Appendices and Endnotes

by William Dolby

  “Who are you?” the emperor asked the big demon.

  “I’m Mr. Chung K’ui (Chung K’ui Shih 鍾馗氏),” submitted the big demon, “a scholar who failed in the imperial military exams. I’ve sworn to get rid of all the baleful and sinful supernatural creatures in the world (ch’u t’ien-hsia chih yao-nieh 除天下之妖孽) for Your Majesty.”

  When the Emperor woke up, his sufferings from the fever had all of a sudden been cured, and he was physically stronger than ever. So he summoned the painter-artisan Wu Tao-tzu to him, told him about the dream, and said: “Try and paint a picture of it as in my dream for me.”

  Receiving this command, Wu Tao-tzu became dazed, as if seeing something, then at once completed a brushwork painting, which he presented to the Emperor. The Emperor was most delighted, and declared throughout the world that at the end of each year people were to paint images of Ch’ung K’ui, so as to exorcise evil goblins (ch’ü hsieh-mei 祛邪魅). In the fifth year of the Happy-tranquility reign-period [i.e. AD 1072], the emperor had painter-artisans do rubbings of a previous wood-block version, and printed them and bestowed them on each of the Grand Councillors of the Two Administrations.

  Seeing this inscription, I concluded that it began in the reign-period 713 - 741.

  He also adds that Chung K’ui is sometimes written Chung K’ui 鍾葵.

  From the above account, it’s clear that the legend of Chung K’ui’s getting rid of demons (pi-kui 辟鬼) was current already during the T’ang and Sung dynasties, but later ages added much to the legend. Chai Hao 翟灝 (AD? - AD 1788), Compilation of common mores (T’ung-su pien 通俗編), says: “Chung K’ui ‘s 鍾馗 name is interchangeable with the Chung K’ui 終葵 given in Examination of artisans [Anon. (late Chou dynasty man of Ch’i 齊,] (K’ao-kung chi 考工記), and by the fan-ch’ieh system of spelling the two characters’ spell chui 錐, meaning ‘mallet’, a mallet for striking evil, the sense of which is borrowed for making the portrait. The legend about the Shining August-emperor isn’t true.”

  In old times, the portrait of Chung K’ui was hung up on New Year’s Eve (Ch’u-hsi 除夕), but later ages hung it up at the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the Fifth Month of the lunar year.

  Chung K’ui is a salient figure of Chinese mythology. Supposed by expanded legend to have been a T’ang dynasty military graduate who failed in the palace examinations solely because the emperor could not bear the ugliness of his face, Chung committed suicide by cutting his own throat. Later he was appointed Commissioner To Punish Aberrant And Evil Demons. Thus, for human beings at least, he was a benevolent deity, and his picture, often showing him seated in a sedan chair like a mortal mandarin and accompanied by a retinue of hideous demon lackeys, was commonly hung up to avert evil influences and the illnesses that baleful demons were supposed to cause. He was depicted with a fearsome and dark face. His sister was also part of some of the legends about him.

  Wu-p’an 舞判, dancing assessor, was the name of an item of the Hundred Games (pai-hsi 百戲) acrobatic and other entertainments in the Sung dynasty. Meng Yȕan-lao 孟元老 (fl. ca. 1120 - 1150), Record of dreams of splendours of the Eastern Capital (Tung-ching meng-hua lu 東京夢華錄 (AD 1147), which contains the author’s preface dated AD 1147, and deals with events of the period 1119 - 1125, says:

  The emperor ascends Precious-ford Tower, and the various armies present the Hundred Games” (Chia-teng Pao-chin-lou chu-chȕn ch’eng Pai-hsi 駕登寶津樓諸軍呈百戲”.

  There was a performer like the portrait of Chung K’ui 鍾馗, wearing a mask (chia-mien 假面) with long whiskers, with next to him a man with a little gong (hsiao-lo 小鑼) beckoning to him and doing dance-steps (wu-pu 舞步), being referred to as Dancing Assessor.

  This dance was current among the general populace right until the Ch’ing dynasty, and was also absorbed into traditional Chinese drama. For instance, the Sung Dynasty Variety Plays (tsa-chü 雜劇) included Chung K’ui ts’uan 鍾馗爨. Yȕan and Ming dynasty Variety Play (tsa-chü 雜劇) dramas include In years of celebration and prosperity the Five Demons harrass Chung K’ui (Ch’ing-fen-nien Wu-kui nao Chung K’ui 慶豐年五鬼鬧鍾馗), and Ch’ing dynasty Wonder Play (ch’uan-ch’i 傳) drama includes such as the episode Chung K’ui marries off his younger sister (Chung K’ui chia-mei 鍾馗嫁妹) in the drama Happiness throughout the world (T’ien-hsia le 天下樂) and the episode Fire Assessor (Huo-p’an 火判) in the drama Nine-lotus lanterns (Chiu-lien teng 九蓮燈). In the dramas, such characters as Chung K’ui the Assessor (判官) were generally made up and attired as podgy, clumsy, inept and malformed men, giving prominence to particularly attractive dances and certain other entertainment skills such as fire-eating (p’en-huo 噴火) and “juggling teeth/ tusks” (shua-ya 耍牙).

  The term p’an-er 判兒, the Assessor/Judge, is also found as another name for Chung K’ui.

  767Han dynasty Empress Chao Flying-swallow (Chao Fei-yen 趙飛燕) was physically light, and able to dance on the palm of a hand (chang-shang-wu 掌上舞).

  768i.e. AD 752.

  769kuan pai-hung 貫白虹, to thread a white rainbow. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 147 BC - 90 BC), Historians’ records (Shih-chi 史記), “Tsou Yang chuan”, says: “Of yore, Ching K’e 荊軻 admired Prince Tan of Yen’s (Yen Tan 燕丹) objective morality. A white rainbow threaded the sun, and the crown prince felt dread of it.” Assembled elucidations of “Historians’ records” (Shih-chi chi-chieh 史記集解) says: “Ying Shao 應劭 [fl. ca. AD 178] says: ‘Crown Prince Tan of Yen was a hostage in the state of Ch’in, and the August First Emperor (Shih-huang 始皇) treated him discourteously. Prince Tan fled, and so fostered Ching K’e liberally, and ordered him to go west and stab/ assassinate the King of Ch’in [i.e. the future August First Emperor]. Ching K’e had such sincerity of essential essence that it moved Heaven, and a white rainbow threaded the sun [pai-hung kuan-jih 白虹貫日] for him.”

  Ju Ch’un 如淳 (fl. Three Kingdoms Wei), notes: “The white rainbow was the sign of warfare (ping-hiang 兵象), the sun being the ruler. Knights’ biographies (Lieh-shih chuan 列士傳) says: ‘After Ching K’e had set out, the crown prince himself took prognostications of the clime [hsiang-ch’i 相氣], saw a rainbow threading the sun but not going right through it, and concluded: ‘Our endeavour won’t be fulfilled.’ Later, when he heard of Ching K’e’s death and the failure of their endeavour, he declared: ‘I knew it would be so!’.’”

  Ssu-ma Chen 司馬貞 (Liang dynasty), Quest for hidden meanings in “Historians’ records” (Shih-chi so-yin 史記索隱), says: “When Nieh Cheng 聶政 assassinated Hsia Lei [prime minister] of the state of Han, a white rainbow also threaded the sun.”

  770tzu-pei 紫孛, Scarlet Comet, i.e. a fierce column of resentment. Seemingly referring to Weaving-damsel’s previous mention of “I saw there was a colum/path of resentment’s breath-energy in your world, which charged straight up to the empyrean”.

  771Hsȕan-chi-kung 璇璣宮, Jade-pearl Palace, the name of a celestial palace of the goddess Weaving-damsel (Chih-nü 織女). Hsȕan-chi means:

  i) also found written as 璿璣 and 旋璣. Also known as Jade Balance (yü-heng 玉衡). An astronomical measuring instrument of ancient times, armillary sphere. Pan Ku 班固 (32 - 92), Han history (Han-shu 漢書), “Lü-li chih”, says: “Assist the Hsüan-chi 旋璣 and carefully consider the Finger Set-up (chien-chih 建指), and thereby regulate the Seven Administrations.”

  K’ung Ch’iu 孔丘 (551 BC - 479 BC) (ed.), History classic (Shu-ching 書經), “Shun-tien”, says: “Depending on the 璿璣 Jade Balance, the Seven Administrations are regulated.” Commentary to that says: “Hsȕan 璿 is a beautiful kind of jade. The chi 璣 and Balance are both decorated with jade. The chi is for revolving operation, and the Balance is for horizontal ones. Triggers are operated to make them work. The Balance is used for gazing at things. This is an instrument used by rulers-by-virtue of China for regulating with the celestial patterns. This was what from the H
an dynasty era onwards, has been called the Whole-sky Instrument (hun-t’ien-yi 渾天儀) [i.e. armillary sphere].”

  It also says: “The Balance is eight feet long, and the chi is eight foot in diameter, with a circumference of some twenty-five feet.”

  ii) the name of an asterism of Chief Four Stars (K’ui Ssu-hsing 魁四星) of the Northern Dipper (Pei-tou 北斗). The second star of the Chief Four Stars is also called Hsȕan 璇, and the third star Chi 璣.

  Note that Jade Balance is also the name of Alioth, the fifth star in the seven stars of the Northern Dipper (Pei-tou 北斗). The three stars of the Ladle (Shao 杓) are also called Jade Balance. Jade Balance was also a reign-period title, of Li Hsiung 李雄 of Ch’eng 成 during the Tsin dynasty, AD 311.

  772Chen-yȕan 真元, True Origin, original nature. Similar to the term Yȕan-ch’I 元氣, Original Breath-energy. Here a term referring to Empress Yang Jade-bangle’s origin as an immortal. Su Ch’e 蘇轍 (1039 - 1112) has a poem with the lines:” The root of my illness is about to be removed, and my True Origin remains, In the middle of the night I roam in dream to Nowhere Land.”

  773chin-tan 金丹, gold cinnabar, the name of an elixir for lasting/abiding/enduring life (ch’ang-sheng 長生). Ke Hung 葛洪 (284 - 363), Sir Uncarved-block Embracer (Pao-p’u Tzu 抱樸子), “Nei-p’ien”, “Chin-tan”, says: “A rhymed formula of Sir Old’s (Lao-tzu 老子) says: ‘If you don’t obtain returning-cinnabar and liquid gold (huan-tan chin-yeh 還丹金液), you’ll be futilely putting yourself to toil.’ This cinnabar is a substance such as, the longer you hear it, the more wondrous are its transformations. When yellow gold is put into fire, it doesn’t melt after a hundred refinings/ smeltings. If one takes these two substances, they refine one’s body, so they can cause one to not grow old and not die.” It also says: “Any vegetation or trees that are burned become ashes, but when cinnabar (tan-sha 丹砂) is burned/ heated, it becomes mercury, and after an accumulation of transformations it returns to become cinnabar, it being so very far removed from plants and trees. which is why it’s able to cause one to have enduring life.” According to that, “gold” means “liquid gold”, and “cinnabar”” means “returning-cinnabar refined from cinnabar”. There’s also the distinction between Inner Cinnabar (Nei-tan 內丹) and Outer Cinnabar (Wai-tan 外丹). Outer Cinnabar was refined from cinnabar etc. Inner Cinnabar was formed by refining the essence-and-breath-energy (ching-ch’i 精氣) within one’s body’s Cinnabar Field (tan-t’ien 丹田) regions.

  There are also the terms Nine-turned Magic-/Spirit-cinnabar (Chiu-chuan Ling-tan 九轉靈), i.e. Nine-turned Cinnabar (Chiu-chuan-an 九轉丹), also referred to as Nine-turned Gold-cinnabar (Chiu-chuan Chin-tan 九轉金丹), an elixir to enable humans to obtain immortality/ become immortals. A Taoistic term. Ke Hung, Sir Uncarved-wood-block Embracer, “Chin-tan”, says: “If one takes Once-turned Cinnabar for three years, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Twice-turned Cinnabar for two years, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Thrice-turned Cinnabar for one year, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Four-turned Cinnabar for half a year, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Five-turned Cinnabar for a hundred days, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Six-turned Cinnabar for forty days, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Seven-turned Cinnabar for thirty days, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Eight-turned Cinnabar for ten days, one will achieve immortality. If one takes Nine-turned Cinnabar for three days, one will achieve immortality.”

  The same book explains Nine-turned Cinnabar as the same as Grand-purity Divine-cinnabar (T’ai-ch’ing Shen-tan 太清神丹), and as deriving from a Great-purity heavens-observing scripture (T’ai-ch’ing kuan-t’ien ching 太清觀天經), the recipe for the “cinnabar” [tan 丹 = elixir] being to take the various ingredients and heat them together, turning them with five stones, the five stones being cinnabar (tan-sha 丹砂), realgar/ red orpiment (hsiung-huang 雄黃), alum (pai-fan 白礬), layered malachite (ts’eng-ch’ing 層青) and magnetite (tz’u-shih 綽石). Each one stone was “turned” five times, and each formed the Five Colours. The more they were turned, the fuller was the strength of the elixir (yao 藥), which was why the Nine-turned Cinnabar was the most prized. Chang Chȕn-fang 張君房 (fl. ca. AD 1001), Seven labels of Cloud Book-box (Yȕn-chi ch’i-ch’ien 雲笈七籤), also records a Nine-turn Cinnabar, slightly different from this one.

  The names of the nine kinds of cinnabar were: 1. Cinnabar Florescence (tan-hua丹華), 2. [Divine Cinnabar (shen-tan 神丹) and Cinnabar Amulet (shen-fu 神符), 3. Divine Cinnabar (shen-tan 神丹), 4. Returning Cinnabar (huan-tan 還丹), 5. Cake Cinnabar (erh-tan 餌丹), 6. Refined Cinnabar (lien-tan 鍊丹), 7. Soft Cinnabar (jou-tan 柔丹), 8. Prostrate Cinnabar (fu-tan 伏丹) and 9. Wintry Cinnabar (han-tan 寒).

  774Jui-chu-kung 蕊珠宮, Bud-pearl Palace, the name of a palace of Heaven. Possibly an extrapolation from Bud-pearl scripture (Jui-chu ching 蕊珠經), the title of a Taoist work, the Jui also found written as 蕋 and 蘂.

  Pao Jung 鮑溶 (fl. ca. AD 813), in his poem Sent to Refining-master Yang (Chi Yang Lien-shih 寄楊鍊師), has the lines: “The Taoist priest at night chants Bud-pearl scripture, His white crane descending and circling, listening amid the fragrant incense.”

  Sa Tu-la 薩都剌 (AD 1308 - AD?), in his poem Pouring wine in cassia courtyard (Cho kui-t’ing 酌桂庭), has the lines: “Joining Bamboo Pond, connecting with Cinnabar-well water, On the other side of the pine-trees someone’s chanting Bud-pearl scripture.”

  775Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Chao Ku 趙嘏 [fl. ca. 810 - 856].

  776Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Liu Wei 劉威 [fl. ca. AD 844].

  777Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Fang Kan 方干 [fl. ca. AD 860].

  778Hung Sheng gives the note that this line derives from a poem by Lu Pi 盧弼 [circa T’ang dynasty].

  779Li Chu-erh 李猪兒, Li Pig-son, the name of a man, a eunuch-mandarin and quasi-son of An Lu-shan’s 安祿山, and a member of the staff of An Lu-shan’s son An Ch’ing-hsü 安慶緒.

  780chien-yi 箭衣, “arrow-jacket”, being the name of a kind of garment worn by archers in ancient times. The upper half of its sleeve-end (hsiu-tuan 袖端) is long enough to cover the hands, and the lower half especially short for convenience when shooting. [Not quite clear to me.] The sleeves were known as Arrow Sleeves (chien-hsiu 箭袖).

  781Ssu-ma Kuang 司馬光 (1019 - 1086), Comprehensive mirror to assist good government (Tzu-chih t’ung-chien 資治通鑑), scroll 217, appendix to First Month of T’ien-pao 13 nien [AD 755], says: “The emperor once held a big feast for An Lu-shan. And Lu-shan lay down drunk, and turned into a dragon with a pig’s head.”

  782Tuan fu-jen 段夫人, Lady/Queen Tuan, An Lu-shan’s wife/queen/empress.

  783Ch’ing-en 慶恩, An Ch’ing-en 安慶恩, son of An Lu-shan 安祿山 and Lady Tuan (Tuan fu-jen 段夫人).

  784An Ch’ing-hsü 安慶緒 (AD? - AD 759), the name of the second son of the warlord rebel An Lu-shan 安祿山. His personal name was initially Jen-chih 仁執. He was a skilled horseman and a good archer. When Lu-shan seized power, Ch’ing-hsü, not yet an adult, was made Chief Minister of the Court for Dependencies (Hung-lu-ch’ing 鴻臚卿).

  When An Lu-shan had usurped the imperial throne, Ch’ing-hsü was made Prime Minister of the Left (tso-hsiang 左相), and enfiefed as Prince of Tsin (Chin-wang 晉王). Lu-shan cherished his empress Lady Tuan’s (Tuan fu-jen 段夫人) son An Ch’ing-en, and Ch’ing-hsü feared he wouldn’t succeed to the throne, so plotted with his staff member Li Pig-son (Li Chu-erh 李猪兒), in the spring of AD 757 killing An Lu-shan, and, falsely claiming the throne had been passed on to him, and proclaimed himself emperor, changing the reign-period title to Tsai-yȕan 載元. The T’ang imperial army under Kuo Tzu-yi 郭子儀 shortly, in AD 758, campaigned against him, Lo-yang 洛陽 and Ch’ang-an 長安 were taken, and, defeated, An Ch’ing-
en fled to Yeh 鄴, changing his reign-period title to Heaven-harmony (T’ien-he 天和), and there was besieged, seeking relief from Shih Ssu-ming 史思明 (AD? - AD 761), who raised the siege, but the following year killed him.

  785Yü-he-ch’iao 御河橋, Imperial River bridge. Imperial Canal/ River was the name for rivers that ran through the imperial palace. For instance, in the Ch’ing dynasty, the Jade Source (Yu-ch’ȕan 玉泉) of Peking flowed into the imperial city (huang-ch’eng 皇城), and encircled the Scarlet-forbidden-precincts City (Tzu-chin-ch’eng 紫禁城), so it was called the Imperial River. Cf. the term Imperial Ditch/ Canal (Yü-kou 御溝), referring to ditches or canals which flowed through the imperial hunting-parks. Ts’ui Hao 崔顥 (AD? - AD 754) has a poem with the lines: “Jade gates overlook the galloping-road; Vermilion doors are near to the Imperial Ditch.”

  786tiao-tou刁斗,” cunning dipper”, a cook-pot watch-gong, “handled tripod-cookpot cum night-march rhythm-beat instrument”, an ancient military implement. Ssu-ma Ch’ien 司馬遷 (ca. 145 BC - ca. 85 BC) has the words; “He didn’t strike the tiao-tou to defend himself.”

  P’ei Yin 與駰 (fl. ca. AD 438), in his Assembled explanations of “Historians’ records” (“Shih-chi” chi-chieh 史記集解), mentions that Meng K’ang 孟康 (fl. ca. AD 230, Three Kingdoms, Wei dynasty) says: “The tiao-tou is a chiao 鐎 made of bronze, which holds one tou, and during the daytime is used for cooking food to eat, at night-time being tied on to maintain marching rhythm.”