The significance of feathers in early and medieval China

Abstract

This article opens with a mystery: why was Zizang 子臧 assassinated in the seventh century bce, and why was his assassination justified in the Zuozhuan by his fondness of snipe-feather caps? It is well established that feathers were a common item of clothing in early and medieval China, used to confer status, to flaunt wealth, to embellish rituals. This article argues that there may also have been accompanying beliefs surrounding their use; beliefs that feathers might bestow upon the wearer certain imagined characteristics of the birds from which they came. It uses case studies of soldiers and their relationship to brown-eared pheasants, dancers and their relationship to long-tailed pheasants, and immortals and their relationship to cranes and egrets. Finally, it returns to Zizang's snipe-feather cap, and suggests reasons for his fate.

Zizang 子臧 (c. seventh century bce), the younger brother of Zihua 子華 (c. seventh century bce) of Zheng departed and fled for Song. He was fond of collecting snipe-feather caps. Lord Wen of Zheng 鄭文公 (c. seventh century bce) heard of this and hated him for it, he sent bandits to trap him, and in the eighth month, they killed him in the land between Chen and Song. The gentleman says, “if clothing is not appropriate, it spells disaster for the body”, the Shijing says, “that man yonder, does not consider his clothing”. Zizang's clothing was not fitting. The Shijing says, “I made my own misery!”, surely this is speaking of Zizang! The Xia Documents says, “the earth is tranquil and the heavens complete”. This is what “fitting” means.

鄭子華之弟子臧出奔宋，好聚鷸冠。鄭伯聞而惡之，使盜誘之。八月， 盜殺之于陳、宋之間。君子曰：「服之不衷，身之災也。《詩》曰： 彼己之子， 不稱其服。 子臧之服，不稱也夫！《詩》曰：『自詒伊慼』，其子臧之謂矣。夏書曰： 『地平天成』，稱也。」¹

We know from elsewhere in the Zuozhuan that Zizang was guilty of some unnamed offence (子臧得罪而出).² His brother, Zihua, had been executed for treason by Lord Wen of Zheng,³ and presumably Zizang thought he was next in line. In this passage, however, the crime that justifies the Count of Zheng's loathing is Zizang's penchant for snipe-feather caps. Commentators have been confused by this line as early as the Han: Du Yu 杜預 (c. 222–285 ce) thought that “snipe” should be read as “kingfisher” (cui 翠),⁴ and that kingfisher-feather garments were illegal (feifa zhi fu 非法之服). Kingfisher caps were doubtless lavish accessories and perhaps the Lord thought these ought only be under his own purview. Hui Dong 惠棟 (c. 1697–1758) cited Yan Shigu 顏師古 (c. 581–645 ce) and argued that snipe-feather caps are worn by astronomers (zhi tianwen zhe 知天文者),⁵ whom perhaps the Count considered charlatans. Wai-yee Li suggested that the cap might indicate astrological knowledge and foresight that Zizang lacks, or that it may incriminate him since rebels often seek knowledge of the heavens.⁶ Yang Bojun 楊伯峻 (1909–92) thought that, whatever the feather, Zizang was condemned and had fled, but still failed to lie low and sought out curiosities 蓋謂其得罪出奔，猶不自韜晦且好奇耳.⁷ In any case, the cap-collecting crime was sufficient to warrant his assassination, and the compiler of the Zuozhuan judged that it was Zizang who had dug his own grave with his inappropriate clothing.⁸ The commentators apparently agree that the feathers were of importance, but the precise nature of that importance remains mysterious.

Demands of propriety in clothing are ubiquitous if not timeless; we would not now wear T-shirts with coarse slogans to meet a king any more than vassals would have worn coarse cloth to meet their lords in early China. In the context of early China, therefore, it is well established that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to animal imagery, skins, furs and feathers. Derk Bodde noted that the Houhanshu 後漢書 records dove-shaped staffs being given to the elderly with the justification that since doves have no trouble swallowing their food, neither ought the recipient.⁹ Roel Sterckx has discussed several passages that fit this theme: he writes of targets made of animal skin that allowed the archer to appropriate the power of the animal;¹⁰ he noticed that when gifts of pheasants, lambs, tame ducks or geese are given in the Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露, Shuoyuan 說苑, Bohutong 白虎通 and the Liji 禮記,¹¹ the texts justify the choices of specific animals “by linking their natural behaviour to the social conduct desired of the human officer in question”;¹² he noticed that adopting animal postures or wearing masks was believed to tackle demonic illness, generate apotropaic effects¹³ and have general therapeutic effects on the body;¹⁴ elsewhere, he suggested that the use of reptile skin and animal hide drums was inspired by the belief that animal skin may have been endowed with metamorphosing powers, and could thus perhaps induce changes in climate or movement among addressed creatures or spirits in ritual.¹⁵ Though it cannot be taken as normative, the Shanhaijing 山海經 also contains many suggestive comments about the effects of eating flora or fauna, wearing them on one's body or hanging them from the belt.¹⁶ Olivia Milburn, in her recent study of featherwork in early and medieval China, makes a couple of suggestive remarks about the importance of feathers. For instance, she includes a passage on the possibility that feathers might have been used in religious practices due to the belief that birds could communicate between the human realm and the land of immortals, because of their association with the yuren 羽人, or “feathered immortals”, who were ubiquitous in early art. She also notes that in bronze sculptures of kingfishers from the Han dynasty they are often found on money trees or with coins and other symbols of financial success,¹⁷ and writes that the significance of this may be greater than has been appreciated hitherto.

Such observations rarely occur in traditional commentaries.¹⁸ The key reference to such phenomena when it comes to feathers is a short section in Edward H. Schafer's The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. Schafer is generally discussing the trade of exotica, and as someone who clearly has a general interest in birds, when writing on feathers he makes a number of insightful comments:

Our modern stoles of maribou feathers and capes of ostrich feathers are vestigial and perhaps impotent. But the magical power of feathers was once abundantly obtained by dressing in them completely; a cloak or a suit of feathers brought one closer to the bird-spirits, or to birds in their spiritual form, or to birds conceived of as ideal forms.¹⁹

Furthermore, he writes:

To be like a bird is, in some ways, more desirable than to share the attributes of any other kind of animal. The freedom of the body, the flight of the soul, the soaring of the imagination, were equally ancient and important ideas, and still living ideals in T'ang … the plumage of birds could be used to adorn, and simultaneously to transform, the persons of the medieval Chinese, or at the very least to beautify the body and, at the same time, to stimulate the fancy.²⁰

In these quotes, Schafer has noticed the same beliefs that Bodde and Sterckx saw in staffs and skins. Schafer calls this a closeness to bird spirits, or to their spiritual form or to their “ideal forms”. His key period of focus is the Tang,²¹ but it is quite clear, particularly from Milburn's article, and from a range of other textual sources (including some from notes in Schafer's Golden Peaches),²² that wearing feathers was widely practised in earlier periods. Therefore, it is worthwhile to infer the cultural importance of feather wearing in these earlier times, especially with reference to aspects unique to China.²³ I will refer to these aspects as the mimicry and appropriation of the avian world. I contend that not only were feathers often used as signifiers of different states: the willing subject, the ferocious warrior, the devoted or ravishing romantic partner or the worthy in touch with the otherworldly; they were also believed to themselves contain power that lent aspects of the bird to the wearer. The birds were perceived as ferocious, romantic, ethereal and their wearers procured their abilities by wearing them. To demonstrate this argument, I will draw parallels between textual commentary about the character of brown-eared pheasants, and the use of pheasant feathers in the military; I will discuss the use of pheasant feathers in dance as depicted in early poetry; I will explore the significance of feathers in early ritual and music; and then I will describe the relationship between feather garments and magic. Through these examples, a general sketch of the beliefs surrounding feather wearing may be drawn up, and thereby the Zuozhuan story may be rendered clearer. Though the article draws on texts from a great timescale, it focuses most prominently on the Han period. Texts from earlier periods are often used for their Han dynasty commentaries, and texts from later periods are generally used simply to affirm other earlier examples.

Feathers, military

“We say that they have the swiftness of birds (the character is yu 羽 ‘feather’, which can act as a synecdoche for birds), and they are as numerous as [trees in the] forest. Some say they are the feathered wings of the Emperor.”²⁴ This is how Yan Shigu explains “yulin” 羽林 (feathered-forest), the name of a branch of the military from the Han until the Ming.²⁵ Yan is punning on common military metaphors of flight, perhaps evoking skeins of geese in a V-formation, or descending together in a racket. But while Yan's highlighting of this symbolic meaning is doubtless accurate in one sense, the prevalence of physical feathers in military garb and ceremony is of equal, if not more, relevance to the name.

The Liji records that battle carts and horses have flying geese upon them, and Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (c. 127–200 ce) justifies this by saying that it is to emulate the order of their flight.²⁶ Though this could be understood as suggesting that the formation takes inspiration from the flight order of geese, it seems that Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (c. 574–648 ce) understood it to mean that the soldiers literally appropriate the flight order, since he writes this alongside a parallel statement that by naming them “tigers” they appropriate the animals’ awe-inspiring bravery (鴻 “取飛有行列也 … 虎” 取其有威勇也).²⁷ As Sterckx has noted, it is a common occurrence in texts that formations of flying birds were used to name army formations,²⁸ and he further suggests that the symbolism of geese had another resonance since they fly at higher altitudes than common birds, just as the morally accomplished person “stands above the people”.²⁹ It is also significant that in other areas the movements of attacking chariots seem to be spoken of in terms of flight, for instance, in the Liutao 六韜, Lord Tai of Qi 齊太公 (i.e. Jiang Ziya 姜子牙, d. c. eleventh century bce) described chariots as the feathers and wings of the army and depicts their purpose as to “cut off the formations” of the enemy, drawing a link between the formation of geese and of the military.³⁰

Most important in explaining the literal understanding of the term yulin, is that in military headgear it was proper to have feathers attached on either side. In the Han Feizi, the process of becoming a general is depicted as bowing one's head and wearing feathers on it (dunshou dai yu wei jiangjun 頓首戴羽為將軍).³¹ The “feathered forest” would be what would be seen when the emperor looked over his army, with the many feathers sticking up from either side of each cap. It was often important that the feathers should be a specific colour, or even species. The Weiliaozi 尉繚子³² indicated that the “armies of the left” should wear green feathers, that the “army of the right” should wear white feathers and the “central army” should wear yellow feathers.³³ In the Wu Yue Chunqiu 吳越春秋,³⁴ troops of the central formation (in the army of the state of Wu 吳 [eleventh century–473 bce]) wear white clothes, have white pennants, white armour and arrows with white feathers, and they “look like sowthistle”; the armies of the left all wear red, have red pennants, red armour and arrows with red feathers, and they “look like fire”; the troops of the right all wear black clothes, have black chariots, black armour and crow-feather arrows, and they “look like ink”.³⁵ Wearing feathers in the military was common throughout China's history. In the much later Xintangshu 新唐書,³⁶ one can see an example taken even further: the first line of the military carry six-colour feather coats; the metropolitan guards wear red-feather coats; awe-inspiring palace guards wear blue/green-feather coats; martial palace guards wear wild duck-feather coats; gallant palace guards wear white-feather coats; left and right palace guards wear yellow-feather coats; the third line wear little peacock-feather coats; the fifth and seventh lines wear parrot-feather coats; the ninth line wear chicken-feather coats; the eleventh line carry halberds with white plumes.³⁷ In this case, the colours corresponded to wuxing 五行 thought, and could therefore perhaps be taken to signify that the army covered all corners of the world, or so that there might be troops for every occasion and every season. In other cases, the feathers can simply be generic, for instance, when Emperor Wu of Han 漢武帝 (c. 156–87 bce) named Luan Da 欒大 (d. c. 112 bce) General of the Way of Heaven (Tiandao jiangjun 天道將軍), he adorned him in a feather cloak.³⁸ First, this could be a pun (the way of heaven can mean both the correct path of all things, but also the path to the sky, which birds can take), and, secondly, Yan Shigu comments on the Hanshu version of the story that the clothes are intended to take the meaning of its spirit flight (取其神僊飛翔之意也).³⁹ It is telling that in the Huainanzi 淮南子, when Lord Tai of Qi depicts the correct route to peace in King Wu of Zhou's 周武王 (c. eleventh century bce) kingdom, after defeating King Zhou of Shang 商紂王 (c. eleventh century bce), the first action that betokens demilitarization is the disposal of helmets and the adornment of duck-feather caps. This may be partially a pun due to the visual similarity of the characters mao 瞀 and wu 鶩,⁴⁰ but it also further affirms the fact that the species of feather is significant in a militaristic context.⁴¹

The most common feather noted specifically is doubtless that of the brown-eared pheasant.⁴² In the Houhanshu, Sima Biao 司馬彪 (d. c. 306 ce) writes that the five offices, the left and right brave-as-tigers, the feathered-forest, the general of the five organs, the inspector of the left and right feathered-forest and the brave-as-tigers cavalry all wear brown-eared pheasant caps.⁴³ Sima wrote that a feather each is attached to the left and to the right of a hat, which mimics the bird itself, who also has feathers jutting up from either side of its face. The reason that Sima gave for this decoration is that when brown-eared pheasants fight, only death stops them. These comments are echoed in the preface to Cao Cao's 曹操 (c. 155–220 ce) fu 賦 (usually “rhapsody”) on the brown-eared pheasant, where he claimed that these pheasants have fierce temperaments and that there is no losing when they fight.⁴⁴ Cao writes slightly more explicitly than Sima that when people adorn their caps with these feathers, they are symbolizing, resembling or modelling themselves on the bird (all possible translations of xiang 像). These images of the bloodthirsty bird appear in a number of texts, always with common themes. In the Qinjing 禽經,⁴⁵ it is referred to as a “staunch bird”,⁴⁶ a depiction reflected in Cao Zhi's 曹植 (c. 192–232 ce), rhapsody, in which he wrote of the bird's ferocious qi 氣, its unyielding determination, its fear of dishonour, its tunnel vision for death or victory and its measured and gallant regulated behaviour. This bird, according to Cao, “considers sweet the plunge into death”.⁴⁷ Guo Pu's 郭璞 (c. 276–324 ce) zan 贊 (usually “appraisal”) on the bird writes of its preference for death over flight, and writes that its feathers adorn the martial officers, “both sharp and right-principled”.⁴⁸ There is something of a causality dilemma and an interpretation dilemma here when describing the place of the brown-eared pheasant caps in culture. On the one hand, it appears that they wear the feathers of a bird that they consider shares the virtues that they seek in martial officers. On the other hand, they could be depicting the bird ex post facto, and assume that the bird will have these qualities since martial officers wear the feathers. It should perhaps be noted that the brown-eared pheasants are no more violent or indeed “right-principled” than other members of their family, and indeed they have close relatives in the blue-eared and white-eared pheasants, neither of whose feathers were used in the same way. Nevertheless, it remains the case that depictions of other birds in these terms are rare,⁴⁹ and indeed it is far commoner for the brown-eared pheasant to be portrayed in these terms rather than raptors, for instance.

Feathers, women, dance

While the brown-eared pheasant was considered staunch and violent despite its real behaviour, another member of its family was given the opposite treatment. Prominent in early poetic depictions of dance and beauty are the long tail feathers of the Reeve's pheasant (di 翟).⁵⁰ Unlike the brown-eared pheasant, modern ornithologists regard the Reeve's pheasant as one of the most vicious of its kind, but in early Chinese texts it was lauded for its beauty and vanity. According to an apparently now-lost section of the Bowuzhi 博物志,⁵¹ cited in the Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚,⁵² they have long tails which they take great care of when it rains and snows, perching on lofty branch tips, and not daring to come down to eat. As a result, many die.⁵³ The Qinjing repeats a similar trope, but about a shanji 山鷄 (apparently another type of pheasant, or perhaps the same kind): “they do not enter into the deepest and darkest forests because they are afraid of losing their tails, when it rains they hide beneath rocky outcrops because they fear getting wet, when it rains for a long time they dare not come out to procure food, so many die”.⁵⁴

Feathers of certain birds appear prominently in depictions of feminine beauty. Milburn has studied kingfisher feathers in a number of textual sources: Cao Zhi's portrayal of the goddess of the Luo River,⁵⁵ and Ding Yi's 丁廙 (d. c. 220 ce) fu about the daughter of Cai Bojie 蔡伯喈 (c. 132–192 ce).⁵⁶ In both of these cases Milburn argues that the kingfisher “head jewels” are intended to connote wealth, beauty and power. Similar portrayals are easily found in other sources,⁵⁷ and some modern examples may also be found. Besides the kingfisher, there are a smattering of other birds: golden pheasant,⁵⁸ egret,⁵⁹ duck⁶⁰ and peacock-pheasant,⁶¹ for instance. But certainly, the most prominent is the Reeve's. “How precious and splendid! Her Reeve's feather!” declares the song “Junzi xie lao” 君子偕老 of the Shijing 詩經. It speaks, most probably, of a feather dancer, and notes her feather,⁶² her deep black hair like clouds, her jade earrings and her ivory hairpin.⁶³ Another song (“shuo ren” 碩人) lauds the pheasant feather screens on the carriage of the majestic person (who was later generally thought to be Zhuang Jiang 莊姜 [d. c. seventh century bce], daughter of Lord Zhuang I of Qi 齊前莊公 [d. c. 731 bce] on her way to be married), along with her strong horses and rich red ornaments.⁶⁴ This feathered clothing and carriage covering was later regarded as clothing for marriage, and in the Zhouli 周禮parallels are drawn between a set of six outfits for queens, and six caps for kings. The six di 翟 for queens are the huiyi 褘衣 (ceremonial robe, the Shiming 釋名,⁶⁵ suggesting that it is ornamented with the colours of pheasants),⁶⁶ yaodi 揄翟 (sometimes written di 狄, but generally also understood to be ornamented with pheasants due to the later character), quedi 闕翟 (Zheng Xuan argues that it is patterned like a pheasant, rather than woven with its feathers), quyi 鞠衣 (according to Zheng Sinong 鄭司農 [d. c. 83 ce] this is a yellow silk robe like unfurling mulberry leaves, to be worn in spring), zhanyi 展衣 (white, according to Zheng Sinong), yuanyi 緣衣 (in the Yili 儀禮 Zheng Xuan suggests that this is a black robe with a red hem)⁶⁷ and susha 素沙 (the name implies that this is plain, white silk).⁶⁸ The Six Caps are the “great fur” (da qiu 大裘) and cap (mian 冕) (worn when the king makes sacrifices to heaven), the gunmian 袞冕 (the auspicious clothes of the king, which the Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 suggests has dragons on it),⁶⁹ bimian 鷩冕 (apparently from a type of pheasant, worn when the king makes sacrifices to former kings and when conducting the ceremonies of the shooting banquet), cuimian 毳冕 (fur clothes and cap according to Zheng Xuan, worn when the king makes sacrifices to the mountains and rivers), zhimian 絺冕 (the name suggests linen cloth and cap, worn when the king makes sacrifices to the gods of grain and soil) and xuanmiao 玄冕 (the name suggests dark clothes and cap, worn during sacrifices to the gods of grain and soil).⁷⁰ There appears to be a gendered emphasis in this parallelism: the queen's garments are generally patterned with pheasants while the king's are generally furs, evoking his power and prowess in the hunt. The exception is the bimian, but it is interesting that this pheasant is not the same as the di 翟 or zhi 雉 pheasants that pattern the queen's robes. Likewise, in the case of carriages, the queen's carriage is layered with pheasant feathers,⁷¹ while the king's coaches include one (mulu 木路) ornamented with swan feathers.⁷² Applying the same logic to the queen's feather patterning that was applied to the brown-eared pheasant here, it seems that there is a resemblance. The vicious thuggery of the brown-eared pheasant was believed to be appropriated by its wearer. The fact that the queen's clothes are both matched, and also embroidered with pheasants, could well be implying that the queen has taken on the nature of the beautiful pheasant, to balance with the king's powerful furs.

It could be that the reason that the di feather in particular came to be either attached to or metonymic for female clothing was its association with feminine feather dances. I write “feminine” feather dance because there were also feather dances performed by men (for instance, in martial dances, feathers are often spoken of in the same breath as daggers, halberds, axes and shields).⁷³ Furthermore, the dance appears to have a certain coquettish, seductive quality, which mimics the avian world (though the male pheasants are the dancers among the birds) and was perhaps not quite appreciated by early commentators. Women famous for their beauty, such as Zhao Feiyan 趙飛燕 (c. first century bce) and Wang Wengxu 王翁須 (c. second century bce) of the Han, became imperial favourites on the basis of their dancing as well as with their beauty. Feiyan's name means “flying swallow” and the “Weng” of “Wengxu” contains the feather radical. Feiyan was given her name by the emperor, who apparently likened his romantic affections to the flight of the swallow.⁷⁴ The song “Jian xi” 簡兮 from the Shijing contains the lines, “in my left hand I hold a flute, and in my right I clasp a (di) feather, I blush as if I am wearing rouge, the Lord says he will offer me a cup”.⁷⁵ The cup is presumably full of alcohol, and the song presumably portrays a scene of flirtation, if not of seduction. This raises the question of whether this was an isolated incident, or whether the feather dance was linked to sex on a more regular basis. If this was the case in the Shijing song, then it was certainly overlooked by the Confucius of the Analects (Lunyu 論語), who famously declared that there is no impropriety to be found in the ideas of the Shijing.⁷⁶ Early composers of these poems, and feather dancers, cannot have failed to notice the same courtship displays of pheasants that Charles Darwin (1809–82) observed in the argus pheasant, the success in love that appeared to depend on the great size of the plumes and the “elaboration of the most elegant patterns”⁷⁷ or the “flaming mass of feathers” that the Norfolk osteologist and zoologist William Plane Pycraft (1868–1942) observed in the related golden pheasant, resident in China: it runs up to its mate, expanding the frill or ruff to display its charms.⁷⁸ Some parallels might be drawn, for instance, between long-tailed pheasants that cover their faces with feathers and the huang 䍿 dance, mentioned in the Shuowen jiezi, in which dancers use feathers to cover their faces and dress in kingfisher feathers. The Shuowen jiezi quotes Zheng Xuan, who believes that this is also known as the huang 皇, or the female phoenix, dance.⁷⁹ Since pheasants have a high degree of sexual dimorphism, cover their faces with feathers when courting (males) and are often linked to phoenixes, it is hard not to imagine the dance to be inspired by their behaviour. Furthermore, since the huang phoenix implies the male feng 鳳, it would also imply that the partner of the dance shared the attributes of the male phoenix. The romantic pairing of the two is a poetic trope⁸⁰ just as it is for the pheasants. The Shijing depicts pheasants seeking, calling after or pining for their mates.⁸¹ Since this is a trope in poetry, why should it not have similar connotations when worn?

Perhaps this is too speculative, but it is certainly accurate that among the long-tailed pheasants who provided the dancing feathers, many wave their tails in courting displays, and it seems very possible that the feminine dances were, to some extent, mimicry. It is not inconceivable to imagine that these dances might also have preceded activities similar to those of their natural counterparts. It is also clear that there are paired elements in the wearing of feathered clothing between king and queen, and that these are clearly parallel to romantic poetic tropes in early China. Furthermore, it is striking that pheasants should be chosen, since they are birds that exhibit such high degrees of sexual dimorphism. Thus, if the wearing and use of feathers here would be simply described as a luxury, or to signify beauty or wealth, it would be overlooking what is clearly quite a pointed appropriation of gendered distinction between the birds. It would be better to say that they are wearing the feathers in order to be like the birds in their relationships, either to mimic their romance or to avail themselves of this example in nature.

Feathers, ritual, music, dance

There are far fewer references to these “feminine” feather dances than what might be better classed as “ritual”⁸² feather dances. In this section, the themes of mimicry and appropriation are present, but less prominent. Nonetheless, it is necessary to show in a broader sense how feathers were involved in religious practice, and how they were considered objects of import and power. Sometimes the long di feathers are used, for instance, in religious poetry such as the fu on the Western Capital (Xi jing fu 西京賦) from the Wenxuan 文選. The poet writes of a row of dancers performing in flowery caps and grasping di feather plumes. In this poem, unlike the sensuality of the Shijing poem, the discussion is predominantly about honouring sacrifices, ordering mountain rites, flames from burning pyres and smoke sacrifices. The spirits, enjoying the fragrance and the virtue of the occasion, bless the numinous lord.⁸³ Similar depictions of the use of feathered streamers in one of the 19 ge 歌 (usually “hymns”) of the Hanshu, in which they are part of the descent of the “numinous” (ling 靈) (who has an azure dragon to its left, a white tiger to its right and rides on the wind) in response to ritual burning of fat and southernwood. Here, along with smoke, rain, wind and light, feathers seem to have the ability to connote the otherworldly.⁸⁴ There are obvious reasons why feathers might be used together with such abstract objects: they catch the wind, they remind the user of flight, of things out of reach and out of control. But also, they can be brought under control and used, light can be created from fire just as it comes from the sun, smoke can fill the landscape in the morning as fog just as it can be diffused from boiled water. Feathers can be waved to catch the wind just as they do when propelling birds through the air. These hymns form part of the “Records of Ritual and Music” (“Li Yue zhi” 禮樂志) chapter of the Hanshu, and therefore suggest that feathers form part of a ritual, and part of “music” or its equivalent yue 樂. Yue is another word that perhaps is done a disservice when translated directly, most often as music.⁸⁵ As Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892–1978) argued, however, yue is inextricably linked to poetry, dance and to the whole performance (even hunting and feasting).⁸⁶ Passages about music in early texts rarely fail to mention other objects, for instance, in the Liji the sons of kings and princes are taught feather, shield and spear in summer, and feather and pipes in winter; the lesser director of “music” (xiao yuezheng 小樂正) taught them how to use a shield, and the pipe teachers (Yueshi 籥師) taught them how to use spears. So, even if in the Liji the feather wavers are described as the “lowest of the music officials” (Yueli zhi jian zhe ye 樂吏之賤者也),⁸⁷ they are considered close to, if not a part of yue.

Birds and music were often spoken of in the same breath in early texts. This is most prominent in depictions of the fenghuang 鳳凰 or “phoenix”, which was said to be the inspiration of the musical tones,⁸⁸ but is also reflected in material practice, for instance, in the prominence of luan 鸞 or “simurgh” bells on carriages in the Shijing.⁸⁹ According to Zheng Xuan, when these eight bells sound (onomatopoeia, pronunciation *tsʰˤaŋ*tsʰˤaŋ 鶬鶬),⁹⁰ it represented the sound of elegant virtue (yan wende zhi you sheng ye 言文德之有聲也).⁹¹ The luan is a fantastical bird, and so its image seems to indicate that a fantastical prince or marquis is approaching. Ordinary feathers (and in this context, no specific species is mentioned, with an exception in the song “Wan qiu” 宛丘, which mentions egret plumes) could be used to “ornament joy” along with bells, drums, pipes, shields, halberds and yak-tail banners, or to “ornament anger” along with weapons, armour, yak-tail banners and battle axes,⁹² all noisy.

On more solemn occasions, feather coverings could be used to lead funerary processions⁹³ or laid on coffins. Several texts note that it was a Zhou innovation to use partitions around coffins and arrange feathers on them,⁹⁴ but there are also feathers woven into the satin of the innermost coffin of Mawangdui 馬王堆.⁹⁵ Yu Xingwu 于省吾 writes that these were found only on female coffins,⁹⁶ which is probably linked to the gendered divisions referred to in the previous section. A number of texts make reference to the sha 翣, a kind of coffin feather covering apparently used throughout the Zhou and Warring States period.⁹⁷ The Zhouli writes that this covering was used to cover a corpse, and thereby avoid a feeling of disgust.⁹⁸ The Zhuangzi 莊子 satirizes the practice, since when someone has died they have no use for it so it is “like giving shoes to one with no feet”.⁹⁹ Developing the association between feathers and funerary rituals, the Xunzi 荀子 describes feathers as part of the ritual that one uses to “ornament sorrow” (shi ai 飾哀) when one sends off the dead¹⁰⁰ and makes the claim that a tomb is made equivalent to a home, the coffin to a chariot, and then implies that the feather accords with the feather canopies of chariots discussed in the previous section. The Liji shows that the specific number of feather coverings in a tomb was of note: there is a passage in the “sangdaji” 喪大記 chapter that depicts the tomb of a ruler (jun 君) (six feather ornaments, four suspended from two axe heads and two patterned), a grand officer (daifu 大夫) (four feather ornaments from two axe heads) and an official (shi 士) (two feather ornaments, patterned).¹⁰¹ Similarly, a passage in the “Liqi” 禮器 chapter notes that the Son of Heaven's coffin should have eight feather ornaments, the feudal lords’ coffins should have six feather ornaments and the grand officers should have four feather ornaments.¹⁰²

The emphasis on numbers, and rankings, were also seen in terms of feathers in other types of ritual dance. The Chunqiu fanlu shows feather dancers being exchanged for the explicit purpose of ranking states,¹⁰³ and the gravity of such exchanges is shown in Confucius's fears of the Ji family 季氏 in the Analects. According to Liu Baonan 劉寶楠 (1791–1855),¹⁰⁴ and mirroring the numbers of coffin feather ornaments prescribed in the Liji, the Son of Heaven was permitted eight rows of dancers, feudal lords were permitted six, grand officers were permitted four and officials were permitted two. Although at the time Jisun Yiru 季孫意如 (d. c. sixth century bce) the patriarch was ruling Lu 魯, his title was still that of a minister. Thus, in the opening to the fifth chapter of the Analects, Confucius exclaims that they have eight dancers (or perhaps lines of dancers) in their courtyard, and if they can bear to do such a thing, what could they not bear to do?¹⁰⁵ Commentators have understood this as meaning that since they were happy to transgress propriety in terms of the numbers of dancers, they had outed themselves as willing usurpers. However, it should be noted here that all the texts cited by commentators to justify the idea that Confucius was referring to ranking by number are probably later than the Analects (depending on where one would like to situate the received Analects) so they could well be incorrect, and the dances might have outraged Confucius in another way. Nonetheless, certainly in later years, numbers and ranks were closely bonded in this way.

These ranked dances in the Analects did not explicitly involve feathers (though in the Gongyangzhuan 公羊傳 and the Guliangzhuan 穀梁傳 passages in the last paragraph they are spoken of side by side with feathers, and in the Wenxuan these yi 佾 dancers are depicted clasping di feathers),¹⁰⁶ but some texts are very prescriptive about the use of feathers in ritual dances, and some explain or allude to the reasons for their use. Zheng Sinong comments to the Zhouli, for instance, that for the fa 犮 dance one uses a complete feather (quanyu 全羽) to sacrifice to the gods of grain and soil; in the feather dance (yu wu 羽舞) one uses cut feathers (xiyu 析羽) at the temple of ancestors; for the female phoenix dance, one covers one's head with feathers, wears kingfisher feathers (as mentioned earlier) and sacrifices to the four directions; for the yak-tail-streamer dance (mao 旄), for the central royal academy, one uses yak tails; for the military, one uses the stick dance (gan wu 幹舞); and for the stars, one uses the people dance (renwu 人舞), which is a hand dance (shouwu 手舞).¹⁰⁷ Zheng Xuan differs on some of these points. He writes that in the fa dance, a banner woven with the five colours is used, while the female phoenix dance uses mixed-colour five feathers like those of the phoenix and in the people dance, one carries nothing and dances with one's sleeves. He also contends that one sacrifices to the four directions with the feather dance; and one performs the people dance to the temple of ancestors, the stick dance to the mountains and waters and the female phoenix dance to the droughts and weather.¹⁰⁸ These differences are useful to us since they show that neither of them is clear about what the dances were for, but, on the other hand, both agree that the type and style of the dances are important when it comes to their effects. Further pursuing the question of effects, Sterckx has discussed the use of bird-dances to affect weather: there is the dance of the Shangyang 商羊 bird, mentioned by Confucius in several texts, related to rainfall;¹⁰⁹ Liu Xi's 劉熙 (d. c. 219 ce) suggestive glossing of yu 雨 (“rain”) as yu 羽 (“feather”) implies that when bird feathers are in motion, they will disperse like rain;¹¹⁰ the relationship between pheasants flapping their wings and thunder is linked to the pheasant dance by Marcel Granet (1884–1940).¹¹¹ He has also connected these to the wider themes of imitative performances by which performers use imagery or materials of animals in order to appropriate power: beating drums and wearing skins of animals to induce changes in the climate;¹¹² dragon dances and the invocation of rain;¹¹³ and finally the exorcismal rites at the nuo 儺 festival performed by a fangxiangshi 方相氏 (a “spirit medium” or “functionary”) who wore animal masks and bear skins, and was accompanied by twelve attendants wearing fur, feathers and horns, perhaps to “reinforce the officiant's power to deter malign influences” through “monstrous facial expression”.¹¹⁴ In line with these depictions, it seems clear that when no species is mentioned, feathers were still linked to evocation and control over the weather and of seasons and over elements beyond the reach of humans. The rituals that brought them into use were dealing with the otherworldly, death, chance, the rain. In these events, the feathers served as a material sign that the uncontrollable was being brought into reach of humans, and so their use was intimately related to power. Figures of great power and authority in early China are always depicted with power beyond what is actually possible. This is why transgression of the number of feathers could become so controversial.

Feathers, magic, immortals, flight

These powers alluded to in ritual practice could also be obtained by individuals; magical abilities of flight and communion with the otherworldly could be derived from wearing feathers. Immortals often sprouted or wore white feathers. When species were mentioned, it was most prominently the crane, and less prominently the egret. These birds, when portrayed, had character attributes similar to the immortals: ethereality, longevity, purity. By the end of the fifth century, the wearing of these white feathers by those understood to have powers of immortals seems to have become something of a tradition, part of the ordinary regalia worn by such people. But before these developments, it is striking that the birds and their wearers are spoken of in much the same terms, and it is clear that wearing feathers signified the appropriation of imagined characteristics of the birds. There is an interesting dynamic here since qualities of both bird (save flight) and immortals were imagined, and yet each was appropriated and applied to the other.

Meng Chang 孟昶 (d. c. 410 ce) had not yet reached his time [of renown], he and his family lived in Jingkou 京口, once he saw Wang Gong 王恭 (c. 350–398 ce) riding a high carriage, covered in a crane feather cloak. At the time it was snowing lightly, and Meng peeked at him through a hole in the fence, he sighed and said, “this is truly a man among the spirits and immortals”.

孟昶未達時，家在京口。嘗見王恭乘高輿，被鶴氅裘。于時微雪，昶於籬間窺之，歎曰：「此真神仙中人！」¹¹⁵

In this passage, it is Wang Gong's feather cloak that signifies that he is one among the spirits and immortals. The real power of flight, the inferred power of purity (perhaps related to the white of the feathers) and the imagined powers of longevity are all transferred from the feather to the wearer. Milburn noted the prevalence of feathers in the immortals’ clothing, which can take the names “feather robes” (yuyi 羽衣) and “feather garments” (yufu 羽服 or yuchang 羽氅), or, more specifically, “crane garments” (hechang 鶴氅) and “crane cloaks” (heqiu 鶴裘). She implies that the prevalence of such clothing probably draws on the belief that birds were considered to be communicants between immortals and humans, and also that feathered immortals are ubiquitous in early Chinese religious art. I would argue that these feathers are more likely to signify the wearer's identification with the character traits of the immortals and the immortal birds. This is, after all, Meng's first reaction to Wang's cloak. It is also interesting that the belief that feathered immortals are able to fly translated into the practice of wearing feather cloaks. This could imply that the wearer identified with immortals, but in light of the earlier sections of the article, it seems more likely that the cloaks were used in order to literally procure the powers, or at least to imply to others that the wearer was imbued with such powers.

Immortals were most often associated with the feathers of the crane, and less commonly those of the egret; when the egret is mentioned, it is discussed in much the same way as the crane. Both are white birds, and superficially resemble one another. David Knechtges has discussed cultural beliefs surrounding the crane in ancient and early medieval China. He writes that the whiteness of the crane is associated with purity, cleanliness, sanctity, rectitude and straightforwardness; the bird is a symbol of longevity, with some sources claiming that they live for a thousand years.¹¹⁶ The Xianghejing 相鶴經 claims that the crane can live for 1,600 years, whereafter it drinks but no longer eats, and they can be the “transcendental vehicles for other celestial beings”. Here Knechtges borrows Schafer's term, and also cites the story of Wangzi Qiao's 王子喬 (c. sixth century bce) flight to transcendency).¹¹⁷ For these reasons, the bird was commonly called the “steed of the immortals” (xianren zhi ji 仙人之驥) and the “immortal avian” (xianqin 仙禽).¹¹⁸ What is curious here is that the birds and the immortals are spoken about in much the same terms. A connection has been drawn between the nature, character and abilities of the birds, and the nature, character and ability of the immortals. When this translates into a physical practice, wearing feathers blurs the gaps between the clear physical differences between these people and the birds, and perhaps is intended to highlight the actual relations between these immortal birds and their immortal wearers.

This actual relation is alluded to in poetry depicting immortals, in which they are blended with birds. There are immortals on Penglai mountain depicted in Mu Hua's 木華 (fl. c. 290 ce) fu on the sea, covered in plumes and pinions dangling and drooping.¹¹⁹ Cao Zhi dons a feather robe and mounts a flying dragon to meet the immortals, climbs Mount Penglai 蓬萊 and picks numinous fungus (lingzhi 靈芝) in “East of Pingling” 平陵東.¹²⁰ Zhang Hua 張華 (c. 232–300 ce) roams into the immortal realm where clouds and rainbows hang from jewels and pendants and feathered robes billow, before discussing the Dao in the Divine Sovereign's (shenhuang 神皇) lodge.¹²¹ Lady Youying (Youying furen 右英夫人) of Yunlin Palace (Yunlin gong 雲林宮) (the thirteenth daughter of Xiwangmu 西王母) bounds upwards in a chariot of cloud and light, surveys the void above the auroras, where purple canopies tarry in numinous realms, and vermillion haze envelops banners and pennants, where feathered cloaks fan the scented breeze.¹²² In her study Kirkova points to a gradual shift during the fifth and sixth centuries in which poetic depictions of immortals underwent a convergence of novel religious notions and features and aesthetic concerns of southern court poetry. She describes how the immortals who had, during the third century, discarded ears and eyes (yi ermu 遺耳目), now indulged in the pastimes of song and dance. She argues that this meant that the southern court poems no longer emphasized aspects of immortality such as omnipresence and unrestrained freedom and tended towards emphasizing the splendour and grandeur of celestial processions. In terms of feathers, this means that immortals were less likely to be depicted as hybrid, birdlike creatures, but instead they were inclined to wear feathered robes instead. She also writes that at this time, the robes and ornaments became identified with elements of the cosmic domain, such as stars, mists and auroras.¹²³ It is clear from Milburn's, and my own, study that feathers were indeed frequently worn before this point. Therefore, the cultural changes in the literature that Kirkova writes about could possibly signify changing beliefs surrounding the purposes of feathers; perhaps with the rise in the institutionalization of these events, feathers became more associated with regalia, with tradition and the sense of their providing power was lost.

Before these changes occurred, it was more common to see depictions of magical journeys in which poets or worthies literally sprouted feathers from their body. Kirkova cites Shen Yue's 沈約 (c. 441–513 ce) wish for sprouting feathered wings after drinking the golden fluid recipe;¹²⁴ Xi Kang's 嵇康 (c. 224–263 ce) fresh and glossy feathers, helped by a wondrous drug given by Heng E 恒娥;¹²⁵ and Cao Zhi's portrayal of the Yellow Emperor eating the aurorae, rinsing his mouth with the Drifting Flow (hang xie 沆瀣), before fur and feathers cover his body, and he lights up and treads on the outskirts of the void.¹²⁶ When characters from before the sixth century, such as Wang Gong or Luan Da, wore feather robes, it was with this earlier kind of literature that they were in dialogue.

Interestingly, the feathered immortals were linked by Max Kaltenmark to ancient religious concepts about the Eastern yi 夷 barbarians, who were considered to look like birds.¹²⁷ He indicates a generally held belief during the Han that bird people, feathered barbarians and immortals all came from the east of the empire.¹²⁸ He argues that a consequence was that in the Han there was a great mystical effervescence exploited by magicians (fangshi 方士). This then forms an interesting dialogue with some of Sterckx's works on animalistic traits and “barbarians” who, according to the Guoyu 國語, resemble wild animals “because their ‘blood and qi’ is not regulated”,¹²⁹ or perhaps have some “coarse qi”, which forms animals, as opposed to refined qi which forms humans.¹³⁰ Sterckx argues that the beasts at the periphery of society may be “skinned” to serve the development of the civilized centre, just as their closely related barbarians will submit to the civilizing control of the centre.¹³¹ As Sterckx notes elsewhere, there is a moment in which, while arguing about the origins of avian features such as feathers and wings associated with immortals, Wang Chong 王充 (c. 27–97 ce) writes that “the hairy and feathered people are the produce of the shape of the soil”.¹³² Wang here is in the midst of arguing that while there are furry and feathered people, and there are immortals, immortals are not necessarily feathered or furry. He writes that the images that one sees of winged and feathered immortals are fake, because one who belongs to the same category of cicadas and moths is not truly a person. He argues that there are people in the 35 overseas lands, some with feathers and wings, but this is due to the soil, not because they have grown them because of the Dao. He points out that when Yu 禹 and Yi 益 visited Xiwangmu they did not mention that she had feathers. He says that there are indeed immortals in distant lands, but that it is not said that they have fur and feathers. He says that those with fur and feather are not said to be immortal, thus feather and fur cannot be used to verify that one is immortal, and that if an immortal (xianren 仙人) has wings, how can it be used to prove that they are immortal (changshou 長壽)?

While different social spheres have all worn feathers at different moments in this article, it is striking that they wear different species from one another. Immortals would generally be associated with the crane or sometimes with the egret, but no such feathers were worn by the court, where generally pheasant, kingfisher, duck or goose were preferred. Between the court and the military, it is striking that the species of pheasant (at least, the name used to describe the feathers) is different. The way that the birds are discussed, and the way that their wearers are discussed, are often strikingly similar, for example the violence of the military pheasants, the vanity of the long-tailed pheasants, the ethereality of the cranes. Perhaps these are retrospective understandings of the birds, following pre-existing cultural practices of feather wearing, but we have also seen that mimicry and appropriation are common cultural characteristics when it comes to animal products. From this basis, we may return to discuss the story of the snipe.

The snipe, conclusion

The snipe's feathers are plain compared to other feathers mentioned in this article. The snipe was best known in early China for its appearance in Su Dai's 蘇代 (n.d.) entreaty to King Hui of Zhao 趙惠王 (c. 310–266 bce), recounted in the Zhanguoce 戰國策. Su feared that Zhao was on the verge of attacking the state of Yan 燕 (eleventh century–222 bce), and that if they did so both Yan and Zhao would be defeated and annexed by Qin 秦. He was able to intercede and stop the attack by means of the following fable:

Zhao was about to attack Yan, Su Dai went to speak to King Hui on behalf of the King of Yan. He said: today as I came I crossed the Yi river 易水. I saw a clam opening its shell to the sun, but a snipe flew out and pecked at its meat. The clam closed and clamped the snipe's beak. The snipe said: “If it does not rain today, and if tomorrow it does not rain, then there will be a dead clam! The clam replied, “If you cannot pull your mouth out today, and if tomorrow you cannot still, then there will be a dead snipe! Neither were willing to budge, and a fisherman caught them both.

趙且伐燕，蘇代為燕王謂惠王曰：「今者臣來，過易水，蚌方出曝，而鷸啄其肉，蚌合而鉗其喙。鷸曰：『今日不雨，明日不雨，即有死蚌。』蚌亦謂鷸曰：『今日不出，明日不出，即有死鷸。』兩者不肯舍，漁者得而并禽之。¹³³

In the story, it is the greed of the snipe and the clam that leads to their downfall. It is not impossible that in the story of Zizang, greed was implied by his collection of feather caps. After all, he was listed as being “fond of collecting” (hao ju 好聚) in a way that is apparently superfluous to the story. If, as Hui Dong argued, he had fallen in with the astronomers, would he not have worn just one? It has also been shown throughout this article that people believed that one could mimic or appropriate the character of a bird by wearing their feathers, and so, in the story, the snipe feathers could have served to imply a negative development in Zizang's moral character. However, we have seen also several reasons why the snipe cap might have been considered to be clothing that was “not fitting” and wearing it thus spelt disaster for his body. We have seen that in many spheres of society, the correct feathers presented one's rank, or one's occupation or even the way that one wished to behave in one's occupation. It is hard to imagine a commoner having the bravery to wear the Lord's feather garments, or to transgress the right number of feathers in a ritual, or to wear a di feather into battle. And if one did not wear a he pheasant feather into battle, was one truly willing to behave with the staunch, unrelenting bravery of the bird? Zizang, as a member of the court, was supposed to wear pheasant, or goose, feathers, which suggested his loyalty and that indicated his belonging. When these were cast aside and the feathers of the waterbird appended, perhaps this could be taken as a symbol of betrayal, of abandonment of courtly life. Perhaps any one of these single explanations is correct, or maybe they were all playing a part in the Count's loathing of Zizang. All that we know is what the text shows to us, and it shows that wearing the wrong feathers was a grave offence. Now, in the context of a deeper study of the cultural importance of feathers, we learn that, rather, it could have been one of any number of grave offences.