The Poetics of Sovereignty
Page 55
sovereign, one that resolves into a meditation on the idea of ritual sover-
eignty.
This final chapter examines “The Imperial Capital Poems” within the
context of Taizong’s court deliberations over the Feng and Shan. How-
ever, one must first understand the genealogical underpinnings of
Taizong’s discourse on ritual sovereignty. First, I will begin by discussing
the history of the sacrifices, both in the Classic of Documents’s account of Shun and in the Shi ji account of Qin Shihuang. As the sacred rites are
closely related to the ritual tour of inspection ( xunshou), I will also examine how the imperial inspection tour—with its constellation of the con-
cepts of territoriality, roaming, and the imperial body—shaped the dis-
course of the Feng and Shan.3 I will then turn to the inheritance of these
problems in the Sui, focusing on Sui Yangdi’s attempt to appropriate the
forms of ritual sovereignty for his own ends. Finally, I will conclude with a
discussion of Taizong’s public documents on the Feng and Shan sacrifices,
and an analysis of “The Imperial Capital Poems.”
—————
2. For texts, see Tang shi jishi, 1.1–2; Wenyuan yinghua, 192.942a–c (without preface); Quan Tangshi, 1.1–3; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 3–14. It has previously been translated in Wilhelm and Knechtges, “T’ang T’ai-tsung’s Poetry,” pp. 14–22; and Owen,
“Difficulty of Pleasure,” pp. 15–20.
3. On the relationship between the two rites, see He Pingli, Xunshou yu fengshan. For studies of the Feng and Shan sacrifices, see Chavannes, Le T’ai chan; Kushitani Michiko, “Hōzen ni mirareru futatsu no seikaku,” pp. 59–68; Hervouet, Un Poète de cour sous les Han, pp.
198–210; Wechsler, Offerings of Jade and Silk, pp. 170–94; and Lewis, “Feng and Shan Sacrifices,” pp. 50–80. For a translation of an account of Han Guangwudi’s performance of the rites, see Bokenkamp, trans., “Record of the Feng and Shan Sacrifices,” pp. 251–60.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
313
Ritual and Territorialization
While the Feng and Shan were considered the most sacred of imperial ri-
tuals, performed at Mount Tai to announce to Heaven and Earth that an
age of great peace had been achieved, they were also burdened with an
ambiguous legacy. Prior to Taizong, only three emperors in recorded his-
tory had carried out these rites—Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi, and Han
Guangwudi. While Taizong would celebrate Han Guangwudi for his
sagely restoration of the Han, the first two emperors would serve as mina-
tory examples in their self-destructive hubris and delusory selfishness.
Further, it was entirely possible that the Feng and Shan did not exist as
such until their performance by Qin Shihuang, who had no models upon
which to base his revival of the sacrifices. The legacy of the Feng and Shan
could not ultimately be separated from the legacy of the First Emperor,
and as a result, the tradition sought a less problematic origin.
This, according to Sima Qian, was no less a canonical source than the
Classic of Documents. There, one finds the following description of the
sage-king Shun’s ritual tour of inspection:
In the second month of the year, Shun carried out a tour of inspection to the east, and reaching the mountain Daizong,4 he performed a burnt-offering sacrifice,
and then sacrificed in turn to the mountains and streams.5 Then he received the
noblemen of the east with an audience. He harmonized the seasons and months,
regularized the days, standardized the values of pitch, length, capacity, and weight, and set into order the five rituals,6 the five jade tokens [of enfeoffment],7 and the
—————
4. Daizong 岱宗 is another name for Mount Tai.
5. Ma Rong 馬融 (79–166) comments, “The burnt-offering rite consists of, when per-
forming the sacrifice, gathering firewood and then placing a sacrificial animal atop the pile and burning it” 柴，祭時積柴，加牲其上而燔之. Quoted in Sun Xingyan 孫星衍
(1753–1818), annot., Shang shu jinguwen zhushu, 1.42. The Kong Yingda commentary notes that, “Burning the firewood, he sacrifices to Heaven to announce his arrival” 燔柴
祭天告至. Quoted in Shang shu zhengyi, 3.15b, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 127. Because Heaven is not mentioned in the original context, it is likely that Kong is viewing this act in terms of the later Feng and Shan sacrificial tradition.
6. Zheng Xuan identifies the five rituals as the rites of court audience ( chaopin zhi li 朝聘
之禮) that distinguish the five ranks ( gong 公, hou 侯, bo 伯, zi 子, nan 男). Quoted in Shang shu jinguwen zhushu, 1.45. Kong Yingda (following Ma Rong) identifies the five rituals as “the rituals concerned with auspicious occasions [that is, worship], calamitous events, reception of state guests, military occasions, and festivals” 吉凶賓軍嘉之禮.
Quoted in Shang shu zhengyi, 3.15c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 127.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
three silks, two living animals, and one dead animal that served as the presents
[offered to the king before the audience].8 As for the five tokens,9 when all was
finished, he returned them. In the fifth month, Shun made a southward tour,
reaching the Southern Marchmount, and it was as he did at Daizong.10 In the
eighth month, he made a westward tour, reaching the Western Marchmount,
and it was as at the first one.11 In the eleventh month, he made a northward tour,
reaching the Northern Marchmount, and it was as he did for the western ritual
performance.12 Upon returning to the capital, he went to the splendid ancestor’s
shrine and sacrificed a bull. Every five years there was one tour of inspection, and the numerous lords appeared at four court audiences. They presented their accounts in words, provided clear proof with deeds, and were rewarded with chari-
ots and vestments according to their services.
歲二月，東巡守，至于岱宗，柴，望秩于山川，肆覲東后，協時月，
正日，同律度量衡，修五禮、五玉、三帛、二生、一死，贄，如五
器。卒乃復。五月南巡守，至于南岳，如岱禮。八月西巡守，至于西
岳，如初。十有一月朔巡守，至于北岳，如西禮。歸格于藝祖，用
特。五載一巡守，群后四朝。敷奏以言，明試以功，車服以庸。13
The account of Shun does not explicitly name the sacrifice at Mount Tai
(Daizong) as a Feng sacrifice, but it has been traditionally understood as
the earliest surviving record of such a performance.14 Sima Qian, whose
treatise begins with this account, notes that the details of the Feng and
Shan no longer exist, and that later performances all look back to this ac-
—————
7. Kong Yingda identifies the five jade tokens as the jade insignia carried to distinguish the five ranks of noblemen.
8. The three silks, two living animals, and one dead animal refer to the ritual presents carried by the five noble ranks for the audience. According to Ma Rong, the silks served to wrap the jade insignia of the sangu 三孤 (“Three Solitaries”) and were scarlet, black, or yellow, signifying the household to which the nobleman belonged. The two live
animals were either lambs or geese, for the ranks of the qing 卿 and daifu 大夫. The one dead animal was the pheasant, brought by those of the shi 士 rank.
9. According to Ma Rong, the wuqi 五器 refers back to the five jade insignia.
10. The Southern Marchmount is Mt. Heng 衡山 in modern-day Hunan.
11. The Western Marchmount is Mt. Hua 華山 in modern-day Shaanxi.
12. The Northern Marchmount is Mt. Heng 恆山 in modern-day Shanxi.
13. Shang shu zhengyi, 3.15b–15c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 127; Shang shu jinguwen zhushu, 1.42–50. For a study on the authenticity of this chapter, see Zhu Tingxian, “ ‘Yao dian pian’ zhucheng zhi shidai kao,” in his Shang shu yanjiu, pp. 323–34.
14. There is a Guanzi passage that consists of a dialogue between Guan Zhong and Duke Huan of Qi, but this was reconstituted through Sima Qian’s quotation of it in his “Treatise on the Feng and Shan.” See Guanzi jiaozhu, 16.50.951–54.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
315
count for the sense of how the ritual was to be carried out. Ritual is a frag-
ile thing, he remarks, and if a ritual is not performed for three years, it will
be forgotten and lost.15 This loss is clear from the Classic of Documents,
which provides no specific details about the sacrifice at Mount Tai, dwell-
ing instead upon Shun’s act of xunshou. And it is almost certainly because
of this that the Feng and Shan sacrifices would become intertwined with
the xunshou rite and its central concern with the idea of territorialization.
One might briefly define territorialization as an act of ordering that en-
codes a particular or bounded space. This concept is crucial for modern
political theory, since “territorial sovereignty” is what marks the rise of the
nation-state after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia and the recognition of in-
dividual state autonomy in matters of self-government.16 Yet the idea of
territorial sovereignty may also be understood in a more general manner,
as referring not only to the designation of internationally recognized
boundaries, but to the centrality of the concept of territory to the very
understanding of sovereignty.17 This is the case even where the sovereign
entity in question does not actually occupy any physical territory, since
the claims of sovereignty are only meaningful in relation to a defined field
of operation.
Following the work of David N. Keightley, we see how territorializa-
tion underlies the model of peripatetic sovereignty in the Shang dynasty,
whose kings constantly traveled throughout the realm in order to hunt,
collect taxes, and defend against enemy incursions.18 Territory, for the
Shang, is defined by the king as he circulates through a particular space,
but at the same time, the limitations of Shang sovereign authority are un-
derscored by the necessity of the royal corporeal presence for the en-
forcement of the claim of sovereignty. Under the model of peripatetic
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15. Shi ji, 28.1355.
16. For a convenient overview of modern sovereignty theory, see Krasner, “Sovereignty,” pp.
20–29. Krasner argues against placing undue emphasis on the Peace of Westphalia as the shift from medieval to modern notions of sovereignty. Daniel Philpott, however, argues in some detail that the Peace of Westphalia was precisely the moment at which the modern system of nation-states was born. See Philpott, Revolutions in Sovereignty, pp. 75–149.
17. Here, it should be noted that the importance of territoriality is not a hallmark of modern sovereignty. The territorial conception of sovereignty emerged in the ancient world and was essential to the shift towards unified rulership. See Hinsley, Sovereignty, pp. 32–33.
18. This is also discussed in Keightley, “The Late Shang State.”
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
kingship, the claim of territory had to be constantly renewed or else po-
litical space would revert to undifferentiated space.
In this way, despite the fact that Shun is named as successor to Yao, it
seems that the space he inherits must still undergo the processes of deter-
ritorialization and reterritorialization in order to effect the full transfer of
sovereignty. This is perhaps in part because Yao abdicates the throne in
favor of Shun, living on in the ambiguous state of retired sovereign and
sovereign subject under Shun’s new regime. By traversing the territory
and rectifying ritual and ceremony, Shun recodes the political space that
had been defined by Yao, making it his own.
Now, there are certain cosmological aspects to the ritual of xunshou, as
Shun’s visits to each of the cardinal points of the realm constitute a ritual
circuit. Sarah Allan has argued that the Shang conceived of the earth as
five square regions ( fang 方) organized in the shape of the graph ya 亞.19
Because the notion of fang is a vague one, its definition comes from the
central region of the ya-shape, which organizes the other fang into distinct territories and into a stable form, just as the pole-star organizes all
other celestial bodies into a coherent order. Similarly, Shun passes in per-
son through the vaguely defined regions and reterritorializes them, creat-
ing political order out of undifferentiated space. The definition of empire
becomes the shape of the world, indicating how political territory serves
as a microcosm of the earth itself. Yet, as with the Shang concept of terri-
tory, this is a sovereignty based upon the immediate presence of the sover-
eign. Shun has to personally go to each of the regions in order to bring
about the unification of his realm, and in this way, his body itself becomes
the microcosm of his political territory.
If the imperial model of sovereignty would not be dependent in this
way upon the body’s immediate presence, there would nevertheless be re-
tained an interest in the body as the microcosmic locus of political power.
With the foundation of empire by the Qin, the question of body and ter-
ritory would once again arise. It may be recalled how Qin Shihuang abol-
ished the Zhou feudatories and reorganized the territory through the es-
tablishment of a single, centralized system of administrative units. The
Qin emperor placed his representatives ( shou 守 for the commanderies,
—————
19. Sarah Allan, Shape of the Turtle, pp. 75–88; also see Keightley, Ancestral Landscape, pp.
55–79.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
317
and ling 令 or zhang 長 for the districts) at each of the subordinate levels, so that his authority could extend from the capital region at Xianyang to
the empire’s borders. In this way, the emperor would always be present
through his deputies, making the entire imperial structure a prosthesis for
his limited human body and obviating the need for the emperor to travel
through the realm.
Yet the emperor’s desire to see his con
quered territories, coupled with
his increasing obsession with learning the secret of immortality, would
tempt Qin Shihuang out of his capital to embark on a series of extended
tours of the empire. His first tours occurred in 220 bc, the year following
the Qin founding, and in 219, he began to consult with scholars about the
correct protocol for the Feng and Shan sacrifices. Then, in the same year,
the First Emperor went to Mount Tai (Daizong) and the nearby hill of
Liangfu 梁甫 in order to perform the sacrifices.
While Shun had performed the Feng and Shan in order to secure sov-
ereignty over the realm, it would seem that Qin Shihuang performed the
rites at Mount Tai mainly in hopes of gaining immortality. This can be
seen in how, after the Mount Tai sacrifices, the Qin emperor “roamed
east to the sea, performing ritual sacrifices to famous mountains and great
rivers, and to the Eight Spirits, seeking undying men such as Xianmen and
his like” 東遊海上，行禮祠名山大川及八神，求僊人羨門之屬.20
While the Eight Spirits, each of whom governs a particular aspect of the
cosmic order and is tied to a particular geographic locus, would seem to
parallel the regional lords in Shun’s xunshou rites, there is no clear pro-
gression of sacrifices on the part of the First Emperor, no ritual circuit
that he undertakes to complete. Instead he seems to become fixated upon
finding the immortal islands beyond the Eastern Sea, yet he dies without
achieving his desire.
Moreover, the language Sima Qian employs is marked by a shift from
the verb xun, which resonates with Shun’s inspection tours, to you 遊 (or 游), which can be translated as “roaming” and connotes “travel without
fixed destination” or “travel without serious purpose.” Indeed, to speak of
you, of roaming, in conjunction with the sovereign is to participate in the
complex of discourses that revolves around the proper place of the sover-
—————
20. Shi ji, 28.1367. Sima Qian goes on to explain the Eight Spirits, each of whom are tied to a particular geographic site.
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