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Beyond the Four Seas: Chi Jiu Zhi Ji Tang Zhi Wu 赤鳩之集湯之屋 And The Roles of Ministers in Early China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2025
Abstract
Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu (赤鳩之集湯之屋, “[When] Red Doves Gathered on Tang’s house”) is an excavated Chu manuscript that belongs to the Tsinghua University bamboo slips collection. The manuscript concerns several important early Chinese figures such as Tang and Yi Yin, while also featuring rich supernatural elements. Many studies have focused on “shamanism elements” depicted in the tale or defined the genre of the text as xiaoshuo. This article offers a reexamination of Chi jiu and the above assumptions by contextualizing the text within its original three-text manuscript. The article reveals how early compilers constructed a chronological sequence to frame an overarching narrative in a heterogeneous compilation, and further generates a unique narrative regarding the extraordinary status of Yi Yin the founding minister. In its conclusion, the paper draws attention to potential alternative narratives about the minister-ruler relationship in early China, and also places Chi jiu in the context of early compilation practices. Additionally, it considers possible parallels between the Chi jiu story and two of the Grimms’ Tales, viewing Chi jiu within folklore studies.
四海之外： 清華簡⟪赤鳩之集湯之屋⟫與戰國時期大臣的角色
楊匯垚
提要
本文探討清華簡中的⟪赤鳩之集湯之屋⟫一篇。⟪赤鳩⟫與⟪尹至⟫、⟪尹誥⟫編于同一寫本，后兩篇文本可以給⟪赤鳩⟫提供一種政治上的解讀。三篇文本共同構成了一則關於君臣關係的另類敘事，其中的大臣不僅精明强幹，而且發揮的政治作用遠多於君主。這有助於我們重新思考伊尹的形象和地位，戰國時代的理想君臣關係，以及多文本寫本的敘事功能。本文亦指出，⟪赤鳩⟫中的伊尹故事和格林童話中的兩則故事有著驚人的相似之處，或許是同類故事的最早版本之一。
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Early China
Footnotes
Huiyao Yang 楊匯垚, Wuhan University; email: [email protected].
References
1 The original graph for the type of the bird is (鳥+咎). The Tsinghua editors suggest reading it as hu 鵠, swan; it is now commonly accepted that the character is a loan graph that stands for jiu 鳩, pigeon or dove. See Hou Naifeng 侯乃峰, “Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu de ‘chi hu’ huo dang shi ‘chi jiu’” ⟪赤鵠之集湯之屋⟫的“赤鵠”或當是“赤鳩”, in Chutu wenxian 出土文獻, ed. Li Xueqin 李學勤, vol.6 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2015), 195–97.
2 The text and modern Tsinghua editors’ transcription are published in Li Xueqin 李學勤 ed., Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2012), 107–14. For the composition of this manuscript and its relationship with the Chi jiu text, see Xiao Yunxiao 肖芸曉, “Shilun Qinghua zhushu Yi Yin sanpian de guanlian” 試論清華竹書伊尹三篇的關聯, Jian bo 8 (2013), 471–76.
3 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 3, 166–70.
4 Many early Chinese tales or anecdotes that are concerned with wise rulers, worthy ministers, and/or anthropomorphic animals, such as those collected in Zhuangzi 莊子 and Han Feizi 韓非子, have didactic elements and are contextualized within specific political or philosophical discourses.
5 Sarah Allan, “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang’s House: A Warring States Period Tale of Shamanic Possession and Building Construction set at the Turn of the Xia and Shang Dynasties,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 25.3 (2015), 431–33. For a detailed discussion of shamanistic features in the text, see Huang Lijuan 黃麗娟, “Qinghua jian san Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu wushu wenhua yanjiu” ⟪清華簡（叁）‧赤（鳥+咎）之集湯之屋⟫巫術文化研究, in Chutu yanjiu shiye yu fangfa xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 出土研究視野與方法學術研討會論文集, vol. 6 (Taipei: Department of Chinese Literature of National Chengchi University, 2020), 65–106. For understanding the text as an example of xiaoshuo, see Huang Dekuan 黃德寬, “Qinghua jian Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu yu Xianqin ‘xiaoshuo’” 清華簡⟪赤鵠之集湯之屋⟫與先秦「小說」, Fudan Daxue xuebao 2013.4, 81–86.
6 Allan, “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang’s House,” 426–27.
7 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 3, 107–14. For summaries of the most recent Chinese scholarship and new alternative transcriptions, see Xu Wenxian 許文獻, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu 清華簡伊尹五篇研究 (Taipei: Wanjuanlou, 2021), 175–226; and Hou Naifeng, “Qinghua jian Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu pian jianshi yanshuo” 清華簡⟪赤鳩之集湯之屋⟫篇箋釋衍說, Wen shi zhe 2022.5, 75–85.
8 The yue gu 曰古 at the beginning of the text is a typical opening in early Chinese literature, a paratextual element to indicate that the stories that follow presumably originated from ancient times.
9 Scholars differ on the reading of this graph, even though the general meaning of the line is relatively clear (Tang wanted to find out who was responsible for eating the soup). The commonly suggested readings are tou 偷 “steal,” ban 班 “distribute,” and tiao 調 “recook.” See Xu, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu, 192–96.
10 The graph is generally read as sui 祟 “curse.” See Hou, “Qinghua jian Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu pian jianshi yanshuo,” 77.
11 Feng Shengjun 馮勝君 provides an alternate reading of the graph, wei 痿 “paralysis.” Both readings suggest that Xiaochen became immobilized. See Feng Shengjun, “Du Qinghua san Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu zhaji” 讀清華三⟪赤鵠之集湯之屋⟫札記, in Tian Ying 田穎 ed., Chutu wenxian yu Zhongguo guidai wenming 出土文獻與中國古代文明 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2016), 253.
12 For identifying the two characters as “itching” and “pricking,” see Feng, “Du Qinghua san Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu zhaji,” 251–52.
13 It was widely believed in early China that if a ruler had fallen ill, he could likely be haunted by a ghost or deity. Zuo zhuan 左傳 records a case of the Yellow River deity haunting King Zhao of Chu 楚昭王 and causing him to fall ill. See Chun qiu Zuo zhuan zhushu 春秋左傳注疏 (Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏 ed., 1815; rpt. Taipei: Yiwen, 1965), 1007 (Ai 6).
14 The character wu 巫 is usually translated as “shaman” or “sorcerer,” a figure that has religious and ritual knowledge, and is capable of communicating with deities or acting as a healer. The “Wu-raven” here is portrayed as a knowledgeable figure within the raven community, who could understand and heal illness and curses. Later, Xiaochen also claimed himself as a Wu when trying to deal with Xia Lord’s illness.
15 The original graph is written as (
+欠), and the Tsinghua editors suggest rendering it as yi 歝. The reading of this graph will be discussed in detail in the following sections, as different readings might alter the understanding of the entire story.
16 The original graph is written as 
, known as “reversed shan” 倒山 graph. Guo Yongbing 郭永秉 reads the graph as fu 覆 “cover up,” a reading followed by most of the scholars; see Guo Yongbing, “Shi Qinghua jian zhong daoshanxing de ‘fu’ zi” 釋清華簡中倒山形的“覆”字, in Guwenzi yu guwenxian lunji xubian 古文字與古文獻論集續編 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2015), 262–72.
17 Allan, “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang’s House,” 426–27.
18 For instance, Ying Shao’s 應劭 (fl. 173–206 ce) Fengsu tongyi 風俗通義 and Zong Lin’s 宗懍 (fl. 525–565 ce) Jingchu suishi ji 荊楚歲時記 collect many short stories that explain and legitimize many then-established customs and rituals.
19 Li Xueqin 李學勤 ed., Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, vol. 1 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2010), 2–3, 4–5.
20 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 1, 127–31.
21 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 1, 132–34.
22 There are a total of five Yi Yin texts in the Tsinghua collection. Besides the three texts covered in this study, there are also two manuscript texts called *Tang chu yu Tangqiu 湯處於湯丘 and *Tang zai Chimen 湯在啻門. For a summary of the relationships between these texts, see Xu, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu, 465–72.
23 Xiao, “Shilun Qinghua zhushu Yi Yin sanpian de guanlian,” 471–73.
24 Xu, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu, 421–28. The other two Yi Yin texts, *Tang chu yu Tangqiu and *Tang zai Chimen, are written in a single hand that is different from this hand. Careful investigation of the bamboo slips also shows that *Tang chu yu Tangqiu and *Tang zai Chimen had initially been bound together as a single, separate manuscript.
25 Note that the Tsinghua collection contains many Shang shu-style texts, some of which are found in the received Shang Shu, while others are untransmitted. Some scholars further suggested that all these three Yi Yin texts might originally have belonged to the Shang shu corpus. See Hou, “Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu de ‘chi hu’ huo dang shi ‘chi jiu’”; Xu, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu, 460–61, 463–65.
26 Xiao, “Shilun Qinghua zhushu Yi Yin sanpian de guanlian,” 473.
27 Sunzi 孫子, ed. Wei Rulin 魏汝霖 (Taipei: Commercial Press, 1988), 235.
28 Lüshi chunqiu xin jiaoshi 呂氏春秋新校釋, ed. Chen Qiyou 陳奇猷 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2002), 77.84 xin 44.
29 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 1, 127, 130.
30 “Shen da” has “[Tang says] ‘You have told me the situation of Xia thoroughly like a poem’” 若告我曠夏盡如詩. The parallel in *Yin zhi is “[Tang says] ‘You have told me all you saw in Xia in this way’” 汝告我夏䚈率若是. The exact reading of Tang’s speech in *Yin zhi is still under debate, but how the line is phrased is visibly similar to “Shen da.”
31 William G. Boltz, “The Composite Nature of Early Chinese Texts,” in Text and Ritual in Early China, ed. Martin Kern (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005), 50–78. See also Yu Jiaxi 余嘉錫, Gushu tongli 古書通例 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1985), 93–98.
32 For a detailed examination of the early Chinese compilation methods and strategies of the unearthed manuscripts, see Rens Krijgsman, Early Chinese Manuscript Collections: Sayings, Memory, Verse, and Knowledge (Leiden: Brill, 2023). For paratextual compilation strategies in particular, see Du Heng, “The Author’s Two Bodies: Paratext in Early Chinese Textual Culture,” Ph.D. dissertation (Harvard University, 2018).
33 You Kun, “The Yellow Emperor as Paratext: The Case of Shiliu jing 十六經 (Sixteen Guidelines),” Journal of the American Oriental Society 141.4 (2021), 931–40.
34 Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian, vol. 3, 170. All Old Chinese reconstructions are based on Axel Schuessler’s dictionary for Old Chinese. See Axel Schuessler, Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009).
35 See Su Jianzhou 苏建洲, “Qinghua san Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu kaoshi liangpian” 清華三⟪赤鵠之集湯之屋⟫考釋兩篇, in Tsinghua University Research and Conservation Center for Unearthed Texts ed., Qinghua jian yanjiu, vol.2 清華簡研究(第二輯)(Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2015), 178–92.
36 Huang Dekuan, “Qinghua jian Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu yu Xianqin ‘xiaoshuo,’” 86.
37 Wang Ning 王寧. “Du Qinghua jian san Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu sanzha” 讀清華簡三⟪赤鵠之集湯之屋⟫散札, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/5995.html, accessed on July 31, 2024.
38 Most of the scholars who followed a “shamanic possession” reading came to this conclusion. See Allan, “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang’s House,” 435; Su, “Qinghua san Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu kaoshi liangpian,” 190–92; Huang Lijuan, “Qinghua jian san Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu wushu wenhua yanjiu,” 65–106; and Xu, Qinghua jian Yi Yin wupian yanjiu, 208–10.
39 For related paleographical discussions, see Zhao Pingan 趙平安, Shuowen xiaozhuan yanjiu 説文小篆研究 (Nanning: Guangxijiaoyu, 1999), 5–6; Liu Zhao 劉釗, Guwenzi gouxingxue 古文字構形學 (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin, 2006), 182; Ji Xusheng 季旭昇, Shuowen xinzheng 說文新證 (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin, 2010), 805.
40 Guodian Chumu zhujian 郭店楚墓竹簡 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1998), 3, 27.
41 Ji, Shuowen xinzheng, 720.
42 Li ji 禮記 states that, while parrots and apes can speak human language, what they talk about still belongs to the realm of birds and beasts. See Li ji zhushu 禮記注疏 (Shisan jing zhushu 十三經注疏 ed., 1815; rpt. Taipei: Yiwen, 1965), 1.15.
43 The Song shu 宋書, compiled by Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513 ce), records that in 311 ce there was an omen of a talking dog, whose words predicted the Disaster of Yongjia 永嘉之亂 (311 ce) and the subsequent collapse of the Western Jin 晉 (266–316 ce). See Song shu 宋書 (Taipei: Dingwen, 1980), 28.852.
44 Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in early China (Albany: SUNY Press, 2002), 159–60.
The eight examples are: Shi Kuang 師曠 (fl. 586–532 bce), a famous blind music master; Qin Zhong 秦仲 (r. 845–822 bce), one of the ancestors of the Qin ruling house; Zhan He 詹何, a Chu philosopher who could understand oxen as suggested by Han Fei 韓非 (c. 280–233 bce); Yang Wengzhong 楊翁仲, who could understand horse neighing according to Wang Chong 王充 (277–c.97 ce); Bo Yi 伯益, a legendary minister who served under Shun 舜; people from two different “barbarian” tribes as recorded in the Zhou li 周禮; and Ge Lu 葛盧, the leader of a small barbarian state introduced in Zuo zhuan.
45 Chun qiu Zuo zhuan zhushu, 284 (Xi 29).
46 Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China, 160.
47 These folktales are too long to present in their entirety here, therefore only synopses are provided below.
48 Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition, trans. Jack Zipes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 53–55.
49 Unfortunately, this story does not have a numbered label like the first one. After the first edition (1812 edition) of the Grimms’ Tales, the Grimm brothers removed this story from their collection and replaced it with another tale. As a result, it is not easy to make references to this particular story, since the original numbered label is now referring to a different folktale in the Grimms’ collection.
50 Grimm and Grimm, Original Folk and Fairy Tales, trans. Jack Zipes, 351–54.
51 We may speculate that the Chi jiu story was based on source material that indeed had a narrative ending (like the two German folktales), but the original compiler could only access a version of the story with a historiola-style ending, and it was this version that ended up in the Yi Yin manuscript.
52 Antti Aarne, The Types of the Folktale A Classification and Bibliography, trans. Stith Thompson, 2nd. rev. ed. (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1961), 236.
53 Aarne, The Types of the Folktale A Classification and Bibliography, 222.
54 David Crockett Graham, Songs and Stories of the Ch’uan Miao (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1954), 208 (story no. 151). In this story, a Miao pig herder was pushed down a cliff by a fellow herder who tried to murder him. He survived the fall, then overheard a tiger and a monkey singing songs about secret remedies for lack of water and healing a blind princess. The story ends with the pig herder solving the water problem and becoming rich, with the evil colleague falls to his death. However, the cure for the blind princess is not mentioned at all; it is possible that the collected version is not the full version of the tale.
55 The current oldest known variants of ATU 673 are in the Icelandic and Danish sagas recorded around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, more than one thousand years after the compilation of Chi jiu. See Aarne, The Types of the Folktale A Classification and Bibliography, 236.
56 The story of Ye Xian 葉限, a Tang dynasty folklore collected from the natives living in the southern China, is now considered to be one of the oldest known variants of the Cinderella tale. See Arthur Waley, “The Chinese Cinderella Story,” Folklore 58.1 (1947), 226–38.
57 Shi ji 史記 (Taipei: Dingwen, 1981), 1.38.
58 See Qianfu lun jian jiaozheng 潛夫論箋校正, ed. Wang Jipei 汪繼培 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1985), 6.55; Shuo yuan 說苑 (Taipei: Commercial Press, 1988), 1.8. It is possible that this sentence belongs to a now lost chapter of Shang shu.
59 The most famous instance of this line is in Laozi 47, “One can know all-under-heaven without going out the door; one can see the way of heaven without looking out the window” 不出戶知天下，不闚牖見天道. Similar examples are also found in the Mawangdui Laozi manuscripts, the Lüshi chunqiu chapter “Jun shou” 君守, the Huainanzi chapters “Ruler’s Techniques” 主術 and “Responses of the Way” 道應, two chapters in Hanshi waizhuan 韓詩外傳, as well as quotations in Han Feizi’s chapter “Commentaries on Laozi’s Teachings” 解老.
60 Huang Dekuan 黃德寬, ed., Qinghua Daxue cang Zhanguo zhujian 清華大學藏戰國竹簡, vol. 9 (Shanghai: Zhongxi, 2019), 132–33.
61 The motif of “Huang Di had four faces” commonly recurs in early Chinese texts. See Mark Csikszentmihalyi, “Reimagining the Yellow Emperor’s Four Faces,” in Text and Ritual in Early China, ed. Martin Kern (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005), 226, 236–38.
Although texts such as *Zhi zheng zhi dao offer a figurative reading of the “four faces” and try to historicize and rationalize “four faces” into four persons, Li ming 立命 (“Establish the Mandate”), the opening chapter of the Mawangdui silk manuscript Shiliu jing, suggests that the appearance of Huang Di actually had four faces. See Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 馬王堆漢墓帛書, vol. 1 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1980), 61. It is possible that Huang Di’s all-knowingness was derived from his mythical appearance of four faces.
62 Li ji zhushu, 50.845–46.
63 Han Feizi, ed. Chen Qiyou 陳奇猷 (Beijing: Zhonghua 1958), 4.247.
64 The future queen also shared such a power, although the text does not mention Ren Huang afterward.
Notably, several transmitted texts suggest that when Yi Yin was once a minor servant or cook, he worked in the retinue of the Lady of You Shen (You Shen Shi 有莘氏, also written as You Xin Shi 有辛氏), who eventually married Tang. For a summary of this tradition, see Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage: Dynastic Legend in Early China (San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center, 1981), 92. These texts agreed that Yi Yin once belonged to Tang’s wife’s household before he became a minister, and Ren Huang’s role in the original Chi jiu story might be a remnant of this tradition.
65 Yu Ying-shih 余英時 provided a comprehensive discussion on how the shi class rose in power and how their employment situations gave rise to meritocratic ideals; see Yu Ying-shih, Shi yu zhongguo wenhua 士與中國文化 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1987), 34–83. See also Yuri Pines, “Between Merit and Pedigree: Evolution of the Concept of ‘Elevating the Worthy’ in Pre-Imperial China,” in The East Asian Challenge for Democracy: Political Meritocracy in Comparative Perspective, ed. Daniel Bell and Li Chenyang (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 161–202.
66 For an overall analysis of these founding ministers and their image in the early Chinese literature, see Allan, The Heir and the Sage.
67 Allan, The Heir and the Sage, 92–94.
68 For a detailed discussion about the Warring States ruler-minister tension in both ideological and political realms, see Yuri Pines, Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2009), 163–84.
69 See Mengzi yizhu 孟子譯注, ed. Yang Bojun 楊伯峻 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1992), 12.284.
70 For a thorough examination of this tradition, see Allan, The Heir and the Sage, 95–100.
71 Excavated oracle bones reveal that Yi Yin was well-worshipped by the Shang royal descendants as part of their ancestorial pantheon. His name was listed beside Tang as part of the ancestral pantheon of Shang, and the level of sacrificial offerings for him was on par with Tang and other ancestors of the royal household. It is unlikely for a mere minister to reach such a high status; Chang Kwang-chih 張光直 therefore argued that Yi Yin might be an ancestor of one of the Shang royal branches. See Chang Kwang-chih, Shang Civilization (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), 177, 185.
Similarly, Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋, a transmitted collection attributed to Yan Ying 晏嬰 (c. 578–500 bce), casually mentioned Yi Yin as one of the ancestors of the state of Song 宋 together with Tang in a passing sentence (“[They] were the ancestors of Song, Tang and Yi Yin” 是宋之先，湯與伊尹也). The ruling house of the Song were descendants of the Shang royal family; this is a rare case in transmitted literature that considered Yi Yin as an ancestor of the Shang royals. See Yanzi chunqiu jishi 晏子春秋集釋, ed. Wu Zeyu 吳則虞 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1962), 1.80.
Moreover, the possible connection between Yi Yin and Tang’s wife in both transmitted literature and Chi jiu also suggests a much closer connection between Yi Yin and the Shang royals.
72 Some scholars speculated that there might be a “Yi Yin” school of texts collected in Lüshi Chunqiu, due to a number of passages specifically attributed to Yi Yin with shared themes. See John Knoblock and Jeffrey K. Riegel ed., The Annals of Lü Buwei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 301, 695. With the discovery of Yi Yin-themed texts in the Tsinghua collection, such a corpus might have existed. For related discussion, see Yuan Qing 袁青, “Yi Yin yu zaoqi Huanglao zhi xue” 伊尹與早期黃老之學, Zhongzhou xuekan 2019.8, 113–18.
73 Huang Dekuan, “Qinghua jian Chi hu zhi ji Tang zhi wu yu Xianqin ‘xiaoshuo,’” 83–84.
74 Allan, “When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang’s House,” 426–27.