三代世表

The Grand Historian says: The records of the Five Emperors and the Three Dynasties stretch back into deep antiquity. Before the Yin dynasty, the lineages of the feudal lords cannot be reconstructed; only from the Zhou onward can they be set down with any confidence. Confucius used the official records to compile the Spring and Autumn Annals, noting the first years of reigns, fixing the months and days — how thorough he was! Yet when he arranged the Documents, the treatment was sparse, with no dates; or if there were some, many were missing and could not be recorded. Where matters were doubtful he transmitted the doubt — such was his caution.

I have read the genealogical registers, and from the Yellow Emperor onward all have year-counts. But when I checked the calendrical tables, genealogies, and the traditions of the cyclic succession of the Five Powers, the ancient texts all disagree and conflict with one another. That the Master refrained from arranging their chronology — was this not well founded? Accordingly, I have used the Five Emperors' genealogies and the Documents to compile a generational table from the Yellow Emperor down to the Gonghe Regency.

Master Zhang asked Master Chu: "The Odes say that Xie and Hou Ji were both born without fathers. But all the other traditions and records say they did have fathers, and that both fathers were sons of the Yellow Emperor. Does the Odes not contradict this?"

Master Chu replied: "Not at all. When the Odes say that Xie was born from an egg and Hou Ji from a footprint, the intent is to show that they carried the mandate of Heaven in its most concentrated form. Spirits and gods cannot bring themselves into being — they require human agents to be born. How could there be birth without a father? One account says there was a father, another says there was not. What is reliable is transmitted as reliable; what is doubtful is transmitted as doubtful — hence both accounts are given. Yao recognized that Xie and Ji were both men of worth, born through Heaven's agency, and so he enfeoffed Xie with seventy li of territory. More than ten generations later, his descendant Tang became king of all under Heaven. Yao knew that Hou Ji's descendants would one day reign, so he further enfeoffed him with a hundred li. After nearly a thousand years, King Wen gained all under Heaven. The tradition on the Odes says: 'Tang's ancestor was Xie, born without a father. Xie's mother was bathing with her sisters at the Dark Hill spring when a swallow carried an egg and dropped it. Xie's mother caught it, placed it in her mouth, and accidentally swallowed it — whereupon she gave birth to Xie. Xie was worthy from birth, and Yao appointed him Minister of Instruction, giving him the surname Zi. Zi means to nourish — nourishing and growing ever greater. The poets praised him in song: Vast and boundless was the Yin altar; Heaven commanded the dark bird to descend and give birth to Shang. Shang means substance — it was the name of the Yin dynasty. King Wen's ancestor was Hou Ji, also born without a father. Hou Ji's mother was Jiang Yuan. She went out and saw a giant's footprint, stepped in it, felt something stir within her body, and gave birth to Hou Ji. Jiang Yuan, thinking he had no father, considered him base and abandoned him on the road, but cattle and sheep swerved aside and would not trample him. She carried him to the mountains, and the mountain creatures nurtured him. She cast him into a great marsh, and birds sheltered and fed him. Jiang Yuan marveled at this and, recognizing him as a son of Heaven, took him back and raised him. Yao, knowing his worth, appointed him Grand Agriculturalist and gave him the surname Ji. Ji means root — the origin of things. The poets praised him in song with How the People First Began, tracing and completing the story of Hou Ji's origins.' Confucius said: 'In ancient times Yao gave Xie the surname Zi — because Tang would come from him. He gave Hou Ji the surname Ji — because King Wen would come from him. The Great King appointed Jili — making Heaven's omen clear. Taibo went to Wu — and so the headwater flowed.' Heaven's mandate is hard to speak of; only a sage can perceive it. Shun, Yu, Xie, and Hou Ji were all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor grasped Heaven's mandate and governed all under Heaven. His accumulated virtue flowed deep into later ages, and so his descendants were all restored to the position of Son of Heaven — this is Heaven's reward for the virtuous. People do not understand this and think these founders simply rose from among commoners. But how could a commoner rise from nothing to become king of all under Heaven? It was because the Mandate of Heaven made it so."

"Why did the Yellow Emperor's descendants reign over the world for so long?"

He replied: "The tradition says: a sovereign who redeems the lives of the black-haired multitudes on behalf of ten thousand men is called an Emperor, and his blessings endure ten thousand generations. The Yellow Emperor was such a man. One who makes the five aspects of government clear, cultivates rites and duty, and raises armies at the right season to campaign and prevail is called a King, and his blessings endure a thousand generations. The King of Shu is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. To this day his domain lies five thousand li southwest of the Han capital, and his people regularly come to pay court and present tribute to the Han — is this not because his ancestors' virtue sent its blessings flowing down to later generations? Can one afford to neglect the practice of virtue? Let rulers and kings take note. The Han Grand General Huo Zimeng, whose personal name was Guang, was also a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. This can be said to those of broad learning and far vision; it would be hard to explain to the narrow-minded. How so? In antiquity, feudal lords took their state as their surname. Huo was the name of a state. King Wu enfeoffed his brother Shuchu at Huo. In later generations Duke Xian of Jin destroyed the lord of Huo, and the Huo descendants became commoners, living around Pingyang. Pingyang is in Hedong, which was Jin territory, later divided into the state of Wei. By the evidence of the Odes, this line can be traced to the royal house of Zhou. Zhou began with Hou Ji, who was born without a father. But according to the genealogical tradition of the Three Dynasties, Hou Ji did have a father named Gao Xin — and Gao Xin was the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor. The 'Yellow Emperor's Cyclic Tradition' says: 'More than a hundred years after the rise of Han, there will be a man neither short nor tall, from the land of Yan, who will hold the government of the empire. At that time there will be an infant sovereign, about to ride in the imperial carriage.' General Huo was originally from Yan near Pingyang. When I served as a palace gentleman, I met a methods-master at a flag-pavilion who assessed merits and told me this. Is that not remarkable!"

The line of Gao Xin opened wide its auspicious signs. Xiu Ji swallowed the barley seed; at Stone Knob a king arose. Heaven commanded the dark bird; Lady Jian gave birth to Shang. Jiang Yuan stepped in the footprint; blessings flowed to Qi and Chang. Each received the cycle of destiny's turning; rise and fall alternated among them. The legacy lingered through the Dukes of Zhou and Shao; punishments were set aside under Cheng and Kang. After the flight from Zhi, the feudal lords grew ever stronger.