The Power of an Alleged Tradition - CHINA Buchservice

a memorial to the emperor charging that Xinyuan Ping had deceived the emperor
with his empty talk of ether emanations and ghosts, and the emperor did not pay
any more attention to his advice. 179
But what makes the narrative on these tripods so interesting is the fact that
some of Gongsun Qing’s ideas appear already earlier in the Shiji record. In the “Treatise
on the Feng and Shan Sacrifi ces” the reader is informed:
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One hundred years later, when Qin destroyed Zhou [255 B.C.], the nine tripods
of Zhou entered Qin. Others say that after the Earth Altar of Song had been
destroyed, the tripods sank down in the River Si, close to Pengcheng. 180
The question whether the tripods did reach Qin or whether they got lost on their
way in the River Si is, of course, of utmost importance for an analysis of the question
whether Qin, in the eyes of the author of the Shiji, had received a mandate to
rule by Heaven or not. Although this question will not be further examined here,
what is remarkable about the above passage is that the author here leaves space for
both interpretations. The lore of the tripods, however, as it recurs several times in the
Shiji, is obviously treated very seriously, as well as the prediction given by Xinyuan
Ping. Although he may have been reckoned by the author of the Shiji among the
fangshi, it seems as if the author is inclined toward his prediction and also to the idea
that the tripods were lost in the River Si, indeed, by the middle of the 3rd century
B.C., and only now, during the time of Han Emperor Wen, had appeared again.
As for Huangdi’s journeys to the sacred mountains in connection with the performing
of sacrifi ces such as the Feng and Shan mentioned by Gongsun Qing, both
are confi rmed again in the annals of the Five Thearchs. It is there that the reader
learns that Huangdi traveled to sacred mountains to the East, West, South and North
of his realm and that he kept on moving from one site to the next, without having
a permanent residence. 181 As a result of the emperor’s traveling to these sacred sites,
we learn, the ten thousand states were harmonious, and the performances of Feng
and Shan sacrifi ces honoring the ghosts and spirits on the mountains and at the rivers
were highly esteemed. 182 And at the beginning of the “Treatise on the Feng and Shan
Sacrifi ces” the reader learns that in the time of Huangdi the Feng and Shan sacrifi ces
to the gods and spirits were frequently performed. But, it is added, because this is
not written in the Classics, the high dignitaries do not dare to speak of it. 183
It is important to note that all the above adduced examples (calendar, tripod,
sacred mountains) seem to convey the impression that the Shiji must have been
written or at least largely conceived by an ideologue who adheres to the set of ideas
179 Cf. Shiji 28/1382; see also Shiji 10/430.
180 Shiji 28/1365. See also Shiji 5/218 where the decline of the Zhou, in connection with mentioning the moving of
the nine tripods from Zhou to Qin is recorded under the 52nd year of king Zhaoxiang of Qin (255 B.C.).
181 Shiji 1/6. The emperor’s frequent traveling to sacred mountains, together with the erection of stone stelae, is a
central event described in the “Annals of Qin Shihuang.” Cf. Shiji 6/241–263.
182 Shiji 1/6. Cf. the translation of W. H. Nienhauser (et al.), Grand Scribe’s Records I, 3: “The myriad states were
harmonious, and their sacrifi ces to spirits, to mountain and rivers, as well as the Feng and Shan sacrifi ces during
this time are considered to be the most frequent [in history].”
183 Shiji 28/1359.
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