Pole-star worship and determination of time by Ursa Major existed in China
from remote antiquity. The Chinese name for the pole-star is
Teen-hwang-ta-tee, literally the great imperial ruler of the Heaven. In
China “the pole-star, round which the entire firmament appears to turn,
ought to be considered as the Sovereign of the Heavens, and as the most
venerated divinity” (G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise, p. 524). The
sacred central forbidden enclosure, at Peking, contains a temple of the
North Star God. In the description of the imperial worship held at the
winter and summer solstices, in James Edkins’ Religion in China (London,
1878, p. 24) it is stated: “On the second terrace of the east side, the
tablet of the Sun is placed, and also that of _the Great Bear_, the five
of the 28 constellations and one for all the other stars.” The following
passage shows the origin of the Chinese year:
1. “The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major
(the Chinese name for which is Pek-tao the ‘Seven Directors’). The tail of
the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival
of spring; pointing to the south the arrival of summer; pointing to the
west the arrival of autumn and pointing to the north the arrival of
winter. This means of calculating the seasons becomes more intelligible
when it is remembered that in ancient times the Bear was much nearer the
north pole than now and revolved around it like the hand of a clock”
(Prof. Rob. K. Douglass, China. London, 1887, p. 418). The Chinese zodiac
is represented with the pole-star and circumpolar constellations in the
centre (Astronomy of the Chinese, Ancient China, W. H. Medhurst, Shanghae,
1846).
2. The determination and designation of six directions in space. In
Chinese the six ho or ki designate the limits of space, the zenith, nadir
and four quarters (Mayer’s Manual, pp. 306, 312 and 321). “The term Liu-ho
also applies to the six pairs of cyclical signs and means ‘Universe,’ that
is, Heaven and Earth [being Above and Below] and the Four Quarters.”(79)
The syllable ho also occurs in the following words which deserve to be
collated with the Maya list: Hô=river, hu=lake. C-hó-o=master, _cf._ Maya
hol=head. Hó-o=resident, _cf._ Maya ho=capital. Shó-o=tree, _cf._ Maya
ci-hom=tree. Pih-shó-o=cypress. Kwó=country, _cf._ mouth, symbol for land
or below. Kòw=mouth, etc. Chow=name of ancient metropolis.
3. The conception of the Above and Below=duality. The zenith is naturally
associated with heaven and the nadir with earth. Heaven is father and
earth is mother. Heaven is figured by a circle and earth by a square. “The
marriage of Heaven and Earth produces all things.” The association of
heaven with the male and earth with the female principles is shown by (1)
the injunction: “Thou shalt honor thy father as the heaven and thy mother
as the earth.” (2) In Pekin, the Emperor, termed “the Son of Heaven,”
inhabits the “Palace of Heaven” whilst the Empress inhabits the “Palace of
Earth’s repose.” The sun is male and the “Temple of the Sun” is situated
to the east. The moon is female and the “Temple of the Moon” is situated
to the west in the sacred enclosure at Pekin. The emblematic color of the
heaven is naturally azure; of the sun, red; of the earth, yellow; and of
the moon, white. It is thus evident that the cult of heaven and earth is
indissolubly linked to that of the Yang and Yin, the male and the female
principle, and that in China the following chains of association
concerning duality were formed:
Zenith. Nadir.
Above. Below.
Tien=Heaven. Tec=Earth.
Father. Mother.
Yang. Yin.
Color: Azure. Yellow.
Emblem: Sun. Moon.
East=place of West, place of
rising. setting.
Light. Darkness.
Day. Night.
Personification: the The Earth-Mother.
Shang-ti=
Emperor=Above, The The Empress=Below?
Lord of Heaven or
Universe.
Earthly The Empress? or
representative: the Sombre Emperor?
Light Emperor.
An interesting addition to this dual list is the view of a modern
Chinaman, that the Yang and Yin principles refer to positive and negative
electricity! (Legge). A striking result of the association of woman with
the nadir and earth is the fact that in Thibet, according to Rockhill,
woman is designated as Smanba or Manba: “low creature.”