The Power of an Alleged Tradition - CHINA Buchservice

epresented by one particular faction of cosmologists. Moreover, it might not be too
far-fetched to assume that the original motivation for compiling a history with a
consistent chronological thread might have originated in the urgent need of a specialist
concerned with the question of how the present dynasty was to be positioned
correctly within the cosmological cycles.
However, in spite of the many details that contribute to giving the reader the
impression that the Shiji is strongly imbued with elements pertaining to what may
be called the cosmologists’ lore, there are quite a few details that seem to challenge
the impression of a consistent overall ideology in this work. Only two short examples
must suffi ce to illustrate that in some places a rather intricate critical attitude
seems to become perceptible in the Shiji text.
As already mentioned above, chapter 74 of the the Shiji contains, interspersed
between those of Meng Ke and Xun Qing, the biography of Zou Yan, the person
who is credited as the earliest transmitted teacher for the theory of dynastic cycles
as it fi nds its most elaborate refl ection in the Lüshi chunqiu. At the end of this biography
we fi nd the laconic remark:
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DOROTHEE SCHAAB-HANKE
Zou Yan’s words are, however, not [appropriate] to be taken as a model. Do they
not tend toward what is meant by a cauldron [big enough] for an ox? 184
This subtle remark would seem to call the practicability of Zou Yan’s teachings into
question by comparing his doctrine of dynastic cycles to a cauldron big enough to
boil an ox in, but when used to boil a chicken, it would be wholly worthless. 185 If
this remark is taken as critical of the complexity of the doctrine, it can scarcely have
come from a true adherent of Zou Yan. A true adherent, to take up the argument
expressed in the Shiji, was to be distinguished from deceivers and charlatans, such as
the many fangshi from Yan or Qi who were mainly concerned with the question of
how to achieve immortality through Zou Yans teachings.
The question concerning Huangdi’s immortality is a further example of a conspicuous
inconsistency within the Shiji account. As we recall, the prospect that
Emperor Wu would attain the state of immortality, as had Huangdi before him,
was obviously a central motivating factor for Emperor Wu to adopt Gongsun Qing’s
teachings and to proceed to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifi ces and also to inaugurate
the great reform of the calendar. In the last part of his speech he told the
emperor that after Huangdi had melted copper at Mount Shou and cast a tripod,
a dragon had descended from the sky to fetch him. Huangdi mounted the dragon.
When some of his ministers had also tried to climb onto the dragon, some of the
184 Shiji 74/2345.
185 According to the Suoyin commentary this passage alludes to a remark in the Lüshi chunqiu. As he concludes, the
author of the Shiji wanted to say that Zou Yan’s teachings are too comprehensive to be applied to other than
huge undertakings. Cf. Lüshi chunqiu (ICS: 18.7/1167–8); cf. J. Knoblock and J. Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei,
464. There, the criticism is directed against Hui Shi, a philosopher of the the school of the so-called Sophists.
As the further diaologue in which this story is retold depicts, there are cases in which such a cauldron in the
end turns out to be of some use. Perhaps this is what the author of the Shiji had in mind when comparing the
cauldron to the teachings of Zou Yan.
BMFEA 74 · 2002