Ritual Civilization and Mythological

Coding Cultural Interpretation of Li Ji

Qicui Tang
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Understanding China

Qicui Tang

Ritual
Civilization and
Mythological
Coding
Cultural Interpretation of Li Ji
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Ritual Civilization
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Cultural Interpretation of Li Ji

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Foreword

Mythology: Source Code of the Chinese Culture

The concept of “mythology” was never seen in Chinese academic parlance, nor was
it an academic discipline in any form until scholars who studied in Japan such as
Liang Qichao and Jiang Guanyun imported into modern Chinese in early twentieth
century. Over the course of more than a century, Chinese mythology has made great
achievements, as well as showing clear limitations. Initially, a group of scholars,
many of whom were literati, such as Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Mao Dun, Zheng
Zhenduo, and Xie Liuyi, developed an interest in introducing and studying
mythologies. This is the reason why even today the teaching of mythology in China
is still restricted to the folk literature of the Chinese department curriculum in
universities. Thus, any school that does not include folk literature in their course
arrangement would not teach any professional knowledge of mythology. Compared
with major progress accomplished in mythology research worldwide since the
twentieth century, China shows obvious limitations in isolating the subject in
discipline classification. For instance, in Theories of Myth, the six volumes authored
and published by globally authoritative mythology scholar Robert A. Segal,
mythology study regarding literature only occupies one volume out of six, as in less
than 20% of the mythology research, while the remainder consists of philosophy,
history, archaeology, religion, psychology, anthropology, and mythology research
from the perspectives of other disciplines. In light of the status quo of mythology
research in China, literature-oriented viewpoint of mythology has emerged as a
bottleneck that hampers the development of humanities study in China.
Many tasks need to be accomplished to serve as a critical and indispensable
theoretical foundation for the improvement of China’s mythology research and
humanities research in general. These tasks include the effective summary of the
feats and research experience of Chinese mythology study over the last century,
reflections on the restraints, obstructions and hindrances of the analytical tools
employed by Chinese scholars, proposal of corresponding academic measures to
break free from shackles and bottlenecks, renewal of the perspectives on myths and

v
vi Foreword

knowledge system of mythology research, staying abreast of and responding to

international academic development trends, and selective and rational learning from
academic innovations.
Past experience indicates that if restrictions of literature-oriented mythology
research in China were to be mitigated, it is advisable to fully harness the advantage
of mythology concepts in consolidating cross-disciplinary knowledge including
literature, history, philosophy, religion, and psychology. This breakthrough would
offer a new perspective to humanities scholars and stimulate them to delve into
cross-disciplinary contemplations, discover, propose, and solve new problems,
especially the vital issue of how to connect and reconfigure research mindsets and
focal points of literature, history, and philosophy studies.
Chinese mythology research in the past century mainly emphasized the search
for stories akin to Greek mythology from ancient texts, but neglected a fundamental
question: why was mythology not studied by the ancient Chinese? In other words,
why is the term “mythology” absent from the ancient Chinese language? Since such
a fundamental cultural question was not identified at an earlier stage, thoughts or
discussions of any depth were not common among scholars. The most prominent
feature of Chinese culture and tradition is the holistic and pervasive quality of
myths. The countless number of Confucian temples and God of Wealth shrines
scattering across the country silently manifest the tremendous deity-making power
of this multiethnic nation. Even a substantial portion of fundamental contents being
considered as part of “Chinese philosophy,” “Chinese history,” or “Chinese sci-
ence” by modern scholars, as in those who came after the permeation of western
education and thoughts in China beginning from the end of the Ming Dynasty, are
largely founded upon mythology.
Rarely do visitors of the Forbidden City understand why the palace’s Chinese
name, Zijin Cheng (“Forbidden City”), evidently derives from myth! In antiquity,
people were sure that the imperial palace on earth corresponded to the Ziwei Palace
that housed the Celestial Emperor up in heaven as described in myths. It was the
symbol of governance of the Celestial Emperor at the nexus of heaven, thus cre-
ating the name Zijin Cheng for the imperial palace in human realm. It is common
knowledge that “human beings are an integral part of nature” is one of the main
features of Chinese culture, yet people often forget that this concept is founded
upon a mythological concept or directly derived from a mythological mindset,
which acts like a cultural gene for Chinese traditions. Even Confucius, who pro-
claimed he “does not speak about mythical powers or mythological beings,” was
actually an ardent believer in “destiny,” and devoted particular attention to the
mythological and symbolic meanings behind supernatural creatures like the kylin
(Chinese unicorn) and phoenix. A maniac from the State of Chu even directly
referred to Confucius himself as a “phoenix.” People of today only see mythology
presented in its textual form of narration; thus, mythology is categorized as a part of
literature in its modern sense. However, in cultural tradition, there are considerable
quantity of graphical or physical forms of narrations and representations of
mythology, for instance, a myriad of imperial structures from the Ming and Qing
Dynasties such as the aforesaid Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Temple of
Foreword vii

Earth, Temple of the Sun, and Temple of the Moon, not to mention the
long-standing system of “emperor’s governance from the Hall of Distinction, a
venue with significant political and religious functions.” If myth-based thoughts and
principles were to be disregarded in common idioms and sayings of ancient times
such as “emperor as the son of the Loong” and “prosperity brought by the Loong
and the phoenix,” and idioms and sayings of today such as “Chinese as the
descendants of the Loong” and “great Loong ascends into the sky” (to symbolize
China’s rise to prosperity and power), Chinese culture would be so disfigured that it
would resemble nothing like the one as we know today.
Take another example, a reference book, and how mythology was so penetrating
and pervasive in Chinese culture. Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters is
widely believed as the first ancient Chinese dictionary. The book is organized by
radicals or “section heads,” and upon a closer look at the Chinese characters
under the most important radicals in the opening chapter, one would notice that
this reference book is well structured, with over 9000 characters arranged from “yi”
(一, beginning of all things) to “hai” (亥, the last of the twelve earthly branches),
taking clear cues from the order of space and time from the mythological world-
view. As to why the characters under the radicals “yi,” “er,” “shi,” “san,” “wang,”
and “yu” were placed at the beginning of the dictionary, the profound reasoning
may only be clarified if one were to investigate the spiritual basis, and mythology
foundation in Chinese tradition, and simply judging by the number of strokes in the
characters would not suffice for an explanation. Han Dynasty scholar Xu Shen
compiled the book, and the way he described many Chinese characters was filled
with mythology concepts, even though the term “mythology” did not yet exist in his
times. From the cognitive anthropology angle, content about mythology and beliefs
expressed in Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters without the use of
mythology terminology are vividly indicative of the mythological disposition in
Chinese cultural tradition. As in the Su Dongpo’s poem, “the true face of Mount
Lu I cannot tell, only because I am in the midst of it,” the ancient Chinese did not
need to use the term “myth” because their worldview and behaviors were shaped
and dominated by mythology! From this perspective, pictograph, as a coding for-
mat of culture, in itself represents the source code of the myth concept, which is
exactly the reason why contemporary scholars may re-understand Chinese tradition
from the consolidating perspective of mythology study. This is also the original
intention behind the composition of the Mythistory Series: How to genuinely
unleash mythology currently bound within literature classes, and transform it back
into an effective conceptual tool that connects literature, history, and philosophy
and sheds light on Chinese cultural research, which in turn would enable scholars to
overcome the prejudice of tradition and the boundaries of modern academic
discipline structure, and re-study Chinese ideological traditions and historical
traditions.
There are 20 volumes planned for the Mythistory Series, divided into the
Chinese Mythistory series and World Mythistory series. The World Mythistory
series will include Sumerian Mythistory, Greek Mythistory, Japanese Mythistory,
and Korean Mythistory, among others, which provide insight into world civilization
viii Foreword

and East Asian civilization and serve as a backdrop to examine Chinese Mythistory.
The Chinese Mythistory series consists of one overview volume and the various
separate summary volumes. The summary volumes look into important classics in
the pre-Qin era, Qin Dynasty and two Han Dynasties as subjects, including the likes
of the Book of Documents, Analects of Confucius, Spring and Autumn Annals, Li Ji,
Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, Tale of King Mu, and Master Huainan, which
delve into the mythistory and myth philosophy inherited in these classics, and
showcase fresh analysis and interpretation of these writings. We hope that the
various volumes could be combined into a mutually connected and corresponding
academic corpus as a whole which could deepen reader’s comprehension about the
development of Chinese culture and its unique features.
By continuing the author’s style and research methodology (see “Anthropological
Decoding of Chinese Culture” collection jointly compiled by Shuxian Ye with Xiao
Bing and Wang Jianhui in the 1990s), this series collectively exhibits the author’s
cross-disciplinary contemplations during recent years and gathers a group of young
scholars with sharp and inquisitive spirit of exploration (authors of this series are all
humanities scholars who aspire to carry out cross-disciplinary research and conduct
studies revolving around several academic bodies active in relevant academic circles
such as the Chinese Literature and Anthropology Research Association and Chinese
Mythology Study Association). The series attempts to decipher the source codes of
Chinese culture via new perspectives offered by mythistory and put on display the
latest major innovations and outcomes in humanities research and studies on Chinese
classics. The commencement of this project originally relied on the “mythology
research for the exploration of the origin of the Chinese civilization” major project
of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, but in 2009 it was independently listed as
a Guangdong strong cultural province project, and thus received emphatic support
and funding assistance from the Publicity Department of the Guangdong Provincial
Party Committee and the publishing company of the Nanfang Daily Press. In 2010,
the newly founded Research Center of Literature and Humanities at Shanghai
Jiaotong University also provided extensive aids in human resources, material
resources, and other aspects to this corpus. Here, sincere gratitude is extended to
Publicity Department of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, the publishing
company of the Nanfang Daily Press, Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Literature
Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Beijing Taiyanggong, China Shuxian Ye

June 2010
Introduction

Amid the trends of the search for sources and origins of civilizations, what kind of
role does Li Ji (translated name is The Book of Rite, or Liki by Legge) play in the
search for the source of ritual civilization? And amid the continual influx of new
materials and new insights of present day, from which perspective should one
unveil how the Chinese ritual system was built, standardized, and classicized under
the “great unity” notion inherent in the Chinese language, as well as the underlying
mythology coding behind rites, so as to reconstruct the cultural origin of the ritual
civilization behind Li Ji?

Part One: Review and Introspection on the Research

of Li Ji

The rationale behind the selection of this subject matter was based on three points.
First point is two major research trends, i.e., the “Program of the Search for the
Origin of the Chinese Civilization” by the country in early twenty-first century, and
the “cultural inheritance and historical memory” research by the academic circles.
Li Ji, as literature critical to the study on ritual civilization, is invaluable to this
“search for the roots and inquiry for the sources” type of research. The second point
is revisits and renewed perceptions of the conventional research pathways and
themes regarding Li Ji. This book attempts to reposition Li Ji within three contexts
—the textual records (referring to the “ji,” meaning “record” or “book,” a part
of the Chinese title Liji) contained in the book, its underlying ritual civilization, and
research history of Li Ji, and tries to utilize the textual narration of Li Ji to enter into
the Chinese ritual world behind the words and expose the hidden cognitive coding
principles covered up or rewritten by writing and power. Thirdly and lastly is a trial

ix
x Introduction

research using the classic as subject, in response to the search for sources of
Chinese civilization that gained popularity in recent years among academic circles,
and the comparative mythological study perspective used in the textual research and
explanation of ancient classics.

Thorough Understanding of the Idea of Rite through Li Ji

The impacts of the tide of globalization and the rapid assimilation of cultures have
made the affirmation and reinforcement of local cultural traditions and cultural
identity realistic demands of modern ethnic nations. Therefore, the progress of
globalization and the self-recognition of local culture have become the most dis-
cussed key subjects within the twenty-first-century academic research in humanities
and social sciences. It was exactly against this backdrop that China initiated the
“Program of the Search for the Origin of the Chinese Civilization” at the advent
of the twenty-first century, assembling experts from a multitude of disciplines such
as archaeology, history, astrology, geography, physics, chemistry, zoology, and
botany in a concerted scientific research endeavor to seek the sources of Chinese
civilization. The humanities academia meanwhile began research on the method,
physical manifestation, form of expression, and other aspects of “cultural inheri-
tance and historical memory,”1 joining the tides for the search of sources of civi-
lization. The “quadruple evidence method” advocated and applied by Prof. Shuxian
Ye in humanities and the mythology perspective in search of the origin of Chinese
civilization promoted in recent years are both methods to broaden the perspectives
of traditional literature and uncover rafts of long-neglected cultural inheritance and
historical memories that come into play when rethinking about ancient text research
method. Based upon this type of cross-disciplinary and cutting-edge exploration,
this book focuses on Li Ji as the subject matter and delves into Li Ji presentation
and cognitive codes of ritual civilization inheritance and memory method.

1
In 2007, the School of Histories, Languages and Cultures of the University of Otago, New
Zealand, commenced a research on Chinese historical memories. Between November 17 and 20,
2007, the School of History and Culture and Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University, the
City University of Hong Kong, and the Singapore Institute of Technology jointly hosted the
“Cultural Inheritance and Historical Memory Academic Symposium,” and 20 scholars participated
in the discussion from various viewpoints including sociology, history, ethnography, archaeology,
and classic texts. The large quantity of publications on cultural memory research of the Chinese
publishing industry since 2000, such as How Societies Remember by Paul Connerton (2000), On
Collective Memory by Maurice Halbwachs (2002), Memory (Darwin College Lectures) (2006),
Das Soziale Gedächtnis: Geschichte, Erinnerung, Tradierung by Harald Welzer (2007), and City
Corners and Memories: Social Ecology Perspective (2008) are indicative of the intense interest in
cultural inheritance and historical memories among scholars.
Introduction xi

The most unique institution of Chinese civilization is without doubt a general

principle that centers on “ritual institution,” whether that be described by the
Chinese themselves or by the other.2 What they call as “three hundred major rites,
three thousand minor rites,” the Chinese society is a typical “ritual society.”3 Not
only do rites and ceremonies exist from birth till death, permeate every aspect of the
life of Chinese people from daily mundaneness to ritual celebrations,4 and impose
political and ethical orders that keep all parts of society stable and responsible, but
are also deeply rooted in the dao (way) and de (virtue): As long as an individual
“genuinely and earnestly” masters and practices the ritual etiquettes demanded by

2
In terms of self-description ever since ancient times, especially since the 1980s after a series of
archaeological cultural discoveries, people have reaffirmed the essence of Chinese culture, as in the
ritual music institution. Ritual Institution of the Longshan Era by Gao Wei, Chinese Ritual Culture
by Zou Changlin and others are monographs on this subject; in terms of description by others, such
as De l’esprit des lois or The Spirit of Laws by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in the
eighteenth century, The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism by Max Weber in the
twentieth century, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred by American Sinologist Herbert Fingarette
and The World of Thought in Ancient China by Benjamin Schwartz, among other publications, all
deem “rite and ritua” as the core principle behind ancient Chinese culture.
3
In Natural Symbols, well-known symbolic anthropologist Mary Douglas used “group-grid
theory” to analyze the relationships among different social norms and individuals. In this theory,
the “group” and “grid” denote the interactions between two dimensions, which form the four
quadrants A, B, C, and D representing various social circumstances and aspects. People in
Quadrant A have strict and clear restrictions and personal role norms, and they form a society
where formalities are very important. They rely on these ritual behaviors to express the
relationships between individuals and between humans and gods, forming a society commonly
referred to as a ritualized society. In such a society, the behaviors of both individuals and the group
are dictated by prescribed order, as do the actions of the society and the universe. Meanwhile,
aspects related to the body of human beings, from appearance and speech to attire and social
gestures, are all shared and connected symbols for communication. For details, please refer to
Natural Symbols. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1970. pp. 95. This quadrant also reveals the
model of the Chinese society.
4
Ritual is normally defined as: (A) religious ritual or etiquette, though in earlier western academic
writings the terms “rite” or “ritus” are more commonly used because the earliest ritual research
were all carried out within the scope of religious study; and (B) a more encompassing term that
includes norms, customs, and procedures in daily life, but also indicates daily and mundane
ceremonies of interest to social anthropologists. For details, please refer to Wang Xiaobing,
Characters, Ritual and Cultural Memory. Jiangxi Social Sciences, 2007 (2). Translations of
literature might use terms such as “rite” or “ritual,” and the terminology used in this book follows
the terminology in the source. Due to the complicated nature of the term in Chinese, thus in
Chinese the author uses “rite,” a term in relatively common usage within academia.
5
Here, it refers to quintessence of the Confucian ritual institution described in the pre-Qin classic
Li Ji, and for details please refer to its chapters Summary of the Rules of Propriety, Doctrine of the
Mean, and Record of Music. American Sinologist Herbert Fingarette applied contemporary
philosophical knowledge and concluded that the central doctrine behind Confucius’ ideologies was
an emphasis on ritual acts: “For Confucius, it was precisely the image of holy rite that unified or
integrated all dimensions pertaining to the existence of human.” Rite is an expression of human
nature formed through the accumulation of human experience and history, and ritual practice may
elevate human nature toward perfection within the overall community. For details, please refer to
Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred, 2002. Translated by Peng Guoxiang et. al.
Nanjing: Jiangsu People's Publishing Ltd. pp. 15.
xii Introduction

society, one would obtain inner spiritual perfection and transcendence, achieve the
state of “harmony,” and approach sainthood.5 Thus, ritual institution is the most
important content for search for the origin of civilization, from literary text to
cultural text. As such, Li Ji recorded interpretations of ritual spirit and institution by
early ritual experts. Thus, it is considered as the doctrine through which posterity
learns, improves, and performs ritual etiquette, much like the viewpoint of modern
anthropology “insiders” on the field study, which is especially crucial to the search
for the origin of ritual civilization.
In antiquity, the collective known as the “Three Rites” was the most important
classic literature pertaining to li, or rite. The “Three Rites” consist of the Rites of
Zhou that details governance and bureaucracy, the Book of Etiquette and
Ceremonial6 that describes social and familial norms, while Li Ji is the amalga-
mated “records” of interpretations of “rites” by scholars during the Warring States
period and the Qin and Han Dynasties. This version of Li Ji is historically known as
the Dai Sheng’s Li Ji, which was composed by Dai Sheng for use in the ritual
conference held during the 3rd year of the Ganlu Era under the reign of Emperor
Xuan of Han Dynasty (51 BC). This text edged into the “Three Rites” echelon
because it was enhanced by annotations from Eastern Han Dynasty eminent
Confucian philosopher Zheng Xuan, and it also received widespread acceptance by
the court because the rites described herein matched the needs of social order
construction at the time. Thus, Li Ji overtook the other two texts and became the
most prominent constituent of the “Three Rites.” More importantly, as time
advances, public opinions were that the writings in the “Book of Etiquette and
Ceremonial were hard for people to understand and perform”7 and that the “Rites of
Zhou and the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial were too complicated and stren-
uous to be applied in the current times.”8 Li Ji deep and profound yet highly
readable and easily understood content written in an elegant and sophisticated

6
Li Ji goes by many names including Rites, Records, Dai Sheng’s Li Ji, and Dai De’s Li Ji, and is
often not clearly distinguished from the Book of Etiquette and Rites, resulting in much confusion.
Recently, Mr. Lv Youren tallied statistics with regard to the citation of the “book” in around a
dozen classics and ancient texts from the pre-Qin period and the two Han Dynasties, discovering
that Li Ji was referred solely to as Li prior to the throne of Emperor Xuan of Han Dynasty, and then
started to be called Ji at the ritual conference held during the 3rd year of the Ganlu Era under the
reign of Emperor Xuan of Han (51 B.C.), while the title Liji was not used until the times of
Emperor Yuan of Han, and it was only after the Wei and Jin Dynasties when the names Dai
Sheng’s Rites or Dai Sheng’s Li Ji emerged. For details, please refer to Lv Youren, Explanations
on Li Ji, 2009. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press. pp. 1–4.
7
Huang Kan, Brief Discussion about the Ritual Study, Huang Kan’s Studies and Other Works,
1964. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 444.
8
This was the last wish of economist Jiang Sheng, and Confucian scholar Sun Xingyan promptly
remarked: “Understanding the meaning of rites thoroughly lies in reading Li Ji”. Quoted from
Huang Junlang, Textual Research on Li Ji, 2003. Taipei: National Hall of Editing and Translation.
pp. 78.
Introduction xiii

manner meanwhile emerged as the instructional classic for people to learn to per-
form rites and conduct ritual study. This is why famed Confucian scholar Sun
Xiyan remarked “Understanding the meaning of rites thoroughly lies in reading
Li Ji,” and contemporary scholar Liang Qichao also said:
To learn about the fundamental Confucian doctrines and how they changed,
apart from reading the Analects, the Mencius and the Xunzi, the most crucial source
is Li Ji. And since there are much about Li Ji, a broad spectrum of information is
available.9
Confucianist Gao Ming also succinctly summed up views on Li Ji in three
sentences:
Without reading Li Ji, one would not understand the root cause behind the
formation of Chinese culture. Without reading Li Ji, one would not understand the
norms which one should abide by. Without reading Li Ji, one would not understand
the principles behind the formation of the country’s institution.10
Some scholars even opine that Li Ji contains the ideals capable of cultivating
healthy psychological and behavioral norms in everyone, which in turn would
foster empathy and empathetic customs, and consequently enable society to exist in
a harmonious and healthy state.11 Whether such a comment is substantiated is a
whole different topic of discussion, it is a remedy for the current society marred by
rapid changes, lack of tradition, and individuals that panic due to the inability to
ascertain one’s own purpose of existence. As for the present, ancient classics are
still significant to the nourishment of the folks of today, and therefore, research on
Li Ji still embodies a certain degree of spiritual ecology purpose.
Li Ji discussed in this book includes both the versions by Dai Sheng and his
uncle Dai De, with Dai Sheng’s later edition occupying the more central role.12
Bamboo slips unearthed from a tomb of the State of Chu of the Warring States

9
Liang Qichao, How to Interpret and Read Important literature—Li Ji, quoted from Huang
Junlang, Textual Research on Li Ji, 2003. Taipei: National Hall of Editing and Translation. pp. 78.
10
Gao Ming, New Explorations in Ritua Study, 1984. Taipei: Student Books Taiwan. pp. 23–24.
11
Huang Junlang, Textual Research on Li Ji, 2003. Taipei: National Hall of Editing and
Translation. 79–80; in addition, master’s and doctoral theses of Li Ji expert Li Suying,
respectively, discuss the views on life and death and views of politics and religion in Li Ji, while
new publications Sweet Burden and Thoughts on and Applications of Ritual Study even more
emphatically followed the style of Zhou He’s The Treasury of Knowledge of the State of Rites and
Ceremonies—Li Ji in employing more basic speech and lexicon conducive to the study and spread
of contents, making them genuine contemplations and actualizations in the use of ancient classics
for the nourishment of present-day folks by modern scholars.
12
With regard to Li Ji by Dai De and his nephew Dai Sheng, and issues related to the compilation
of Li Ji, the raft of varying voices have never quieted down in academic circles. It is generally
believed that the book went through three stages: attached to Li chapters is “Ji”; formations of the
independent chapters but not their compilation into the book as a whole; compilation as a book, as
in Li Ji by Dai De and Dai Sheng. For details, please refer to Qian Xuan, General Theories on the
Three Rites, 1996. Nanjing: Nanjing Normal University Press. pp. 35; Hong Ye, Quotations from
Li Ji, 1983. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press.
xiv Introduction

period at Jingmen in Hubei Province in 1993, alongside Chu bamboo scrolls put on
display at the Shanghai Museum at the beginning of the twenty-first century,
supplemented the study of Li Ji with new materials and aroused the attention of
both domestic and foreign scholars. Since many of the materials mentioned above
are pertinent to this version of Li Ji, some scholars even began referring to this set
as the Jingmen Li Ji.13 It is a consensus that this version of Li Ji was compiled and
revised after the original, and under this premise there exist two opposing view-
points. One side argues that this version of Li Ji includes texts and materials from
the pre-Qin period as an evidence, not fabricated by posterity and attests to the
credibility of literature handed down from previous generations; the other side
asserts that by comparison with three versions of the Black Robes chapter in Li Ji,
this edition of Li Ji has been found to contain a myriad of artificial editing (order
changes, misplaced passages, insertions, modern representations of ancient written
characters) and revisions, and thus drew the conclusion that any purported use of
texts and materials from the pre-Qin period may be unfounded.14
However, if “editing” is to be deemed as a method to reconstruct ritual study and
to interpret and establish rites, then it is an integration of the scopes of both
historical memories and real conceptions, a reflection of the correlative thinking
mindset adopted by the Chinese during interpretation of traditions, and a means
through which the potentates seek and strengthen the legitimacy of their regality by
editing and revising classics. Therefore, the value of a classic is that it can transcend
time and space, functioning as a medium through which people may comment,
while remain over the course of being continually discussed, revised, rewritten and
updated. It constitutes an existence in multiple dimensions jointly with the bygone
fragments of history, relics, and remains buried in tombs, ceremonies, and literature
that have survived to this day, and the exegesis and annotations of the classic itself.
It is precisely this type of existence that highlights the value of a “classic” as an
instructional sacred text that “originates from sacred narratives”15:

13
Chen Lai, Bamboo Slips from Tomb of the State of Chu at Guodian Could be Called the Jingmen
Li Ji, Renmin Zhengxie Bao: August 3, 1998.
14
For details, please refer to Li Xuejin, Guodian Bamboo Slips and Li Ji, History of Chinese
Philosophy Vol. 4, 1998. Xing Wen (US), Re-understanding of Li Ji—Texts Related to Li Ji from
the Guodian and Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips, Chinese Ancient Civilization and Academic
History, 2006. Baoding: Hebei University Press. pp. 201–214; Xia Hanyi (US), Attempted
Discussion on Evidence of Incorrect Arrangement of Bamboo Slips of Black Robes and Its
Reasons and Consequences in the Course of the Compilation of Li Ji, Xia Hanyi, Different Views
on Ancient History, 2005. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press. pp. 343–361; Hu Zhihong, The
Obscurity and Reemergence of Primordial Confucian Moral and Political Ideologies—Discussion
on the Guodian, Shanghai Museum and Inherited Versions of Black Robes, Confucius Studies,
Vol. 1, 2007.
15
Karen Armstrong, The Holy Occurrence of Narratives: Rectification of Mythology. Translated by
Shuxian Ye. Journal of Yangtze University. Vol. 5, 2008.
Introduction xv

From the perspective of the source of cultural history, the earliest classics were
all sacred texts. The concept of a classic in the literary sense was born out of the
concept of the sacred text in the religious sense, and is a secular product resulting
from changes, weakening and loss of the original religious beliefs and the sepa-
ration between government and religion.16
Accompanying the advancement of secularism is inevitable misinterpretation
and misunderstanding of classics. However, the original mindset and cognitive
coding contained in the classics were not completely lost; instead, they remain alive
but hidden inside written characters and symbols, myths, and ceremonies. This is
also precisely the reason why ritual scholars of the past spared no trouble in tracing
and underscoring the sacred origin of “rites” and their capacity to “govern the
country” and “reassure the monarch and educate the people”17 when attempting to
reconstruct rites.
In most cases, progression in a discipline is stimulated by new discovery. “Since
antiquity, the advent of new knowledge or new discipline is mostly derived from
new discovery.” The adage “Books from the hearth of Confucius gave rise to the
study of ancient literature since Han dynasty; the discovery of ancient artifacts from
the state of Zhao in Song dynasty gave rise to the study of ancient relics and ancient
characters since Song dynasty” published by the master of Chinese culture Wang
Guowei18 in 1925 still holds true today. The pity is that comprehension about Li Ji
has not been clarified or enhanced even with the discovery and interpretation of new
materials. Amid the continual influx of new materials and new insights of present
day, how to consolidate resources, re-study the realm of Chinese history and
classics, analyze “rites” from the “book” (or “record”), review the “book” from
remnants of newly discovered rites and ceremonies, contemplate the spiritual
doctrine behind Chinese ritual civilization, explore the onset of such ritual civi-
lization, and uncover the mythology ideologies and cognitive coding hidden within
such ritual civilization has become key agendas crucial to a thorough understanding
of the entire ideological system of Chinese ritual civilization.

Review on the Research of Li Ji

Through textual research in Textual Research on Li Ji (from Han Dynasty to Qing

Dynasty) by Taiwanese scholar Huang Junlang and Summary of Research Work on
the Three Li (from Han Dynasty to 1999) by mainland Chinese scholar Wang E., as
well as master’s and doctoral theses and academic journal articles of the past two
decades collected and collated by the authors, one could get a sense of the vibrancy

16
Shuxian Ye, Misinterpretation of Classics and Knowledge Archaeology. Journal of Shaanxi
Normal University. Vol. 4, 2006.
17
Ruan Yuan (Qing Dynasty), Commentaries and Explanations to the Thirteen Classics, 2003
(1980). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 1222, 1371.
18
Wang Guowei, The Will of Wang Guowei, 1965. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press. pp. 65.
xvi Introduction

and diversity in research on Li Ji. Reviewing relevant discourses held by Chinese

and foreign scholars from the past and present, it can be seen that research on Li Ji
revolves around a couple classic topics and their corresponding academic pathways.
Scholars from fields such as Confucianism, history, philosophy, literature,
archaeology, and anthropology conducted research from different perspectives.
Nevertheless, there are several common research areas like the era of the compi-
lation of the book, arrangement of contents and the book’s examinations and
corrections as subjects of interest among traditional Confucian and history scholars,
the original meaning of the character li (rite) and the origin of rites, the pedigree
of the Three Li and appraisal of relevant names and objects, changes in the origin
and development of the ritual institution, and philosophy of life encompassed by
Li Ji. The mythology viewpoint on the other hand is seldom seen. The following
segment will focus on and briefly comment on these aforesaid topics.19

(A) Era of Compilation of the Book, Arrangement of Contents, and the Book’s
Examinations and Corrections:

19
There is quite a throng of foreign scholars that conduct research on ancient Chinese ritual
institution, studies, and ideologies. Summary of Research Work on the Three Rites by Wang E
contained some 125 works of research on Li Ji undertaken by Japanese scholars, and another 89
studies that delve into the Three Rites in general, totaling more than 200 pieces. These efforts
looked into a variety of aspects of Li Ji, such as the era of its compilation, examinations, and
corrections on the chapter arrangement of the whole book, study on ancient literature, word and
objects contained therein, textual research on rites and ceremonies, tracing the source of ritual
institution, connotations of ideologies and mindsets. Since the author does not possess sufficient
capacity to read Japanese research and publications, descriptions on relevant Japanese studies will
not be dwelled upon at the current stage. With regard to European or North American studies on
Li Ji, at present no summarizing or cataloging type of article has been found in China, and the
majority of materials examined by the author talked about “rite” in the context of Confucianism or
the development of history of Chinese ideologies, but all of them agree that “rite” is at the core of
Confucianism. James Legge’s study on Li Ji as a part of the Sacred Books of the East may be
considered the earliest and most direct research of its kind. In the Sacred Books of the East, Legge
used three chapters to discuss the meaning behind the title Li Ji and introduced the classic's
annotated, along with an 875-page translation of Li Ji, which function as the fundamental literature
for western scholars to study Chinese thoughts and ritual institution. The master’s thesis of Song
Zhongxiu from the English Department of Fujian Normal University was titled Research on
Legge’s English Translation of Li Ji, focused on the book of its namesake and offered a brief
account about the history of the spread of Li Ji in the west. Unfortunately, the author has not yet
been able to read this paper, and thus could not provide any details. The materials here have been
sourced from a dissection of the content formulated for the 1963 New York University reprint
of the Sacred Books of the East by Yue Feng’s A Bridge Spanning the East and West—Research
by British Sinologist James Legge, 2004. Fuzhou, Fujian People’s Publishing House. pp. 368.
Introduction xvii

There is still no definitive answer about the compilation process of Li Ji to date,

with the majority agreeing that the classic was a collection of writings about rites
from the end of the Spring and Autumn period to the Qin and Han Dynasties, put
together by Western Han Dynasty scholar Dai Sheng.20 It was then elevated to
imperial status because of the addition of annotations by Eastern Han Confucianist
Zheng Xuan, and included as a part of the “nine classics” from the reign of Emperor
Taizong of Tang Dynasty. Therefore, it is also a consensus that Li Ji is not the fruit
of one man of one period of one location.21 Yet, if dig a little deeper, debates
continue regarding the era and author of the various constituent texts/chapters. In
the past several decades, the discovery and interpretation of a raft of oracle
inscriptions, bronze vessel inscriptions, bamboo slip inscriptions, and silk books
from the pre-Qin period have provided a slew of new evidences to help determine
the compilation time of the various constituent chapters of Li Ji. Published by the
Zhonghua Book Company in 2007, the Investigation of the Compilation of Li Ji22 is
a new research outcome based on a combination of old literature and recent
archaeological findings. The book looked into the compilation periods of the 46
chapters of Li Ji, and the editors and editing time of the whole book, dedicated
segments to expound the compilation of Li Ji and the distribution and dissemination
of the classic during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Strenuous efforts were dedicated to
cleansing, supplementation, and verification of previous research and studies. It
could be considered the latest and an authoritative research feat about the compi-
lation of Li Ji. The Royal Regulations, Proceedings of Government in Different
Months and Places in the Hall of Distinction chapters in Li Ji are widely considered

20
In addition, there is also the Dai De’s Li Ji edited and compiled by Dai De; with regard to
proposals about the compiler of the classic, there is also the theory that Shu Suntong of early Han
Dynasty was responsible, or that enthusiasts “collecting the books from the burning remains
caused by the Chimei Peasants Uprising Force and observing no family doctrines” and put together
the book, or that Dai De deleted materials compiled by Liu Xiang, in turn Dai Sheng deleted
materials compiled by Dai De, and then Ma Rong supplemented with additional materials, among
other possibilities. For details, please refer to Textual Research on Li Ji, 2003. Taipei: National
Hall of Editing and Translation. pp. 29–31; Hong Ye, Quotations from Li Ji—Investigations into
the Source and Development of Ritual Studies in the Two Han Dynasties, from editor Liu Mengxi,
Chinese Modern Academics Classics—Hong Ye, 1996. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education Press; Cai
Jiemin, Era of Compilation of Li Ji, from New Oriental, Vol. 1–1, 1940. Wang E., Investigation
of the Compilation of Li Ji, 2007. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.
21
With regard to the specific compilation method of Li Ji, there are mainly six theories, i.e.,
compilation by students of Confucius, compilation by those from the Six Dynasties era, deletion
and editing of an ancient Li Ji by Dai De and Dai Sheng, inheritance by Dai De and Dai Sheng,
deletion and editing by Dai De and Dai Sheng based on a text called Qutaiji, and compilation by a
group of Confucian scholars of the early Han Dynasty. For details, please refer to Xu Xichen, Era
of Compilation of Li Ji and Its Value as Historical Material, from Research on the History of
Historical Study, Vol. 4, 1984.
22
This is a Lanzhou University doctoral thesis by Wang E. in 2004.
xviii Introduction

to be the last ones to be compiled, and these were dissected and determined that
their main bodies were all compiled toward the middle or end of the Warring States
period, thereby providing a new platform to facilitate studies on Li Ji.
American Sinologist Edward L. Shaughnessy and Chinese scholar Hu Zhihong,
among others, all applied textual criticism and ideological archaeology methods to
compare and contrast different versions of the Black Robes chapter in Li Ji, namely,
from an edition handed down from generations, the Guodian edition, and the
Shanghai Museum. They believe that Black Robes from the handed-down edition is
the result of major changes at the hands of scripture lecturers under the social
climate of the Western Han autocracy, with the original Confucian moral and
political ideologies contained therein having been confused or obscured, while the
concept of social order and law received more emphasis. The advent of the Guodian
edition and the Shanghai Museum edition unveiled the importance of original
Confucian moral and political ideologies that Han Dynasty Confucianists had put
on Li Ji about 2,000 years ago. Zeng Junze focused on the various past examina-
tions and corrections on the chapter arrangement of the whole book, and from this
angle discussed the ritual study reconstruction, mindset, and hermeneutic meaning
of the editors during the course of their chapter arrangement examinations and
corrections and content interpretations. Past editors always attempted to rearrange
and interpret Li Ji through reclassification, editing, paraphrasing, and clarification.
However, the fact is that editing and reconstruction is an interpretation method that
stresses more on the whole entity and has not gained widespread acceptance from
the formal study of Confucian classics.23
Thus, it has become ever more important to observe the sociology of knowledge
that analyzes “rites” from the “book.”

(B) Original Meaning of the Character Li (Rite) and the Origin of Rites:
Anyone that studies the origin of “rites” starts from the structural composition and
the origin of the character li. According to ancient dictionary Explaining Graphs
and Analyzing Characters by Eastern Han Dynasty scholar Xu Shen, “Li (禮) is the
code of conduct, which tells people to worship gods and pray for fortune. The word
consists of two parts, i.e., ‘shi’ (示) and ‘li’ (豊) with ‘li’ (豊) signifying the
pronunciation.” Li (豊) is the vessel for performing rite. It looks like a bean. Any
word with the part of “豊” will adopt the pronunciation of “豊,” which is the same
as li “(禮).” Further, “Li (豊), originating from beans, with pictorial resemblance.”
This has become a golden rule for the interpretation of li (禮). Taiwanese scholar

23
Zeng Jun, Unconventional Explanation of Classic Discourse: Restructuring of Compilation—
One Investigation into Explanation Method of Li Ji. Journal of Shanxi Normal University, Vol. 3,
2006.
Introduction xix

Fig. 1 Holy Food—Jade

Qiu Yanwen once discussed the different explanations for the form of the character
li (禮) over the course of history, from Xu Shen’s Explaining Graphs and
Analyzing Characters to Wang Guowei, and summed up a four-part conclusion:
When comprised of 礻and 豐, the character looks like a vessel formed by two jade
components; when comprised of 礻and 豊, the character looks like a ritual vessel;
when comprised of 礻and 乙, the character looks like a bud beginning to sprout;
and when comprised of 礻and 玄, the character looks like the mythical blackbird, a
migratory bird that newly took flight, symbolizing the commencement of ritual
performance.24 (Fig. 1)
The discovery of oracle inscriptions brought about new changes in the way the
word “Li (礼)” was interpreted. The eminent scholar Wang Guowei attempted to
use oracle inscriptions to decipher the characters 豊 and 禮. “豊” has the forms of
dou (豆, type of ancient container) and (珏, jade), which initially referred to the
containers (namely dou) holding two strings of jade ware as sacrifices to deities,
then referred to the use of wine as sacrifices to deities (thereby deriving the world
醴) and finally became the collective term for all sacrificial ceremonies (thereby

24
Qiu Yanwen, Textual Research on Ancient Chinese Ritual Institution, 1990. Taipei, Wenchin
Publishing House. pp. 17–26.
25
Wang Guowei, Explanation of Rites, Vol. 6. 2006. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.
xx Introduction

deriving the word 礼)25. This became a canonical form with far-reaching impact
since Xu Shen’s definition, which was lauded and supplemented by academia. Liu
Shipei, He Bingdi, Guo Moruo, Yang Kuan, Jin Jingfang, Wang Meng’ou, and
others also support this interpretation, except that Yang Kuan commented on the
need to further clarify the relationship between “醴” and “禮.” According to the
theory in the Chapter of Conveyance of Rites in Li Ji, which goes: “At the first use
of rites, they began with meat and drink,” Yang holds that ancient people first
exhibited particular ceremonies when allocating means of subsistence, especially in
eating and drinking. A classy gift to present and show respect is “醴,” and thus this
type of ritual is called “醴,” but thereafter all sorts of offerings to gods became
encompassed under “禮.”26 By subsequent and logical extension, rules that needed
to be followed in production and life, and systems and means to maintain the
governance of the nobility all came to be called “禮.” Physical jade artifacts from
8000 years ago discovered by archaeologists serve as even more ancient proofs that
substantiate Wang’s theory. Anthropologist Prof. Shuxian Ye found a
jade-venerating tradition in China around 8000 years ago in the form of burial
jades, ritual jades, sacrificial jades, and edible jade, and he believes that “yu” (玉,
jade) is a holy food offered to the realm of the immortal gods and spirits. The
function of holy rites was to use eating and drinking as a form of offering and
sacrifice to realize a communication between human and godly domains. In a
visually clear manner, the characters “禮” and “醴” denote the food (jade) and
wines offered to the deities.27
Paleographers Qiu Xigui, Kang Yin, and others opine that the character “豊” is
not comprised of “豆,” but of “壴” and “珏,” and thus is the term for a type of
drum.28 Zheng Jiexiang supplemented with the argument that an early form of “禮”
depicts the shape of a drum and refers to ancient people’s sacrificial offering of
jades to deities and spirits amid drum music.29 Liu Zongdi believes that the oracle
inscription “ ” resembles a feather-ornamented drum placed on a drum stand and
symbolizes the use of drum music and dancing as tribute to gods.30 Yang Zhigang’s
Research on Chinese Ritual Institution adopts a more general stance, stating that
“豊” is somehow related to ritual activities of the ancient folks, whether that be
praying to gods by offering jades held in vessels, or presenting jade as tributes to
deities and spirits amid drum music, or offering or drinking sweet wine as a form of
prayer (Fig. 2).

26
Yang Kuan, New Investigations into Ancient History, 1965. Beijing, Zhonghua Book Company.
pp. 307–308.
27
Shuxian Ye, Hexi Corridor: Mythology in Western China and the Origins of Huaxia, 2008.
Kunming: Yunnan Education Publishing House. pp. 33–41.
28
Qiu Xigui, Names of Several Musical Instruments in Oracle Inscriptions, Journal of Chinese
Literature and History, Ch. 2, 1980.
29
Zheng Jiexiang, Explanation of Rites—Jade, Civilization of Huaxia, 1987. Beijing: Peking
University Press.
30
Liu Zongdi, Ritual Institution and Primitive Dancing, Ethnic Arts Quarterly, Vol. 4, 1998.
Introduction xxi

Fig. 2 Drum and Dance as Offering

In the beginning, was “礼” written as “豊” or “豐”? Was it comprised of “豆” or
“壴”? Neither oracle inscriptions nor bronze vessel inscriptions show any con-
spicuous sign of the character “礼” of today, so debates continue. Paleography
scholar Lin Yun analyzed and differentiated “豊” and “豐” in oracle inscriptions or
bronze vessel inscriptions. Lin believes that these two characters originally differ
drastically both in pronunciation and meaning. However, due to the similarity in
their forms compounded with erroneous use in writings in the official script, the
subsequent outcome is the mixed understanding and misunderstanding of these two
characters without a clear distinction between them. “豊” was originally comprised
of “珏” and “壴” and was the primordial form of “礼” because ancient rites often
used both jades and drums, a fact that is evinced in both archaeological and eth-
nological materials. The character “豐” meanwhile is comprised of a pair of “丰,”
which represents the sounds of the drums, and perhaps the drums were so thun-
derous and loud that eventually the character came to denote meanings like “big”
and “full.” Moreover, the character “豐” is pronounced as feng because of its source
in “丰,” and the posterity used “丰” solely indicate meanings such as “luxuriant”
and “exuberant.” Therefore, the pronunciation and meaning of “豐” have nothing to
do with “豊.”31
Xu Fuguan compared oracle inscriptions against literature of early Zhou Dynasty
and suggested that “禮” was originally “豐.” However, “豐” does not equate to
“禮.” This is because “礼” (rite) as preached by Confucius actually includes the

31
Lin Yun, Identifying Feng and Feng, Research on Ancient Characters, Ch. 12, 2006. Beijing:
Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 181–186.
xxii Introduction

connotations of both “豐” (rites and ceremonies for gods) and “彝” (code of dig-
nified manner). This also signifies a switch from religion toward humanities.32
Yang Zhigang further employed statistical methods to record and analyze Western
Zhou Dynasty bronze vessel inscriptions and early Zhou Dynasty literature, and
discovered that during early Zhou Dynasty the character “礼,” defined as all forms
of rites and ceremonies, had already been developed from the oracle inscription
character “豐” (specifically denoting rites and ceremonies for gods).33 However, the
author also realizes that some literature were produced at a later time, and “豐” still
appears in the referenced bronze vessel inscriptions. Similar to how Xu Fuguan is
skeptical about Wang Guowei’s theory, it seems that the character “豐” encom-
passes such a breadth of references that it cannot be directly proven that “豐” and
“礼” are the same.
Jia Jinhua and others looked into archaeological finds, such as images and words
on ritual jade objects like yue (a type of ancient weapon), dagger-axe ge and
qiong/cong (a type of tube-shaped object), symbols on potteries, oracle inscriptions,
bronze vessel inscriptions, bamboo slip inscriptions, silk books, literature and
explanations of Chinese characters in ancient books, then meticulously collated the
evolutionary sequence among characters like “我,” “義,” and “儀.” They concluded
that the original form of “義” is the pictogram “我”—the ancient weapon yue (“钺”)
symbolized power and the yue was also once used as the logo or emblem of certain
tribes, and then evolved into two related meanings: one is the dignified manner of a
tribe; the other represents the norm, duty, and justice of a tribe. The first meaning is
much more primitive than the second. In Western Zhou Dynasty and Spring and
Autumn period bronze vessel inscriptions, as well as Warring States period bamboo
slips, the character denoting dignified manner was still “義” or its variant forms.
Nevertheless, the character “儀” did not appear anywhere in the pre-Qin period and
emerged only around the start of the Han Dynasty. This constitutes the evolutionary
process of 我-義-儀.34 This outcome is a step forward in the theory of traditional
studies on explanations of Chinese characters in ancient books that “義” and “儀”
are related.
In tandem with investigation into the origin of the characters “礼” and “仪” is
the quest for the root of rites. At present, there are seven predominant viewpoints.
The first theory is of human feelings and relationship, as represented by Xunzi,
Sima Qian, Li Anzhai, and others, and the second theory is of prehistoric sacrificial
ritual, as represented by Xu Shen, Wang Guowei, Guo Moruo, He Bingdi, Wang
Meng’ou, Noah E. Feher, Shuxian Ye, and others. The third one is the theory of
primordial drumming and dancing as tribute to gods, as represented by Qiu Xigui,

32
Xu Fuguan, About the History of Chinese Human Nature (pre-Qin volume), 2001. Shanghai:
Shanghai SDX Joint Publishing Company. pp. 36–40.
33
Yang Zhigang, Research on Chinese Ritual Institution, 2001. Shanghai: East China Normal
University Press. pp. 86–88.
34
Jinhua Jia and Pang—fei Kwok, From Clan Manners to Ethical Obligation and Righteousness:
A New Interpretation of the Term yi 義. The Royal Asiatic Society, JRAS, Series 3,17, I (2007),
pp. 33–42.
Introduction xxiii

Fig. 3 Power, Dignified Manner, and the Source and Rise of Rites

Kang Yin, Zheng Jiexiang, Liu Zongdi, and others. The fourth theory is of primitive
ceremonies and rites, as represented by Yang Kuan, Li Zehou, Yang Zhigang, Zou
Changlin, Jia Jinhua, and others. The fifth one is the theory of social contacts, as
represented by Yang Xiangkui, and the sixth one is the theory of folk customs, as
represented by Liu Shipei, Lv Simian, He Liankui, and others. The last theory is of
drinks and foods distribution and allocation, as represented by Yang Yingjie. With
regard to the origin of rite, within Li Ji are a few different expressions, such as
originating from the concept of taiyi (namely polaris), or originating from sacrifices
to gods, or based on human feelings and relations, or based on drinking and eating,
among others, so it can be deduced that the origin of rite is quite a complicated
matter.35 Of the theories on the source of rite formulated by subsequent scholars,
many are not completely distinguished from each other and oftentimes there are
overlaps (Fig. 3).
These interpretations enriched our understanding of “rites” and serve as solid
bedrock upon which further discussions may be conducted. There is plenty of room
for discussion because obviously none of the interpretations is conclusive. While
reading through different materials, the author has always been pondering this
question: Was “豐” or “豊” the original form of the character “禮”? Of the dis-
covered literatures, in silk books as late as one produced during the Warring States

35
Zou Changlin meticulously analyzed the various descriptions of the origin of rite in the text of
Li Ji. For details, please refer to Zou Changlin, Chinese Ritual Culture, 2000. Beijing: Social
Science Literature Publishing House. pp. 61–78.
xxiv Introduction

period, both “豐/豊” appear but no traces of “禮” could be found. When and how
did “豐” and “豊” transform into “禮”? What was the underlying linguistic context
of the transformation? Why does the present-day academia have different inter-
pretations for the same form of an oracle inscription, bronze vessel inscription,
bamboo slip inscription, and silk book character? Clearly, how did “豐/豊” turn
into “禮” is still a question in need of an answer.

(C) The Pedigree of the Three Li and Appraisal of Relevant Names and Objects:
Huang Kan’s Brief Discussion about the Ritual Study delves into the heart of the
matter and recounted relevant classics since the Three Li:
If one wants to really understand Three Li and Zheng’s annotations, he can do
nothing but turn to the books by the four masters, namely, Lu Deming, Kong
Yingda, Jia Gongyan, and Du You. The Literary Explanations by Lu was com-
pleted by Chen Shi. There are also other versions and abbreviated readings. The Six
Dynasties version is a generalized form of understanding. Later, Yan wrote a book
after ancient styles, and Kong and Jia made annotations to rites. Kaicheng Stone
Classics of Tang seemed quite different. To read Three Li, one has to identify the
pronunciation and meaning, which is the key to understanding this book. Despite
the use of imperial style in annotations, Kong made correction, cited old sayings,
and paid attention to rich phrases and logic flow. There is no way to list out all rites
annotators. In the Qing Dynasty, most of the classics were newly annotated and
studied, except Li Ji, which reveals the peerless difficulty in doing so. Jia’s anno-
tations to the Rites of Zhou are concise and to the point, as shown in most of the
explanatory texts, regardless of a certain circuitous part of the narration. Therefore,
70 or 80% of Sun’s new annotations are still in use. The annotations to The
Etiquette are in good logical order, rich in choice of words, and all-inclusive in
interpretations. The weighing of words is careful. In case of some improper
wording, the reason must be spotted. The broad sense is not well considered, but
details are over-stressed. Discussions of rites in the Comprehensive Compendium of
Institutions are elaborate which mainly focus on rules and rituals. However, the
writing is superb. In this regard, no one could have achieved this but Mo Zong. The
early Song scholar Nie Chongyi used old graphs when writing The Graph
Interpretations to Three Li. Though it may seem disorderly, the graph approach to
the understanding of rites cannot be neglected. In General Understanding of Rite
Scriptures and Classics, Zhu Zi attempted to generalize the categories of rites, and
his later writings, such as the Guidelines of Rite Books, General Studies of Five Li
and Case Studies Approach to Rites, were but copycats of the similar styles. In the
analysis of rite classics, each paragraph ended with the title. This practice was also
found in the Periods and Commas of the Text of Zheng’s Annotations to Rites and
the Sentences and Paragraphs of the Rites.
There lived a lot of ritual scholars in the Qing Dynasty, who gradually placed
emphasis on the detailed aspects of ritualized systems regarding the manners of
clothes and palatial rooms, the ceremonies for capping, wedding, funeral and
sacrifices, the formulation of military and official payrolls, and the theories of
astronomy and geography. The rituals for all these aspects may be traced back to
Introduction xxv

the ancient sources and were recorded in great detail. When it comes to Three Li,
there were a wealth of books of general introduction, reviewing, annotation, revi-
sion, and collation, such as the Guidelines of the Rite Books, Verifications of the
Discussions at the White Tiger Hall, Rite Notes, Ancient Traceability Studies, On
Rites, The Zhi Container Approach to the Rites, General Investigation of Five Li,
and The Ancient Approaches to the Rites Books. The well-defined family doctrines
are shown in Chen Li’s narrative; the concise descriptions are better than Jin E’s
wording; the detailed analysis is no better than Huang Yizhou’s scrutiny.36
This is introductory literature that aims to guide subsequent readers about how to
learn and understand ritual study, and without doubt it is also a brief but brilliant
insight into ritual study. Just as the author has said before: of the Three Li, the Rites
of Zhou is encompassing in its scope, the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial is
complex and dense, while Li Ji is varying and diverse. Further, there are even fewer
that are well versed and accomplished in all components of the Three Li. Apart
from the books listed above, some other relatively recent outcomes include the
exhaustive and comprehensive General Interpretations of the Three Li37 composed
over the course of some three decades by Lin Changyi (1803–1876), scholar of the
end of the Qing Dynasty, which employs the Rites of Zhou and the Book of
Etiquette and Ceremonial as the general outline, selects mutually provable content
from Li Ji and other books, and traces the root and discusses the development of the
source of the ritual code of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties and the connotation
of the ceremonies of the Six Dynasties. The whole book consists of 280 volumes, of
which 230 volumes are interpretations and other 50 volumes are images from the
Three Li. The Collection of Images of the Three Li by Song Dynasty scholar Nie
Chongyi was republished with added explanations and interpretations by Ding
Ding.38 The most prominent of contemporary scholar well versed and accomplished
in all components of the Three Li ought to be Qian Xuan, who’s General Theories
on the Three Li39 expands upon his own older works General Interpretations of the
Names and Objects in the Three Li40 and Glossary of the Three Li,41 incorporates
new materials unearthed by archaeologists, provides comprehensive descriptions on
the aforesaid books, names and objects therein, ritual institution, and format of rites
and ceremonies, and serves as quite a detailed and thorough examination and
verification of the sources of the subject matter.

36
Huang Kan, Huang Kan’s Studies and Other Works, 1964. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.
pp. 449–453. The quote jurong zhi Chen refers to Chen Li, linhai zhi Jin refers to Jin E., and
dinghai zhi Huang refers to Huang Yizhou.
37
Li Changyi, General Interpretation on the Three Rites, 2006. Beijing: Beijing Library Press.
38
Nie Chongyi, New Definitions of Images of the Three Rites, edited by Ding Ding, 2006. Beijing:
Tsinghua University Press.
39
Qian Xuan, General Theories on the Three Rites, 1996. Nanjing: Nanjing Normal University
Press.
40
Qian Xuan, General Interpretations of the Names and Objects in the Three Rites, 1987. Nanjing:
Jiangsu Ancient Literature Publishing House.
41
Qian Xuan and Qian Xingqi, Glossary of the Three Rites, 1993. Nanjing: Jiangsu Ancient
Literature Publishing House.
xxvi Introduction

(D) Changes in the Origin and Development of the Ritual Institution:

The study on the origin and development of the ritual institution is one of the
cornerstones in the research scope of traditional rituals study,42 and research on
changes in the origin and development of the ritual institution mostly follows either
one of the two paths. One approach is to rely on literature and materials and then
collate subsequent history on the ritual institution, such as History on Chinese
Confucian Ethics43 by Cai Shengsi, but the largest is the seven-volume History on
the Chinese Ritual Institution44 by Chen Shuguo. The other option is to rely on
archaeological discoveries and ethnological materials and trace the roots. A slew of
specific case studies meanwhile adopt both methods, such as Investigation into
Rites behind Emperor’s Decrees in Zhou Dynasty by Qi Sihe, New Investigations
into Ancient History by Yang Kuan, Research on Rites behind Imperial Offerings of
Prisoners of War by Gao Zhiqun, Research on System of Cauldron Usage in Zhou
Dynasty by Yu Weichao and Gao Ming, Ritual Institution of Liangzhu Culture by
Wu Ruzuo and Mu Yongkeng, Ritual Institution of the Longshan Era by Gao Wei,
Sacrificial Institution of the Shang Dynasty by Chang Yuzhi, Sacrificial Institution
for Ancestors in Inscriptions on Western Zhou Dynasty Bronze Vessels by Liu Yu,
Worship and Origin of “Rite” in Prehistoric Central Plains by Li Yujie, Remains
of the Ritual Institution and Origin of Ritual Music Culture by Xu Hong,
Prehistoric Culture in the Qilu Region and Ritual Vessels of the Xia, Shang and
Zhou Dynasties by Wang Yongbo, and other discussions on specific types of
vessels or the ritual institutions of a certain period or location. The most systematic
of these is the Chinese Model in the Origin of Civilization,45 which is based on the
archaeological system of cultural geographical divisions and the unique features of
vessels, proposes the Chinese model in the origin of civilization—the emergence,
development, maturity, and changes in the ritual institution—and is regarded as the
soul of Chinese Neolithic archaeological culture and the core engine that drives
such cultural development. The book offers insight into ancient rites, from the
ceramic sacrificial vessels in the pre-Yangshao culture, ceramic ritual vessels in the
Yangshao culture, ritual wine vessels from the Longshan culture to the Xia and
Shang Dynasties, the bronze ritual wine vessels of the Xia and Shang Dynasties,
and the comprehensive ritual institution of the Zhou Dynasty. In terms of geo-
graphic contents, the book contains the Loess Plateau region and its predominant

42
Liu Feng already provided a brief description on ritual institution research outcomes using oracle
bone inscriptions, bronze vessel inscriptions, and archaeological and ethnographical materials
achieved since Wang Guowei’s Theories on the Institutions of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. For
details, please refer to Liu Feng, Ritual Study Ideologies and Consolidation of Society in the
Pre-Qin Era, 2003. Beijing: China Renmin University Press. pp. 14–20.
43
Cai Shangsi, History on Chinese Confucian Ethics, 2006. Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press.
Earliest edition was published by the Hong Kong Chung Hwa Book Co. in 1989.
44
Chen Shuguo, History on the Chinese Ritual Institution, 2002. Changsha: Hunan Education
Publishing House. Earliest edition was published in 1991.
45
Bu Gong, Chinese Model in the Origin of Civilization, 2007. Beijing: Science Press.
Introduction xxvii

use of painted ceramic ritual vessels, the Liao River region and its large-scale ritual
and sacrificial centers and predominant use of temples, altars and jade pendants, the
Qilu region and its predominant use of wine vessels, the Jianghuai region and its
blend of different rites and ceremonies, the Lake Tai region and the predominance
of rites and ceremonies of the Nuo (exorcizing) culture, and the five major geo-
graphic divisions including Lingnan, which were vastly influenced by the feudal
ethics and rites of the Central Plains.
Sinologist Noah E. Feher emphasized instead rites in ancient literature and life as
a telescope to peer into ancient Chinese culture. The first chapter in this book
discusses the origin and changes in the rites based on Chinese archaeological find-
ings, where the author remarks that rites originated from holy shamanistic rituals, and
then transformed into means through which the nobilities employed to maintain their
rule. The second chapter collated records and discussion pertaining to rite found
within the Book of Songs, Analects, Mozi, Mencius, and other historic texts. The third
chapter further focuses on opinions regarding the relationships between rites and
customs, rites and the law, and rites and daily life as written in the Xunzi, where the
author believes that Xunzi substantially enriched and improved the connotations and
meanings of rites, considering him a pinnacle in this regard. This is why Xunzi’s
standing among Confucius’ disciples ought to be reassessed, as Xunzi was not only a
medium through which the pre-Qin era beliefs transformed to those of the Han
Dynasty, but also achieved the transformation of Confucianism itself: Unity between
the cultivation of internal morality and the norms of external society.46
Research relevant to archaeological system of cultural geographical divisions,
ruins, vessels, and objects is obviously significant to the search for the origin of the
civilization of China, the “state of rites and ceremonies.” Meanwhile, there is no
doubt that the ritual scope has shown that the “establishment of rules for rites and
composition of appropriate music for different occasions” first took place at a much
earlier time than previously believed, bringing forth new possibilities for systematic
research on ritual institution and relevant beliefs in the pre-writing era when no
literature was written or the era at the onset of writing when there were many
erroneous usages of written characters, and for the revelation of the Chinese Model
in the origin of civilization. Unfortunately, studies within the archaeological domain
on mythical rites and spiritual beliefs have not yet offered much interpretation on
the “material language” manifested in ruins, vessels, objects, and other materials.
They only go as deep as identifying a certain altar, pit, or artifact as the ruins or relic
once used for sacrifice or burial, but the answers to the pertinent whys and hows are
still missing. This is the cue for comparative mythological study and the anthro-
pological ritual perspective, so that archaeological system of cultural geographical
divisions, ethnography, oral myths, ritual development and performance, and lit-
erature handed down from previous generations may be compared side by side to
prove and interpret each other, and reveal the ritual and ideological coding infor-
mation hidden inside “material language.”

Noah E. Fehl, 禮 Li: Rites And Propriety In Literature And Life. Hong Kong: The Chinese
46

University of Hong Kong, 1971.

xxviii Introduction

Vision and Introspection on Trends of Research on Li Ji

Taking a look back at the master’s and doctoral theses and relevant publications of
Li Ji, it is not hard to see that Li Ji and related research are all constantly being
revisited and reinterpreted. Once deemed a challenge few would be willing to
tackle, Li Ji actually turns out to be a hugely important research topic in the
twenty-first century. Beginning from 1998, one or several master’s and doctoral
theses related to Li Ji could be found each year, not to mention the pervasiveness in
the use of Li Ji as material and evidence in studies on other topics. Research
subjects include: (A) Research and reflections on Li Ji,47 (B) literary, philosophical,
or ideological research on the text of Li Ji,48 and (C) research on the ritual

47
Northern Dynasty Studies of Dai De’s and Dai Sheng’s Li Ji by Pu Chuanzhen (2002 National
Taiwan University doctoral thesis), Research on Zheng’s Annotation Study of Ancient Characters
in Li Ji by Fu Huachen (2004 Nanjing Normal University master’s thesis), Research on Early
Qing Dynasty Study of Li Ji by Zeng Jun (2005 Central China Normal University master’s thesis),
Preliminary Exploration into Zheng Xuan’s Annotations of Li Ji by Zhang Qin (2006 Anhui
University master’s thesis), Research on Legge’s English Translation of Li Ji by Song Zhongxiu
(2006 Fujian Normal University master’s thesis), as well as Research on Sun Xidan’s Collection of
Interpretations of Li Ji by Wan Liwen, Research on Chen’s Collection of Interpretations of Li Ji
by Su Cheng’ai, Research on Zhu Bin’s Compilation of Teachings of Li Ji by Lan Yao, and
Proofreading Notes on the Exact Implications of Li Ji by Chang Xuhuai (all 2007 Nanjing Normal
University master’s thesis).
48
Views on Humanhood in Li Ji by Lin Wenqi (1998 Chinese Culture University doctoral thesis),
Research on Humanities and Aesthetics in Li Ji by Lin Wenqi (1999 National Taiwan Normal
University doctoral thesis), Image of Confucius in Li Ji by Lu Jing (2002 Lanzhou University
master’s thesis), Cultural Values and Outlooks in Li Ji and Its Tension Structure by Sun Shenghe
(2005 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences doctoral thesis), Research on the Humanistic Spirit
and Value of Ritual Culture by Zhang Zihui (2006 Zhengzhou University doctoral thesis), The
Creation and Realization of Purpose: Philosophical Ideologies in Li Ji by Gong Jianping (2005.
Beijing: The Commercial Press. Previously a doctoral thesis), Research on the Main Themes and
Ideologies of Li Ji by Chen Kaixian (1998 Sun Yat-sen University doctoral thesis), Discussion on
the Political Connotations of Zhou Dynasty Society Based on Forms of Music Described in Li Ji
by Liu Jianting (2006 Shaanxi Normal University master’s thesis), Inner Sage, Outer King—The
Ideological, Political and Educational Goals of Li Ji by Long Sizhao (2002 Capital Normal
University master’s thesis), Three Sacrificial Rites of the Pre-Qin Period and Primordial Taoist
Respect for Morality and Spirit of Never Forgetting to Pay a Debt of Gratitude by Li Yongming
(2003 Sun Yat-sen University master’s thesis), and Research on Marital Ethics and Ideologies in
Li Ji by Chen Conglan (2005 Northwest Normal University master’s thesis).
Another random document with
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Flip scrambled to her feet and Madame Perceval tried them against
her. "How are they?" Flip asked eagerly.
"Perfect. Couldn't be better. Put on your things and we'll go out and
try them."
As Flip snapped the skis onto her boots Madame Perceval said,
"Now don't expect miracles, Philippa. The skis don't make as much
difference as all that. Just go very slowly and do as I say."
Madame Perceval was right. Flip was not able, all of a sudden, to ski
like an angel because of the new skis. But she no longer fell quite so
frequently, or had such a desperate struggle to get to her feet again.
"Better, much better!" Madame Perceval cried as Flip slid down a
tiny incline and stopped without falling. "Now turn around."
Flip raised her leg and the long ski no longer tumbled her
ignominiously onto the snow. She snapped her other leg around and
there she was, all in one piece and erect.
"Bravo!" Madame cried. "Now herring-bone up the little hill and come
down again."
Her tongue sticking out with eagerness, Flip did as Madame
Perceval told her.
"Good," the art teacher said. "Good, Philippa. More spring in your
knees if you can. How about that bad knee? Does it bother you?"
"Not much." Flip shook her head. "Oh, Madame, do you think I can
learn?"
"I know you can. Just don't stick your tongue out so far. You might
bite it off in one of your tumbles."
"Do you think Fräulein Hauser will take me back in the skiing class?"
"Wait! Wait!" Paul cried, waving his ski sticks in wild excitement. "I
have a much better idea."
Madame laughed and ducked as one of the sticks went flying. "All
right, Paul. Calm down and tell us this magnificent idea." But Flip
could see that she was pleased because Paul sounded excited and
happy, and the dark look had fled from his face.
"Well, Flip was telling me about this ski meet you have at school and
how everybody can go in for it and there's a prize for form, and a
long race, and a short race, and a prize for the girl who's made most
progress and all sorts of things. And I think it would be wonderful if
we could teach Flip and she could enter the ski meet and win and
surprise everybody."
Madame Perceval started to laugh but then she looked at Flip and
Paul and their eager excited faces, and she said slowly, "It would be
rather a tall order teaching Flip just on week-ends. She needs lots of
practice."
"I could slip out in the morning before Call Over," Flip cried. "If I
make my bed before breakfast and hurry breakfast I'd have almost
an hour and nobody'd see me then."
"And think how surprised that Fräulein Hauser would be," Paul cried.
"And the girls would be so surprised," Flip shouted. "Erna and Jackie
and all of them. Oh, Madame, do you think I could learn? I'd work
terribly hard. I'd practice and practice."
"If you keep on improving the way you've improved this afternoon,"
Madame Perceval told her, "I'm sure you could."
"Come on, Aunt Colette," Paul cajoled.
Madame Perceval looked at them for a moment longer. Then she
smiled and said, "Why not?"
4
Flip finished her still life of a plaster head of Diana, a wine bottle, a
loaf of bread, and a wine glass, early during the next art class.
"That's good, Flip," Madame Perceval said. "Really very good,
though your perspective is wobbly—everything's going up hill at
quite an alarming angle and poor Diana looks as though she were
about to fall on her ear. But the color and texture is excellent. That's
really bread, and the transparency of your glass is a great
improvement over your last still life. That's good work, Flip."
Flip blushed with pleasure, partly at the praise, and partly because
Madame was calling her Flip. Several of the girls looked up at the
name and Gloria actually winked at her.
"You have time to start something else," Madame was saying.
"Here's a clean sheet of paper and a piece of charcoal. Just draw
anything you like. Either from something in the room or from your
imagination."
For the past two days Flip had been thinking of three things, Paul,
skiing, and Madame's daughter. She had not had another
opportunity to ask Paul about Denise, how old she was, or whether
she was alive or dead. Somehow Flip felt that she must be dead and
that perhaps that accounted for the sadness in Madame Perceval's
eyes. She wondered what Madame's daughter would look like and,
almost without volition, her hand holding the charcoal moved across
the paper and she began to draw a girl, a girl about her own age
sitting on a rock and looking out across the valley to the mountains.
The likeness was stronger than she could possibly have guessed.
She was trying, more or less, to draw a girl who looked like Madame
and who had short hair like hers. But the girl who appeared on the
paper did not look like Madame and Flip felt discouraged because
she knew the perspective was wrong again and the mountains were
too small and far away and the girl's feet weren't right. She sighed
and tried to erase the mountains and the feet and correct them.
Madame Perceval stood behind her and looked over her shoulder
down at the paper. Flip almost jumped as the art teacher's strong
fingers dug into her arm.
"What are you doing?" Madame Perceval's voice was calm and low,
but Flip felt the strain in it.
"Just—just a girl looking at the mountains," she stammered. "The—
the feet aren't right."
"I'll show you," Madame Perceval said; but instead of explaining
what was wrong, and then telling Flip what to do to correct it, as she
usually did, she took the charcoal and swiftly put the feet in again
herself; and then she took the thumbtacks out of Flip's board and
took the paper and walked over to the cupboard with it and Flip saw
that her hands were trembling.
In a moment she came back with a fresh piece of paper. "Why don't
you try drawing one of the girls in the class?" Madame suggested,
and her voice was natural again. "Erna, you've finished, haven't you?
Will you sit still and let Flip sketch you?"
"Yes, Madame. How do you want me to sit, Pi—Philippa—uh—Flip?"
Madame Perceval smiled as Erna stumbled over Flip's name, and
Flip said, "Oh, the way you are now looking over the back of your
chair is fine, if you're comfortable."
She took up the charcoal and sketched quickly and then she laughed
because the girl on her paper was so out of proportion and funny-
looking and at the same time she was Erna. In trying to get a
likeness Flip had over-accentuated and the braces on Erna's teeth
were ridiculous and her chin jutted out and the barette pulled the hair
back far too tightly from the forehead.
"What are you laughing at?" Erna demanded.
Flip looked at her drawing and thought,—oh, dear, now Erna will be
mad.
But Madame Perceval had come over and was laughing, too, and
showing the paper with Erna on it to the class, and everybody was
laughing.
"I think you have a flair for caricature, Flip," Madame said.
And Jackie bounced up and down on her chair, crying, "Draw me,
Flip, draw me!"
"Hold still, then, Jackie," Madame said, handing Flip another sheet of
paper.
Flip's hand holding the charcoal made Jackie's curly hair fly wildly
about the paper; the enormous, long lashed black eyes took up half
the page, and the mouth was a tiny bud above the pointed little chin.
Erna had been watching and as Flip laid down the charcoal for a
moment she grabbed the paper and held it up, shouting,
"Look at Jackie! She looks just like a cat!"
"Draw me! Draw me!" All the girls were shouting at Flip until Madame
Perceval stopped them, saying, "Not now, girls. The bell just rang.
You can get Flip to draw you any time. I know she'd like to, wouldn't
you, Flip?"
"Oh, yes, Madame!"
So they besieged Flip in the Common Room with requests for
caricatures to send home, and Flip went to her locker, her face bright
with happiness, to get her sketch book and pencils.
"Don't make my nose too big!" "Should I take my glasses off, Flip?"
"Oh, Pill, don't put in my freckles!" 'Flip' and 'Pill' came
indiscriminately, and somehow quite suddenly and surprisingly Flip
knew that she no longer minded the 'Pill' because it sounded
friendly; it was being said to her, not at her.
—I'm liking school, she thought.—I'm liking it. Now it will sound
better when I tell Paul I like it.
Only Esmée Bodet was discontented with her picture. "I don't look
like that!" she said, and tore the page across, tossing the pieces in
the waste paper basket.
"She looks exactly like that," Erna said in Flip's ear. "Come on up on
the billiard table and let's play jacks." The entire school had a jacks
craze on. Even the seniors were playing though Esmée turned up
her nose and said it was a child's game, and continued to play very
bad bridge.
"Oh, jacks! Let me play too!" Gloria cried, clambering up and sitting
cross-legged on the green felt of the billiard table; and Flip realized
that one reason Gloria never lacked for partners, or a place in the
Common Room games, was that she never hesitated to ask.
"Come on, Jackie," Erna called. "Climb up."
Flip was quite good at jacks and Gloria bounced up and down
impatiently. "Come on, Pill, miss can't you? I want a turn." And she
gave Flip's elbow a jog, but Flip caught the ball and laughed
triumphantly.
"Good for you, Flip," Erna cried. "You can't play if you're going to
cheat, Glo."
"It's Erna's turn next, anyhow," Jackie said. "By the way, Pill, I think
it's a dirty shame Hauser made you drop skiing."
"Me too." Erna nodded so violently that her hair came out of the
barette and she had to fasten it again.
Flip thought of the progress she had already made on her skis, and
smiled to herself. Then she shrugged, "Well, if she thinks I'm too
impossible to teach, I guess that's that."
"The old minge, the mangy old minge," Gloria muttered. "I say, Pill.
What're you going to be when you get out of this place, an artist?"
Flip nodded. "I'd like to be. The way my father is. I'd like to paint
portraits and do illustrations for children's books." She reached wildly
for the jacks' ball, which was this time an old golf ball Gloria's mother
had sent, but it bounced off the table and Erna scrambled after it.
"At last," she said, bringing it back and collecting the jacks. "I'm
going to be a doctor like my father. I think it must be wonderful to cut
people up and put them back together again." Underneath her joking
words Flip could tell that she was serious.
"The trouble is that you can't always put them back together again,"
Jackie said.
"I will." Erna swept up her jacks with a confident gesture. "If people
have their legs and things blown off I'll discover a way to put them
back or give them new ones off dead people."
Flip started to tell Erna that Paul wanted to be a doctor too, but
Gloria, who didn't mind when she herself talked about glass eyes or
false teeth, put her hands over her ears. "Oh, stop! Stop!"
"Well, dead people can give their eyes so blind people can see,"
Erna said, "so I don't see why they shouldn't give their legs and
things, too."
Gloria clapped her hand over Erna's mouth. "You go talk about your
old operations somewhere else."
"Who asked you to play jacks anyhow?" Erna mumbled from behind
Gloria's hand. "Let go and let me play. I'm on fivesies, eggs in the
basket."
"Foursies."
"Fivesies."
"It's fivesies," Flip corroborated. "Are you going to be a movie
actress, Jackie?"
Jackie laughed and waved her arms. "My father says I'll be an
actress over his dead body. I haven't thought about it much. Maybe
I'll just be a wife like my mother. She says that's a career in itself,
only lots of people forget it."
"Love," Gloria sighed, "that's what I'm cut out for."
"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Flip asked and blushed.
"I believe in love." Gloria placed her hand dramatically over her
heart. "It's love that makes the world go round."
"Have you seen Maggie Campbell's brother?" Jackie asked. "He's
the handsomest man I ever saw. Maggie's going to give me a
snapshot of him for Christmas."
Flip sat with her legs stuck out in front of her on the old hotel billiard
table, because her stiff knee kept her from sitting cross-legged or on
her heels, and watched, and listened, and occasionally said a word,
and she felt so excited that she could feel the excitement like hunger
in the pit of her stomach. She was excited because for the first time
she felt on the inside, and underneath the new warm sense of being
one of them was the glorious secret knowledge of Paul—and
tomorrow she would see him again.
5
The first thing Paul asked Flip the next day was, "Have you been
practicing your skiing?"
Flip nodded. "Every morning."
"How's it going?"
"Better."
"Well, come on and let's go. Is Aunt Colette coming over?"
"I don't know."
"Well, come on, Flip," Paul said impatiently. "I want to see how much
you've improved."
They went out, Ariel rushing madly about them, digging up the snow,
running and jumping against them, until Paul had to send him in.
Paul was visibly impressed with Flip's progress, and when Madame
Perceval appeared on skis, Paul flew over to her in great excitement.
"Flip's a natural born skier, Aunt Colette!" he cried. "She's
magnificent!"
Madame Perceval smiled at Paul and held out her hand to Flip.
"Let's see what you've accomplished, little one."
She, too, was impressed. "You must have been working hard!" she
said. "We'll have you doing Christianas and all sorts of things in no
time."
"Oh, Madame, do you really think so?"
"Just keep up the practicing, Flip, as you've been doing, and I'm sure
of it."
"She'll be quite a shock to everybody at the ski meet, won't she?"
Paul asked.
Madame laughed. "She certainly will."
And Flip went to bed that night to dream of soaring through the air on
her skis, watched by admiring throngs of girls; of executing perfect
Christianas and the delicate loops of telemarks; and when she woke
up in the morning her mind was still a happy jumble of snow
conditions, stems, and langlaufs.
Flip had thought as she slipped out the ski room door after breakfast
each morning that the girls would become curious about her hurried
breakfasts and ask what she was doing; but they were used to her
disappearances and absences and were too hungry and sleepy and
hurried in the cold dark of the mornings to pay much attention to
anything besides getting themselves out of their warm beds and then
eating as much hot chocolate and porridge and rolls and jam as
possible.
Flip was out practicing intently one Saturday morning when she
noticed someone watching her. She looked up, fearful that she was
being discovered, but it was no one from the school. It was a man
with a dark, wild face, and the look in his eyes frightened her; but he
waved and grinned at her cheerfully and moved away. He wore
climbing boots and carried a stick and he struck off up the mountain,
walking very rapidly. She watched after him until he was lost in the
trees, wondering what a strange man was doing on the grounds of a
girls' school. Then she thought he might be a new gardener or
perhaps someone to help with flooding the hockey field for ice
skating, though that was not to be done till the Christmas holidays.
Oh, well, she thought, there's never anybody around who isn't meant
to be around, so I guess it's all right.
And she kept on working at the skiing until time to get the mail before
Call Over.
Most of the girls were already at the desk in the Hall when she
arrived, flushed from her early morning exercise; and Signorina, who
was on duty, was giving out the mail. Since she had begun noticing
other people besides herself, Flip had learned a lot from the mail.
Hardly a day went by that Jackie did not have a letter from her
mother. Erna always came rushing eagerly to the desk but seldom
received anything. Gloria frequently didn't even bother to come and if
she had a letter someone took it to her. Esmée had already begun to
get letters from boys and read them aloud to anyone who would
listen. Solvei's letters came as regularly as Jackie's, and Sally
received hers every Wednesday and Saturday.
"Philippa Hunter," Signorina called.
Flip took the letter from her father and opened it eagerly.
"My darling baby," he said, beginning the letter as he had not done in
years, "here I am in a hospital in Shanghai, but don't be worried
because it's nothing serious—jaundice—but it's a great nuisance
especially because the doctor says I won't possibly be able to get to
you for your Christmas holidays. Flippet, Flippet, don't be too terribly
disappointed and don't weep that sweet face into a pulp. Eunice will
be delighted to have you for your holidays, and she is in Nice, and
the weather will be wonderful, and I know she'll do everything she
can to make you happy. Your letters have sounded so much more
contented recently and I feel that you are growing up and that you try
to enjoy yourself without your yellow old father. I expect to be in
Germany and Switzerland shortly after New Year and I promise you
that nothing will interfere with our Easter."
Flip's disappointment was so acute and overwhelming that she
thought for a moment she was going to be sick. She turned and ran
until she reached the bathroom and then she shut herself in and
leaned against the door and she felt all hollow inside herself, from
the top of her head down to her toes, and there was no room in this
cold vacuum for tears.
After a few moments she heard a knock. She clenched her fists and
held her breath but whoever it was did not go away, and the knock
came again. If it's Miss Tulip I'll kick her, she thought in fury.
Then Erna's voice came. "Flip."
"What?" Flip said, sounding hard and forbidding.
"Flip, it's just me. Erna."
"Oh."
"Did you—was it—was there bad news in your letter?"
"No. It's all right." Flip's voice was stifled.
"Well, look, Flip," Erna said. "I just meant ... Percy's taking Call Over
this morning and you know how strict she is ... and the bell's about to
ring...."
Flip opened the door and came out. "Thanks, Erna."
"Oh, that's all right," Erna said uncomfortably. "I'm sorry if it was bad
news in your letter."
"It's just that my father's sick in China and I can't be with him for the
Christmas holidays," Flip started to explain in a controlled voice.
Then she burst out, "and I have to spend the holidays with Eunice—
she's a friend of my father's—and I don't like her and if she marries
my father I'll—I'll want to kill her."
"Ach, that's awful," Erna said. "I'm awful sorry, Flip. It certainly is
awful."
"Well—" Flip's voice trailed off; then she spoke briskly. "We'd better
get down to Call Over."
6
The next day she told Paul about the letter and for the first time
since she had received it she started to cry. Ariel, distressed at her
unhappiness, jumped up at her, almost knocking her over, and licked
excitedly at her face.
"That Eunice," Paul said, frowning heavily and pushing Ariel away
from Flip and sending him over to the hearth. Then he jumped up.
"Put on your skis and go on out and start practicing," he
commanded. "I'll be out in a minute." And he half-shoved Flip out the
door.
Flip went out obediently and put on her skis and started working on
her turns. In just a few minutes Paul came flying out of the lodge,
shouting, "Flip! Flip!"
He rushed up, panting, and gasped, "My father says you may stay
here with us for Christmas if your father says it's all right! And Aunt
Colette is going to be with us because my mother can't come." His
face was radiant with pleasure.
Flip sat down in the snow, her feet going every which way.
"And you can work on your skiing every day. And I'm sure Aunt
Colette can take us up to Gstaad to ski, and to Caux too, so you'll be
familiar with Gstaad and all the runs for the ski meet and maybe you
will become such a good skier that we can do a double jump! Papa
said he'd write your father right away this afternoon. Oh, Flip, it will
be wonderful to have you here all the time instead of just on Sunday
afternoons!"
"Oh, Paul!" Flip cried and scrambled to her feet. "Oh, Paul! Next to
being with father it's the most wonderful thing in the world. I know
he'll let me!"
"Well," Paul said, giving her a quick, shy hug. "What a relief. Come
on. Let's get to work on your skiing."
Flip had been skiing conscientiously for about an hour under Paul's
tutelage when Madame Perceval came out and called them.
"Come on in to tea, children!"
They skied over to her, Flip with almost as great ease and
confidence as Paul, shouting, "Hello, Madame!" "Hello, Aunt
Colette!"
"So," Madame said, raising Flip's chin and looking into her eyes.
"You're happy about your holidays now?"
"Oh, yes, Madame!"
"I was wondering what had happened to upset you, my problem
child. You seemed so much happier and then gloom descended. But
you did have some reason this time. It's hard to be away from your
father at Christmas time."
"And it would have been awful to be with Eunice," Flip said. "Eunice
always makes me feel—well, even clumsier and gawkier and
tongue-tieder and everything than I am. But oh, Madame, I'll love
being here, and I'll try to help and not be a bother."
"Hurry up, Flip, take off your skis," Paul called impatiently. "Papa
went over to Lausanne to the dentist yesterday and brought us back
cakes from Nyffeneggers."
When they had finished tea Madame said, "How about skiing back to
school with me, Flip? Feel up to it?"
"Yes, Madame, I think so."
"You haven't skied any distance at all, yet, and I think it would be
good for you. Not afraid of skiing in the dark? I'll keep right beside
you."
"I'm not afraid, Madame."
They pushed off, Flip feeling excited and happy as she turned
around to wave good-bye to Paul, who was standing in the lighted
doorway. And Flip thought how beautiful the night was with the stars
just coming out; and the pine trees' noble arms bowed with snow;
and the shadows of the ruined chateau looming behind them; and
the warmth and comfort of the lodge, the golden light pouring out the
open door and Paul standing there waving good-bye.
"Yes," Madame Perceval said, as if in answer to her thoughts. "It's
beautiful, isn't it? In the spring the fields are as white as they are
now, with narcissi, not snow.... Shall we go?"
They started off down the mountain side, Madame calling Flip from
time to time to check her speed or give her instructions. Now at last
Flip had the feeling of being a bird, of having wings. And as she
pushed through the cold night air she felt that it was as solid and
entire an element as water. A bird must know this solidity; but as she
felt the air against her body the only thing within her own knowledge
with which she could compare it was water, and she felt as she
broke through it that she must be leaving a wake of air behind her,
as a boat does, cutting through water.
Madame let her go faster and faster, and, exhilarated by the speed
and the beauty, she would have gone flying past the school gates if
Madame had not checked her. They turned through the gates
together and moved slowly down the white driveway.
"That was good skiing, Flip," Madame said. "I'm really very proud of
you."
Flip dropped her head in quick confusion, then looked up with eyes
that shone in the starlight. "I love it, Madame, I just love it!"
"You know," Madame told her, "We're not going to be able to enter
you in the beginner's class at the ski meet. You'll have to go in the
intermediate. If you go on improving at this rate you'd be disqualified
from the beginner's class. And with all the skiing you'll be able to do
during the holidays I don't think there's any question but you'll go on
improving. I want to work with you on your left stem turn. Your right is
fine, but the left is the only place where your weak knee seems to
bother you. Don't worry, though. I think a little extra practice and the
left stem will be as good as the right."
They went indoors and Flip put her skis on the rack, stroking them
lovingly. The smell of the ski room, of hot wax and melted snow, and
damp wool from the ski clothes, was almost as pleasant to her now
as the smell of the art Studio.
"Madame," she said softly, "thank you so much for the skis."
"The girl who left them was rolling in money," Madame spoke shortly,
"and I suspect it was black market money. They're in far better hands
now—or rather on far better feet." She laughed. "Run along upstairs
to the Common Room. There's about half an hour before dinner. We
made better time than I expected."
7
Flip ran up the stairs and across the Hall, almost bumping into Miss
Tulip.
"Really, Philippa Hunter!" Miss Tulip exclaimed in annoyance. "Will
you kindly remember that you are supposed to walk, not run. You
used to be such a nice, quiet girl and you're turning into a regular
little hoyden." And Miss Tulip shut herself up in the cage of the
faculty elevator and pressed the button.
Instead of being crushed by Miss Tulip's irritation Flip had to
surpress a laugh as she watched the elevator rise and saw the
matron's feet in their long, narrow white shoes slowly disappearing
up the elevator shaft. Then, completely forgetting her admonition,
she ran on down the corridor and into the Common Room.
She had just started a letter to her father when the big glass door
was opened and Martha Downs and Kaatje van Leyden came in. A
sudden hush came over the Common Room because the senior girls
had studies and a special living room of their own on the second
floor, and seldom came downstairs unless it was to lecture one of the
girls for some misdeed that affected the two school teams, the Odds
and the Evens, or that came under the jurisdiction of the Student
Government. Martha and Kaatje walked towards Flip now and she
knew that everybody was wondering, "Now what has Pill done?"
But Martha smiled in a friendly way and said, "Hi, Philippa."
"Hi," Flip said, standing up awkwardly.
"I hear you're good at drawing people."
"Oh—just sort of caricatures," Flip mumbled.
Erna, who had been listening curiously, broke in, "She's wonderful,
Martha! I'll show you the ones she did of Jackie and Gloria and me in
the dormitory last night."
Erna had forgotten that they weren't supposed to have books or
drawing materials in the dormitory at night, but Martha and Kaatje
kindly ignored this and looked at the slips of paper Erna held out.
They both laughed.
"Why, you're a genius, Philippa," Kaatje cried.
And Martha said, "We came down to see if you'd do us."
"Oh, I'd love to," Flip said. "Right now?"
"How long does it take you?"
"About a second," Erna told them. "Here's a chair, Martha, and one
for you, Kaatje. Run get your sketch book, Flip."
Flip got her pad and a couple of sharp pencils out of her locker. "Just
stay the way you are, please," she said to Martha. "That's fine."
It wasn't quite as easy to draw Martha as it had been the girls she
saw constantly in the Common Room and the class room, or as easy
as the faculty, whose caricatures, sketched hurriedly at the end of
study halls had thrown the girls into fits of laughter; but she managed
to get a passable exaggeration of Martha's almost Hollywood beauty
onto the paper, and the Head Girl was very pleased.
While Flip was drawing Kaatje, Martha said, "My mother writes me
you're going to be spending the holidays in Nice with Mrs. Jackman,
Philippa. We're going to be there for a week, so maybe we'll see
you."
Flip shook her head, glancing up briefly from her sketch of Kaatje.
"I'm not going to be with Mrs. Jackman. I'm staying up the mountain
with Paul Laurens."
"Percy's nephew?" Martha asked in surprise. "How did you get to
know him?"
"She has tea with him every Sunday afternoon." Erna, who had
evidently appointed herself as Flip's spokesman told the seniors.
"She's just come back from there now, haven't you, Flip?"
Flip nodded, tore off her page, and gave it to Kaatje.
"Thanks simply ages, Philippa," Kaatje said. "You'll probably be
besieged by every girl in school."
"I don't mind," Flip said. "It's what I love to do. If those aren't right or
if you want any more I'd love to try again."
"We may take you up on that." Martha smiled at her. "Sorry you
aren't going to be in Nice for the holidays."
"Flip, you're made," Erna said when the older girls had left. "If Martha
and Kaatje like your pictures there won't be a girl in school who won't
want one. I bet you'll get artist's cramp or something."
"It's all right with me." Flip grinned happily.
"And it's wonderful about the holidays. When did that happen?"
"This afternoon. And Madame's going to be there, too."
"Percy?" Erna looked dubious. "I'm not sure I'd like that. She's so
strict."
"She's not a bit strict when you're not at school. She's—oh, she's so
much fun and she doesn't act a bit like a teacher. And Paul says
she'll take us on all kinds of trips on the holidays, to Gstaad, and
we'll come down from Caux on a bobsled, and we'll go to Montreux
and places to the movies and all sorts of things."
"It's too bad you can't ski," Erna said; and Flip turned away to hide a
grin.
8
Flip was out skiing by herself before breakfast several mornings
later when she saw the strange man again. At first she did not notice
him, and then she became vaguely aware through her concentration
on her skiing that someone was watching her, and she swung
around and there he was leaning against a tree. This time he did not
smile and wave and move away up the mountain. He just stood
there watching her and she stared nervously back. He was very thin
and his cheeks were sunken and his jaw dark as though he needed
to shave. He wore shabby ski clothes and a small beret and his eyes
were very dark and brilliant. She stood, leaning lightly on her ski
sticks, looking back at him and wishing he would go away when
suddenly he came stumbling across the snow towards her. She
started to push away on her skis but he made a sudden leap at her
and she fell headlong. She started to scream but he clapped his
hand across her mouth.
 CHAPTER FIVE
The Stranger
"DON'T be afraid. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you," he kept saying,
and he righted her and stood her up again, keeping a firm grip on her
arm. She could feel each of his fingers pressing through her sweater
and ski jacket and they hurt as they dug into her arm.
"Let go!" she gasped. "Let me go!"
"It's all right," he repeated. "I won't hurt you. Don't be afraid."
"But you are hurting me! Let go!"
Slowly his fingers relaxed, though he did not release her. "I didn't
mean to knock you down like that. I lost my balance and fell against
you. I'm very tired and hungry. Have you any food?"
She shook her head.
"Just a cracker or a piece of chocolate? School girls always have
something to eat in their pockets."
She shook her head again. "I haven't anything. What are you doing
here?"
"I'm the—uh—I'm the new janitor. I'm going to keep the furnace
going so you'll be warm enough all winter. I live—uh—I live up the
mountain and I didn't have a chance to eat breakfast this morning
because I overslept. Are you sure you haven't even a crust of
bread?"
"I haven't anything. Won't the cook give you something in the
kitchen?"
"She's in a bad mood this morning. What are you doing out here all
alone? Shouldn't you be in the school?"
"Not till Call Over at a quarter to nine."
"But why are you here all alone?" the man asked her, and she was
afraid of the hungry look in his dark eyes.
"I'm skiing."
"But why do you ski here all alone every morning?" he persisted.
"I like it."
Now at last he let go her arm. "Well, I'm off up the mountain," he
said, and without another word or a backwards glance he struck off
across the snow.
The thought of him troubled her until she went in to get the mail
before Call Over. Then she had a letter that made her so angry that
she forgot all about him. The letter was from Eunice, and it ran,
"My dear Philippa, I am glad to hear from your father that at last you
are getting along better at school. But I must admit that I am rather
hurt that you choose to spend the holidays with some strange boy
you have just met rather than with me. However, you have always
been an odd child so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I do want to
say, though, Philippa dear, that I know your poor father would be
happier if you came to Nice, and I assure you that I would see that
you had a pleasant vacation. As I said in my letter to you last week,
there will be a number of charming young people nearby, and I am
sure it would do you good to know them. Just remember that all you
have to do if you change your mind is to let me know, and don't
forget that you have your father's peace of mind to think of as well as
your own choice. It is very hard on him to be laid up in the hospital,
poor darling, and I shouldn't think you'd want in any way to add to his
worries. I'm afraid this will make you angry, Philippa dear, but do
remember that I'm just thinking of your best interests and that I'm
very fond of you and devoted to your father. Affectionately, Eunice."
Quivering with rage she tore the letter into as small pieces as
possible. Madame Perceval, on duty behind the desk, finished
distributing the mail and asked with a smile, "What's the cause of
your fury, Flip?"
"It's that Eunice again," Flip said. "A woman who's always after my
father. She thinks I ought to spend the holidays with her and I'm
afraid she'll try to convince father that I ought to, too. There isn't time
for that, is there?"
"No, Flip, there isn't. Anyhow, Mlle. Dragonet had a cable from your
father this morning giving his permission for you to stay with Paul.
She supplemented Georges' cable by one of her own saying that
she thought it far better for you to stay with her nephew than for you
to make the difficult trip to Nice. So I don't think you need worry."
"Thank goodness," Flip said. "I think I'd die if I couldn't spend the
holidays with Paul. I just wish Eunice hadn't written the letter and
tried to spoil things for me."
"Just forget it and enjoy yourself," Madame Perceval advised.
"I will," Flip said, and she ran upstairs to throw the scraps of Eunice's
letter in the classroom waste paper basket. Erna was there before
her, sitting glumly at her desk.
"What's the matter, Erna?" Flip asked shyly.
"I can't spend the holidays with Jackie," Erna answered and put her
head down on her arms.
Flip perched awkwardly on her desk and put her feet on the chair.
"Oh, Erna, why not?"
"My mother wrote Mlle. Dragonet and said she wanted me home for
Christmas. She doesn't want me home at all. She sent me away to
school because she didn't want me home."
"Oh, Erna," Flip said, her voice warm with sympathy.
"Both my brothers were killed in the war," Erna said in a muffled
voice. "And I know mutti wishes it had been me. She always liked my
brothers better. I was the baby and so much younger and I always
got in the way."
"Oh, no, Erna," Flip protested. "Your mother wouldn't feel like that."
"She does," Erna said. "If my father would be home and be all funny
and nice the way he used to be before the war when I was tiny it
would be all right. But he's always at the hospital. He says the only
thing he can do to help people's souls is to try to give them strong,