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.”
THE MIDDLE AND FOUR QUARTERS.
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 [pg 287] 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 [pg 288] 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 [pg 289] 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 [pg 290] 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 [pg 291] 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.