destroyed when the city was rebuilt under the Jin. Note. In Huei shu xiang zhu ( Collection of books with detailed commentary ) it states: In the second year of Jian-long (961) Tai-zu [Zhao Kuang-yin 趙匡胤 I. A.] delighted [with his visit] the joss-house of Wu-cheng-wang and examined the depictions of all the famous military commanders painted [on the walls] in the galleries. Pointing to the statue of Bai Qi, [the lord] said: But Qi committed suicide, he does not have the military spirit, how can one bring offerings to him! And he ordered for the statue to be removed. Then he called Zhang Zhao, Dou Yi and Gao Xi [to him] and ordered them to present him [a list of] courtiers and military commanders of various eras worthy of remembrance, the glory of whose services did not diminish throughout their entire lives. When in the 19th year of the rule of Kai-yuan (731) the Taigong shanfu miao (Joss-house of the Great Prince of the Honoured father) was first built, Zhang Liang, the Liu-hou, was assigned [in this temple]. Twice a year, spring and autumn, the Lord personally made offerings here. [ ] Later a total of 10 renowned military commanders of antiquity were selected for this temple. Under [the emperor] Su-zong (r ), in the first year of the rule of Shang-yuan (760), Taigong was given the title of Wu-cheng-wang, and [the statues of] Bai Ci, Han Xin, Zhuge Liang, Li Jing and Li Ji were then located on the left, and [the statues of] Zhang Liang, Tian Ji-qie, Sun Wu, Wu Qi, Yue Yi on the right. Zhang Liang remained in the list of respected ones. In the second year of the rule of Jian-zhong (1102), an order was given to the Historical Chamber to check who [else] could be put on the list of the respected ones, and [a list was determined of] all renowned military commanders of antiquity and the modern age [such as] Fan Li, of 64 people, and their drawings were made [23]. To this it should be added that the military commander of the times of the Fighting Kingdoms Bai Qi (? 257 BC) were not just famous for their military talent, but that by his orders around 4,000 captives were executed after one battle. He committed suicide. Zhang Zhao ( ) was a Song official, an erudite person, an expert on literature and art, a bibliophile, who held the post of head of the Department of ranks; Dou Yi ( ) a Song official and erudite person, who among other things served at the academy of Hanlinyuan (from 963) and for his breadth of knowledge was especially valued by emperor Tai-zu; Gao Xi (? 983) a Song official, served in the historical section. Zhang Liang (? 185 BC) dignitary and politician of the beginning of the Han dynasty, famous because after the destruction by Qin Shi-huang of his native empire Han, where five generations of his ancestors were ministers, he and his entire family vowed to take revenge on Qin Shi-huang and in 218 BC in Bolangsha (Henan province) he made an attack on him which was unsuccessful; the traditional example of faithfulness to duty and the emperor. Han Xin (? 196 BC) grandee and renowned military commander from the beginning of the Han dynasty. Zhuge Liang ( ) legendary military commander from the time of the Three Kingdoms. Li Ji ( ) famous Tang military commander, who fought both against the northern nomads and the Koreans. Tian Ji-qie ( 5th century BC) military theorist of the times of the Fighting Kingdoms, the author of the military treatise Sima Ji-qie bingfa. Sun Wu ( 5th century BC), outstanding military commander from the times of the Fighting Kingdoms, author of the famous treatise Sun-zi bingfa. Wu Qi (? 381 BC), politicians and military commander from the early period of the Fighting Kingdoms. Yue Yi military commander from the time of the Fighting Kingdoms. Fan Li political figure from the end of the Chunqiu period, who dedicated himself to military strategy. Later, according to a number of Song monuments, a military institute was founded in this temple ( wuxue). (15) Wu qi miao ( Wu qi Joss-House) Behind the government building [of the district administration]. Destroyed during the Jin dynasty. Note. Wu Qi (? 381 BC) outstanding politician and military commander, who lived at the beginning of the period of the Fighting Kingdoms. He wrote a treatise on military affairs which has been lost.

29 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 65 (16) Er xiang miao ( Joss-House of Two Ministers) Within city limits, [here were brought] offerings to Zi-yu and Zi-xia. Long since destroyed, no one knows where it was located. Note. This joss-house was dedicated to two pupils of Confucius Bu Shang ( 507 BC?), also known as Zi-xia, and Yan Yan ( 506 BC?), also known as Zi-yu. The above-mentioned Wu Qi, incidentally, was one of the pupils of Bu Shang. In Yan yi yi mou lu ( Notes of Advice Made for Descendents and Care for Them ) by Song Wang Yang ( 12th century), it states: [First] those, who are sitting capital exams in the class Liji made a prayer [for success] in the joss-house Erxiangmiao Two Ministers. These two ministers are Zi-yu and Zi-xia. Zi-yu was the first minister under Wu-cheng, and Zi-xia served in several states, and what he is called a minister for is unknown [24]. (17) Pi chang gong miao ( Joss-House of Pichang-gong) In the northeast city quarter. Note. In Yan yi yi mou lu : Now those who go to the capital to take exams on Li Ci pray at the joss-house of Pichangmiao. Pichang is a place where animals are skinned. They say that the patron spirit of the knacker's yard ( Pichang tudi) is in charge of diseases which cannot be cured. Under [emperor] Wei-zong, in the sixth moon of the first year of the rule of Jian-zhong jing-guo (1101) a decree was issued to give [this spirit] the title of Lingkuang-hou ( Master providing miraculous aid). After this it was given the title Minglingzhaohuei-wang ( Wise prince illuminated with miraculous light). Now the joss-house is located in the pavilion of Zhaohuaguan in Wanshouguang, and this pavilion is next to the examination courtyard. It is not known when scholars began to pray [to this spirit], and why the temple was founded in this pavilion [25]. And this is what the Song collection Bian jing yi ji zhi ( Records of Information About Bianjing ): They say that Pichang tudi is in charge of diseases which cannot be cured. They also say that Pichang-gong is a dignitary from Zheng [a principality of the era of Chunqiu, Henan I. A.] by the name of Zi Pi. He took the post of Shangqing [senior chancellor of the local prince I. A.] from his father, Zi Zhan, and took the reins of government. But in Zheng there was a famine, poor harvest and disease. Then Zi Pi by order of his father began to give grain to the people, grain which was entitled to officials. The people in Zheng were inspired with Pi's good deeds and began to build a temple in his honour. And as it is not far from Biancheng [Kaifeng I. A.] to Zheng, there is a temple of this kind there. Here are two versions which one is to be believed? [26]. (18) Er lang miao ( Joss-House of Er-lang) Just over one li from the gates of Nanxunmen. [Dedicated] to the spirit of Guankou Er-lang. When it was built is unknown. Every year on the 24th of the six lunar month the birthday of Er-lang is celebrated very lavishly. The joss-house was given the name Shenbaoguan ( Hermitage of Divine Aid). [ ] According to Chengdu jin gu ji ( Notes on Ancient and Modern Chengdu ) the Qin wang appointed Li Bing to rule the district of Shu, and [he] put a channel through the Lidui, liquidated the Veishui floods, [as they say], rich fields stretched for a thousand li, and [these places] began to be called a fertile valley. Remembering the wisdom [of Li], the people built the joss-house on Mount Guankoushan. Note. This concerns the spirit Er-lang (also known as Er-lang-shen, Guankou-shen ). The legend states that this spirit was the son of the Sichuan ruler Li Bing ( 3rd century BC). Li Bing was sent to rule Shu (Sichuan), and while in this office, did a great deal of good for Shu, together with his son. Legends are linked with the name Li Bing and his son Er-lang, which have many variants: how Er-lang, while hunting, killed a fierce tiger which was attacking the local population; how, making use of his father's advice, Er-lang (or Li Bing himself?) called to order and restrained the dragon (spirit) of the Yangzi River, which was causing havoc and gathering a tribute of beautiful girls, but unfortunately all these legends have only survived in late records [27]. The cult of the spirit of Er-lang was developed at the beginning of the Song era, during the rule of emperor Huei-zong (r ) the spirit was given the title of zhenjun (although not for long: appearing in a dream to a person close to the emperor, Er-lang complained that before he became a zhenjun, and had the title of wang, he received a offering of meat, which he was happy with, but now he receives only fasting food. Er-lang asked for his former title to be returned and this was done). Temples in his honour were built all along the Yangzi and in some other places, and his spirit began to have the widest range of magic qualities attributed to it, which not everyone believed in, however in the collection by Song Zhu Yu ( 13th century) Ping zhou ke tan ( From Talks in Pingzhou ) there is a curious fragment:

30 66 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 Fuma duwei Li Duan-yuan [? 1091, the emperor's son-in-law I. A.] lived together with the other emperor's relatives. Above all, he respected attention and respect, and when he lost his sight, he began to be more attentive and cautious in talking with noble offspring. So to the end of his days he lived without sorrow. At one time the miracle-working water from the Er-lang joss-house, in the east part of Chuanzhou [in the Henan province I. A.] was in demand in the capital. This water cured illnesses. Li did not believe in the souls of the dead or in spirits. When his grandson fell ill, the people of the house secretly sent for the water of Er-lang. When Li found out about this, he got very angry, beat his son with his stick and said to him: If your son really is destined to die, then how can Er-lang help him and bring him back to life?! And if it cannot do this, then why do you need the water?! [28]. An interesting episode is contained in Wen xian tong kao ( Combined Study of Written Monuments ) by Ma Duan-lin ( 1250? 1325): In the seventh year of the rule of Zheng-he a decree came to repair the hermitage of Shenbaoguan, which is popularly known as the [joss-house] of the spirit of Er-lang. Residents of the capital, in their simplicity [thinking that nothing would remain of the temple], began in spring both men and women to drag earth to the temple, as a kind of gift [to the deity]. In the piles of earth they stuck signs reading This earth is presented by so-and-so, and headdresses also appeared in the forms of devils, which showed that [their owners] had made a contribution of earth. Someone reported to Cai Jing; To give earth, to make a contribution of earth what vulgar expression! Several days later a decree was issued forbidding this [29]. (19) Zhao wang miao ( Joss-House of Zhao-wang) In Musibao, to the northeast of the city. Here the Han Zhao-wang Zhang Er was prayed to. Destroyed. Note. Zhang Er (? 202 BC) governing prince, military commander and political figure, received the title of Zhao-wang from the founder of the Han dynasty Liu Bang, who joined him. (20) Jian ke miao ( Joss-House of the Fencer) To the west of Zhuanlongwan, outside the gates of Xinzhenmen. Destroyed. (21) Fan hou miao ( Joss-House of Fan-hou) Outside the gates of Wangchunmen. Here people pray to the Han Fan Kuai. Burned down. Note. Fan Kuai (? 189 BC) military commander of the beginning of the Han dynasty. In his youth he worked as a cattle slaughterer, and then joined Liu Wang's troops and proved himself as a skilful military leader. For service to the throne he was given the title of Wuyang-hou. (22) Dan jiang jun miao ( Joss-House of Military Commander Dan) In the northwest outskirts, outside the gates of Wangchunmen. Here the Tang military commander Dan Xiong-xin is prayed to. Destroyed. (23) Qi du miao ( Joss-House of Banners and Standards) Within the city limits. Destroyed. Note. The origin and purpose of this joss-house is explained by a fragment from Tang bai guan zhi ( Notes on Official Under Tang ), which states: When the jiedushi [military governor-general I. A.] left [for his place of duty], he was given two banners ( qi) and two staffs ( jie). On the journey [before the zedushi] the staff was carried, and at stops six standards ( du) were established. [When the zedushi] entered the borders [of his domain], his rooms were put in order and he was met with the beat of drums. In the [Tang] dynasty six standards were preserved; banners, staffs of gate banners two each, and those who were given it kept in the personal rooms of the residence, for which a special hall was set aside, called The Hall of Staffs ( jietang). In this hall prayers were made on the first and 15th day of each month, on the full moon, and this was called the ceremony in the work place ( ya li). For if there are banners and staffs, then there should also be ceremonies, [directed to] spirits. In central cities nowadays, governors-general take these joss-houses very seriously, but halls of staffs and ceremonies of work places have long been forgotten! [30].

31 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 67 (24) De an gong miao ( Joss-House of Dean-gong) Outside the gates of Baokangmen, the joss-house of the spirit of Mount Imenshan [to the northeast of Kaifeng I. A.] In the fourth year of the resign of Jing-de (1007) [the spirit of the mountain] was given the title Dean-gong, a decree was issued to repair the joss-house and an order was given to the Kaifeng administration to give offerings there in spring and autumn. Later destroyed. (25) Cui fu jun miao ( Joss-House of the Head of Cui Administration) To the north of the city. They say that Cui Jue, who served in the Tang dynasty as the head of Fuyang [in the Hebei province I. A.], became a spirit after he died and began to manage the affairs of the other world. [His] temple [is located] in Cizhou [Hebei I. A.]. At the beginning of the years under the rule of Chun-hua ( ) people also built him a joss-house here. The festival [of this spirit] is on the sixth day of the sixth month, and there were lots of people celebrating. Then a decree was issued to rebuilt the joss-house, and it given the name Hugomiao ( Joss-house of the Protector of the state), and utensils and clothes were sent for worshippers. In the first year of the reign of Jing-de (1004) the joss-house was fundamentally renovated. In spring and autumn each year, the Kaifeng administration sent officials here to give offerings. Later [the spirit] was given the title of Hugo Xianying-gong ( Master protecting the state and showing the sign). Destroyed. Note. There is a story about the Tang official Cui Jue ( 8th century) that when he was the head of Fuyang, he strictly punished a fierce tiger which ate a local young man who was distinguished by his great filial piety. Cui was deified after his death. The special reverence for this spirit during the Song dynasty can perhaps also be explained by the fact that when the future Song emperor Gao-zong went to the outer limits of Cizhou, Cui's spirit gave his divine protection. Under the Song dynasty, in all the provinces joss-houses and temples were built in honour of the divine protector [31]. (26) Dong yue miao ( Joss-House of the Eastern Peak) Within the city walls, in the northeast outskirts. Here the spirit of Mount Taishan is prayed to, and the other name [of the joss-house] is Taishanmiao ( Taishan joss-house). In the tenth moon of the first year of the rule of Da-zhong xian-fu (1008) a decree was issued to give [the spirit of Taishan] the title of Dongyue tianqi rensheng-wang ( Sacred, philanthropic and wise prince of the Eastern peak). In the fifth moon of the fourth year (1011) it was given the imperial title ( di). Note. According to Chinese beliefs, the spirit of this mountain ruled the souls of dead people: Everything living has its origin in the eastern side, so [the lord of Taishan] knows the length of [human] lives [32]. The spirit of Taishan had the title of Taishan fujun, i. e. The Rule of the Administration of Mount Taishan, this title was widely used in China, from the first century AD [33]. One of the first mentions of the spirit of Mount Taishan with the title of Taishan Fujun in xiaoshuo prose is contained in the famous work by Gan Bao ( 3rd 4th century AD) Sou shen ji [34]. In the collection Feng su tong yi ( Sincere Meaning of Morals and Customs ) Ying Shao (? 202) there is mention of a golden casket with jade plates, on which the lifespan of people is written this casket is also located on Taishan [35]. Mount Taishan was an object of worship from ancient times: all the Chinese emperors made an ascent to the mountain for offerings to Heaven, including all 72 rulers of Chinese antiquity [36]. The 28th day of the third lunar month marked the birth of the spirit of Taishan. As mentioned above, in honour of this spirit and its subordinates, temples were built everywhere [37]. (27) Xuan di miao ( Joss-House of the Dark Emperor) In the southwest outskirts, behind the administration building. Also known as Yushengguan ( Hermitage of the wise [giving] aid), later renamed Dadaogong ( Palace of the Great Path). Here the spirit of the North Xuan-wu was prayed to. (28) Feng bo miao ( Joss-House of Feng-bo) To the northeast of the city, here the spirit of the wind was prayed to. Built in the years of Da-zhong xian-fu ( ). Every year, on the second day (the day of the bull) after the Spring festival, people came here to say prayers. Note. The god of wind Feng-bo (also called Feng-shi) is mentioned in Shan hai jing (section Da huang bei jing ) and described as a being with the body of a deer, the head of a sparrow, horns, and the tail of a snake [38].

32 68 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 (29) Yu huang miao ( Joss-House of the Jade Emperor) Outside the gates of Nanxunmen, to the west of the state highway. It is said that in this spot there was once the place of Yuqingzhaoyingong ( Palace of the revealed banner of Jade purity). In the sixth summer month of the seventh year in the reign of Tian-sheng (1029) this palace was destroyed in a fire, and only two halls survived Changshengdian ( Hall of Eternal Life) and Chongshoudian ( Hall of prolonging the years of life). A decree was issued not to restore [the burned palace], but to rename this place Wanshouguan ( Hermitage of longevity). Then the Chongshoudian hall was renamed Taixiaodian ( Hall of Great Heaven) and a bronze statue of the Jade emperor was put here. Later [the hall] was destroyed by Jin troops. Under the Ming dynasty, in the year of ding-hai in the rule of Cheng-hua (1467), daoist Dong Dao-jing raised funds to build the joss-house of Yuhuangmiao in this place and from the [former] hermitage Wuyueguan ( Hermitage of Five mountain peaks) moved statues here of [the rulers of] five mountain peaks and four rivers. Wuyueguan was situated to the west of the examination courtyard, in close proximity to this place. In the year of yi-yu in the rule of Hong-wu (1369) the hermitage was struck by lightning, and only these statues remained. So Dong Dao-jing moved them to the joss-house [of Yuhuangmiao]. Note. The Jade emperor (yuhuang or yudi, yuhuang shangdi ) is one of the higher gods of the Dao pantheon. The name yu huang, the Jade emperor, was first recorded in Dao works of the 6th century, such as works by the renowned Dao thinker, doctor and man of letters Tao Hong-jing ( ), and also in the work Yu huang jing ( Canon of the Jade Emperor ), from the Song period. According to the legend given in this work, the Jade emperor was the son of the wife of a ruler of a state of ancient China with the name of Jingdeguo. The woman did not have any children for a long time, which greatly depressed her, and her husband, and she prayed to the gods for mercy. One night she had a dream: Taishang Daojun came down to her from the heavens on a five-coloured dragon. He was holding a child in his arms. The happy wife of the ruler asked Daojun to give the child to her. When she awoke, she discovered that she was pregnant. A year later a very clever boy was born. When he became an adult, he took his father's throne, and covered his name with glory, but later he left for the mountains, became a hermit and attained immortality. It was he who later became the Jade emperor. The cult of the Jade emperor was developed during the rule of the Tang dynasty, with the flourishing of Daoist teachings; the title of yu huang and yu di began to be used in poetry as well. In the Song dynasty, the cult developed further. In 1012, emperor Zhen-zong had a dream about the Heavenly emperor, and under the influence of this dream he gave the spirit several honorary titles. The cult of the Jade emperor became universally recognised, and joss-houses and temples began to be built in his honour, and statues of this spirit began to appear in various other temples. (30) Wu long miao ( Joss-House of Five Dragons) In the eastern part of the city. In the Tang dynasty, in the years of the rule of Kai-yuan ( ), an altar was built in the palace of Xingqinggong, where prayers were read in the middle of spring this is the very place. The Song dynasty inherited Tang rituals. In the first year of the rule of Da-zhong xian-fu (1008) a decree was issued to decorate the joss-house building. Note. Zhou Cheng gives a quote from Wen xian tong kao : In the fourth year of the rule of Da-guan (1110), a decree was issued to give the titles of prince (wang) to the spirits of the five dragons of the Heavenly Kingdom: the title of Guangren-wang ( Prince of vast humanity) to the blue dragon; the title of Jiaze-wang ( Prince of miraculous mercy) to the red dragon; Fuying-wang ( Prince of permanent good deeds) to the yellow dragon; Yiji-wang ( Prince of just aid) to the white dragon; and Lingze-wang ( Prince of heavenly mercy) to the black dragon [39]. (31) San guan miao ( Joss-House of Three Officials) In the city and outside the walls there were several such joss-houses, but when they were built is unknown. The most famous of them was a little over two li from the gates of Yiqiumen. Note. The three officials (sanguan) are the spirits of three elements: the official of the sky ( tianguan), the official of the earth ( diguan) and the official of water ( shuiguan). According to traditional Chinese beliefs, these spirits gave happiness (the responsibility of tianguan), forgiveness (diguan) and provide rescue from troubles (shuiguan). One of the legends links the sanguan to the three courtiers of the Zhou ruler, Yu-wang Tang Hong, Ge Yong and Zhou Wu, who are also called the Three commanders of the Gates of Heaven. After their deaths they became the spirits of three elements. According to another version, the three officials were the songs of one Cheng Lang, who married them to the three daughters of the prince of dragons. They possessed divine powers and strength, and were given the titles of heavenly officials [40]. The name sanguan comes from the renowned Dao thinker Zhang Ling (, Dao-Ling ) and the teaching of wudoumidao ( Dao-Path of five measures of rice, also tianshidao School of heavenly tutors [41]. Healing illnesses and saving peo-

33 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 69 ple from witchcraft and evil spirits, Zhang Ling and his followers wrote amulets with appeals for aid to the spirit of the sky, earth and water: we put together messages to the three one was offered to the sky, and left in the mountains; one was buried in the ground, and one was thrown in the water. This was called sanguan [42]. The three officials were very popular with the people, and their temples and joss-houses were built everywhere, and in Song Kaifeng, as is clear from the fragment given above from Song dong jing kao, there were even several such joss-houses. (32) San shi miao ( Joss-House of Three [Spirits] of the Body) Outside the gates of Baokangmen. Here the three [spirits] of the body were prayed to. When [the joss-house] was built is unknown. Later destroyed. According to Dao teaching, there are three spirits in a person's body, and on the day of geng-shen, when the person sleeps, [they] report on his sins and actions to the supreme emperor, and can reduce the length of his life. The main spirit is called Peng Ju, the middle spirits is Peng Zhi, and the youngest in Peng Qiao. On the day of geng-shen [people] stay up all night, so the three spirits cannot submit their report. Note. In the Dao work Taishang sanshi zhongjing ( Middle Canon of the Three [Spirits] of the Body of the Supreme One ) it is written: In the stomach of each person there are three [spirits] of the body and nine worms ( chong), and they do enormous harm to the person. Each time, on the day of geng-shen they go to the Heavenly emperor with a report; they record all the acts of the person and they report on everything in detail, wishing for the person no longer to be on the lists of the living, so that the length of his life is reduced, wishing for the person to die soon. And after the death [of the person], when his soul hun ascends to the sky, and his soul po goes into the earth, only the third [spirit] of the body remains, and it is called gui ( soul of the dead) [43]. They are brought offerings and prayers are made to them all year round on all festive days, but if this is not done thoroughly, there will be trouble. The three spirits are present everywhere in the person, and they are the punishment for his sins. The eldest spirit is called Peng Ju, he lives in the head and makes the vision cloud over and the hair fall out, [he causes] diseases of the mouth, face and teeth; the middle spirit is called Peng Zhi, he lives in the stomach and torments the five internal organs [heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys I. A.], reduces the amount of life energy and makes the person do evil; the youngest spirit is called Peng Qiao, he lives in the legs and troubles all the lower organs of the people, and stirs up the five senses [disposition, anger, sorrow, spite, joy I. A.] and removes bans from vices. These spirits resemble small children, and sometimes [they take on] the appearance of horses covered in hair two cun long. After the death of the person [the spirits of the body] go free and become gui the soul of the dead, in appearance the same as the person was in life, dressed in ordinary clothes. [ ] On the day of geng-shen no one closes their eyes all night, watching out for [the spirits of the body], and even ill people try to pretend that they are not sleeping at all, and then these spirits cannot make a report to the Heavenly emperor [44]. (33) Cheng huang miao ( Joss-House of the Guardian Spirit of the City) Within the city wall, in the northwest suburb. Note. The earliest reports on the construction of the chenghuang joss-house (guardian spirit of the city) date from 239. In the 6th 7th centuries, the cult of chenghuang was widely distributed in China; temples and joss-houses of this kind began to be built everywhere; from 934 chenghuangs were given the title of prince (wang) [45]. Chenghuangs were thought of as officials from another world (with quite a large staff of subordinates), posted to guard and protect the area from any sort of misfortunes and disasters: from natural disasters to unrest from evil spirits. The chenghuangs were in charge of all the living creatures, spirits and people of the area, and also of the lifespans. One of the first tales featuring a chenghuang is from the Tang era and contained in the collection Bao ying lu ( Notes on Retribution ) by Wang Gu ( 8th century): Wang Jian-yi, living in the Tang era, the assistant of the head of the province from Hongzhou, once fell seriously ill: it was as though an enormous lump had appeared in his stomach, which moved back and forth as he breathed. Quite broken down by the illness, Wang was confined to his bed for over a month when suddenly this lump rose to his heart and seized it as if the soul had flown away!.. Some time later Wang woke up and told his family the following: I saw a messenger from the other world called Ding Ying. He was holding a paper in his hands which proclaimed: 'A decree has been received from the chenghuang spirit to get Wang Jian-yi'. I followed the messenger. After 10 li we reached the chenghuang joss-house. The porter said: 'But Mr. Wang, you are still among the living, your good deeds are widely known, it is not your time yet to leave your body, how did you get here?' I demanded to be admitted to the chenghuang. 'If my lifespan is not over yet, allow me to return [to the world of the living]', I said. The chenghuang ordered his retinue to bring him a list of the living, checked it and replied: 'Yes, you have another five years to live'. And let me go [ ] [46]. As mentioned above, the roles of chenghuangs were usually played by historical figures who had done something

34 70 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 for the area, were famed for their service in it etc. In the Song era, the cult was further developed [47]. I will give some very interesting fragments from the quite extensive notes from the biji collection of the Song Zhao Yu-shi ( ) Bin tui lu ( Notes of a Deceased Person ): No one knows when chenghuang temples began to appear in districts and provinces. [ ] The chenghuang temple in Wuhu was built in the second year of the Wu rule under Chi-wu (239), the Qi Gongrong Yan and the Liang Wuling-wang give prayers in the chenghuang temples [i. e. they pray to them as chenghuangs I. A.], and there are notes in historical works about all of this. Thus, [the cult of chenghuangs] did not only exist in the Tang era! [ ] Now there are chenghuang temples all over the Heavenly kingdom and the ruling family either gives offerings to the joss-houses or gives [the spirits] titles. [Spirits] without titles are either given the same one as the [chenghuang] in the neighbouring area, or one that is attributed to them. This happens in different ways. As for names and surnames, the spirit is given them arbitrarily, and each time from a specific person. And how can the spirit object! In districts where there are cities, it can often happens that there are several [such] temples: for example, in the province of Pengzhou there is a chenghuang joss-house and a joss-house of the spirit of the city Locheng, and the joss-house of the xianhuang (guardian spirit of the district), which is quite unheard of! [48]. In time, the cult of chenghuangs became a state matter. In 1369, the founder of the Ming dynasty Zhu Yuan-zhang ( , ruled ) issued a series of decrees on the chenghuangs. The chenghuangs of six large cities received special princely titles; the heads of local administration of the country were obliged to personally read prayers in their temples; the chenghuangs of provinces received the gong title of nobility and were put on the same level as heads of departments; district chenghuangs received the title bo and the position of assistants of heads of departments. By the order of Zhu Yuan-zhang, the temple of the capital chenghuang was rebuilt; a wooden statue was also made of this god, which was painted and lacquered. In the temples of chenghuangs there were usually two statues of the spirit: one made of clay and the other of wood, and the latter was brought from the temple on a chair three times a year (spring, autumn and winter) with special ceremony, so that the chenghuang made an inspection of the territory in his control, pacified unruly evil spirits and helped the souls of dead relatives to return to a new life. Differences in the position of chenghuangs also were reflected in this ceremony: for example the chenghuang of a province was carried on a chair by 16 people, while the chenghuang of a district was only carried by eight people. Inspection trips by the chenghuang soon turned into lavish ceremonies involving many people. (34) Er gu miao ( Joss-House of Er-gu) On the terrace of Chuitai, just over three li to the southwest of the city. Previously [the terrace] was called Ergutai, and capital residents built a joss-house here, in order to pray to the spirit of Erxiangu ( Second Holy maiden). During the Ming dynasty, in the years of the rule of Hong-zhi ( ), the joss-house was renamed Bixiaoyuanjunci (Joss-house of the primordial sovereign of the azure dawn), but those versed in the affairs of dead people were unanimously opposed to this, and adherents of morals and customs broke the statue and prayers began to be made to Yu here, and the joss-house was called Yumiao (Joss-house of Yu), and also Yuwangtai (Terrace of Prince Yu). Another two closed galleries were built. Here respect was made to those who in ancient times and later were famed for their success in calming the waters [ ] a total of 19 people, who withstood the disasters [caused by Huang]he. Note. Yu was a legendary ruler who by the order of another rule, Shun, calmed the flood, and the flood began under the predecessor of the latter, emperor Yao, and continued, according to historical chronicles, for 22 years. The flood was regularly fought against, but only Yu was able to tame the elements: unlike his predecessors, he not only built dams, but also dug channels, i. e. he became the first Chinese irrigator. In Meng-zi it reads: In the era of Yao (2,357 BC), when the universe was not yet organised, the flood poured all over the face of the Earth, plants were extremely lavish, there were masses of beasts and birds, bread was not made, beasts and birds crowded out people, and tracks were made across China by the hooves of the former and the traces of the latter only Yao, grieving over this, put forward Shun, who began to establish order [ ] Yu cleaned nine rivers and the rivers Ji and Ta, directing them to the sea; he set up barriers on the rivers of Ru and Han, and also on the rivers of Huai and Si, directing them to Yangzijiang. After this China was able to feed itself [49]. Irrigation in China was long given importance, especially on the Huanghe river, famed for its capriciousness, and officials, who achieved considerable success in this field were often deified as in this case, when Zhou Cheng lists 19 people who became objects of prayer in Yumiao (this list is very detailed and does not just include names, but full positions, and also the areas that the officials came from; in the format of the current work I omit all of this). The area with the name of Yuwangtai (or Chuitai, which is mentioned in fragment No. 10) is located in the southeast suburb of modern Kaifeng.

35 I. ALIMOV. The Work by Zhou Cheng 71 (35) Shi ling gong miao ( Joss-house of the Divine Stone Master) On the south bank of Bianhe, west of the Xiangguociqiao bridge. It is said that to the south of Bianjing there was once the grave of Zhou Ling-gong, and before the grave there was a very frightening stone statue. Residents of the capital built the joss-house to pray to it, and called the joss-house Shilinggongmiao. Notes 1. Zhou Cheng, Song dong jing kao, Dan Yuan-mu dianjiao (Research on the Eastern Song Capital, critical text by Dan Yuan-mu) (Beijing, 1988), p. 2. This publication was made from a unique manuscript printed from board in 1762 and held at the Beijing University library. The following translation is made according to this publication. 2. Dan Yuan-mu, Translator's foreword, Song dong jing kao, pp See: Cheng Min-sheng, Shenyuan yu songdai shehuai: luelun cimiao ( The Power of spirits and Song society: on popular temples of the Song era ), Songshi yanjiu lunwen ji (Shijiazhuang, 1989) p An interesting fragment connected with giving the mountain spirits titles is contained in the bizi collection Dong-po zhi lin ( Forrest of Writings of Dong-po ) by the great Song writer Su Shi (, ): When I served in Fufeng long ago there was a terrible drought one year, and I asked one old man where I could pray on the borders of the region. The Taibaishan mountain is very miraculous, since antiquity there has not been a single prayer that went unanswered, he replied. But recently Xiang Chuan-shi was appointed to rule the region, and he gave the spirit of the mountain the title of Jimin-hou. Since then the prayers have been unanswered, and no one knows why. I thought this over. I began to read Tang huei yao, and found written there: In the 14th year of the rule of Tian-bao, a magician submitted a [report] to an important person, saying that in the cave of Jinxingdong in Taibaishan, there are valuable amulets and magic potions, and officials were sent there who found [all of this], and gave the spirit of the mountain the title of Lingyin-gong. After this, I realised what had caused the spirit's anger. I reported to the head of the region: officials should be sent to pray, and if the spirit agrees, then the title of gong should be restored, and then water will appear in the region again, as though from an uncorked bottle. Before they had managed to do anything, a mighty wind rose up the banners and curtains fluttered in the breeze, as if Buddha had appeared to the people! And then heavy rains began for three days without stopping, and that year there was a rich harvest. And I prepared bamboo tablets, where I described this story in detail and gave the [spirit of the mountain] the title of Mingying-gong. Then I copied it on to paper, and burnt the paper in the joss-house [of the spirit of the mountain]. On the day of making offerings a white mouse appeared over one chi long and ran to the wine and fruit on the altar, squeaked but did not touch anything. It's a dragon! said a knowledgeable old man. And this was the seventh year in the reign of Jia-yu (Su Shi, Dong-po zhi lin (Beijing, 2004), p. 145). The problem is that in old China there were five ranks of nobility (gong, hou, bo, zi and nan, in descending order), and when the mountain spirit, after he was already given the rank of gong a long time ago, in the Tang era, the shortsighted and evidently not very erudite Xiang Chuan-shi ( 11th century) suddenly gave it the lower rank of hou, the spirit had every reason to be offended for the undeserved lowering in rank. 5. As early as the Tang dynasty ( ) the cult of the fox became particularly widespread: Starting in the first years of the rule of the Tang Dynasty, many people began to pray to the fox fairy, and make offerings to it in their homes, to receive obsecration. They brought it human food and drink [ ] There was a saying: Where there is no fox, you cannot found a village (Tai-ping guang ji (Extensive Notes of the Years of the Rule of Tai-ping) (Beijing, 1959), v, p. 3658). On the cult of the fox in China, see the monograph by Y. Monschein, Der Zauber der Fuchsfee (Frankfurt/Main, 1988), and also my work: Kitaĭskii kul't lisy i Udivitel'naia vstrecha v Zapadnom Shu Li Syan'-minia ( The cult of the fox in China and The Marvellous Encounter at the Western Shu by Li Xian-min ), Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie III (St. Petersburg, 1993), pp Cheng Min-sheng, op. cit., pp For more detail see: Mify narodov mira (Myths of the Peoples of the World) (Moscow, 1991), i, p Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p For more detail see: Mify narodov mira, ii, p. 481; contemporary researcher Ma Shu-tian gives eight different versions of the origin of this divinity, including mythological ones. See: Ma Shu-tian, Huaxia zhushen (All the Spirits of the Heavenly Kingdom) (Beijing, 1990), pp Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p Zhao Yan-wei, Yun lu man chao (Unhurried Writings to Yunlu) (Shanghai, 1957), p Katalog gor i moreĭ (Catalogue of Mountains and Seas) (Moscow, 1977), p For more details, see: Yuan Ke, Zhou Ming, Zhongguo shenhua ziliao cuipian (Selection of Materials on Chinese Mythology) (Chengdu, 1985), pp ; Mori Yasutaro, Zhongguo gudai shenhua yanjiu (Studies on Ancient Chinese Myths) (Taibei, 1974), pp Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p For more details see: Liu Fu, Qing suo gao yi ( High Judgements at the Palace Gates ) (Shanghai, 1983), p Ibid., pp For more details see: Mify narodov mira, i, pp

36 72 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 3 SEPTEMBER I. A. Alimov, E. A. Serebriakov, Vsled za kist'iu (Following the Brush), ii (St. Petersburg, 2004), p For example: Shi Yu-Kun, Three Brave Men and Five Just Men, Russian translation (Moscow, 1974); see also the foreword by B. L. Riftin to this book: The story-teller Shi Yu-Kun and his story on the wise judge Bao and the brave defenders of justice, pp. 5 18; see also Mify narodov mira, I, p For more details here: ibid., ii, p Ma Shu-tian, op. cit., p Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p Mo-zi, Er shi er zi (Shanghai, 1990), p Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., pp Quoted from ibid., p Ibid. 26. Quoted from ibid., pp For more detail see Yuan Ke, Zhungguo shenhua chuansho jidian (Dictionary of Chinese Myths and Legends) (Shanghai, 1985), p. 5; idem, Mify drevnego Kitaia (Myths of Ancient China) (Moscow, 1987), pp , and commentary by B. L. Riftin, containing quotes from different written monuments: pp Zhu Yu, Pingzhou ketan ( From Talks in Pingzhou ), Chen Shi-dao. Hou-shan tancong. Zhu Yu. Pingzhou ketan (Shanghai, 1989), p Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p Quoted from: ibid., p See: Zhu Rui-xi, Sungdaide jieri ( Song holidays ), Shanghai shifan daxue xuebao III (1987), p Hou han shu ( History of the Late Haw Dynasty ), Ershiwushi (Shanghai, 1987), ii, p Yu Ying-Shih, O Soul, Come Back! A Study in the Changing Conceptions of the Soul and Afterlife in Pre-Buddhist China, Harvard Journal of Asian Studies XLVII (1982), p Sou shen ji ( Records of Spirits) (St. Petersburg, 1994), p Ying Shao, Feng su tong yi ( Sincere Meaning of Morals and Customs ), Sibu beiyao (Shanghai, 1936), c, p Sima Qian, Historical Notes, translated from the Chinese by R. V. Viatkin (Moscow, 1984), iv, pp For more detail see: Okamoto Saburo, Taizang fukong-no yurai-ni cuite kenkyu ( Research on the origin of the spirit Taishan fujun ), Toyogaku kenkyu 1 (1943), pp ; Yu Ying-shi, Zhongguo gudai sihou shi jie guande yanbian ( Evolution of Ancient Chinese ideas about the world of the dead ), Yanyuan lunxue ji (Beijing, 1984), pp Yuan Ke, Mify drevnego Kitaia, p Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p For more detail see: Ma Shu-tian, op. cit., pp For more detail see Zhonggou daojiao shi (History of Daoism in China) (Shanghai, 1990), pp ; E. A. Torchinov, Daotsism. Opyt istoriko-religiovecheskogo opisaniia (Daoism. Attempt at a Historical-Religious Description) (St. Petersburg, 1993). pp Zhou Cheng, op. cit., p For more detail see: J. J. de Groot, The Religious System of China (Leiden, 1901), iv/2, Pt. 1; Yu Ying-Shih, O Soul, Come Back! ; idem, Zhonggou gudai sihou shize guande yanbian. 44. Quoted from: Zhou Cheng, op. cit., pp Ma Shu-tian, op. cit., p Tai-ping guang ji (Extensive Notes of the Years of Tai-ping) (Beijing, 1959), ii, p On the chenghuang cult see the detailed work by D. Johnson, The city-god cults of T'ang and Sung China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies XLV/1 (1985), pp Zhao Yu-shi, Bing tui lu (Notes of a Deceased Persons) (Shanghai, 1983), p Meng-zi, iii, A, 4, from the Russian translation by P. S. Popov.

37 TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION MORE ABOUT SUN GUANG-XIAN AND BEI MENG SUO YAN1* I. Alimov There is very little information remaining about Sun Guang-xian (, 895? 968, second name Meng-wen, pen-name Baoguang-zi ); even his exact date of birth is not known [1]. His lifetime came at the very end of the Tang rule, the period of the Five Dynasties and the first years of the Song dynasty. Information on where Sun came from is also contradictory: well-known Song bibliophile Chen Zheng-sun (, ) wrote in his bibliography [2] that Sun Guang-xian was originally from Guiping in the region of Lingzhou (in the north-east part of what now is the Renshouxian district of Sichuan province) [3], and the meagre biography of Sun Guang-xian in Song dynastic history (j. 483) says the same. Still, one of the most well-known works by him Bei meng suo yan (, Short Sayings from Beimeng ) is signed, that is Sun Guang-xian from Fuchong (now in the province of Zhejiang). In Si ku quan shu zong mu [4] this circumstance is explained as follows: In Shi guo chun qiu ( Springs and Autumns of the Ten Kingdoms, ) it is said that he is originally from Guiping, but Guang-xian himself indicated Fuchun. In the introduction to the collection he writes that he was born in Mine, and that means that [Guang-xian] is from Shu [the old name of the present-day Sichuan province I. A.]. The mention of Fuchun apparently means that [Guang-xian] became a part of the nobility of that place [5]. At the moment the generally recognized version of Sun Guang-xian's origin is the first, i. e. that he comes from Guiping. Generations [of the Song family] worked on the land, but only Guang-xian began studying diligently from a young age, it is stated in Song dynastic history. Sun Guang-xian was the first in his family who resolved to escape from poverty, and set his mind on science, book-learning, arts and achieved considerable results in these areas. He followed the path of an official: he successfully passed the examinations and joined the public service and his first appointment the post of administrative assistant of his home region of Lingzhou [6]. The author of Springs and Autumns of the Ten Kingdoms, Qing historian Wu Zhi-yi ( 吳, second half of 17th first half of 18th century), says that it was at the end of the rule of the Tang dynasty. On the one hand, this evidence stresses once again the circumstance that Sun Guang-xian was born before 900 because the Tang dynasty ceased to exist in 907, and a seven year old boy could not be an official but on the other hand, there is still an evident error by Wu Zhi-yi, to which contemporary Chinese scholar Liu Zun-ming pointed out: even if we suppose that Sun Guang-xian came into the world in 895, it is still unimaginable that he could occupy a serious official post of this kind at the age of twelve. Most probably, one should rather consider the reign of the Early Shu ( ) when Sun Guang-xian served as a panguang [7]. While in Sichuan, Sun Guang-xian travelled quite a lot, went to Chengdu several times and became acquainted with many Shu scholars, and also hermits, Dao and Buddhist monks, who were given to writing verses. He also visited Shensi and Gansu, and after the accession of the Late Tang he left for the region of the downstream water of the Yangzi. * This work is a part of a chapter from a book dedicated to Chinese author's collections on the preparation of which I am working at the monument. My previous publications on Sun Guang-xian are short and far from perfect: I. A. Alimov, Preliminary information on Short Sayings from Beimeng by Sun Guang-xian (d. 968), XXI nauchnaia konferntsia Obtshestvo i gosudarstvo v Kitae I (Moscow, 1990); idem, Sun Guang-xian and the collection Short Sayings from Beimeng, Vsled za kist'iu: materialy k istorii sunskikh avtorskikh sbornikov bitszi. Issledovaniia. Perevody (St. Petersburg, 1996), i, pp I. Alimov, 2006

38 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 41 The military governor-general of Jingnan (a part of the territories of the present-day provinces of Hunan and Hubei), Gao Ji-chang [8], when he became Nanping-wang, set up his own court and started to enlist the services of educated people and talented bibliophiles. Sun Guang-xian had a few acquaintances among his courtiers, and one of them, the adviser of the governor-general Liang Zhen [9], in the summer of 926 introduced Sun Guang-xian to the court of the smallest of all the state formations in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Gao Ji-chang gave Sun Guang-xian a warm welcome and appointed him to serve in his secretariat. His appointment was more in keeping with Sun Guang-xian's expectations than his previous post in the Early Shu where, as a contemporary scholar Zhuang Xue-jun, says, even the local learned men weren't much in demand, let alone the newly arrived offspring of a poor family [10]. After Liang Zhen retired because of old age, Sun Guang-xian inherited his post and became the adviser in state matters to Gao Ji-chang's successor, his son Gao Cong-hui [11], and was, as Song shi says, awarded gold and purple, that is the regalia of the high court officials, a golden stamp on a purple cord. Over the course of time Sun Guang-xian became very influential at the Jingnan court and started to have an active effect the internal and foreign policy of the principality. It was he who advised a milder taxation for the population and to maintain friendly relations with neighbouring rulers (for example, Sun Guang-xian persuaded Gao Ji-chang not to spoil their relations with the neighbouring kingdom Chu, arguing that the people and officials had just recovered from war disorders Sun Guang-xian is rightly considered a prominent scholar and literary man in Song dynastic history he is called a profound connoisseur of canonical and historical works, a man of immense learning, who sought after new knowledge, and also had a book collection of several thousand juans [13], all the books of which, his contemporaries say, he read and if necessary corrected himself. Sun Guang-xian left a great number of prosaic and poetic works behind, he was a recognized master of verses in the genre of ci, and was distinguished by the originality of his style, and the number of verses that belonged to his brush (61), included in the famous collection Hua jian ji (, Among the Flowers ) [14], is only surpassed by the number of verses Bei meng suo yan was written by Sun Guang-Xian during his stay in Jingnan at the service of the Gao family; some additions were made by him later [17]. The collection is recorded in the Song dynastic history in as many as twenty juans [18]. The above-mentioned Chen Zhen-sun says: Bei meng suo yan, thirty juans. The author is the head of the Huangzhou region, Lingjing Sun Guang-xian (Meng-wen). It records the events of the end of the Tang *** *** and that it was not worth flinging Jingnan into another turmoil). Sun Guang-xian stayed at the Jingnan court for thirty seven years, up to 963: he also served Gao Bao-zhong, Gao Bao-xiu and Gao Ji-chong [12]. It is well known that Sun Guang-xian occupied the posts of an assistant to a jiedushi, yueshi zhongcheng (the personal secretary to the prince), the head of the censorship office, and others. When in 960 the Song dynasty came to power in China, Sun Guang-xian was, perhaps, the most powerful and influential official in the lands of Jingnan. Making use of this, in 963 he easily convinced Gao Ji-chong to give the lands of Jingnan as a gift to the Song court and resign themselves to them, acknowledging the power of Song of their own free will. The Song Tai-zu was pleased by this display of obedience; after becoming aware of the role Sun Guang-xian played in the acquisition of Jingnan, the emperor appointed him head of the Huangzhou region (it was located on the territory of the present-day province Guangxi) and Sun Guang-xian occupied this post from 963 till 968. His management, apparently, brought fame to him, because the minister Zhao Pu (, ) recommended Sun Guang-xian for the post of xueshi ( learned man ) at the court academy of Hanlinyuan, but the wish of the scholar to become a member of that academy was not fulfilled, as his death prevented him from assuming the office. Thus, in his lifetime, and he lived seventy three years, Sun Guang-xian witnessed the rule of seven dynasties and served at the courts of three of them, the Early Shu, Jingnan and Song. by the celebrated poet Wen Ting-yun (, 820? 870?) [15]. Sun Guang-xian was also a talented historian. His wide erudition, large book collection, indefatigable thirst for knowledge all this served as the basis for his numerous works. It is well known that Sun Guang-xian wrote a number of works lost as early as in the reign of Song, of which only the titles have survived: Xü tong li (, Continuation of the General Calendar ), Ju zhai ji (, Collection from the Ju zhai Cabinet ), Jing tai ji (, Jing Terraces ) and others [16]. We will focus our attention on the collection of biji Bei meng suo yan written by Sun Guang-xian. and all the states [of the period] of Five Dynasties. Guang-xian went to serve under Jingnan Gao Cong-Hue and served three generations of his family. Bei meng means [a place] to the North from the lake Mengze [19]. Chao Gong-wu [20] says: Bei meng sou yan, 20 juans. The author is Jingnan Sun Guang-xian. Guang-xian came from Shu, travelled

39 42 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 with Yang Pi and Yuan Deng, and heard a lot [from them] about the sayings and deeds of the perfect sage from the time of the reign of the Tang, and so he collected it all together. He also added the events of the times of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. From Zuo[zhuan] he took [the phrase]: He hunted in Meng, which is to the South of the River, meaning that he served the Gao family, in the lands to the North of the River that is where the name comes from [21]. The cited quotations probably imply that as early as in the time of Song at least two variants (versions) of the book were known, differing in that one of them had ten juans less; perhaps this is all because of errors in the bibliographies [22]; but most probably a part of Bei meng suo yan was already lost in the time of the Song dynasty this supposition is supported both by the author's foreword to the collection, where Sun Guang-xian himself wrote that Bei meng suo yan had thirty juans, and the contemporary critical edition of the text based on the manuscript that belonged to the library of the Qing textual critic Miao Quan-sun (, ), in which, besides the main body of twenty juans described in later bibliographies, four more juans were enclosed of the earlier lost and reconstructed mostly with the help of the anthology Tai ping guang ji (, Extensive Notes of the Tai-ping Years ) [23]. The size of twenty juans is mentioned in Jiang yun lou shu mu (, The Catalogue of Books from the Jiangyunlou One glance at the table of contents of the contemporary edition of the collection by Sun Guang-xian is enough to make sure that Bei meng suo yan really does discuss the time of Tang and the Five Dynasties, the time of action of the majority of the fragments is the end of the reign of the house of Tang, and also the Late Liang, Late Tang and Late Jin dynasties. It was no accident that Sun Guang-xian turned precisely to this period: firstly, he was a contemporary and witness of many of the events he recorded, and thanks to his social position he personally knew many historical figures; secondly, as Sun Guang-xian says in the foreword to his collection under the Tang in the time of turmoil and disorder of the years of the reign of Guang-ming ( ) rare books disappeared without trace, and after the emperor Wu-zong [reigned from 841 till 847 I. A.] everything was deserted and obscure, and there was no one to pass on the memory of the glorious deeds at the court and in the provinces, and Sun Guang-xian ashamed of the incompleteness of his knowledge decided to fill this gap [26]. In fact, the entire collection Bei meng suo yan serves one major task of preserving information on the historical events of the swiftly disappearing epoch of fragmentation, bogged down in disorder and struggle for power, when the once prosperous, powerful and flourishing *** Tower ) by the early Qing Qian Qian-yi (his library burned down in the winter of 1650, only a catalogue in four juans remained); the Qing Zhang Jin-wu mentions in Ai ri qing lu cang shu zhi (, Notes on the Books Kept at the Airiqinglu Refuge ) that he has a copy of the book printed in Shensi as early as in the time of Song, which used to belong to Xin Yue-sue, but that list abounds in inaccuracies and mistakes there are misprints in the text such as and, and, and, and, that could be corrected in accordance with the meaning, but I refrained from doing it, fearing to distort [the text], and decided to wait for another copy ; apparently, Zhang Jin-wu finally got hold of another copy and conducted a serious textual work, because it was his copy of the text of the collection that happened to be included in the Imperial Library. Although in the General Catalogue another copy of Bei meng suo yan is also mentioned, which circulated in the time of the Qing dynasty and was included in the Ming anthology Bai hai (, A Sea of Trifles ), and the commentary on this copy is that it is printed with so many mistakes that it is unreadable [24]. As for the first xylographic edition of Bei meng suo yan, Kong Fan-li supposed that this edition was probably organized by the author's sons between 968 and 977 [25]. Tang state ceased to exist. In some fragments Sun Guang-xian, in accordance with the tradition, going back to Shi ji (, Historical Notes ), gives after the main text his own opinion or addition that begins with the words I, Baoguang-zi, say, as if distancing himself from the above-said and emphasizing the objectivity of the reported information [27]. Sun Guang-xian's bitter intonations burst through once in a while in the few lines of the author's digressions: it is hard for a person to see the customary, centuries-old system crumple before their eyes and a reborn world, just as durable, never comes to replace it, but again and again new kingdoms crumble that were created only yesterday at the cost of a great deal of blood. And Sun Guang-xian did not live to see the long-awaited power come back to the Heavenly Empire in the form of the house of Song, because he only witnessed the very beginning of the new long reign Sun Guang-xian simply did his duty as he understood it in the framework of a thousand-year Confucian literary tradition: not to create but to pass on, to preserve with care and to continue the work of many generations of historians who had laboured with the same thoroughness before him. His work is characterized by scrupulousness that partly dictated the laconic nature, precision and striving for coverage of all possible sources besides written monuments Sun Guang-xian lists in his foreword the names of his two

40 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 43 living informants, in conversations with whom he got the information of interest to him which he included in the collection they were a deputy head of administration of the region, Yang Pi from Fengxiang In the text of Bei meng suo yan there are also some mentions of the fact that Sun Guang-xian checked various facts in personal interviews with the witnesses: I, Baoguang-zi, met in my time a junjiao from Jimeng, his name was Sun, and he told me in great detail how master Zhang encountered an immortal (fragment No. 232, see the complete translation below). Also in a few fragments of the collection (these cases are especially frequent from the sixth till the ninth juan) there is an addition at the end heard from Liu Shan-fu [28]. The latter is the author of the collection Jin xi jian tan We should once again stress the thoroughness of the examination of the information received, which Sun Guang-xian declares in his foreword to be one of the main principles of an author's work (and this thoroughness is respectfully mentioned in all the bibliographies that list the Bei meng suo yan collection): wishing to fill the gaps in official historical works, Sun Guang-xian made sure any information was checked three times [in other sources], not daring to rely solely on himself [31]. The value and uniqueness of Sun Guang-xian's book was already evident to his contemporaries: during the compilation of the above-mentioned anthology Tai ping guang ji, the imperial commission actively used Bei meng suo yan, to which Lu Jian-zeng (, 1690?), the publisher of the book series Ya yu tang cong shu [32]: testifies in his foreword: Under the Song, when in the years of Tai ping xing-guo Li Fang and others compiled Extensive Notes in five hundred juans, they took from the Shorter Sayings more material than from anywhere else [33]. *** *** and a member of the suite of the heir of the throne Yuan Deng ; that is all that is known to us about these people. (, Idle Conversations in Jinxi ), now lost [29]. Although, as a rule, it says wen ( heard ), in some places in Sun Guang-xian's work it says jian, that is: saw/read in Idle Conversations by Liu Shan-fu (for example, fragment No. 160), and in one fragment it says quite definitely:, taken from Idle Conversations by Liu Shan-fu (fragment No. 174). In other cases, it is not quite clear if Sun Guang-xian received the information from Liu Shan-fu personally or copied it out of his collection [30]. If he copied it out then the extracts or at least the retellings of the plot-lines from Jin xi jian tan remained only in Sun Guang-xian's collection. However, the author of the contemporary critical text of Bei meng suo yan, Lin Ai-yuan, mentions that along with the truly unique information that is contained in this collection, the Shorter Sayings also contain regrettable instances of inaccurate interpretations of historical events, which he tends to call mistakes. Naturally, some of the inaccuracies became evident only at the present level of development of the Chinese humanities; besides to interpret correctly the maze of the names and events of the 10th century is sometimes hard for a present-day philologist armed with a vast arsenal of dictionaries and reference books; and Sun Guang-xian himself, who assigned primary importance to precision and thoroughness, using all sources available to him, was unaware of this, although he traditionally gave his due to the limitations of human knowledge: I hope that the experts don't find too many mistakes here. But already in the text of his collection there are some additions by later owners who guardedly express their opinion on certain confusion that emerged in relation to one or other character: The nineteenth extract from the given juan [the ninth I. A.], which talks of Lu Wo, guanchashi [34] from Shen[zhou], and the story about liangshi Lu Hang from the eighth juan are very similar stories, I'm afraid Hang and Wo are, in fact, one person [35]. Indeed, the fragments No. 147 and No. 171 contain somewhat similar stories about Lu Hang and Lu Wo, and the latter was a guanchashi, and the first was a liangshi, i. e. an anchashi, a district inspector, but probably in this case we are dealing with a contamination of characters, information about which is very meagre; although, of course, we should not rule out the possibility of an ordinary slip of the pen (mistake) made by Sun Guang-xian himself, as well as later copyists of Bei meng suo yan. In the text of the collection there is some even more striking evidence of later interventions: thus, in the fragment No. 123 the name of the official post buzouguan is used (an official of regional administration whose responsibilities included supervising the collection of taxes and giving employment to and dismissing officials). This post only appeared, as far as I am aware, in the time of the Song dynasty, in 1080, and how else could the term for it appear in the text by an author who died over a hundred years before that, but through the fault of later editors or the carelessness of later copyists? This is not an isolated instance.

41 44 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Shorter Sayings from Beimeng is quite an extensive collection of biji (I use a contemporary critical text in twenty juans of the main body and four juans of additions that include 416 fragments altogether [36]), mainly anecdotal works written in the style of an unofficial historical work; and although the material of Bei meng suo yan is not in any way organized by the author, the main topics of the collection are typical and can be singled out quite easily. These fragments discuss historical figures and expand (supplement, disprove, clarify, add to) the information on them that we can find in official and semi-official historical works. Primarily, these are episodes from the lives of members of the various ruling families (for example, in the eighteenth and nineteenth juans, there are twenty three stories relating to the late Tang Ming-zong); there is also information in the collection about Tang emperors and the emperors' relatives: take the classic example with which Bei meng suo yan begins the history of the Tang Xi-zong, who preferred having fun to everything else on Earth, especially playing ball games, which ends with the conclusion: knowing the ruler's predilections, one can judge his rule (fragment No. 1). This fragment is often quoted in diverse historical works of later times. The heroes of the collection are also rulers of the Five Dynasties period: the founder of the late Liang Zhu Wen, the late Tang Zhuang-zong (on the throne ) and Ming-zong (on the throne ), the Wu rules Yang Xing-mi (, ) and Yang Wo (, ), the early Shu Wang Jian (, ), members of the Chu family Ma, and many others, not to mention members of the Gao family, who ruled in Jingnan. Among the heroes of Sun Guang-xian's work, there are many famous poets and men of letters: Gu Kuang (, ), Bo Ju-yi (, ), Li Shang-yin (, ?), Wen Ting-yun, Pi Ri-xiu (, 834? 883), Ne Yi-zhong (, ?), Du Xun-he (, ), Lo Yin (, ), Wei Zhuang and others, and the fragments concerning them are quite extensive and informative, and often contain poetic quotations. The vast majority of the heroes of Bei meng suo yan are officials who occupied important posts at the courts of various dynasties, including Li De-yu (, ), his father Li Ji-fu (, 8th century), Niu Seng-ru (, ), Cheng Rui (, 9th century) and others. These are contemporaries of the author, and almost nothing is known about the vast majority of them except for their names usually representatives of higher, educated sections of Sun Guang-xian's society, which is shown by the ranks and titles added to the names: dignitaries, ministers, the nobility, winners of state exams, and much more rarely, men of letters, hermits, Daos or followers of Buddha's teaching. Information about them is unique and frequently significantly broadens our ideas about the biography of a certain historical personage (if, of course, at least fragments of this biography have survived). For example, in official sources *** about the successful late Tang official Liu Zang (, 10th century) it is not said that in his youth, when he became an orphan at a young age, he was ignorant and limited he was taught to read and write, but [Zang] did not learn anything and his uncle on his mother's side was forced to use corporal punishment (in short, to beat his nephew with a cane), which did not have a positive result. Liu Zang's talents were revealed later when he ran away from home to the Songshan mountains and met an old man there who had such a good influence on the youth that several years later Liu not only made up for the gaps in his education, but passed all his exams and embarked on a brilliant career as an official (fragment No. 175). Other fragments discuss various details of events which took place at the end of the Tang Dynasty or during the Five Dynasties (in the seventh juan there are over 20 stories about incidents at state exams); modern researcher Zhuang Xue-jun notes that in comparison with other works of the time, it is Bei meng suo yan which contains such a large number of details about the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties [37]; these fragments often significantly broaden our knowledge of this historical period or give an interpretation of certain events which differs from the official one. For example, in Jiu wu dai shi (, The Old History of the Five Dynasties ), j. 2, it says of the death of the second to last Tang emperor Zhao-zong (on the throne ): On the day of ren-yan in the eighth month of the first year under the rule of Tian-yu (904) Zhao-zong was killed in the imperial chamber. In Xin Tang shu (, The New History of the Tang [Dynasty]), j. 10, there is more detail: In the eighth month on the day of ren-yan, Quan-zhong [ordered] the right and left heads of the imperial guard Zhu Yu-gong and Shi Shu-cong, and also the head of the military council Jiang Xuan-hui to send troops to seize the palace gates. On that night the emperor died, he was 38 years old. Jiu Tang shu (, The Old History of the Tang [Dynasty] ) has even more detail: Zhu Quan-zhong ordered the left head of the imperial guard Zhu Yu-gong, the right head of the imperial guard Shi Shu-cong and the head of the military council Jian Xuan-hui to kill the emperor in the women's rooms. < > At night, Jiang Xuan-hui chose 100 people for the second watch headed by the officer of the watch Shi Tai, and [they] started shouting by the gates to the internal rooms that the troops had been defeated, and wish to report this urgently the ruler personally. The gates were opened. < > The emperor was sleeping, but woke up from the noise. Shi Tai with a sword in hand entered

42 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 45 and women's rooms, and the emperor in his nightgown tried to flee, running between the columns, but Tai caught up with him and struck him down. Sun Guang-xian puts it somewhat differently in the 15th juan (fragment No. 246): Zhao-zong moved the border to Lo[yang], but everyone in his circle was from Bian[liang], and although there were important names among them, they were like empty vessels, and [in Luoyang] they felt as though they were trapped in a cage, dispirited and joyless. Zhu Quan-zhong, seeing that all the ruling princes were thinking about saving [the dynasty], began to worry that the emperor was [still] making plans to flee. The head of the palace guard Zhu Yu-liang [38] gathered soldiers in the courtyard before the palace with complaints about lack of food and clothing. The emperor was dying, and Furthermore, there are also stories in Bei meng suo yan connected with the magical world and supernatural creatures souls of the dead, saints and immortals, which are seeking vengeance, etc., but their weight, so to speak, is not as important and is mainly concentrated in the first four juans of additions; fragments of this kind in the main body are usually not self-sufficient in the sense of having a fantastic element, but are grouped with similar fragments illustrating events from the life of a historical personage, simply in unusual circumstances: it seems that Sun Guang-xian was only interested in the supernatural The text of Bei meng suo yan is full of names, and because of the uniqueness of many of the materials, I think it is appropriate and even essential to give a list of the characters in this collection here. This list is very laconic and only contains the names of people figuring in the collection, both in pinyin and in the Chinese original (only obviously uncertain names have been *** *** Yu-liang, leading the soldiers, moved into the palace. The emperor fell to the ground, and then tried to hide in the internal [rooms], but the officers found him. Is this a rebellion?! the emperor cried. You subject is unable to be so disrespectful, Yu-liang replied. A decree has been received from the head commander [i. e. Zhu Quan-zhong I. A.]. The emperor ran into the palace kitchen, [grabbed] a kitchen knife and killed several of his pursuers, but was eventually killed by the rebelling soldiers. It is not certain what really happened, but in Sun Guang-xian's version the second to last Tang emperor does not look like a coward, and Lin Ai-yuan is inclined to believe the opinion of the author of Bei meng suo yan [39]. which goes outside the boundaries of the ordinary world as a background for stories [40]. On the whole, the collection Bei meng suo yan is unusually uniform and even in this sense it is an extremely valuable source on Chinese history of the end of the Tang dynasty and the period of the Five Dynasties, and its merits were already appreciated by contemporaries for example, the great Song historian Sima Guang (, ) made wide use of Bei meng suo yan in compiling Zi zhi tong jian (, A Universal Mirror to Assist Rule ) [41]. Comprehensive research of Sun Guang-xian's collection continues to this day [42]. left out, such as a certain Zhang, man of letters Liu, etc., and also people whose identity is difficult to establish and requires additional comparative research Shilang Cui, Langzhong Wang, etc.); the numbers indicate the fragments of Bei meng suo yan where the person is mentioned, regardless of his role in this fragment. Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. An Peixin 241 An Shijian 85 An Siqian 342 An Zhongba 6 An Zhonghui 253, 285, 290, 291, 294, 315 An Zhongrong 401 Ban Gu 7 Bao He 133 Baoguangzi 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 67, 114, 168, 169, 192, 203, 206, 217, 229, 231, 232, 235, 237, 253, 400, 401 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Bi Cheng 22, 53, 74 Bian Gang 257 Bian Xian 32 Bo Juyi 8, 9 Bo Minzhong 9, 43 Bu Shang 180 Cai Chong 235 Cai Jing 45, 57 Cai Shuxiang 341 Cai Tian 200 Cao Que 74, 138 Cao Kuan 401 Cao Ma 130

43 46 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Cao Tang 73, 82 Cen Wenben 310 Chang Jian 292 Chang Legong 40 Chang Xingru 226 Chang Xiu 60 Chang Zhuang 404 Chen Cangqi 412 Chen Di 356 Chen Fan 174 Chen Hui 43 Chen Jingxuan 55, 87, 202, 347, 348, 368 Chen Lin 236 Chen Shang 7 Chen Tao 78 Chen Xiufu 54, 154 Chen Yong 129 Chen Zhaofu 323 Chen Zixiao 178 Chen Ziyang 77 Cheng Guiren 292 Cheng He 196 Cheng Rui 61, 75, 126, 158, 216, 237, 252, 329, 282 Chenghui 301 Chou Yin 256 Cui Anqian 38, 55, 273 Cui Jin 235 Cui Jue 玨 36 Cui Qiu 235 Cui Shenyou 51, 74 Cui Shu 184 Cui Xuan 10, 15 Cui Xuan 34, 181 Cui Ya 196 Cui Yan 234 Cui Yin 46, 51, 131, 241, 245, 273 Cui Yisun 297 Cui Yong 186, 206 Cui Yuan 248 Cui Yuanliang 204 Cui Yuchang 70 Cui Zhaoju 195 Cui Zhaowei 217, 234 Cui Zhuan 250 Cui Xiе 290, 300 Dai Shulun 244 Dan Keji 240 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Dan Zhu 7 Dezong (Tang) 244, 269 Di Guichang 173 Ding Hui 263 Ding Yanhui 312 Ding Маоgui 206 Dong Chang 81, 88 Dong Huaijin 255 Dong Zhang 253, 303 Dongfang Shuo 217 Dou Chongxian 190 Dou Fan 67 Dou Hui 190 Dou Jue 226, 235 Dou Luge 290, 305 Dou Luzuo 146 Dou Pang 108 Dou Wenchang 116 Dou Yong 190 Du Bingong 52, 68 Du Cong 12, 25, 35, 40, 67, 76 Du Dexiang 178 Du Guangting 48, 104, 129, 333, 352, 358 Du Gusun 248 Du He 321 Du Hong 46, 86 Du Mu 134 Du Rangneng 233 Du Ruxiu 188 Du Shenquan 40, 183 Du Sunhe 71, 119, 135, 257 Du Tao 136 Du Wuyin 136 Du Yanlin 彥 183 Du Yanmei 183 Du You 12 Du Yuankai 7 Du Zhenglun 223 Duan Chengshi 141 Duan Ning 287 Duan Wenchang 23, 170 Duan Yizong 197 Dunxi 216 E Feng 333 Fajin 157 Fan Li 48 Fan Rubi 58 Fan Yanggong 58

44 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 47 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Fan Yanguang 311, 313, 315 Fang Gan 112, 117 Feng Dao 288, 300, 306, 308, 315 Feng Dingxiang 鄉 206 Feng Shunqing 304 Feng Su 166 Feng Wei 40, 96, 129, 130, 166, 327, 345 Feng Zao 166 Fu Daozhao 256 Fu Meng 314 Fu Yanchao 彥 285 Fu Zai 93, 96 Gai Juyuan 65 Gao Baorong 369 Gao Baoxiu 369 Gao Baojie 416 Gao Ce 95 Gao Chan 134 Gao Chengzhi 113 Gao Chongwen 96, 132 Gao Conghui Nanpingwang 329, 335, 371, 416 Gao Feng 321 Gao Yixiu 276 Gao Jichang 256, 329, 366, 415 Gao Pian 17, 18, 30, 32, 90, 95, 200, 201, 235 Gao Shi 19 Gao Xingsi 262 Gao Xun 229 Gao You 394 Gao Zhirou 314 Gaozu (Jin) 378 Go Congqian 285 Ge Congzhou 255, 275 Go Chongtao 301 Go Yanlang 彥 399 Go Yuanzheng 235 Go Ziyi 234 Gong Xian 105 Gongcheng Tong 339 Gongcheng Yi 19 Gou Wei 125 Gu Chongtao 281 Gu Kuang 133, 148 Gu Neng 180 Gu Qiong 215, 255 Gu Shiyan 6 Gu Xun 320 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Gu Yanhui 彥 57, 368 Gu Yanlang 彥 49, 57, 212, 341 Gu Yun 117, 131 Guan Tu 60 Guan Xiaorong 120 Guanxiu 59, 327 Gui Deng 89 Gui Fan 154 Gui Qin 218 Gui Rong 127 Guiben 216 Guiguzi 231 Han Dingci 354 Han Jian 50, 234, 235, 237, 238, 243, 244, 270 Han Jian 228 Han Quanhui 241, 242, 245, 260, 273 Han Yu 4, 14, 114, 188 Han Zhao 95, 323 Han Zongzhao 102 Hao Xuzhou 虛 123 He Facheng 200 He Huan 329 He Jingchong 204 He Kui 324, 325 He Ning 110 He Yin 61 He Zangyao 253 Hong Mi 302 Hou Changye 103 Hou He 80, 96 Hou Jing 401 Hou Yong 146 Houzhu (early Shu), 323, 324, 334, 344 Wang Yan Hu Ceng 134 Hu Gui 255 Hu Xiulin 344 Huaijun 335 Huang Chao 黃巢 31, 62, 71, 103, 110, 147, 165, 167, 168, 169, 171, 180, 186, 207, 213, 215, 222, 226, 227, 235, 237, 243, 261, 267, 269, 271, 401 Huang Chengzhen 黃 332 Huang Fei 黃 94 Huang Wanhu 黃 戶 334 Huangfu Shi 114

45 48 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Huangfu Xuan 335 Hueizhao 360 Huo Yanwei 彥 284 Jia Dao 133, 147 Jia Delun 279 Jia Yi 19, 290 Jiang Chun 318 Jiang Ning 82 Jiang Shen 74 Jiang Taigong 174 Jiang XuanHui 247, 248, 249 Jiang Yanwen 彥溫 253 Jiang Zhi 318 Jie YuanGui 298 Jing Xiang 263, 271, 276 Jing Xinmo 307 Kang Deng 310 Kang Shoushang 102 Kong Qian 287 Kong Wei 131, 238 Kong Xun 284, 290 Kong Zhaowei 178 Kong Zheng 177 Lai Peng 124 Lei Man 75, 329 Li Aihou 109 Li Ao 翱 114 Li Bi 203 Li Bo 77, 115, 122 Li Changfu 85, 191 Li Changyan 235 Li Cheng 29, 123 Li Chixin 269 Li Congjing 287 Li Congmin 314 Li Congrong 291, 307, 316, 384 Li Cunxin 274, 282 Li Cunxiu 256, 269 Li Cunyi 281 Li Cunyu 109 Li Dang 36, 152 Li Defu 397 Li Deyang 212 Li Deyu 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 52, 101, 141 Li Dong 133 Li Du 206, 226, 235, 236 Li Duan 80 Li E 292 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Li Fan 262 Li Fu 104, 167 Li Fu 29 Li Fuxiang 104, 109, 167, 168 Li Gao 213 Li Gochang 269 Li Gongwei 98, 112 Li Guan 114 Li Guang 178 Li Guangyan 26 Li Guyan 24, 43 Li Han 145 Li Hang 168 Li Hanzhi 252 Li He 134, 180 Li Jifu 2, 101, 141, 320 Li Jixuan 287 Li Jiyun 245 Li Jingquan 309 Li Jingxun 74 Li Jingyi 220, 375 Li Ju 382 Li Juchuan 243 Li Keju 231 Li Kerang 269 Li Keyong 50, 234, 236, 269, 270, 271, 273, 274, 401 Li Kuangchou 230 Li Kuangwei 230 Li Ling 305 Li Lingai 383, 390 Li Manxi 286 Li Maozhen 130, 228, 233, 234, 237, 241, 242, 245, 256, 270 Li Peng 176 Li Pin 94, 135 Li Qi 100, 118, 290 Li Qiu 109 Li Quanzhong 231 Li Rao 125 Li Renbiao 391 Li Renju 253 Li Shanfu 225 Li Shangyin 15, 68, 131 Li Shaofeng 109 Li Shen 10, 80, 97 Li Shenyi 243 Li Shi 29 Li Shirui 銳 261

46 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 49 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Li Shiwang 108 Li Shui 127 Li Sian 259 Li Siyi 215 Li Taijia 95 Li Tunan 37 Li Wan 93 Li Wuqiu 397 Li Xi 56, 114, 127, 234 Li Xiji 236, 271 Li Xixuan 320 Li Xianbai 174 Li Xuan 395 Li Xuanqing 5 Li Xun 33 Li Yan 172 Li Yan 173 Li Yan 323 Li Yanyu 183 Li Yi 164 Li Yin 161 Li Yong 208 Li Yuan 73, 110 Li Zairen 64, 366, 380 Li Zanhua 288 Li Zhao 83 Li Zhao 74, 168 Li Zherong 246 Li Zhen 248, 276 Li Zhenbao 230 Li Zhuo 17 Li Zhoutong 233 Li Zhouyi 265 Liang Hao 114 Liang Weiyi 204 Liang Xin 181 Liang Zheng 136, 415 Liao Guangxuan 98 Lin Fu 271 Lin Yan 261 Lin Yong 326 Linghu Chu 15, 131 Linghu Hao 10, 15 Linghu Tao 10, 15, 68, 72, 111, 117, 120 Liu Bei 92 Liu Bi 90, 132, 211 Liu Can 248 Liu Changmei 125 Liu Chong 267 Liu Chonggui 44, 137, 138, 234 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Liu Chonglu 56, 127 Liu Chongwang 208 Liu Chongyi 208 Liu Cong 277 Liu Cunba 285 Liu Cunji 285 Liu Cunque 285 Liu Cunwo 285 Liu Daoji 140 Liu Deren 112 Liu E 11 Liu Fangyu 314 Liu Guang 229 Liu Han 84 Liu Hanhong 97 Liu Jianfeng 218 Liu Jianfeng 286 Liu Jing 28 Liu Jishu 247 Liu Jue 175 Liu Jurong 201 Liu Ke 45 Liu Mengde 115 Liu Pengju 160 Liu Pi 49, 66, 173, 212, 225 Liu Qian 99 Liu Rengong 240, 354 Liu Sanfu 11 Liu Shanfu 18, 121, 137, 138, 139, 140, 155, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 165, 174, 220, 375 Liu Tui 115, 39, 60 Liu Xian 366 Liu Xin 275, 280 Liu Xiue 130 Liu Xuanji 28 Liu Xubai 虛 105 Liu Yao 248 Liu Yatui 286 Liu Yinheng 175 Liu Yue 308 Liu Yuxi 8 Liu Zan 175 Liu Zao 381 Liu Zhan 28, 102, 175 Liu Zhenchang 45 Liu Zheng 瑊 248 Liu Zhijun 50, 130, 325 Liu Zhongying 65, 365

47 50 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Liu Zongyuan 114 Liu, empress (late 285, 286, 287 Tang) Lo Debo 16 Lo Fu 137 Lo Gun 94 Lo Hongxin 239 Lo Jiao 198 Lo Jiugao 63 Lo Shao 74 Lo Shaowei 353 Lo Shaowei 239, 278, 279 Lo Yin 15, 88, 112, 117, 134, 277 Lo Yuangao 55 Lo Zhaoran 204 Lo Zhi 87 Lo Zhouhan 239, 279 Lu Binyu 112 Lu Cheng 367 Lu Dan 37, 100 Lu Deng 296 Lu Deyan 364 Lu Fahe 401 Lu Fan 209, 235 Lu Gongxie 112 Lu Guangqi 啟 58, 245 Lu Guimeng 7, 14, 112, 113 Lu Hang 147 Lu Jingzhi 337 Lu Qianguan 42 Lu Qinghong 130 Lu Xisheng 58, 112 Lu Xie 27, 69, 76, 115, 147, 171 Lu Wei 58 Lu Yan 32, 63, 189, 364 Lu Yanrang 126, 133 Lu Yi 58, 105, 113, 248 Lu Zhao 21 Lu Zhi 300, 367 Lu Zhonglian 272 Lu Во 171 Lü Yongzhi 151, 201 Ma Chuqian 333, 358 Ma Er 290 Ma Jing 256 Ma Xifan 259, 336, 377 Ma Xisheng 336, 377 Ma Xizhen 377 Ma Yin 290 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Ma You 231 Ma Yu 354 Ma Zhi 17, 97 Man Cun 198 Man Ji 198 Mao Wenxi 154 Mao Wenyan 320 Mao Zhen 233, 237 Men Changqi 121 Men Hanqiong 315 Men Haoran 122 Men Hongwei 153 Men Hu 311 Men Shendeng 287 Meng Fangli 229 Menzi 14 Mingzong (late Tang) 249, 253, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 290, 291, 292, 293, 296, 298, 300, 303, 306, 307, 314, 329, 366, 378, 384 Mozi 281 Mu Yanhui 168 Mu Zhaosi 335 Ne Yizhong 19 Niu Cong 197 Niu Sengru 8, 9, 134, 258 Niu Xianke 9 Niu Xiji 343 Niu Xiu 55 Ouyang Kan 192 Pan Anren 82 Pan Shu 121 Pan Wan 254 Pan Yue 32 Pang Xun 186, 269 Pei Can 215 Pei Che 106 Pei Di 142 Pei Du 178, 235, 258 Pei Mingli 190 Pei Qiu 89 Pei Shu 248 Pei Tan 4, 145, 170, 178 Pei Tiao 63 Pei Xingjian 235 Pei Xiu 98, 109, 193 Pei Yanwen 彥 293 Pei Yuan 338

48 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 51 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Pei Zhengyi 246 Pei Zhi 71, 171 Peng Keming 331 Peng Tao 131 Peng Taoguang 200 Peng Yang 131 Pi Rixu 14, 112, 127 Qian Ruoyu 328 Qian Shangfu 81, 84, 88, 135 Qiang Shen 330 Qin Baoyan 219 Qin Zongquan 251, 261 Qiyang gongzhu 12 (Tang) Qiyi 133 Qu Yuan 279 Ren Huan 290, 294, 367 Ren Hui 294 Ren Tu 294 Ren Tuan 294 Ren Youyi 360 Ren Yuan 294 Ren Yue 401 Ren Zan 308 Ruan Yu 236 Sang Daomao 176 Sengluan 173 Shanxiao 379 Shen Guang 124 Shen Hui 68, 317 Shen Shen 336 Shen Tu 201 Shen Xun 68, 82, 218 Shen Yazhi 218 Shi Yezhu 1, 178 Shi Guangze 214 Shi Jingtang 259, 292 Shi Yanxun 彥 292 Shi Zaide 214 Shi Zhong 120 Shu Pu 320 Shu Rang 259 Shu xianzhu (early Shu), Wang Jian Shun 2 85, 87, 90, 94, 96, 126, 130, 188, 200, 213, 215, 223, 235, 237, 242, 322, 323, 332, 334, 341, 343, 348, 349, 358, 361, 368, 385, 402, 408 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Sikong Dong 136, 201 Sikong Tu 27, 114, 127 Sima Qian 7 Sima Xianru 43 Song Guangbao 320 Song Ji 96 Song Qian 239 Song Yuzhao 325, 402 Su Changyuan 159 Su Jie 276 Su Qin 312 Su Rui 380 Su Xun 186, 276 Su Yan 89 Su Zheng 356 Sun Chu 164 Sun Daoneng 335 Sun Fuxie 310 Sun Gongwo 48 Sun Guangxian 330, 332, 333, 359, 363, 369, 409, 416 Sun Huang 206 Sun Huizong 142 Sun Kui 50, 235, 251 Sun Qi 69, 164 Sun Quan 92 Sun Shaodi 255 Sun Xiong 325 Taizu (late Tang) 70, 84, 118, 119, 120, 186, 194, 236, 239, 252, 254, 255, 256, 262, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276, 279, 283, 284, 286, 313, 357, 366, 415 Taizong (Tang) 13, 234, 269 Tan Zhengfu 93 Tang 2 Tang Feng 233 Tang Huixiu 98 Tang Xi 344 Tang Yanqian 彥 243 Tao Fu 383 Tao Qi 292 Tian Bu 100 Tian Hongzheng 16, 100 Tian Jun 257 Tian Kuangtu 188 Tian Lingzi 55, 80, 83, 96, 103, 107, 161, 201, 226, 348

49 52 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Tian Lingzun 314 Wang Baohui 130 Wang Baoyi 416 Wang Bo 77 Wang Bo 248 Wang Di 187 Wang Dingbao 148 Wang Dou 31, 225, 235, 258 Wang Fengxiang 330 Wang E 319 Wang Gong 168, 169 Wang Gui 117 Wang Hong 320 Wang Ji 105 Wang Jia 369 Wang Jianli 292 Wang Jingren 256 Wang Jun 396 Wang Ke 271 Wang Lifu 228 Wang Meng 45 Wang Ning 27 Wang Qi 20, 21 Wang Qian 219 Wang Rao 388 Wang Rong 16, 230, 231, 272, 354, 360 Wang Shenzhi 18, 139 Wang Shifan 275 Wang Tingcou 16 Wang Tong 14 Wang Wanhong 242 Wang Weiji 292 Wang Xianzhi 103, 367 Wang Xingyu 234, 237, 270, 274, 277 Wang Xuanyan 121 Wang Ya 72 Wang Yuanying 408 Wang Zan 79, 248, 287 Wang Zhao 130 Wang Zhenfan 7, 416 Wang Zhongrong 226 Wang Zhu 77 Wang Zhu 169 Wang Zi 鄑 319 Wang Zidai 241 Wang Zongan 338 Wang Zongchou 390 Wei Baoheng 102, 143 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Wei ChengGao 337 Wei Gao 235 Wei Gongyue 說 67, 84 Wei Jia 32 Wei Jing 366 Wei Mo 13, 42 Wei Mu 337 Wei Nankang 96 Wei Shubao 82 Wei Xiu 76, 124, 235 Wei Xuan 100 Wei Xun 322 Wei Yan 99 Wei Yifan 117 Wei Yin 99 Wei Yue 說 135, 290, 305, 366 Wei Zhaodu 59, 87, 107, 109, 234, 235, 322, 341, 368 Wei Zheng 徵 13 Wei Zhou 35, 99 Wei Zhuang 110, 112, 129, 130, 242, 327 Wen Kexiu 溫 329 Wen Qi 溫 15 Wen Ruhai 98 Wen Silu 溫 334 Wen Tingyun 溫 68, 178, 317 ( ) Wen Xian 溫 317 Wen Xianwang 183 Wen Yi 溫 317 Wen Zhang 溫 164, 179 Wen Тао 溫 287 Wenying 384 Wenzong (Tang) 8, 13, 244 Wu Rong 吳 59, 74, 112 Wu Shouyuan 吳 162 Wu Wuling 吳 320 Wu Xiang 吳 10, 97 Wu Xinlu 吳 37 Wu Yinzhi 吳 44 Wu Yuanheng 2, 101, 219 Wu Zihua 吳 356 Wu Zixiu 18 Wuzong (Tang) 4, 284 Xia Housheng 137 Xia Houzi 23, 42, 198 Xia Luqi 289, 303 Xia, empress (late Tang) 296

50 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 53 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Xiameng 212 Xian Shou 46 Xiang Yin 329 Xiangyu Yue 223 Xianyu Zhongtong 223 Xianzong (Tang) 2, 12 Xiao Fang 4 Xiao Gou 106 Xiao Wenli 276 Xiao Xifu 305 Ximen Jixuan 189 Ximen Sigong 37, 227 Xin Yanwei 287 Xingyun 32 Xingzheng 337 Xizong (Tang) 1, 31, 58, 62, 80, 95, 96, 106, 161, 171, 180, 197, 201, 202, 213, 385 Xiu Chen 219 Xiu Chengjie 215 Xiu Cun 130, 215, 372 Xiu Dang 26 Xiu Ji 352 Xu Mengrong 24 Xu Xiangshang 23 Xu Yanruo 彥 75, 233, 235 Xu Yueying 164 Xuantai 216 Xuanwu 125 Xuanzong (Tang) 1, 3, 4, 15, 68, 72, 97, 102, 110, 111, 122, 147, 153, 244 Xuanzong (Tang) 122 Xue Baoxun 42, 63, 167 Xue Feng 77 Xue Jian 42 Xue Neng 33, 47, 173, 235 Xue Tinggui 84 Xue Yayin 136 Xue Yiju 113, 260 Xue Ze 210, 214, 366 Xue Zhaowei 63, 178, 194 Xue Zhun 185 Yan Guangchu 369, 371 Yan Hui 180 Yan Junmei 116, 189, 213 Yan Rao 112, 113 Yan Yun 363 Yan Zheng 223 Yang Biao 210, 214 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Yang Cheng 210 Yang Dehui 213 Yang Dingfu 342 Yang Fa 210 Yang Fen 118 Yang Fugong 50, 116, 189, 243 Yang Guangfu 118 Yang Heng 96 Yang Hui 53 Yang Jia 210 Yang Jian 210 Yang Jinggong 210 Yang Jingzhi 124 Yang Jiu 144, 210 Yang Lin 210 Yang Pi 54, 89 Yang Qianlang 281 Yang Qigun 197 Yang Qiu 79 Yang Quanmei 225 Yang She 涉 210 Yang Sheng 85 Yang Shihou 158, 265, 279 Yang Shili 55 Yang Shou 154, 170, 210, 214 Yang Shouliang 243, 409 Yang Wei 54 Yang Xigu 334 Yang Xingmi 123, 257 Yang Xuanjia 154 Yang Yan 210 Yang Yide 216 Yang Yunwai 328 Yang Yuqing 8 Yang Zai 53 Yang Zhu 210 Yanxian 彥 386 Yao 2 Yao Hong 303 Yao Ji 143 Yin Bao-hui 207 Yizong (Tang) 4, 35, 102, 269 Yu 2 Yu Chaoen 116 Yu Chuanchang 131 Yu Hui 131 Yu Jing 113 Yu Ningji 53 Yu Shizun 372 Yu Tianguo 98 Yu Wenhan 178

51 54 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Yu Wenhong 67 Yu Xuanji 164 Yu Xuanying 諲 404 Yu Zhigu 60 Yu Zhuansu 53 Yuan Hang 182 Yuan Xingqin 287 Yuan Zheng 115 Yue Penggui 80, 83 Yue Yanzhen 彥 225 Zang Hong 237 Zhang Ао 翱 174 Zhang Bo 112 Zhang Ce 45, 64, 243 Zhang Chengye 186, 296 Zhang Chuquan 155 Zhang Congbin 312 Zhang Conghui 253 Zhang Cun 168 Zhang Daogu 92 Zhang Du 125 Zhang Duo 100 Zhang Guiyu 262 Zhang Hu 109 Zhang Jianzhang 231, 232 Zhang Jimei 211 Zhang Jing 221 Zhang Jun 50, 58, 62, 83, 126, 172, 235, 238, 243, 248 Zhang Kang 393 Zhang Kui 鐀 61 Zhang Lin 217 Zhang Lufeng 88 Zhang Qianzhao 309 Zhang Qiju 83 Zhang Qing 69, 348 Zhang Quanqi 啟 345 Zhang Rengui 211 Zhang Shu 71, 149 Zhang Tejin 329 Zhang Tingfan 248 Zhang Wen 溫 398 Zhang Wenli 16 Zhang Wenwei 143, 221, 224 Zhang Xi 143, 144, 150, 211 Zhang Xingshi 172 Zhang Xingzhou 220, 375 Zhang Xu 虛 64 Zhang Xuanyi 345 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Zhang Yan 彥 279, 391 Zhang Yi 71, 149 Zhang Yishi (Ge) 172 ( ) Zhang Yixian 143, 211 Zhang Yun 15, 37 Zhang Zhifang 193, 199 Zhang Zong 71 Zhao Chong 45, 74, 147, 171 Zhao Du 314 Zhao E 181 Zhao Feng 296, 299 Zhao Guangfeng 295 Zhao Jia 122 Zhao Jiaxian 204 Zhao Kangning 46 Zhao Kuang 7, 329, 358 Zhao Lin 178 Zhao Ling 46 Zhao Longmei 197 Zhao Ning 248 Zhao Qing 182 Zhao Rui 96 Zhao Shiru 66 Zhao Ting 29 Zhao Tingyin 392 Zhao Xiongwu 355 Zhao Yinheng 249 Zhao Zaili 279, 285 Zhao Zhongxing 151 Zhaopu 374 Zhaozong (Tang) 72, 108, 118, 120, 123, 129, 189, 233, 237, 238, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 256, 270, 273, 276, 277, 284 Zheng Bao 235 Zheng Feng 153 Zheng Gu 173 Zheng Guang 3 Zheng Jue 玨 366 Zheng Kuangtu 106 Zheng Qi 123 Zheng Qi 371 Zheng Shangu 332 Zheng Shenzuo 5 Zheng Tan 13 Zheng Tian 115, 227, 235 Zheng Wangfang 269 Zheng Xiu 254 Zheng Yu 206

52 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 55 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Zheng Yu 34, 154 Zheng Yuangui 245 Zheng Zhiyong 304 Zheng Zhuan 113 Zheng Zhun 128, 129 Zhi Xiang 235 Zhiming 299 Zhixuan 107 Zhou Ai 370 Zhou Bao 69, 80 Zhou Chongbin 335 Zhou Da 377 Zhou Dabei 374 Zhou Dewei 274 Zhou Guiyou 351 Zhou Renju 322 Zhou Shi 272 Zhou Wei 293 Zhou Xiang 322 Zhou Xuanbao 296 Zhou Yanzhang 彥 323 Zhu Cheng 267 Zhu Jin 255, 268 Zhu Mei 237 Zhu Pu 108, 235 Zhu Shouyin 294 Pinyin Chinese Fragment No. Zhu Wen 溫 237, 238, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 251 Zhu Xin 267 Zhu Xuan 262 Zhu Yanshou 彥 257 Zhu Yi 95 Zhu Yougui 264, 268 Zhu Youliang 246 Zhu Youlun 256, 267 Zhu Youning 267 Zhu Youqian 364 Zhu Youyu 262 Zhu Youzhen 287 Zhu ZhiZhang 61 Zhuang Bu 127 Zhuangzong (late Tang) 236, 259, 277, 281, 284, 286, 287, 288, 305, 325, 351, 366, 367, 410, 415 Zhuye Zhiyi 269 Zhuge Liang 353, 383 Zhuge Shuang 229, 252 Zhuge Yin 151 Zilang 390 Zuo Qiuming 7 Zong Xuan 237 Notes 1. Contemporary Chinese scholars have made a certain contribution to the solution of this problem. For example, Liu Zun-ming, analyzing the surviving historical evidence, says that Sun Guang-xian was born either in 895 or, which is less likely, a bit later; he also reasonably believes that the year of 900, often mentioned in reference books (for example, in the explanatory dictionary Ci hai, The Sea of Words ) as the date of birth of Sun Guang-xian is improbable. See: Liu Zun-ming, Huajian siren Sun Guang-xian shengping shiyi kaozheng ( Essay on the extant biographical data of Sun Guang-xian, a poet [form the assembly] Among the Flowers ), Wenxue yichan VI (1989). Bai Gen-xing comes to the same conclusion. He first indicates the interval between as the most likely, but at the end of his short study he writes unambiguously that the year of birth of Sun Guang-xian must be 895 AD, or the second year under the rule of Qian-ning Tang Zhao-zong. See: Bai Gen-xing, Sun Guang-xian shengnian kaoduan ( The final solution to the question as to what year Sun Guang-xian was born in ), Zhongguoshi yanjiu I (1998). 2. The book in question is Zhi zhai shu lu jie ti ( 錄, Annotated Bibliography of Books from the Cabinet of Zhi-zhai ), where Chen Zhen-sun, who inherited five book collections of famous families with a total number of over 50,000 juans, described all these books: he divided into 53 sections by chronology and provided annotations. There are a total of 22 juans in his bibliography, and this is one of the four Song bibliographies known to us (and one of the two surviving to this day; the second is Chao Gong-wu's bibliography, see below). 3. Chen Zhen-sun, Zhi zhai shu lu ze ti, Su Xiao-man, Gu Mei-hua jiaodian (Annotated Bibliography of Books from the Cabinet of Zhi-zhai, critical text by Xu Xiao-man and Gu Mei-hua) (Shanghai, 1987), p Si ku quan shu zong mu (, General Catalogue of All Books from Four Archives ) a global Qing bibliography of the imperial book archive, at the basis of which lies the principle of determining and classifying books in old Chinese library which dates from the 6th century:, four archives, i. e. the Confucian classics ( jing), historians ( shi), philosophers ( zi), collections ( ji). First published in Quoted from: Sun Guang-xian, Bei meng suo yan (Shanghai, 1981), p Evidently, in Fuchun Sun Guang-xian had an estate given to him. 6. The author of one of the latest editions of the critical text of Bei meng suo yan, contemporary Chinese scholar Lin Ai-yuan, makes reference to Jing nan gao shi jia shi (, The Genealogy of the Jing Gao family ) and Shi guo chun

53 56 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 qiu, and says that Sun Guang-xian was the panguan in Lingzhou (i. e. the deputy head of the region) (in this connection see his introduction in the book: Sun Guang-xian, op. cit.) But a well-known expert on the creative work of Su Shu, Kong Fan-li claims that Sun Guang-xian could not possibly have serve as a panguan in the Tang period, because in the Tang period the post of deputy head of a region was called something else, namely bejia, and the post of panguan was a step higher in the hierarchy. See: Kong Fan-li, Guanyu Sun Guang-xian he tade Bei meng suo yan jige wentide yanjiu ( Study on certain problems concerning Sun Guang-xian and his Short Sayings from Beimeng ), Sun Guang-xian, Bei meng suo yan. Kong Fan-li xuanping (Beijing, 2000). But if we assume that Sun Guang-xian served as panguan in the time of the early Shu, this seems to solve the problem. 7. Liu Zun-ming, op. cit. 8. Gao Ji-chang (, also known as Gao Ji-xing, ) was the founder of the Jingnan (Nanping) principality that existed from and had five rulers. Gao Ji-chang ruled from 924 till 928. In his younger years his situation was poor, and he served as salesman in a shop of a certain Li Rang in Bianzhou. Later he found himself under the founder of the late Liang dynasty Zhu Wen (, , also, Zhu Quan-zhong), who made Li his adopted son and commanded him to make Gao his adopted son in his turn. As a result of this, Ji-chang had to change his name to Zhu. In his youth, Gao Ji-chang already revealed his inclination for military science, and with age he became a skilled warrior, and so the first appointment he received was tuanlianshi, that is a military inspector of a regional scale. When he became independent, Ji-chang got back his name Gao, and in 907 he was appointed jiedushi (military governor-general) by Zhu Wen in Jingnan. At that time, when the central power was weak, officials of this rank would usually become rightful rulers of the lands entrusted to them, and very strong and powerful too, and the court often courted governor-generals and gave them titles and ranks in order to avoid insubordination or even an open rebellion (the rebellion of jiedushi An Lu-shan in 755 is a well known example of this). That also happened to Gao Ji-chang: in 924 he was given the title of the prince Nanping-wang. This did not stop Gao from later nominally recognizing the rule of the principality of Wu, for which he was immediately given the title of Qin-wang: because of a lack of money and a shortage of military force, and so unable to repulse the neighbours directly, Gao had to manoeuvre. One must admit he was quite good at it: being the ruler of the smallest and weakest domain of the time, and moreover surrounded by much more powerful and aggressive neighbours on four sides, Gao Ji-chang not only preserved Jingnan, but also laid such a foundation of the administration that the principality lasted for more than fifty years (for more details see, for example: Tao Mao-bing, Wudai shilue (A Historical Sketch of Five Dynasties) (Beijing, 1985)). 9. Official and literary man Liang Zhen (, 10th century) took his degree of jinshi at the end of the Tang dynasty. Gao Ji-chang, who had immense respect for Liang Zhen, spent many years trying to persuade him to serve at his court, to which Liang Zhen would reply that he was a subject of the Tang; but with the downfall of the dynasty the situation changed. The son of Gao Ji-chang also admired Liang's talents and respected him as an elder brother. 10. Zhuang Sue-jun, Sun Guang-xian shengping ji qi zhushu ( Biography and works by Sun Guang-xian ), Sichuan shida suebao IV (1986), p Gao Cong-hui (, ), a Jingnan prince, the elder son of Gao Ji-chang, ruled from 929 until 948. He began as an official in the late Liang. He is well known because, as he was afraid of an aggression from the neighbours, he went much further than his father: he swore loyalty to everybody and started sending tribute to everybody, thus becoming a vassal of a number of kingdoms and principalities at the same time, for which he was nicknamed shameless Gao. He actively developed the economy, giving his special attention to the taxation of trade. 12. Gao Bao-rong (, ) was a Jingnan prince, the third son of Gao Cong-hui who ruled from 948 to 960. He occupied the post of the deputy to the military governor-general, and after his father's death became jiedushi, because all the military power of Jingnan was concentrated in his hands. In 951 he received the title of Bohaijun-wang, and in 954 became Nanping-wang. He did not have any talent for state administration, and so in anything relating to this he listened to the advice of his younger brother Gao Bao-xiu. He died at the age of 41. Gao Bao-xiu (, ) was the tenth son of Gao Cong-hui who ruled from 960 till 962. He ruled for a very short time, still during this time he managed to receive the post of zedushi of Jingnan from the Song court. He was a talented politician who succumbed to his excessive passion for depravity and entertainment. He died at the age of thirty nine. Gao Ji-chong (, ), the eldest son of Gao Bao-rong, ruled from 962 till 963. When Gao Bao-xu fell ill, only Gao Ji-chong had full military authority in Jingnan, and after Bao-rong's death the Song court gave the post of zedushi to him. It was under his rule that the principality of Jingnan ceased to exist. The Song court sent troops to suppress the mutiny of Zhang Wen-biao, and when the Song army approached Jingnan, Gao Ji-chong, advised by Sun Guang-xian, allowed his lands to be incorporated into the new empire without a fight, for which he was given the post of zedushi back, but this time not just nominally, but as an official in the service of the Song with all the ensuing responsibilities to the court. He died at the age of A juan ( scroll ) is, as L. N. Men'shikov put it, a unit of book nomenclature, and the name dates from the time when books in China existed in the form of silk scrolls that were rolled around a wooden rod. With the invention of book-printing and books in the form of codex it became a counting unit for books. 14. A poetic anthology compiled by the late Shu Zhao Chong-zuo (, 10th century) in 940, where in 10 juans 500 verses by 18 poets were joined Wen Ting-yun, Wei Zhuang (, 847? 910) and others (fourteen of them were natives of Sichuan) who wrote in the genre of ci. It is the first of such anthologies in China. Sichuan (Shu) was generally known for its literary traditions where many literary men took refuge in the time of unrest after the fall of the Tang dynasty. Interestingly enough, in the land of Shu the personality of the poet itself was respected and a literary talent was held in high esteem. Gao-zu, the founder of the early Shu kingdom, was illiterate, but he thought it necessary to patronize the poets.

54 I. ALIMOV. More About Sun Guang-xian and Bei meng suo yan 57 (E. A. Serebriakov, Kitaĭskaia poėziia X X vv.: zhanry shi i tsy (Chinese Poetry of 10 11th Centuries: Shi and Ci Genres) (Leningrad, 1979), p. 20). 15. In total eighty two ci verses by Sun Guang-xian have survived. For more details about his poetical works see: Yu Сui-ling, Sun Guang-xian ci chutan ( Preliminary study of the ci by Sun Guang-xian ), Renwen jiazhi IV (1985); Zhu De-ci, Beyi Wen Wei ling yi jia: shilun Sun Guang-xian de ci ( School, differing from Wen and Wei, another one: on the ci by Sun Guang-xian ), Shehui kexue yanjiu VI (1987); Liu Zun-ming, op. cit., and others. 16. For more details on the works by Sun Guang-xian see: ibid., pp. 80 1; Kong Fan-li, op. cit., pp ; Zhuang Xue-jun, Sun Guang-xian shengping ci zi zhushu ( Sun Guang-xian's biography and works ), Sichuan shida xuebao IV (1986), pp The latest dates mentioned in Bei meng suo yan are 961 and Sunshi yiwenzhi. Bu fu bian (Data on the Literature on the Song [Dynasty] History, suppl. and expanded) (Beijing, 1958), p Chen Zhen-sun, op. cit., p This is the second surviving Song bibliography Jun zhai du shu zhi ( Notes on Reading Books in the Study of the Head of the District ), which was compiled by Chao Gong-wu (, 12th century), as he inherited an enormous library from his forefathers, and also was later given a considerable number of books by his colleague, in embarked on compiling an annotated description of 24,500 juans of various works he found in his disposal. Chao Gong-wu also says that in the Continuation of the General Calendar there were ten juans, and the book encompassed the events of the time of the Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties, but under the Song it was discovered that they were mostly inventions, and so the work was destroyed. 21. Chao Gong-wu, Jun zhai du shu zhi jiao, Deng Sun Meng jiaodeng (Notes on Reading Books in the Study of the Head of the District, compared and commented by Sun Meng) (Shanghai, 1990), p By the River, the Yangzijiang is naturally understood. 22. Thus, Sun Meng, a textual critic who prepared one of the last editions of Chao Gong-wu's bibliography, made a note that in the original text Bei meng suo yan was said to have thirty juans; he corrected the text comparing the reliable copies of other bibliophiles (ibid.) 23. This collection, compiled by a special board headed by Li Fang ( ) by order of the Song emperor Tai-zong and completed in 978, is highly representative: as the foreword says, 344 collections were used in the compilation, mostly anecdotal prose xiaosho by various authors (contemporary studies show that there were approximately five hundred collections) that dated from the Han until the Song period (until 977). Many of these collections are lost now, which makes this anthology unique. Besides that, the material in it is divided into 52 subject sections, with headings consisting of certain key notions (categories) of traditional Chinese culture ( immortals, werefoxes, trees and so on). 24. All the quotations from the bibliographic descriptions are taken from the appendix in the book: Sun Guang-xian, op. cit., pp Kong Fan-li, op. cit., p Sun Guang-xian had two sons Sun Wei and Sun Dang, about whom the biography of Sun Guang-xian in the Song dynasty history says that they both passed the exam for the degree of jinshi (j. 483). 26. Here and subsequently, quotations are from the author's foreword to the collection: Sun Guang-xian, op. cit., p Fragments Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 67, 114, 168, 169, 192, 203, 206, 217, 229, 231, 232, 235, 237, 253, 400 and 401. The same thing was done by Liu Fu ( 12th century) in his collection of biji Qing suo gao yi (, High Judgements by the Palace Gates ). Also, Sun Guang-xian is present in Bei meng suo yan, and under his own name, but these fragments make up part of the later additions to the fragments of the collection that had been lost earlier, and this probably shows that the authorship of some of these fragments is not as evident. Incidentally, it is in these fragments from four additional juans that the character wei is used on the earlier Shu ( ), that is false, unreal, self-styled Shu, which gives a certain idea of the author's attitude towards the very fact of the existence of the kingdom that he regarded as illegitimate. One does not encounter this combination in the main body of the collection. I cannot yet say for certain if this means that the fragments in which this state is called unrighteous do not belong to Sun Guang-xian, or if this is an interpolation by later editors who thus characterized their own attitude towards the all-powerful local princes of the time. 28. Reading: Pengcheng Liu Shan-fu personally told, fragment No. 375). Liu Shan-fu is also mentioned in the fragments Nos. 18, 121, 137, 138, 139, 140, 155, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 165, 174, 220 and 375. Other (isolated) informants to whom Sun Guang-xian refers in the same manner (i. e. mentioning a personal report) are a certain Lu Qing-Hong (, fragment No. 130), a colleague of the author Wang ( 說, fragment No. 203), a Buddhist monk Guang-yuan ( 說, fragment No. 393), a certain highlander Qiang Shen (, fragment No. 330), who told Sun Guang-xian, and also a Daos Li from the Yingzhenguan cloister in Sichuan ( < >, fragment No. 363) and some others. 29. Some fragmentary information that we have at our disposal allows us to describe the content of this collection as similar to Sun Guang-xian's, that is mainly containing information on the members of the imperial houses, higher government officials, the prominent rulers of regions and districts, the examination system, episodes from the lives of bibliophiles and literary men but mostly all this is guess-work, of course. 30. The author of the now lost Song book collection Zheng tang du shu ji (, Notes on Reading Books from the Hall of Zheng ) believed that it was so: These, probably, are the fragments selected from the twelfth juan of Shan-fu's work. Liu Shan-fu, however, in the tradition of Chinese bibliophiles, before including information in his collection, also checked it in all other available sources, as well as trying to find the eye-witnesses of the events; the evidence of this has been preserved in Bei meng suo

55 58 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 12 NO. 4 DECEMBER 2006 yan in fragment No. 221, at the end of which there is a note saying that while editing his work, Liu Shan-fu had a personal meeting with the person in this fragment, who told him the story in all detail. 31. Sun Guang-xian used the character this means that he used literary monuments and not informants' accounts. 32. Ya yu tang cong shu (, Book Series from the Hall of Ya yu ) is the fruit of many years of bibliophilic works by Lu Jian-zeng, who collected and edited a book series named after his literary pseudonym ( Ya-yu shanren), 138 juans in 13 main and one additional volume. Every volume starts with a foreword by Lu, and he would ask his friends and acquaintances to write the afterwords. 33. Sun Guang-xian, op. cit., p An official post that was introduced in the Tang period. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, the central government would send an official of this nature to regions and districts with the task of inspecting; after 758 the power of these officials already applied to several regions or even a whole province, and they were high-ranking officials who were immediately subordinate to the military governor-generals (jiedushi), although they were of the same rank as the jiedushi. In the time of the Song, these officials were responsible for court decisions, cases of punishment and problems of transporting tax duties to the capital on a district scale. 35. Sun Guang-xian, op. cit., p The Sun Guang-xian collection has been published several times in the People's Republic of China. (On the whole, it should be mentioned that fortunately the number of published and republished monuments of old Chinese literature have been increasing over the last years not only monuments from the essential collection such as classical novels, verses from the golden fund and ancient philosophy monuments, but also quite rare texts which are only known to a small circle of specialists). The recognized paragon of a contemporary critical text of Bei meng suo yan is at present the edition prepared by Lin Ai-yuan and issued in 1981 by the famous Shanghai publishing house Guji chubanshe ( Song Yuan biji congshu series). On the basis of this text, editions were published in 2003 in Xian ( San qin chubanshe publishing house, Lidai mingjia xiaopin wenji 歷 series) in simplified characters and even with meagre commentaries, the quality of which is far from being perfect; and also in 2002 in Beijing ( Zhunghua shuju, Lidai shiliao biji congkan 歷 series). Bei meng suo yan was published many times as a part of biji anthologies (for example, in one of the last collections of the kind Quan Song biji ); also there were publications of selected extracts from Bei meng suo yan. Amongst noteworthy editions of the latter kind we should note the book by the Beijing publishing house Sueyuan chubanshe in 2000 (in Lidai biji xiaosho xiaopin xuankan 歷 說 series), which was prepared by Kong Fan-li an edition that includes 178 fragments from Bei meng suo yan, which is notable for detailed, very clear commentaries and footnotes that explain the general meaning of the fragments, and also a small but very informative study by Kong Fan-li, attached after the main text. 37. See: Zhuang Xue-jun, Bei meng suo yan yanjiu ( Study of Bei meng suo yan ), Xinan shifan daxue xuebao I (1990) pp This is, of course, a mistake (slip of the pen? misprint?). It should read Zhu Yu-gong. 39. Lin Ai-guo, Bei meng suo yan de shiliao jiazhi ( Value of historical materials from Bei meng suo yan ), Shuadong shifan dasue suebao V (1982) p It is not quite clear what the characteristics of this collection given by K. I. Golygina are based on: A collection of 20 juans, mainly tales of the amazing people of the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties (K. I. Golygina, Velikiĭ predel. Kitaĭskaia model' mira v literature i kul'ture (I XIII vv.) ( The Great Limit. The Chinese Model of the World in Literature and Culture (1st 13th centuries) (Moscow, 1995), p. 345). If this means that the vast majority of the heroes of Bei meng suo yan did not leave behind any information about themselves except in Sun Guang-Xian's collection, then in this sense, of course, the adjective amazing can be applied to them. 41. Zhuang Xue-jun made a comparative analysis of the descriptions of several historical events present in Bei meng suo yan and in Wu dai shi ( History of the Five Dynasties ), and as a result found numerous word-for-word borrowings in the History from Sun Guang-xian's collection (Zhuang Xue-jun, Bei meng suo yan yanjiu, pp. 90 2). The same applies to Tang shu (, History of Tang [dynasty] ), both old and new. 42. See, for example: idem, Bei meng suo yan yanjiu ; idem, Sun Guang-xian shengping ci zi zhushu; Lin Ai-guo, Bei meng suo yan de shiliao jiazhi ; and also numerous works by Sichuan researcher Fang Rui: Bei meng suo yan jiyu ( Things lost from Short sayings from Beimeng ), Sichuan shifan daxue xuebao VI (2004); Cong Bei meng suo yan kan wan Tang lodi shirende xingtai ( The situation of pupils failing exams at the end of the Tang dynasty on the example of Brief sayings from Beimeng ), Shehui kesuejia V (2004); Bei meng suo yan yu wan Tang Wudai lishi wenhua ( Brief sayings from Beimeng and historical monuments of the Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties ), Sichuan shifan dasue suebao IV (2003); Dui Bei meng suo yan jieji shijiande zai zhishi ( Additional information about the times of the formation of the Brief sayings from Beimeng ), Leshan shifan xueyuan xuebao VII (2005), and many others.

56 ORIENTAL PANTHEON I. Alimov TAI-PING GUANG JI : MOTIVES RELATED TO THE DEAD SOULS A well-known anthology of the early Chinese prose Tai-ping guang ji (, Extended Records of Tai-ping Years, hereinafter referred to as TPGJ) was completed in 978. This compilation was drawn up under the order of the Song emperor Tai-zong (ruled from 967 to 998) by a board of scientists directed by a famous minister and erudite Li Fang (, ). The introduction to TPGJ tells that during its compilation the board used 344 prose collections (recent research shows that there were about five hundred collections) that date back to the Han era till the beginning of the Song era (from 206 BC to 977 AD). Material in TPGJ is organized in 52 thematic sections, whose titles include key concepts (categories) of the traditional Chinese culture. All these circumstances as well as the fact that many of those collections that Li Fang's board used in the given anthology have been lost, make TPGJ a unique writing artefact from different perspectives. We are interested in TPGJ above all as a source of invaluable information on traditional Chinese beliefs about the spirits of the dead (, gui). Speaking about traditional culture or traditional world image in the course of studying the written sources, we don't consider the universe integral and consistent. It reflects the views of people from different social classes from intelligent scribes to ignorant silent majority. On the one hand these views are similar in respect to those common things that a member of a certain culture takes in with mother's milk. On the other hand they have significant differences caused by such factors as education, religious denomination, etc. Usually the views of educated minority are analyzed, mostly because they are reflected in theoretical tractates, official papers and writings, i. e. in the so-called classic literature, while the layer of ordinary cultural is often disregarded. This is also true for the Chinese culture. We have a much better idea about the worldview of specific philosophers and the religious-philosophical systems per se, than about the silent majority worldview. Nevertheless, the ordinary world image (or some of its significant elements) can be restored on the basis of Chinese written sources and above all on the basis of the prose materials of xiaoshuo that constitutes the main part of TPGJ. Traditional xiaoshuo prose doesn't refer to classic literature, however it was created not by ordinary people but by educated scribes. It was in the prose xiaoshuo (that of course isn't literature in the modern sense of the word) that personal and mental peculiarities of the authors became blurred and less evident, while the subject matter was ordinary, common, and equally familiar to the top and to the bottom. The authors of xiaoshuo regarded these texts from the cultural viewpoint, compiling crumbs of information, history, and tales into a comprehensive whole. They knew the same things as ordinary people and even more, that is why their cultural intention was able to arrange heterogeneous material and develop a common universe for different authors. Xiaoshuo shows folk beliefs and traditional views not in a natural and spontaneous form of their existence, but in a manner arranged by the culture representatives themselves. This is the case with TPGJ, since the task of the compilers was to make a most representative compendium choosing the most characteristic, striking, and typical features. The collection compiled in the 10th century claims to explain the essence of notions or categories included into the titles of 52 sections as they were represented in classic low prose and, consequently, in the common consciousness of that time to a certain extent. Without exaggerating, TPGJ can be called a mirror of traditional spiritual Chinese culture of the 10th century. I. Alimov, 2009

57 54 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 The most typical plots related to the return of the dead spirits to the living are presented below in the way they are given in TPGJ. First of all we learn that the dead spirits can return to the world of living and come in contact with the latter in reality and in a dream. The spirit of dead husband comes to his wife in a dream moved by different reasons. For example, it can be worried about the way of burying its body. Similar case is described in the story A fighter from Xiangyang (TPGJ, 322.3) [1]. In the time of Jin, in the beginning of Tai-yuan years ( ), one soldier died in the army of commander Yang An disposed in Xiangyang and his countryman carried his body to the motherland. One day before the arrival the departed had come to his widow in a dream and said that by mistake the soldier was carrying the body of another man home; and his body could be recognized by a knot in the hair that his wife had tied before he left and he kept it untouched in memory of her. His wife woke up, and everything happened as gui said his body was taken to another house and his wife got the body of another man (see plate 2, a wife who prays for her dead husband's soul). There are cases when a woman dreams about her husband who is still living or somebody else who pretends to be her husband. Such case is described in the story Fei Ji (TPGJ, ). A merchant by the name of Fei Ji and his companions stopped for the night near Lushan mountain and started to talk about how long they had been away from home. Ji said that he hadn't seen his wife for several years by that time and that he took her golden pin when leaving, but forgot it at the window-sill. On the same night he came to his wife in a dream and said that he had been killed by robbers two years before. To prove his words he added that he would leave her pin on the window-sill. His wife woke up and indeed saw her pin on the window-sill! She believed in her husband's death and put on mourning. In one year Ji came home safe and sound. The story does not tell who pretended to be Ji. For example, one of Ji's companions, whom he spent the night near mountain Lushan with, could be a dead spirit that later came to his wife in a dream. In its turn the soul of the dead wife can come to her husband in a dream, being unable to leave him. There are many stories of the kind but I will mention here only one of them called Liu Zhao. This story tells about a wife that comes to her husband in a dream and gives him a chain (TPGJ, 316.7). A wife can come to a husband being angry with one of his deeds. Having buried his wife Lü Lun married her younger sister. One day his departed wife came to Shun in a dream and lied down by his side. She was cold as ice. She began to yell at him and blame for marrying her sister. By the way after that conversation Shun was found dead (TPGJ, 322.4). The dead soul comes in a dream to other people, who used to be his or her friends, in order to help. Such stories often have Buddhist character. In the story Yuan Bing the departed Bing comes to his friend in *** a dream and gives him advice how to behave himself not to be punished for the deeds after death. He advises to be mindful of Buddhist commandments, since he knew that they work from experience. The things I had seen before did not agree with everything written in the canons and I assumed that the sages dramatized the situation intentionally. But now I see that there is nothing unusual in this verification of good and evil. That is why it is strictly forbidden to kill living beings, said Yuan Bing to his friend (TPGJ, 326.1). The dead soul coming to a friend in a dream can be a messenger from the other world that comes to take the friend when the lifetime of the latter is over. Dong Guan, who was skilled in the art of fortune-telling with the help of yin and yang signs, kept company with a Buddhist monk Ling-xi and then Ling-xi died. Once he came to Dong Guan in his dream. He was frightened and said with hostility: The soul of my councillor, why have you come here? The time of your life is over, said Ling-xi with a smile, and here I am to take you. He pulled Guan by his sleeve. Guan stood up, looked back and saw his body lying on the coach as if in deep sleep. Oh, oh! My home is so far from here and my parents are still alive! lamented Guan. If I die here now, who will bury my father and mother?! Why get upset about delusions? objected Ling-xi. What depends on a man? Just an ability to move his hands and legs, to see and hear. That's it! And Ling-xi took Guan to the other world (TPGJ, ). The dead soul can turn to his friend with a request while the latter is sleeping. For example, the spirit can ask to help his relatives in taking the body to his native place, as his family doesn't have money for that, etc. (TPGJ, 332.6) However more often the dead spirits come to their relatives and friends while they are awake and such contact lasts longer than that in a dream. The story Xiahou Xuan (TPGJ, ) tells about a spirit head of the family who comes back home after execution. Sima Jing-wang put Xiahou Xuan to death and the relatives of the executed built a shrine according to the custom and began to make sacrifices to the deceased. Xuan immediately emerged, took off his head and started to ram sacrificial food down the throat. Then he put his head back on and said that he would make a complaint on his executor Sima to another world's authorities and Sima would be punished. Soon Sima Jing-wang deceased without leaving any heirs. A similar case is described in the story Jia Yong (TPGJ, ). Killed by robbers Jia Yong is riding back home without the head on his shoulders and the voice comes out of his stomach. The executed Dong Shou-zhi comes home to his wife on the night after execution. Sighing bitterly and not answering his wife's questions (she didn't know of his death at that moment) Dong walked around the basket with chickens and disappeared behind the gate. His wife went out with a lamp and found a lot of blood in the basket. In the morning she learned about her husband's death (TPGJ, 327.9).

58 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 55 The spirit of the deceased husband comes to his wife in order to renew their married life. Yu Song drowned in Yangzijiang and some time later he came back home and resumed his former married life as if he hadn't died. Being afraid of him his wife asked their maid to sleep in the same room. This made her husband very angry. Once they began to talk about money and it turned out that there weren't enough means even to buy food for their son. Her husband said: Unfortunately, I died too early and made you starve, and he gave two packs of coins to his wife so that she could buy food. One year later his wife died too (TPGJ, 329.5). The spirit of the dead husband can come home disquieted by the wife's behaviour after his death. One man from Pucheng died when travelling. He kept a jin (about half a kilogram) of gold at home and his wife hid it from other members of the family for her own purposes. One year later the deceased came home crying and told his mother about that piece of gold. Then he took a knife and turned to his wife: Why didn't you give my gold to my mother and hid it? He wanted to kill the woman, but his mother broke in: You want to kill her, but you are dead. People will say that I am the killer (TPGJ, 355.5). One more case is described in another story. A person called Sima I got mortally ill. He called his wife and told her: When I die, you must not marry for the second time or I'll kill you! The woman promised not to do that, but when Sima died, she accepted the proposal of her neighbour. At that very moment Sima I came in through the gate riding a horse and shot an arrow from a bow into his wife, which nearly killed her. When the woman recovered from the wound, she wasn't beautiful any more (TPGJ, 321.7). The same thing can happen to the husband too. A person called Yuan swore an oath to his dying wife not to marry for the second time and married immediately after her death. The deceased wife came and wounded him with a knife: You swore allegiance, why didn't you keep your word?! (TPGJ, ). The dead soul might wish to put his business in order. The deceased Li Zai came to life one day after his death. His family gathered around him, began to feed him, ask questions and shake in every possible way. Li explained that he had already died, but returned because he met his first wife Mrs. Cui in the other world. Having learned that Li married for the second time she became furious and Li came back fearing that she could do harm to his second wife. He made the division of property, sent his wife to her parents' house and then died again (TPGJ, 338.7). The dead soul can be motivated by care for the children. When a deceased father comes back home he normally gives instructions to his children. A certain Hua Yi came home seven years after his death. He came invisible showing only his voice, but after many requests he showed himself to his family and began admonishing his two sons. He said that his life was so short because he committed several misdeeds while living (TPGJ, ). The dead soul can possess a living person and speak through his mouth. Very often it happens to the relatives of the deceased. There are several stories when the spirit of a dead father possesses his son for some time and talks with his help. An official Gongsun Da died. All his relatives and officials from the department headed by Gongsun took part in the funeral ceremony. All of a sudden Da's son began to talk with his father's voice. The dead spirit ordered everyone to stop crying and began to admonish them ( and he said more than one thousand words ), then he asked for a brush and paper, covered the whole sheet with writing, dropped it down to the ground and only after that went away (TPGJ, 316.2). Another case is described in the story Guo Fang : His little son suddenly took to bed as if struck with disease. He didn't recognize people around him and a spirit began to talk through his mouth. That was his father's voice (TPGJ, 320.1). Entering another body a spirit can talk with his own voice that is different from the voice of the possessed person (see plate 1, praying for the dead ancestors at a house altar). Often the dead soul of a father comes back home as a messenger from the other world to take the spirits of those relatives whose life has finished (TPGJ, 337.3). It is similar to the cases that happen, while people are sleeping. Sometimes the spirit of the family head wants to help his relatives, who were left without a supporter, with an advice, prediction, etc. (TPGJ, ). The spirit of the dead wife can come back to her husband touched by his irrecoverable grief. Here is an interesting example. A certain Hu Fu-zhi lived with his wife for ten years and suddenly she died. They didn't have children and Hu regretted that inconsolably. Suddenly his wife got up and sat on the bed: I'm so touched with your grief, my Lord! My body hasn't begun moldering yet and we can take advantage of our meeting. If you make love with me as before, I'll give birth to your son, my Lord, she told and lied down. Fu-zhi did as she told him. Without turning on the lights he made love to her in darkness. In ten months she gave birth to his son (all that time she was lying on her deathbed) and then died again (TPGJ, ). The spirit of the wife can come to her husband to say goodbye before parting. Such case is described in the story Huan Dao-ming for example, when the deceased wife came to her husband and spent the whole night in one bed with him. She came to say goodbye, since she had been already appointed a new body. It is an interesting fact that his departed wife couldn't pass through the entrance screen that is traditionally built before the gateway to the court yard in order to prevent evil spirits from getting inside the house, since the spirits can move along the straight line only. She entered the house with the help of her husband, who went out with a lamp and saw her hand sticking out from behind the screen (TPGJ, 319.2). In the story Wang Guang-ben unlike in the above mentioned one, where everything happened at night, the wife comes home in the daylight, touched by irrecoverable grief of her family. Her husband could see her, but other relatives could only hear her voice. Living people and spirits of the deceased have different pathways and I can't stay for long. It is so sad! (TPGJ, 330.4).

59 56 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 If the spirit of the dead wife didn't find peace, it can come home invisible and make a mess. Soon after the wife of the official Meng Xiang died, doors and windows in his house began to blow open, mad moans were heard everywhere, knives were thrown by somebody and flew in dangerous proximity to people, etc. The invisible spirit of Meng Xian's wife was identified by her voice. It appeared that she couldn't find peace because she killed a hen in juvenile years. The mess stopped only with the help of daos who knew the art of spelling (TPGJ, 325.2). The spirit of the dead mother can come home worried about her children's destiny after her death or just missing them. The wife of a military commander Zhang died leaving five sons. Soon Zhang married for the second time. His new wife happened to be a cruel person and began to torment the orphans. She even flogged them. In despair the children came to their mother's grave crying and suddenly she came out. She wrote a poem for her husband on her white head-cloth and gave to the children. In this poem she told her husband about their children's sufferings and the father stood up for them (TPGJ, 330.5). A man from Changan (the present-day city of Xian) Ma Zhen once heard a tap on the gate. He went out and saw a boy with a donkey who claimed boldly that a woman hired his donkey to come here from the eastern market. She entered the house and the boy was waiting for her to pay him. Ma was very surprised since nobody entered the house during that time, but he paid the boy and let him go. The situation repeated four times more, until at last Ma saw the woman who turned out to be his mother, who had died eleven years before (TPGJ, 333.7). An episode when a descendant mother comes to her grown-up son to warn him of a danger is described in the story Wang Bao-zhi. On the day you see a white dog you should go to the east one thousand li from here and spend three years there, otherwise you'll be in trouble! The next day Wang indeed saw a white dog and went to the east without any hesitation. Three years later he came back home and his mother appeared again. She said that since Wang did everything correctly he would live till the age of eighty (TPGJ, ). A number of stories describe episodes, when the spirit of the dead bride, who hadn't managed to marry while alive, came to her bridegroom's house and celebrated a marriage with him and the bridegroom knew about the death of his intended. A daughter of a duke fell in love with a young man whose name was Han Zhong and promised to marry him. Han Zhong sent matchmakers to her father, but the duke drove them from the house in anger. In despair the young girl committed suicide and was buried. Han Zhong was in the Princedom of Lu (Shandong) at that time. He studied there and returned only three years after. His parents told him about the death of his beloved. The young man came to her grave crying and made sacrifices. The deceased young girl came out and Han Zhong happily took her home. During three days all necessary ceremonies were held and they became husband and wife. The young girl presented Han with a pearl and left. Then Han went to the duke (her father) and told him everything. The duke had to adopt him as a son-in-law (TPGJ, 316.1, see also TPGJ, ). Among those who come back can be other young members of the family, worried (in the same way as the old ones) about the way their bodies were buried. For that particular reason Li Ying's sister, who died and was buried in a foreign land, comes home. She tells her brother that robbers have sacked her grave (TPGJ, 336.5). The reason can also lie in the agreement made by the departed with one of the relatives or friends before the death. For example, in the story Wei Huang such an episode is described. Mrs. Wei, the wife of the Zhou province head, agreed with her husband's younger sister that whoever dies first should come back and tell about the other world. Having given birth to two daughters Mrs. Wei died. One month later she came home invisible, began to talk to her relatives and said that she had already visited Yanluo-wang, the lord of Hell (TPGJ, 327.1). The spirit of the dead son comes back home to his parents. This case is described in the story Wang Ming. Wang Ming's son suddenly came back home a year after his death, called all the relatives and began to talk to them about the past. He told that after death everyone makes satisfaction for the offences committed during lifetime. He also advised how to avoid the dead spirits that come to take those people who must die. One should build high doorsteps in the house so that gui stumbled, fell down and forgot what he had come for (TPGJ, 320.9). A number of stories tell about the dead spirit coming to his friends. Coming to his friend, who is normally not aware of his friend's death at that moment, gui talks to him in the same way as if nothing had happened. Talented and intelligent young friends An Feng and Xu Kan decided to go to Changan to pass examinations, but Kan respected his parents so much that couldn't leave his mother and An went alone. He spent ten years in Changan and trying to pass examinations and become an official, but he failed. Suddenly Xu Kan arrived. They were so happy to see each other that they spent several days together in an inn talking all the time. Then Xu told that he had left home one year before and had been very worried about his old mother. He proposed An to go home together but the latter refused saying that he hadn't achieve the desired yet. The friends parted and only after that An learned that Xu had died three years before. However Xu implied that in the last line of his poem: It is difficult to forget the past even at the [Yellow] source (TPGJ, 344.5). Often the dead spirit can deceive his friend. Thus, Zhu Guan, a friend of Xing Cun, fell mortally ill and came to Xing all of a sudden. The latter asked, of course, about his health and Zhu told that he recovered, while in fact he was already dead, but Xing didn't know that at that time (TPGJ, 351.1). Often gui gives an advice or a prediction to his or her friend. More often he advises to follow Buddha's doctrine and not to do harm to living beings. The dead Yu Shao-zhi came to his friend in stocks and all beaten up. He said that he would like to give him advice since they were good friends during his lifetime. One mustn't

60 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 57 kill living beings. But if you can't get rid of that habit, then don't slaughter bulls! And when you eat meet, keep from eating the heart, since the heart is an ambry for the spirit. Such offence is particularly grave. Yu said good bye to his friend and told that they would meet three years later meaning that his friend would die by that time too. And that really happened (TPGJ, ). Some stories tell about a deceased Buddhist counsellor (fashi), who comes to his friend from the other world to confirm the truth of Buddha's doctrine. Buddhist taboo of eating meat is described in various situations, when the dead spirits (more often the adepts of Buddhism) come to their friends to give the benefit of their bitter experience: While living I couldn't refuse from meat and now I'm in the Hell of Starving Dogs! (TPGJ, , etc). The dead spirit often helps his friends. Sometimes a friend doesn't even expect such kind of help, while the spirit does his living friend a favour from the best motives. For example, in the story Wang Zhi-du Ma Zhong-shu and Wang Zhi-du were best friends, but Ma died. A year after Ma came and saw that his friend was still single. Ma said that he would take care of his marriage, decided on the day when he would bring a bride and ordered to make all necessary arrangements by that time. On that day there was a severe hurricane. It was very dark and when the storm calmed down, Wang found a young girl in his bedroom. Having come to senses she said that she was from Henan and the hurricane brought her to his house. Wang and the young girl considered it to be the will of Heavens and got married (TPGJ, 322.8). The dead spirit can also come to any living person, which is considered a return too, since the spirit wants to come back to human life per se. Gui can come to a person in a dream or when awake for a short or quite a long time. Normally the spirits come to a sick person for a short time. Let us consider several stories about a dead spirit coming to a person in a dream: The spirit comes to make a request. This happened to a military leader Sima Tian during his illness. He dreamed of a young man who called himself Deng-gong (not far from that place there was a joss house of Deng Yi ( ), a famous commander of the empire of Wei). It was a house made of grass. The old man asked to repair this joss house and Sima ordered to tile it (TPGJ, ). It should be noted that the spirit made a request not to an ordinary man, but to an official holding a high post, who could carry out an even more sophisticated request. The dead spirit can come attracted by the talents of a sleeping person. This happened to Duan Wen-chang. Once spending a night in a boat he started to play qin and heard somebody sighing outside. He stopped playing and the sighing ceased. He looked out and didn't see anybody. He began playing and somebody began sighing again! At that night he dreamt of a young girl who told him about her tragic destiny. Her parents died and she had to kill herself after. The young girl's parents could play qin very well and Duan's playing moved her and reminded of the past (TPGJ, 341.7). In a big number of cases a dead spirit comes to a stranger in real life for a short period of time. Here are some examples: The dead spirit sings and dances. One man saw two singing and dancing guis in the city of Yaocheng at night and both of them were three zhangs heigh (more than ten meters). They sang for a while and disappeared (TPGJ, 346.7). The spirit cries. Such case is described, for example, in the story Ni Yuan-zhi. One man more than eight chi high (about two and a half meters) appears at night and cries in a sad voice till midnight. Then he disappears (TPGJ, ). As a rule such cases (when the dead spirit can dance, run around, etc.) take place on the *** gui's grave, near the grave or in a place where the remains of the spirit were left without burying. The dead spirit leaves his poems. Once a monk of a Buddhist temple in Suzhou saw two men in white clothes at night. They were going up the church tower. The monk waited for them to come down, but nobody appeared. Then he went upstairs but didn't see anybody there. Next day he found three poems written on the wall by those guis. One of the poems begins with these words: The bright and the dark worlds have different ways. Once we, undeserving, could write poems. If you want to know, where we sleep in solitude, Look for two lonely graves to the north of the mountains Dreary wind sings in tall pine trees, Its whistle is so clean, but so sad In the end of the story it is mentioned that one can see these poems on the wall of the temple even now (TPGJ, 338.3). Often the poems written by gui can be confined to a feast, for example, a feast of cold food (TPGJ, 354.6). This day is a very important one, since it is devoted to the spirits. A gui writes poems like an ordinary Chinese scribe. The dead spirit can come to a person as a silent precursor of a disaster. Once Liu Lang-qing saw a tall man in a very impressive dress. The man was silent and didn't answer any questions of frightened Liu. Then he disappeared and after a while Liu was exiled (TPGJ, 326.3). Moreover, the dead spirit can come as a precursor of death. Once a man called Liu saw a strange creature: with head of a lion, cheeks covered with white hair, one chi high [it is a little more than 30 centimetres. I. A.], and with arms and legs of a man (TPGJ 326.6). Often historical figures appear in such stories. For example, an executed Xie Hui ( ) came to a famous poet Xie Ling-yun ( ) holding his head in his hands not long before the death of the latter (TPGJ, 323.7). However dead spirits can come to a person as a precursor of good, but this is not typical. In the story

61 58 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 Liu Cheng one can read: Liu Cheng, who lived in the fifth year of Jin reign of Yi-xi (409), saw dead spirits all the time and became an assistant to the head of the province (TPGJ, ). But then Liu saw a strange boy and a few days later there was a big fire. By the way in some stories the ability to see dead spirits is acquired by people due to progress in getting the knowledge of the right Way or it can be a gift from nature. So, a certain Hu could see guis. Even if he didn't want to, he could not do anything about it (TPGJ, 319.4). The dead spirit willingly helps those people who ask for it. One man had to spend a night in the forest because of the snowfall. He asked the dead spirits to guard his sleep and they kept watching him during the whole night (TPGJ, 331.9). Another gui helps an orphan by giving him some money (TPGJ, ), etc. But if a man can't understand that the dead spirit has come to help him and refuses this help, it can turn out badly. It happened to a military leader Zhao. Having fallen seriously ill he saw a man in yellow clothes, who came up to the tripod, where Zhao's son was preparing the medicine for his father. The man put a white pill into the medicine, but Zhao's son didn't notice it. Zhao told him everything he saw and his son thought that gui wanted to kill his father and poured out the medicine. Then he began preparing another one. After a while the man in yellow clothes appeared again and put his pill into the medicine for the second time. This medicine was poured out too. The spirit didn't come any more, and Zhao died a few days later (TPGJ, 346.2). However sometimes the dead spirits try to do a favour to living people when they don't expect it: Jinshi Duan He lived in a tenant room in Kehufang quarter. In the eighth year of Tai-he reign he fell ill and stayed in bed for a month. Only after that he began to feel better. Once he washed his hair and was combing them with a comb leaning over the table. Suddenly a totally naked man got out from a gap in the wall and stood before He without ceremony. This man looked at him and said: Well, you have fallen ill but you aren't married and there is nobody to take care of you. And if you die, what to do then? Having realized that it was the dead spirit, He answered: But I am poor, how can I marry! Let me be your matchmaker! There is a young girl in one house. She is very beautiful and virtuous. All her relatives hold high posts and she has a lot of distant relations. I have some money, that's why you shouldn't worry about wedding presents, that man said. He answered: But I haven't honoured my name yet, I don't even think about marriage! Don't be too ceremonious! answered the man. There's nothing to worry about! Today I'll arrange your acquaintance! The man went towards the gate. After a while he came back. She has already arrived! he said. The next moment four men entered the house carrying a gold-filled palanquin. Two maids followed it, one of them with a high hairdo of an adult woman, another one with that of an infant and both of them were very beautiful. Then two servants in blue headbands came in carrying boxes with jewellery and trunks with clothes. They put all that in the yard. The matchmaker ordered to carry the bride to the side wing, closed the door after her and came up to He. The bride from a noble family has arrived! You don't have to perform any ceremonies. Don't you mind? He was so angry that he felt worse and couldn't even raise his head from the pillow. Would you like to look at the bride? asked the matchmaker. He addressed He in such a way for three times, but He refused (TPGJ, 49.3). Gui appears in the house of a man. It happens rather often, because gui wishes to return to the world of the living. In the house of Chen Xi-lie appeared a gui who recited poems and sang songs. People asked who he was, where he was from and what he was doing there. I am just walking here. I'll walk a little bit and then go away, answered gui. Then he expressed a wish to get some sacrificial food and clothes. When they refused to give him the required things, he began to swear and disappeared after a while (TPGJ, 335.4). Since a man (with his family) and the dead spirit live in one house (it is often the house of the departed where another man lives), they must establish their relations. Gui admits superiority of the man if the latter has merits in any kind of activity. Commander Chen started to live in a government premises that had a bad reputation, since the officials who had lived there fell ill and died. Right after Chen moved in, he noticed different strange creatures and tried to fight with them: he shot an arrow from a bow, rushed at them fearlessly with a sword or a stick. That lasted for quite a long time and one day he heard a voice: I am a dead spirit and I don't want to live in one house with a human being. But you, mister, are wise and frank and I would like to serve you as a younger brother. Will you allow me to do that? *** Chen agreed and since then the spirit behaved himself. They established brotherly relations. Gui often talked to Chen, warned him about troubles, while Chen made sacrifices, when gui asked for it (TPGJ, 355.3). Such peaceful coexistence is rather typical and can last for a long time till the death of a man or till the moment when the other world authorities will send gui to another place. But the story of a commander Chen ends in a different way: Chen invited a magician, who wrote a complaint against gui and burned it at the altar. This action was very unexpected, because gui didn't do any harm to Chen and on the contrary he helped him. Gui himself didn't understand what had happened: We became brothers, my Lord, how could you make a complaint against me? Do noble-minded statesmen, leashed by the ties of friendship, act in such a way? However gui had to leave. He was mistaken, since Chen wasn't really wise and frank. Appearing in the house the dead spirit can have different intentions, but the first one is getting sacrifices. It is quite natural since only in this case gui can support himself. Taking into consideration the importance of making sacrifices for the dead spirits, it is easy to understand why gui often uses his magic skills. Thus, appearing in the house of Chen Qin-sun the dead spirits

62 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 59 asked him to make a sacrifice of a black cow from the farm. Gui threatened to kill Chen's son within twenty days if he doesn't obey, but the man answered: The period of human life is defined and it doesn't depend on you! In twenty days the boy died. Then gui threatened to kill Chen's wife. Chen persisted and didn't sacrifice his cow. His wife died too. Gui appeared and said that he would kill Chen, but the latter remained adamant. The time defined by gui passed, but Chen didn't die. Then gui came and began to repent: You have an inflexible will and you deserve great happiness! Don't tell anybody about all that. If the Earth and the Heavens learn, it won't be good for me. The thing is that I saw a decree of the registry carried by a devilkin-courier. It pointed out that your son and your wife's period of life had come to an end and I decided to take advantage of that and ask you for food! (TPGJ, ). It isn't quite clear if all the dead spirits can change the length of a man's life and influence his destiny without any reason. In any case if the spirits have such abilities they belong to those guis who hold high positions in another world and have enough power after death. That is why in the world of the living such kind of guis appear as eminent officials followed by guards but not on foot and alone. Since dead spirits are inclined to threaten people, it is easy to explain the fear of them. Moreover, gui's influence can be expressed not only in form of open threatening and extortion, but also visually, when the dead spirit appears before a man having a strange (i, ) and frightening (guai, ) look. Gui's intention to frighten somebody and overmaster him or her does not always have a certain aim. Spirits can do harm to a person for no particular reason. Thus in one story gui with a strange appearance used to get into the stomach of a small girl and talk out from there yelling out threats. He nearly harried the girl to death (TPGJ, 320.3). Another gui that appeared in the house of Yang from Wuxian looked like a monkey. He used to take food away from people and bother the masters of the house in other ways. Yang got angry and ran after him with a knife but gui turned into his wife, while his wife changed into gui. In the end Yang killed his wife (TPGJ, 318.9). It is evident that a man has every reason not to expect anything good from the meeting with the dead spirit. However in some stories a person is aware of meeting the dead spirit, but isn't afraid of it. Ruan De-ru once met gui in the corridor. He was all black, as high as one zhang, and had very big eyes. He was in white clothes and in a headband. He stopped before De-ru. Having coped with his fear De-ru said with a smile: It's true that guis are disgusting even by appearance! Gui was ashamed and ran away (TPGJ, ). Very often those people who are not afraid of the meeting with dead spirits tend to attack gui first. Having met gui at the door of a church daos Fa-li leaned upon him, tied to the pole with a rope and began to beat him with a stick. Then Fa-li decided to prove if it was true that gui could turn into something or somebody. He tied him to the same pole with an iron wire and waited till gui disappeared in the evening. Such behaviour didn't have any consequences for the monk (TPGJ, 327.6). Attacks of an invisible gui can be successful too. Noticing a footstep of two tsun long (about 6.5 cm) on the floor an official Liu Shu-lun began to hunt an invisible gui with a sword. He slashed air at random and obviously killed somebody, since there was blood on the floor (TPGJ, ). These attacks are not provoked by the dead spirit, though a person often attacks gui being driven to despair by his disturbance (taking things, bothering at might). The abovementioned story about Yang is a good example of such case (TPGJ, 323.3, TPGJ, ). Often courage (or presence of mind) showed by a man when meeting gui foreshadows his future fame. One winter night Lu Yu-qing traversed a field. It was very cold and Lu was freezing. Suddenly he saw a fire with people sitting around it. Lu came up to them to warm himself a bit, but the fire turned out to be cold. Lu was surprised and asked what the matter was. People sitting around the fire burst out laughing. Having realized that they were guis, Lu whipped his horse in cool blood and galloped away. If you, young gentleman, haven't been scared by them, you are lucky! You'll be wealthy and noble! as one of the locals predicted Lu. And that really happened, since later on Lu got a noble rank (TPGJ, ). Not all of attacks by guis finish happily or serve as a sign of great future. Such attacks often result in the person's death. The mail character of the story Wang Zhong-wen saw a white dog (white is the colour of mourning). Wang liked it so much that ordered to take it with him. Suddenly the dog turned into a man of disgusting appearance. In surprise Wang started to beat him with a whip and ordered his servants to do the same. The man disappeared and within a month Wang and those servants, who flogged that man saw him again and died (TPGJ, ). The same thing happened to Liu Qing-song. He attacked gui that got out from the gap in the floor. Gui ran away and Liu fell ill and died (TPGJ, 321.6). It should be noted that in the majority of the abovementioned cases a man and the dead spirit do not normally talk to each other and their meetings do not last long. A person spends night in the house of the dead. This happens when a man caught by bad weather on his way or at night can't find accommodation. It may be said that the spirit patronizes and does a favour to a living person by letting him or her stay for the night in his house, which is a magically transformed grave. *** In the majority of episodes the main character of narrative prose xiaoshuo is a man and very seldom the central figure of the story is a woman. Thus the traveller who is getting a shelter for the night would be a man in most cases. However the dead spirits that let him in and act as hosts can be both male and female. Let us consider some examples.

63 60 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 Qin Shu was going home from the capital when the night overtook him. Qin wandered out of his way. Having caught sight of a light in the distance, he went towards it in the hope of finding accommodation for the night. Soon he came up to a hut, where a young girl lived. Hesitating to come into the house Shu asked the young girl a permission to spend the night in the yard, but soon she invited him into the house and offered to sit at the table. Noticing that the young girl lived alone Shu made her an intimate proposal. She agreed with a laugh. They spent the night in one bed and in the morning the girl presented Shu with a ring saying that they would not see each other again. Having galloped away for a few meters he turned round and saw a grave-mound instead of the hut and he lost the ring soon after the occasion (TPGJ, 324.1). Certain aspects should be noted in such kind of stories. The dead spirit meets a traveller and invites him into the house that is characterized as a poor one in the text. As a rule it is a hut made of canes and grass without fire in the fireplace or without the fireplace at all because of great need (TPGJ, , etc). However in a number of stories a traveller can find himself in a luxurious palace, when he spends a night at the house of a departed woman, who used to hold quite a high position in society. Such case is described in the story Zui Luo-she, when the main character Zui was passing by a luxurious palace with a red gate one evening. A servant stopped the man and said that his hostess would like to see him. Zui was surprised, but went into the palace and met a beautiful woman there. She began to treat him with splendid dishes. And though Zui had realized that the beauty wasn't a human being, he spent the whole night with her having a good time. In the morning she presented Zui with a jade ring and bundled him off. He walked away. Having taken a few steps he looked back and saw a grave of course (TPGJ, 326.7). Often a dead spirit makes a request to his guest in return for providing him with a shelter. Caught by bad weather and darkness on the way a certain Zhang Yu asked for accommodation in a luxury house. He was welcomed by a woman of about thirty who said that she hadn't been a human being for a long time already. She began to complain that her ex-husband gave her children to a maid, whom he had a relationship with. But the maid treated children dreadfully and even beat them. I would like to kill this maid, but the living energy of the dead is so weak! That's why I want you to help me. I will pay you well. Yu understood that she wanted him to kill the maid and immediately refused. But the woman assured him that he must just tell everything to her husband. Yu carried out her request (TPGJ, ). Thus it is evident that the Chinese believed there was a direct dependence between the social position of a person during his or her life and after death. Another essential circumstance of such meetings is a present that a female gui and a man exchange in the morning when parting. However a traveller may not make any present to the gui, while female gui would always give a souvenir to him: a ring, a pendant for the belt, a pouch for fragrances, a fan, a poem, etc. Later this gift can disappear or it can be the reason of revealing the truth about gui. The third thing to mention is that such meetings are usually followed by sexual relations. The proposal to have intimate contact can be made by the guest as well as by the hostess. The latter often proposes it in a poem explicitly stating her desire. Female guis that write poems usually have other talents and are often described as fine by nature, inclined to express refined emotions, poetic melancholy, playing musical instruments. Houses of such guis are far from being poor and miserable. This group of stories is related to another one telling about a meeting of a man with a dead woman that happens in some place. A female gui can, for example, come to a man attracted by his talent. Wang Gong-bo could play qin well. Once he had to stay at a roadside bower for the night and admiring the moon Wang began to plunk. Suddenly a beautiful young girl appeared and said that she liked to play qin very much. One thing led to another and they laid their instruments down to sleep together. In the morning they exchanged gifts at parting. Then it turned out that it was the spirit of a departed young girl buried not far from that place (TPGJ, ). The spirits can also have a feature or a thing that reveals their inward nature. For example their body can be as cold as ice; one can feel a strong smell of blood or stink when they appear; they can carry a special sack with their own bones which they forbid to look at, etc. The meeting can happen in a house with a bad reputation. They said that a spirit of one dead man haunted a bower outside western gate of Ruyang city and many of those who had spent a night there fell ill and even died. Some Zheng Qi, who wasn't afraid of that, stayed there for the night and spent it with a beautiful young girl. In the morning a guard looked into the bower and saw a dead body lying aside Zheng who was still asleep. After that Zheng had pain in his stomach for a long time (TPGJ, 317.8). In general, a meeting in a bad place is much more harmful for a person than a contact in the house of the departed. A number of stories describe the main character meeting a famous beautiful woman of the past. Liu Dao and his friend Li Shi-bing were on the way to Hangzhou. One fine day they heard women's voices from the roadside forest. The next moment a maid came out from behind the trees and said that two ladies wanted to see them. After a while these ladies came out from the forest too. They were extremely beautiful young women in luxurious clothes. The friends began to bow them and invited to partake in their meal. As it turned out later one of them was a famous beauty of the past Xi Shi. In the morning they exchanged gifts and parted (TPGJ, 326.5). It should be noted that meetings with Si Shi are rather frequent (TPGJ, 327.7, etc.) A characteristic feature of such kind of stories is the fact that when a main character meets a famous beauty of the past, he takes the opportunity to make love to her as well as to learn in detail about the times she witnessed that didn't find reflection in historical writings. The character is drawn by the anxiety for knowledge and the beauty tells him

64 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 61 willingly about the past. Often the beauty plunges into recollections on her own initiative. Very often when a man meets a female gui they begin to live together as husband and wife. Having come to a man in the appearance of a beautiful woman of easy virtue, a female gui doesn't cut these meetings off and stays for quite a long (fixed by the Heavens) period of time. At first a man, captured by the beauty of his beloved, can't realize who he has twisted fortune with. But once he knows the truth, first of all he tries to get rid of her or even kill her. This happened, for example, to a certain Zhong. His friend noticed that Zhong had changed and there was something strange in his behaviour. He inquired and Zhong told that he had entered into intimate relation with a beauty one could rarely find. The friend said that she must be gui and advised to kill the maiden. Zhong took his friend's advice and wounded the maiden when they met. Following the trail of blood in the morning he came up to a grave to find the body of his beloved there (TPGJ, 317.9). (There are very few cases when the spirit of dead man lives with a living woman. See, for example, the story Mrs. Meng (TPGJ, 345.9). Once a merchant's wife meet a spirit of a departed young man who offers to make love to him. This intimate relationship lasted for one year till her husband arrived from a trip). However there are other episodes when a man does not reject a maiden gui after learning the truth. The head of the province Li Zhong-weng saw a female gui for the first time in his dream. She told him who she was but Li didn't show disguise (and maiden guis as a rule fear that). When he met her in real life they began living as husband and wife (TPGJ, 319.1). The desire to get rid of such beloved is quite clear basing on the belief that a maiden gui entering into sexual relation with a man gives him diseases and death. In the story Li Tao such a beauty came to the main character at night. Tao realized that it was a dead spirit and didn't speak to her at first. The young girl walked away with downcast eyes. Then a maid servant made him ashamed and Tao changed his mind and started to talk and even flirt with the woman. Everything finished with fornication. Then the maiden said that they had had intimate relationship long before. They had lived together for more than ten days when his mother learned about that and came down on Tao. At first he refused to break off with the maiden but then he fell ill. It is interesting that the maiden gui didn't leave him but was looking after him, gave him herbal tea and sat at his bed-side as a wife. Soon she left the term of their relationship finished (TPGJ, 333.8). The theme of an old relationship is very popular in TPGJ and in xiaoshuo prose in general. The spirits of dead women often mention this old relationship that had taken place in their juvenile years or even in another life. But often the maiden gui is moved not only by the interest to a man's talents or by an old relationship but also by an unsatisfied uncontrollable passion. It leads to one time contacts as well as to long-term intimate relations. Such case is described for example in the story Wang Zhi. A beautiful girl didn't have a chance to get married while living and after death she comes to a traveller-student and they live as a married couple for a month. When parting the maiden gives him a bronze mirror that helps to reveal the truth (TPGJ ). These motives are used very frequently. The departed maiden often presents her beloved with different things or just leaves something in his house. Normally these are the things that were put in the coffin (jewellery or living essentials as a rule). Generally it happens when the coffin has not been put into the earth yet. On noticing the absence of a given thing in the coffin the relatives begin to look for it, which was the case with Wang Zhi. The relatives found the bronze mirror in his house and accused him of theft. In order to purge himself of suspicion Wang had to tell everything. The spirits of married women can be spurred on to such actions by their dissatisfaction of their married life. This happened to a dead wife of one man. The spirit of the woman had intimate relations with the head of the province while her husband was away from home. When her husband arrived the dead woman left that man. Once the head of the province showed him a silver bowl that the maiden spirit had presented to him and the man recognized that bowl since he had put it in the coffin of his dead wife himself (TPGJ, 335.7). It is particular interesting that the maiden-spirit is usually inclined to take revenge for infidelity of her beloved. Thus Yang Bei having been in a relationship with a dead woman was ill for a long time. When the maiden gui left him, Yang took his elder brother's advice and got married. One year later the dead woman suddenly appeared and began to yell at him. Soon after that Yang fell ill and died (TPGJ, 334). *** Another group of stories describes the meeting of a man with the spirit of a dead man and their relationship. If the spirit of a dead woman is moved by a desire to have intimate relations, the spirit of a dead man is driven by interest in talents of a living man and by admiration at his skills and knowledge. Often the dead spirit gives accommodation to a traveller. The dead spirit can invite a traveller into his house. Wei used to take interest in Daoism in his juvenile years and didn't believe in spirits. One evening he was overtaken by a snowstorm. The storm was so severe that Wei couldn't continue his way. Suddenly daos appeared and invited Wei to his home to wait for the storm to pass, stay overnight and talk of this and that. Having come to his place, they entered the house and sat before the fire. Drinking wine and eating they began talking of Dao' doctrine. Then the host started to talk about the spirits of the deceased and Wei strongly objected their existence saying that there was nothing to talk about. But the thing you exalt is Dao, the Way of the immortal, answered daos, why do you slander so vigorously the dead spirits? They have existed since the Earth and the Heaven came into being! If your Dao is high then the dead spirits and ghosts won't dare to do

65 62 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 you harm. But if your Dao hasn't reached the necessary height they will hurt you! Wei didn't believe him. In the morning he said good bye and went away. When Wei looked back he saw a grave instead of the house! Since then he believed in ghosts (TPGJ, 327). It should be noted that not all the meetings with the spirits come off well for a man. For example a merchant Chen saw a big estate on his way home. When he came in there looking for accommodation he met a man of ugly appearance. The moon came out of the clouds and the merchant saw that man's face. It was absolutely black and there were no pupils in his eyes. Chen ran away and thus managed to escape. Then he learned from one old man that a harmful gui haunted that place (TPGJ ). The story Hu Yun-yi tells that on their way to a new place of employment Hu Yun-yi and his wife were stripped clean by robbers. One old man had pity on the robbed couple and gave them shelter. He was so kind that offered Hu to leave his wife at his place for some time, proceed alone and come back for her after taking charge of the service. Hu agreed and went on alone. Having arrived at the destination he got a letter from his wife. She wrote that had already cried her eyes out and found comfort with a young man who lived at the old man's house too. Raving with anger Hu went back at once in order to revenge that insidious old man. However he found only a grave there and when he dug it out he saw his wife's dead body (TPGJ, 344.4). Much like a maiden gui the dead spirit can come to a person it has interest in. Once in the evening Ji Kang was playing qin when somebody more than one zhang high (more than three meters) appeared. When Ji tried to peruse him, the stranger puffed off the lamp that lit the place. I had lived here before and was killed at this place. I heard you playing, my Lord, the melody is pure and soft, unlike in ancient times. That's why I came to listen to you. Ji and his guest spent the night talking (TPGJ, ). Often in such cases gui teaches a man to play a musical instrument and proposes to versify rhymes together (TPGJ, 324.4, TPGJ, 349.5). The reason of gui's coming can be a man's quality that he is famous for: poetic talent, respect to parents, hospitality. Apart from being rich and hospitable jinshi Lu was famous for his poetic talent. One evening a man of a very imposing appearance came to him. I heard you write beautiful poems. That's why I'm here. He turned out to be a great poet Shen Yue ( ) who had passed away long before. Lu began to treat him with wine and showed hospitality. All night long they versified poems and had fun together with one more gui. Soldiers will rise in rebellion here in two years, warned Shen Yue before leaving, which actually happened later (TPGJ, 343.1). Sometimes the dead spirits predict not only forthcoming disasters, but also the life span of a person (TPGJ, 336.1, etc). Apart from meeting the spirits in their house, people can come across them in the vicinity of the burial place staying overnight in a remote post office or in an outlying inn. Jinshi Zu Jia stayed overnight at an empty Buddhist monastery together with his servant. Fascinated by the beauty of the moon Zu decided to take a walk around the yard. Suddenly a man appeared and began to talk to him. They sat down on a mat and engaged in conversation about classical writings and canonic texts and then recited some poems. In the morning the guest went away and later Zu learned that it was gui (TPGJ, 344.8). Special attention should be paid to those cases when living people meet messengers from the other world who can be their relatives. These messengers usually come to the world of the living in order to accompany to the other world the souls of those people who must die. Performing his formal duty gui asks the person to give him a ride on a boat (cart, etc.) without uncovering himself. A necessary attribute of an official from another world is a book (a roll) with the names of those who must die (it reads: On that day go to that village and take that man ). Once Zhou Shi met a person with a book under his arm, who requested to give him a ride on the boat. Shi agreed and after ten li the official asked to stop at a village. I leave my book in your boat, mister. But don't open it, said the man and left. It didn't take long for the messenger to get the souls to the boat and soon mournful crying could be heard from the village (TPGJ, 339.1). Shi opened the book and saw that there were lists of the people, who were supposed to die. His name was written in the end of the list too. He was horrified and pleaded the official to let him live. Though the man disapproved of Shi opening the book he told: Go Sacrificing to the spirit of a dead stranger, burying the body of a person, deposition of a poorly buried body, *** *** home now and don't go beyond the gate for three years, only in this case you can delay death. Shi followed the advice. He didn't leave home for two years, but then his father sent him to their neighbour's funeral and Shi couldn't refuse. Having stepped outside the gate he saw that official with the book, who said that nothing could be done and gave him three days to settle up affairs. Three days later Shi died (TPGJ, ). Sometimes the messengers can take the soul of a person whose name is not included in the list by mistake, due to ignorance or lack of attention. In the story Tang Bang two men in red clothes came and took the main character to a huge grave. You were ordered to take Tang Fu, why did you take Tang Bang then? the chief yelled at them. Tang Bang came back to life and Tang Fu living nearby died (TPGJ, 322.1). A giant was chasing a monk Hui-jin who was fiercely resisting the former. On seeing his opposition the giant decided to clarify if he was the right one and asked for his name. The last name is right, but the name is wrong! said the giant on hearing the answer and disappeared (TPGJ, , etc). burying the bones left without entombment all these deeds entail gratitude of the spirits. However, it seems

66 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 63 that re-entering the bones or sacrificing to an unknown spirit of a deceased, the person is acting out of good motives having no lucrative impulses and expecting no gratitude. In the corridor of his house Huan Gong found a hole that turned out to be a grave upon a closer view. And every time when eating Gong put the food before the grave first. That was going on during one year. Suddenly somebody appeared and said that this was his grave and he had died over seven hundred years before. All his descendants passed away and there was nobody to look after the grave. That's why it is in such a poor condition. Your virtue touched me, mister, and in gratitude for that I would make you the head of Ningzhou province, said the visitor (TPGJ, 322.5; a slightly changed version of this story with indication of the same source is given in juan 320 of TPGJ). Once Xu found somebody's grave in his plot of land and began to share his food with the dead spirit. He cried loudly: Hey, a field ghost! Come here to eat my food! (TPGJ, ). In the story Fang Xuan-ling the main characters sacrificed to a grave of a stranger. While doing that they heard an interesting dialogue between the dead spirits. One spirit outside calls another one and says: Hey, twenty li to the east from here one countryman makes a grand feast for the spirits. There will be a lot of wine and food [they mean sacrificing I. A.] Will you go there? I am already drunk and have a full belly of meat, and I am on duty above all. I can't go! Thank you for inviting me! But you are always starving, where did you get wine and meat? And you are not an official, what duty are you talking about? Why are you cheating on us? The head of the province gave me a task to follow the two ministers and they have treated me kindly to meat and wine. That's why I can't go (TPGJ, ). Living people can benefit a lot from overhearing conversations between dead spirits, if they are able to use that information in the right way. The next dialogue took place in one family after the birth of a child: Well, have you seen the baby? What will his name be? How many years will he live? It is a boy! His name will be A-nu, he will live fifteen years. And what will cause his death? He will be employed to build a house and will fall from the roof and die (TPGJ, 316.6). One man overheard that dialogue but didn't believe it. Fifteen years later the prediction of the spirits came true. The dead spirit can express gratitude as well as revenge. Gui can show gratitude for help in different ways and by all available means. A military leader Shi didn't believe in ghosts and settled in a bad house. One evening a man in official clothes came to him and said: I am a Han commander Fan Kuai and my grave is not far from your closet, mister. I suffer much for that reason. If you carried my grave to another place, I would generously repay for it. Shi agreed to reinter the bones of the commander. The story ends in the following way: When Shi became a commander in Sui region, the soldiers-spirits helped him to win all the battles each time he came across the robbers (TPGJ, ). If any harm is done to a grave the dead spirit can take revenge. When the robbers dug out the grave of a Wang and ransacked it, the dead spirit emerged and treated them to some wine. On drinking that wine the robbers couldn't get rid of the wine traces on their lips. The spirit told about those traces to the guards and the robbers were caught (TPGJ, 317.5). The dead spirit can revenge for the disbelief in its existence. That is why the result of the disbelief in gui is often sad. However the dead spirit can come to an obstinate person and try to talk him round. The head of the province of Zong Dai spoke out against sacrificing and claimed that the dead spirits did not exist. Nobody could shatter his belief. One day a scribe in poor clothes came to Dai and tried to dissuade him again, but Dai persisted in his opinion. In anger the scribe confessed he was gui himself and disappeared. The next day Dai died (TPGJ, 317.7). In the next episode a gui came as a guest to another disbeliever and said: Since old times all sages have been handing down the stories about the dead spirits, only you don't believe!, and he turned into an ugly gui again. After that conversation the man fell ill and died one year later (TPGJ, 319.5). The hero of another story Zhang Xi-wang laughed at gui and refused to deposition his remains saying the following: I didn't believe in such things even in childhood! After a month the dead spirit killed him with an arrow (TPGJ, 329). Thus TPGJ materials allow us to conclude that the main characteristic of the dead spirits in common Chinese consciousness is the ability to come back to living people in the dreams or in the reality, in visible or invisible form, to their native places, to their relatives or friends. When coming to the living people in a visible form, the dead spirit shows up with his ordinary appearance, clothes and food preferences. The dead spirit can come back for two general reasons. Firstly, it comes back worried about the state of affairs at home, i. e. about the relatives' destiny and health driven by a desire to help and teach them, about property condition driven by the intention to put everything back to order and punish the unjust, etc. Secondly, the spirit comes back to the world of the living to tell that his or her body has not been buried properly. For *** example, the spirit can ask for the interment if the body hasn't been buried for a particular reason or has been buried in the wrong season or in an unfortunate place. The spirit can also be asking to repair the grave or make sacrifices there, etc. There is a separate group of stories describing relations between a living man and a deceased woman, where the latter is not playing any evil role. In Song times an evil image of harmful guis in xiaoshuo prose gave its place to another type of gui that didn't cause harm just by the fact of its appearance. Presumably during that time the bookish scriptural variant of low Chinese mythology was being formed. Genetically this variant dates back to verbal folk sources, but it starts to split off little by little mainly due to complexity of Chinese grammar.

67 64 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 1 JUNE 2009 When coming back guis are normally worried about family and household issues, while the dead spirits contact strangers being anxious about the way they had been buried. Dead spirits can be attracted by talents or even virtues of a living person. If a person possesses high moral and makes progress on the way to acquiring virtue, he or she is protected against an evil dead spirit, i. e., gui stands away from such people. The soul of a dead person would use every possibility to communicate with wise people including treating them to wine and discussing the vital subjects driven by the desire to acquire additional knowledge. Showing deep respect the deceased would eagerly join such people's company inviting them to versify and compose impromptu poems together. Thus the spirit of a dead woman can be attracted by the talents and virtues of a living man, but her main interest is the desire to enter into intimate relations with him for a short or for a long time period. These relations can be breaking off and renewing again. Often the spirit of a deceased maiden is longing for a sexual relation with a man driven not only by her own will, but also by the power of the dark nature. The spirit of a dead woman possesses an ability to take male life energy that has a bright source (yang). With the help of this energy she can double her magic power and have more stable human appearance. The living man begins to feel bad as a result of this relationship. Due to the leak of living energy a long contact with a spirit can lead to a severe disease or even death. On realizing the reason of prostration himself or with somebody's help, the man usually breaks or at least tries to stop such relationship. However, sometimes he is unable to do that captivated by the beauty of his beloved. In their turn the dead spirits develop warm feelings to their partners expressing their attachment by giving presents to the beloved, writing poems, laughing with joy and crying out of grief. That is why most of the spirits panic on seeing their beloved wasting way. This process can be stopped only by timely separation, since independently of the maiden gui's wish every sexual act causes the loss of energy on the part of man. She is unable to control this process. For this particular reason maiden guis often leave their lovers or even cure them. They try to explain that being generated by yin nature, they inevitably do harm to all the living. Besides according to the laws of the other world it is punishable and often the spirit of dead woman is punished for doing harm even if done unintentionally. The material under study poses a number of very important questions that require further research. One of the main questions is the problem of studying typological differences between Chinese, Russian and European notion of the other world, the supernatural and the wonderful. The present investigation allowed us to formulate the main characteristic feature to the Chinese notion of the dead spirit, which is syncreticality that is mainly expressed in the translation of the Chinese word gui into the Russian language [2]. According to the context it can be translated into English as devil, demon, evil *** spirit, spirit, ghost, werewolf [3], etc. Gui has more functions than each of the given concepts and the notion of gui doesn't fully correspond to any of the abovementioned equivalents. In Russian and European traditions the functions performed by gui are distributed among several other characters of the supernatural world with more specific functions. Thus there are all reasons to conclude that Chinese dead spirits have syncretic character. Presumably there is a number of reasons standing behind this syncreticality, which poses the next questions to be solved by the researchers in future. Notes 1. Hereinafter the first digit stands for the number of juan in Tai-ping guang ji (TPGJ) and the second digit for the number of story in juan. 2. Syncreticality is caused by the fact that gui performs multiple functions at once still being able to have different appearances. According to TPGJ one can divide guis into three general groups. The first group includes the dead spirits that come in the appearance of human beings (a giant or a dwarf), but with an unusual feature: face features, a tail, paws of a tiger, etc. The second group includes the spirits that come in the form of an animal sometimes even with elements of a human body. The third group includes the spirits that come in human shape. The spirits of the dead women are usually unearthly beautiful. In Chinese texts these characters are marked by the hieroglyph gui. 3. The theme of werewolves in Russian and Chinese traditions should undergo special research. It should be noted that in Russian tradition a werewolf is a person who turned into an animal or a thing with the help of magic power; evil spirits that acquire a certain shape (Slovar' sovremennogo russkogo iazyka (The Dictionary of Modern Literary Russian Language) (Moscow Leningrad, 1959), viii, p. 339), a person who turned into a wolf or another animal (sometimes into a bush or a stone) with the help of a witch or with his own magic powers (V. I. Dahl, Tolkovyĭ slovar' zhivogo velikorusskogo iazyka (The Defining Dictionary of the Living Russian Language) (St. Petersburg, 1981), i, p. 611), while in Chinese tradition a werewolf is an animal (usually a fox), the spirit of the departed, an old thing.

68 I. ALIMOV. Tai-ping guang ji : Motives Related to the Dead Souls 65 Illustrations Front cover: Plate 1. Sacrifice at a home altar of ancestors before a wedding ceremony. Watercolour on pith, cm. China, 19th century. MAE RAS, No (7е). Photo by S. Shapiro. Courtesy of the Museum. Back cover: Plate 2. Offering incense to the spirits. Watercolour on paper, cm. Beijing, Zhou Pei-chun's workshop, end of the 19th century. MAE RAS, No Photo by S. Shapiro. Courtesy of the Museum.

69 TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION I. Alimov SONG QI AND THE NOTES OF MR. SONG JING-WEN Song Qi (, second name Zi-jing,, posthumous name Jing-wen, ) was born in 998 and died in 1061 at the age of 64. According to his contemporaries the birth of Song Qi and his elder brother Song Xiang (, , Yuan-xian, ) was preceded by prophetic dreams. Wang De-chen (, ) in his collection of stories Zhu shi (, The Story with Feather Duster ), wrote: My countrymen say that Yuan-xian's mother dreamed of a man in red [clothes], who was giving her a big pearl. [The woman] took it and put in bosom, and when she woke up, she remembered the dream. Some time later Yuan-xian was born. Later on she dreamed of the same man in red holding forth an Analects to her and shortly after that Jing-wen was born. That's why his infant name was Suan-ge, Chosen brer [1]. As it is said in the Song Dynasty history brothers Song came from Anlu, the Anzhou district [the province of Hubei] and later moved to Yongqiu, not far from Kaifeng [Henan]. However this is not totally right, since according to Song Qi the Song clan had moved to Kaifeng area already four generations before and only after their father Song Qi (,? 1017) [2] death brothers Song found themselves in Anlu under care of their stepmother Mrs. Zhu,. Song Qi and his brother spent their juvenile years in poverty, which was quite typical for many other Song scribes, who later glorified Chinese culture (for example, Ouyang Xiu). The future author of Song jing wen gong bi ji (Frag. No. 23) wrote: When I began studying in my young years, I had neither a tutor nor classmates. In our poor house we didn't have any books and I practiced in poem and ode writing on my own. And here is the evidence of Wang De-chen: Mrs. Zhu, Song Yuan-xian's stepmother, was my neighbour. Since Yuan-xian and his brother Jing-wen were relatives on the maternal side, they studied in Anlu, but were poor. On midwinter holyday they invited their classmates to have a drink, and Yuan-xian said to his guests: The holyday has come, but we have nothing to set the table with. There is only one thing left a liang of silver from our father's sheath. It will be enough to buy some food. And then he added with a smile: On midwinter day we eat the sheath away, and for the New Year we'll eat the sword! [3]. Juvenile years spent in poverty, probably, had a certain effect on both brothers. At least a contemporary researcher Wang Rui-lai, shows in a number of examples that Song Xiang was assiduously frugal all his life, unlike the future author of Song jing wen gong bi ji (, Mr. Song Jing-wen's Notes ), who had a taste for parties and other amusements worthy of a scribe and Confuciusian [4]. According to the customs Song Qi studied at home, but he also got education from other sources as noted by Wang De-chen: My fellow countrymen say that when Song Jing-wen didn't go to pass his exams, he studied at a Buddhist skete in Yongyang [5]. Having finished his studies Song Qi took part in the exams. I didn't think of finding the place for my name in the current century, but counting the millet I nourished plans to support my family and multiply our own clan's fame. In other words, Song Qi just wanted to get a high post in the administrative apparatus of the country. He was attracted not by future literary fame, but by a desire to keep his family well and earn respect and honour with I. Alimov, 2009

70 4 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2009 good service. It seems that Song Qi didn't have particularly ambitious plans. Having a purely pragmatic aim he chose a beaten path like many of his foregoers: he began to copy literary writings that were considered the best by his contemporaries, and he fairly believed that mastery of this style would help him in the exams. At the age of 24 I managed to show my works to the prime minister, Mr. Xia [6]. He singled them out and said that [with their help] I would certainly take the highest degree (Frag. No. 23) [7]. And that actually happened: in the second year of Tian-sheng governing (1024), together with his older brother, Song Qi passed his imperial examinations successfully and got the jinshi degree. Song Qi was the first in the list among those who passed the examination and Song Xiang was just the third. However, according to the Song Dynasty history the empress Zhang-xian (Zhang-xian ming-su,, ), who reigned at that period, didn't want the younger brother to be ahead of the elder one and ordered to give the first place to Song Xiang shifting Song Qi to the tenth place. Song Qi was appointed a tuiguan in the province of Fuzhou (Hubei), but his service in the province didn't last long. With the help of a high official Sun Shi (, ), who highly appreciated Song Qi, he was appointed to Dalisi (the Chamber of Punishment) and got a post of professor in metropolitan college. With varied success Song Qi worked all his life in the capital city and in provinces: he was zhizhigao (a civil servant in charge of drawing up drafts of emperor's papers), held a post in the Administration of Ministries (Shangshusheng), was a member of court academy Hanlinyuan, the head of Shouzhou and Haozhou (both occupied the territory of the present day Anhoi province), Chenzhou, Zhengzhou and Xuzhou (all of them are in the present day Henan province), Yizhou (Sichuan), Dingzhou (Hebei), the head of the capital of Sichuang, the city of Chengdu (1056), etc. During the years of Qin-li's rule ( ), under the influence of the elder brother, whom he treated with great respect all his life and whose opinion he highly appreciated, Song Qi spoke out against reforms proposed by Fan Zhong-yan [8]. Many of the reformists including Fan Zhong-yan himself were his friends: when Fan Zhong-yan was sent to work in province, Song Qi was one of the few people, who despite all former political disputes wrote a poem I Say Good Bye to Fan Xi-wen,, where he regretted the injustice towards this outstanding figure. This act required considerable courage. In 1045 Song Qi got an appointment for a post of xiueshi in the Chamber of Longtuge [9] and in the Historic Chamber [10]. Before that Song Qi, who earned fame by his erudition, had got an order from the court to take part in writing a new official history of the Tang Dynasty (, Xin tan shu ) under the supervision of Ouyang Xiu. Song Qi was the author of the section called Lie zhuan (, Individual biographies ) that consisted of 150 juans and formed two thirds of the whole text. In comparison with Jiu tang shu (, Ancient History of the Tang [Dynasty] ), biographies written by Song Qi stand out, since he used a great number of additional materials, such as narrative prose, biji, sagas, and unofficial historic works, which allowed for Song Qi to significantly enlarge the section of already existing biographies as well as bring in new ones. Song Qi added three hundred and ten new biographies and expanded already existing ones with more than two thousand historic episodes and evidences. Song Qi worked on compilation of Xin tang shu during seventeen years (from 1044 to 1060). He took all the materials along from one place of employment to another. Wei Tai (, ) writes in Dong xuan bi lu (, Notes from Eastern Veranda ). Every time after the feast [in his house] they opened the doors of the dormitory, drew the curtains and lit two big candles. There stood two maids ready to soak the brush with ink or unroll the paper. And everybody knew that Mister Song was working on the Tang history. From afar he had a look of an immortal saint [11]! When the work was completed, the court expressed a wish to give stylistic homogeneity to the text written by two different authors. This task was given to Ouyang Xiu, who upon reflection refused to make any changes in Song Qi's section. Moreover, when they decided to sign Xin tang shu only with the name of the work supervisor, Ouyang Xiu decisively opposed to it and insisted on signing the biographies authored by Song Qi with his name. In fact the scope of work carried out by Song Qi was two times larger than that of Ouyang Xiu for the modern Tang history. In Mo zhuang man lu ( Unhasting Notes from Mozhuang ) by song Zhang Bang-ji (, 13th century) it is said: The court decided that one book written by two authors can't be stylistically homogeneous and, thus, ordered Mr. Ouyang to look through the biography section carefully and edit it. Mister took the order but later refused with a sigh: Mr. Song belongs to older generation and our knowledge differs to a large extent. And how could I study thoroughly everything that he has already set out in writing!, and he didn't change anything. The work was finished, submitted for censor's approval, and the censor said: When compiling such works in former times, only the name of one [author] with a higher position was signed and you, Mister, are superior that's why you should sign [the book] with your name. But Mr. Song's input in compiling the section of biographies is very significant too!, objected [Mr. Ouyang], [He] spent so much time doing it, so how is it possible to pass over in silence and disregard his merits? That is why weather chronicles and the section of notes were signed with the name of Mr. [Ouyang], and biographies were signed with the name of Mr. Song. When Mr. Song learned about it, he rejoiced: Since ancient time scribes have competed with each other and treated each other unfairly, but I have never heard about such a case! [12].

71 I. ALIMOV. Song Qi and The Notes of Mr. Song Jing-wen 5 Song Qi didn't expect any honours for his work. Xin tang shu gave him an opportunity to reveal his talent of a historian. Nevertheless the honours followed. Song Qi was appointed the first Deputy Head of the Administration of Ministries (Shangshusheng) and the Head of Labour Ministry, but soon he died [13]. According to the tradition and taking into account his merits Song Qi was appointed the Head of the Administration of Ministries Shangshusheng posthumously. Respecting the will of the departed his family didn't file a petition to the court on conferring him a posthumous name. It was done later by a famous Song writer Zhang Fang-ping [14]. Only after that Song Qi got a posthumous name Jing-wen (, Blessed and Enlightened ). Song Qi was also known as a poet and even a popular one for some time. In the second year of the Tian-sheng reign, in a provincial examination Song Qi was the best to write a poem [that was called] I Choose My Lord that had such a line The dawn is dying away in the gleam behind the clouds. Everything subsides toward the slow-paced moon and all people living in the capital knew it by heart. The candidates of that time called him Song-Choose-the Lord. Being a son of his time, in the juvenile years like his elder brother he was influenced by the popular poet school xikun in versification. In the course of time Song Qi developed his own original style, since he was not satisfied with the creative activity of contemporary poets and encouraged others to learn from the poets of the previous times. The anthology of Song shi ji shi ( Historical events in Song poetry ) compiled by Li E (, ) includes more than thirty poems by Song Qi. It is also mentioned that when living in Sichuan he wrote three hundred poems that were compiled in a book called Wei Gao (, Vulgar Sketches ) [15]. Twenty two juans of his poems in the book Quan song shi (, All Song Poems ) as well as seven poems in ci style in the anthology Quan song ci (, All Song ci ) preserved till the present day. Song Qi also left plotless writings in traditional genres sketches, Many parts of The Notes were written simultaneously (or a little bit later) with Xin tan shu that had been completed by Song Qi one year before his death. We don't know when the collection itself was compiled. Chao Gong-wu (, 13th century) writes in his bibliography that Song Qi did not even make it himself [17]. It is proved by the fact that the 3rd juan includes writings that fall out of the general context and have headings. Moreover, the title of this work has the posthumous name of Song Qi Jing-wen, and he is called gong, which means the deceased mister. It is likely that the first name of the book was Bi ji, or it didn't have any name at all, and later somebody gave it another longer title. The book could be compiled by Li Kan (, ), who added a short epilogue to the text dated This epilogue is almost completely devoted to the analysis of discrepancies and questionable points. However, it didn't prevent him from emphasizing the merit of Song Qi, who created this work for the descendants to learn everything he heard from the older generation [18]. *** *** reports, discourses, epitaphs, letters, etc. Complete set of his works Song jing wen ji, counted 150 juans in Song times, but it was lost and we have only Qing reconstruction of one hundred juans. Today Song Qi is known as the author of Xin tan shu in the first place. This work was of special meaning in his life: it did not just inscribe the name of Song Qi in history, but also, as he confessed, the work on Xin tan shu (to be more precise, an essential detail study of different materials and multiple writings) made a kind of revolution in his consciousness: I have looked through everything I have created during all my life, and flushed with shame, broke into a sweat. I understood that I haven't written anything worthy yet (Frag. No. 24). Within the framework of the present investigation we are interested in another Song Qi's work, namely, his book Song jing wen gong bi ji that is probably the shortest in comparison to all other Song biji. This book of poems is not particularly outstanding in the history of Chinese literature [16]. However in the name of this book the term biji was used for the first time in the sense, in which it was later applied for the whole school in Chinese scriptural culture. It seems impossible to study biji as a phenomenon without a short characteristic of the Song Qi's book. Evidently this book as well as the complete set of Song Qi's works hasn't fully preserved till the present day. Bibliographical section of the Song Dynasty history mentions the text of Notes consisting of five juans [19]. Chao Gong-wu says that the text is composed of three juans. The bibliography written by Chen Zhen-sun (, ) states that the text has only one juan [20]. The Dynasty history of Liao, Jin and Yuan do not mention the collection at all. The name of Song Qi's collection is also given in different ways: Chen Zhen-sun calls it Song jing wen bi ji, while Chao Gong-wu Jing wen bi lu. There could be two different texts that were parts to the original one that was lost for some reason, and only one of them preserved. It could be one and the same text compiled in different ways. In any case the collection had acquired its present-day form and title Song jing wen gong bi ji by the Qing times. In Qing time Zhou Zhong-fu (, ) mentions that the text was composed of three juans [21]. The book could have undergone late reconstruction that made its composition inhomogeneous and rough.

72 6 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2009 The present day text of The Notes consists of three juans that combine one hundred and sixty six *** The First Juan fragments. All three juans have headings. The first juan is called Shi su ( The Interpretation of Customs ). Among its thirty three fragments one can single out several rather stable thematic groups. (i) Notes and observations of Song Qi on spelling or use of hieroglyphs incorrect from his viewpoint. The author suggests that one should look for the causes in those ancient times, when standardized writing didn't exist: There were no standards of [writing] hieroglyphs in ancient times and many [hieroglyphs] were borrowed [on the basis of similarity]: zhong was substituted for zhong, shuo was substituted for shui, zhao for shao, jian for xian (Frag. No. 21). Proceeding with this diversity, next generations made it even more complicated: I often see that the current generation is far from being as thorough as the ancient one. Every time [I] feel ashamed. Once I read something about sacrifice and saw signs of renqi there. The commentaries said that their sense was unclear. However, renqi is something that can be put over the shoulders. Read more books on philosophy and history and you will understand everything (Frag. No. 17). Song Qi offers correct spelling of hieroglyphs explaining the origin of the mistake; he gives the original spelling and comments on specific use of this or that hieroglyph backing his viewpoint with examples from works of the foregoers, where the hieroglyphs in question are used, including those from the most ancient monuments. Here's another observation of the kind: There are guduozi, mace-bearers in the court that are almost the same as palace guards. Once at leisure I began to study this problem. Owners of large bellies, people living inside the gateways [i. e., the inhabitants of middle plains or Great Plain of China itself I. A.] are called, where the first [character reads] gu and the second one reads du. Since in colloquial speech the chief of the guard is also called gudu, later on they started to say it as guduo, [where] duo was pronounced in an even tone. But it is difficult to find a phonetically similar syllable and today this term is used for a man leading the troops. Now it can't be changed! (Frag. No. 3). (ii) Fragments, where Song Qi explains the meaning of a certain word partially tracing back the history of its origin. Mister Song Xuan-xian has a work called Lu bu ji ( The Notes about Wand-Bearers of [the Emperor's Guards] ). I got to the pole baoshuo [22] and could not define its origin. All scientists that I turned to didn't know [it] too. Only ten years later I was able to find it: they say that [once] on the left riverbank there were pole axes boshuo [23], with a knob as big as a pumpkin. That is why it is called in such a way (Frag. No. 5). Song Qi also mentions the system of reading hieroglyphs fanqie [24] used in Chinese defining dictionaries. Information from The Notes often has ethno-linguistic character: The southerners call all the rivers jiang, while the northerners call them he. There is a lack of clarity in the names of the rivers Huai and Qi because of the dialectical differences (Frag. No. 11). Some fragments are devoted to the customs prevailing in Song Shu (the present day province Sichuan): instead of lao, they call old men po. Here's another example When the inhabitants of Shu see something unusual, they exclaim with surprise: Yi-xi-xi! ( Oh, oh! ). Li Bo uses this exclamation in his poem Hard are the roads to Shu (Frag. No. 14). Some fragments about the realities of animal world also belong here: Ju-gong told: to the north of the River [i. e., Yangzijiang I. A.] lives a fish called wangwei, or royal sturgeon that is the same as present-day perch. Its shape reminds that of a pig and its mouth and eyes are on the belly. Every year in the second moon of spring [wangwei] comes out of stone holes, gets to water, and moves upstream where they catch it. Wangwei has such a strong fish smell that it's impossible to approach it. Official figures salt and pickle this fish to take it to the court. It tastes extremely well, but it is poisonous. It is also called a royal sturgeon living in mountain grots [25] (Frag. No. 12). (iii) Fragments describing certain customs prevailing in Chinese society in the time of Song Qi. For example, a general discussion of paper is rather interesting. In ancient times all books were written on yellow paper only, that is why they were called huang jiuan ( yellow scrolls ). Yan Zhi-tui says: In the Heavenly Empire one can't read all the books and blur over all the mistakes. He is talking about the yellow paint of the same colour as the paper that is why they used it to correct mistakes. Now they write on white paper, but the connoisseurs correct mistakes with yellow paint. The colours don't match. Only Daoist and Buddhist works are still written on yellow paper (Frag. No. 7).

73 I. ALIMOV. Song Qi and The Notes of Mr. Song Jing-wen 7 Here you can also find commentaries on stone gongs, clothes of court nobility, steles, scholarship, etc. For example: Recently those who get [the post of] guanchashi are not wearing a gold fish on their belt. When a well-known official Qian Ruo-shui (, ) was given [the post of] guanchashi first, he put the fish on his belt. Everybody he met on his way was surprised. They [bothered] him with questions and Ruo-shui got tired of telling [about that fish], so he invented a story about a Tang foreigner, who carried [a fish] in his sleeve and showed it upon request (Frag. No. 1). Here's another case: If the stele was put up near a grave, it signified that there was a coffin in it, but if it was put up near a temple, then it was meant for sacrificial animals to be tied down. The ancient people made inscriptions about it on the steles. And today in Buddhist temples they choose big stone pieces to engrave inscriptions on, and the upper class people compose [those inscriptions] and call them epitaphs. Why do they do it? That is not clear to me (Frag. No. 9). (iv) The fragments that are devoted to poetry and resemble early Song shihua ( arguments about poems) [26], where Song Qi gives his opinion on the poems (or separate lines) written by a certain author, compares them, lists the poets whom he considers outstanding and worthy, gives other people's statements on poetry and poets that provoked his interest. Among these poets are Li Bo (, ), Du Fu (, ), Liu Yü-xi (, ), Yang Yi (, ), Mei Yao-chen (, ) and some others. For example: The Prime minister Yan [27] is a recognized master of versification of the century. Late in life [I] saw a set of his works and it comprised more than ten thousands pieces! All the Tang authors, [whose works] preserved till the present day, have nothing of the kind. But the Prime minister didn't put a lot of value in his own writings. Those, who stayed at his place, as well as his subordinates, took away his sounds and rhymes and used them for poetic impromptus (Frag. No. 26). Some notes about Song Qi's contemporaries also belong here: My friend Yang Bei, got Shang shu [28] written with Zhou script [29], translated and read it. How great his joy was! Since that time he wrote all documents and papers in Zhou. His colleagues and friends didn't understand anything and considered [Yang] strange (Frag. No. 22). The Second Juan The second juan of sixty eight fragments is called Kao Gu, which we conventionally translate as Researches into Antiquity [30]. The second juan is not fundamentally different from the first on, because as an ordinary Chinese scribe Song Qi mostly studied the antiquities as well as investigated the word origin and the meaning of concepts. All major topics of the first juan can be found here. However the customs are not emphasized that strong, which allows for a bit different thematic groups to be singled out. (i) The fragments devoted to the famous scientists, first of all to Confucians of the past and Song Qi's contemporaries. Here we include statements about poets and poetry. For example, the remarks upon the spelling of Bao Zhao [31]: At present they often misspell the name of Bao Zhao writing it as zhao (Frag. No. 32). Statements and comments on the opinions of historical figures and Song Qi's friends: Late Mr. Song Xuan-xian [32] once said that Zuo Qiu-ming [33] became skilful in describing human deeds, and Zhuang Zhou [34] acquired skill in making speeches about the Divine Dao, and nothing can surpass the perfect works of these two sages. Even if there appeared absolutely wise people, they would not add anything new. As for me I consider the chapters on Dao and De Lao-zi to be the forefathers of sayings on the hidden, Li sao by Qu [35] and Song [36] the forefathers of the ode poetry, Historical Commentaries [37] by Sima Qian the forefather of historical records and biographies. Writings that were created after are not able to complement it in any way (Frag. No. 65). (ii) The fragments explaining why the present-day Song Qi researchers make so many mistakes. On the one hand their illiteracy is based on not knowing one of the first Chinese defining dictionaries Shuo wen jie zi that could provide them with the original meaning of a certain hieroglyph: Scientists do not read Shuo wen, and I consider it wrong (Frag. No. 48). A whole set of examples illustrates the mistakes caused by such ignorance. On the other hand illiteracy is hidden in ignorance, lack of erudition in ancient texts and works of the foregoers: In ancient times people said: if you are a stupid ignoramus, you wouldn't be able to hide it (Frag. No. 63). This ignorance was also caused by mere absence of books: At the end of Tang [Dynasty reign] the collections of books were scattered, lost, that is why Confucians were not very literate (Frag. No. 44). In reading ancient texts the so called weizi ( false hieroglyphs ) are particularly difficult. These false Chinese characters were especially wide-spread during the rule of the Late Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties ( ). (iii) The fragments devoted to the clarification of other writings. First of all this includes different commentaries, explanations, textological comments to the text

74 8 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2009 parts or even specific hieroglyphs from Han shu ( History of the Han [Dynasty] ) and clarification of meaning in commentaries to Han shu by Yan Shi-gu (, ). There are also remarks on the philosopher Wang Bi's (, ) comments to Yi jing ( The Book of Changes ). (iv) The fragments about plotless writings and their authors both ancient and modern. These fragments of textological character present evaluations given by Song Qi or other people to writings of certain authors. Often the two great Tang poets and thinkers Liu Zong-yuan and Han Yu are discussed and compared. For example, Song Qi stresses that Liu Zong-yuan used the style of the ancient, but nevertheless he managed to convey new ideas, etc. (v) The fragments devoted to the argument on governing the state. True laws ruled in the Heavenly Empire in the time of Chunqiu. Kong-zi had a talent to rule the Heavenly Empire, but he didn't have a chance to do that. Therefore his ideals were obvious during the reign of Chunqiu so that due to them the whole Heavenly Empire could rejoice and glorify the ruler, honourable people wouldn't dare to think of their private lives and the Heavenly Empire wouldn't blame them for their arguments, and villains wouldn't dare to disturb the peace (Frag. No. 71). Song Qi gives models of ideal rulers: for example, Han Gao-zu (on the throne from 205 to 195 BC) was such a wise governor that his successors continued to rule in peace and nothing made them feel anxious. In Song Qi's opinion, only men of education should hold power. But history provides us with other examples: The world glorifies Wen-di [38] a Hang lord of great virtues. But there was only one educated Confucian Jia-yi in the court, and those who held the posts of ministers were mediocre people, furious military leaders from the time of Gao-zu [39], who didn't know a lot about ceremonies and music, resolutions and rules. In those times Shi [jing] and Shu [jing] were not wide-spread, they didn't even exist, but the Heavenly Empire lived peacefully the troops didn't exult, the landlords were held subject, Nanyue was filled with virtue, and though Xiunnu maliciously passed the boarders several times, they didn't dare to move deeper into the country. Since then people thought that it would be enough to have natural talent to rule the Heavenly Empire, and education should not be valued. They said that natural talents are close to the truth, while fine words can give fame only. The fine words dried out, but people pretended to be happy! (Frag. No. 79). The Third Juan If the first and the second juans are rather homogeneous, than the third juan composed of sixty six fragments totally corresponds to its name: Za shuo ( Various Statements ). (i) The commentaries on the problems of governing the state and relationships between the governor and the governed: Or: That monarch is exceptional, who restrains the evil, ends wars, and makes officials obey his orders, in this case all work is done. If you want to control the outskirts, you should first put the centre in order. And the centre is the monarch himself (Frag. No. 101). A monarch shouldn't ask for things that are impossible to get; a monarch shouldn't forbid the things that are impossible to forbid; a monarch shouldn't give orders that can't be carried out. That's why people say: the more you ask the less you get, the more you forbid the less they obey, the more orders you give the slower they carry them out. They say that the monarch has lost his power if he orders something and gets no result; the monarch is called inhumane, if he asks for something that should not be asked for, and gets his object; the monarch is called unworthy, if he forbids but nobody obeys; the monarch is called inhumane, if he forbids something that shouldn't be forbidden; they say that the monarch has lost respect, if he orders and nobody obeys; the monarch is called perverse, if he gives orders that shouldn't be carried out and gets his end. That is why sages attached special importance to the removal of [such] mistakes: if you manage to get rid of the three you should not it would be great! (Frag. No. 106). (ii) The commentaries on world order and interrelationship between the earth and the heavens. Not all of the given adages belong to Song Qi here, but there are almost no references to the sources. Food is such a thing that human life depends on. If you [eat] in time you have a full belly, and if you have nothing to eat you suffer. And if you suffer too much you die. The laws are the thing that peace in the state depends on. The laws are proper and the order prevails, the laws are there is disorder. And large disorders destroy the state (Frag. No. 108). (iii) Short sayings (from eight to twenty hieroglyphs) of aphoristic character on various topics (many of them are written in rhythmic prose): There is nothing more life-giving than rain and dew, but luxuriant grass is dying again; there is nothing more severe than frost and snow, but pine trees and cypresses are green even in winter (Frag. No. 122). They do not speak of education in the century of fighting disorders; they do not speak of wars in the century of striving for peace (Frag. No. 147). If you go to the forest without an axe, you won't get the brushwood (Frag. No. 155).

75 I. ALIMOV. Song Qi and The Notes of Mr. Song Jing-wen 9 Fragments of the kind are concentrated in the end of this juan. Four fragments in the end of the juan stand apart, since they differ in size and in content. These works have autobiographical character including the text of the epitaph and memorial stele for the author's grave, and an address to relatives explaining what should be done with Song Qi's body after his death. The epitaph and the text for the stele were written by Song Qi. One can't but notice a self-deprecating character of the epitaph (which is quite traditional, though) as well as other autobiographical fragments of the collection. Song Qi keeps repeating that he doesn't deserve glorification after death, because he hasn't done anything outstanding as a statesman. He even asks his descendants not to waste time and energy in compiling the collection of his works, since he hasn't done anything worthy in this field too (but we can't agree with the last, if we remember Xin tan shu, for example): After my death tell everybody in the family to gather for the funeral ceremony. Perform ritual bathing and put a coat made from crane feathers, tulle hat, and thread sandals on me. In three days make entombment, in three months inhume the body, but never listen to fortune-tellers of the In Yang school! For the coffin take poor quality wood, wash the coffin with varnish three times only instead of four that would be enough, so that my mortal remains preserved for several decades that would be enough. My life flared and now [I] (mingle) with all the things in existence, return to primordial emptiness and merge with the [body] decaying in the grave. There infinitude is waiting for [me], so why should I grumble? Dig the grave with the depth of three zhang, make a small shrine with space enough just for the coffin and funeral utensils. On the left [of the coffin] put two bowl with clean water and two jugs with wine, on the right put two baskets with rice flour, put one set of court clothes and one set of informal clothes, as well as embroidered shoes. Put [the stele] with epitaph on the left, and on the reverse side inscribe the necrology. Mould a grave hill the simpler and more modest, the [better]. Don't put golden and bronze objects into the grave. The things I followed during my life haven't been widely recognized. My writings, creative work of a man with average abilities, do not deserve the glory of the descendants. And at the time of the court service [my] salary did not exceed two thousand shi [40] enough to provide for several people! I don't deserve well of the emperor and I haven't given favours to people. Thus, you shouldn't ask for granting me a posthumous name, and shouldn't take offerings for the funerals or turn to outstanding man to compose an epitaph or necrology for the stele. Plant five weeping cypresses and make a hill three chi high. Call neither Taoists nor Buddhists for the memorial service. This is what I ask while still living. Follow my orders very closely, because if you break them, I would be already dead and wouldn't know anything about it. When you will be visiting my grave in mourning, don't put four funeral boncuks as customary, but use simple clothes and utensils in order to honour my inclination to modesty. The things I was talking about in my life are not special or unique and for me it is important that [you] don't have any intentions to make a collection of [my] works (Frag. No. 164). The above mentioned groups of fragments characterize the collection Song jing wen gong bi ji as a documentary artefact resembling early Song biji, such as Gui tian lu ( The Notes of the Returned to the Fields ) by Ouyang Xiu or Meng xi bi tan ( Records of Conversations in Mengxi ) by Shen Kuo (, ). At the same time, despite the small size the compilation is very broad-ranging and diverse in topics in contrast to Bei meng suo yan by Sun Guang-xian. Noticing that his contemporaries can't reach the depth of the ancient, Song Qi tried to clarify the obscure and correct the false. For him the true knowledge is mostly associated with the original meaning of the hieroglyphs and their correct spelling and, hence, with the correct understanding of the text meaning and related customs. According to the tradition Song Qi bases his observations on the opinions and works of influential authors, uses examples from poetry and often makes references to his own experience or cites the words of his brother, whom he calls with an honourable title Ju(guo)-gong, ( ) given by the emperor for outstanding service. Thus, the collection of Song Qi presents a compilation of short and laconic fragments with neither a plot nor a common story line. Purely informative pieces, ethical evaluations, poetic lines, aphorisms, and autobiographical sketches are combined in this book that features no general narrative. Song jing wen gong bi ji can be compared to a notebook of a scholar for keeping the materials that have not been used in other works. Though these materials are not divided into the thematic groups, one can find in the compilation general topics that the author was interested in and that he kept developing in different parts of the book: governing of the state, correcting the mistakes, evaluation of poetry, etc. The author of the book Song Qi is presented as a model Chinese scribe, who constantly doubts the perfection of his knowledge and strives to expand it all his life considering exact ideas to be an absolute; who makes high and often non-realizable demands to himself and to others, and who is always extremely strict to slightest inaccuracy and carelessness. Song Qi was not a spoilt child of fortune and everything that he achieved was a result of hard work partly compensating the absence of great talent: Heaven granted me with talents of an ordinary man and by his nature an ordinary man can't make its name renowned in the world. Work every day, restlessly grind away at your studies, labour with zeal and the reward will come. Ignorant people aroused indignation bordering with growling in Song Qi. During his life Song Qi was probably a dry-as-dust pedant, strict and dispassionate, but we will never be able to tell it for sure.

76 10 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2009 Notes 1. Wang De-chen, Zhu shi ( The Story with Feather Duster ) (Shanghai, 1986), p His father was a petty official. The highest post he held was that of the head of a province. He died in the rank of a regional military inspector. Song Qi was twenty at that moment. Song Qi and Song Xiang's mother used the name of Han,. However, there are different opinions upon this matter: for example, Kong Ping-zhong ( end of 11th beginning of the 12th century) says in Tan Yuan ( Garden of Talks ): Zhong Zhu-zuo, had two daughters and the elder one married Song family, and gave birth to Xiang and Qi (a quotation from: Ding Chuan-jing, Songren ishi huibian (Collection of Informal Stories About Those Living Under the Song Dynasty) (Beijing, 2003), i, p. 309). 3. Wang De-chen, op. cit., pp Wang Rui-lai, Shilun Song Qi ( About Song Qi ), Xinan Shifan daxue xuebao (1988), No. 4, pp Particularly, Wang Rui-lai describes one episode from the life of brothers Song. When they already served at the court, on New Year's day Song Xiang was reading Yi Jing in solitude, while his brother Song Qi was having fun at the party with his friends. Next morning Song Xiang blamed his younger brother for his prodigality and for having forgotten those times, when they couldn't eat well. 5. Wang De-chen, op. cit., p. 58. On poverty of bothers Song see his note on pp I. e., to Xia Song (, ), a Song statesman and writer. It is not quite evident, where and when Song Qi showed his writings to Xia Song. At least in the fourth juan Qing xiang za ji (, Various Notes of Qing-xiang ) Wu Chu-hou (, 12th century) writes that he met Xia Song, when the latter was the head of the Anzhou, where brothers Song lived then. Xia Song gave high estimates to the work of Xiang and Qi saying that Xiang was so talented that could become a minister, while the younger brother could also take a post among the emperor retinue. 7. Below I'm giving a complete translation of a rather important autobiographical fragment from Song Jing-wen gong bi ji, that is being cited here: When I began studying in my young years, I had neither a tutor nor classmates. In our poor house we didn't have any books and I practiced in poem and ode writing on my own. I didn't think of finding the place for my name in the current century, but counting the millet I nourished plans to support my family and multiply our own clan's fame. At the age of 24 I managed to show my works to the prime minister, Mr. Xia. He singled them out and said that [with their help] I would certainly take the highest degree [in the examinations]. I was at a loss: would it be so? In the year of jia-zi during the Tian-sheng rule I came to the Ceremony Department upon recommendation. And since Liu Gong-tan, xiueshi from Longtu[ge] chamber, the chief examiner in ode poems, gave me quite high estimates in the court, I put on a square cap. Since then I began to work hard tempering and polishing up my style. I carefully copied the woks of famous people. All textualists praised me saying that I was doing everything in a right way. At the age of fifty, I was called to write the Tang history, and my mind was set on it during ten odd years. I studied the works of my foregoers in full and understood the difficulty of writing. Having realized that with all my heart I turned to ancient authors and only then I started to understand the main thing. [I] have looked through everything I have created during all my life, and flushed with shame, broke into a sweat. I understood that I haven't written anything worthy yet, and the work that took all my time and efforts was nothing but trash, as they say a straw dog [in ancient China, a dog made of straw used for sacrifice and thrown away after; later this phrase became synonymous to junk, that can be only thrown away I. A.] Writing should win fame by itself, because only then it will be handed down [from generation to generation] without dying away. We draw a circle with the help of a drawing compass, and a square with a triangle, but in the end both [drawing compass and triangle] are just servants to people. The ancients mocked at those who so to say built a house inside another house [an idiomatic expression about excessive bunching or sophistication I. A.] It is fair. Han Yu said: The point is in putting aside all trite words. And this is the most important thing in any kind of writing. There are five canons and all of them have different composition ( Yi jing, ; Shu jing, ; Shi jing, ; Li ji, and Chun qiu, I. A.) After Kong-zi's death, the writers came into blossom, but the tradition was not handed down from generation to generation any more, and those who lived before us had managed to understand the meaning of that. Hey-ho! It was too late when I saw the light. But it doesn't matter, if the Heaven lengthens my life, I hope to reach perfection in my later years. 8. Fan Zhong-yan (, ) was a Song high official and reformist. He was born to a noble, but poor family of civil servants. He was made an orphan at the age of two. He studied hard and became jinshi in With the help of Yan Shu (, ) he was given a post of text verifier in the imperial library and started his career. Later on Fan Zhong-yan became a member of the court academy Hanlinyuan, a deputy head of Shumiyuan and canzhi zhengshi. He fought against Lü Yi-jian (, ), who had concentrated all supreme power in his hands by that time. In particular Fan Zhong-yan appealed to the highest authority with the report Si lun (, Four Judgments ), in which he criticized all-powerful minister and the court policy. For this criticism he was exiled to work in Raozhou (Jiangxi). In the course of time Fan became the leader of the opposition. In 1040 at his own request Fan Zhong-yan was moved to work in Yanzhou, the most important strategic centre in military confrontation to Tanguts. On his own initiative he built fieldworks there. Fan Zhong-yan also paid special attention to the training of border guard troops. In 1043 Fan took the post of Assistant to the Prime Minister and sent a report to the Emperor offering a plan on reformation of administrative system. However, in 1044 Fan was forced to resign through efforts of reform oppositionists. He was proficient in Confucius law. See the official Fan Zhong-yan's biography in juan 314 of the history of Song Dynasty. 9. The chamber, where the emperor Tai-zong's private papers, books, pictures, etc. were initially kept. In 1004 they set up a service to keep Luntuge in order; in 1007 the posts of xiueshi were established.

77 I. ALIMOV. Song Qi and The Notes of Mr. Song Jing-wen This court establishment, traditionally headed by a civil servant of ministerial rank as a second post was founded in the times of Tang Dynasty. It was in charge of writing an official Dynasty history and calendar notations as well as storing imperial papers. Song Qi held a post of xiuzhuan, a court historiographer there (they were appointed from among the courtiers). 11. Quoted from: Ding Chuan-jing, op. cit., i, p Quoted from: ibid., p See more about Song Qi in his official biography in juan 284 of the Song Dynasty history, in the attachment to his elder brother's biography, and the materials in Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin (Index of Biographical Data of Those Living Under the Song Dynasty) ((Beijing, 1988), i, pp ), in the above mentioned work by Wang Rui-lai and Xie Si-wei, Song Qi yu Songdai wenxue fazhan (Song Qi and the Development of Song Literature) (Wenxue ichan, 1989), No. 1, etc. 14. Zhang Fang-ping (, ) a Song nobleman and scholar of authority. His second name was An-dao,, his pen name was Lequan jushi,. From an early age he had great inclination to studying and exceptional memory: according to his contemporaries, he could remember a text after reading it just one time. He served in Censor chamber in the Administration of Ministries Shangshusheng. The Song Dynasty history (paragraph 318) features his official biography. 15. Li E, Song shi ji shi (Historical Events in Song Poems) (Shanghai, 1983), i, p Researchers are not particularly interested in this book. For example, in one of his articles Xie Si-wei mentions Song Qi's prosaic heritage only briefly and says nothing about The Notes, though the article has references to it (see: Xie Si-wei, op. cit.) 17. Chao Gong-wu, Jun zhai du shu zhi jiao deng (The Notes on Reading Books at the District Officer's Study) (Shanghai, 1990), p Song Qi, Song jing wen gong bi ji (The Notes of Mister Song Jing-wen) (Shanghai, 1936), p Songshi yiwenzhi (Data on the Literature from the Song [Dynasty]'s History) (Beijing, 1958), p Chen Zhen-sun, Zhi zhai shu lu jie ti (Annotated Sketches About the Books from Zhi zhai's Study) (Shanghai, 1987), p Zhou Zhong-fu, Zhen tang du shu ji (The Notes on Reading Books from Zhen tang's Hall) (Shanghai, 1959), ii, p The pole with a carved design of a hump-backed bull, a symbol of power that wand-bearers carried before the Imperial parade. 23. An axe with a knob in the form of a small pumpkin used in the times of Sui Dynasty. 24. It is a system of hieroglyphic notation and reading, when two other hieroglyphs are used to read a sign. The first one gives the initial and the second one the final. The introduction of this system is associated with the name of a well-known critic of literary works Sun Yan,, who lived during the reign of Wei in the time of the Three Kingdoms ( ). 25. It is hard to say what animal should wangwei be associated with. At least Zhang Heng (, ) states that Wangwei lives in caves, and that like turtles it can be used for three ritual services (worshipping the spirits of heaven, earth and ancestors):. Late on Lu Ji (, ) wrote that wangwei is hiding in bends of rivers. 26. The first work with the character shihua in its name, that is considered a forebear of the style, appeared after Song Qi's death. This is Liu-yi shi hua ( Shihua of Liu-yi [a Hermit] ) by Ouyang Xiu dated Song writer and high official Yan Shu (, 991/993? 1055) is meant. In juvenile years he developed a great gift for literature. He could versify at the age of seven and the countrymen called him a divine youth. Having passed imperial examinations for talented juveniles, he took the degree of jinshi and also the post of text verifier in the Imperial library. He was in the future emperor Ren-zong retinue, and when Ren-zong acceded to the throne (1023), Yan Shu became his adviser and court reader. He took active part in compiling Zhen-zong shi lu ( Truthful Notes in Zhen-zong ). In 1030 he was appointed a chief examiner and gave the first place to Ouyang Xiu during the exam. Later he became a member of the court academy Hanlinyuan, but was sent to govern the province of Songzhou (Henan) for his obstinate character. After some time he was returned to the court and in 1043 he became the Prime Minister. He had a taste for feasts with his friends, where they composed impromptu poems. His poetic works are notable for sophistication and fine style. See juan 311 in the Song Dynasty history for the biography of Yan Shu. 28. I. e., Shu jing, one of the most esteemed ancient Chinese scriptural artefacts. Its title is normally translated as The Book of History or The Book of Documents. Compiling and editing Shu jing is ascribed to Confucius. We can't state it with certainly, since the original text of the book has not preserved. During the rule of Qin dynasty ( BC), when the emperor Qin Shi-huang burnt all the books unfavourable from his viewpoint, Shu jing was destroyed too. However, in 178 BC it was partly recreated. The history of this artefact is rather thorny: it was lost and found many times, they doubted its origin and suspected it to be a forgery. The text today known as Shu jing consists of fifty eight chapters, but only thirty three of them are considered to be original without any doubt. Shu jing is a collection of fables, myths, legends, records of historical events, imperial resolutions, etc. related to the 14th 8th centuries BC. Plenty of Confucian ideas (the principles of state governing, requirements to the governor of the Heavenly Empire, ethical and moral categories) prove that if not Confucius himself, then his disciples and followers took part in work on the text. 29. The script of big zhuan is meant. This style of hieroglyphic script appeared as a result of the reform on writing that took place in the time of Zhou Xuan-wan ( BC). It doesn't differ much from ancient inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze vessels. 30. The translation is given at: A Sung Bibliography (Hong Kong, 1978), p Bao Zhao (, 405/412? 466?) an outstanding poet during the time of the Six Dynasties ( ), whose creative work was recognized only in later historical periods. He was born to a poor family. It is a classical example of a Chinese scribe, who couldn't achieve the desired in his life. He wasn't that successful in service and laid down his life during a revolt of soldiers.

78 12 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 15 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2009 A little bit more than two hundred poems preserved till the present day, and eighty of them refer to the genre of folk songs yuefu. Many of the poet's works are full of grief and despair. 32. A Song official, historian, bibliophile, and calligrapher Song Shou (, ), whose posthumous name was Xuan-xian,. Already in young age he showed a desire for studying and rich home library contributed to it. He took the degree of jinshi without passing the examinations. He started to serve early in his life and held a number of high posts at court. He was canzhi zhengshi (1033), xueshi in the court academy Hanlinyuan, as well as took part in compiling the chronicle of the emperor Zhen-zong's rule and preparing the materials for the Song Dynasty history. He was a connoisseur of historical and canonic writings by Confucius and a recognized master of old style prose. The collection of his works was lost and only separate writings in some anthologies survived to this day. The official biography of Song Shou is given in juan 291 of the Song Dynasty history. 33. Zuo Qiu-ming ( the end of 6 5 centuries BC) an outstanding historiographer of Chinese ancient times, Confucius' contemporary ( BC), the author of commentaries Zuo Zhuan ( Zuo's Commentaries ) to a well-known historical chronicle Chun qiu ( Springs and Autumns ). The text of the artefact presents a chronicle of events from 722 to 468 BC, and mostly contains the description of historical events and dialogues of historical figures. 34. Zhuang Zhou (, ca. 369 ca. 286 BC), also known as Zhuang-zi, a famous Chinese philosopher, one of the Daoism founders, the author of the Zhuang-zi treaty. For some time he held a petty post in the government, but then he left the service to lead an independent life. 35. An ancient Chinese poet Qü Yuan (, 340? 289? BC) is meant. His poem Li sao (, Grief of an Exile ) tells about bitter luck of a man who was exiled because of his wish to prevent the fall of his motherland (the empire of Chu, conquered by Qin), and about not less tragic destiny of a people betrayed by the government officials. In exile Qü Yuan lost hope to attain justice and committed suicide by jumping into the river. 36. I. e., a famous ancient Chinese poet Song Yu (, 290? 223? BC), who is considered to be the second greatest poet after Qü Yuan. There is an opinion that Song Yu could be a remote relative of Qü Yuan. His most famous writing is the poem Nine Discourses that has a lot in common with Li sao. 37. Historical Notes by Sima Qian Shi ji is the first in China historico-biographical work that in many aspects defined the following historiographical tradition and that became a model of an official historical chronicle for many centuries to come. It consists of 130 chapters covering the time period from the rule of mythic Huang-di, the Yellow emperor, and till Han emperor Wu-di (, BC). The author of Shi ji Sima Qian (, 145?? BC) was a historian, a writer and emperor's historiographer in the Han court. In 99 BC he called down the wrath of the emperor, who put him in prison and castrated. His father started to write Shi ji and Sima Qian managed to complete it in 92 BC. 38. I. e., the Han emperor Liu Heng (, BC), the third son of the Han Dystany founder, ruled during BC. He considered agriculture to be the basis of the state and in order to develop it he reduced taxes several times, however landlords were the first to benefit from it. Complete abolishment of land tax in 167 BC contributed to consolidation of central administration in the state. Reinforcement of central administration was also supported by the practice of selling titles and ranks introduced during the Wen-di's rule, which matched the ambitions of the nobles. Wen-di also paid special attention to developing legislation, which stimulated consolidation of power and improved the life of common people. The emperor fought senseless wastefulness, particularly, he opposed pompous burial ceremonies. He improved the relation with the governmental body Nanyue that had declared independence from Han. Wen-di managed to make Nanyue a part of the state again. In 162 BC Han concluded an alliance with Xiongnu that had been a trouble to the empire before, and though xiongnu still raided the state, Wen-di neither paid special attention nor responded to it. Wen-di died of a disease in the age of forty six. 39. I. e., Liu Bang (, BC), the founder of the Han Distany. He got the title of an emperor in 202 BC. In order to solve the problem of labour shortage (the population decreased as a result of the previous devastating wars) he partly dismissed the army and gave freedom to personally dependent people. He introduced the laws common for the whole empire on the basis of Qin legislation, but with additions, changes and reductions to the latter. Liu Bang pursued a policy of disparaging the merchant class. He banned silk clothes and carriages for the merchants and imposed heavy taxes on them. Gradually he started to fight the nobility depriving them of land and influence. Though he was born to a family of an ordinary peasant and didn't have much education, Liu Bang foresightedly cancelled the Qin laws on forbidding Confucian books, started to attract scholars to state government, established emperor's protection of Confucius' followers. In other words Liu Bang greatly contributed to the formation of a new class of well-read scholars, who closely associated the teaching of Confucius with service to centralized monarchy headed by an emperor. 40. Measure of weight, a bit more than 3.5 kg. Shi together with dan (103.5 kg) was a traditional unit for counting monthly salary of an official. In the time of Tan and Song the salary of officials was generally counted in shi or dan and was paid in a combined way, i. e., with corn and with money (about one third) and with things including clothes, silk, fuel materials, stationary, etc. The amount of salary depended on the rank of the post. The Han Dynasty was the first to introduce such official salaries instead of just giving the land or allowing for the officials to withhold taxes in the controlled territories.

79 TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION I. Alimov SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL THOUGHT OF OLD CHINA IN MENG XI BI TAN Among many other Chinese scholars the great Song scientist-encyclopaedist Shen Kuo (Shen Gua, ) stands detached thanks to vast circle of scientific interests and thanks to the contribution he made to the treasury of Chinese culture. The large-scale figure of Shen Kuo has long since become the object of intent study; tens of works are written about his work and art; the achievements of Shen Kuo in rather diverse fields of knowledge are quite great and varied. Some number of works remained after Shen Kuo, among which great importance is ascribed to his collection of biji Meng xi bi tan (Notebooks from the Mengxi Garden). Rather valuable evidences relating to the level of scientific-technical thought of China of the 11th century are contained here. And the news of which are described in modern science with the epithet of for the first time particularly by Shen Kuo. Below is given the translation of some of those important evidences, supplied with necessary annotations. (44) A concave mirror reflects objects but all turned upside down. It is because between [the mirror and an object] there is a limit. The school of arithmetic calls it a stopping point. It is similar to being on a boat and rowing with a scull and the prop [for the scull] becomes [such] a limit. That's the way a black kite flies in the sky, and his shadow runs after it [along the ground] but if a small window is placed between them and there would be a chink in it, then the black kite and the shadow will be diametrically opposite to each other: the kite to the east and the shadow to the west then, the kite to the west and the shadow to the east. And then if one were [to look] at the shadow, which has passed through the window chink and laid itself onto structures then it will also be turned upside down, exactly as in the concave mirror. If one were to bring his finger close to the cavity in the concave mirror, then its reflection would be a correct one; but as soon as one move [the finger] away a little and one can't make out anything, take it a little further away and [the finger] is upside down. The distance from where nothing can be made out is that very limit as is the case with the window chink and scull prop; [it] is like yaogu, suspended at the belt of a drum, where both ends are equivalent and in the middle there is a crosspiece is narrowed, and when one raises his arm [for a beat], its shadow jumps down, the arms goes down but the shadow jumps up; it is rather evident. The cavity in the concave mirror if the sun reflection can be caught by it, then its beams will be directed inward but take the mirror one-two congs aside, the beams will gather together in one spot at the size of a sesame seed and each unit [in it] will ignite itself. This will be similar to the narrowest spot of the drum suspended at the belt. But is it indeed characteristic only of objects? It's the same for people: rare are such people for whom there is no limit. Take a look from a short [distance] benefit and harm alternate each other, truth and lie oppose each other; from afar a man makes an enemy for himself out of himself and turns his enemy into himself. Not to seek to remove this limit and to desire to see things not turned upside down at that oh, so hard! In You yang za zu it says: The sails of a seagoing craft is like a shadow of a pagoda turned upside down. Absurd words. A shadow turns only if [the light] passes through the window chink such is the immutable order of things. I. Alimov, 2010

80 30 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 16 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2010 Annotations. That which I hereby translated as limit, judging by descriptions and illustrations given by Shen Kuo, is nothing short of the point of light focus, known in China back in the 4th century BCE. In this excerpt Shen Kuo identified its location by two quite original methods for his time: by means of moving his finger away from the centre of concaved mirror until no reflection is seen, and by means of increasing the distance from such mirror to some combustible material until the sun light concentrated by the mirror ignites mentioned material (and inflaming optical effect was known to the Chinese back in the 6th century BCE). Thus, in the field of medieval optics Shen Kuo in the 11th century achieved that which European science did only in the 13th century. Yaogu drum is a traditional musical instrument, which was fastened at the belt with the help of belt / rope; looked like two cones joined at the peaks. You yang za zu (Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang) is a collection of works belonging to the pen of Duan Cheng-shi of Tang dynasty (803863) and is a distinctive encyclopaedia of miracle and wonder, a rather motley one at that too. (299) The art of erecting buildings [found in the book] that goes by the name of Mu jing (The Canon of a Tree). They say that its author is Yu Hao. In structures [he] distinguishes three levels: the top one from roof timbers and up; the middle one from ceiling and up; the bottom one everything is below steps. The length of the ceiling joist and the height of the comb strictly depend on each other. If the length of the joist is eight chis, and the comb projects for about three chis and five congs, then it means that the structure proportions are followed. This is what [Yu Hao] calls the top level. The number of chis in the height of a column must be met with the same number of chis in the foundation these are the proportions. If columns are one zhang and one chi high, then the roots of the steps must be four chis and five congs. There are clear rules for all main details of the carcass, and this what [Yu Hao] calls the middle level. Steps could be steep, flat and sloping. In the palace the measure of things in this realm is a monarchic sedan chair in the palace. When they are raised from bottom up, the pole in the front is lowered, for as long as the arms [of carrier] make it possible, the pole is raised in the back for as much as shoulder's makes it possible these are steep steps. If the front pole is level with ribs and the back pole is level with shoulders it then is a sloping path. If the front pole is carried with arms down and the back pole is level with shoulders it then is a flat path. This is what [Yu Hao] calls the bottom level. There are three juans in his book. In construction works in recent years this book is always used as a highly important manual, and in former times Mu jing was rarely used. Under Song its significance was understood; it is based on experience of a great master! Annotations. The treatise Mu jing, as it is known, has long been lost; as a matter of fact, though, we do not even know whether a work with this title ever existed. At least we have two written testimonies at our disposal that testify of a Song work and these testimonies belong to Ouyang Xiu ( ) and Shen Kuo. And of these two, only by the given excerpt we can judge, if of the content of Mu jing, then at least of the views of its presumed author on contemporary (in relation to him) architecture. Yu Hao himself was apparently a commoner of natural gifts, and Xia Nai, a modern researcher, doubts whether Yu Hao was literate at all. Indeed, even the name of this popular carpenter is given in different ways in various sources ( ), which at least testifies to the notion that evidently neither Shen Kuo nor Ouyang Xiu had the autograph with his signature. The same Xia Nai suggests that Mu jing, as a certain text, was probably written (if such fact indeed took place) from the words of Yu Hao, but the manuscript itself did not contain the name of the author, since he was unable to sign (Xia Nai, Meng xi bi tan zhongde Yu Hao Mu jing (The treatise Mu jing by Yu Hao from Meng xi bi tan by Shen Kuo), Kao gu IVI (1982), p. 74). It could be an anonymous Song treatise, which rumours linked to the name of famous carpenter. (307) Book printing from boards under Tang was not yet widespread. It was initiated by Feng Dao, who printed five canons; and after him classic works [were printed] all of them from boards. During the reign of Jing-li, Bi Sheng, a man of unofficial position, made movable type. His method was as follows: he took sticky clay and cut in it characters as thin as the edge of a coin. Each character formed, as it were, a single type. He baked them in the fire to make them hard. He had previously prepared an iron plate and he had covered his plate with a mixture of pine resin, wax, and paper ashes. When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. [Bi Sheng] then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone. If two-three copies were printed, then it became too laborious; but if there were couple of hundreds or a thousand that needed to be printed, then it becomes quite reasonable. Usually [Bi Sheng] used two iron [letter] plates: one was printed from, and unto the other one letters were set, and when the stamp on the first one ran out, the second one was already ready to be used. With such method, printing was quite rapid. For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were

81 I. ALIMOV. Scientific and Technical Thought of Old China 31 not in use he had them arranged with paper [labels], one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in [individual] wooden cases. If a rare type has come across, which he did not come across with previously, it was cut out and fired right away, so that it could be used at once. [Bi Sheng] did not make letters out of wood, because it can be thin and coarse, and it absorbs moisture, which causes the surface [of composition] to be uneven. Besides, [wood] sticks to the mixture can't tear it off! not in the way clay does, which when you take it to the fire and give the [fastening] mixture some time to soften, knock with your hand in it and signs fall off on their own with no track of the mixture. [When Bi] Sheng died, his letters went to my relatives and they are still kept as a great treasure. Annotations. Feng Dao (882954) was a minister under a number of governments of the Five Dynasties Period (907979). Based on his report in 932 the government of the Later Tang began working on preparations for printing Confucian canonical works and commentaries to them from boards; for a long time the invention of book printing was linked to his name. A committee made up of authoritative scholars was formed for the purpose of text verification. Tian Min, who at that time was the head of capital education inspection in Guozijian, was appointed the head of this committee. For twenty one years this publication was worked on; four dynasties changed in the course of this time. And finally in 953 the printing was complete. Nevertheless, the person of Feng Dao in various sources is given in different ways. The years of Jing-li In fact, if Shen Kuo with his curiosity and truly scientific thoroughness did not happen to be at the right place at the right time, we might have never learned anything about the invention of Bi Sheng (990?1051?). Historically speaking, it turned out that since this inventive person of natural gifts Bi Sheng did not leave any works behind and it was Shen Kuo who in great detail described his invention in Meng Xi Bi Tan for a long time this printing method with the help of movable type was particularly linked to the name of Shen Kuo. In fact it was called Shen Cong-rong fa, that is the method of Shen Cong-rong. Shen Kuo himself, however, never took the credit for this innovation. And yet a native of South-Song by the name of Zhou Bi-da ( ) in his own collection of biji Yu tang za ji (Notes of the Jade Hall), in the excerpt, dated from 1193, wrote that he recently used the method of Shen Cong-rong, and having thus printed twenty eight excerpts from his biji collection, he gave them away to his friends. It is also known that the earliest text in the world, printed with the help of mobile type and reaching our days, is dated from 1103: these are the pages of sutra, found in the excavations in North-Song Buddhist stupa in the town of Wenzhou (Zhejiang Province). It should also be noted that in spite of certain technological advantages, the book-printing method invented by Bi Sheng did not receive any wide application and was ranked among the category of wonders. (437) Experts make a needle out of magnetic stone, and it is capable of pointing to the south, but is inclined to the east a little, not quite [looking at] the south. [If] one were to place [such needle] on the water surface, then it rocks very much, but [if] on a fingernail or a cup edge then it is fully capable of pointing, but is turning really fast; but, since [the surface is] smooth and slippery, it falls easily not as it is in the case when it is suspended by a thread, that is the very best [method]. The essence of this method is in pulling one thread from a freshly made silk cloth and with the help of [a piece of] wax of a size of not larger than a mustard seed fasten it in the middle of the needle. Suspend the needle in a windless place and it will always point to the south. Among [magnetic needles] there some that are made in such a way that they point to the north. I have all kinds at home: some point to the south, some to the north. Those that point to the north are like cypresses reaching for the west. Why it happens remains a mystery. Annotations. Like cypresses reaching for the west in accordance with ancient legends all trees reach for the east because that is where the sun rises, and only cypresses persistently bend themselves towards the west, which in itself does not correspond to botanical reality; Shen Kuo uses this comparison exclusively for the sake of illustrating his reasoning. The history of magnetic compass in China takes its roots in great antiquity and was always linked with geomancy. However beginning in the 9th century the state of things has changed: since that time in particular we know of reliable information that magnetic compass was widely used by Chinese seafarers. But in Song times a compass was invented made up of a magnetized steel plate in the form of a fish, which was placed in the cup of water this orientation method was described in the text in Wu jing jing yao (The Most Important of Military Canons) of Zeng Gong-liang ( ), dating from It needs to be added that the first systematic description of magnetic compass, reaching our times, belongs namely to Shen Kuo, and so does the mention of magnetic variation, where the hand does not point to the south quite accurately (although in reality, the discovery of magnetic variation dates to much earlier times, i. e. to the 7th10th centuries); whereas in Europe the dip angle was discovered only in 1492 by Columbus.

82 0 I. Alimov THE 13TH CENTURY SOUTHERN CHINA IN PING ZHOU KE TAN Song epoch left many diverse literary monuments for us, which at times contain unique materials of history, spiritual and material culture, and everyday life of Chinese society of that time. But the so-called collections of biji particularly stand out among such monuments, the rise of which falls on the 10th13th centuries: these amazing and yet little-studied works of art are characterized by absolute author's liberty, both in form and in content and their authors, not bound by government service (and many biji emerged in the afternoon and at the evening of author's lives) and living in peace, could allow themselves not to look back at official dogmas and not burden themselves with self-censorship, writing in the way they deemed necessary and about that, which they considered necessary. In this regard, biji is living testimony of the contemporaries, relating to us such details about the life of Song China, which are not contained in any other historical sources. And one of these sources is the collection of Zhu Yu (1075? after 1119) titled Pin zhou ke tan (From Conversations in Pingzhou). The data recorded in the second juan of Pin zhou ke tan were of great significance for researchers. They speak of the south of the Song China, specifically of Guangzhou and the so-called foreign quarter located on its territory and mostly populated by Muslims. It also contains data on trade with overseas countries. The importance of such fragments is reinforced by the following circumstance all these data are personal observation of the author or vivid impressions on account of his father's stories. This is the Song south through the eyes of the witness. Below is given translation of four of such excerpts with commentaries. (65) From of old in the Guangzhou administration of Shibosi there was a position tiju shiboshi, which was subject to [local] governor-general. At the time of the founder of the dynasty this position was called shiboshi. Shibisi existed in the seaside regions in Quanzhou, which is in Fujian Province, in Mingzhou and Hangzhou, which are in Liangzhu. In the first years of Chonging the position of this type of officials tiju shibishi were established in these three provinces. The most flourishing port was Guangzhou. When some official would begin to fleece [merchants], tradespeople would go to a different location, thus these three provinces new both times of prosperity and times of decline. Then the Emperor's court joined Quanzhou and Guangzhou Shibisi and transferred both to Guangzhou. Not all tradespeople considered it comfortable. Annotations. Shibosi management of merchant shipping. It is known that an establishment with such a name existed back in the Tang Dynasty it was in Guangzhou only and it controlled all seaside trade of the south of China. According to the history of the Song Dynasty, under this dynasty Shibosi was established in Guangzhou in 971, and then, following the development of maritime commerce, analogous Managements were established in other cities in Hangzhou, Mingzhou (modern Ninbo in Zhejiang), Quanzhou, Mizhou (Shandong) and in many other locations. At the head of Shibosi was an official known as tiju shiboshi (also known as simply shiboshi or even simpler boshi, governmental representative of the Management of merchant ships); this office at first was held either by one of the highest local officials or zhuanyunshi of the province; later other officials were appointed for this office, who had a staff of subordinates necessary for the implementation of work. Among main functions of Shibosi were: supervision of maritime commerce, examination of cargo and duty levying, only after the payment of which cargo-owners obtained authorization to trade; centralized storage and sale of goods obtained in the capacity of duty, for which Shibosi had governmental storehouses under his jurisdiction as well as forces and means necessary for delivering certain goods to the capital (certain goods, however, were sold right there, without sending those off anywhere); supervision of export in particular of those categories of goods, which in the Song times was prohibited to be exported beyond Tianxia (copper coins, weapons, etc.), as well as issuing authorization for foreign commerce; obligation to receive and send off arriving and departing seagoing vessels observing all established orders and procedures; besides, another indispensable obligation of Shibosi was supervision of foreign settlements on the territory of Tianxia, maintenance of relationships with their elders and chiefs, settlement of economic and I. Alimov, 2010

83 I. ALIMOV. The 13th Century Southern China 33 other issues, deciding the issues of belongings of foreign merchants who passed away on the territory of Tianxia, etc. Gains from the activities of Shibosi were not the least part in the Song treasury: the overall duty comprised one tenth of all imported goods. Three provinces referring to the Song provinces of Zhedong, Zhexi (Liangzhu) and Fujian. The years of Chongning (66) In Guangzhou from Xiaohai to the sandbar of Ruzhou 700 li. On the sandbar there is Wangbo xunjiansi, the Inspectorate [of Supervision] for arriving ships; it is also called yi wang the First Inspectorate. A little northward are the Second and Third Inspectorates. And once you pass by the sandbar you are on the high seas. When merchant vessels intend to set sail, on reaching the sandbar of Ruzhou they linger there for the final farewell and only then they are given permission to sail off. It is called to release into the sea. On returning, vessels are moored by the sandbar, joyously celebrate their safe arrival and treat guards to wine and meat; then the vessel heads to Guangzhou under escort. In Guangzhou vessels are moored by the watchtower of Shibosi, and soldiers are dispatched from the Inspectorate for the purpose of examination. It is called to place in the enclosure. Then tax officer along with Shibosi officer arrive unto the ship. They inspect merchandise and identify the amount of tax. It is called to levy a part. Out of ten parts of pearl and dragon's brain of high quality one part is levied, and tortoise shell or hoffmansaggia wood of low quality three parts. Surplus is recovered in favour of government commerce, and in regards to the rest of the goods merchants may make arrangements according to merchants' understanding. All elephant tusks that weigh thirty jins and more as well as mastic come into the government market, since these goods are under monopoly regulations. The merchants who brought in somewhat large elephant tusks must weigh them, and those that weigh less than three jins, may be sold freely, but since prices at the government market are low, merchants meet great losses on account of this trade and it upsets them. Those merchants, who having sailed up and not yet gone through [the procedure of] levying a part, dare to silently put goods into circulation, are considered to be criminals, even if they sell only a little of their goods, and everything is confiscated. Thus, no merchant dared to do what they will. Annotation. Dragon's brain a Chinese name for camphor. (68) Here's the order: on large vessels, which take several hundred people aboard, and on small crafts, where a little over a hundred is taken aboard, the head is appointed out of the richest merchants and so are his deputy along with assistants. Shibosi then issues a written authorization for the head to subdue his travelling companion to obedience and make an inventory of belongings of those who died [en route]. Merchants say that if the vessel is large and many people are on board, then it is permissible to set out on a voyage there are too many robbers overseas and they grab everyone who is not a guest of their country. If the sea sails up to Zhancheng or, losing their course, they mistakenly find themselves in Zhenla, all goods are taken [there], and travellers are bound with ropes and sold, saying at that: You shouldn't have come here! And although in overseas countries commercial duties are not levied, they yet demand what they call bringing gifts and then they take [these gifts] away, regardless of whether there are many goods [on the ship] or not. Therefore, it is disadvantageous to set sail on small crafts. Vessels are several tens of zhangs in length. Tradespeople share their merchandise into small parts and distribute among their people. Those guard the goods and at night they sleep on top of them. Among goods there is a lot of chinaware, small are packed into larger ones in such a way that there is no room to spare. When at sea [travellers] are not afraid of storms, but rather and only of striking aground. If, as they say, one draws near to shallow waters, the ship cannot get afloat again. If it begins leaking and the leak cannot be done away with, then devil's slaves guinu are sent in with knives to close up the gap from the outside. Guinu are superb swimmers and can see clearly in the water. Captain of a ship is knowledgeable in geography, at night he observes stars, in the daytime the sun, in bad weather he orients himself by means of compass or with the help of a hook tied to ten zhangs long rope, when he gets some soil from the very bottom, smells it and thus identifies where his vessel is. There are no rains at sea; but if it does rain all of a sudden, it then that land is nearby. Merchants say that when it is calm, seawater resembles mirror. Seafarers catch fish. They take a gigantic hook of the size of one's arm, tie a chicken or a duck to it as bait, in order for a big fish to bite it. For half a day this fish leads the vessel after it until it grows weaker, and it becomes possible to draw somewhat near to it. But then another half a day needs to be spent in order to catch it. If wind suddenly gets up, the fish is given up on. The fish caught might turn out to be uneatable, then its belly is disembowelled looking for small eatable fish, which were devoured by the big one. Commonly there are several tens of them in its belly, and each weighs many jins! Big salt-water fish always swim behind ships and devour everything that gets thrown overboard. If any traveller on board, having fallen ill badly, gets his call, usually he, before he even breathes his last, is

84 34 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 16 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2010 wrapped in heavy mat and thrown overboard. In order for the body to go under and down to the very bottom, clay jugs with fresh water are tied to the mat. But as soon as the body is in the water, a shoal of fish immediately rips the mat open and the body never gets to sink. There is sawfish in the sea. It is hundred and ten zhangs long, and where its nose is it has a bone saw. On meeting a vessel this fish cuts it in two with its nose with such an ease as though it uproots [a dead tree]. It happens that during a voyage all of a sudden mountains upon mountains covered with dry trees emerge in the distance. If, according to captain's opinion, no mountains were there before, then it is a dragon. [A lock of] hair needs to be cut and burned along with fish scale and bones. Then mountains begin disappearing under water. But [this] danger is rather great, not many were lucky enough to be spared from it. Tradespeople revere foreign Buddhist monks and say that if one addresses them in prayer in trying hour during a voyage, then monks appear from out nowhere and always help. Having arrived to Guangzhou, tradespeople treat monks of that place and give offerings. It is called offering to arhats. Annotations. Zhancheng the state of Tiampa (or Champa, ), founded by Tiams (or the Chams, whose descendents mainly in Southern Vietnam and in Campuchea), which originally was named Lin Yi in Chinese sources, and later Chem Thanh it was located on the territory of central and southern parts of modern Vietnam. Chenla Khmer state education of Kambujadesa, which was in existence on Zhongnan peninsula from the 7th to 17th century CE. In bad weather orientates himself by means of compass this, in fact, is the earliest Chinese written testimony of compass use in seafaring. Arhat devoted Buddhist monk, who reached the lowest level of holiness and standing on the threshold of crossing into the state of Bodhisattva. (70) All those that come from overseas countries live in Guangzhou's foreign quarter. From among them the head over them is appointed. This head manages administrative issues in the quarter, and particularly watches that foreign tradespeople render their tributes. For this purpose he has foreign officials in his charge. Dress, footwear, memorial boards of these officials are exactly like the ones that the inhabitants of Tianxia have. If a crime is committed in the foreign quarter, an investigator is invited from Guangzhou and the criminal is banished from the quarter. The one who is guilty is tied to the wooden ladder and struck with cane sticks from heels to crown. Cane sticks break after the third strike. Foreigners do not wear pants and stockings, they seat right on the ground. Strikes on their buttocks are rather painful for them, but when it comes to strikes on their back these they do not fear. If the crime committed is a serious one, the case then is examined in Guangzhou. Foreigners dress differently than the inhabitants of Tianxia do, but they drink and eat the same. Annotations. Foreign Quarter (fan fang) as it is clear from the aforementioned, it is a location where foreigners compactly dwell. As a rule such quarters were located in the city suburbs: thus, during the Song times a foreign quarter in Guangzhou was on the north coast of Zhujiang, in the south-western suburb, and in Quanzhou not far away from Jinjiang, to the south of the city. There were a lot of foreigners in these quarters: thus, over ten thousand foreigners lived in Guangzhou at the same time, most of them were natives of Arabic countries; some of them lived there permanently, others came and went depending on a season, along with craft caravan. The Song authorities, interested in commerce, treated foreign quarters quite tolerantly, allowing visitors to profess their religion, keep to their own traditions, including in architecture (thus, Guangzhou preserves one of the oldest mosques in the PRC, built back at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty rule; although in 1343 it burned down, but seven years later it was restored; and since 1996 it is an object of cultural heritage protected by the State). For the purpose of maintenance of order and supervision of lawfulness in foreign quarters a so-called fanzhang, which was chosen out of the quarters' number, holding an office akin to yamen fanzhangsi. This man, however, could not administer justice on his own; he was obliged, as it is spelled out in this excerpt, to hand criminals to local Chinese administration. It, having examined case circumstances and found that this crime is not ranked among grave ones, as a rule returned criminals back so that he would be punished in accordance with the laws of his country. If on the other hand a grave crime was committed, the violator fell into the millstones of Chinese justice. Also fanzhang was obliged to assist Chinese authorities in everything first of all, in the matters of commerce and, since this man carried authority with his fellow people, to supervise religious matters of his foreign quarter.

85 I. Alimov THE ORIGINS OF CHINESE NARRATIVE PROSE: FIFTEEN COLLECTIONS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE HAN DYNASTY As far as we know the first usage of the combination, xiaoshuo (lit: minor (petty) expressions) appears in Zhuangzi's writings (, BC): If, having taking a bamboo stick and a rope, one comes to a roadside ditch and begins to fish for fry, it is then hard to obtain a big fish; and telling petty tales ( ) for the sake of pleasing a district chief is just as far from great accomplishments! [1] In this case xiaoshuo does not imply narrative prose at all, but rather a discourse about petty (, xiao) matters as opposed to discourses of the elevated Way; in the best-case scenario these are some amusing tales meant to entertain its listeners. The most known of the early interpretations of the term xiaoshuo is within the section of Yi wen zhi ( Treatise on Art and Literature) from the thirtieth juan of Han shu (, The History of the Former Han Dynasty) by Ban Gu ( AD 3292) (fig. 1), which says: The trend of xiaoshuo school ( ), evidently, starts from beiguan. It is that, which took shape from conversations on the street, gossips in the alleys, formed from that which was heard and told on one's way. Confucius once said: It is certain that one has something to learn even on a narrow path, but if one strives for a remote [goal], he can soil himself [following this path], and that is why a noble man does not turn to it [2]. However [a noble man] does not do away with [such paths] [3]. It speaks of rather specific written monuments depicting some base in the spirit of Zhuangzi stories of everyday and folk nature, which apparently had a lot in common with folklore since Ban Gu draws a parallel with beiguan [4]. Ban Gu listed the names of fifteen texts of the school of xiaoshuo, the content of which, by all appearances, was rather diverse; attitude to it is also expressed unequivocally: in essence xiaoshuo is a narrow path, a small way ( ), where a noble man jun-zi can undoubtedly derive something useful, but he has to be aware that small ways to attaining the great aim, that is the understanding of the Tao, do not guide by any means, and therefore one may soil himself following it; thus a noble man is cautious and gives credit to narrow paths exactly what they are deserving: The best of what minor rural experts have also needs to be gathered one thing to another so that it will not get lost in oblivion. Out of this, as a matter of fact, the Chinese tradition of narrative prose literature has been formed. In order to be able to imagine which texts in particular provide the basis for Chinese narrative prose, let us particularly dwell on the list of Ban Gu. Hou Zhong-yi (, born in 1936), a modern Chinese philologist, believes that, judging by the names of collections cited by Ban Gu and his commentaries, as well as by the commentaries to Han shu of Yan Shigu, the lost works are divided into three categories: (i) works of historical nature; (ii) works of philosophic nature; and (iii) works of magic nature [5]. Unfortunately, of all these texts only names have come down to us whereas the collections themselves were lost before the reign of the Sui Dynasty (i. e. before 581). And we namely happen to deal with the names and indirect evidences. As it was already stated, the list of Ban Gu has fifteen names. These are: 1. Yi yin shuo er shi qi pian (, Stories of Yi Yin in Twenty Seven Chapters). Commentary: The exposition is shallow and poor; looks as though it was written later. Yi Yin (, 1751?1649? BC), a semilegendary ancient Chinese politician, high official and culinary expert, is known by the fact that although he came from lower classes since his childhood he displayed remarkable ability, comprehending book wisdom on his own, which in time allowed him first to become famous in cookery, and then make an amazing career from The study done due the support of the Russian Scientific Foundation for Research in Humanities, project No History of the Chinese Prose with a Plot, 1st10th Centuries AD. I. Alimov, 2011

86 I. ALIMOV. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose 21 a petty officer to the adviser of the ruler at the Shang court. Adviser of Cheng Tang (, 17th century BC) the founder of the Shang Dynasty, who sent him to his suzerain, the last Xia sovereign Jie (, BC); the latter could not put him to use and returned him to Cheng Tang. It went on like that for five times. After that he became the minister of Cheng Tang and actively participated in the passage against Jie and for his overthrow [6]. Yi Yin is considered to be the first virtuous imperial adviser (, xianxiang), since he possessed outstanding moral traits, was incorruptible and his thoughts were directed only at serving his country and not at his own enrichment and power, and in this regard Yi Yin became a role model and an example to follow by many subsequent generations of Chinese officials, about which one of Confucius's disciples said: During the rule of the Tang Dynasty of Tianxia they elected out of everyday people and they recommended Yi Yin; [then] all those who had no love for mankind, [were forced to] pull themselves out [7]. Many of his biographical facts including his miraculous birth in the course of time adopted surprising details, and today therefore it is overly difficult to distinguish truth from fiction [8]. When it comes to Yi yin shuo, even Lu Xün noted that in The Treatise [on the Subject of Art and Literature] from [The History of] the Han [Dynasty] in the Taoism school there are Stories of Yi Yin in fifty one chapters, lost at present; twenty seven chapters from the xiaoshuo school cannot be verified either, and The Biography of Sima Xiang-ru from The Historical Notes contains the following fragment from The Book of Yi Yin ( ): East of Jishan mountain a blue bird has its nest, and there are mandarin fruits that ripen in summer, this is the only passage that remained from the lost text [9]. Of course, this fragment does not shed much light onto Yi yin shuo, even if we admit that Sima Qian (, 145?90 BC) implies this very text under The Book of Yi Yin. The attempts of Chinese researchers at ascertaining its overall nature and approximate creation date are not too helpful [10], although the commentaries to the record in Han Shu rather clearly interpret Yi yin shuo as an inauthentic work that is created much later than the time when Yi Yin lived. Famed philologist and bibliologist Zhang Shun-hui (, ) is more categorical: The book is a fake, long lost [11]. 2. Yu zi shuo shi jiu pian (, Stories of Yu Ji in Nineteen Chapters). Commentary: That which was added by the descendents. It is known about the ancient Chinese wiseman and dignitary Yu Ji that his name was Xiong ( ), of the family name of Mi ( ). At the age of nineteen Yu Ji was in the audience of Zhou Wen-wang, whom he impressed so much that Wen-wang elevated him to the status of his adviser. According to Shi ji (juan 40, ), however, Yu Xiong died prematurely, having left only one son Xiong-li ( ), who, as well as his descendents, served the Zhou family, as a result of which they were granted the lands of Chu (the territory of modern-day Hubei province); therefore, Yu Xiong is considered to be the forefather of this ancient Chinese lands. The information on the biography of Yu Xiong, however, is also petty and contradictory: for instance, Wang Qi-zhou notes that in spite of the statement of Sima Qian that Yu presumably died at an early age, there were later sources that claim that he served not only Wen Wang, but also Wu Wang and Cheng Wang (Wen Wang alone reigned for about fifty years), and therefore he could not die at an early age; quite the opposite he was a rare long-liver [12]. A historian of Chinese literature named Wang Zhi-zhong (, born in 1944) notes that some scholars consider the remaining Taoist work Yu zi ( ) in its fragments as lost passages from Yu zi shuo [13]. In the section of Daoist works from Yi wen zhi in Han shu Yu zi is listed in twenty two chapters (only fourteen of them survived), whereas the commentary runs as follows: [Yu-zi]'s name was Xiong, he became a Zhou advisor. But Lu Xün also believed that Yu zi shuo had nothing to do with Daoism [14]. The situation with these two works is reminiscent of the aforementioned situation with Yi yin shuo and Yi yin shu; Yu Xiong with time became the object of cult following among Chu population, the stories of it passed from mouth to mouth, and according to Wang Qi-zhou, they formed the foundation of Yu zi shuo, of which Yu Xiong was not the author [15]. However, it is evident from the aforementioned commentary in Han shu. 3. Zhou kao qi shi liu pian ( The Research of Zhou in Seventy Six Chapters). Commentary: Research of that which happened at the time of Zhou. A classic case of when not only the book itself came down to us, but also so did information about the author and at least some data that helps build suggestions about its content apart from the evident commentary: The research of that which happened at the time of Zhou. Lo Ning, however, dates this work (as well as all the rest of the list of Ban Gu, with the exception of Song zi and Qing shi zi) back to Han times [16], but there is no way to confirm or confute this opinion of Lo Ning for now, as well as to appreciate Zhang Shun-hui's impressions at their true value: The Research of Zhou from the xiaoshuo school must be a book composed of various records, forgotten legends, insignificant and petty stories; that is the reason why it consists of seventy chapters. And even if it did contain lost information on the Zhou Dynasty, it is not what a person searching for that which happened at the time of Zhou would immediately rush to [17]. 4. Qing shi zi wu shi qi pian (, Master Historian in Fifty Seven Chapters). Com-

87 22 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 1 JUNE 2011 mentary: Records of events, made by an ancient historian. Majority of researchers agree that the term used in the title qing shi zi ( ), is impersonal and denotes a petty official, serving in the field of history [18]. Out of this text, as a composite of other works Da dai li ji (, Notes of a Superior Dai on Rituals) and Feng su tong yi ( Deep Meaning of Manners and Customs) three passages remained intact that speak of rituals and customs, and Lu Xün was puzzled as to why at that time [i. e. during the Han times I. A.] the text was included in xiaoshuo [19]. For instance, here is the shortest of these three passages: Hen is an animal from the east. When one year ends and a new one begins, the east is the first to come, and all that is living comes out in the open that is why they worship hen [20]. In relation with this passage Hou Zhong-yi notes that it was a common custom to eat chicken on New Year in the pre-qin era; it was believed that it brought luck for it is rooster that gets up before everybody else does and serves as a herald of sunrise [21]. But it does not make any clearer why Ban Gu decided to include Qing shi zi in the section of xiaoshuo. 5. Shi kuang liu pian (, Master Kuang in Six Chapters). Commentary: Compared it to Chun qiu; the exposition there is shallow and poor, equal in its essence with this book; thus I suspect it to be a forgery. As for Master Kuang ( Sh-kuang), he is a legendary blind musician (the other name he is known by is Zi-ye ( )), who lived prior to Confucius and served at the court of Duke Ping of Jin (reigned from 557 to 531 BC). It was not for thing that Master Kuang was called master, since at one time he was revered as the most skilful among musicians; besides, it is known that his talents did not concern only playing guqin, but extended also to politics, where he repeatedly proved himself to be a wise adviser at the Jin throne. Master Kuang was also encyclopaedically knowledgeable. Ancient Chinese texts preserve stories that have to do with various episodes from the life of Kuang, concerning music in the first place, with the help of which he, according to legends, could subdue spirits and the elements [22]. Lu Xün noted that Han Shu also has another eponymous work related to Master Kuang, but it is listed in a different section (, Bing yin yang jia) and has eight chapters and not six; and this work is of conjectural nature; the same that is included in xiaoshuo, no possibility to research, and the only thing left to do is to rely on the commentary, from which we learn that [this book] in many ways is similar to Chun qiu [23]. That is, judging by the commentary, the book Si kuang liu pian was done according the model of Chun qiu, but later; and it was ascribed to the xiaoshuo section since its content is shallow and poor, according to Lo Ning, non-canonical, and also obviously imitative [24]. 6. Wu cheng zi shi yi pian (, Wucheng-zi in Eleven Chapters). Commentary: Contains the questions of Yao, but the exposition is not ancient. Wucheng-zi, also known as Wucheng Zhao ( ) (Wucheng Fu ( / ) according to other versions) is a legendary adviser of the mythical emperor Yao (Shun according to a different version) and also an expert in the art of inner chambers, that is the art of sexual practice aimed at the prolongation of life. Little is known about Wucheng-zi; not one line has come down to us from this work. The commentary about the questions of Yao in the consideration of Wang Zhi-zhong, however, allows for assumption that this book was executed in the spirit of conversation of rulers with their advisers so typical for the pre-qin booklore [25]. Wang Qi-zhou suggests that the work of Wu cheng zi, obviously not written by Wucheng Zhao himself, was compiled not later than the middle or the end of the Zhanguo period ( BC) and was a collection of legends and myths related to the name of Wucheng Zhao, which actually conditioned this book to be included into the xiaoshuo section [26]. 7. Song zi shi ba pian (, Song-zi in Eighteen Chapters). Commentary: Song-zi, of the Sun Qin movement; the spirit of expressions of Huang-[di] and Lao-[zi] [that is Daoist I. A.]. The name of Song-zi, in all likelihood, implies Song Jian (also known as Song Keng ( ) or Song Rong ( )), a Qi scholar-scribe and philosopher, a representative of the so-called school of names, whose views oftentimes are compared to the views of the school of Mo-zi (, 468?376 BC), a contemporary of Meng-zi (, BC). I will not dwell on what type of actual movement Song-zi adhered to in his views similar to Mo-zi or to one of the founders of Confucianism, Song-zi (the movement of Sun Qin [27]), since it goes beyond the scope of this research. I will note, though, that Zhang Shun-hui wrote in regards to Song zi shi ba pian: This is a collection, compiled by the descendents of Song-zi and then called it with his name; its style is shallow and poor, chaotic and unsystematic, not forming any separate school of thought the only reason why it was included in the xiaoshuo school. If what is said in the commentary of Ban [Gu] concerning the spirit of expressions of Huang-[di] and Lao-[zi] corresponded to the truth, it would have been included into the Daoist school [28]! On the other hand, though, Wang Qi-zhou, considering the suggestion of Guo Mo-ruo (, ) regarding the fact that several passages from Song-zi remained intact as parts of Lü shi chun qiu (, Springs and Autumns of Mister Lü) and Guan-zi ( ), concludes that if it squares with reality, then the nature of such passages meets the criterion of conver-

88 I. ALIMOV. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose 23 sations on the street and gossips in the alleys, and thus the inclusion of Song zi into xiaoshuo is fully justified [29]. One would certainly need something more substantial for better-grounded reasoning, for instance the text of this monument and we unfortunately do not have it at our disposal. 8. Tian yi san pian (, Tian-yi in Three Chapters). Commentary: Tian-yi that is the way they called Tang; it does not speak of the Yin times, it is a forgery. Tang ( ) the legendary founder of the Shang Dynasty (XVI century 1066? BC), also known as Tang of Shang ( ), Cheng-tang ( ), Wu-tang ( ), Tian-yi ( ) and Da-yi ( ), reigned from 1617 to 1588 BC. He was the ruler, to whom the aforementioned Yi Yin served in the capacity of adviser. In regards to this text Wang Zhi-zhong regretfully writes that there are no other evidences at our disposal [30]. Just as it is the case with many other characters of distant Chinese antiquity, the name of Tang have been coated with numerous legends, myths and conjectures in many ways begotten by conversations on the streets and gossips in the alleys, that which was identified as judgments of village fools but not to such degree that it did not have anything useful about it [31]. That is, according to opinions of certain Chinese scholars, the main contents of this work were records of folklore nature that dwelled among people in oral tradition. Tian yi san pian is not mentioned in bibliographical works after the Han times evidently it means that the book was lost right after Han. 9. Huang di shuo sis hi pian (, Expressions of Huang-di in Forty Chapters). Commentary: A preposterous forgery. The legendary progenitor Huang-di (, the Yellow emperor) is ascribed many historical accomplishments contributing to the establishment of Chinese civilization the invention of axe, bow and arrows, mortar and pestle, shoes and dress (different for men and women), carts and boats, the technique of tripod and bell casting, the method of well-sinking, as well as significant contribution to music, pharmacology and the art of healing. Huang-di is a frequent character of ancient Chinese texts, and a rather mythologized one at that. Apparently that was the case in this instant as well: Mentioned in The Treatise [of Art and Literature] from [The History of] the Han [Dynasty], Expressions of Huang-di in Forty Chapters were written during the time of Zhanguo, in its essence it is a large collection of myths [32]. On the other hand, Lo Ning believes that Huang di shuo is not a work of the pre-qin time, but rather a forgery of court magi of the time of the Emperor Wu of Han (reigned in the course of BC) [33]. A famous historian of Chinese narrative prose, Li Jian-guo (, b. 1943), shared his view saying that, possibly, two passages from Huang di shuo have come down to us as parts of sixth and eight juans of Feng su tong yi, where Huang di shu (, The Book of Huang-di) is indicated as its source [34]. Here is one of them: Tai-di told Su-nü to play psaltery se [35] of fifty strings and was so deeply moved that he could not come to his senses on account of melancholy, and thus smashed the psaltery and made it into [one] of twenty five strings. Wang Zhi-zhong notes that if we were to judge by these passages, then the opinion of Ban Gu about Expressions of Huang-di in terms of preposterous forgery is not unfounded [36]. 10. Feng chan fang shuo shi ba pian (, Expressions of Magic Thanksgiving to Heavens and Earth in Eighteen Chapters). Commentary: Of the times of the Emperor of Wu. The term fengchan here implies the offering ceremony to Heavens and Earth, which in ancient China took place on the mountain of Taishan, where emperors invoked Heavens to send down prosperity on the country or addressed Heavens in those cases when certain significant signs were sent down that required communication with Heavens, and it was called feng ( ); and at the foot of Taishan also, where sacrifices were made to Earth, and it was called chan ( ). Both had special altars for this type of offerings. The term fengchan comes up for the first time in Guan-zi ( ); it is known that offerings of this kind were already a custom in the times of Qin and Han. According to the view of Zhang Shun-hui, this work is a compilation of records of superstitions related to souls of the dead and spirits reigning in the times of the Emperor Wu of Han, and reasonings about them. Magi valued such things, Confucians rejected those hence, the reason why this book did not gain ground [37]. Wang Zhi-zhong, citing Yu Jia-xi, writes that judging by the indirect data, Feng chan fang shuo contained discussions of magi and Confucian scholars concerning offerings to Earth and Heavens, but the non-confucian views prevailed nevertheless, which is indicated by fang ( ) in the title in its essence fangshu ( ), a magic art [38]. It is hard to say something more definite about a book long lost. 11. Dai zhao chen ran xin shu er shi wu pian (, The Art of Pithy by Loyal Subject Ran, Expecting Decrees in Twenty Five Chapters). Commentary: Of the Times of the Emperor of Wu. [Yan] Shi-gu reports: In 'Individual Records' Liu Xiang (, 776 BC) writes that Ran, born in Qi, whose family name is unknown, was daizhao (expecting decrees) in the times of the Emperor Wu, wrote a book titled 'The Art of the Pithy'. The catalogue of Yuan Xing-pei (, b. 1936) and Zhong-yi suggests that loyal subject Ran, since it

89 24 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 1 JUNE 2011 Fig. 1

90 I. ALIMOV. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose 25 is known that he was a native of the Qi estate, might have been a disciple and follower of Song-zi [39], who as a matter of fact taught in Qi and his ideas concerning the notion that the ruler in a country is similar to a heart in one's body, were included into the chapter of Xin shu (, The Art of the Pithy) of the final edition of Guan-zi, made in 26 BC. The meaning of the title Xin shu is explained by Zhang Shun-hui by means of, the art of the ruling, the way of the ruler [40], which is rather evident, taking into consideration the specific character of the teaching of the founder of Legalism, Guan Zhong (? 645 BC), by whose name the treatise was titled. He was the first one in Chinese history who suggested and substantiated the concept of ruling the country on the basis of laws. Wang Zhi-zhong thinks that the content of Dai zhao chen ran xin shu could be similar to the content of the chapter of Xin shu from Guan-zi [41]. 12. Dai zhao chen an cheng wei yang shu yi pian (. The Art of the Interminable by Loyal Subject An Cheng, Expecting Decrees in One Chapter). Commentary: Ying Shao (? 202) reports: A Daoist school. The art of the interminable study related to the nursing of life. Yu Jia-xi believes that he, who is called loyal subject An Cheng, expecting decrees, is a court magician [42]. Wang Zhi-zhong notes that the art of interminable is a certain study that has to do with the prolongation of sexual life [43]. What this work is doing in the section of xiaoshuo is not quite clear; it should have rather been ranked among magic books. 13. Chen shou zhou ji qi pian (, Records of Zhou, [Made by Loyal Subject Shou] in Seven Chapters). Commentary: [Shou] is a native of Yu, which is in the estate of Xiang [44]. Of the times of the Emperor Wu. A number of Chinese scholars believe that judging by its title the work contained records of various events, that are time-wise related to the time of Zhou Dynasty [45]. We then have nothing else to assume about it either. 14. Yu chu zhou shuo jiu bai sis hi san pian (, Expressions of Yu Chu of Zhou in Nine Hundred Forty Three Chapters). Commentary: [Yu Chu] is a native of the lands to the south of [Huang]he. In the times of Han Wu-di (the Emperor Wu of Han) he was a court magician in the most august suite and was known as the minister of the yellow chariot ( ). Ying Shao reports: The foundation of his expressions is 'The History of the Zhou [Dynasty]'. [Yan] Shi-gu reports: It is said in 'Shi ji' that Yu Chu is a native of Luoyang, and it speaks of him in Zhang Heng's ( 78139) 'The Ode to the Western Capital': 'Nine hundred stories, and all of them come from Yu Chu'. It is known of Yu Chu (, 140?87 BC), who served at the Han court under the Emperor Wu, that he held the office of fangshi shilang (something similar to a servant magician of the guards of the palace chambers). There is an extremely small amount of information on Yu Chu. Sima Qian reports of one of his acts which took place in 104 BC: Ding Fu-ren ( ), Yu Chu of Luoyang and others were offering sacrifices with the help of magic for the purpose of bringing misfortune upon Xiongnu and on the kingdom of Dawan [46]. Regarding the nickname of Yu Chu it is known that he handled horses, wore a yellow garments and was called the minister of the yellow chariot [47]. As it is the case with other texts from the list of Ban Gu, Yu Chu zhou shuo has not come down to us and is not anymore listed in the bibliographic department of the history of the Sui Dynasty. And thus by that time already the text had been irretrievably lost. Judging by that which Ying Shao says in the commentary, the main materials that Yu Chu used for his work were Zhou historical records. Lu Xün paid attention to the fact that according to the conclusions of Qin textual critic, a specialist in the study of Zhou, Zhu You-zeng (, 19th century), there is a probability that we have three passages at our disposal, which were presumably included in Yu Chu zhou shuo [48]. Wang Qi-zhou, on the assumption of the notion that magi were the foundation of the school of xiaoshuo of the Han era; the stories of magic were the main form of narrative prose of Han era, as well as on the basis of the surviving passages from Yu chu zhou shuo and the field of occupation of the author of the text, concludes that this whole text had a similar nature, that is that it was devoted to magic and striking cases from Zhou history [49]. And indeed it is so: [Once upon a time], when Mu-wang (, reigned from 977 to 922 BC) was hunting, a black bird, resembling a turtle-dove, dashed as a lightning towards [his horse] and sat on the harness; the stableman lashed [the bird] with a whip and killed it; the horse bolted forward and with such a speed that nobody could stop it until it stumbled and fell, and the sovereign wounded his left leg. The peculiarities of the frame of mind of the epoch undoubtedly had an effect on this work as well as on other Han collections of xiaoshuo that never came down to us; at least, in Zhang Heng's work it actually says: Nine hundred stories (, xiaoshuo), and all of them come from Yu Chu, and the commentary of Xue Zong (, ) on the subject of xiaoshuo reads: [It has to do with] the art of healing, invocation of spirits, warding off of misfortunes and supplications for happiness. Altogether [Yu Chu] had nine hundred and forty three [stories], although it says nine hundred; which only implied a great many. Such texts containing secrets (, mishu) were collected and always kept about; these were everyday tools that helped answer the questions that arise in the Sovereign's mind [50].

91 26 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 1 JUNE 2011 It is clear even on account of the aforementioned passage that the content of Yu chu zhou shuo was by no means exhausted by magic orientation, but was significantly broader, including records of various surprising cases and events that took place in the Zhou time. Apparently it was a compendium of knowledge about the surprising, where, according to Yu Jia-xi, there was everything and more [51], and Chen Zi-li calls Yu chu zhou shuo stories of the surprising, containing records of the extraordinary and narratives of the strange [52]. A tradition with a known foundation for it claims Yu Chu to be one of the founders of narrative prose at least in the capacity of collector and compiler. Hence his nickname the minister of the yellow chariot in later times was used in place of allegorical and collective designation for the xiaoshuo authors (it is a rather rare occurrence, though, in ancient Chinese texts). 15. Bai jia bai san shi jiu juan ( Works of Various Authors in One Hundred Thirty Nine Scrolls). It was Lu Xün who paid attention to the notion that Bai jia in the collection of Shuo yuan (, The Garden of Expressions) of the Han man of letters Liu Xiang is characterized as a collection of passages that were not ranked among philosophical works, petty and insignificant in content and not corresponding to the true discourses of the great Tao [53]. Wang Zhi-zhong speaks of two passages that remained as a part of Feng su tong yi, presumably from Bai jia, and concludes that judging by them the view of Liu Xiang is well-grounded [54]. Notes 1. Zhuang-zi shi yi, Ouyang Jing-xian, Ouyang Chao bian ( /, Zhuang-zi with interpretation and translation in modern Chinese language, compiled by Ouyang Jing-xian and Ouyang Chao) (Xianning, 1986), ii, p Lun yu, XIX, 4. The words quoted by Ban Gu belong not to Confucius but rather to his disciple Zi-xia (, Bu Shang, 507?? BC). 3. Ban Gu ( ), Han shu (, The History of Han [Dynasty]) (Beijing, 1962), vi, juan 30, p A little is known about baiguan ( ). There is a settled opinion in our oriental studies that believes that baiguan is a title of a special position, where the person in charge was responsible for registering (apparently, not so much writing it down as much as it was memorizing) that, which was told on the streets and talked about in the alleys (I. S. Lisevich, Literaturnaia mysl' Kitaia na rubezhe drevnosi i srednikh vekov (The Literary Thought of China at the Threshold between Antiquity and the Middle Ages) (Moscow, 1979), p. 182); however, a number of researchers use a different reading of obscure origin of the first hieroglyph bai ( ) bi: Special officials (biguan) wrote down folklore (K. I. Golygina, Povestvovatel'naia proza na literaturnom iazyke v n'ian' (Narrative prose in literary language of wenyan), Dukhovnaia kul'tura Kitaia: nciklopediia, ed. by M. L. Titorenko (Moscow, 2006), iii, p. 79). Large Chinese-Russian dictionary states that baiguan is an official responsible for small articles (collecting street poems for the emperor) (Bol'sho kita sko-russki slovar' (Large Chinese-Russian Dictionary), ed. by I. M. Oshanin (Moscow, ), ii, p. 814). Meanwhile, Ch. Hucker ( ) fairly defines baiguan as petty official: not a title, but a descriptive term for officials of low rank (Ch. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford, 1985), p. 361). In the mentioned section of Yi wen zhi from Han shu it says: The movement of the xiaoshuo ( ) school, apparently, begins out of baiguan ( ). The commentary of Ru Chun (, ca ), who lived under the rule of Wei at the time of the Three Kingdoms period runs as follows: Nine Tunes [a poetic cycle from Chu Stanzas I. A.]: Choice rice is birthed from chaff ( ). Petty and scattered talks from conversations on the street and gossips in the alleys this is what it is. Rulers, desiring to know the moods and attitudes of the commoners, established the office of baiguan officials for this particular purpose that they would explain those [conversations and gossips] to them. Up to this day they refer to insignificant conversations as bai ( ), trifling. Tang commentator Yan Shi-gu (, ) specifies that baiguan are petty officers (Ban Gu, op. cit., juan 30). As a matter of fact, this is the earliest fundamental information of baiguan that has come down to us, upon which our notion of the fact that it once was a particular existing official position is based. Yu Jia-xi (, ), having inspected corresponding ancient written monuments in detail, did not find any other evidence, which would reveal the content of administrative duties of baiguan, apart from the aforementioned i. e. the gathering of data concerning attitudes of common people, and concluded that the term baiguan does not stand for a position, but rather for scholarly service men (, shi) of the Son of Heavens (Yu Jia-xi ( ), Xiaoshuojia chyu baiguan shuo (, Of the school of xiaoshuo, born out of baiguan stories), Yu Jia-xi wen shi lunji (Changsha, 1997), i, p. 248). Professor of Beijing University, Pan Jian-guo (, b. 1969) noted that the text of Chu Stanzas mentioned by Ru Chun does not have the passage about tares, but it mentions bai ( ), that is choice rice; the similarity of sound of hieroglyphs different in meaning has birthed confusion and eventually an error, which has continued to this day. In the pre-qin, Qin and Han texts bai ( ) is used either in its direct meaning weed, tares, or in the meaning of low, of humble birth, disdainable, but by no means it qualifies for the meaning of small, as is written by Yan Shi-gu of Tang, based on the commentary of Ru Chun (Pan Jian-guo ( ), Baiguan shuo (, Of baiguan), Wenxue pinglun II (1999), p. 76). It is also significant that among the pre-qin (for instance, Zhou) official functionaries known to us the term baiguan does not appear; in the person of baiguan we deal, as concluded by Yu Jia-xi, with a generalized name for certain petty (bai ( ) in the meaning of xiao ( )) officials of the shi ( ) type, whose functions also included reporting of gossips to the sovereign, the gossips that were circulating among people (shi zhuan yan ( ), official men convey conversations). In Han times baiguan was allegorically referred to as a category of officials, whose stipend was lower than six hundred shi of grain, that is, according to the

92 I. ALIMOV. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose 27 meaning that was implied by Ru Chun (special officials designated for the purpose of gathering rumours), they also have nothing in common with. It needs to remember that petty (xiao ( )) relating to a Han official does not necessarily mean the smallest clerk of the most insignificant position, for the main watershed, if I may, passed along the size of the stipend, as modern researcher Lo Ning (, b. 1971) emphasizes: less than or more than six hundred shi of grain. More than six hundred shi was given to high-ranking officials for instance, gong and qing; and all of the rest were given less than six hundred, hence those ones were petty officials (, xiaoguan) (Lo Ning ( ), Xiaoshuo yu baiguan (, Narrative prose and baiguan), Sichuan daxue xuebao VI (1999), p. 55). It is known that in the Zhou times a number of officers in their line of duty were obligated to inform the ruler of various local stories, legends and myths circulating among people as well as of attitudes of his subjects in various parts of the country. Among this type of officials Pan Jian-guo ranks tuxün (, geographer and soil scientist), tongxün (, reciter and speaker) and xünfangshi (, district educator and tutor), although their duties were far from being reduced to these only. In Han times such functions were passed on to court advisers and magi, who, besides the aforesaid, must have been specialists in the field of life extension and magical means of acquisition of immortality (Pan Jian-guo, op. cit., p. 83). Thus, it becomes very obvious that baiguan as an individual position, specifically established for the purpose of gathering rumours and gossips, never existed in China; under the term baiguan (on the analogy of xiaoguan) one must understand not a title, but rather a wide range of not-so-high-ranking officials, whose duties in one way or another could be related with a possibility of acquiring information concerning the attitudes of common people in all sorts of manifestations. This is what Lo Ning writes: And when it talks about baiguan, which gave birth to the school of xiaoshuo, then it probably refers to officials of the lang rank court advisers or daizhao (, waiting for the highest orders), which are of even lower position (Lo Ning, Xiaoshuo yu baiguan, p. 55). Concerning the issue of baiguan see also: Tang Ji-fan ( ), Han shu. Yi wem zhi xiaoshuojia zai kaobian (, Once again concerning the school of xiaoshuo from The Notes on Arts and Literature of The Book of Han [History]), Mingzuo xinshang XII (2008); Yang Fei ( ), Baiguan weishizhi zhiliu lun (, Of baiguan, as a source of historical data), Fujian shifan daxue xuebao I (2006); Zhao Yan, Zhang Shi-chao ( ), Lun Qin Han jianduzhongde baiguan (, Baiguan from ancient documents from the time of Qin and Han), Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan III (2010), (the last work also presents great interest on account of the notion that it generalizes the existing views in Chinese science on the issue of baiguan for early 2010); etc. 5. Hou Zhong-yi ( ), Zhongguo wenyan xiaoshuo shigao (, Draft History of Chinese Narrative Prose in Classical Language) (Beijing, 1990), i, p. 5. Lu Xün (, ) believed that seven of these texts were the views of the ancient (Yi yin shuo, Yu zi shuo, Shi kuang, Wu cheng zi, Song zi, Tian yi, Huang di shuo), two of them contain the records of ancient events (Zhou kao, Qing shi zi), four belong to Han authors (Feng chan fang shuo, Dai zhao chen rao xin shu, Chen shou zhou ji, Yu chu zhou kao), and Dai zhao chen an cheng wei yang shu and Bai jia apparently belong to the Han times, too (Lu Xün ( ), Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue (, A Capsule History of Chinese Narrative Prose) (Beijing, 2006) p. 27). 6. Quoted according to Konfucianskoe chetveroknizhie (Sy shu) (Confucius's Tetrateuch (Si shu)), transl. and commented by A. I. Kobzev, A. E. Luk'ianov, L. S. Perelomov, P. S. Popov with assistance of V. M. Ma orov (Moscow, 2004), p Lun yu. XII. 22. Quoted from the book of L. S. Perelomov, Konfuci : Lun' iu. Issledovanie, perevod s kita skogo, kommentari. Faksimil'ny tekst Lun' iuia s kommentariiami Chzhu Si (Confucius: Lun yu. Research, translation from Chinese with commentary. Facsimile text of Lun yu with the commentary of Zhu Xi) (Moscow, 1998), p For more details about Yi Yin from the latest Chinese works see: Gong Wei-ying ( ), Lun Yi Yin (, Of Yi Yin), Shehui kexuejia IV (1992); Zhang Hui ( ), Zhongguo diyi xiande zaixiang Yi Yin (, The first Chinese virtuous minister Yi Yin), Lishi daguan V (2006); Liu De-jie ( ), Yi Yin shiji kaoshu (, Research of historical evidence for Yi Yin), Luoyang shifan xueyuan xuebao I (2008); Zhang Qi-cheng, Fu Xing-xing ( ), Shang chu xianxiang Yi Yin xinlun (, Something new about Yi Yin, the virtuous minister of the early Shang rule), Guizhou wenshi congkan I (2009); etc. The mythologized (based mostly on Lü shi chun qiu (, Springs and Autumns of Mister Lü), the section of ) version of Yi Yin's biography in Russian language can be found in the book of Yuan Ke, Mify drevnego Kitaia (The Myths of Ancient China), transl. by E. I. Lubo-Lesnichenko, E. V. Puzitski, V. F. Sorokin (Moscow, 1987), pp In 2008 RPC saw the establishment of Research Society of Nutrition Culture According to Yi Yin. 9. Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p Thus, Professor Wang Qi-zhou (, b. 1951) states his assumption that Yi yin shuo is not such a young work of art, and was written most likely under Qin ( BC) or maybe even under Han; at least under Han this text had not yet been lost (Wang Qi-zhou ( ), Han zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Yi yin shuo, Yu zi shuo kaobian (, Research based on Expressions about Yi Yin and Expressions about Yu-zi, included in The Han Treatise [of Literature and Art] into the school of xiaoshuo), Wuhan daxue xuebao V (2006), p. 563). See also: Wang Na, Li Xin-xia ( ), Han shu yi wen zhi xiaoshuojia tanjiu (, Research of school of xiaoshuo from The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty]), Changjiang shifan xueyuan xuebao III (2010); Yao Juan ( ), Dui Han shu yi wen zhi zhong xiaoshuojia mingmingde sikao (, Reflections on the name of the school of xiaoshuo from The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty]), Hainan daxue xuebao V (2008); etc. 11. Zhang Shun-hui ( ), Han shu yi wen zhi tongshi ( General interpretation of The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty]) (Wuhan, 1990), p. 195.

93 28 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 1 JUNE Wang Qi-zhou, Han zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Yi yin shuo, Yu zi shuo kaobian, p For more details on Yu Xiong see Yin Hua-bing ( ), Yu Xiong shishi jiexi (, The analysis of historical data on Yu Xiong), Jianghan luntan V (2008); Ding You-guo ( ), Yu Xiong shi Chuguo xianzu jiechude zhengzhijia (, Yu Xiong the distinguished politician, the forefather of the kingdom of Chu), Ezhou daxue xuebao VI (2008); Cao Sheng-gao ( ), Yu-zi kaosuo (, The research f Yu-zi), Wenxue yichan II (2000); etc. 13. Wang Zhi-zhong ( ), Han Wei Liuchao xiaoshuo shi (, The History of Narrative Prose of the Eras of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties) (Hangzhow, 1997), p Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p Wang Qi-zhou, Han zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Yi yin shuo, Yu zi shuo kaobian. Zhang Shun-hui: This is the case similar to that of the book Yi yin shuo both are compiled by descendants imitating antiquity (Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p. 196). 16. Lo Ning, Huang di shuo ji qita Han zhi xiaoshuo (, Expressions of Huang-di and other narrative prose from The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty]), Sichuan shifan daxue xuebao III (1999), p Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p Although some sources inform us that it implies the son of the Jin (8th5th centuries BC) court historiographer Dong Hu ( ), famed for his impartiality and accuracy in registering events (see Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p. 28), and the title thus needs to be translated as The Son of Mister Historian. 19. Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p. 28. According to the data of famed textual critic Cheng Yi-zhong (, b. 1930), by the time of the rule of the Liang Dynasty (AD ) one juan from Qing shi zi was preserved, but it too was lost by the time of the rule of the Sui Dynasty (Cheng Yi-zhong ( ), Gu xiaoshuo jianmu (, A Capsule Catalogue of Old Xiaoshuo) (Beijing, 1986), p. 3). 20. Lu Xün, Gu xiaoshuo goushen (, Extracts from the Book of Old Prose), Lu Xün quanji (Shanghai, 1973), viii, p Hou Zhong-yi ( ), Han Wei Liuchao xiaoshuo shi (, The History of Narrative Prose of the Eras of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties) (Shenyang, 1989), p I cannot keep from citing, perhaps, one of the most known episodes concerning the skill of Kuang, which is a part of Shi ji (, Historical Notes). It particularly says that: Shi-kuang was forced to take guqin in his own hands and pick the strings. When he first played this melody, sixteen black cranes showed up out of nowhere and gathered at the gate of the gallery. When the melody was played for the second time, the cranes stretched out their necks and began to cry, stretched out their wings and began to dance. Duke Ping, rather pleased, got up off his seat and congratulated Shi-kuang, wishing him longevity. Having returned to his seat, he asked: Is there a sadder type of music than the one just played? To which Shi-kuang replied affirmatively: Yes, there is! It was performed in the past, when Huangdi was gathering all spirits, but you have only minor virtues and are therefore unworthy of listening to it, and if you do listen to it, you life then is in great danger. Duke Ping objected I am an old man. The only thing I love is music and I want to listen to it to the very end. Shi-kuang was forced to pick guqin again and strike the strings. When he performed it for the first time, a white cloud appeared in the northwest. When the melody was played for the second time, strong wind blew, which was followed by rain. The wind tore the tiling off the gallery; all people in attendance scattered and frightened Duke Ping fell facedown between rooms in the gallery. After these events, the estate of Jin was overtaken by great drought and the land laid absolutely barren for three years (translated by V. S. Taskin. Quoted from the book titled Guo yu (The Discourses of the Kingdoms), transl., introduction and notes by V. S. Taskin (Moscow, 1987), pp. 4078). For more detailed information about Master Kuang see, for instance: Lei Jia-shen ( ), Guanyu shi Kuang (, Of Master Kuang), Jiaoxiang Xian yinyuan xuebao IV (1986); Zhou Zhu-quan. Gudai yinyuejia shi Kuang ( The Ancient Musician Master Kuang), Yinyue aihaozhe I (1982); etc. 23. Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p Lo Ning, Huang di shuo ji qita Han zhi xiaoshuo, p Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Wang Qi-zhou, Haym shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Wu cheng zi deng sijia kaobian (, Research of Wucheng-zi and three other works included into the school of xiaoshuo in The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty]), Nanjing shifan daxue wenxuayuan xuebao I (2008), p. 2. Zhang Shun-hui: This book of eleven chapters, probably, showed up in xiaoshuo only on account of being compiled from conversations and various discourses (Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p. 197). 27. The second name of Sun-zi (, BC) was Qing ( ). Under the Han emperor Xuan-di (reigned from 74 to 49 BC) when the hieroglyph xun ( ) was declared to be a taboo since in its sound it was identical with the name of the emperor, whose name was Sun ( ), Sun-zi was also renamed his last name was replaced by Sun ( ), similar in its sounding, as a result of which Sun-zi is also known by the name of Sun Qing. 28. Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p Wang Qi-zhou, Haym shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Wu cheng zi deng sijia kaobian, pp. 34. Also, concerning Song zi shi ba pian see Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Ibid.

94 I. ALIMOV. The Origins of Chinese Narrative Prose Wang Qi-zhou, Haym shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Wu cheng zi deng sijia kaobian, p Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p For more details see: Lo Ning, Huang di shuo ji qita Han zhi xiaoshuo, p. 50 and the following pages. See also: Wang Qi-zhou, Haym shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi xiaoshuojia Wu cheng zi deng sijia kaobian, pp Although the titles of these books differ in one hieroglyph, these hieroglyphs nevertheless are very similar: shuo ( ) is practically shu ( ), and shu ( ) is practically shuo ( ). Ancient books initially had no titles, hence these discrepancies (Li Jian-guo ( ), Tangqian zhiguai xiaoshuo shi (, The History of Pre-Tang Stories about the Amazing) (Tianjin, 1984), p. 123). 35. Tai-di ( ) is a mythical emperor Fu Xi (, reigned from 2852 to 2737 BC), whom the Chinese people owe their hunting skills, fishing skills and meat-cooking skills, the formation of eight trigrams, as well as the invention of hieroglyphic written language and the psaltery proper (and then their improvement by means of breaking in two; Su-nü ( ) is a feminine deity from the circle of Huang Di, known as a tutoress in the field of the art of inner chambers, as well as in the capacity of an exceptional musician and singer. Psaltery se is one of the most ancient Chinese stringed musical instruments played by plucking. 36. Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Yuan Xing-pei, Hou Zhong-yi ( ), Zhongguo wenyan xiaoshuo mulu (, A Catalogue of Chinese Xiaoshuo in Wenyan) (Beijing, 1981), p Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Yu Jia-xi, op. cit., i, p Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p The Xiang was located in the area of modern-day district of Xianhchengxian of the Henan Province. The estate was swallowed up by the kingdom of Chu in 643 BC, but it was later reconstituted in the form of bestowal to the Chu heir. From the name of this estate the name of Xiang takes its roots, one of representatives of which was, for instance, the prominent commander and politician Xiang Yu (, BC). 45. Yu Jia-xi, op. cit., i, p. 256; Zhang Shun-hui, op. cit., p. 200; Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p Sima Qian, Istoricheskie zapiski (Shi czi) (Historical Notes (Shi ji)), transl. by R. V. Viatkin, V. S. Taskin (Moscow, ), iv, p Dawan is a Central Asian kingdom, the object of military expansion of the Emperor Wu of Han. It was located over six thousand kilometres from Han's capital, the city of Changan. Was famous for its horses. 47. Quoted according to Wang Qi-zhou, Han shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi Yu chu zhou shuo tanyi (, The lost fragments of Expressions of Yu Chu about Zhou which were discovered and entered in The Treatise of Art and Literature of The History of the Han [Dynasty), Nankai xuebao III (2005), p. 41. It is known that under the Emperor Wu of Han yellow was officially established as the superior colour, and thus dignitaries and courtiers could wear yellow clothes in exceptional cases for instance, in the course of state ceremonies (such as pilgrimage to Tai Shan) or with a special permission of the emperor. Apparently, Yu Chu was in favour of the Emperor Wu. 48. Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p. 29. This view is shared by Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p. 33, Yuan Xing-pei and Hou Zhong-yi (op. cit., p. 8) and others. The mentioned passages are extracted from Tai ping yu lan (, The Imperial Review of the Tai-ping Years), Shan hai jing (, The Book of Mountains and Seas) and Wen xuan (, Literary Collection). Chen Zi-li (, b. 1953) believes that there are five and not three passages from Yu chu zhou shuo that came down to us (Chen Zi-li ( ), Yu chu zhou shuo kaobian sanze (, Three notes about the research of Expressions of Yu Chu about Zhou), Guangxi daxue xuebao II (1988), pp. 6970). 49. Wang Qi-zhou, Han shu yi wen zhi zhuluzhi Yu chu zhou shuo tanyi, p. 41. Wang Qi-zhou also notes that it is unclear from the commentary of Ying Shao what exactly is implied by The History of the Zhou [Dynasty] ( ), since three texts known to us could be used in this capacity (pp. 425). 50. Han fu jin yi (, Han Odes with Modern Translation), ed. by Zhang Qi-cheng, Xu Da (Guiyang, 2001), pp Yu Jia-xi, op. cit., i, p Chen Zi-li, op. cit., p Lu Xün, Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue, p Wang Zhi-zhong, op. cit., p. 33. See also: Yu Jia-xi, op. cit., i, p Illustrations: Fig. 1. Great Chinese historiographer Ban Gu. Traditional presentation.

95 TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION Reco rd s of th e De light s about th e East ern C apit al : Info rmation about th e OUT ER City I. Alimov The work of Meng Yuan lao ( 孟元老, the 12th century) Dong jing meng hua lu ( 東京夢華錄, Records of the Delights about the Eastern Capital ) dates to 1147 and is one of the rare Song texts, which gives a detailed description of the eastern capital of the empire the city of Kaifeng. Dong jing meng hua lu is the most important source for the reconstruction of the outward appearance of the Song Kaifeng and its structure city walls, quarters, markets, etc., as well as the actual capital life with its manners, customs and traditions. Dong jing meng hua lu handed down to our times unique information about the Song Kaifeng, which are nowhere else to be found, which insistently demands that this written monument is to be introduced to broad scientific circulation. Below the reader is given a small fragment from the beginning of Dong jing meng hua lu, supplied with necessary commentaries. T he O uter City of the Eastern Capital (fig 1) The perimeter of the wall of the Outer City [1] of the Eastern Capital is forty li and more. The city ditch is called Hulonghe [2], it is ten zhang [3] and more and on both [banks] it is planted with poplars and willows; there [stands] a white wall, [in it] there is a red door no entry. The wall by the gate [4] is three level high, the gates [in it] are located on each sides [of the city gate] and only by the gates of Nanxunmen [5], Xinzhengmen [6], Xinsongmen [7] and Fengqumen [8] [the wall by the gate] is two level high, and [the gate in it] are located strictly across the gates for this gate is the main one, through which the imperial road lay. There are three gates in the southern walls of the Outer City [9]: the one strictly [facing] south is called Nanxunmen, to the east of it is the gate of Chenzhoumen [10] and right next to it there is a lock, [through which] Caihe [11] [flows]; to the west of it is the Dailoumen gate [12] and there is a lock right next to it, [through which] Caihe [flows]. The real name of Caihe is Huiminhe, but [it] is called Caihe, because [this river] flows through Caizho [13]. There are four gates in the eastern wall: the gate in the southern part is called Dongshuimen, Eastern lock [14]; this is where the Bianhe river flows, the lock is located on its bed and has an iron fold, which goes down into water at nightfall, and on both banks of [Bianhe] there are special gates to pass through, and in between the corner gates [in the wall by the gate] from one bank to the other there is one hundred zhang and more; the next [gates] are called Xinsongmen; the next ones are Xincaomen [15]; and there are also Dongbeishuimen, the South Eastern lock, through which the Wuzhanghe [river flows] There are four gates in the western wall: the one in the southern part is called Xinzhengmen; the next one is called Xishuimen, the Western lock, though which Bianhe [river flows]; the next one is Wanshengmen [16]; and the following one is Guzimen [17]; and there is also Xibeishuimen, the North Western Lock, where the Jinshuihe river flows The northern wall has four gates: the most eastern one is called Chenqiaomen [18] (here was the road that was used by embassies of the Great Liao Dynasty [19]); the next gate is called Fengqumen (this is where the august [exit] to the northern suburb lay [20]); the next one is called Xinsuanzaomen [21]; the next one is called Weizhoumen [22]. (All these names for the gates are colloquial; their real names are as follows: for Xishuimen it was Lize[men], Xinzhengmen in reality was named Shuntianmen, Guzimen in reality was Jinyaomen). After every one hundred bu there are battle ledges mamian [23] and defence planking built into the wall of I. Alimov, 2011

96 4 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011 Fig. 1

97 I. ALIMO V. Records of the Delights 5 the Outer City, and merlons are made in thick rows [on the top of the wall] all of the aforementioned is maintained in constant ready status and looks rather impressive from a distance (fig 2). Elms and willows, providing shade, are planted on both sides of all public roads; defence depots are set up every two hundred bu, where arms are stored for the purpose of defending the throne [from its enemies, and twenty detachments of zhihui [24] foot soldiers exercise daily, all of which is run by the special Office of Capital Fortification [25]. Annotation. It is known that in the time of Chunqiu ( BC) in place of current Kaifeng there was a settlement known as Xun ( 浚 ), which acquired its name on account of the river Xunhe, flowing to the north of it; it was a town like settlement, that is walled around; Chinese archaeologists confidently date this district to the period of Zhanguo ( BC), when in 361 BC the capital of the Wei kingdom was transferred here; it was then called Daliang ( 大梁 ), and was located in the north eastern pat of modern Kaifeng; it used to be a rather populated and busy centre of the crossroads of trade routes, blossoming in the course of over 300 years until it was flooded in 225 BC during combat operations, the result of which was the destruction of Wei. In the times of the Han Dynasty about twenty five kilometres to the south east from the hillfort of Daliang an administrative settlement of Chenliu ( 陳留 ) emerged, as well as a small populated locality of Xunyi ( 浚儀 ), which remained in place of Daliang, and found itself to be in subjection to its administrative order. In the following military uprisings and collisions these lands suffered a great deal, and only under the Eastern Wei ( ) the region of Liangzhou ( 梁州 ) was established, and then later under the Northern Zhou ( ) it was renamed into Bianzhou ( 汴州 ). When China became united by the Sui Dynasty ( ), rather rapidly Bianzhou reclaimed the reputation of a significant trade location in the country, which was strengthened during the Tang rule, when its administrative status repeatedly changed (thus, in 756 Bianzhou became the administrative centre of the general governorate of Henen, which included 13 military districts; in 759 it was subjected to the general governorate of Biangu; in 762 the status of the general governorate of Henen was restored and 8 districts were given under subjection of Bianzhou, and so on and so forth). The thorough reconstruction of the city of Bianzhou was begun in 781 under the governor general and pluralistically the head of the homonymous district, a relative of the ruling kin of Li Mian ( 李勉, ) and first of all it concerned the Outer City, the perimeter of the wall of which at that time was about 20 li (a traditional measure of length, in the time described it was 559 meters); it was at that time that the river of Bianhe started flowing through the territory of the city; the locks, however, were not yet built in the city walls. The locks were introduced in 798, when the local governor general appointed the court official and minister Don Jing ( 董晉, ). In 907 an important event took place in the history of Kaifeng: after the collapse of the Tang Dynasty ( ) Zhu Wen ( 朱溫, also known as 朱全忠, Zhu Quan zhong, ), proclaiming the establishment of his own estate the Later Liang, issued the decreed of granting Bianzhou the status of the eastern capital of his country (simultaneously declaring the city of Luoyang to be its western capital, and the Tan capital, the city of Changan, reducing it to the status of provincial city). For the first time in Chinese history the future Kaifeng became the capital city although the large scale reconstruction, fitting for the capital, and improvement of the city Zhu Wen did not manage to undertake, and thus the majority of his time he was spending in Luoyang, which had status palace establishments available. Later, under the Later Tang ( ), which destroyed Liang, the main capital was transferred to Luoyang, but under the Later Zhou ( ) it was reclaimed in 952 large scale reconstruction of the city walls began, which continued up to year 956 with some interruptions; after that the perimeter of the outside wall made up 48 li and 233 bu ( step, traditional length measurement of about one meter and a half), i. e. about 27 km. Later Zhou rulers did a great deal for the improvement of Kaifeng for instance, decrees were made, which strictly regulated the width of main streets, in accordance with which fitting reconstructions were undertaken, it was decreed to plant trees on the streets; the territory of the city was enlarged several times over, and the planning of the city was made significantly better. It is known that after the unification of the country, which was made possible by the Song Dynasty, there was a discussion in the court in regards to where exactly the capital of the new empire will be located: Tai zu (on the throne from 960 to 975) was originally inclined to declare Luoyang as the main capital of the empire, whereas his advisers convinced him to leave it at Kaifeng; thus the city became the capital of the Song Empire. Officially the capital was called Dongjing ( 東京 ), the Eastern capital; in the written monuments, however it was not infrequently referred to as Dongdu ( 東都 ), the Eastern capital (the meanings of hieroglyphs 京 and 都 are identical in this case); since that is where the administrative region centre Kaifengfu ( 開封府 ) was situated, and the city itself was often called by this name; its other historical names of various times, such as Daliang ( 大梁 ), Yimen ( 夷門 ), Liangyuan ( 梁苑 ) were also used but not as often. The modern researcher by the name of Zhou Bao zhu ( 周寶珠, born in 1934) also notes other used names Bianjing ( 汴京 ), Biandu ( 汴都 ) and Bianliang ( 汴梁 ), which, in opposition to the existing opinion concerning their later origin, were already well used during the Song times, which is rather true and is proved by numerous examples from the north Song collections of biji [26]. By the time considered Kaifeng preserved the three part structure the Outer City of Waicheng ( 外城 ), also known as Xincheng ( 新城 ), Guocheng ( 國城 ), Luocheng ( 羅城 ), one of the three pats of Kaifeng (Bianliang), the largest one, in the centre of which the so called Inner or Imperial City was located, and within which Gongcheng, the palace city, where the august family dwelled. Each part of the city was walled about. In the curse of wars of subsequent times the Outer City wall, as well as Kaifeng itself, was subjected to significant destruction, so much so that by the Jin time the former city was practically annihilated, and today, apart from the written testimonies of ancient texts about the Song Kaifeng, we possess only the results of the works of Chinese archaeologists, studying the preserved remnants of the architecture of the former Song capital [27].

98 6 Manuscripta Orientalia. VOL. 17 NO. 2 DECEMBER 2011 Fig. 2

99 I. ALIMO V. Records of the Delights 7 Fig. 3