Miscellaneous Records, Part I

AnonymousJinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) · ChinaJul 2024

2.5

Word count: 2.7K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

When a feudal lord traveled to another state and died in the guesthouse, the rite for summoning back his soul was exactly the same as if he had died in his own state. If he died on the road, then his attendants climbed up onto the left end of the axle of the ruler's carriage and used the streamers at the top of the flagpole on the carriage to summon his soul. Above the cart carrying the body there was a canopy, whose edges hung down on all sides; around the cart carrying the body were curtains made of black cloth, and the whole coffin was also covered with plain brocade. Only when matters were thus arranged did they set out for home. When they reached the gate of their own ancestral temple, they could enter without first removing the cloth enclosing the bier cart, and they brought the coffin straight in and laid it between the two pillars in the hall. But the canopy on the bier cart had to be taken down and placed outside the temple gate.

Editor's review

This book is a collated and annotated edition of the "Za Ji" chapter of the Book of Rites, printed and issued by Shanghai Jinzhang Book Company. Its contents focus on the concrete procedures of ancient funeral ritual, giving detailed accounts that range from the way a feudal lord's soul was summoned when he died abroad to the form of the bier cart, the arrangement of its curtains and canopy, and the route by which the coffin entered the temple and the place where it was laid. Such writing may seem trivial, but it is in fact the key to understanding how pre-Qin ritual institutions worked: ritual was not an abstract idea but a set of bodily procedures and spatial orders that could be repeatedly rehearsed. The book's records of details such as the end of the left axle, the streamers on the flagpole, and the space between the two pillars show precisely how the ancients maintained the integrity of ritual protocol even in extreme circumstances. This edition preserves the narrative thread of the original chapter, making it easy for readers to study it by comparing related matters. It is suitable as supplementary material for the history of ritual institutions, the history of customs, and the study of pre-Qin society. When reading, one should cross-check it with other chapters of the Book of Rites and with excavated bamboo and silk manuscripts and stone reliefs in order to see the institutional context and practical function.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of literature and history specializing in pre-Qin ritual and funeral institutions
Culture enthusiasts interested in ancient customs and ritual details
Researchers who need to read primary ritual texts alongside annotations
University teachers looking for annotated materials for classical Chinese or textual studies courses

Not a good fit for

General leisure readers expecting popular stories or light reading
Beginners without a foundation in classical Chinese who are unwilling to consult annotations
Readers seeking only a practical modern guide to funerals

Reading tips

First read through the original passage, then use the annotations to clarify sentence by sentence the spatial order of the soul-summoning and bier-cart procedures.
Read it alongside adjacent chapters such as "Sang Da Ji" in the Book of Rites, comparing the differences between rites of different ranks.
Prepare paper and pen to sketch the positional relationship between the bier cart's curtains and canopy and the two pillars at the temple gate, to help understand the textual description.
When encountering terms for names and objects, consult ritual dictionaries or excavated materials, and avoid reading ancient institutions through modern meanings.

About the publisher

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) China · Founded in 1901

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) was a private publishing and distribution house in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, issuing traditional works by lithographic printing. Judging from the 1,194 titles in the collection, its publishing focused on classical poetry, Eastern philosophy, historical reading, traditional Chinese medical texts, and canonical works, along with books on literary appreciation. Representative titles include the poetry and prose collections of Du Fu and Ouyang Xiu; historical works such as the Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian; classical texts such as the Book of Documents and Mencius; and specialized and literary classics such as Treatise on Cold Damage and Li Sao. Its author resources cover major figures across the ages, including Du Fu, Ban Gu, Sima Guang, Zhang Zhongjing, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Tang Shenwei, reflecting the house's characteristic reliance on traditional scholarship and medical literature while serving general readers. Public information on its early history and operational details is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.

版权信息
杂记上第二十

FAQ

What is this "Za Ji, Part One" mainly about?

It mainly records how the soul was summoned when a feudal lord traveling to another state died in the guesthouse or died on the road, as well as the form of the bier cart's canopy, curtains, and plain brocade covering, and the specific ritual procedures for bringing the coffin back to his own state and placing it in the temple.

Can I read this book without a foundation in classical Chinese?

This book is centered on the original ritual text, with dense terminology and an archaic style; readers without a foundation in classical Chinese will find it rather difficult. It is advisable first to acquire basic reading ability in literary Chinese, or to study it sentence by sentence with an annotated edition and reference works.

Why did they climb onto the end of the left axle to summon the soul?

According to this chapter, when a feudal lord died on the road, his attendants climbed onto the left end of the axle of the ruler's carriage and used the streamers on the carriage's flagpole to summon his soul. This shows that the ancients still tried to complete the rite according to ritual even while traveling; the specific position and choice of objects are prescribed by ritual institutions and must be understood in the context of the overall ritual system.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.