A Brief History of the Tujia — Origins and Early Development of the Tujia (II)
II. The Legendary Era of the Tujia: In the Western Han, Liu Xiang, in his Shiben, likely based on the Ba people's historical accounts of their ancestors, recorded the legend of "Lin Jun": "Lin Jun's ancestors originally came from the Man of Ba and Nan commanderies. There were originally five clans: Ba, Fan, Shen, Xiang, and Zheng, all from Wuluo Zhongli Mountain. The mountain had red and black caves..."
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II. The Legendary Era of the Tujia
During the Western Han, Liu Xiang in his book Shiben may have recorded, based on the Ba people's historical accounts of their own ancestors, the legend of "Lin Jun": "The ancestors of Lin Jun originally came from the Man of Ba Commandery and Nan Commandery. There were originally five clans: the Ba, Fan, Pi (pronounced Shen), Xiang, and Zheng, all of whom came from Wuluo Zhongli Mountain. On the mountain there were two caves, one red and one black. The son of the Ba clan was born in the red cave, while the sons of the four other clans were all born in the black cave. They had no chief and all served the spirits and gods, so together they threw their swords at a stone, agreeing that the one who could hit it would be honored as chief. The Ba clansman Wuxiang alone hit it, and all marveled. They then ordered each to ride a clay boat, agreeing that the one whose boat could float would be made chief. The others all sank, and only Wuxiang floated, so together they established him as Lin Jun. He then rode a clay boat from the Yi River to Yanyang. The Salt Water had a goddess, who asked Lin Jun, saying: 'This land is vast, and produces fish and salt; I wish you would stay and dwell here.' Lin Jun did not consent. The Salt Goddess would come each evening to share his bed, and at dawn she would transform into a worm and fly in swarms with other worms, blotting out the sunlight so that heaven and earth grew dark. After more than ten days, Lin Jun watched for an opportunity and shot her dead, and then the sky cleared. Lin Jun thereupon ruled at Yi City, and the four clans all became his subjects. When Lin Jun died, his soul became a white tiger. Because the tiger drank human blood, the Ba clan thereafter sacrificed humans to it.
This simple legend, tinged with certain mythological colors, rather truthfully reflects the Ba people's origins, migrations, and the long history of primitive clan society they experienced. "The ancestors of Lin Jun originally came from the Wu Dan"; "Dan" is "Dan," which Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi explains as "the barbarians of the south," indicating that Lin Jun's ancestors were a type of "Southern Barbarian," that is, a clan category of the later "Southern Man." "Wu Dan" is a people named after a place, referring to the barbarians of the "Wu" region. The seat of Chu's Wu Commandery was "one hundred li east of Kui," namely Wu County of the Han dynasty, mainly referring to the area around the Three Gorges, reaching south to the Qing River and parts of Wuling.
The Lin Jun legend relatively clearly reflects the general outline of the primitive society through which the Ba people passed. The Ba people first lived at Wuluo Zhongli Mountain, in present-day Changyang County. Volume 37 of the Commentary on the Water Classic records: near Henshan County there is a stone cave, said to be where Lin Jun threw his sword. Henshan County was established in the Han dynasty and is in present-day Changyang County. In the Tang dynasty, Du You in Volume 175 of the Tongdian records that at Bashan County (present-day Changyang), "Wuluo Zhong Mountain has a stone cave, which is where Lin Jun wiped his blade. There is also the Yi River, which is where Lin Jun rode his clay boat." "Wuluo Mountain is also called Nanliu Mountain, seventy-eight li northwest of the county; it is where Lin Jun originally came from." These records indicate that the early activity area of the Ba people was in the vicinity of Changyang County, Hubei.
"The son of the Ba clan was born in the red cave, and the sons of the four clans were all born in the black cave," indicating that the Ba people had early experienced cave-dwelling life. After a long historical development, by the time of Lin Jun they had entered the patrilineal clan stage. The Ba, Fan, Hui, Xiang, and Zheng clans were five clans that had gradually multiplied. They "had no chief and all served the spirits and gods," and by the primitive democratic forms of throwing swords and riding clay boats, they elected "the one who could hit" and "the one who could float" as the clan chief. Thus the most capable Ba Wuxiang was supported by the other four clans and jointly established as the clan or tribal leader, and a clan alliance or tribal alliance formed by the union of the five clans had already come into being.
After this alliance was formed, they began to migrate: "He then rode a clay boat from the Yi River to Yanyang." The Commentary on the Water Classic states: "The Yi River is the Qing River of Jia Mountain. Its water is clear enough to reflect ten zhang, and separates sand and stone. The Shu people, seeing its clarity, named it the Qing River. Formerly Lin Jun floated his clay boat on the Yi River and ruled Ba from Han Pass." Yanyang is not seen in historical records by that name; only in the Northern Zhou was Yanshui County established, whose old city was forty li east of the seat of Enshi County, and abolished in the Tang. The Qing River of Enshi County was once called Yanshui. Li Xian of the Tang, annotating the Book of the Later Han, said: "The water of Qingjiang County in Shizhou is also called Yanshui." Yanyang may have been on the sunny side of Yanshui, that is, the north bank of the Qing River, in present-day Enshi County (some believe Yanyang was at Baihu City in Changyang County). Lin Jun led the various groups to Yanshui, where they came into conflict with the Salt Goddess, who lived there, worshipped "worms" as a totem, and was in a matrilineal clan stage. The legend of the struggle between Lin Jun and the Salt Goddess, though bearing certain mythological colors, indirectly reflects that in their long development the Ba people experienced the historical process of patrilineal clans overcoming matrilineal clans.
After Lin Jun defeated the Salt Goddess, he occupied the vast region "producing fish and salt" and settled at Yi City. The name Yi City is not seen in historical records; it may have been a city established along the Yi River, that is, the Qing River. "Lin Jun thereupon ruled at Yi City, and the four clans all became his subjects." The "ruler" and "subjects" referred to here can hardly be said to carry the meaning of "ruler and minister" after the emergence of the state; from the content of the entire legend, "ruler" and "subjects" reflect the relationship of a clan alliance or tribal alliance. "Ruler" refers to the leader of the clan alliance or tribal alliance, and "subjects" to clan chiefs. Therefore, the Ba people of this era were still in the stage of primitive society's clan alliance or tribal alliance. "When Lin Jun died, his soul became a white tiger." Thus the white tiger became the worshipped deity of the Ba people, and they "sacrificed humans to it."