^ The duke of A'au, though speaking in the name of king
Khzn^, yet addresses Fang from the standpoint of his own
relation to him.
^ Referring to the original principality of A'au.
1 66 THE SHU KING.
PART V.
or two (neighbouring) regions were brought under
his improving influence, until throughout our western
land all placed in him their reliance. The fame
of him ascended up to the high God, and God
approved. Heaven accordingly gave a grand charge
to king Wan, to exterminate the great (dynasty of)
Yin, and grandly receive its appointment, so that
the various countries belonging to it and their
peoples were brought to an orderly condition.*
Then your unworthy elder brother^ exerted him-
self; and thus it is that you Fang, the little one,
are here in this eastern region.'
2. The king says, * Oh ! Fang, bear these things
in mind. Now (your success in the management of)
the people will depend on your reverently following
your father Wan ; â do you carry out his virtuous
words which you have heard, and clothe yourself
with them. (Moreover), where you go, seek out
among (the traces of) the former wise kings of Yin
what you may use in protecting and regulating their
people. (Again), you must in the remote distance
study the (ways of) the old accomplished men of
Shang, that you may establish your heart, and know
how to instruct (the people). (Further still), you
must search out besides what is to be learned of the
wise kings of antiquity, and employ it in tranquil-
lizing and protecting the people. (Finally), enlarge
(your thoughts) to (the comprehension of all)
heavenly (principles), and virtue will be richly dis-
played in your person, so that you will not render
nugatory the king's charge.'
^ Is it strange that the duke should thus speak of king Wu ?
Should we noL think the better of him for it ?
BOOK IX. ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PRINCE OF KIIANG. 167
The king says, ' Oh ! Fang, the little one, be
respectfully careful, as if you were suffering from
a disease. Awful though Heaven be, it yet helps
the sincere.* The feelings of the people can for
the most part be discerned ; but it is difficult to
preserve (the attachment of) the lower classes.
Where you go, employ all your heart. Do not
seek repose, nor be fond of ease and pleasure.
I have read the saying, â " Dissatisfaction is caused
not so much by great things, or by small things, as
by (a ruler's) observance of principle or the reverse,
and by his energy of conduct or the reverse." Yes, it
is yours, O little one, â it is your business to enlarge
the royal (influence), and to protect the people of
Yin in harmony with their feelings. Thus also shall
you assist the king, consolidating the appointment of
Heaven, and renovating the people.'*
3. The king says, ' Oh ! Fang, deal reverently
and intelligently in your infliction of punishments.
When men commit small crimes, which are not mis-
chances, but purposed, they of themselves doing
what is contrary to the laws intentionally, though
their crimes be but small, you may not but put
them to death. But in the case of great crimes,
which were not purposed, but from mischance and
misfortune, accidental, if the transgressors confess
their guilt without reserve, you must not put them
to death.'
The king says, ' Oh ! Fang, there must be the
orderly regulation (of this matter). When you show
a great discrimination, subduing (men's hearts), the
people will admonish one another, and strive to be
obedient. (Deal firmly yet tenderly with evil), as if
it were a disease in your own person, and the people
1 68 THE SHU KING.
PART V.
will entirely put away their faults. (Deal with them)
as if you were protecting- your own infants, and the
people will be tranquil and orderly. It is not you,
O Fang, who (can presume to) inflict a (severe)
punishment or death upon a man ; â do not, to please
yourself, so punish a man or put him to death.'
Moreover, he says, ' It is not you, O Fang, who
(can presume to inflict a lighter punishment), cutting
ofl" a man's nose or ears ; â do not, to please yourself,
cause a man's nose or ears to be cut off'
The king says, ' In things beyond (your immediate
supervision), have laws set forth which the officers
may observe, and these should be the penal laws of
Yin which were rightly ordered.' He also says,
' In examining the evidence in (criminal) cases,
reflect upon it for five or six days, yea, for ten days
or three months. You may then boldly come to a
decision in such cases ^'
The king says, 'In setting forth the business of
the laws, the punishments will be determined by (what
were) the regular laws of Yin. But you must see
that those punishments, and (especially) the penalty
of death, be righteous. And you must not let them
be warped to agree with your own inclinations,
O Fang. Then shall they be entirely accordant
with right, and you may say, " They are properly
ordered ;" yet you must say (at the same time),
" Perhaps they are not yet entirely accordant with
right." Yes, though you are the little one, who has
a heart like you, O Fang ? My heart and my virtue
are also known to you.
^ This is supposed to refer to a case where guilt would involve
death, so that there could be no remedying a wrong decision.
BOOK IX. ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PRINCE OF KHANG. 1 69
' All who of themselves commit crimes, robbing,
stealing, practising villainy and treachery, and who
kill men or violently assault them to take their
property, being reckless and fearless of death ; â
these are abhorred by all.'
The king says, ' O Fang, such great criminals are
greatly abhorred, and how much more (detestable)
are the unfilial and unbrotherly ! â as the son who
does not reverently discharge his duty to his father,
but greatly wounds his father's heart, and the father
who can (no longer) love his son, but hates him ; as
the younger brother who does not think of the mani-
fest will of Heaven, and refuses to respect his elder
brother, and the elder brother who does not think
of the toil of their parents in bringing up their chil-
dren, and is very unfriendly to his junior. If we
who are charged with government do not treat
parties who proceed to such wickedness as offenders,
the laws (of our nature) given by Heaven to our
people will be thrown into great disorder and
destroyed. You must resolve to deal speedily with
such according to the penal laws of king Wan,
punishing them severely and not pardoning.
' Those who are disobedient (to natural principles)
are to be thus subjected to the laws ; â how much
more the officers employed in your state as the
instructors of the youth, the heads of the official
departments, and the smaller officers charged with
their several commissions, when they propagate
other lessons, seeking the praise of the people, not
thinking (of their duty), nor using (the rules for
their offices), but distressing their ruler ! These lead
on (the people) to wickedness, and are an abomina-
tion to me. Shall they be let alone ? Do you
I 70 THE Sh{j king. part v.
Speedily, according to what is right, put them to
death.
' And you will be yourself ruler and president ; â
if you cannot manage your own household, with
your smaller officers, and the heads of departments
in the state, but use only terror and violence, you
will greatly set aside the royal charge, and be trying
to regulate your state contrary to virtue. You must
in everything reverence the statutes, and proceed by
them to the happy rule of the people. There were
the reverence of king Wan and his caution ; â in
proceeding by them to the happy rule of the people,
say, " If I could only attain to them â ." So will
you make me, the One man, to rejoice.'
4. The king says, ' O Fang, when I think clearly
of the people, I see that they should be led (by
example) to happiness and tranquillity. I think of
the virtue of the former wise kings of Yin, whereby
they tranquillized and regulated the people, and
rouse myself to make it my own. Moreover, the
people now are sure to follow a leader. If one do
not lead them, he cannot be said to exercise a
government in their state.'
The king says, ' O Fang, I cannot dispense with
the inspection (of the ancients), and I make this
declaration to you about virtue in the use of punish-
ments. Now the people are not quiet ; they have
not yet stilled their minds ; notwithstanding my
leading of them, they have not come to accord (with
my government). I clearly consider that severe as
are the inflictions of Heaven on me, I dare not
murmur. The crimes (of the people), though they
were not great or many, (would all be chargeable
on me), and how much more shall this be said
BOOK X. ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT DRUNKENNESS. I7I
when the report of them goes up so manifestly to
heaven !'
The king says, ' Oh ! Fang, be reverent ! Do not
what will cause murmurings ; and do not use bad
counsels and uncommon ways. With the determina-
tion of sincerity, give yourself to imitate the active
virtue (of the ancients). Hereby give repose to
your mind, examine your virtue, send far forward
your plans ; and thus by your generous forbearance
you will make the people repose in what is good,
and I shall not have to blame you or cast you off.'
5. The king says, ' Oh ! you. Fang, the little one,
(Heaven's) appointments are not unchanging."^"" Think
of this, and do not make me deprive you of your
dignity. Make illustrious the charge which you
have received ; exalt (the instructions) which you
have heard, and tranquillize and regulate the people
accordingly.*
The king speaks to this effect : ' Go, Fang. Do
not disregard the statutes you should reverence ;
hearken to what I have told you ; â so shall you
among the people of Yin enjoy (your dignity), and
hand it down to your posterity.'
Book X.
The Announcement about Drunkenness.
This Announcement was, like the last, made to Fang, the
prince of Khang, about the time when he was invested with
the principality of Wei. Mention has often been made in
previous documents of the Shii of the drunken debauchery of
A!"ieh as the chief cause of the downfal of the dynasty of Hsii,
and of the same vice in A'au-hsin, the last of the kings of
1/2 THE SHU KING. PART V.
Shang. The people of Shang had followed the example of
their sovereign, and drunkenness, with its attendant immoralities,
characterised both the highest and lowest classes of society.
One of Fang's most diflficult tasks in his administration would
be, to correct this evil habit, and he is called in this Book to
the undertaking. He is instructed in the proper use and the
allowable uses of spirits; the disastrous consequences of drunken-
ness are set forth ; and he is summoned to roll back the flood
of its desolation from his officers and people.
I have divided the Book into two chapters : â the one preliminary,
showing the original use and the permissible uses of ardent
spirits; the other, showing how drunkenness had proved the
ruin of the Shang dynasty, and how they of A'au, and par-
ticularly Fang in Wei, should turn the lesson to account.
The tide might be translated â ' The Announcement about Spirits,'
but the cursory reader would most readily suppose that the
discourse was about Spiritual Beings. The Chinese term JTiu,
that is here employed, is often translated by wine, but it denotes,
it seems to me, ardent spirits. As Gaubil says, 'We have
here to do with le^vin du riz, the art of which was dis-
covered, according to most writers, in the time of Yii, the
founder of the first dynasty. The grape was not introduced to
China till that of the first Han.'
[Since the above sentences were in manuscript, the Rev. Dr.
Edkins of Pekin has stated at a meeting of the North-China
branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and in a letter to myself
(April 24th), that he has lately investigated the question whether
the ITm of the ancient Chinese was spirits or not, and found
that distillation was first known in China in the Mongol or
Yiian dynasty (a. d. i 280-1367), so that the Arabs must have
the credit of the invention ; that the process in making -^iu was
brewing, or nearly so, but, as the term beer is inadmissible in
a translation of the classics, he would prefer to use the term
wine; and that JCm with S h a o (' fired,' ' ardent ') before it,
means spirits, but without Shao, it means wine.
If the whole process of Dr. Edkins' investigation were before me,
I should be glad to consider it, and not hesitate to alter my
own view, if I saw reason to do so. Meanwhile, what he says
makes me glad that I adopted ' the Announcement about
Drunkenness' as the title of this chapter. It is drunkenness,
by whatever liquor occasioned, that the king of A'au condemns
and denounces.
BOOK X. ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT DRUNKENNESS. 1 73
What we commonly understand by wine is never intended by
JtLi^ in the Chinese classics, and therefore I cannot use that
term. After searching as extensively as I could do in this
country, since I received Dr. Edkins' letter, I have found nothing
to make me think that the Chinese term is not properly trans-
lated by ' spirits.'
Dr. Williams, in his Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language
(Shanghai, 1874), gives this account of^iu: â 'Liquor; it in-
cludes spirits, wine, beer, and other drinks. The Chinese make
no wine, and chiefly distil their hquors, and say that Tu Khang,
a woman of the Ti tribes, first made it.' This account is to a
considerable extent correct. The Chinese distil their liquors.
I never saw beer or porter of native production among them,
though according to Dr. Edkins they had been brewing ' or
nearly so ' for more than 3000 years. Among his examples of
the use of JTin, Williams gives the combinations of ' red JiTiu '
for claret, ' white ^iu ' for sherry, and ' pi (simply phonetical)
-A'iu ' for beer, adding that they ' are all terms of foreign origin.'
What he says about the traditional account of the first maker of
jfiTiu is not correct. It is said certainly that this was Tu Khang,
but who he was, or when he lived, I have never been able to
discover. Some identify him with I-ti, said by Williams to have
been ' a woman of the Ti tribes.' The attributing of the invention
to I-tt is probably an independent tradition. We find it in the
'Plans of the Warring States' (ch. xiv, art. 10), a work covering
about four centuries from the death of Confucius : â ' Anciently,
the daughter of the Ti ordered I-ti to make ^iu. She admired it,
and presented some to Yu, who drank it, and found it pleasant.
He then discarded I-ti, and denounced the use of &uch generous
A"iu, saying, " In future ages there are sure to be those who by
A'iil will lose their states." ' According to this tradition intoxi-
cating A'iu was known in the time of Yii â in the twenty-third
century b. c. The daughter of the T i would be Yii's wife, and
I-ti would probably be their cook. It does not appear as the
name of a woman, or one from the wild Ti tribes.
With regard to the phrase S h a o ^i u, said to be the proper term
for ardent spirits, and unknown in China till the Yiian dynasty,
a reference to the Khang-hst Tonic Thesaurus of the language
will show instances of its use as early at least as the Thang
dynasty (a.d. 618-906).]
I. The king speaks to the following effect : â ' Do
I 74 THE SHU KING. PART V.
you clearly make known my great commands in the
country of Mei^.
' When your reverent father, the king Wan, laid
the foundations of our kingdom in the western
region, he delivered announcements and cautions
to (the princes of) the various regions, and to all
his (high) officers, with their assistants, and the
managers of affairs, saying, morning and evening,
"At sacrifices spirits should be employed."* When
Heaven was sending down its favouring decree, and
laying the foundations of (the eminence of) our
people, (spirits) were used only at the great sacri-
fices. When Heaven sends down its terrors, and
our people are thereby greatly disorganized and lose
their virtue, this may be traced invariably to their
indulgence in spirits ; yea, the ruin of states, small
and great, (by these terrors), has been caused inva-
riably by their guilt in the use of spirits ^.
^ There is a place called ' the village of Mei,' in the north of
the present district o{ Kh\, department Wei-hui, Ho-nan; â a relic
of the ancient name of the whole territory. The royal domain
of Shang, north from the capital, was all called Mei. Fang's
principality of Wei must have embraced most of it.
^ Kil Hsi says upon the meaning of the expressions ' Heaven
was sending down its favouring decree ' (its order to make ^lu, as
he understood the language), and ' when Heaven sends down its
terrors,' in this paragraph : â '^ang Nan-hsien has brought out the
meaning of these two statements much better than any of the
critics who went before him, to the following effect : â Km is a
thing intended to be used in offering sacrifices and in entertaining
guests ; â such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed.
But men by their abuse of A'iu come to lose their virtue, and
destroy their persons ; â such employment of it is what Heaven has
annexed its terrors to. The Buddhists, hating the use of things
where Heaven sends down its terrors, put away as well the use of
them which Heaven has prescribed. It is not so with us of the
learned (i.e. the Confucian or orthodox) school; â we only put
BOOK X. ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT DRUNKENNESS. I 75
* King Wan admonished and instructed the young
nobles, who were charged with office or in any em-
ployment, that they should not ordinarily use spirits;
and throughout all the states, he required that such
should drink spirits only on occasion of sacrifices,
and that then virtue should preside so that there
might be no drunkenness \'
He said, * Let my people teach their young men
that they are to love only the productions of the
soil, for so will their hearts be good. Let the young
also hearken wisely to the constant instructions of
their fathers ; and let them look at all virtuous
actions, whether great or small, in the same light
(with watchful heed).
' (Ye people of) the land of Mei, if you can employ
your limbs, largely cultivating your millets, and
hastening about in the service of your fathers and
elders ; and if, with your carts and oxen, you traffic
diligently to a distance, that you may thereby filially
minister to your parents ; then, when your parents
are happy, you may set forth your spirits clear and
strong, and use them^.
' Hearken constantly to my instructions, all ye my
(high) officers and ye heads of departments, all ye,
my noble chiefs ; â when ye have largely done your
away the use of things to which Heaven has annexed its terrors,
and the use of them, of which it approves, remains as a matter
of course.'
^ In sacrificing, the fragrant odour of spirits was supposed to be
acceptable to the Beings v^^orshipped. Here the use of spirits
seems to be permitted in moderation to the worshippers after the
sacrifices. Observe how king Wan wished to guard the young
from acquiring the habit of drinking spirits.
^ Here is another permissible use of spirits ; â at family feasts,
with a view especially to the comfort of the aged.
I 76 THE SHtj KING. PART V.
duty in ministering to your aged, and serving your
ruler, ye may eat and drink freely and to satiety.
And to speak of greater things : â when you can
maintain a constant, watchful examination of your-
selves, and your conduct is in accordance with correct
virtue, then may you present the offerings of sacri-
fice, ''* and at the same time indulge yourselves in
festivity. In such case you will indeed be ministers
doing right service to your king, and Heaven like-
wise will approve your great virtue, so that you
shall never be forgotten in the royal House/*
2. The king says, ' O Fang, in our western region,
the princes of states, and the young (nobles), sons
of the managers of affairs, who in former days
assisted king Wan, were all able to obey his lessons,
and abstain from excess in the use of spirits ; and
so it is that I have now received the appointment
which belonged to Yin.'
The king says, ' O Fang, I have heard it said,
that formerly the first wise king of Yin manifested
a reverential awe of the bright principles of Heaven
and of the lower people, acting accordingly, stead-
fast in his virtue, and holding fast his wisdom.*
From him, Thang the Successful, down to Ti-yi^,
all completed their royal virtue and revered their
chief ministers, so that their managers of affairs
respectfully discharged their helping duties, and
dared not to allow themselves in idleness and
pleasure ; â how much less would they dare to
indulge themselves in drinking! Moreover, in the
exterior domains, (the princes of) the Hau, Tien,
' Ti-yi was the father of Aau-hsin, the twenty-seventh Shang
sovereign. The sovereigns between Thang and him had not all
been good, but the duke of A'au chooses here to say so.
BOOK X. ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT DRUNKENNESS. 1/7
Nan, and Wei (states) \ with their presiding chiefs ;
and in the interior domain, all the various officers,
the directors of the several departments, the inferior
officers and employes, the heads of great houses, and
the men of distinguished name living in retirement, all
eschewed indulgence in spirits. Not only did they
not dare to indulge in them, but they had not leisure
to do so, being occupied with helping to complete
the sovereign s virtue and make it more illustrious,
and helping the directors of affairs reverently to
attend to his service.
' I have heard it said likewise, that the last
successor of those kings was addicted to drink, so
that no charges came from him brightly before the
people, and he was (as if) reverently and unchangingly
bent on doing and cherishing what provoked resent-
ment. Greatly abandoned to extraordinary lewdness
and dissipation, for. pleasure's sake he sacrificed all
his majesty. The people were all sorely grieved
and wounded in heart ; but he gave himself wildly
up to drink, not thinking of restraining himself, but
continuing his excess, till his mind was frenzied, and
he had no fear of death. His crimes (accumulated)
in the capital of Shang ; and though the extinction
of the dynasty (was imminent), this gave him no
concern, and he wrought not that any sacrifices of
fragrant virtue might ascend to Heaven. * The
rank odour of the people's resentments, and the
drunkenness of his herd of creatures, went loudly
up on high, so that Heaven sent down ruin on Yin,
^ These were the first, second, third, and fifth domains or terri-
torial divisions of the land under J^a.u, counting back from the
royal domain. It appears here that an arrangement akin to that of
A'au had been made in the time of Shang.
[I] N
178 THE Snt KING.
PART V.
and showed no love for it, â because of such excesses.
There is not any cruel oppression of Heaven ; people
themselves accelerate their guilt, (and its punish-
ment.)'*
The king says, * O Fang, I make you this long
announcement, not (for the pleasure of doing so) ;
but the ancients have said, " Let not men look into
â vy^ater ; let them look into the glass of other people."
Now that Yin has lost its appointment, ought we
not to look much to it as our glass, (and learn) how
to secure the repose of our time ? I say to you, â
Strenuously warn the worthy ministers of Yin, and
(the princes) in the Hau, the Tien, the Nan, and
the Wei domains ; and still more your friends, the
great Recorder and the Recorder of the Interior,
and all your worthy ministers, the heads of great
Houses ; and still more those whom you serve, with
whom you calmly discuss matters, and who carry
out your measures ; and still more those who are,
as it were, your mates, â your Minister of War who
deals with the rebellious, your Minister of Instruc-
tion who is like a protector to the people, and your
Minister of Works who settles the boundaries ; and
above all, do you strictly keep yourself from drink.
' If you are informed that there are companies
that drink together, do not fail to apprehend them
all, and send them here to A'au, where I may put
them to death. As to the ministers and officers of
Yin who were led to it and became addicted to
drink, it is not necessary to put them to death (at
once); â let them be taught for a time. If they
follow these (lessons of mine), I will give them
bright distinction. If they disregard my lessons,
then I, the One man, will show them no pity. As
BOOK XI. THE TIMBER OF THE ROTTLERA. I 79