The History of Retired Emperorship in the Northern Wei Dynasty

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the practice of retired emperorship was practiced as a means to stabilize imperial successions; however, it is also closely simultaneous with organizations attempting to establish a primogenital type of succession over a prior potential institution of parallel succession.

Before the Northern Wei established their rule in China, the ruling Toba house was a nomad confederate chieftaincy, with the reins of power passing from brother to brother. There were also cases of uncle to nephew and nephew to uncle. However, once the Northern Wei Dynasty established their rule, they “successfully and rapidly engineered a switch from a horizontal, fraternal mode of political succession to a vertical, primogenital mode of succession. Generally speaking, the emperor's eldest son inherited the throne”.

For example, in 471 CE, emperor Xianzu retired from emperorship. At 16 years old, he proclaimed a four year old boy his heir, the future Xiaowendi, emperor. “Initially, during the course of a court conference called to discuss the issue, Xianzu offered the throne to his eldest paternal uncle, but retracted the offer in the face of strong court opposition”.

Xianzu was 11 years old when he became emperor in 467, the previous two years were a time of power struggles which saw him taking the throne. In 465 -647, his father’s first cousin, Toba Daofu, had unsuccessfully revolted and, according to one scholar, this traumatized the young emperor’s early reign. “In sum, Xianzu's retirement was an effort to insure the legitimacy of his young son upon the throne. The retirement would also serve to guarantee that the degree of accumulated court support for the young emperor would be sufficient to withstand future threats to the throne in the eventuality of Xianzu's unforeseen demise”.

The retirement of the emperor generally meant his removal to a separate palace complex buildings and then his heir was formally proclaimed emperor. However, it was more of a co-regency rather than complete retirement – in many cases the retired emperor would still manage all state affairs until he died. Until the retired emperor died the boy-emperor (all were under the age of 10 at their ascension) was required to visit him at his court at least once a month. As one scholar states, “Xianzu's institution of the Retired Emperorship was a bridge between the non-formal, familialistic power arrangements of Gaozong, and the formal institutional experimentation of the emperor Xiaowendi”.

Bibliography:

Eisenberg, Andrew (1991) Retired Emperorship in Medieval China: The Northern Wei, T'oung Pao, BRILL.

The History and Significance of the god Lao Jun

Chinese mythology is full of mortals who, after their deaths, were deified due to the impact they had on Chinese society. We can see this in Guan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion who was based on an ancient Chinese princess who became a nun. Guan Di, a mortal general was made the Daoist guardian of soldiers and policeman.

The religions that flourished in China helped give Chinese mythology a uniqueness of its own. For a long time, ancestral worship was the main religion, then Confucianism, Daoism (also spelt Taoism) and Buddhism was introduced. Each gave China a vast range of deified mortals to add to the pantheon.

Perhaps the most important mortal man to be elevated to the status of a god was Laozi who, after his death, became the god Lao Jun (or Lao Chun).

Laozi (or Lao-tzu) was said to have lived sometime from around 600 – 517 BCE and is the founder of Daoism, as well as being a key deity in it. His original name was Li Erh and he was deified under the name Lao Jun around the second century BCE. Then he was declared the god of alchemists and potters, and regarded as one of the three San Ch’ing, the Three Pure Ones.

Ancient writers state that his birth was unusual. “When Laozi was born, within three days his body underwent nine changes. It grew to a height of nine feet. He had gray eyebrows and white hair. On his forehead, he had the Sun Horn and the Moon Crescent. His nose had a double rim, and his ears three openings. His face was adorned with beautifully shaped eyebrows and a square mouth. He showed the sign of lordship on his feet and had the mark of the ruler on his palms. All in all, he possessed the seventy-two divine signs and eighty-one auspicious marks of the sage on his body”.

As the original and principle aspect of the Dao, he cannot be seen or touched. However, unlike the Dao itself, Lao Jun is a person, an entity, and can be seen as the humanized symbol of the Dao. Although he is a fully developed being, he remains within the void and at the root of all creation.

Another ancient writer, Xie Shouhao, claimed that when Lao Jun was resting, then his form took that of a man. However, he did not originally have a permanent body; he was pure energy.

Lao Jun was said to have two bodies – a teaching body and a true body. This distinction was derived from the Buddhist doctrine of the trikaya (three bodies) of the Buddha: the dharmakdya (body of the law), the true spiritual body of the deity that signifies the fundamental nature of his being, the complete and means of the universe; the sambhogakdya (reward body), the celestial materialization of the Buddha in which he enjoys heavenly ecstasy; and the nirmdnakaya (transformation body), the human appearance in which he takes shape on earth.

In this regard then, Lao Jun’s true body is “utterly complete and entirely still, never arising, never passing”. His true body is invisible and cannot be artistically represented. However, his teaching body, that in the form of a human man, can be depicted. Adepts use these man-made replicas as guides to visualization and, praying at the deity's altars, act as if they were facing his actual true body. Thus they learn to "observe with proper penetration" and eventually find that "his body is no longer a proper body”. The image of the deity becomes true and coincides with the void; adepts penetrate the true Tao, in which Laozi is shapeless. "The Tao cannot be seen-if you see it, it is not the Tao."

Bibliography:

Kohn, Livia (1996) The Looks of Laozi, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Who Were the Juan-Juan

The Juan-Juan were an ancient nomadic race from Central Asia who had a great impact on ancient Chinese society. Portrayed as barbarians, the Juan-Juan (also spelt Rouran) were a confederation of powerful nomadic tribes who dominated modern Mongolia and northern China during the fifth and first half of the sixth centuries.

The origins of the Juan-Juan (who are considered the ‘real’ Avars from Byzantine sources according to some scholars) lay with a young slave boy. The myth states that at the end of the reign of the T'o-pa emperor Li-wei (pht. Shen-yuan, 174-220-277 CE), some T’o-pa raiders caught a young boy who could not remember his name nor his clan. His master nicknamed him Mu-ku-lu. When he got older, he was able to free himself from his master’s service and join the T’o-pa as a rider. Late for duty one day, he was faced with execution and so fled to Mongolia. There he assembled a band of fugitives like himself and created the foundation of what later became known as the Juan-Juan confederation.

The confederation was originally named Jou-jan, chosen as a designation for the horde by Mu-ku-lu’s son Ch'e-lu-hui. There is much that we do not know about the society; for example, scholars still do not know what language they spoke. One scholar, Professor Pelliot, believes that they spoke Mongol. However, “scanty evidence that we get from Chinese transcriptions of names and titles cannot be taken as conclusive in forming an opinion as to the language of the masses comprising the federation and can serve only as a clue to the speech of the ruling clan”.

The Juan-Juan were seen as barbarians by many of the Chinese rulers and from Chinese literary sources and archaeological remains, we know of many campaigns against them throughout history. The Chinese insultingly called them ‘Ruru’ which translates as the ‘squirming worms’.

In 424, around 60,000 Juan-Juan broke through the Great Wall of China and stormed Shengle. For two years the Wei campaigned against them and finally drove them far back into the desert. In 429, the Wei defeated the Juan-Juan further north and re-settled them on the grassy plains south of the Mongolian desert.

The end of the Juan-Juan came in the mid-sixth century CE. The Juan-Juan had enlisted the help of the Tujue, a powerful tribe, to crush the Gaoche (the ‘tall chariots’ people in western Mongolia). After securing victory for them, the Tujue khan requested a Juan-Juan princess to marry. The Juan-Juan sent envoys back to the Tujue saying no and that they were impudent slaves. In retaliation, the Tujue killed the envoys, secured a marriage alliance with the dynasty ruling over north-west China and led a campaign against the Juan-Juan. By 552 CE, the Juan-Juan were defeated, their leader drive to suicide and the Tujue became the new dominant power on the steppes.

Bibliography:

Boodberg, Peter A. (1939) Marginalia to The Histories of The Northern Dynasties, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute.

The White Cloud Sect in Ancient China

Ancient China is home to some of the most diverse and fascinating people, traditions and faiths that the world has ever known. It has given to birth to some of the most intriguing faiths, including Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism that still impact the Chinese people all over the world today.

Like with many other great civilizations, religion has had a deep impact in the peoples everyday lives; it is as much cultural as well as political. The Buddhist religion was introduced into China around the 1st century BCE and quickly became the dominant faith; by the Sung Dynasty (960 – 1279 CE) Buddhist associations affiliated with monasteries flourished throughout China. During the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368 CE) some of these groups became independent sects with their own forms of leadership, organization, and texts.

The White Cloud Sect is one of the most recognised Buddhist sects to emerge from this period. The school was founded by a monk named Ch'ing-chueh (1043 – 1121 CE) in around 1108 CE. Unlike the White Lotus Sect, the White Cloud school remained true to their Buddhist origins and practised within a framework of Confucian ethics alongside their Buddhist ideas. Taoism was only mentioned in passing and then only to mention the concern of Taoist philosophy with spiritual stillness and the rejection of desires.

The school was first active in Chekiang (Zhejiang Province) and stayed very much related to its monasteries and retreats there. Unlike that of the White Lotus, White Cloud members were not allowed to marry, at least not at the very beginning of its history.

The White Cloud sect was named after a retreat in Hangchow where Ch'ing-chueh had lived, where he began a long quest for enlightenment. He was able to gather several disciples who became the nucleus of a new school.

During the early reign of the Yuan Dynasty, the White Cloud enjoyed a long period of imperial favour and due to this it became dependant on the official sanction and political support. Although they started a new step in the assimilation of Buddhism with Chinese society, the White Cloud was considered to be more conservative when compared to the practices of other schools at the time. The sect was seen as a kind of halfway house between monasticism and autonomous well-liked sectarianism. As such it was at odds with the authorities without creating an adequately strong compensatory foundation in the general population.

Ch'ing-chueh’s writings clearly show the themes of salvation through Amitabha leading to rebirth after death as well as the T'ien-t'ai, the understanding of the interrelationship of all levels of reality in the ‘absolute mind’. Ch'ing-chueh was sought after for his accounts of the Hua-yen (Avatamsaka) sutra. In his Ch'u-hsueh chi (A Record of Buddhist Teachings for those Beginning Their Studies), he refers to the interrelationship between principle and event several times. Despite this, there was little philosophical discussion in Ch'ing-chueh’s writings. For Ch'ing-chueh, he intended to provide an explanation of advancements in religious life in an easy, step-by-step manner.

However, Ch'ing-chueh was accused to officials due to his criticism of contemporary Buddhism and exiled to the south. Not long after, some of his disciples went to the capitol and requested a pardon for him. The request was granted but Ch'ing-chueh died the following year aged 79.

Like with many independent groups, the White Cloud sect was repeatedly banned throughout its history, and although it did enjoy imperial approval for a time, it was firmly proscribed in 1320 CE in response to the hostile actions of its leader. By the early 14th century, the White Cloud died out without a trace.

Neolithic Cultures in the Yangzi River Valley

Neolithic China offers us great insight into pre-historical China as well as being important for the understanding of early rice farming. This time, place and people have fascinated scholars for decades. For this article, I will discuss three Neolithic cultures in the Yangzi River Valley, these being the Daxi, the Meudu and the Songze cultures.

Neolithic settlements in the Yangzi River Valley were based on millet cultivation proliferated, and a pattern of increasing cultural complexity that culminated in the formation of early states can be identified.

The Daxi culture can be dated around 4500 – 3300 BCE when village sites began to increase both in size and range. The Daxi culture is best known around the reign of Lake Dongting, which then spread out from there to both west and east. The terrain would have been swampy, suitable for the growing of rice fields and archaeological evidence for agricultural intensification through plowing has been established. Domestic pig and cattle were tended as well.

The Daxi Culture is contemporaneous with the Middle and Late Yangshao Culture (5200 – 3000 BCE) and at the Daxi site in Sichuan Province there are burials in narrow shafts apparently unique to the region. However, the most important Daxi site is at Chengtoushan where a series of excavations in the 1990’s revealed an early walled town. This was dated to 4000 BCE, with modifications to the walls undertaken at least three times. Here, 700 burials have been excavated. The majority of these burials were poor, but a number of them contained grave goods, including a body with two jade pendants and 50 pottery vessels (, p.246). Near the eastern wall, early rice fields were found, indicating the importance of rice farming at this time.

The Hemudu Culture had cultivated rice as early as 5000 BCE, as is shown by the archaeological evidence at the site of Hemudu, which, until Pengtoushan, was the oldest known site of rice cultivation.

The site is located around 3.3 ft above sea level, in the Lower valley of the Hangzhou River. Currently, only 5% of this site has been excavated (, p.247), yet the information revealed has been detrimental in the understanding of early rice farming. There are four layers to this site, beginning around 5000 BCE and ending around 3000 BCE. Houses have also been unearthed, one measuring 23 meters long by 7 meters deep with a veranda. It has been suggested by scholars that if these houses were built across the rest of the site, then Hemudu would have held a large population, possibly thousands of people.

The pottery manufactured by the Hemudu was handmade ware with black, tempered with charcoal powder from tempering with plant stems and leaves. The most common type of Hemudu pottery found is the cooking pot, sometimes with a waist ring. Other forms are urns, bowls, shallow plates, basins, vessel lids, and pot supports.

The economy of the Hemudu culture was based on rice cultivation, although it should be noted that these people attained a high level of technological skill. This is illustrated by the number of bone shuttles, needles and spindle whorls found at the site.

The Songze culture was located on the margins of Lake Tai, with sites in northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu provinces, dated around 4200 – 3000 BCE. The Songze Culture is considered a successor phase to Hemudu, which was immediately to the south and the later stage of the Majiabang culture.

The modern day city of Shanghai was first occupied by the Songze around 4000 BCE, and the cemeteries here have revealed interesting information. Burials were oriented with the head to the southeast, rather than, as before with earlier cultures, to the north. There were more grave goods buried with the bodies, with tripod vessels as standard. One of the earliest boat coffins found in China is from the Songze Culture at Jiaxing.

Houses were built on raised ground that allowed access to the wet lowlands for rice cultivation as well as marshes and lakes for hunting and fishing.

Pollen data from the Songze site in the Yangtze delta indicate that in the sixth millennium BCE temperatures were 2 to 3 degrees C higher than at present and that the Yangtze delta was at an early stage of formation. The final period of the Neolithic the annual mean temperature is thought to have been 1 to 2 degrees C higher.

The history of Neolithic cultures in the Yangzi River Valley is important to the study, not only of Neolithic China, but also of rice cultivation and Chinese history as a whole. These cultures are important as they pave the way for the later Chinese Dynasties that make China so fascinating to all audiences.

Bibliography:

Higham, Charles (2005) The Human Past – East Asian Agriculture and It’s Impact, Thames & Hudson, London.

Pearson, Richard (1981) Social Complexity in Chinese Coastal Neolithic Sites, Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Zhimin, An (1988) Archaeological Research on Neolithic China, Current Anthropology, The University on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.