It is well known that the Chinese designate their empire as the “Middle
Kingdom.” Another native name for China is “Chung-ho-a,” which I find
translated as “the Flower of the Middle.” The empire is likewise
designated as “the Four Seas”=ssu-hai and “the Four Mountains,” and it was
actually divided by the emperor Yaou or Yāo (B.C. 2357) into four
provinces converging at the capital, the central enclosure of which was
considered as the centre of heaven and earth. It is extremely significant
that, in this central enclosure there is a temple, consecrated to the god
of the north star=The Imperial Ruler of Heaven, whereas altars only are
dedicated to the sun and moon respectively. The existence in the central
enclosure, or the “Carnation prohibited city,” of the Temple of Earth’s
Repose, reveals that the idea of stability was associated with this
terrestrial centre. The fact that the Empress and the female portion of
the Imperial family resided in the “Palace of Earth’s Repose” affords an
explanation of the possible origin of deforming the feet of noble women,
this being a means of enforcing comparative repose upon them, in keeping
with the symbolism of their surroundings.
The most striking structure in this sacred enclosure is “an artificial
mound, nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, having five summits,
crowned with as many temples. Its height allows the spectator to overlook
the whole city, whilst, too, it is itself a conspicuous object from every
direction.” This sacred mound or pyramid actually marks the centre of the
empire. From the surrounding walls of the sacred city four roads diverge
towards the cardinal points, dividing the capital into four quarters. Each
province was ruled by an official and both province and ruler seem to have
been anciently designated by the term Mountain=Yo or Kan. A superior
official, entitled the “President of the Four Mountains” is mentioned as
the counsellor of Emperor Yaou in the Shu King. One name for mountain is
yo, another is kan, a word which resembles k’an=water and kwăn=earth,
which forms the name of the earth mother=Kwan-yin. Without drawing any
hasty conclusions, I merely note the curious fact that the title “the
President of the Four Mountains,” must sometimes have been rendered as Kan
and as Yo, and that a variant the name of “four seas” may well have been
“four _ho_” or lakes or rivers. The title kan, meaning mountain or
eminence, and the idea of four rivers flowing from a common centre or
spring, may well have developed themselves among Chinese-speaking people.
It may be an odd coincidence only that the word kan=mountain, should be so
intimately connected with the numeral four in the Chinese title; while it
is a synonym for four in the Maya, it is also found employed in the
honorific Maya title Kukul-kan=the divine Kan, and as a synonym for
mountain in certain names of localities in the valley of Mexico. An
interesting but little known fact is that the peak of the mighty Kulkun
mountain in China is designated as the “King of Mountains, the summit of
the earth, the supporter of heaven and the axis which touches the pole”
(Meyer’s Conversations-Lexikon).
I should much like to know whether the name kul-kun is a variant of
kul-kan, and literally signifies “divine mountain.” In this case it would
strangely resemble the Maya Kukulkan and the Nahuatl Cul-hua-can, the name
of the fabulous recurved mountain of Aztec tradition. Feeling that I am
here treading upon extremely dangerous ground I shall abandon further
comparisons and conclusions to philologists and Chinese scholars and
merely conclude by stating the certain facts, that in Chinese and Maya
alike the syllable _ho_ seems to be associated with the Middle; while
_can_ is connected with four-fold division. I may perhaps venture to add
that, in Chinese, Maya and Nahuatl alike, the particles te and ti seem
closely connected with Heaven; while the Chinese kwan=earth, offers a
certain resemblance to the Nahuatl affix tlan, meaning land, and kan,
sometimes used for mountain.
Since the Chow Dynasty, the empire was spoken of as having five instead of
four mountains, which leads to the inference that reference was thus made
to the central metropolis also, the most sacred feature of which was its
central artificial mountain or pyramid. It is obvious that the empire was
governed from the central chief capital and from minor capitals situated
in the four provinces and built on the pattern of Peking. In an extremely
interesting and clever paper(80) Mr. James Wickersham has recently
remarked that “the arrangement of cities after the cardinal-points plan
was the rule not only in America but in China” and gives the following
quotations: “Mukden, the metropolis and ancient capital of Manchuria, was
a walled city like Peking. Main streets ran across the city from gate to
gate, with narrow roads, called Hu-ting, intersecting them. The palace of
the early Manchu sovereigns occupies the centre” (The Middle Kingdom,
Williams, vol. I, pp. 192-198). The Manchurian city of Kirin is also
divided into four quarters: “Two great streets cross each other at right
angles, one of them running far out into the river on the west supported
by piles.” Peune, another large city, is similarly divided. “It consists
of two main streets with the chief market [place] at their crossing. This
plan is the rule in the cities of northern China; the large cities are
walled and divided by cross streets emerging from the city gates at the
cardinal points” (Coxe’s Russia, pp. 316-17). The relation of the central
seat of government to its provinces is thus recorded in the Canon of
Shun.(81) “In five years there was one tour of inspection (performed by
the emperor) and four appearances at court of the nobles. They set forth a
report of their government in words. This was clearly tested by their
works. They received chariots and robes according to their services.”
The order of rotation in which the emperor visited in one year the capital
of each quarter, returning after each absence to the metropolis, is given
as follows: “In the second month the tour was to the east. In the fifth
month ... to the south. In the eighth month ... to the west. In the
eleventh month ... to the north.” During the next year the nobles of the
eastern province made their appearance at court, and the south, west and
north provinces followed in turn, it being noticeable that, in each case,
the circle started at the east, the place of rising.
The institution of the calendar by the Emperor Yaou is described at length
in the Shu King.(82) Confucius said of this remarkable personage, “Heaven
alone is great, but Yaou is able to imitate Heaven.”
The Emperor Yaou “... harmonized the various states of the empire and the
black-haired people, oh! how they were reformed by this cordial agreement.
He commanded He and Ho (officers superintending the calendar and
astronomical instruments) in reverent accordance with the motions of the
expansive heavens, to arrange by numbers and represent the revolutions of
the sun and moon and stars with the lunar mansions and then respectfully
communicate to the people the seasons adapted for labor. He then
separately directed He’s younger brother to reside at Yu-e (the modern
Tang-chow in Shan-tung), called the Orient Valley, where he might
respectfully hail the rising sun, adjust and arrange the eastern (and
vernal) undertakings and notice the equalization of days and whether the
star (culminating at nightfall) was the middle constellation of the bird,
in order to hit the centre of mid-spring; he might also observe whether
the people began to disperse abroad and whether birds and beasts were
beginning to pair. He commanded He’s third brother to reside at the
southern border (the region of Cochin-China) and adjust and arrange the
southern or summer transformation and respectfully notice the extreme
limit of the shadow when the days attain their utmost length and the star
in the zenith that is denominated Fire (heart of Scorpio, culminated on
eve of summer solstice), in order to fix the exact period of mid-summer,
when the people disperse themselves more widely and the birds and beasts
begin to moult and cast their skins. He then distinctly commanded Ho’s
youngest brother to dwell in the west, at a place called the Dark Valley,
where he might respectfully attend the setting sun and equalize and adjust
the western (or autumnal) completions, notice the equalizations of the
nights and see whether the culminating star was Emptiness (Beta in
Aquarius, which culminated at autumnal equinox which was the period at the
centre of the dark principle in nature) in order to adjust the mid-autumn,
when the people would be more at ease and the birds and beasts would be
sleek and plump. He further directed Ho’s third brother to dwell at the
northern region, called the dismal city, where he might properly examine
the reiterations and alterations and see whether, when the days were
shortest, the culminating star was Pleiades (this culminates in the
evening at winter solstice, which is the extreme of dark principle in
nature and midnight seat of that principle) in order to adjust midwinter,
when the people would remain at home and the birds and beasts get their
down and hair. Thus careful was the sage in reverently observing heaven
and labouring diligently for the people, in order that his plans might not
contradict the designs of heaven nor the government miss the proper season
for human labour.” It is further said that “the bright influence (of
Yaou’s qualities) was felt through the four quarters (of the land) and
reached to (heaven) above and (earth) beneath” (Shu King, book I, p. 32).
Legge cites Pritchard’s (Savilian Professor, Oxford University) chart as a
proof of the correctness of the chronology which places Yâou in the 24th
century B.C. The precession of the equinoxes was not known in China until
more than 2,500 years after the time assigned to Yaou.
Pausing to renew the foregoing data, it is with particular satisfaction
that I point out how clearly they reveal the basis and origin of the
“Quadriform Constitution” and idea of central government. In China the
pole star is designated as the Imperial Ruler of Heaven and a temple to
the God of the North Star stands in the sacred enclosure which marks the
centre of the empire. The opposite positions assumed by Ursa Major at
nightfall divide the year into four quarters and this quadruplicate
division caused by rotation, assuming absolute dominion over the native
mind, is applied to heaven and earth and pervades every detail of civil
and religious government, as in ancient America.
Forced to recognize that the primitive inhabitants of China and America
derived their first principles of organization from the identical
light-giving source, a fact which also indicates a community of race and
of place of origin, let us now review some data which prove that the two
civilizations must have been separated and isolated from each other at an
extremely remote period of time.
Certain conceptions, common to all primitive people, were shared by the
Chinese and Mexicans, one of these being the belief that the earth was
flat and square. The name for a year in ancient Mexican was xiuitl,
literally, grass, and this was represented in the picture writings by a
bunch of young blades of some sort of grass, possibly maize-shoots. “The
earliest written Chinese character for a year represented a stalk of
wheat.... In the ancient work entitled the San Fun, part of which was
probably written in the 23d century B.C., there is evidence that among
some of the aboriginal tribes of China the year, as among the Egyptians
and some of the people of India, was divided into three periods, known as
the grass-springing, tree-reigning and tree-decaying periods. Under the
higher culture of the Chinese these divisions disappeared and the twelve
months became the recognized parts of the year” (Douglas, China, pp. 269
and 310). Amongst the Mexican month-names there are also some which allude
to such regularly recurring and impressive natural phenomena as the
sprouting of trees and the appearance of verdure or springing of the
maize, etc.
An indication as to what was the most ancient and primitive method of
rotation employed seems afforded by the Chinese description how, for
governmental purposes, the five-year period was adopted, one year
pertaining to the emperor or central ruler and the following four to the
quarters of the empire. An analogous employment of a quinary period as a
means of obtaining a rotation of contribution from the four quarters of
the empire to its metropolis, identified with the first day, is
discernible in the Mexican institution of the macuil-tianquiztli, or
five-day market, by which means the entire year was divided into five-day
groups.
A study of the ancient Chinese calendar furnishes, moreover, an indication
of the way in which the numeral 12 came to be recognized and adopted by
primitive people. It is obvious that the early astronomers, having
determined the length of the year by observing Ursa Major at nightfall,
recognized that, during the period required for its annual complete
revolution around the pole star, there regularly appeared twelve new
moons. In China, at a remote period, a division of the year into “months
was adopted, the early names of which have, according to the author of the
earliest Chinese dictionary, the Urhye, been lost.” “The modern Chinese
year is lunar in its divisions, though regulated by the sun in so far that
New Year’s day is made to fall on the first new moon after the sun enters
Aquarius and varies between 21st January and 19th of February” (Douglas,
_op. cit._ p. 258). It would seem as though some fresh impulse, or
institution of moon-cult, had influenced Shun, Yaou’s successor, to
reorganize the empire, which had been simply divided into quarters, and
subdivide it into 4×3=12 districts.
Another interesting evolution of a numerical system, the origin of which
can be traced to the four positions and seven stars of Ursa Major, is
discernible in the Chinese zodiac. This, the earliest division of the
ecliptic in China, consists of “28 lunar mansions, which are grouped
together in four classes of seven each, assigned to the four quarters of
heaven” (Legge, vol. III, p. 24, Introduction to Shu-King). It is to the
observation of precisely the same impressive phenomena that the universal
adoption of the numbers 12, 4 and 7 may safely be attributed. The further
division, by Emperor Yu, of the Chinese Empire into five domains or zones,
finds an interesting parallelism in Mexico and Central America.
Mr. Wickersham describes Yu’s division in the following concise manner:
“The Imperial domain extended five hundred le in every direction from the
capital, north, south, east and west, and was therefore one thousand le
square, with its sides facing the cardinal points; the domain of the
Nobles was an additional territory five hundred le broad on each of the
four sides; the Peace-securing domain was then added, beyond which came
the domain of Restraint, and at the greatest extremity the Wild domain. By
this arrangement, the sacred center, the capital where the ‘Son of Heaven’
resided, was completely surrounded by loyal officials and subjects; the
most loyal were nearest the center while at the farthest extremity were
the wild and dangerous tribes and criminals undergoing the greater
banishment. By this square method of disposing of the population, the
quiet and orderly members of society were required to reside near the
capital, while the turbulent were placed toward the outer limits, serving
to free the center from turmoil and to act as a barrier to the inroads of
outside barbarians.”
Among the Zuñis and Mexicans the spider’s web is met with as an image of
the division of their territory into quarters, half-quarters and
concentric circles.
In Peru a record exists of a system of irrigation by which means the
territory surrounding the capital was divided into alternate zones of land
and water. Mexico and Central America furnish records too scattered to be
compiled here, showing that somewhat as in China, the territory of the
state was divided into the domains of the rulers, the lords, the people,
and the territory of war.
After having duly considered some salient points of fundamental agreement
which are to be found underlying the widely different later growths of the
Chinese and ancient American systems, let us now examine and analyze some
of the most remarkable points of divergence.
The following tables, placed in juxtaposition, afford an opportunity of
recognizing the striking and significant fact that, whereas the Mexicans
and Zuñis classified air, water, fire and earth as “elements,” the Chinese
ignored air and identified wood and metal as their fourth and fifth
elements.
Mexico. Zuni. China.
_North_. Red, Fire. Yellow, Air. Black, Water.
_West_. Yellow, Earth. Blue, Water. White, Metal.
_South_. Blue, Air. Red, Fire. Red, Fire.
_East_. Green, Water. White, Earth. Blue, Wood.
_Middle_. Many colors. Middle, All Yellow, Earth.
colors.
A deep-seated analogy may, however, be traced between the Chinese
assignment of “wood” to the Middle and the Maya-Mexican employment of the
tree as a symbol of life proceeding from the centre, stretching above and
below and spreading its branches to the four quarters. It remains to be
seen how far the Chinese assignment of “wood” to the Middle approached the
American tree-symbolism.
The marked differentiation in the assignment of colors to the cardinal
points in the above comparative table leads to the conclusion that their
choice had been arbitrary and was possibly influenced by local
environment, the possibility of obtaining certain pigments in given
directions, or by language, the names of certain colors or elements
resembling in sound those of the cardinal points, etc.(83)
After studying the above comparative lists it becomes clear that, whilst
the fundamental principle of the system was identical, the mode of
carrying it out was different in China and America, a fact which indicates
independence and isolation at the period when elements and colors, etc.,
were chosen and assigned to the directions in space. An analogous instance
of divergence is shown in the following assignment of parts of the body to
the cardinal points: