Maogusi Geography and Chu Geography
Culture is created by humans; wherever there are people, there is culture. Human culture is diverse and complex, and no culture is isolated—there are always similar cultural phenomena coexisting alongside, traces of which can be found in ancient texts. This is especially true of Maogusi and Chu culture in certain respects.
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Culture is created by humanity. Wherever there are people, there is culture. Human culture is pluralistic and complex. In the world, no culture is isolated; culture is not an isolated phenomenon, and there are always other similar cultural phenomena coexisting with it. And some traces of them can be found in ancient texts. In particular, Maogusi and Chu culture are very similar in some places. Below, a comparative study of Maogusi culture and Chu culture is made.
Section One: Maogusi Geography and Chu Geography
Maogusi is the ancient culture of the Tujia people. With a true and objective attitude, it reproduces the production, life, and customs of the Tujia ancestors. It is not only a cultural treasure of the Tujia people, but also a precious cultural heritage of all humanity. The performance process and performing art of Maogusi are a display and reproduction of the primitive culture of ancient humans. This cultural phenomenon is still very rare among all ethnic groups in the world.
To understand the geography of Chu, one must first clarify the origin and development of the surname. The more traditional view is that the Chu surname originated from Yuxiong. First, let us trace the history of Chu: the predecessor of Chu was an ethnic group concept. During the Shang and Zhou periods, an ethnic group in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was called Jingman, Chuman, or Jingchu. Later, during the reign of King Cheng of Zhou, a leader of one branch of King Cheng of Zhou, Xiong Yi, was enfeoffed at Danyang in Jingshan as the Viscount of Chu, a very low-ranking vassal state of the Western Zhou dynasty. The enfeoffment of Xiong Yi marked the beginning of the state of Chu. At first, Chu's "land did not exceed tong" (tong was an ancient unit of area, equivalent to 100 square li), and its range of activity was remote and narrow. In the late Western Zhou, the royal house declined and the vassals rose, and Chu gradually became strong. Counting from the early Spring and Autumn period, Chu continuously waged large-scale wars of annexation, gradually controlled the Jingchu region, and became one of the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period." In the middle Spring and Autumn period, Chu culture, with the Jingchu ethnic group as the main body and the state as the center, formed its own system. After entering the Warring States period, Chu continued to expand outward and became the large state with the most extensive territory among the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States." It not only possessed the entire Jingchu region, but also occupied the Central Plains, Wu and Yue, Dongyi, Nanyue, Ba, Qian, and other places. From the initial enfeoffment of Chu by King Cheng of Zhou to the destruction of Chu and the unification of China by Qin, the state of Chu existed for more than 800 years.
According to recent deepening research on Chu culture, some have put forward a different view, saying that the Xiong surname of Chu originated from Xuexiong. The reason is that in the "Yin and Shang" era, the ruler of Jingchu was also named Xue. Yang Caihua said in his book "New Interpretations of Qu Yuan and His Ci and Fu": "'Shiji: Chushijia' says: 'At the end of Yin, Pengxiangshi was destroyed. Jilian begot Fuzu, and Fuzu begot Xuexiong. After that they declined somewhat, some in China (the Central Plains) and some among the barbarians, and their generations could not be recorded. At the time of King Wen of Zhou, a descendant of Jilian was called Yuxiong. Yuxiong served King Wen. He died early, and his son was called Xiong Li. Xiong Li begot Xiong Kuang, and Xiong Kuang begot Xiong Yi. When King Cheng of Zhou was on the throne, he raised the descendants of those who had labored in civil and military affairs and enfeoffed them in Chuman, granting them the fields of a viscount and baron. Their surname was Mi, and they resided in Danyang.' According to this, Xuexiong had his own state, and Xuexiong's descendants did not take Xiong as their surname, so how could Yuxiong's descendants take Xiong as their surname? If the Xiong surname originated from Yuxiong, could it not also have originated from Xuexiong? Therefore, the origin of the Xiong surname of Chu can be traced back to Xuexiong or an even earlier period." Yang's statement also has a certain basis.
The outstanding representative of Chu culture is "Chu Ci." As early as more than two thousand years ago, the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan already had shadows of Maogusi in his magnificent poems "Chu Ci." In "Chu Ci," there are true-to-life descriptions of Maogusi's production, living environment, and attire.
Qu Yuan was a great and genius poet, but his fate was very unfortunate. Because he was upright and unyielding and hated evil as if it were an enemy, he offended the ruling class and powerful nobles of Chu at the time, and Qu Yuan accordingly suffered blows and retaliation from the Chu ruling class. The rulers of Chu once exiled Qu Yuan. Regarding Qu Yuan's exile, there are different views in academic circles. To sum up, there is the one-exile theory and the two-exile theory.
Those who advocate the single-exile theory include Guo Moruo, Jiang Liangfu, Liu Yongji, Nie Shijiao, Lin Geng, Jin Kaicheng, Zhao Kuifu, and others. In his Study of Qu Yuan, Guo Moruo says that Qu Yuan's exile took place in the seventh year of King Qingxiang of Chu (292 BC) or within the following one or two years, and lasted until the twenty-first year of King Qingxiang of Chu (278 BC), when the Qin general Bai Qi captured the Chu capital Ying; Qu Yuan fled from the Jiangnan and Hanbei region to Jiangnan, and before long drowned himself in the Miluo River. Liu Yongji, in his General Commentary on Qu Yuan's Fu, says that Qu Yuan was exiled to Jiangnan in the first year of King Qingxiang of Chu (298 BC). Zhao Kuifu, in his Doubts Concerning the Theory That Qu Yuan Was Not Exiled to Hanbei and New Evidence That He Was Exiled to Hanbei, says that Qu Yuan was exiled to Hanbei. Nie Shijiao, in his Draft Essays on Qu Yuan, says that although Qu Yuan was exiled in mid-spring of the second year of King Qingxiang of Chu (297 BC), he had already left the capital Ying for Hanbei in the twenty-fifth year of King Huai of Chu (305 BC).
Those who advocate the two-exile theory include You Guoen and Long Kanru. You Guoen, in his Qu Yuan, says that Qu Yuan's first exile was in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth years of King Huai of Chu (305 BC and 304 BC), and the place was Hanbei, that is, the present-day area of Yunyang and Xiangfan in Hubei Province. The second exile was during the reign of King Qingxiang of Chu. According to the Biographies of Qu Yuan, the place of exile was Jiangnan. Long Kanru, in his History of Chinese Poetry, holds that Qu Yuan's first exile was in the sixteenth year of King Huai of Chu (313 BC), and the place was Hanbei; in the second year of this exile he was recalled and sent on a mission to the state of Qi; his second exile was in the third year of King Qingxiang of Chu (296 BC), and the place of exile was Jiangnan.
In my view, it is beyond dispute that Qu Yuan was exiled twice. The place of his first exile was the Yuan River basin in Jiangnan, with its final stop at Xupu in Hunan. Let me briefly explain here that there is little controversy in the field of Chu ci studies over the claim that Qu Yuan's first place of exile was Xupu in Hunan, whereas there is great controversy over the place of his second exile. The place of the second exile was in what is now western Hunan (Xiangxi), specifically the area of Liye in Longshan County, Xiangxi, in the You River basin, a tributary of the Yuan River. It can be said that almost the whole of Qu Yuan's golden age was spent in Xiangxi. This is because the place name "Dongting" appears many times in Qu Yuan's Chu ci; in 2002, more than 36,000 Chu bamboo slips and wooden tablets were unearthed at Liye in Xiangxi, and in the textual handling of these Chu bamboo slips and wooden tablets the place name "Dongting" appears many times. There are quite a few lines about "Dongting" in Qu Yuan's fu, such as: "Up to Dongting and down to the Jiang" ("Ai Ying"). "Driving flying dragons, I journey north, my path leads through Dongting" ("Jiu Ge: Xiang Jun"). "Soughing is the autumn wind; the waves of Dongting rise, leaves fall" ("Jiu Ge: Xiang Furen"). "I will move my boat and float downstream, up to Dongting and down to the Jiang" ("Ai Ying"). The "Dongting" spoken of in Qu Yuan's fu is not the present-day Dongting Lake, but refers to the administrative commandery of Dongting of that time. In Qu Yuan's era, the present-day Dongting Lake was called Yunmeng Marsh; at that time there was only the administrative designation "Dongting Commandery." The Book of Documents, "Tribute of Yu," says: "Yunmeng was formed above." Kong Anguo's commentary says: "The marsh of Yunmeng is in Jiangnan." The Rites of Zhou, "Summer Offices, Offices of Office," says: "Due south is Jingzhou... its marsh and swamp is called Yunmeng." In ancient times "meng" was interchangeable with "meng" (dream), and "Yunmeng" was "Yunmeng." The Zuo Commentary says: "The King of Chu had the Earl of Zheng hunt in the Meng of Jiangnan." Du Yu's commentary says: "The Yunmeng of Meng." Ban Gu's Treatise says: "The Yunmeng Marsh is south of Huarong County in Nan Commandery." Zhu Mu says: "According to the Zuo Commentary, Lady Qi abandoned Ziwen in the Meng, and the Viscount of Chu avoided the men of Wu in the Yun. It speaks of Yun but not of Meng, so we know that Yun and Meng are two marshes." The Hanyang Gazetteer says: "Yun is north of the river, Meng is south of the river. Moreover, Anling has a Yunmeng Marsh, and Zhijiang has a Yunmeng City. Probably the ancient Yunmeng Marsh was very extensive, and in later ages it all became towns and settlements, so places called Yunmeng are not just one." The famous historical geographer Mr. Tan Qixiang says: "The Yunmeng Marsh of pre-Qin times extended north to the Han River, west to Jiangling, and south to a great area of the Xiang and Zi Rivers; here in the Warring States period it was a great marsh." The Ciyuan gives an even more specific explanation of the Yunmeng Marsh: "The Yunmeng Marsh as called in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties roughly included the area north of present-day Yiyang and Xiangyin Counties in Hunan, south of Jiangling and Anmu Counties in Hubei, and west of Wuhan City." Because Qu Yuan was exiled to the Dongting Commandery of that time, and Liye was then the seat of Dongting Commandery, the word "Dongting" appears many times in his fu, which is also a manifestation of lingering attachment. On this question, the above merely offers a line of thinking; a specific and thorough explanation would require a monograph to argue.
It is not a mere coincidence that in the Tujia Tima chants of Liye there are also records about "Dongting." For example, when the Tima of the Liye area sing the "Tima Song," there are "Inviting Lord Dongting Hou Tai" and "Praising Lord Dongting Hou Tai." This shows that the Dongting Commandery of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods was indeed in the Liye area. This is not an ordinary coincidence, but history as it originally was. Nor is it a fabrication by the singers of the "Tima Song"; the old Tima had no need to fabricate, and even if they did fabricate, they could not make it convincing. Below I excerpt these two passages of song lyrics sung by the Liye Tima for the reader's enjoyment:
"Inviting Lord Dongting Hou Tai":
Good!
The fine wine is raised high
I wear a gauze cap
And a robe of gold and silver
New person, new appearance
Whom do I invite?
—Lord Dongting Hou Tai!
I respectfully honor you
And report to you
"Praising Lord Dongting Hou Tai"
The cliff is steep
The horses run
As if at ease on flat ground
The water rushes
The waves roar
This is the way to ascend to heaven
Between heaven and earth
With you protecting us
O Tujia, precious as gold
Set your heart at ease and enjoy life, do the spring plowing
All crooked ways are hard to pass
You also teach
To devote heart and effort to mastering books and letters
From books come official robes
From books come official caps
From books come tall buildings
And riding in a great sedan chair
You wear a gauze cap
Shining with splendor
And a robe of gold and silver
Divine in majesty and appearance
Whom do I invite?
You, Lord Dongting Hou Tai
I invite you
Shou ou ou ne
It is worth noting that "Lord Dongting Hou Tai" in the "Tima Song" is absolutely unrelated to today's Dongting Lake. On the one hand, today's Dongting Lake is more than a thousand li from Liye, and their cultures also differ greatly. It is especially noteworthy that the "Tima Song" says "Inviting Lord Dongting Hou Tai" and "Praising Lord Dongting Hou Tai," in which the Dongting Hou is the administrative head of an administrative unit; without Dongting Commandery, how could there be a Dongting Hou? This proves that the Dongting Commandery of pre-Qin times matches the unearthed bamboo and wooden slip texts, and that the site of the ancient Dongting Commandery was at Liye. The "Tima Song" is the local material that best annotates the Liye Qin slips' phrase "a thousand li, by post, to Dongting." The slip texts and the "Tima Song" corroborate each other. It is also worth noting that the "Tima Song" here is absolutely not copied from the text on the slips unearthed at Liye, because this "Tima Song" was published in the 1990s, and there is no problem at all with the copyright of the two.
In addition, Qu Yuan in his "Li Sao" also refers to a line related to the place name of the You River, namely the line "In the morning I will cross the White Water." The "White Water" mentioned here has, since ancient times, in a broad sense, been another name for the You River, or the White River; in a narrow sense, the upper reaches of the You River, from Liye in Longshan to the Chunmuying section in Xuan'en County, Hubei Province, where it originates, are called the White Water. Even today it is still called this.