{"id":241,"date":"2005-07-18T09:59:18","date_gmt":"2005-07-18T07:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yjcn.nl\/wp\/?p=241"},"modified":"2015-05-14T14:02:16","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T12:02:16","slug":"a-mulan-in-the-yijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/a-mulan-in-the-yijing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mulan in the Yijing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(If you see tiny squares where Chinese characters should be you are probably using Internet Explorer. Switch to Firefox<\/a>, it does a much better job.)<\/p>\n

Through several channels the character of hexagram 44, gou<\/em> \u59e4, has been brought to my attention. On Hilary’s forum<\/a> there has been some discussion about it, mainly stirred by the view of Margaret J. Pearson as expounded in her article Towards a new reading of hexagram 44<\/em> in The Oracle Vol. 2, no. 11 (September 2000). In this article she says,<\/p>\n

“I suggest that this character <\/em>\u59e4 be read as ‘queen’ <\/em>\u540e, as did Karlgren (GSR 112) or, more precisely, ‘the bride of the ruler’ (king or duke) <\/em>\u738b\u540e, as in the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals)”.<\/em>
\n(p. 25)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is however a problem with this suggestion, because Karlgren never said that \u59e4 can be read as ‘queen’ (thanks to Steve Marshall for mentioning this to me). Karlgren says that hou<\/em> \u540e is read as ‘sovereign, lord’ in the Shijing, as ‘queen’ in the Zuozhuan, and as loan for \u5f8c in the Liji. Furthermore he says that gou<\/em> \u59e4 is read as ‘to meet’ in the Yijing and as ‘good’ in the Guanzi (GSR p. 49-50) (this also shows that Karlgren’s Grammata Serica Recensa is not a good dictionary, because he only gives a few traditional or accepted<\/em> translations of a character in the context of the book in which it occurs. These meanings are often far from the original meaning of the character, as can be seen with gou<\/em> \u59e4). But nowhere does Karlgren say that gou<\/em> \u59e4 can be read as hou<\/em> \u540e. Does this mean that \u59e4 cannot be read as \u540e? No, there are sources which show that this is legitimate. But these sources also have other implications for the meaning of gou<\/em> \u59e4.<\/p>\n

Simply put, when you read \u59e4 as \u540e, you drop the \u5973 radical. This is in fact a common feature in oracle bone inscriptions (See Zhang Zenglang, A Brief Discussion of Fu Tzu<\/em> in K.C. Chang, ed., Studies of Shang Archeology<\/em>, p. 103 and Zhang Pingchuan, A Description of the Fu Hao Oracle Bone Inscriptions<\/em>, p. 124-125 in the same book). This happened with titles like fu<\/em> \u5a66 (\u5e1a), and with clan names like hao\/zi<\/em> \u597d (\u5b50) and jing<\/em> \u598c (\u4e95). The \u5973 radical implies that the title concerns a woman. In other words, if you drop the \u5973 in \u59e4 and take this is a Shang feature, you imply that \u540e\/\u59e4 is a title or a clan name during (the later part of) the Shang dynasty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Let’s look at the etymology of \u540e for a while. When you look in the \u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178 for this character (p. 997) you are redirected to the early forms of yu<\/em> \u80b2\/\u6bd3 (p. 1581). The old form of this character seems to depict a woman giving birth to a baby (see image on the right, click to enlarge). Often, but not always, is the baby depicted upside down, and in some instances the woman is left out (which might imply that the child part is the important part; the meaning is the child, not the woman). Sometimes the baby carries little drops around him, which are interpreted as amniotic fluid. That \u540e is another form of \u80b2\/\u6bd3 is suggested by Wang Guowei<\/a> \u738b\u570b\u7dad<\/a> (1877-1927), who saw \ud840\udc86 as the modified \u5973, and \ud842\udf9b as a modified \u5b50 (in \u6229\u58fd\u5802\u6240\u85cf\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u8003\u91cb as mentioned in \u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178, p. 1581). On oracle bones \u80b2\/\u6bd3 refers to the heir, the follower, the next in line (Tsung-Tung Chang, Der Kult der Shang-Dynastie im Spiegel der Orakelinschriften<\/em>, p. 99). It also refers to the posthumous title (miaohao<\/em> \u5edf\u865f) of an emperor (\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178, p. 1582). In bronze inscriptions it too refers to the heir or succeeder of the throne. This is in line with the Shuowen \u8aaa\u6587, which says about \u540e: “\u540e\uff0c\u7e7c\u9ad4\u541b\u4e5f”. Jiti<\/em> \u7e7c\u9ad4 refers to the son of the first wife, who succeeds to the throne (“\u5ae1\u5b50\u7e7c\u627f\u5e1d\u4f4d”, \u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u8a5e\u5178, 9b.1046).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There is a similarity between the old forms of \u540e and that of jun<\/em> \u541b, which was also a title. For me this gives weight to the view that \u540e is also a title.<\/p>\n

What makes it difficult to narrow down the meaning of \u540e is the matter that this character also occurs written backwards – a common feature in oracle bone inscriptions, especially with positive-negative charges of divination (the negative charge was written on the same plastron and often had mirrored characters of the positive charge). We also find this in bronze inscriptions (\u91d1\u6587\u5927\u5b57\u5178, p. 1699; see also Zheng Zhenxiang, A Study of the Bronzes with the “Ssu T’u Mu” Inscriptions Excavated from the Fu Hao Tomb<\/em> in Studies<\/em>, p. 82-83, 96-97). This makes it difficult to distinguish \u540e from si <\/em>\u53f8. On the other hand, it could also mean that there is a connection between these two, and that in order to find the complete meaning of \u540e we also have to look at \u53f8. In oracle bone inscriptions it is the precursor of ci<\/em> \u7960, which stands for the presenting of food as a sacrifice to the ancestors or nature spirits. But \u53f8 can also refer to the sacrificial food itself, or the room where the sacrifice takes place (\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178, p. 997-998). In bronze inscriptions the meaning is broadened to ‘administer, govern, take charge; manage’, but just as with \u540e on oracle bones \u53f8 refers to ‘heir’ or ‘inherit’, and on bronzes it is also the precursor of \u7960, ‘to sacrifice food’ (\u91d1\u6587\u5e38\u7528\u5b57\u5178, p. 855).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But \u540e\/\u80b2\/\u6bd3 and \u53f8 are not 100% exchangeable, as the inscription on the \u53f2\u58bb\u76e4 Shi Qiang pan<\/em><\/a> shows. The inscription (click image to enlarge) on this vessel contains both the character \u53f8 and \u6bd3. The first is with its following character, ji<\/em> \u7a37, the name of Hou Ji \u540e\u7a37, ‘Lord of Millet’; Hou Ji (personal name Zhou Qi \u5468\u68c4 or Ji Qi \u59ec\u68c4; see also Shijing<\/em> M245, M258, M275, M300) is seen as the first ancestor of the Zhou house and is also worshipped as an agricultural god. The latter, \u6bd3, is translated by Shaughnessy as ‘nurture’ (Sources of Western Zhou History<\/em>, p. 190), but as we have seen the character is a picture of a woman giving birth, and we can also read it as ‘bring forth (heirs)’.<\/p>\n

As we can see in the name Hou Ji \u540e\u7a37, hou<\/em> \u540e is a title, and on bronzes we know it as a posthumous title for women in high positions (The Great Bronze Age of China<\/em>, p. 183). The fact that it can be a posthumous title is strengthened by the bronze vessels found in the tomb of Fu Hao\/Zi \u5a66\u597d\/\u5b50. Most of the vessels contained the name ‘Fu Hao\/Zi \u5a66\u597d\/\u5b50’, but a few others contained inscriptions which are read as Si Mu Xin \u53f8\u6bcd\u8f9b and Si Tu\/Qiao Mu \u53f8\"\"\u6bcd. It is believed that ‘Fu Hao’ was the name of the occupant when she was alive, ‘Xin’ her ritual name, and Mu Xin the posthumous name. (Zheng Zhenxiang, A Study, p<\/em>. 83). It is assumed that the vessels with the Si Mu Xin and Si Tu Mu inscriptions were made after the death of Fu Hao. The fact that the characters hou<\/em> \u540e and si <\/em>\u53f8 also refer to rituals of sacrifice to ancestors and deities makes the meaning of a posthumous title more plausible.<\/p>\n

To summarize all this: \u540e is mostly used as a title, for men, but occasionally also for women. For women it seems to have had a meaning like ‘bringer of (a) heir(s)’.<\/p>\n

It is possible that the \u5973 part was added to emphasize that the title is that of a woman. Which brings us back to gou<\/em> \u59e4. This character is normally translated as ‘to meet’, this is mainly inspired by the Tuan \u5f56 and Xugua \u5e8f\u5366 parts of the Ten Wings, which say that \u59e4 means yu<\/em> \u9047, \u9047 = ‘(to) meet’. Tang dynasty scholar Lu Deming \u9678\u5fb7\u660e says in his Zhouyi Shiwen \u5468\u6613\u91cb\u6587<\/p>\n

\u859b\u4e91\uff0c\u53e4\u6587\u4f5c ‘\u9058’. \u912d\u540c.
\n Xue says, the old text say ‘gou<\/em> \u9058 ‘. Zheng says the same.<\/em>
\n (<\/em>\u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u5b57\u5178 1045.16; <\/em>\u9ad8\u4ea8\uff0c <\/em>\u5468\u6613\u53e4\u7d93\u4eca\u6ce8, p. 285)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Xue is Xue Yu \u859b\u865e, a Confucian scholar from the Han dynasty of who we do not know much (Bent Nielsen, A Companion to Yi Jing Numerology and Cosmology<\/em>, p. 282). Zheng is Zheng Xuan \u912d\u7384 (127-200), another but more influential Confucian xiangshu <\/em>\u8c61\u6578 scholar who wrote commentaries to the Classics (A Companion<\/em>, p. 333-334).<\/em> \u9058 and \u59e4 have the same pronunciation, which is probably one of the reasons why they are linked to each other.<\/p>\n

The Shuo Wen comes yet with another character for \u59e4, it says: \u59e4, \u5076\u4e5f. “\u59e4 means ou<\/em> \u5076”. \u5076 has many meanings, of which one is ‘a mate’ or ‘to mate’, and this is probably the reason why several writers translate hexagram 44 as ‘copulating’. But the Shuo Wen is the only dictionary which explains \u59e4 in this direction. There are no texts available where \u59e4 is used in the meaning of ‘to copulate’.<\/p>\n

Some see \u59e4 as a contracted form of \u53f8\u6bcd, the phrase we have seen in the Fu Hao Si Mu Xin inscription mentioned earlier. In his dissertation The Tomb of Fu Hao<\/em> Kian-Chow Kwok mentions Tang Lan who “suggested that ‘si’ \u53f8 (which he reads as hou<\/em> \u540e) and ‘mu’ \u6bcd (which he reads as n\u00fc<\/em> \u5973) might be combined as a bisyllabic graph hou<\/em> \u59e4, which meant ‘queen’ ” (p. 50). As we have seen the character \u540e is also written backwards \u53f8, and in bronze inscriptions the old form of \u6bcd is often similar to the old form of \u5973.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There is an oracle bone inscription which supports this view. Tang Lan reads \u53f8\u6bcd as \u59e4, but the \u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178 does it the other way around: it shows an inscription (left; click to enlarge) with a character which is composed of the components \u53f8 and \u5973, and according to the \u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u5b57\u5178 it should be read as \u53f8\u6bcd (p. 999). \u53f8 and \u5973 can be combined to si<\/em> \u36b8, which Virginia Kane reads as ‘mother of heirs’ (Art-Historical Issues Arising from the M5 Burial at An-yang<\/em> (paper), p. 23-25; quoted in Kian-Chow Kwok, The Tomb of Fu Hao<\/em>, p. 51); \"\"<\/a>the \u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u5b57\u5178 reads it as si<\/em> \u5aa4, ‘name of a girl’ (p. 1041.1, 1066.2). The bronze version of \u36b8 as given by the \u91d1\u6587\u5927\u5b57\u5178 (p. 1467-1469) could equally well be seen as the precursor of \u59e4 (see image on the right). The \u91d1\u6587\u5927\u5b57\u5178 reads \u36b8 as si<\/em> \u59d2, a title for the wife of an elder brother (\u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u5b57\u5178, p. 1034.3).<\/p>\n

As always it is difficult to come to a final conclusion regarding the meaning of \u59e4. It is very well possible that it is the title of ‘queen’, but as we have seen it is probably a posthumous title. It is also possible to see it as \u36b8, the wife of an elder brother. But the character also refers to a heir, and maybe the \u5973 part denotes a female heir, or at least a daughter of high descent. This is how I will see \u59e4 – for now. Let’s see if the text of the Yi can give some clarification.<\/p>\n

The Judgment of hexagram 44 says<\/p>\n

\u5973\u58ef.\u52ff\u7528\u53d6\u5973.
\n The woman is strong. Do not marry the woman.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If we assume that “\u5973\u58ef.\u52ff\u7528\u53d6\u5973” says something about \u59e4, then the meaning of si<\/em> \u36b8, ‘the wife of an elder brother’ does not fit for \u59e4, after all, a married girl can not be ‘taken’. The meaning of ‘queen’ fits better, but if we take it as a posthumous title the sentence almost becomes a shamanistic ritual, in which a shaman wants to be posessed by the spirit of a deceased queen but is advised not to do so because ‘the woman is too strong’. \"\"<\/a>But then we see qu<\/em> \u53d6 with a meaning that it probably did not have. \u53d6 normally means ‘to take by force’, but the phrase \u53d6\u5973 is most probably equal to the character qu<\/em> \u5a36, which has the same pronunciation and components, and means ‘to marry’ (\u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u5b57\u5178, p. 1056.1). That \u53d6 can have the meaning of \u5a36 is apparent in the Shijing, where it is used in the meaning ‘to marry’ (see odes M101, M138, M158 and M261). In the Mengzi \u5b5f\u5b50 ode M101 is quoted, “\u53d6\u59bb\u5982\u4e4b\u4f55\u3001\u5fc5\u544a\u7236\u6bcd”, but \u53d6 is replaced with \u5a36 (Legge, The Works of Mencius<\/em>, p. 345), which shows that in this case \u53d6 and \u5a36 were considered as exchangeable. And \u5973 might be a short form for \u59bb.<\/p>\n

We have seen that \u540e also refers to a woman who brought forth a heir, but a heir is only possible if the woman is married. In that case \u59e4 meaning ‘queen’ in the context of the Judgment text does not make much sense, because if the title implies that she has given birth to a heir, this also means she is already married.<\/p>\n

Zhuang<\/em> \u58ef means ‘strong, mighty’ and it is almost only used to describe strength of boys or men. The fact that in the Judgment of hexagram 44 it is used to describe a strong woman<\/em> is odd. But it might agree with the sixth line of hexagram 44, where \u59e4 also occurs:<\/p>\n

\u59e4\u5176\u89d2.\u541d.\u7121\u548e.
\n Gou its ‘horns’. Regret. No misfortune.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although jiao<\/em> \u89d2 means ‘horn’ it also has a lot of other meanings. One very interesting meaning is given by the \u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u5b57\u5178\uff0cnamely that of the hairstyle of a boy who is becoming a man (p. 3919.1; see also \u6f22\u8a9e\u5927\u8a5e\u5178 10.1345). The Liji<\/em> says it is specifically the hairstyle of a boy, and that the hairstyle of a girl has another name: “\u7537\u89d2\u5973\u7f88”.Jiao<\/em> \u89d2 is the hairstyle for a boy, ji<\/em> \u7f88 that of a girl.<\/p>\n

[Update 20-07-2005]<\/span><\/strong> It is interesting to notice that the phrase \u5176\u89d2 also occurs at 34-3 and 35-6, and that in all three instances the text is not entirely positive. Further research is necessary to see what the phrase exactly means .<\/p>\n

In the Judgment of hexagram 44 it is said that the woman is zhuang<\/em> \u58ef, a word only used with men or boys. In the sixth line we have a girl wearing the hairstyle of a boy. The picture we get from this is that of a Mulan<\/a>, a girl who behaves like a boy, which of course is highly impropriate. Such a girl is unlikely to find a suitable partner, and will surely cause regret. It is however not misfortune caused by the ancestors (the original meaning of \u548e), which could mean it will pass. The girl is of high descent, no doubt that in time she will find a husband.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(If you see tiny squares where Chinese characters should be you are probably using Internet Explorer. Switch to Firefox, it does a much better job.) Through several channels the character of hexagram 44, gou \u59e4, has been brought to my attention. On Hilary’s forum there has been some discussion about \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character-analysis","tag-hexagram-44"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2dxXY-3T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1888,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/1888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yjcn.nl\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}