The Power of an Alleged Tradition - CHINA Buchservice

ceremony, during which yellow vestments were worn, was accompanied by verses
of praise pertaining to the discovery of a precious tripod, certain sacred calculations
(shence���) as well as the end and beginning of cycles, combined with the date
on which the ceremony took place. After having cited the verses in full, Sima Qian
states that the offi cials in charge of the ceremonies had reported that a light had
appeared in the sky over the offerings, and on the following day yellow exhalations
rose from the altar. The passage continues:
262
DOROTHEE SCHAAB-HANKE
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The Lord the Grand Scribe, the Minister in Charge of Sacrifi ces, Kuan Shu and
others said: “The mercy shown by the Gods who protect our good fortune and
send us auspicious portents requires that an Altar to the Grand Unity should be
permanently established in this region where the light shone, as a clear answer
[to all this]. The Grand Augur should be made responsible for these ceremonies,
and they should be performed in the time between [the beginning of] the
autumnal quarter of the year and the end of the year. And once every three years
the Son of Heaven should go and perform the jiao [sacrifi ce there] in person.” 77
In this passage, the offi cials, including the taishigong, appear as the representatives of
certain domains of knowledge, as ritual experts, who give the emperor good advice
in explaining to him the meaning of the heavenly portents. That Sima Tan is the
person to whom Sima Qian refers here is supported by the remark quoted from the
“Monograph on the Hundred Offi cials” in Hou Han shu, according to which there
was only one person at a time serving in this position. 78 Besides, the suggestion that
the taishigong could be identifi ed with Sima Tan is explicitly made already in the
Jijie commentary for the fi rst of the two above quoted instances. 79 Moreover, in the
chapter of the Jiao sacrifi ces, both times that the Shiji says taishigong, the Han shu
version replaces the anonymous taishigong by taishiling Tan. 80
The peculiar date chosen for this fi rst sacrifi ce in honor of Taiyi deserves special
attention. As stated before, the sacrifi ce took place on a xinsi day which was not only
the fi rst day of the eleventh month and the day of a new moon but also the day
on which the winter solstice occurred. If one compares this date with the constellation
predicted by Gongsun Qing in his prophetic message one fi nds that both dates
match perfectly, except for the designation of the month which, as we recall, was
left open in the prophecy. 81 Moreover, the fact that all these events took place in the
course of the year 113 B.C., the very year in which – in the sixth month – a tripod is
77 Shiji 28/1395; 12/470; in Han shu 25A/1231 (Sima) Tan is added. Cf. the translation of this passage by B.
Watson, Records II, 53–54, according to whose interpretation the statement of the specialists in charge of the
sacrifi ces ends after ying��, whereas according to the interpunctuation offered by the Zhonghua edition the
whole passage is part of the statement, which seems to me more plausible.
78 Cf. p. 259.
79 Cf. the commentary to Shiji 12/461.
80 Cf. Han shu 25A/1221; 1231. Moreover, the commentary to Han shu 25A/1222 cites a note by Yan Shigu
according to which Tan can be identifi ed with Sima Tan. As for the possible reason why Sima Qian only mentions
the title taishigong here, without adding the personal name of his father, it has been argued that this might be
due to a name taboo Sima Qian obeys here; see Liang Jianbang ���, “Shiji de biwei�������,” Shaanxi
guangbo dianshi daxue xue bao 3 (2001), 25.
81 Cf. the translation on pp. 250–51.
BMFEA 74 · 2002