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The Concept of Predetermination and Fate in the Han*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Cho-yun Hsu
Cho-yun Hsu*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Extract

A number of interesting anecdotes are recorded in the Shih-chi and the Han-shu, especially in the biographies of various renowned figures. Some of these anecdotes are related to the concept of predestination and fate. The most frequently mentioned cases are the stories of the births of emperors and founders of dynasties and legends related to the ancient sage kings.

At the beginning of the “Annals of Liu Pang,” the founder of the Han dynasty, it is related that he was engendered by a dragon and from this acquired an unusual physiognomy resembling the face of a dragon. His unusual appearance impressed his prospective father-in-law, who decided to let him marry his daughter, the future Empress Lü. An old lady, Madame Hsu, who was noted for her ability to prophesize by physiognomy, was so impressed by the appearance of Liu Pang that she prophesized a good fortune for the whole family. The legend associated with Liu Pang, that his killing of a white snake was lamented by a mysterious old lady as the act of killing the “Son of the White Emperor” by the “Son of the Red Emperor”, is very familiar. It is further related that Liu's wife never failed to locate his hideout because there was always a colorful haze and mist over it.

Type
Articles
Information
Early China , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , Fall 1975 , pp. 51 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1975

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Footnotes

*

This paper was written for the seminar of comparative history held by the Department of History, Yale University, 1971. My gratitude to Professor Arthur Wright and his colleagues.

References

1. Shih-chi (Pai-na ed.), 8:2b-6b.

2. Ibid., 101:1b.

3. Ibid., 73:1-6.

4. Ibid., 88:3-5b.

5. Ibid., 99:5-7b, 8b.

6. Han-shu (Pai-na ed.), 40:22-26.

7. Ibid., 93:1b-3.

8. Shih-chi, 99:7. .

9. Ibid., chüan 127, 128.

10. Ibid., 127:1b-2, 4a-b.

11. Ibid., 127:7b.

12. Ibid., chüan 128.

13. Ibid., 128:3. .

14. Mo Tzu (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an ed.), 47:6b-7.

15. Han-shu, chüan 25; Shih-chi, chüan 28.

16. Ibid., 6:30 (91 B.C.).

17. SHh-chi, chüan 12, 27; Han-shu, 6:25 and chüan 27.

18. Hsiao-ching yu-eh ch'i , quoted by Kan Pao , Shuo-sheng chi in Chien, Hsu , Ch'u-hsüeh chi (Taiwan, Chung-hua reprint, 1962), pp. 700–701 Google Scholar.

19. Hsin hsü (k'an-yao, Ssu-pu ed. ), chap. 7, pp. 11–13 Google Scholar.

20. Ch'un-eh'iu fan-lu (ts'ung-k'an, Ssu-pu ed.), 5:3a–b, 8b–9 Google Scholar.

21. Ibid., 5:3b.

22. Ibid., 5:8b-9.

23. Ch'un-ch'iu yüan-ming pao quoted in T'ai-p'ing yü-lan (Taipei, Chung-hua reprint), 360:2Google ScholarPubMed.

24. “Wang-ming lun” in Ko-chun, Yen, ed., Ch'üan Hou-Han wen (Taipei, Shih-chieh shu-chü reprint), 23:8b–10 Google Scholar.

25. Pai-hu-t'ung te-lun (ts'ung-k'an, Ssu-pu ed. ), 8:4b–5 Google Scholar.

26. Ibid., 2:1-5; 3:9-19b.

27. Lun-heng (ts'ung-k'an, Ssu-pu ed.), 2:4b ff.; 8b ff.; 5:6b ffGoogle Scholar.

28. Ch'ien-fu-lun (Ssu-pu k'an-yao ed. ), chaps. 25, 27.