Fishing Without Hook. 太公钓鱼

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In the last post we mentioned the capable Zhou minister Jiang Ziya 姜子牙 Jiāng Zǐyá who is more popularly known as Tai Gong Wang 太公望 Tàigōng Wàng because of the proverb 太公钓鱼 Tàigōng diàoyú , 愿者上钩 yuànzhě shànggōu。It means: "When Taigong fishes, the fish willingly take the bait."

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Tai Gong once served the King of Shang but came to hate him for his tyrannical ways. He hoped that one day, someone would call upon his service to overthrow the king. Meanwhile, he waited patiently until he was 80 years old fishing in a tributary of the Wei River with a line but no hook and the line above the water. He waited until King Wen of Zhou came to seek his service and appointed him as the prime minister. He gave him the title of Jiang Taigongwang or “The Gread Duke’s Hope”. His faith was rewarded when Taigong helped his son to defeat the Shang emperor (see last post).

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He was also created with writing the first military strategy book - The Six Secret Strategic Teachings (六韬 liùtāo ). It is considered as one of ancient China's Seven Military Classics.

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Console The People By Punishing The Wicked. Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 13.

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吊民伐罪, 周发殷汤。
Diàomín fázuì, zhōufā yīntāng。

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吊 (console) 民 (people) 伐 (attack) 罪 (crime)

Oops, I did it again. This is the correct line 13 while the last post was actually line 14. Sorry ya. This phrase means consoling the people by punishing the wicked. Evelyn Lip said this is recorded in the Book of Mencius (BC 372-289) 孟子 Mèngzǐ . Mencius was a philosopher and Confucian scholar. Mencius felt that the Emperor should relieved the people’s hardship by eliminating corrupt and oppressive officials.

周 (circumference) 发 (emit) 殷 (rich) 汤 (soup)

Although I have put the individual meanings for the 4 characters above, they actually referred to names of supposedly good rulers who overthrew tyrants. King Wu of Zhou (1046-1043 BC) 周武王 zhōu wŭ wáng also known as 周发 Zhōufā defeated the last Shang king Di Xin 帝辛 in the “Battle of Wild Herds” 牧野之戰 mùyězhīzhàn where the tyrant’s own soldiers and slaves changed sides to fought against him. King Wu was assisted by his able prime minister and strategist Jiang Ziya 姜子牙 Jiāng Zǐyá.

It was said that King Di Xin was a good king until he became besotted with his cruel and evil concubine Daji 妲己 Dájǐ. This became the most famous Chinese tale of how a beauty caused the downfall of an empire. I will write more about this bewitching beauty in the near future.

Yin Tang (1675 BC-1646 BC) 殷汤 yīntāng refers to King Cheng Tang of Shang dynasty who became the first emperor of the Shang dynasty when he defeated King Jie 桀 Jié, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty 夏朝 Xià Cháo. According to one story, King Jie was corrupted by his infatuation with his concubine Mo Xi (妺喜; mòxǐ), another cruel beauty. She got the king to make a lake of wine and commanded 3,000 men to drink it dry and laughed when they all drowned. Both kingdoms brought down by a beautiful woman and it is ironic that the Shang dynasty rose and fell because of a beautiful woman.

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The Way of the Emperor. Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 13.

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坐朝问道, 垂拱平章。
zuò cháo wèn dào, chuí gǒng píng zhāng。

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坐 (sit) 朝 (imperial court) 问 (ask) 道 (way),

This phrase implied the emperor sitting down, presiding over the imperial court and asked his ministers for feedback on the governing of the country. Evelyn Lip suggest that this may refer to the administrative style of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty who based his rule on the feedback of his feudal lords but there is no concrete evidence to support that.

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垂 (droop) 拱 (clasping hands) 平 (just) 章 (regulations)。

The country thus run will be ruled in peace due to the just rules that took into consideration the benefits of the people. The drooping clothes of ancient Chinese ministers and the clasping hands is a symbolism for peace and thus signifies easy reign for the emperor.

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Chinese Myth - Pangu Created the Universe. 盘古开天辟地

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The proverb 开天辟地 kāitiān-pìdì means the creation of the world. It also means “since the beginning of time”. Chinese legend told a tale of how the universe was created. In the beginning, the universe was a formless chaos which coalesced into a cosmic egg. Pangu 盘古 Pángǔ , (see post: Dragon Master, Fire King, Bird Officials & The Yellow Emperor) the ancestor of mankind was conceived inside this “egg” for 18,000 years.


One day, he woke up and was enraged that he could see nothing in the darkness. He created a giant axe from his breathe and broke the egg. Thereupon, all light and clear things floated up to form the sky while heavy and turbid things sank and coagulated into the earth. Afraid that the sky and earth may joined back, he stood up and propped them apart. Each day, the sky rose by a “zhang” 一丈 yīzhàng (3 1/3m) while the earth grew thicker by 一丈.

“After another 18,000 years, Pangu has grown to a height of 90,000 li 里 lǐ (45,000 km). With the structure of the universe now consolidated, Pangu toppled down and died. Just before his death, Pangu turned the air that he breathed out into wind and cloud. His voice, lfet eye and right eye were changed into lightning, the sun and the moon respectively. The twinkling stars in the sky were originally Pangu’s hair and beard. “

“Pangu’s 4 limbs and gigantic body became the earth’s Four Poles and Five Mountains. His blood was transformed into rivers and his muscles, farmland. Even the fine hair on his body also became grass and wood, giving the earth a green covering”. Thus, this was how Earth was born.

(Extracted from – A General History of China published by Canfonian Pte Ltd)

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The Stolen Beast Heads of the Haiyangtang Zodiac Fountain. 圆明园十二生肖兽首.

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The Haiyantang 海晏堂 hǎiyàntáng was a water clock fountain that have 12 figures of the 12 animals that corresponds to the Twelve Terrestrial Branches and is commonly known as the Chinese Zodiac signs or 十二生肖 shí'èr shēngxiào in Chinese. The main bodies were carved of stone and the heads cast from bronze. The animals spouted water to tell the time in a fountain created for the Qianlong emperor 乾隆帝 Qiánlóngdì and was situated in the Garden of Eternal Spring 长春园 Chángchūn Yuán. The design of the figures is attributed to the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione.

The animal heads were stolen during the looting and destruction of the Old Summer Palace 圆明园 (see last post) by removing it from its stone bodies and sent out of China. To date only 5 of the 12 heads are back in China. The Poly Museum managed to secure the tiger, monkey and ox heads in 2000. Macau gambling magnate Stanley Ho purchased the pig head in 2003 and the horse head in 2007 for USD8.9 millions. He donated both of these back to China. The rabbit and rat heads were auctioned by Christie in 2009 despite China’s attempt to block it. A Chinese collector Cai Mingchao who won the bid USD40 millions refused to pay to pay for it out of protests.

China signed the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. Then, why are these not returned to China? These are the words of Jean Couteau – “ Because the Hague Conventions, this “civilizing” of war, were never meant to be retroactive. Since it was implemented, in 1910, it may indeed have compelled, upon Germany and Russia in particular, the restitution of artworks seized during the Second World War, but it does not compel any restitution of the works seized during Western colonial expansion. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Hague Conventions and other similar later ones, viewed by the West as progress toward a true international law and genuine “universalism”, are perceived by the Chinese and other formerly colonized people as yet another one-sided imperialistic diktat. “

The bronze animal heads have come to represent the returning of stolen national treasures to China and in a larger perspective its relationship with the world. Will the so-called civilized nations adopt one standard for themselves and another for the rest of the world?

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The Destruction of the Summer Palace – Yuan Ming Yuan. 圆明园的焚毁.

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This morning I was watching a documentary on the sacking of China’s Old Summer Palace known as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness 圆明园 Yuánmíng Yuán and was upset at the wanton destruction by British and French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium war 鸦片战争 Yāpiàn Zhànzhēng. Yuang Ming Yuan 圆明园 was built in the 18th and early 19th century and was known for its extensive collection of gardens and building architectures and other works of Arts.

The gardens covered an area of 3.5 square kilometres (860 acres) and were almost 5 times the size of the Forbidden City, and 8 times the size of the Vatican City. Thousands of masterpieces of Chinese art and antiquities were stored in the halls, making the Imperial Gardens one of the largest collections in the world and this includes unique copies of literary work and compilations. Most of these were destroyed or stolen during the looting and subsequent deliberate torching of the entire gardens that burned for 3 days. It took 3,500 British troops to set the entire place ablaze.

On October 18, 1860, the British High Commissioner to China Lord Elgin, ordered the destruction of the palace in retaliation for the torture and execution of about 20 European and Indian prisoners. More than 300 eunuchs, maids, and workers in the palace were unable to escape and were burned to death. And yet, once the Summer Palace was reduced to ruins a sign was raised with an inscription in Chinese stating "This is the reward for perfidy and cruelty". This coming from the ‘civilized’ nations who subjected millions to untold miseries, and took a country to war because they were banned from trading their poison (opium) freely. Is it any wonder that the destruction of Yuan Ming Yuan is still a sensitive issue in China even today?

Victor Hugo, the then contemporary author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in his "Expédition de Chine" described thus - "'Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain.”

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Tang Yao and Yu Shun Abdicating in Favor of Others. Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 12.

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推位让国, 有虞陶唐。
(tuī wèi ràng guó), (yǒu yú táo táng)。

推 (deciline) 位 (position) 让 (let) 国 (country),

Declining position for the sake of the country. There are many noble and unselfish men who declined or abdicated their positions in favour of others who can better lead the country. Sadly, this is a rare virtue indeed.

有 (there is) 虞 (Yu) 陶 (Tao) 唐 (Tang)。

There is Tang Yao 唐堯 Táng Yáo also known as Taotang 陶唐 Táotáng who is said to have invented the game of 围棋 wéiqí or “Go”. He is often extolled as the morally perfect sage-king whose benevolence and diligence served as a model to future Chinese monarchs and emperors. He passed his throne to Yu Shun 虞舜 Yú Shùn to whome he gave his two daughters in marriage instead of his slow-witted son Danzhu 丹朱 Dān Zhū.

Yu Shun 虞舜 was reputed to be a very noble character who treated his stepmother and stepbrother well even though they badly mistreated him to the extent of trying to murder him. He is also remembered for being the orignator of the the music called Dashao 大韶 dàsháo which is composed of a symphony of nine Chinese music instruments. He relinquished his power to Yu the Great 大禹 Dà-Yǔ, the founder of the Xia Dynasty. His ministers however favored passing the throne to Yu's son, Qi 啟 qǐ thereby instituting the beginning of hereditary monarchy.

The Bamboo Annals 竹書紀年; Zhúshū Jìnián, a chronicle of ancient China however painted a less romantic picture. It recorded that Yu Shun rebelled and imprisoned Tang Yao leaving him to die in prison. Yao’s son Danzhu was exilled and later defeated by Shun. Yu the Great also rebelled and banished Shun.

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Cangjie Invented the Chinese Characters and Leizu, Silk. Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 11.

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始制文字, 乃服衣裳。
shǐ zhì wén zì, nǎi fú yī shāng。

始 (begin) 制 (create) 文字 (Chinese characters),

The first part means the beginning of Chinese characters which led to a written language. Legend has it that it was Cangjie 仓颉 cāngjié, the official historian of the Yellow Emperor who invented the Chinese characters. It is said that deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet on the day he invented the characters.

Instructed by the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie settled by a river bank but could not create anything. One day, a phoenix flying overhead dropped an object from its beak and where it dropped Canjie saw an impression of a hoof-print. He asked a local hunter who said that it is without doubt that of a PiXiu 貔貅 (a mystical winged lion). Drawing inspiration from this, he realized that he can create a character by capturing the unique characteristics of all things. From that day, he paid close attention to all things to try to capture their essence and meaning in a character and thus the Chinese characters were born.

乃 (then) 服 (wear) 衣裳 (clothing)

Then, man begins to wear clothes. Legend has it that it was the Leizu 嫘祖 Léi Zǔ, wife of the Yellow Emperor who discovered silkworms in 3000BC and invented the silk reel and the silk loom. It was said that one day she found silkworms eating the mulberry leaves. She collected some cocoons and accidentally dropped one of them into her hot cup of tea. She found a fine thread started to separate from the cocoon and that she could unwind this soft thread around her finger. She invented the silk reel which joins the filaments into a thread strong enough for weaving.

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Dragon Master, Fire King, Bird Officials and The Yellow Emperor. Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 10.

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龙师火帝, 鸟官人皇。
lóngshī huǒdì, niǎoguān rénhuáng。

龙 (dragon) 师 (teacher) 火 (fire) 帝 (king),

龙师 lóngshī 火帝 huǒdì 鸟官 niǎoguān 人皇 rénhuáng are four titles of China’s earliest rulers and ministers and the legends varies according to different sources. 伏羲; fúxī mid 2800s BCE, was the first of the Three Sovereigns (三皇 sānhuáng) of ancient China. He is reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing and trapping.

In Chinese mythology, FuXi the “Dragon Master” is often depicted with a snake body and human face and is the brother and also husband of Nuwa 女娲; nǚwā a goddess best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven. Fu Xi is considered as the originator of “I Ching” and said to found the arrangement of the trigrams (八卦 bāgùa) of the I Ching on the back of a mythical giant turtle.

火帝 huǒdì is better known as 神农; Shénnóng literally translated as "Divine Farmer". He is also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains (五谷先帝 Wǔgǔ xiāndì) and is considered as the father of Chinese agriculture, Shennong taught his people how to cultivate grain as food.

鸟 (birds) 官 (officials) 人 (man) 皇 (emperor)

Shaohao (少昊), was a Chinese emperor in 2600 BC. According to some traditions (for example the Classic of History), he was one of the Five Emperors. From Wikipedia – “The myth says that Shaohao created a kingdom in the five mountains of the Eastern Paradise that was inhabited by different types of birds. As the ruler of this bureaucratic land, he captured the identity of a vulture. Other birds worked below him, such as a phoenix as his Lord Chancellor, a hawk that delegated the law, and a pigeon that was in charge of education. He chose the four seasons of the year to watch over the remaining birds.”

Human Sovereign (人皇, Rénhuáng) was the third Chinese legendary king after Pangu's 盘古: Pángǔ, the creator of the universe) era. Before him was the Heavenly Sovereign (天皇), and Earthly Sovereign (地皇). The early Chinese history is very confusing steeped in different legends from many different sources. According to some sources, the third sovereign is Huang-di 黃帝 or the Yellow Emperor who is regarded as the founder of the Chinese civilization.
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