by Chen Jack W
text does not say whether the flooding of the great rivers was seen as in-
auspicious or whether there was sufficient damage from the flood that
emergency measures were needed, though this would be the first of Tai-
zong’s cancelled attempts to perform the rites.
Taizong’s growing interest in the sacrifices was, however, obvious with
his decision to establish a definitive form for the ritual sacrifice. The
Zhenguan li, promulgated in 633, had already included a discussion of the Feng and Shan. Nevertheless, in 637, Taizong ordered the eminent classicist Yan Shigu, as well as other scholars throughout the empire, to discuss
what was known about the procedures of the Feng and Shan sacrifice.
Most agreed that the Zhenguan li commentaries on the Feng and Shan
were “truncated and not thorough” 簡略未周, but could not agree on the
proper interpretation. Thus, Taizong ordered his ministers Fang Xuan-
ling, Wei Zheng, and Yang Shidao to choose from among the opinions
and construct a workable solution. When the report was complete, Tai-
zong “ordered that it be appended to the Zhenguan li” 令附之禮.57 Yet,
despite the care with which the various scholarly groups worked at re-
searching and composing the ritual regulations, it appears that Taizong
remained unsatisfied with the results, sufficiently so that the matter
would not be given a final decision for several years.
—————
54. There is a legend that there were seventy-two ancient rulers who sacrificed at Mount Tai. Traditionally, the earliest mention of this is in the Guanzi, though it is common in many discussions of the Feng and Shan sacrifice. See Guanzi jiaozhu, 16.50.952–53.
55. See Tang liudian, 9.275.
56. Jiu Tang shu, 23.882. The decision to send Du Zhenglun to inspect the former altars is also recorded in the Xin Tang shu though without any date; see Xin Tang shu, 13.349. The Tang huiyao includes both instances, though it mistakenly places the Xin Tang shu episode in the fifteenth year of Taizong’s reign. See Tang huiyao, 7.80, 7.87.
57. Though Taizong’s ritual code is now lost, the record of the ritual deliberations are recorded in the Jiu Tang shu, 23.882; and Tang huiyao, 7.82–83. For the text of Yan Shigu’s opinion on the Feng and Shan, see Wenyuan yinghua, 761.3990b–91b. See also Wechsler, Offerings of Jade and Silk, pp. 179–80.
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342
On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
Nevertheless, following this important step, pressure to have Taizong
perform the Feng and Shan once again began to build up. The Cefu yuan-
gui records a memorial in the tenth month of 640 from one Zhao Wang-
yuan 趙王元 and other officials that the time was now propitious for the
Feng and Shan. Taizong refused this honor once more, citing insufficient
personal virtue.58 Yet, according to Taizong’s annals in the Xin Tang shu,
in 641 he ordered that the ritual would take place in the second month of
the next year. For this, the edict announcing that the Feng and Shan
would be performed in 642 survives. It concludes:
We continue in the footsteps of the hundred kings [of history] and cleave to the
heart of the myriad things. Above, We serve Cerulean Heaven, the significance of
which resides in offering up Our accomplishments. Below, We nurture the
common people, praying to Earth for abundant blessings. Hard-pressed by this
principle, how dare We not comply? We are but lowly in Our insignificant body,
so to equal the glories of prior ages, to utter words that speak long-standing aims, causes Us to shiver, increasing Our anxiety. We consider it permissible, then, in
the second month of the coming year to have a performance at Mount Tai. All
those with ritual functions and high-ranking ministers, along with the various
Confucian scholars and court officials with learning—meticulously settle the ce-
remonial regulations and broadly research the meaning of the sages and worthies,
so that it conforms to the center of the past and present. To be fully sincere and
reverent—this is what accords with Our intentions.
朕繼跡百王， 因心萬物。上奉蒼昊，義在薦功。下撫黎元，方祈厚
福。既迫茲理，敢不祗從。猥以眇身，齊美上代，永言夙志，凜乎增
惕。可以來年二月，有事泰山，所司宜與公卿並諸儒士，及朝臣有學
業者，詳定其儀，博考聖賢之旨，以允古今之中。務盡誠敬，稱朕
意焉．59
The rhetoric of sovereignty is in many ways an empty form, adaptable to
whatever circumstance presents itself. The kind of humble, self-
denigrating language that we had earlier seen in Taizong’s refusals now
reappears in the context of not daring to refuse to perform the rites. That
is to say, the form is generally the same, or sufficiently commonplace; it is
only the conclusion that is different. However, because a comet was spot-
ted crossing the constellation “Southern Palace” 太微宮—an extremely
—————
58. Cefu yuangui, 35.386b–87b; and Tang huiyao, 7.86–87.
59 . Cefu yuangui, 35.388a; Tang huiyao, 7.88; Tang da zhaoling ji, 66.334; Quan Tang wen, 6.78a; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, p. 420.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
343
inauspicious omen—the plans to hold the sacrifice were halted.60 In his
edict announcing this decision, he repeats some of the rhetoric in his ini-
tial decision to hold the rites. He then goes on to state that since the
sighting of the comet, he has reflected upon his governance and seen that
his accomplishments could not yet be considered thorough or complete.
Moreover, he notes that the ritual sacrifice would not be performed with-
out great expense and toil from the people, so that it was appropriate to
halt the proceedings.61
The Final Refusal of the Feng and Shan
When the matter arose once more in 646, Taizong was seriously ill. Dur-
ing the campaigns against Koguryŏ, he had contracted an illness that nev-
er healed. Preparations were made for a quick and somewhat scaled-back
performance to be held in early 648. As Wechsler writes, “it was decided
that the ailing monarch would perform the Shan ceremony not at Liang-
fu, which was about twenty-three miles distant from T’ai-shan, but at a
hill less than two miles away, called She-shou, reputedly the site of the
Chou dynasty Shan ceremony.”62 However, in the eighth month of 647,
Taizong issued a decree canceling the performance.63 The edict begins in
this way:
My officials: We have heard that those who seek after the primal mysteries first
attend to reality and afterwards “the guest [of reality].” Those who embody abso-
lute public-mindedness take benevolence as the trunk and make ritual into the
branch. Name belongs to one’s self; the wise men of the past preserved it but did
not work for it. Virtue benefits the people; the former sages pursued this and
considered it a matter of urgency. Therefore, they “took Heaven and Earth as the
model” and they measured the light and the heavy so
as to be appropriate to the
season; and they took yin and yang as their principle and adapted to the trans-
—————
60. Xin Tang shu, 2.40; and Tang huiyao, 7.87.
61. See Cefu yuangui, 35.388a–88b; Tang huiyao, 7.88–89; Tang da zhaoling ji, 66.335; Quan Tang wen, 6.78b–79a; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 426–28.
62. Wechsler, Offerings of Jade and Silk, p. 182.
63. According to the Tang da zhaoling ji, this decree was written by the court poet Xu Jingzong. However, this is not recorded or corroborated elsewhere. See Tang da zhaoling ji, 66.336.
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344
On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
formations and unfoldings [of time] in heeding the populace’s desires.64 Accord-
ing to the Feng and Shan rites of ancient times, one cannot just seize arbitrary
opportunities [for the performance]; in that which is called “serving Heaven,”
one should utilize all of one’s work and leisure time [in observance].
門下。朕聞探元賾者，先實而後賓。體至公者，本仁而末禮。名歸於
己，往哲存而弗務，德利於人，前聖徇而為急。是用範圍天地，權輕
重以會時宜。取則陰陽，適通變以從眾欲。繇是古之封禪，無奪事
機，所謂奉天，咸資務隙。
The opening statement plays on the term ming 名, which may be translated
as “name” or “personal fame” or “reputation,” depending upon the context.
Taizong begins with an allusion to the Zhuangzi, when he says that “those
who seek after the primal mysteries first attend to reality and afterwards
‘the guest [of reality].’” The opposition between “reality” and “the guest [of
reality]” refers to the recluse Xu You, who refuses to accept the throne of
the sage-king Yao. In his refusal, Xu You says, “Names are the guests of re-
ality. Why should I be a guest?” 名者，實之賓也。吾將為賓乎.65
There are clear resonances between this argument and the argument
that Taizong made in the third refusal of the Feng and Shan rites in 632,
insofar as he is once more taking up the ideal of gong (and sovereign
askēsis). Here, he states that if one “embodies absolute public-
mindedness,” then what is important is benevolence and not the ritual
performance. This may be read in relation to the Record of Ritual quota-
tion he had deployed in the third refusal: “Perfect respect needs no altar:
sweep the earth and then sacrifice.” Furthermore, the criticism of ming
recalls his earlier point that Qin Shihuang had arrogated the title of “Au-
gust Thearch,” while doing nothing in reality to match that (empty) claim.
Taizong then goes on to stress the gravity of the Feng and Shan, implying
that certain earlier emperors had not been sufficiently reverent in their at-
titudes to such a hallowed rite. Furthermore, the reverent intention of-
fered to Heaven is not merely confined to the act of sacrifice, but is some-
—————
64. The phrase “took Heaven and Earth as the model” 範圍天地 echoes the following
line in the “Appended Phrases” commentary in the Classic of Changes: “[A sage] takes the changes of Heaven and Earth as his model and does not stray from them” 範圍天地之化
而不過. See Zhou yi zhengyi, 7.65c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 77.
65. See Zhuangzi jishi, 1.24.
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On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
345
thing that the one ought to maintain during “all of one’s work and leisure
time.”
After this, he goes on to provide a capsule history of ancient sage-kings
and their accomplishments. Taizong argues that despite the great accom-
plishments of the sage-kings, they nevertheless did not manage to rule an
empire as vast as the one that he had himself governed. Taizong states:
Even though Yao conveyed his compassion broadly, his territory stopped at the
Flowing Sands.66 Even though Yu spread his footprints distantly, his farthest
borders ended at Mount Jieshi.67 Still, they first greatly brought the land into or-
der, and then they set forth the jade and silk of the ceremony.68 At the beginning,
they created a “guest door” and then prepared the rite of the Yun and Ting.69 As
for the import of announcing the sovereign’s achievements—the sacrifice always
was based in this. Moreover, We control a territory that engirds an expanse that
is the greatest of all time; and We respectfully receive the protection of past an-
cestors, a blessing that exceeds that of the hundred past kings. Of those whom the
seas encompass, none are not Our servants.70 Of that which the great rivers en-
close, all enter into Our borders.
In recent days, since the barbarian and Our peoples share the same culture
and auspicious omens continuously arrive, We should sound the carriage bells at
—————
66. The phrase guangyun 廣運 echoes the “Plans of Great Yu” chapter of the Classic of Documents: “The thearch’s virtue is broadly conveyed: like this it is sagely; like this it is divine; like this it has martial power; like this it has civilizing force” 帝德廣運，乃聖乃
神，乃武乃文. See Shang shu zhengyi, 4.22c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 134. “Flowing Sands” refers to a desert region in modern Gansu province.
67. Mt. Jieshi was originally in modern Hebei, but has since sunk into the sea.
68. The phrase “they first greatly brought the land into order” echoes the “Tribute of Yu”
chapter of the Classic of Documents: “With the woven hairs and leather hides from Kunlun, Xizhi, and Qusou [three mountains or mountainous regions], the Western Rong thus
submitted to [Yu’s] ordering” 織皮崑崙、析支、渠搜、西戎即敘. See Shang shu
zhengyi, 6.38c, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 150. Commentators debate whether zhipi 織皮 refers to one thing (“woven hides”), or refer to two different things (“weavings and hides”).
69. The “guest door” ( binmen 賓門) refers to an institution supposedly created by Shun to allow the talented to enter service in the court. See “Canon of Yao,” in Shang shu zhengyi, 3.14a, in Shisanjing zhushu, p. 126. As mentioned in Chapter 5, note 105, “Yun” 云 is “Yunyun” 云云 and “Ting” 亭 is “Tingting” 亭亭. These are both peaks in the vicinity of
Mount Tai, where the ancient kings supposedly performed their Feng and Shan sacrifices.
They are described in the “Treatise on the Feng and Shan,” in Shi ji, 28.1361.
70. This literally reads chenqie 臣妾, “officials and wives.”
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346
On “The Imperial Capital Poems”
the Sun-viewing Tower and engrave tablets to offer at the dwellings of immortals,
allowing Us, in the coming spring, to carry out in person the Shan sacrifice.71
雖堯心廣運，局疆域於流沙，禹跡遐宣，限要荒於碣石。猶且先宏即
敘，次展玉帛之儀。首創賓門，方備云亭之典。告成之義，罔弗繇
茲。況朕奄有方輿，閫域該於千古。仰承靈睠，降福超於百王。巨海
> 所環，莫非臣妾。長河攸括，並入封疆。
日者夷夏同文，貞符狎至，謂可鳴鑾日觀，勒牒仙閭，許以來春，
親行告禪。
Because the Tang reunified the empire after centuries of social, military,
and economic unrest, this was indeed the first new age that could claim the
right to perform the Feng and Shan. Though the sage-kings were exemplary
in their virtues, they nevertheless only managed to bring their enlightened
rule to a fraction of the land that Taizong now governed. He even claims
that the fortune of the Tang exceeds all the previous reigns in Chinese
history, including that of the Han, the first great empire. It is a universal
claim of sovereignty that Taizong is making here, a declaration that his
empire is the first to have truly encompassed the world within its reign.
Taizong then turns to the appearance of auspicious portents further to
justify his right to perform the sacrifices. It is striking that Taizong in-
cludes a reference to “the dwellings of immortals,” which refers to Han
Wudi’s decision to hold the Shan sacrifice at Shilü 石閭, where immor-
tals were supposed to reside.72 This is, of course, the very model of the
Feng and Shan that Taizong had previously criticized. By borrowing the
rhetoric and imagery of Wudi’s sacrifices, Taizong reveals that his own
motives are not merely limited to the announcement to Heaven. This
moment also underlines the ambiguous nature of the Feng and Shan. The
quest for personal immortality is something that could not be fully erased
by Han Guangwudi’s attempt to reinterpret it in the Eastern Han, nor by
Taizong’s protestations that the significance of the sacrifice solely derived
from announcement to Heaven. Cultural and historical significances
—————
71. The “Sun-viewing Tower” 日觀 refers to the southeastern peak of Mount Tai. See
Chavannes, Le T’ai-shan, p. 60. The “dwellings of immortals” is a reference to Shilü 石閭, at the southern foot of Mount Tai.
72. This passage refers to Han Wudi’s Shan sacrifice. See the annals of Han Wudi and the
“Treatise on the Feng and Shan” in Shi ji, 12.484, 28.1404. The “dwellings of immortals”
