For three millennia beginning about 5,000 BC the Yangshao culture
flourished in China
wearing clothes made from hemp and living
in partially underground houses
designed to protect these peasant
farmers from winter winds and summer heat
or in the south on houses
built on piles by a lake.
Plows were used in 4000 BC, and by 3500
BC millet was grown widely
in the northern plains of China.
Fishing
was a main activity, and domesticated pigs, fowl,
and later cattle,
sheep, and goats were eaten.
In the south rice was developing.
Stylized fish and animals
decorated some of the burnished pottery.
Silk was manufactured about 2600 BC, and in the 24th century
BC the Longshan culture
began using a wheel to make thin-walled
black pottery.
Like the Yangshao these people lived mostly in
pit houses in villages
that encircled a central longhouse, but
their towns were larger and more permanent.
Graves were supplied
with richer objects such as carved jade and pottery.
The divinatory
practice of scapulimancy began, which studied the cracks that
appeared
on baked bones as an oracle to predict the future and
confer guidance.
The first writing was probably the inscriptions
made on these bones,
showing the question and perhaps the answer.
The character for the word "book" was discovered on
these bones,
indicating not only the existence of shamans but
perhaps scribes as well.
Grain was milled in China about 2200
BC.
Traditional Chinese history gives the dates 2205-1766 BC for
the Xia (Hsia) dynasty,
but the writing about it comes from the
Zhou (Chou) dynasty in the first millennium BC.
The word xia
meant summer and was depicted as flourishing trees.
Since
ecologists have determined that in the Neolithic times the northern
plain of China
was covered with forests, which later were obliterated
by human destruction,
we could infer that Xia times were remembered
as a richer environment.
The deforestation may have been a factor
in the social degeneration
that allowed a more warlike Shang culture
to replace the Longshan,
whose late use of arrowheads, spears,
daggers, and clubs foreshadowed the conflicts
that were to worsen
with the Shang warriors, who dominated China for three-quarters
of a millennium until their overthrow by the Zhou dynasty in the
eleventh century BC.
According to the history Shang-shu and the Shi Jing
(Ching), the ancient Book of Odes,
the Xia were overthrown
by Shang king Tang the Successful.
The Shang developed the use
of bronze to a fine art, beginning with fish hooks, bells, pins,
and projectile points and developing into an industry to produce
these items and axes
for the elite who could afford them.
The
social stratification led to kings and nobles, who conscripted
common people
for military service and public construction projects.
Buildings made of pounded-earth walls rose as high as nine meters.
These ceremonial centers were surrounded by thousands of pit houses,
shops, animal pens,
and storage pits.
Superstitious kings even
went so far as to have their bodies buried
with horses and other
humans, who must have been sacrificed.
The traditional dates of the Shang dynasty are 1766-1122 BC,
but recent scholarship suggests this culture lasted nearly five
hundred years
and was overthrown by the Zhou dynasty about the
middle of the eleventh century BC.
The Shang were centered around
the Yellow River and moved their capital many times,
though it
was near modern Anyang for more than 250 years
after it was moved
there by the powerful ruler Pan Geng in 1384 BC.
Primarily agricultural and disliking dairy products, the ancient
Chinese did eat pigs,
cattle, sheep, chicken, and dogs.
(This
is not quite as bad as it sounds, since their dogs probably did
not eat meat.)
Hunting provided fur coats for the cold winters.
Hemp was also cultivated for clothing, which seems to have been
well sewn with sleeves.
Shang religion was based on the worship
of ancestral spirits
and the supreme God, Shang Di.
Major decisions
were made in the ancestral temple and were assisted by divination,
interpreting the cracks made when tortoise shells and bones were
baked in fire.
The king headed a feudal system in which he could
call upon other nobles
for help in fighting against barbarians
and invaders.
Shang culture was extremely patriarchal and traditional,
since the oldest were closest to the ancestors, though inferior
to them.
A woman could become a powerful matriarch if she was
the oldest survivor
of her generation in a powerful family.
A
king might have more than one wife but usually did not.
Oracle
bones reveal one king with three wives, two with two wives,
and
twenty-six with only one wife.
Shang development of bronze technology and artistry
H. G. Creel
considered superior to that of the Italian renaissance.
Metal
weapons and chariots with horses did give knights an advantage,
but the power of their bows was such that the arrows
could easily
penetrate their leather armor.
Thus aristocrats were not invulnerable
in war, enabling common soldiers to overthrow
their leaders if
things got too bad for them.
Archery, as the main skill involved
in war and hunting,
became the most popular sport in contests
along with charioteering.
Cities were walled, and armies numbered
in the thousands.
In the thirteenth century BC King Wu Ding fought
several wars over pasture lands,
and large water projects had
to be protected.
They traded so extensively that the name for
merchant is
based on the term Shang ren meaning Shang man
or person.
Cowrie shells from the sea were used as money, and
royal tombs contained
their wealth along with the sacrifices of
humans, horses, and dogs.
Their writing, which has been found on oracle bones and bronzes,
began with pictograms,
developed ideograms, and used phonograms.
The Chinese language as well as Chinese culture developed directly
from the Shang.
Writing on the oracle bones indicates that the
main things they wanted to know about
were sacrifices, announcements
to the spirits, diplomatic banquets, traveling,
hunting and fishing,
war, crops, weather, illness, and the coming ten-day week.
The
character for evil depicts a snake attacking the foot of a person.
Clearly the purpose of the oracles was to avoid danger
and calamity
by pleasing God and the ancestral spirits.
Human sacrifice was practiced by the Shang as indicated by
the character for sacrifice,
which shows a person's head being
chopped off.
The numbers sacrificed do not seem to be large except
in the case of the Giang,
who were killed in greater numbers because
they appear to have been sheepherders
interfering with Shang cattle
grazing.
The practice of human sacrifice naturally decreased in
the Zhou era.
Nevertheless it was clear that in Shang society,
a king or lord
had the power of life or death over those under
him.
Slavery, usually from those captured in war, was also common.
The word for servant indicates the cultural evolution.
At first
captives were counted as heads and depicted as an eye.
This character
then came to mean a slave, a servant, a retainer,
and eventually
a minister of state.
Thus as writing developed and became more
influential,
literate advisors to the king gained more power.
When the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou in the eleventh century
BC,
the Giang tribe supported the Zhou revolt.
In the eleventh century BC the Zhou house became strong in
the west
by conquest and alliances with nearby states.
Wen Wang,
whose mother was a Shang princess,
took over much territory to
the north and south of the Shang kingdom.
When the Shang were
weakened by battles with nomads in the north and natives to the
east,
Wen Wang's son, Wu Wang, crossed the Yellow River
and marched
his army against the Shang.
According to Zhou histories the time
was not right yet,
but two years later he returned and, with the
capitulation of the Shang vanguard,
took over the Shang capital.
Di Xin, the last Shang king immolated himself in his favorite
pleasure pavilion,
but his son was allowed to rule a subject state.
Wu Wang also soon died, and his brother, the famous Duke of Zhou
(Zhou Gong),
completed the conquest for Wu's son while acting
as regent.
Two of his brothers, however, joined the Shang prince
in a revolt,
which was crushed by Zhou Gong after three years
of fighting all over China.
A Zhou capital was constructed along
the Yellow River near what is now
Luoyang in Henan to control
dozens of feudal states in the east,
though the main capital remained
in the western Wei valley.
The Shang capital was destroyed, but
their culture was allowed to survive;
the Shang family continued
to offer sacrifices
to their ancestors until 286 BC in the state
of Song.
These feudal states were essentially walled cities
that protected,
controlled, and exploited their peasant populations.
Nobles were
allowed to rule over their territories
in exchange for tribute
and help in fighting wars.
Though they followed the traditional
Shang religion,
the Zhou developed the concept of heaven (tian)
as a guiding force
which supported those who ruled virtuously
and abandoned those who did not.
The king was known as the son
of heaven.
Patriarchal families were the basis of power and relationship,
politically as well as personally, and whole families were often
held responsible
for the actions of their individual members.
The first two centuries of the Zhou dynasty were fairly peaceful
within their realms,
though wars were often fought with nomads
on the perimeters to expand the kingdom.
In 1002 BC the fourth
Zhou king, Zhao,
did not return from such an expedition to the
Yangzi River.
A tyrannical king named Li Wang, who ruled from
878 to 841 BC,
departed from virtue by hiring a sorcerer to point
out those criticizing him
so that he could have them killed.
The
king bragged of how the slandering of him had stopped
because
the people had become even afraid to talk;
but the Duke of Shao
pointed out that he had merely dammed it up,
which could be as
dangerous as preventing the flow of water.
Three years later King
Li was expelled by the nobles,
who chose two of their own to rule
until the crown prince was installed.
The use of writing and record-keeping
was already so extensive in China
that after this event in 841
BC dates are generally considered to be accurate.
Incursions from
the north occurred during
the 45-year reign of Xuan that began
in 827 BC.
In 771 BC King Yu was killed by invading barbarians,
and the
resulting split between two courts led to the acceptance of the
eastern capital
as primary, marking the beginning of the Eastern
Zhou period.
The practice of concubines was still common,
and
women were expected to be subservient.
Although peasants might
choose their own mates,
the marriages of the aristocrats were
usually arranged
by the powerful older generation of the family.
For three months before she was presented to her husband's ancestral
spirits,
the wife was on trial and could be returned to her family.
A man could divorce his wife for as little reason as her talking
too much.
Extended families tended to live together
under the
authority of the patriarch and the matriarch.
The duty of filial
piety was paramount.
The Zhou patriarch Wen Wang opposed the use
of alcohol except in the ceremonies,
as the fall of the Shang
dynasty was attributed to excessive drinking.
The ruler's ancestral temple was the most important building,
where diplomatic banquets were held and from which military expeditions
began.
Thus religion and the state were combined.
The use of writing
was so extensive in ancient China that for about three thousand
years
until the 18th century CE the number of books in Chinese
was greater
than all the other books in the world.
By the time
of Confucius in the sixth century BC there were already six classics:
1) Yi Jing (Book of Changes), the classic of philosophy,
2) Shi Jing (Book of Odes), the classic of poetry,
3) Yi Li (Ceremonial Etiquette), the classic of propriety,
4) Shu Jing (Book of Documents), the classic of history,
5) Chun Qiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), a chronicle of Lu,
6) a classic of music lost by the time of the Han dynasty.
These supplemented by the Zuo Zhuan, a commentary on
the Spring and Autumn Annals,
Sun-zi's Art of War,
Zhan Guo Ce (Intrigues of the Warring States),
and Sima
Qian's Shi Chi will reveal much of the ethics of the ancient
Zhou ways.
From the sixth to the third centuries several outstanding
philosophers
had immense influence on the entire history of Chinese
culture.
Confucianism will be discussed in the life and works
of Confucius, Mencius, and Xun-zi.
Daoism is revealed in the works
of Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi, and Lie-zi.
Mo-zi founded his own religion,
and the legalism of Han Fei-zi greatly influenced
the forming
of the Qin empire.
The short-lived Qin dynasty and the first part
of the Han dynasty
are extensively portrayed in the writings of
the great historian Sima Qian.
The legendary creator of what came to be the Yi Jing
is said to be Fu Xi,
who is associated with hunting and fishing
and the invention of cooking.
The eight trigrams using the dual
principles of yang and yin are surely quite ancient.
References are also made to early versions in the Xia and Shang
dynasties,
but the main authorship of the 64 hexagrams is credited
to King Wen
(who was supposed to have written the judgments while
imprisoned
by the last Shang king) and to his son, the Duke of
Zhou,
who originated the readings for the changing lines.
This
oracle does seem to have replaced the bones and tortoise shells
used by the Shang, and it is surmised that the primitive line
combinations
are derived from attempts to read the cracks on the
oracle bones.
Often called the Changes of Zhou (Zhou I),
it was primarily a Zhou book.
Computers are based on this simple system of constant choices
between two principles.
The yang is represented by a solid
line and relates to the male,
light, creative, heaven, firm, active,
and so on.
The yin is shown as a broken line and refers
to the female,
dark, receptive, earth, yielding, passive, etc.
A line obviously has two possibilities, a double line four, a
trigram eight,
and the doubled trigram or hexagram sixty-four.
The process of change is created by a three-step process of determining
each line
by adding yin 2s and yang 3s, resulting
in a yang 7, a yin 8, a yang 9 or a yin
6,
the last two being so strongly yang or yin
that
they will change into their opposites, yielding a new hexagram.
The ancient way of consulting the oracle used fifty yarrow
sticks,
separating them into two piles, and pulling them out by
fours.
Later for convenience three coins could be tossed six times.
However, the process with the yarrow sticks contains
a bias toward
changing yang lines or 9s, because the first 2 or 3 in
each line
has a three in four chance of being a 3.
Thus the chance
of getting a changing yang line is three times greater
than getting a changing yin line, but this is more than
balanced toward yin,
because 8s are more likely than sevens
and because the nines change into yin lines,
resulting
in a second hexagram with more chances for yin lines than
for yang.
Though changes are more likely to be made by
the male principle,
in the ancient Chinese way of using the oracle,
the eventual results favor the female principle.
One of the oldest books in China, the Yi Jing was used
for centuries
and studied by Confucius, who is credited with writing
the commentaries,
though much of these were probably written by
his followers.
The Shuo Gua, which discusses the eight
trigrams, is quite ancient though.
It begins,
In ancient times the holy sages made the Book of Changes thus:
They invented the yarrow-stalk oracle in order
to lend aid in a mysterious way to the light of the gods.
To heaven they assigned the number three
and to earth the number two;
from these they computed the other numbers.
They contemplated the changes in the dark and the light
and established the hexagrams in accordance with them.
They brought about movements in the firm and the yielding,
and thus produced the individual lines.
They put themselves in accord with the way and its power,
and in conformity with this laid down the order of what is right.
By thinking through the order of the outer world to the end,
and by exploring the law of their nature to the deepest core,
they arrived at an understanding of fate.1
The text goes on to say that they determined the way of heaven
is dark and light,
the way of earth yielding and firm, and the
human way loving and just.
The first two lines represent the earth,
the middle two humans, and the top two heaven.
The trigrams correlate
with the eight directions, the seasons,
the family of father,
mother, three sons, and three daughters, and so on.
Though in Chinese cosmology the five elements are fire, earth,
water, wood, and metal,
the trigrams are based on the four elements
found in most ancient cultures
representing energy, solid, gas,
and liquid as fire, earth, air (wind), and water
along with the
four related forms of thunder, the mountain, heaven, and the lake.
Heaven is creative, earth receptive, thunder arousing, wind gentle,
fire clinging or clear, water abysmal or dangerous,
the mountain
still, and the lake joyous.
The first three lines represent the
inner and the top three the outer.
Once light and dark have been
created, there may be good and bad fortune,
remorse and humiliation,
but no blame means
that one is in a position to correct one's
mistakes.
Not necessarily fatalistic, the book is designed to offer counsel
for different situations
so that people may control more wisely
their own destinies
by understanding circumstances better.
Ultimately
one may go back to the beginnings of things and pursue them to
their ends,
understanding birth and death.
The union of seed and
power produces everything,
but the escape of the soul brings about
change.
Thus the conditions of outgoing and returning spirits
may be known.
By resembling heaven and earth people do not have
to be in conflict with them.
Through wisdom one may bring order
to the world,
be active and not carried away by fate nor worried.
Being content with circumstances one may be genuine in kindness
and so practice love.
Consulting the Yi Jing, one may observe
before speaking and discuss before moving,
thus perfecting the
changes and transformations.
Through words and actions the superior
person moves heaven and earth.
The Da Zhuan (Great Treatise)
also states that sages fasted
"in order to make their natures
divinely clear."2
The commentary on the first hexagram, the creative, states
that superior people
can govern because they embody love, can
unite people through propriety
because they bring about the harmonious
cooperation of all that is beautiful,
can bring them harmony through
justice because they further all beings,
and can carry out all
actions because they persevere and are firm.
Here the Confucian
influence is clearly seen.
Also the superior person learns to
gather material and sort it out
through questioning in order to
become generous and kind.
The character of the great is in accord
with heaven and earth.
The arrogant know how to press forward
but not how to draw back,
know existence but not annihilation.
Only the holy know both without losing their true nature.
The commentary on the second hexagram draws on Daoist ideas
about the use of the feminine yin, which is the
way of the earth, the wife,
and the one who serves.
One should
serve the king as the dark possesses beauty but veils it,
not
claiming the completed work though bringing it about vicariously.
When heaven and earth are creating in change and transformation,
the capable withdraw into the dark.
When the eminent subordinate
themselves to those below,
they win the hearts of the people.
The sixth line reading of the hexagram Youthful Folly offers the
warning
not to commit transgressions while punishing;
it is better
to prevent transgressions so that
both those above and below conform
to order.
The sequence of the cosmology is from heaven and earth to individual
things
to the two sexes to the relationships of husband and wife,
then father and son,
prince and servant, and superior and inferior
based on the rules of propriety.
Heaven and earth stimulate each
other, and the holy stimulate the hearts of the people
so that
the world can attain peace.
There are other Chinese oracles and
cosmologies,
but the Yi Jing is by far the oldest and most
influential.
Its reflections on various situations represent the
beginning of philosophy in China.
The Book of Odes is the oldest poetry to influence later
generations in China.
Though some of them may be older, most of
the poems
are thought to have been composed in the eighth or seventh
centuries BC.
They are often quoted in the works of Confucius.
Many are love songs of courtship and marriage.
In one a young
man promises to love her forever.
In another a young woman asks
her lover not to break the willows
nor climb over the wall, not
because she doesn't love him,
but because she is afraid of what
her parents, brothers, and people will say.
Another fears being
seduced and abandoned.
A third has run away from her family, and
the metaphor of rain and a rainbow
implies that she is pregnant;
the poet doubted that the man will fulfill his promises,
because
he "is bent on high connections."3
Usually marriage is arranged by talking with her parents,
but
"without a match-maker he cannot get her."4
The double
standard of sex can be found in China,
as a woman warned ladies
not to take their pleasure with men,
though a man taking his pleasure
may be condoned.
She complained that she suffered three years
of poverty with him
and never neglected her work,
but he was the
one who altered his ways and was unfaithful.
First he took to
finding fault with her, and then he became rough with her.
Her
brothers have disowned her and laughed at her,
but thinking it
over calmly she takes responsibility
for bringing it all upon
herself.
The poems on war include this complaint:
Minister of War, We are the king's claws and fangs.
Why should you roll us on from misery to misery,
Giving us no place to stop in or take rest?
Minister of War, We are the king's claws and teeth.
Why should you roll us from misery to misery,
Giving us no place to come to and stay?
Minister of War, Truly you are not wise.
Why should you roll us from misery to misery?
We have mothers who lack food.5
Another poem describes how the people are ordered by the king
to bring out their carts.
The king's services bring them hardships
and no time to rest,
but they fear the writing on the tablets.
Once the enemy's chiefs have been captured and bound as criminals,
they can return home again.
Several poems celebrated the Zhou
revolutionary defeat of the Shang dynasty
and the exploits of
King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou,
who is credited with
showing compassion to the people.
Many poems express a religious faith that God or the spirits
will reward good behavior.
Others call forth blessings and ask
for increase and abundance for all.
Blessings are secured by following
the old ways without malice or hate.
Inward spiritual power is
linked to one's ancestor spirits.
The fall of the Shang dynasty
is used as a warning
that one should never shame one's ancestors,
or one will bring ruin upon oneself.
King Wen is offered as an
example, who asked why should the violent Shang men
be in office
and in power, they who support slanders, brigands and thieves.
He declared that resentment is building up against them
so that
none backs them anymore.
The Shang are flushed with wine and disorderly
in manners,
and they do not follow the old ways.
Even if they
have no wise men, at least they could follow their own laws;
but
they do not listen to heaven's great charge.
Even the Shang had
a mirror in history in the Xia dynasty which they had overthrown.
In feasting warnings are given against drinking too much and
carousing.
When people are drunk, they don't know what blunders
they commit.
Drinking wine may be fortunate if it is done with
decency,
but after three cups one no longer knows what one is
saying.
Aristocrats are asked to set good examples for the common
people to follow,
but a man without dignity, poise, and manners
is better off dead.
Dignified manners help power, but nothing
is as strong as goodness.
One taking counsel widely, far-seeing
in plans, timely in announcing them,
and using proper decorum
becomes a pattern for the people.
But a poet complained that today's rulers have brought confusion
into government
with wild drinking orgies and dissipation.
The
ruler ought to pay attention to the views of commoners as well
as gentlemen
and be cautious in speaking because it is easier
to polish scratched jade
than take back a slip of the tongue.
One should not be rash in words because secrets are not often
kept.
The prince is counseled not to usurp nor go beyond his rights.
The wise listen to the ancient sayings and follow the way of inner
power,
but the fool says he has a right to his own ideas.
The
poet then speaks to his son, who appears to him heedless of his
advice;
he is a grandfather and should know.
If the son does not
take his advice, his people will be reduced to extremities;
for
heaven is sending calamities and destroying the country.
Other poets also lamented that the young do not pay attention
to their fathers and mothers nor the disorders of the land.
Slanders
replace advice and are increasing.
Those who speak of caution
are considered disloyal.
One complained that there is no land
that is not the king's,
and no one who is not the king's slave.
Another poet suggested not escorting the big chariot
and thinking
about the sorrows of the world,
or one will only be loaded with
care and despair.
A third poet warned against going too close
to the king,
because the one who reproves him will be slaughtered
by him.
These poems became a textbook for many generations,
and
diplomats were expected at least to be aware of their content
if not able to quote from them to make their points.
Several books were used at different times as the classic on
propriety, ritual, and etiquette.
The oldest is the Yi Li,
which means ceremonial etiquette.
After the burning of the books
by the Qin dynasty in 213 BC,
the text was recited from memory
by Gao Tang.
Other portions of the ancient text were found when
the house of Confucius
was torn down by Emperor Jing in the middle
of the second century BC.
The scholar Cheng Kandcheng in the second
century CE combined these two
to reconstruct the book.
Another
similar book on rituals was the Zhou Li,
and eventually
the Confucian Li Ji became the classic of propriety.
The Yi Li gives detailed instructions for formal behavior
and manners in regard to
the capping of an officer's son (initiation
into manhood),
marriage of an officer
and visits of officers,
banquets, archery contests, missions to other states,
audience
with the king, and extensive instructions for mourning and funeral
arrangements.
Precedent is considered quite important, and one
is often instructed to refuse at first
before accepting an honor.
One of the four directions is often specified,
and there is much
bowing and descriptions of simple tasks
like pouring wine and
offering food.
When an officer visits another, he is told what
to discuss
and even where to direct his gaze.
In speaking with the Prince, one talks of one's official business;
with an official, of one's service of his Prince;
with older men, of the control of children;
with young people, of their filial and brotherly duties;
with the common man, of geniality and goodness;
with those in minor offices, of loyalty and sincerity.
In speaking to an official, one begins by looking him in the face
to gauge one's chances of a favorable reception;
towards the middle of an interview one looks at his breast
as an indication of one's trust in him and also respect,
indicated by the lowering of the eyes;
and at the end of the interview
one's eyes are again directed to his face,
to see how he is impressed.
The order is never changed, and is used in all cases.
In the case of a father, the son's eyes are allowed to wander,
but not higher than the face, so as not to seem too proud,
nor lower than the girdle.
If one is not speaking, then, when the other is standing,
one looks at his feet, and, if he sits,
at his knees, in sign of humility.6
The importance placed on so many details of manners meant that
tradition and education
became essential in order for one to be
accepted in this social world.
They probably stabilized behavior
and made change difficult,
though it did allow anyone to rise
to a higher social status
if one got the proper education.
The collection of ancient documents that became the classic
of history
for the Chinese was well known to Confucius, Mencius,
and Xun-zi.
The Shu Jing we have was put together
in the
early Han dynasty after the burning of the books
when scholars
such as Fu Sheng wrote down in a more modern script
what they
remembered.
Then ancient documents were found in the wall of the
Confucius house and elsewhere,
and the ancient script was added,
though later scholars questioned its authenticity,
saying that
it was forged from various quotes of ancient authors.
Either way
most of it seems to be based on very ancient material.
The Shu Jing begins with the Canon of Yao,
a sacred
writing about the most ancient Chinese ruler.
Yao is described
as being naturally reverential, intelligent, accomplished, and
thoughtful.
He governed so well that all the people became brightly
intelligent,
and even the black-haired people were transformed.
Yao was said to have lived for 99 years and ruled for seventy
until the middle of the twenty-third century BC,
when he appointed
Shun as his successor,
because Shun had overcome bad parents with
his filial piety
and led them to self-government.
The Canon of Shun describes how Shun encouraged men of virtue
and talent,
listened to the views of all, tried not to oppress
the helpless nor neglect the poor,
as only a di could do.
Di can mean God or ruler or both.
Shun mitigated the cruel
punishments of branding, mutilation, castration, and death
with
fines, exile, and death only for repeated and presumptuous transgressions.
Shun is advised by Yi to observe the laws, employ men of worth,
use the light of reason,
not to go against what is right to win
praise from people
nor oppose the people's wishes to follow his
own desires.
Shun is commended by Gaoyao, his Minister of Crime,
for presiding with generous
forbearance, not punishing the heirs
of criminals nor inadvertent and doubtful crimes.
Rather than
execute an innocent person, he would rather risk irregularity
and error.
Near the end of Shun's thirty-year rule, he recognized the
ability of Yu
and declared that heaven had appointed him his successor.
All his advisors agreed, and the decision was confirmed by divination.
When the people of Miao rebelled, Yi counseled Yu to use virtue,
because pride brings loss but humility increase.
Just as Shun
had transformed his parents with virtue,
Yu drew back his troops
and implemented the virtues of peace;
after seventy days the lord
of the Miao came to terms.
The Counsels of Gaoyao for Yu contain
a description of the following nine virtues:
Affability combined with dignity; mildness combined with firmness;
bluntness combined with respectfulness; aptness for government
combined with reverent caution; docility combined with boldness;
straightforwardness combined with gentleness; an easy negligence
combined with discrimination; boldness combined with sincerity;
and valor combined with justice.7
Yu believed that Gaoyao's words may be put into practice
and
will be crowned with success.
Yao had appointed Yu the Earl of Xia; thus when he began the
tradition
of hereditary succession, the Xia dynasty was born and
lasted for
almost five hundred years before it was overthrown
by the Shang.
The first book on the Xia dynasty describes the
rivers and soil of the various provinces
and Yu's labors to regulate
the waters and prevent floods.
In the second book the king (probably
Yu's son) threatened his soldiers
on the verge of a battle that
if they did not obey his orders,
not only would they be killed
but their children as well.
Thus already the limitations of hereditary
rule are seen
in comparison with choosing leaders based on ability
and virtue.
Tai Kang was considered so lifeless because he went out to
hunt so much
that his five brothers complained he allowed the
country to fall into ruin,
and so they revolted against him.
In
the other book on the Xia dynasty one of these brothers was attempting
o bring order by punishing bad ministers,
though he claimed he
would not punish those
who were forced to follow them, as he led
his soldiers into battle.
The Shang dynasty traced its lineage to Xie,
who was appointed
Minister of Instruction by Shun.
Fourteen generations later there
arose Tang,
who became the founding king of the new dynasty.
In
his speech Tang declared that the many crimes of the Xia sovereign
had caused heaven to turn against him.
Jie, the last Xia king,
had exhausted the people and oppressed the cities;
the people
no longer felt bound to serve him.
Tang claimed to be the one
appointed by heaven to punish him.
When Tang banished Jie, he
felt ashamed and had his minister explain
that heaven provides
a person of intelligence to govern
when the previous ruler is
no longer virtuous.
The able and right-principled are to be favored;
the good have freedom;
the weak are absorbed, and the willfully
blind punished.
Disorderly states going to ruin should be taken
over by a virtuous ruler.
Order comes from justice and propriety.
Those who question and learn grow and come to dominion,
but those
who think themselves superior and listen to no one come to ruin.
Then King Tang himself announced that the Xia tyrant had caused
suffering and protest.
The way of heaven blesses the good and
makes the bad miserable.
Thus Tang dealt with the Xia ruler as
a criminal.
Tang was succeeded by his grandson, Tai Jia, who was warned
by Yi Yin
against the ten evil ways of constant dancing, drunken
singing, extravagance with women,
wealth, wandering, hunting,
despising wise words, resisting the upright,
ignoring the old
and virtuous, and keeping the company of impudent youths.
Finding
the young sovereign disobedient, Yi Yin confined the king in a
palace
near his father's tomb for the traditional three years
of mourning,
after which the king returned sincerely virtuous.
Yi Yin counseled him that people cherish those who are benevolent,
and the spirits respond only to sincere sacrifices.
An intelligent
sovereign is careful whom he follows.
Like his grandfather, Tai
Jia should cultivate virtue
so that he can be a friend of the
supreme God.
He must begin low to rise high and not slight the
people's occupations;
be as careful at the end as at the beginning.
When hearing distasteful words, he must inquire if they are right;
when hearing words that accord with his own views,
he must inquire
if they are contrary to what is right.
Nothing can be attained
without careful thought nor accomplished without diligent effort.
The appointment of heaven can change if one is not constant in
virtue.
The Xia were overthrown, because they lost their virtue
and oppressed the people.
The latter half of the Shang dynasty is referred to as the
Yin dynasty.
The twentieth Shang king, Wuding, dreamed that
God
gave him a good assistant, who would speak for him.
Searching
the kingdom with a picture, they found the builder Yue,
and Wuding
instructed Yueh how he could help him.
Yue warned that the mouth
can lead to shame and militarism to war.
Before weapons are used,
one should examine oneself.
Good government, depending on good
officers, offices should not be given
to favorites but to the
able and worthy.
Careful thought before movement at the proper
time is best,
but the vanity of thinking one is good can lose
the merit one's ability might produce.
Shame for a mistake should
not be perpetuated into a crime.
Too many ceremonies bring disorder.
The king thanked Yue, who replied that it is not the knowing
that
is difficult but the doing.
Finally the Shang dynasty deteriorated into drinking and disorder.
The Count of Wei declared that the house of Yin could no longer
rule,
because their mad indulgence in spirits had destroyed their
ancient virtue.
The people, small and great, had taken to highway
robbery, villainy, and treachery.
Nobles and officers competed
in violating the laws,
and criminals were rarely apprehended.
The common people rose up and committed violent outrages on one
another.
Yin was sinking into ruin.
Most of the thirty books of Zhou concern the beginnings of
the Zhou dynasty.
In the Great Declaration King Wu explained his
reasons for taking up arms
against the Shang king.
The tyrant
Shou was accused of not reverencing heaven, inflicting calamities
and atrocities on the people, and abandoning himself to drink,
lust, and luxury.
Offices were hereditary, and his ministers had
become as corrupt as he was
and were fighting each other to extermination.
Punishments had been extended to the relatives of the offenders.
King Wu cited the example of how the first Shang ruler
overthrew
the corrupt Xia dynasty, because King Jieh had lost the mandate
of heaven.
Shou had treated badly and degraded his best officers.
King Wu believed that he had been appointed by heaven to take
over the government,
because he was backed by virtuous men and
the people.
The ancients had said that the one who soothes them
is their sovereign,
while the one who oppresses them is their
enemy.
King Wu also presented a Great Plan he claimed was given to
the ancient Yu,
which included the cosmology of the five elements
of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth;
the five personal matters
of bodily demeanor, speech, seeing, hearing, and thinking;
and
the eight governmental objects of food, wealth, sacrifices, works,
instruction,
criminal justice, observances for guests, and the
army.
The sovereign ought to reward virtue and not oppress the
friendless and childless
nor fear the distinguished.
Let competent
ministers cultivate good conduct.
Like heaven itself, the sovereign
should not show partiality or selfishness.
The three virtues include
strong rule during violence and disorder,
mild rule during harmony
and order,
and correct straightforwardness during peace and tranquillity.
A story of a metal-bound coffer tells how when King Wu was
ill
and dying the Duke of Zhou offered his own life to the spirits
in his place,
writing his prayer on a document and sealing it
in the coffer.
King Wu did recover, but the Duke of Zhou lived
on also.
Five years later King Wu died, and some suspected
that
the Duke of Zhou might try to take the throne.
Actually the Duke
of Zhou spent two years in the east fighting off rebellions.
Wu's
son, King Cheng, discovered the coffer and, moved to tears,
invited
the Duke of Zhou back to the court.
Having been allowed to live, many of the Shang nobility rebelled
with some of the Zhou king's brothers.
After this revolt was put
down by the Duke of Zhou,
King Cheng invited the Count of Wei
to take over the Shang inheritance and rule in Song,
because he
had been degraded by the last king and refused to fight on either
side
out of both virtue and loyalty.
In this way the Shang sacrifices
and spiritual tradition were allowed to continue
during the Zhou
period.
The early Zhou kings continually emphasized the importance
of ruling by virtue.
They followed the penal laws of King Wen
and avoided using only terror and violence.
One announcement warned against drunkenness,
which was blamed
for the ruination of the Shang dynasty.
King Wen recommended that
spirits only be used on the occasion of sacrifices.
Overseers
were advised not to give way to violence and oppression
but to
show reverence for the friendless
and find helping connections
for women in need.
Early in the reign of King Cheng, the Duke of Shao and the
Duke of Zhou
arranged for the building of a new city in Luo,
where
many of the defeated Yin people had been removed.
They advised
the king to be aware that the favor of heaven is not certain
but
must be continually earned through the virtue of reverence.
If
the king avoids excessive violence and capital punishment,
the
people will imitate his virtue.
The Yin people were encouraged
to work hard and prosper and cease their disaffection.
The Duke
of Zhou claimed that heaven helped the Zhou and defeated the Yin,
because heaven supports the virtuous and punishes wrong-doers.
The Duke of Zhou described this ethical philosophy of history
in his advice
to King Cheng when he retired from the court.
He
contrasted the long and successful reigns of the first three Shang
kings
to the shorter and worse terms of the later Yin rulers.
He pointed to the model of King Wen, who dressed simply, worked
in agriculture,
and did not hunt excessively in contrast to the
last Yin tyrant,
who abandoned himself to drunkenness.
Although
his own brothers had rebelled against him with the Yin,
the Duke
of Zhou forgave the son of one of these rebels
because he showed
virtue and merited an office.
The six ministries of the early Zhou governments were to continue
in China
for about three thousand years.
The Prime Minister presided
over the management of the officers
and secured uniformity in
the kingdom.
The Minister of Instruction was responsible for education
in the states,
diffusing knowledge of human obligations and training
the military in obedience.
The Minister of Religions presided
over ceremonies and regulated religious services.
The Minister
of War oversaw the military forces and the security of the borders.
The Minister of Crime enforced the laws by apprehending and punishing
wrong-doers.
The Minister of Works presided over the land,
the
four classes of people, and the proper seasons for farming.
The Duke of Zhou's influence lasted long after his death.
Counselors
recalled his advice that officers follow a middle course
to punish
those who are disobedient to government, remembering that
the
end of punishment is to end punishing.
Here is some of his advice:
Do not cherish anger against the obstinate, and dislike them.
Seek not every quality in one individual.
You must have patience, and you will be successful;
have forbearance, and your virtue will be great.
Mark those who discharge their duties well,
and also mark those who do not do so.
Advance the good, to induce those who may not be so to follow.
The people are born good, and are changed by things,
so that they resist what their superiors command,
and follow what they love.
Do you but reverently observe the statutes,
and they will be found in virtue;
they will thus all be changed;
and truly advance to a great degree of excellence.8
In the last book of the Shu Jing Duke Mu of Qin in 631
BC
forgave his three counselors, who impetuously had advised him
to make a treacherous attack on Jin
which failed and resulted
in their capture.
When they were returned for punishment by the
Marquis of Jin,
Duke Mu took responsibility himself for the defeat
because he foolishly listened to their youthful counsel
rather
than his older and wiser advisors.
It is easy to see why the Shu Jing became a classic.
This book of ancient historical documents was to have a tremendous
influence
on Chinese politics and philosophy,
offering models
of ethical behavior to rulers for centuries to come.
The decline of the feudal system resulted from the rising influence
of a growing educated class, which gained influence in government
and commerce because of their ability.
The word shi, which
originally meant a knight, came to mean a literary person.
States
run by what later became a thriving bureaucracy gained power
and
consolidated themselves under monarchical government.
As states
began to tax individual landowners, peasants worked themselves
free of their masters and practiced a labor-intensive agriculture
for a mostly vegetarian diet.
Millet was supplemented by wheat
in the north and rice from the south,
and soybeans helped to revive
the soil.
The Chun Qiu, which means Spring and Autumn, summarizes
important events
by season and year from 722 to about 470 BC.
Though the extant text is written from the viewpoint of Lu and
is dated by its rulers,
the events listed include all the civilized
states of China.
During this period a balance of power arose among
the states of Qi, Qin, Jin, and Chu,
although the small state
of Zhou in the middle was still recognized
as the nominal ruler
of the Chinese world.
Mencius claimed that Confucius composed
the Spring and Autumn Annals
and quoted Confucius as saying
that he would be understood and condemned for it.
However, it
is unlikely that this dry chronicle of events
was composed by
the philosophical Confucius.
The work that describes the history of the Spring and Autumn
era
is the Zuo Zhuan (Commentary by Zuo on the Chun
Qiu) .
Much of this work seems to be early writing, though
some comments and prophecies
may have been put in as late as the
middle of the fourth century BC.
This book does describe events
more fully and offer moral lessons
and occasional comments, some
by Confucius.
Followed by the Period of Warring States until the unification
of China in 221 BC,
these five centuries had almost constant wars.
In 722 BC there were about 120 feudal states that acknowledged
fealty to the Zhou king as the son of heaven.
As the stronger
states took over the weaker ones,
by the end of the Spring and
Autumn era there were only about 40 states.
In the Period of Warring
States these were reduced to seven,
and in 221 the most of powerful
of these,
Qin, established the empire named after them we call
China.
The feudal aristocracy eventually collapsed as ministers from
powerful families
enhanced their positions through warmaking.
As war became less chivalrous, infantry and cavalry replaced knights
fighting with chariots.
Instead of calling on vassals like family
members, taxes were used to raise armies.
Tenant farmers could
own their own land, but heavy taxes and usury
led to consolidation
of land-owning by the wealthy.
As the powerful families fought
with each other,
they turned for help to the educated class of
officials,
who gained influence in increasingly bureaucratized
administrations.
Thus these were times of great change and social
mobility,
as aristocratic families were wiped out or banished
to obscurity,
and others with education or wealth earned in commerce
or industry
rose to great influence.
In 719 BC we find a high official of Lu advising his Duke that
violence is not the way to gain the support of one's people.
Commenting
on Zhouxu, who rose to power in Wei by assassinating the previous
duke,
Guan Zhong said that by relying on cruelty and military
force
he has few followers and allies.
Military force is like
fire—if it is not kept in check, it may consume the user.
Guan Zhong was poor but was helped by his friend Bao Shuya.
While the latter served one of the Duke's sons, Xiaobo,
Guan Zhong
served another son, Jiu, under Duke Xi of Qi (r. 730-698 BC).
According to Han Fei-zi, Guan Zhong and Bao Shu agreed to recommend
each other
to whichever prince succeeded.
When Duke Xiang (r.
697-686 BC) was killed in a civil war,
Xiaobo became Duke Huan
(r. 685-645 BC);
Jiu was killed, and Guan Zhong was imprisoned.
However, Duke Huan of Qi appointed Guan Zhong prime minister
(even
though Guan in supporting his brother had shot an arrow that hit
his sash buckle
in the struggle for power).
Yet Bao Shuya stepped
aside himself and recommended Guan Zhong to Duke Huan,
saying
Guan's ability could give the duke greater power.
Though Bao worked
under Guan, he was admired more
because of his ability to appreciate
men.
Duke Huan wanted to begin by strengthening his armed forces,
but Guan Zhong recommended that he put his arms in storage,
since
for being on good terms with the feudal lords abroad and the people
at home
expending wealth on people is better than spending it
on arms.
In the second year Duke Huan went ahead with the production
of arms anyway,
and the year after that he wanted to attack Song;
but Guan Zhong said that if the internal government is not strengthened,
ventures abroad will not be successful.
Duke Huan attacked Song
anyway,
and the feudal lords helped Song to defeat the troops
of Qi.
Continuing to defy Guan's advice, Duke Huan strengthened
the armed forces
and gave salaries to the brave; but Guan managed
to keep the internal government
in order secretly even while those
contending for salaries
were slashing each other to pieces and
breaking necks.
Next Duke Huan attacked Lu against Guan's advice.
By 682 BC Qi had assembled 100,000 armored troops and 5,000 chariots,
but Guan Zhong noted that there were other states just as powerful.
Guan felt that since Qi was trying to use arms instead of moral
force,
the country was in danger.
While the Duke of Lu threatened
Duke Huan and himself with a sword,
Guan Zhong suggested a compromise
that was accepted.
After this, Duke Huan began to follow Guan Zhong's advice,
which warned that a prince should not be greedy for territory
or devote himself to the use of arms,
because it distresses the
people and makes deceit prevalent.
Instead of attacking them,
Duke Huan enfeoffed several small states.
Finally Duke Huan agreed
with Guan Zhong to strengthen the country,
and he lightened taxes,
relaxed customs restrictions,
and regulated government levies
and salaries.
Next Guan suggested that he inquire after the sick
and reward people rather than punish them.
If he could do this
for five years, the feudal lords would support him.
After spreading
around gifts abroad and domestically and getting
capable men to
manage relations with other states,
Duke Huan's political control
increased such that when the Di people attacked,
the feudal lords
all sent troops to help defeat the Di.
Duke Huan followed the counsel of Guan Zhong in encouraging
the feudal lords
to gather three years' provisions before strengthening
their arms.
His power was further advanced by offering to help
militarily those
who did this but still did not have enough armed
forces.
Finally Guan Zhong recommended that the relations between
princes and ministers
be harmonized by not setting up concubines
as legal wives or killing their great ministers.
Feudal lords
were not to manipulate boundaries, hoard grain,
nor prohibit the
gathering of natural resources.
Once these policies were established
for at least a year,
then punishments and rewards could be implemented.
Instead of the death penalty and corporal punishment,
criminals
could redeem themselves by supplying arms.
As prime minister, Guan Zhong instituted many other reforms
including state ownership of salt and iron.
In an economic policy
known as balancing the heavy and the light,
he promoted commerce
by standardizing weight scales and coins.
Guan Zhong shared the
people's likes and dislikes by giving them what they wanted
and
abolishing what they rejected.
Sima Qian quotes from the book
named Guan-zi.
When the granaries are full, the people will understand
social codes and moderation.
When their food and clothing are adequate,
they will understand honor and disgrace.
If the sovereign complies with the rules,
the six relationships will be secure.
If the four guidelines do not prevail, the nation will perish.
The orders handed down like the source of a river
will be in accord with the hearts of the people.9
The six relationships are with father, mother, elder brother,
younger brother, wife, and children,
and the four guidelines or
virtues are propriety, justice, integrity, and conscience.
Guan
also wrote, "Knowing that 'to give is to receive'
is the
most precious thing in governing."10
Confucius credited Guan
Zhong with helping Duke Huan to bring unity and order
to the entire
realm, which they still enjoyed two centuries later.
Were it not
for Guan Zhong, Confucius admitted,
they might be wearing their
hair loose and folding their clothes like the barbarians.
Guan Zhong ordered the Lord of Yen to follow the governmental
policies
of the ancient Duke of Shao and insisted that
Duke Huan
keep his word in the convention of Ko.
With his reforms and skillful
diplomacy Guan helped Qi to become
the most powerful state, and
all of the feudal lords submitted to Qi.
In 679 BC Duke Huan of
Qi achieved the power and prestige
known as ba (First Noble)
and acted
as the protector of state affairs for the Zhou king.
Until 591 BC this office of First Noble or protector was assumed
by the most powerful of the rulers, who repelled invasions, punished
the disobedient,
arbitrated differences among the state rulers,
received the revenues that before
had gone to the king, and even
settled disputes among the royal family.
When Guan Zhong was dying, Duke Huan asked
what he should do
after his wise counselor's death.
Guan did not recommend his friend
Bao Shuya to replace himself,
because he was so inflexible in
his hatred of evil that he could not forget a single deed
to the
end of his life.
Then Guan suggested that the duke send away four
men,
who had ingratiated themselves into influence by denying
their own children and families
and one his own body by castration.
Such men will not love him, he said.
After Guan died, Duke Huan
dismissed all four of them,
but he then suffered a nervous breakdown
and confusion in his court.
So he restored the four men, but a
year later they launched a coup against him;
when the duke died
in 645 BC, they did not even bury his body.
When the state of Jin was suffering a drought, Duke Mu of Qin
refused to attack them,
as one advisor had suggested, but sent
them large shipments of grain.
However, two years later when Qin
was suffering a famine,
Duke Yiwu of Jin, who had broken numerous
promises,
refused to ship grain to Qin but rather launched an
attack against them in 645 BC.
Duke Yiwu's chariot bogged down
in the mud,
and Duke Mu and his men tried to capture him but were
surrounded by the Jin army.
However, Duke Mu was saved by three
hundred men
he had earlier pardoned for eating one of his prize
horses
when they were starving at Mt. Qi.
Though Jin's army was
larger, they lost because the Qin fighters were more spirited,
the Zuo Zhuan making the moral and psychological factors
in warfare apparent.
Duke Yiwu's advisor refused to rescue his
duke caught in the mud,
because he had neglected his advice.
Thus Duke Yiwu was captured and taken to Qin;
but Duke Mu released
him, because his wife, who was Yiwu's sister,
and the Zhou sovereign
requested it.
He then made peace with Jin on the counsel that
if he killed their ruler,
hatred would be stored up.
Abusing others
is bad policy, doubling hatred and bringing about misfortune.
When the Duke of Jin returned home, he had his advisor, who refused
to flee,
put to death for bringing about his defeat.
Once again
Duke Mu of Qin sent grain to Jin in their time of need,
treating
their people with kindness, hoping that a competent ruler would
appear.
In the end Qin did receive the land west of the Yellow
River
promised by Jin and began collecting taxes there.
When Yiwu died in 637 BC, his older brother Zhong Er (also
called Duke Wen)
returned from twenty years exile and with Duke
Mu's help
overcame Yiwu's son Yu to gain the rulership of Jin.
In 632 BC he defeated the Chu at Chengbu,
and he withdrew from
Yuan (even though they were about to capitulate)
in order to keep
his word.
Duke Wen of Jin was appointed ba or protector
of the feudal rulers.
The opposing general withdrew because of
three military maxims—
when facing an equal, retire; when difficulties
lie ahead, withdraw;
and a virtuous man cannot be opposed.
When
Duke Wen offered to restore the rulers of Cao and Wei,
those rulers
broke off their alliance with Chu.
Though before he had tried
to provoke an attack,
now Duke Wen graciously withdrew when the
Chu general attacked him,
because Chu had showed him kindness
in his exile.
Finally victorious over Chu, Duke Wen called for
an audience with the Zhou sovereign
for which he was later criticized
by the traditional Confucius.
How the chivalry in war was disappearing can be seen in an
incident in which
a Song official turned his halberd around to
pull his opponent out of a well,
after which the opponent killed
him.
The commentator declared that he had departed from propriety
and disobeyed orders in saving his enemy and therefore deserved
to die.
Filial piety is shown in the story of a starving man who is
given food by Zhao Dun,
but he packs up half of it to take it
to his mother.
Later the same man, while acting as one of the
Duke's guards,
turned his halberd against the other guards,
who
were going to kill Zhao Dun for criticizing his wicked ruler.
Later the ruler was assassinated before Zhao Dun had crossed the
border.
So he returned but did not punish the assassin,
although
they did send for the legitimate successor.
A historian wrote
that Zhao Dun assassinated his ruler,
and Confucius declared that
Zhao Dun was a good official,
who accepted a bad name for the
sake of a principle.
The morality of the Zuo Zhuan is that attacking the
rebellious is an act of punishment,
and being gentle with the
submissive is an act of virtue.
Loyalty was also highly valued.
One emissary who was caught agreed to be bribed in order to fulfill
his mission
even though he had to lie and break a promise to the
bribers.
Yet filial loyalty had its limits too.
Wei Ko's father,
when he became ill, asked him to see that his concubine was married;
but when the illness became worse, he asked that she be killed
and buried with him.
The son followed the earlier orders when
his father's mind was clearer,
and he was later rewarded when
he captured an old man in battle
who appeared to him in a dream
to tell him that
he was the woman's father and was thanking him.
Yet truthfulness was so valued by historians that three brothers
were executed
in succession for writing that a usurper had assassinated
the duke;
but when the fourth brother stepped forward, the murderer
finally relented.
Two years later the assassin and his family
were killed by a fellow prime minister.
In 597 BC Jin was defeated by the armies of Chu king Zhuang,
who was made protector.
A major battle was fought between Qi and
Jin in 589 BC.
The incessant wars between Jin and Chu led Heang
Seu of Song to go to Jin
with a proposal for a comprehensive peace.
He said, "War is destructive to the people, an insect that
eats up the resources,
and the greatest calamity of the small
states."11
Arguing that if Jin did not accept the proposal,
Chu would agree and draw all the states together,
Jin agreed in
order to keep the protectorship.
Then he went to Chu, and they
agreed also.
Qi was reluctant to join but realized that it would
disaffect the people
if they refused to sanction the stopping
of war.
Heang Seu sent word to Qin, and they agreed.
He notified
all the smaller states and arranged a meeting at Song in 545 BC.
Jin and Chu, argued about which of them should have precedent
but agreed to share the protectorship, although Qin and Qi were
formally excepted
because of their power and Chu and Tang because
of their weakness.
Otherwise all fourteen states agreed to the
covenant of peace.
Heang Seu asked for a reward for "arresting
the cause of death"
and was given sixty towns.
However, Zihan,
the Minister of Works, declared that
it was the arms of Jin and
Chu that kept the smaller states in awe.
"Who can do away
with the instruments of war?" he asked.
"They have been
long in requisition.
It is by them that the lawless are kept in
awe, and accomplished virtue is displayed."12
Denouncing
the scheme as a delusion, he cut the document to pieces.
Heang
Seu consequently refused the towns, and his family wanted to attack
Zihan;
but Heang stopped them, saying he had been saved from ruin
by him.
Nevertheless this agreement must have been effective for several
years,
because there were no wars for the next five years,
only
a battle with barbarians in the sixth year
and no wars in the
seventh and eighth years.
This is by far the most peaceful part
of the two and a half centuries
of the Spring and Autumn era during
which there was only one other time
in which there were even two
years in a row without a war.
During this lull, the ducal son of Wu made the following observations
about music
with their obvious implications for diplomacy and
Chinese culture:
Direct but not overbearing, distant but not perfidious,
varied but not to excess, repetitive but not tiresomely so,
plaintive but not downcast,
joyous but not unbridled, employing but never depleting,
expansive without being assertive, doling out,
yet not to a prodigal degree, gathering in,
yet not in a greedy manner, resting without stagnating,
moving forward without becoming unduly facile.
The five notes are harmonized, the eight airs well balanced.
Movements that are measured, restraints that are properly ordered—
these are qualities shared by all who abound in virtue.13
Likewise in the same peaceful period the Cheng prime minister
Zichan disagreed
with an official, who suggested they abolish
the village schools,
where they gathered to discuss government
administration.
Why do that?
In the morning and evening when the people are at leisure
or have finished their work,
they gather to discuss the good and bad
points of my administration.
The points they approve of I encourage,
and those they criticize I correct.
They are my teachers.
Why would I want to abolish them?
I have heard of wiping out resentment
by loyal service and good works,
but I have never heard of stopping it by force.
True, one can cut it off for a time.
But it is like damming up a river.
When there is a major break in the dikes,
many persons are bound to suffer.
If the people's resentment were to break out in the same way,
I would never be able to save the situation.
It is better to leave a little break
in the dikes for the water to drain off.
It is better that I hear the people's complaints
and make them my medicine.14
Zichan also advised Zipi not to put Yin Ho in charge of a city,
because he is too young and inexperienced to handle this responsibility.
One should learn before entering government, not enter government
in order to learn.
Decisions made by the nobles during the feudal period were
increasingly taken over
by the rulers and ministers of the states,
but laws were not promulgated in writing
until the state of Zheng
cast a criminal code in bronze in 536 BC.
This formalizing of
the law was protested by a Jin official
as arbitrarily taking
away from the judgment of superiors.
When laws are exactly defined,
he argued, people will lose respect for their superiors
and in
a contentious spirit try to get away with whatever
does not violate
the letter of the law.
Such laws indicated the government has
fallen into disorder.
Punishments were used and could be severe,
especially in military situations.
In civil matters fines were
often exacted, though great officers were rarely punished.
King Ling came to power in Chu by murdering his nephew
and
was never able to control his violent tendencies.
Three of his
younger brothers revolted, and he was replaced and died in 529
BC.
He was not able to live up to the old saying quoted by Confucius,
"To overcome oneself and return to propriety is the way of
benevolence."15
According to the historian Sima Qian, Sun-zi was given an audience
in the state of Wu.
Having read the thirteen chapters of Sun-zi's Art of War,
the king of Wu (r. 514-496 BC) invited him
to demonstrate
the drilling of troops with the king's concubines.
Sun-zi explained the commands for marching, and the women all
answered, "Yes, sir;"
but when the drum signals were
given, the women burst out laughing.
Sun-zi realized that if the
orders are not clear and the signals not familiar,
the general
is at fault.
He repeated the signals several times, but the women
responded by laughing again.
Believing that when the signals are
clear but not followed, the officers are at fault,
Sun-zi ordered
the left and right commanders
(two of the king's favorite concubines)
beheaded.
The king sent a messenger to stop the executions,
but
Sun-zi disregarded the sovereign's command.
After the two commanders
were beheaded and replaced,
the women obeyed the orders with serious
precision.
Not wanting to watch but impressed with Sun-zi's military
ways,
the king appointed him commander of his army.
Sima Qian reported that Sun-zi wrote The Art of War
after having his feet amputated.
This book on military strategy
and tactics has been very influential
throughout Chinese history
and is still respected by military minds today.
Though astute
for a military context, it is typical of a war mentality.
Sun-zi
outlined the art of warmaking in relation to five factors
he called
moral law, heaven, earth, the commander, and method and discipline.
However, his concept of moral law had been reduced to complete
accord
with the ruler so that soldiers will follow him in disregard
of their own lives or danger.
Heaven refers to weather and time
factors.
Earth is concerned with distances, terrain, and the chances
of life and death.
The virtues of a good commander are wisdom,
sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.
Method and discipline
include the divisions and ranks of the army,
maintenance of roads
and supplies, and military expenditures.
Sun-zi declared that all warfare is based on deception.
Thus
not only the value of life is disregarded but truthfulness as
well.
Calculations are made to assure that victory over the enemy
is achieved.
Sun-zi was extremely clever and observant of
ways
to take advantage of the enemy's situation.
Nonetheless his goal
was not to kill the enemy but to break the enemy's resistance
without fighting if possible.
Taking over the opponent's territory
was preferable to destroying them.
The general's first aim is
to balk the enemy's plans,
second to prevent the joining of their
forces, third to attack them in the field,
and the worst policy
is to besiege a walled city.
For Sun-zi knowledge of oneself and
the enemy is what leads to victory.
To know oneself and be ignorant
of the enemy will result in defeats as well as victories,
and
to be ignorant of both will surely end in disaster.
Spies were
recommended to gain knowledge of the enemy's situation and plans.
Sun-zi said that the enlightened ruler plans ahead,
and a good
general cultivates his resources, controls his soldiers with authority,
brings them together by good faith, and makes them useful with
rewards.
He clearly recommended careful discretion
as well as
valor in the following admonitions:
Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops
unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.
No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen;
no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.
But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being;
nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.
This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.16
Thus Sun-zi offered intelligent advice for military commanders,
but he never questioned the ethics of a system that uses violence
and deceit
to take advantage of other people's weaknesses.
In
506 BC Wu invaded Chu, occupying its capital at Ying.
The state
of Wu was overlord to Yue in 494 BC and became the greatest military
power
in China by 482 BC and had connected the Yangzi to southern
Shandong by canal;
but merely nine years later they were destroyed
and annexed by Yue,
which became protector in 470 BC but was eventually
taken over by Chu in 334 BC.
Our knowledge of the quarter of a millennium ending in 221
BC
with the founding of the Qin empire comes mostly from the Chan
Guo Ce
(Intrigues of the Warring States) and Sima Qian's Shi
Ji,
which contains the earliest biographies.
During this period
wars became larger and worse as iron and even steel
were used
as weapons, and millions of peasants as infantry.
The powerful
crossbow cocked with the feet became the weapon of choice
in the
fifth century BC, and in the next century cavalry replaced chariots.
Iron also enhanced industry and agriculture,
and large irrigation
projects led to increased population and the building of great
cities.
Ministers could enhance their power and influence
by recommending
and winning wars with other states.
These officials often went
from one state to another and used their ability
to persuade rulers
to gain high offices.
Powerful families struggled for power, as
in Jin where all but four
were eliminated from contention.
The
most powerful family was then destroyed by the cooperation of
the
Zhao, Wei, and Han, who established states in 453 BC
recognized
by the Zhou King fifty years later.
The last remnant of the Duke
of Jin's territory
was divided by these three states in 376 BC.
In the far north the state of Yen developed.
Another man who wrote a book on the art of war was Wu Qi.
He
was a native of Wei and loved to command troops.
When Qi attacked
Lu in 408 BC, Lu wanted to make him their general;
but they distrusted
him, because Wu's wife was from Qi.
However, the ambitious Wu
Qi killed his wife
to become Lu's general in their attack on Qi.
He was also accused of killing more than thirty of those who ridiculed
him in Wei.
Later Wu Qi was appointed by Marquis Wen of Wei as
general to attack Qin,
even though he was greedy and lecherous,
because he could command troops better than anyone.
He ingratiated
himself with the next Marquis of Wei by arguing
that virtue is
the treasure of the state.
When suspicions rose against him, Wu
Qi left Wei again and became prime minister of Chu,
where he strengthened
the army and criticized the traveling rhetoricians,
who tried
to persuade rulers to join alliances and counter-alliances.
Wu
Qi helped Chu overcome the southern tribes, annex two small states,
fend off the three Jin states in the north, and attacked Qin in
the west.
However, the nobles' resentment was so great against
him that when King Dao died,
they revolted and attacked Wu Qi,
who laid across the corpse of the king and was killed.
When the
heir succeeded, all those who had hit the king's body
while shooting
at Wu Qi were executed, wiping out seventy families.
Wey Yang (known as the Lord of Shang or Shang Yang) was recommended
by the ailing prime minister of Wei to succeed him,
but King Hui
of Wei did not take this advice nor the advice that he should
kill Yang
if he did not make him prime minister.
Wey Yang went
to Qin and persuaded Duke Xiao to institute new ordinances in
359 BC.
People were organized into groups of fives and tens to
control one another
by being responsible for reporting each other's
crimes.
Those who denounced culprits were given the same rewards
as those who decapitated an enemy,
and those who did not denounce
a criminal received the same punishment as the criminal.
Titles
and honors were ranged in a detailed hierarchy.
Agriculture and
the military were emphasized to the exclusion of all other professions.
These laws were not effective until they mutilated the heir's
tutor and tattooed
his preceptor for the crimes of the crown prince,
who himself had his nose sliced off a few years later for another
crime.
Those who criticized the new laws were threatened with
banishment.
Strict laws and the increased taxation of strong government
enhanced the wealth and power of the Qin state.
After Wei was
weakened by an attack from Qi,
Qin took advantage and attacked
Wei in 340 BC.
Wey Yang invited Wei's Prince Ang to discuss peace
but betrayed Wei by capturing the prince,
causing Wei's King Hui
to regret he had not taken
his old prime minister's advice to
kill Wey Yang.
Losing western territory to Qin, Wei had to move
their capital east to Da Liang.
Yang was enfeoffed with fifteen cities and named Lord Shang,
but after ten years as prime minister of Qin the rancor against
him had grown.
According to the historian Sima Qian, Zhao Liang
advised him
to turn inward and control himself.
Zhao Liang criticized
Shang Yang for neglecting the hundred families,
building promulgation
towers, and crippling people with savage punishments.
The Lord
of Shang could not even go out without a strong armed guard.
Zhao
Liang suggested he return the fifteen cities, tend gardens,
and
recommended the king exalt men of the mountains, nourish the aged,
preserve the orphans, respect the elderly, promote the meritorious,
and honor the virtuous.
Shang Yang did not heed this advice.
When
Duke Xiao died, he had to flee the successor's orders for his
arrest.
Shang Yang went to Wei, but they considered him a traitor
and a criminal
and forced him back into Qin, where in 338 BC
he
was killed and torn apart by chariots as a warning to rebels.
The historian Ban Gu (32-92 CE) wrote that Shang Yang destroyed
the well-field system
of sharing land; with private ownership
of land commoners who became wealthy
were able to encroach on
the land of the peasants.
The Legalist philosopher Han Fei-zi
admired Shang Yang
for emphasizing rewards and punishments,
and
he mentioned Shen Buhai for using methods of governing with
responsible
officers by matching actualities with their names or concepts.
Shen Buhai served Marquis Zhao of Han as prime minister
for
at least fifteen years until he died in 337 BC.
Sima Qian wrote
that during this time the state was well run, the troops were
strong,
and no one encroached on Han
(not an easy accomplishment
in a weak state during this period).
Shen Buhai worked to regulate
and instruct the people by using methods and techniques
that awarded
offices according to the abilities of individuals
and the responsibilities
of the positions.
He was one of the first to emphasize the clarification
of language
so that actions matched words and concepts.
Although often lumped together with the legalists because of
his development
of the bureaucratic system, Shen Buhai was really
more influenced by Daoist ideas
than by the policies of Shang
Yang.
The ruler is to practice complete acquiescence so that his
only concerns are for the people;
he does not act himself (wu-wei),
but lets the ministers perform their designated functions
according
to technique rather than theory.
Nevertheless the intelligent
ruler does have discriminating laws and methods
according to definite
principles, though he dims his luster while peacefully
ordering
the world with correct words.
Bad rulers try to do things themselves,
use perverted words, and thus cause disorder.
The wise ruler is
careful not to give too many commands
but relies on the methods
and techniques of well-placed and trained officers.
Shen said,
If the ruler's intelligence is displayed, men will prepare against it;
if his lack of intelligence is displayed, they will delude him.
If his wisdom is displayed, men will gloss over him;
if his lack of wisdom is displayed, they will hide from him.
If his lack of desires is displayed, men will spy them out;
if his desires are displayed, they will tempt him.
Therefore he says, 'I cannot know them;
only non-action can control them.'"17
Every official is responsible for good order.
If the ruler
takes too much initiative, the ministers will refrain from criticizing
in order to keep their positions; they will curry favor and cease
to be
the eyes and ears and mind for the ruler.
When the ruler
tries to use his own limited eyes, ears, and mind alone,
the state
is doomed.
A better way is to cultivate technique and practice
supervision.
A quiet mind waits for the right time and then responds.
Pure, impartial, and simple, one can set everything straight.
The one who does not take initiative has collaborators,
and the
one who does not go first has followers.
Acquiescence is the ruler's
technique; action is the method of the minister.
Therefore whoever
sees independently has clear vision;
whoever hears independently
has sharp hearing;
and whoever can reach decisions independently
is able to rule the whole world.
Han's Marquis Zhao complained to Shen-zi that his method is
difficult to use.
Shen-zi replied that his method is to scrutinize
achievement and give rewards
and to bestow office based on ability;
but the ruler was finding it difficult,
because he listened to
the requests of courtiers.
Later Shen-zi requested that his cousin
be appointed to an office.
The Marquis responded by asking whether
he should violate his doctrine
or use technique and reject his
petition.
Shen-zi went home and asked to be punished.
Yet Shen-zi's
book says that a ruler should use technique instead of punishment
by persuading, supervising and holding subordinates strictly responsible.
Another incident also indicates that Shen Buhai may not have practiced
what he preached,
because he waited to advise his ruler
until
he knew what would please him rather than using independent thinking.
Su Qin grew up in Luoyang of eastern Zhou, but King Xien's
courtiers did not trust him.
So Su Qin went to advise Hui, who
was proclaimed king of Qin in 325 BC.
Having executed Shang Yang,
he did not like rhetoricians.
Su Qin was also unsuccessful in
Zhao but went on to Yen,
where he convinced their ruler he must
ally himself with Zhao against Qin.
The Marquis of Yen sent Su
Qin to Zhao loaded with gifts,
and there he persuaded the Marquis
of Zhao that he must also be allied
against the powerful Qin with
the other five states.
Then Su Qin got King Xuan of Han, King
Xiang of Wei, the king of Qi,
and the king of Chu all to join
the alliance against Qin.
Thus Su Qin became the master of the
alliance of six states
and served as prime minister for all of
them.
Wealthy and successful Su Qin paid back all his previous
debts
and returned to Zhao, where he was enfeoffed.
According to the historian the soldiers of Qin did not dare
to come out of the Hangu Pass
for fifteen years, though scholars
doubt this;
but then Qin got Qi and Wei to attack Zhao.
Su Qin
fled to Yen, and all the alliances collapsed.
Qi took advantage
of the death of Yen's ruler by attacking them.
So Su Qin went
to the king of Qi and convinced him to give ten cities back to
Yen
and make peace with Qin as well.
Su Qin returned to Yen, overcame
the slanders of the Yen courtiers,
and became the lover of the
king's mother, which pleased the king.
Yet Su Qin feared punishment
and fled to Qi,
where he was attacked by an assassin who escaped.
While dying, Su Qin told the king to tear apart his dead body
in the marketplace
as a warning, and this led to the capture and
execution of the assassin.
When Su Qin's machinations were uncovered, Qi was furious with
Yen
while Yen was terrified of Qi.
Su Qin's younger brothers,
Su Dai and Su Li took over their brother's diplomatic work.
Su
Dai advised the king of Yen, the weakest of the states,
to send
hostages with Su Dai to Qi, but strife broke out in Yen;
Qi attacked
them and killed the Yen king and new prime minister.
The brothers
were afraid to enter Yen and were treated well in Qi,
but Dai
was then sent to Song, which was attacked by Qi.
Dai wrote a letter
to Yen king Zhao, who welcomed him
and planned an expedition against
Qi.
Though Qi had taken Song in 286 BC, they were driven
out of
their own capital by Yen in 284 BC.
Qin summoned the king of Yen;
but Su Dai advised him not to go,
because achievements made states
mortal enemies of the tyrannical Qin,
which had recently killed
hundreds of thousands
in the three Jin states of Zhao, Wei and
Han.
Thus King Zhao of Yen did not go to Qin,
and Su Dai was exalted
and sent to form alliances with the feudal lords
as his brother
Su Qin had done.
Some joined the alliance and others did not,
but Su Dai and Li Su both died of old age renowned among the feudal
lords.
Zhang Yi of Wei studied with the same teacher as Su Qin.
In
Chu Zhang Yi was accused of stealing a jade disk and beaten.
Zhang
Yi went to Zhao to see Su Qin but was rejected and ended up in
Qin,
which was what Su Qin intended.
Zhang Yi was made prime minister
of Qin in 328 BC
and five years later served Wei as prime minister
on behalf of Qin.
When the king of Wei died, the new king Ai would
not listen to Zhang Yi;
so he secretly had Qin attack Wei.
In
defeating Han's army Qin cut off 80,000 heads.
Surrounded by dangerous
states,
Zhang Yi now persuaded King Ai of Wei to ally himself
with powerful Qin.
Zhang Yi returned to Qin in 317 BC to become their prime minister
once more.
Three years later Wei abandoned Qin for new alliances
but was attacked by Qin
and served Qin again.
Qin wanted to attack
Qi, but Qi had allied itself with Chu.
So Zhang Yi went to Chu
to become their prime minister,
offering King Huai of Chu territory
and a daughter of Qin for an alliance,
but meanwhile Qi submitted
to Qin.
When the suspicious king of Chu attacked Qin,
Qi helped
Qin defeat Chu and cut off 80,000 heads.
Qin demanded territory
from Chu, and the Chu king requested Zhang Yi,
whom he imprisoned.
The queen of Chu pleaded for Zhang Yi, and King Huai released
him
and was persuaded by Zhang Yi to ally himself with Qin.
Then Zhang Yi went to Han and convinced their king that with
only 300,000 troops
compared to more than a million in Qin,
Han
should ally itself with Qin and attack Chu.
Zhang Yi returned
to Qin, where he was made a lord of five towns
before being sent
off to the king of Qi, whom he persuaded to join Qin.
He then
succeeded in getting the kings of Zhao and Yen to serve Qin also.
However, while Zhang Yi was returning to Qin,
King Hui died and
was replaced by King Wu, who disliked Zhang Yi.
News of this caused
all these states to renounce their alliance with Qin
and return
to their alliance with each other.
Zhang Yi ended up as prime
minister of Wei, where he died.
The historian Sima Qian concluded
that Su Qin and Zhang Yi
were "truly men capable of ruining
a country."18
As Qin's power increased, so did schemes and treacheries.
In
293 BC Qin attacked Han and Wei and cut off 240,000 heads,
and
the next year they took two cities from Chu.
In 288 BC King Zhao
of Qin pronounced himself Western Emperor
while the King of Qi
declared himself Eastern Emperor,
but the bloody wars still occurred
frequently.
During this time four war lords arose who slowed the
expansion of Qin.
The Lord of Mengchang's father was a wealthy general in Qi.
The son showed his ability by treating retainers better than his
father had.
He was invited to Qin, but Su Dai warned him not to
go.
Nevertheless King Min of Qi sent the Lord of Mengchang to
Qin on a mission,
and King Zhao invited him to become prime minister
of Qin.
Advisors to King Zhao made him suspicious that the Lord
of Mengchang
would favor Qi, and so he was imprisoned; but he
escaped.
When he got back to Qi, King Min made him prime minister.
The man who was to collect the Lord of Mengchang's income for
him
gave it to a worthy man and was demoted;
but later when Mengchang
was suspected of revolting,
the worthy man offered himself as
a guarantee
and cut his throat in front of the palace.
This stimulated
King Min to investigate the case and clear Mengchang,
who decided
to retire in Xueh.
Su Dai made Mengchang jealous of the new prime
minister Lu Li
so that Mengchang wrote a letter to the prime minister
of Qin
encouraging him to attack Qi.
This led to Lu Li fleeing.
After King Min destroyed Song in 286 BC,
he wanted to remove the
Lord of Mengchang,
who fled to Wei, where he became prime minister,
allied with Qin and Zhao and with Yen attacked
and defeated Qi,
causing King Min to flee.
The Lord of Mengchang was now independent of the feudal lords
and allied himself
with the new King Xiang of Qi.
When Mengchang
was prime minister of Qi and there was no harvest,
he sent Feng
Huan to collect his interest payments
so that he could provide
for his many retainers.
Feng Huan wisely feasted the debtors while
he determined
who could pay and who could not.
Those who could
afford it had to pay by a certain date,
but Feng Huan burned the
tallies (contracts on wood) of the other debtors.
Nevertheless
the negative consequences of Mengchang and his retainers
were
still felt generations later when the historian Sima Qian observed
that
the people in Xueh were hot-tempered and violent.
They explained,
"The Lord of Mengchang attracted the families
of perhaps
sixty thousand highwaymen and criminals to Xue."19
Such was
the legacy of this war lord.
Zhao's Lord of Pingyuan caused the loss of 400,000 soldiers
in a decisive battle with Qin at Changping in 260 BC.
In spite
of the efforts of the Lord of Xinling
(called the Noble Scion
of Wei by Sima Qian),
Wei was also eventually defeated by Qin.
The fourth war lord to succumb to the power of Qin
was the Lord
of Chunshen in the state of Chu.
In 256 BC Qin attacked Han and
killed 40,000,
then attacked Zhao and beheaded or captured 90,000.
The Zhou sovereign joined with feudal rulers to attack Qin;
but
when Qin attacked Zhou, its ruler submitted and surrendered
its
entire territory of 36 cities and 30,000 inhabitants.
The next
year the Zhou people fled to the east,
and the nine sacred vessels passed into the hands of Qin in 149 BC,
marking the final disappearance
of the Zhou dynasty
that had been only a figurehead for several
centuries.
Li Si of Chu studied the art of government with the Confucian
philosopher Xun-zi
before going to Qin and advising Zheng, who
became king of Qin in 246 BC.
Li Si suggested that the house of
Zhou had been declining for a century
while Qin's power had increased;
this king could unify the world.
King Zheng secretly sent men
out with gifts to the feudal lords
who could be bribed and swords
to kill those who were not.
When the Qin clansmen wanted the king
to expel all foreigners from his court,
Li Si (a foreigner from
Chu himself) persuaded him that foreigners have much to offer.
Li Si rose from Chief of Scribes to Commandant of Justice
and
succeeded as Prime Minister the wealthy merchant Lu Buwei in 237
BC.
In a decade the armies of Qin successively destroyed the
six
states of Han (in 230 BC), Zhao (228), Wei (225), Chu (223), Yen
(222),
and Qi (221) to establish the Qin king Zheng as August
Emperor (Huang Di) of China.
The period of warring states had
been ended
by the formation of a tyrannical military empire.
1. I Ching tr. Wilhelm and Baynes, p. 262.
2. Ibid. p. 317.
3. The Book of Songs (Shih Ching) tr. Arthur Waley, p.
61.
4. Ibid., p. 68.
5. Ibid. p. 118-119.
6. I Li tr. John Steele, 5:9.
7. Shu Ching tr. James Legge, 2:3:2, p. 52.
8. Ibid. 5:21:3, p. 233-234.
9. The Grand Scribe's Records (Shih Chi): Memoirs of Pre-Han
China
by Ssu-ma Ch'ien, tr. Tsai-fa Cheng et al, 62,
p. 11-12.
10. Ibid. p. 13.
11. Chun Ts'ew, with the Tso Chuen tr. James Legge, 9:27:2,
p. 534.
12. Ibid.
13. The Tso Chuan tr. Burton Watson, 9:29:8, p. 151.
14. Ibid. 9:31:6, p. 161.
15. Ibid. 10:12:9, p. 167.
16. The Art of War by Sun Tzu, tr. Giles and Clavell, 12,
p. 76.
17. Shen Pu-hai by Herrlee G. Creel, fragment 16, p. 365.
18. Shi Chi by Sima Qian, tr. Burton Watson, 70, p. 142.
19. Ibid. 75, p. 200.
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