Heroes

T h e mythical figure o f the hero has been encountered in previous

chapters in the different roles as savior, culture bearer, warrior, and
founder o f a new race, tribe, or dynasty. Figures such as Shun closely
resemble Raglan’s model o f the hero with twenty-two stereotypical
biographical features (1937). The powerful and successful Yellow Empe­
ror, w ho combines both military and civil roles o f warrior and culture
bearer, is one o f the great heroes in the pantheon. O f the demigods Yao,
Shun, and Yii in the Golden Age, the mythical qualities o f the hero are
most fully realized in the narratives o f Yii, w ho overcame a multiplicity
o f heroic tasks while confronting the overwhelming disaster o f the
flood. In the human sphere the Lord o f the Granary and Li Ping fit the
heroic paradigm, with the added element o f humor, which is so lacking
in the Yii stories.
Another aspect o f the hero type which complements the dynamic
and positive function o f the all-conquering, successful, and dominant
mythical hero, such as the Yellow Emperor, Shun, or Yii, is the failed
hero, a god, demigod, or human w ho struggles in a fair contest for su­
premacy but loses against a more formidable contender. The failure is
not projected as a monster or villain but is treated sympathetically in
the myths. The term the nobility o f failure was coined by Ivan Morris in
his analysis o f Japanese heroes in myth, legend, and history (1975). The

213
 214 ~ Chinese Mythology

term admirably characterizes role models in the Chinese tradition, such

as the Flame Emperor, Ch’ih Yu, Y i the Archer, Kun, and Tan Chu,
whose myths fit the paradigm o f the failed hero. They are gods and
demigods w hom the communal memory stubbornly refuses to vilify,
rubbish, and expunge from myth, legend, and folktale.
The mythical and legendary heroes presented here performed acts
o f heroism which were inspired by such diverse motives as revenge,
hubris, military courage, idealism, nobility o f spirit, and patriotism.
Many were immortalized in a narrative poem entitled “O n Reading The
Classic o f Mountains and Seas” by T ’ao Yuan-ming, also called T ’ao
Ch’ien (a .d . 365-427); heroes such as K ’ua-fu, Ching Wei, Hsing T ’ien,
Cha Yii, and Kun were all lauded in his literary appreciation o f the Clas­
sic (Davis 1983,1:160-64; Chien chu T ’ao Yuan-ming chi, SPTK 4.i8a-24a).

Ching Wei Dams the Sea

The myth o f Ching Wei combines the diverse themes o f pathos,
pluck, and the refusal to accept defeat. N u Wa, the Lady Beautiful, was
one o f the three daughters o f the Flame Emperor. After she drowned in
the east sea, she metamorphosed into the Ching Wei, Spirit Guardian
bird. In some versions she mated with a sea swallow. The myth o f
Ching Wei does not explain w hy she is doomed to the futile task o f
damming the vast east sea with pathetically tiny bits o f w ood and peb­
ble. It could be that she was punished for trespassing, for “playing in
the east sea” without permission, thus violating the territorial prerog­
ative o f the sea god; or her act may be construed as a token o f her
revenge against the sea god in whose waters she drowned. Certainly,
the m otif o f metamorphosis is linked to the theme o f punishment in
mythic narratives. The revenge motive was, in fact, accepted by the ear­
liest commentator on the mythic narrative, which appears in an early
chapter o f The Classic o f Mountains and Seas (third century B.C.). Kuo
P’u’s interpretation is supported by the goddess’s other names: the
Oath Bird, Resolve Bird, and Victim Bird. The first two express her
vow for revenge, while the third denotes her fate. It is significant that
just as the Flame Emperor was conquered by his brother, the Yellow
Emperor, using the element o f water against his fire, so the goddess Nu
Wa, the Flame Emperor’s daughter, was overcome by the hostile ele­
ment o f the east sea. Although it is tempting to adduce the m otif o f
punishment for this myth, it is not so explicit as in the myths o f Kun or
Ch’ih Yu.
 Heroes — 215

Another two hundred leagues to the north is a mountain called Fa-

chiu, and on its summit there are numerous c/ie-thorn trees. There is
a bird in them. Its appearance is like a crow, and it has a colorful
head, a white beak, and scarlet feet. Its name is Ching Wei; its name
is from its call. It is the Flame Emperor’s younger daughter, who was
called Nii Wa. Nu Wa was playing in the east sea when she sank and
failed to resurface. So she became the Ching Wei [Spirit Guardian].
She is forever carrying in her beak wood and stones from the west­
ern hills to dam up the east sea. (Shan hai ching, Pei tz’u san ching,
SPPY 3.16b)

K’ua-fu Races the Sun

The name K ’ua-fu means Boastful Father or Braggart Man, and it
is one o f the few names in Chinese m ythology which clearly describes
the theme associated with the mythical figure. This theme is hubris, the
sin o f pride in challenging a greater power than oneself and treating
that power or authority with contempt. The myth o f hubris is usually
accompanied by the m otif o f nemesis. The first text below narrates that
K ’ua-fu was a lesser god who lived on a mountain near the sky, the
name o f which is the Perfect C ity Which Bears Heaven (C h’eng-tu tsai
t’ien). It denotes a sacred height, an axis mundi, which Eliade terms the
celestial archetype o f the holy city (1971,7-9). Thus K ’ua-fu is at the epi­
center o f Heaven and earth, w ith control over the powers o f each
sphere.
The conventional genealogy o f K ’ua-fu gives his descent from H ou-
t’u, Empress Earth. The color m otif in the yellow snakes he wears is
emblematic o f the yellow earth. Snakes held by deities in their hands or
w orn in their ears or on their head signified the gods’ power over the
kinetic forces and mysterious design o f the cosmos. The tw o readings
from The Classic o f Mountains and Seas tell how K ’ua-fu challenged the
power o f the sun to a race against time. As the sun went down, K ’ua-fu
caught up w ith it but was consumed by thirst and died. After he died,
his stick was metamorphosed into Teng Grove. His death from thirst
was the punishment analogous to his crime o f hubris. The first reading
is from a first-century a . d . chapter o f the Classic; the second is from a
first century B.C. chapter.
A separate tradition relating to K ’ua-fu’s death is based on yet
another account in the Classic which relates more clearly the theme o f
punishment. It tells how the Responding Dragon, which had power
 216 ~ Chinese Mythology

over water and could cause severe drought, killed him. In that passage
the death o f K ’ua-fu is linked to the death o f Ch’ih Yu, and both gods
were executed because they were judged to be rebels. Metamorphosis
into w ood also links the myths o f these two gods.
Kuo P’u responded ambiguously to the mythical figure o f K ’ua-fu
in his commentary, saying, “Divine was K ’ua-fu! But he was difficult to
understand.” T ’ao Yuan-ming applauded K ’ua-fu’s audacity in his nar­
rative poem: “His divine strength was very wonderful . . . . I His merits
were accomplished after his death” (Davis 1983,1:160-61).

In the great wilderness there is a mountain called the Perfect City

Which Bears Heaven. There is a man who wears two yellow snakes
in his ears and holds two yellow snakes in his hands. His name is
K’ua-fu. Empress Earth gave birth to Hsin, and Hsin gave birth to
K’ua-fu. K ’ua-fu’s strength knew no bounds. He wanted to chase the
sun’s shadow and he caught up with it at Yii valley. He decided to
drink from the river, but there was not enough, so he decided to
walk toward the Great Marsh. But he did not reach it and he died in
this place. (Shan hai ching, Ta huang pei ching, SPPY 17.4a)

K’ua-fu and the sun had a race. The sun went in. K’ua-fu was so
thirsty he wanted to have a drink. He drank from the river and the
Wei, but the river and the Wei were not enough. He went northward
to drink from the Great Marsh, but he did not reach it, and he died
o f thirst on the way. His abandoned stick turned into Teng Grove.
(Shan hai ching, Hai wai pei ching, SPPY 8.2b)

Hsing T’ien Dances with Shield and Battle-Ax

The myth o f the failed hero Hsing T ’ien relates how this lesser god
challenged G od (Ti) for the godhead, or divine rule (Shen), but he lost.
The brief narrative does not explain w ho the warrior god Hsing T ’ien
was, nor his place in the pantheon. His name has several variants: Hsing
T ’ien or Punished by Heaven, Hsing T ’ien or Formed by Heaven, and
Hsing Yao or Form Prematurely D ying. The confusion in his name is
matched by that o f the battlefield, Ch’ang-yang, which is written either
as Eternal Sunlight or as Eternal Ram. The translation o f mythical
names is notoriously difficult, and the renditions here are only approx­
imate. A . R. Davis discussed fully the variants o f the names, noting o f
T ’ien (Heaven) and Yao (Prematurely Dying) that their written forms
are very similar (2:129). The name o f this hero becomes significant in
 Heroes ~ 217

terms o f his myth i f it is taken as Hsing T ’ien, meaning Punished by

Heaven, for this would constitute an epithet applied to the mythical
figure after his death and would explain the reason for his death. In this
case, Hsing T ’ien would belong to the group o f heroes such as Ch’ih Yu
and K ’ua-fu w ho were punished for the crime o f hubris.
Although the mythical figure o f the warrior-god, such as Ch’ih Yu,
Kung Kung, the Flame Emperor, and the Yellow Emperor, occurs fre­
quently in Chinese mythology, the m otif o f gruesome violence is rare.
The presence o f the m otif in the Hsing T ’ien myth allows o f comparison
with similar instances in m ythology worldwide, especially in the narra­
tives o f Odinic warriors. Hsing T ’ien’s bizarre war dance after he has
been decapitated is unusual in the Chinese repertoire for its reference to
the headless hero using his nipples and navel to serve as replacement eyes
and mouth. The rarity o f such motifs prompts the speculation that the
Hsing T ’ien myth was overlooked by the censoring redactors w ho oth­
erwise managed to delete much o f the typical barbarism o f mythologi­
cal narrative. As such, sex and gruesome violence, and coupling and
nudity were linked as taboo topics in the minds o f officials such as Wang,
Kung, and Hsiu, w ho are known to have “corrected” the text from
which the following reading is taken, in The Classic o f Mountains and Seas,
first century B.C.
The myth o f Hsing T ’ien is particularly interesting because it antic­
ipates the concept in medical science o f bodily transplants. In the
frenzy o f battle the warrior-god substitutes part o f his torso to make
good the loss o f his sight and speech, so that he is able to continue his
furious battle. That he eventually died is indicated by a fragment in
Huai-nan Tzu: “In the west is the corpse o f H sing’s remains” (Yuan K ’o
and Chou M ing 1985, 64). Kuo P’u wrote this appraisal o f the hero:
“Though transformed, he did not submit,” and T ’ao Ch’ien wrote this
epitaph for the dead god: “His fierce spirit w ill live for ever” (Davis
1983,1:161-62).

Hsing T ’ien and God came to this place and fought for divine rule.
God cut off his head and buried it on Ch’ang-yang mountain. Hsing
T ’ien made his nipples serve as eyes and his navel as his mouth, and
brandishing his shield and battle-ax, he danced. (Shan hai ching, Hai
wai hsi ching, SPPY 7.2a)
 218 ~ Chinese Mythology

The FooHsh Old Man Moves a Mountain

The sophisticated fictional techniques o f the long account o f the
Foolish O ld Man, Yii-kung, from the fourth-century a .d . text Lieh Tzu
indicate that the myth is late in the tradition, and this is confirmed by the
absence o f early classical texts referring to or narrating this myth. The
myth shares with that o f Ching Wei the theme o f seemingly futile effort.
Unlike the earlier myth o f the goddess metamorphosed into a bird, the
Lieh Tzu narrative contains many complex motifs and themes. To the
basic theme o f futility are harnessed those o f commitment to an ideal
and faith in one’s beliefs and goals. The thematic framework is based on
Taoist concepts and philosophical attitudes familiar from Chuang Tzu,
such as the relativity o f values and role reversals, so that the Foolish Old
Man proves to be wise while the Wise O ld Man in the story turns out
to be wrong. While the myth has enduring appeal due to the theme o f
adherence to an ideal, it lacks the poignancy and individual heroism o f
the myths o f Ching Wei and Hsing T ’ien. The reason is that the philo­
sophical thrust o f the narrative requires that the hero w in in his struggle,
and his eventual triumph is achieved by the device, literal in this case, o f
deus ex machina.

The two mountains T ’ai Hsing and Royal House are seven hundred
leagues square and eighty thousand feet high and were originally in
the south o f Chi Province and north o f Ho-yang. The Foolish Old
Man o f North Mount was almost ninety years old, and he lived op­
posite these mountains. He thought it a painful burden that the
northern edge o f the mountains should make his journeys back and
forth such a long way around. So he gathered his household and put
this plan to them: “You and I will use our utmost strength to level
out a narrow pass, which will go through to Yu in the south and go
as far as the south side o f Han River. How about it?” They all agreed
with his plan. His wife expressed her doubts, saying, “With your
strength you couldn’t even destroy the hillock o f K’uei-fu, so how
could you destroy T ’ai Hsing and Royal House mountains? And
where would you put the soil and stones?” They all said, “We’ll
throw them on the tail end o f Po Sea north o f Yin-t’u.” Then leading
his son and grandson, the three men carrying poles, he broke up
rocks and furrowed the soil, and they transported them in baskets
and hods to the tail end o f Po Sea. A neighbor, the widow Ching-
 Heroes — 219

ch’eng, had a son left to her who was just losing his milk teeth, and
he leaped up and went to help them.
The seasons had changed from cold to hot when they all came
back home for the first time. The Wise Old Man o f the River Bend
laughed at the Foolish Old Man and said, “Well, you aren’t very
smart. How can you, with your last bit o f strength and in your
declining years, ever break up even one hair o f this mountain, let
alone the earth on it?” The Foolish Old Man o f North Mount gave
a long sigh and said, “Your mind is thick, you just can’t understand—
you’re not nearly as good as the widow’s weak young boy. Even if
I die, there’ll be my son, who will carry on, and my son has had my
grandson born to him too, and that grandson will also have a son
born to him, and his son will have a son born to him as well, and that
son will have his grandson too. Son after son, grandson after grand­
son forever and ever. This mountain won’t get any bigger, so why do
you fret that eventually it won’t be flattened?” The Wise Old Man o f
the River Bend was lost for an answer. The snake-holding god heard
o f this and, feeling concerned that this would never come to an end,
reported it to God. God was moved by his faith in his ideal and
ordered the two sons o f K’ua-o to carry the two mountains on their
backs, placing one in Shuo to the east, and placing one in Yung to the
south. Ever since then, from south o f Chi Province to the south side
o f Han River there is not a single bank to interrupt the flat ground.
(Lieh Tzu, T ’ang wen, SPPY 5.8a~9b)

K’ai Receives the Music o f Heaven

The myth o f K ’ai, or Ch’i, son o f Yu, has been discussed in several
chapters, where it has been noted that a textual variant o f steals instead
o f receives alters the interpretation, making K ’ai a hero w ho dares to
offend God in order to bring the harmony o f Heaven down to earth.
The reading comes from a first-century a .d . chapter o f The Classic of
Mountains and Seas.

Beyond the seas to the southwest, south o f Scarlet River and west o f
Drifting Sands, there is a man called Hsia-hou K ’ai who wears a green
snake in his pierced ears and rides a pair o f dragons. K’ai went up to
Heaven three times as a guest. He received the “Nine Counterpoints”
and the “Nine Songs,” and brought them down to earth. This Plain
 220 ~ Chinese Mythology

o f Heavenly Mu is sixteen thousand feet high and it was here that

K ’ai first came to sing the “Nine Summons.” (Shan hai ching, Ta huang
hsi ching, SPPY i6-7b-8a)

The Death o f Po Yi and Shu Ch’i

Po Y i and Shu C h’i are famous exemplars o f political idealism.
Princes o f the kingdom o f Ku-chu, they went into self-imposed exile
when each refused to ascend the throne after the death o f their father.
In exile from their homeland, they sought refuge with a nobleman o f
the Chou people, named Ch’ang, Lord o f the West. This was a critical
moment in politics because Ch’ang, and later his son, Fa, were cam­
paigning against the Shang ruler, K ing Chou, w ho had been tyranni­
cally oppressing his people. Ch’ang became known as King Wen o f the
Chou after the conquest o f the Shang was completed by Fa, w ho be­
came King Wu o f the Chou. Unfortunately for the exiles Po Y i and Shu
Ch’i, their loyalty lay with the Shang, and they voiced objections to the
military campaigns o f the Chou. Refusing “to eat the corn o f Chou,”
they fled once more, this time to a mountain wilderness. In the end,
their political idealism led them to die o f starvation.
In the philosophical writings o f Confucius and Mencius, Po Y i and
Shu Ch’i became heroic exemplars o f the Confucian ideals o f nonvio­
lent political engagement and o f political integrity. The philosopher
Chuang Tzu is ambiguous in his treatment o f the two princes. O n the
one hand, he depicts them as Taoist exemplars o f the virtue o f avoiding
social and political contamination by abstention from high office. On
the other, he condemns them for bringing about their own death (Wat­
son 1968, 321-22, 78-79, 329).
Sarah Allan discusses the myth o f Po Y i and Shu Ch’i, and the
related figures o f the Chou kings Wen and Wu, from the perspective o f
the transfer o f rule from Shang to Chou. She notes that in the version
o f the myth in “Questions o f Heaven,” King Wu went into battle against
the Shang king bearing the corpse o f his father, King Wen. In the first
reading below, from Historical Records, however, Ssu-ma Ch’ien relates
that King Wu bore only the spirit tablet o f his father as he launched his
final campaign. The Han historian also explains w hy Po Y i and Shu
Ch’i refused to acknowledge K ing Wu as a legitimate ruler: first, he
showed a lack o f filial piety in not burying his father before going to
war; second, he committed the crime o f regicide in killing King Chou
o f the Shang; third, Po Y i and Shu Ch’i objected to this breach o f he­
 Heroes ~ 221

reditary rule (Allan 1981, 107, m -17). The second reading is from an
early text, which is no longer extant, cited by M a Su in Hypotheses on
History; preface dated a .d . 1670. The title o f the early text is Biographies
o f Great Men.

Po Y i and Shu Ch’i were the two sons o f the ruler o f Ku-chu. Their
father wanted to make Shu Ch’i his heir. When their father died, Shu
Ch’i ceded the throne to Po Yi. Po Y i declined and said, “It was
Father’s wish.” Then he fled from the kingdom. Shu Ch’i was also
unwilling to accede, so he ran away from the kingdom too. Then the
kingdom made the middle son the successor to the throne. Then Po
Y i and Shu Ch’i heard that Ch’ang, the Lord o f the West, had a good
reputation for caring for the aged and they asked themselves whether
it would be a good idea to go and make their home there. When they
arrived, the Lord o f the West had died, and King Wu was bearing his
wooden tablet o f royal authority inscribed with the name “King
Wen,” for he was moving to the east to attack King Chou. (Shih chi,
Po Yi lieh chuan, SPPY 6i.2a-b)

When King Wu o f the Chou attacked the Shang King Chou, Po Y i

and Shu Ch’i did not follow him but retired and went into hiding on
Mount Shou-yang. There they gathered edible ferns for food. Wang
Mo-tzu came into the mountains and rebuked them, saying, “You
refused to eat the corn o f Chou state, yet you have hidden away in the
mountains o f Chou and you are eating Chou ferns. Why is that?” So
the two men refused to go on eating ferns, and at the end o f seven
days, Heaven sent them a white deer to give them milk. The two men
thought to themselves that this deer would make an excellent meal.
The deer realized their intention and refused to come back to them.
So the two sons passed away from starvation. (Yi shih, citing Lieh shih
chuan, PCTP 20.37b)

Kan Chiang and Mo Yeh Forge Swords

In those o f the early texts that date from the fourth to the second
century B.C., such as Chuang Tzu, Annals o f Master Lit, Huai-nan Tzu, and
Intrigues o f the Warring States, the myths o f sword casting and o f the two
famous swords named Kan Chiang and M o Yeh are only glancingly
mentioned in terms o f these names. It is only in the first century a . d .
that the fully developed myth o f the two sword makers Kan Chiang
and M o Yeh first appears in Spring and Autumn Annals o f Wu and Yueh
 222 ~ Chinese Mythology

compiled by Chao Yeh (fl. ca. a .d . 40). Wu and Yueh were ancient states
famous for their fine swords. The sudden appearance o f this fully
fledged myth has led Lionello Lanciotti to believe that “the origin o f
that group o f legends is not purely Chinese” (1955,106-7). He went on
to suggest that the written characters for the name M o Yeh had several
variants and were undoubtedly originally the transliteration o f a for­
eign name.
The narrative o f the legendary sword makers o f Wu state, Kan
Chiang and his wife, M o Yeh, belongs to the considerable lore o f metal­
lurgy, sword making, and magic swords in antiquity. For example, ac­
cording to an early tradition, the sword that was used to cut open the
corpse o f Kun to release his son Yu was a Wu sword (The Storehouse of
A ll Things, T S C C 1.1b). The lore o f myth and legend derives in part
from the fact that sword making was a noble but dangerous profession.
As the reading illustrates, this profession engendered its own mythic
tradition, its own ritual, and its ow n identity as a mining community.
The idea o f a separate mining community is expressed in the central
and final passages, which speak o f hill-mining and a group o f three
hundred children from miners’ families assisting in the metallurgical
process. The evidence for a special ritual for the smelting process occurs
several times in the text: adherence to cosmological conjunctions o f
Y in and Yang and the proper season, attendance upon the witness o f
the gods, the wearing o f white hemp and grass (white symbolizing the
element o f metal and the color o f death), human sacrifice with the ritual
o f cutting o ff nails and hair, and the naming o f swords after their
makers. The multiplicity o f rituals referred to in the text suggests that
the process o f smelting ore often failed. (It is clear from the text that the
metal used was iron ore rather than bronze.) That the tradition o f metal­
lurgy inspired its own lore is indicated by the opening reference to a
master sword maker, and later in the text by the reference to the author­
ity o f this master in connection with a tradition o f ritual self-sacrifice.
Moreover, as Lanciotti suggested, Kan Chiang’s revelation o f the secret
o f his master’s ritual self-sacrifice only after he has failed in smelting
indicates that Kan Chiang belongs to “a dynasty o f smiths with secret
doctrines” (1955, no).
The tragic heroism o f the wife, M o Yeh, w ho throws herself into
the furnace as sacrifice to the gods o f metallurgy, is prompted by the vil­
lain o f the story, King H o Lii o f Wu. Elsewhere, however, King Ho Lii
(r. 514-496 B.C.) is portrayed as a great military leader w ho conquered
the great state o f Ch’u and was an expert on metal weaponry. M o Yeh’s
 Heroes — 223

suicide is only hinted at in the text. It is suggested by the verb t’ou ‘to
throw’. This verb is frequently used in the context o f women who com­
mit suicide by throwing themselves into a river or o ff a tower, or, as in
this case, into a fire. The same verb t’ou is used in the story o f the suicide
o f Han Ping’s wife recounted in chapter 12. Some scholars, however,
prefer to read the M o Yeh passage not as suicide, the ultimate sacrifice
to the gods, but as a ritual act o f throwing only her hair and nail clip­
pings into the furnace, a mimetic act o f animal sacrifice in antiquity. It
w ill be recalled, nevertheless, that in the mythic narrative “A t Mulberry
Forest They Pray for Rain,” in chapter 3, the Shang ruler, T ’ang the
Conqueror, performed this ritual too but then placed himself on top o f
a sacrificial pyre.

Kan Chiang came from Wu state. He had studied under the same
master as Ou the Smith and both o f them could make swords. When
Yueh state had previously sent three swords o f fine workmanship as
a gift, [King] Ho Lii acquired them and prized them. That is why the
state ordered their sword maker to make two more fine swords. One
was called Kan Chiang, the second was called M o Yeh. Mo Yeh was
Kan Chiang’s wife. When Kan Chiang made swords, he selected the
purest iron from the five mountains and the finest gold in the six cos­
mic points. Then he waited for Heaven’s proper time and attended on
earth’s due season, when Yin and Yang would be in conjunction and
all the gods would be present to observe.
But the breath o f Heaven descended, and the result was that the
molten essences o f gold and iron would not fuse and refused to liq­
uify. Kan Chiang did not know why this had happened. Mo Yeh
said, “Your reputation for skilled sword making came to the atten­
tion o f the King, and he ordered you to make swords for him. But
three months have passed and they are still unfinished. Perhaps there
is a meaning in the failure with the smelting?” Kan Chiang said, “I do
not know what the reason is.” M o Yeh said, “In the transformation
process between gods and humans, a human is required before suc­
cess can be achieved. You, sir, are now making swords. Do you think
you will be successful after the gods have taken their human [offer­
ing] , or if they haven’t?” Kan Chiang said, “Some time ago, when my
master was smelting and the gold and iron substances would not
fuse, both he and his wife got into the smelting oven together, and
afterward the smelting was successful. From that time on, whenever
people have gone mining for ore for smelting, they have worn white
 224 ~ Chinese Mythology

hempen clothes and a robe made o f sweet grass. Otherwise they

would not dare to smelt gold on the mountain. Do you think I
should have done the same just now when I was making the swords
and the transformation process failed?” Mo Yeh said, “If your former
master realized that he had to have his body burned up in the furnace
to achieve success, where is our difficulty?” So Kan Chiang’s wife cut
off her hair and clipped her nails and threw herself into the fire. Then
he made all the boys and girls, three hundred o f them, pound the fur­
nace pipes and bank up the charcoal. Then the gold and iron liquified
and so the swords were made. The Yang sword was called Kan
Chiang, the Yin sword was called Mo Yeh. The Yang one was dec­
orated with a tortoise design, the Yin one with an inscription. Kan
Chiang hid the Yang sword and took away the Yin sword and pre­
sented it to Ho Lii, the King o f Wu, who treasured it dearly. (Wu
Yueh ch’un-ch’iu, Ho Lii nei chuan, SPPY 4.ib-2a)

The potency o f the myth o f the two swords is evident from its lit­
erary elaboration in later centuries. The following poem by Pao Chao
(a . d . ?4i2-?466) expresses the romanticized aspect o f the myth, and it
was included in the famous early medieval anthology o f love poetry,
New Songs from aJade Terrace, compiled circa a .d . 539-545:

A pair o f swords about to part

First cried out in their case.
In night’s smoky rain they became one,
Then they took different forms.
The female sank in Wu River water,
The male flew into Ch’u city.
Wu River is deep, fathomless,
Ch’u city has forbidding portals.
Once Heaven parted from Earth
Wasn’t that worse than Light gone from Dark?
Magic things do not part forever,
One thousand years and they reunite.
(Birrell 1986,119, amended)

Eyebrows Twelve Inches Apart

Although there is a strong case for arguing that Chao Yeh’s text
indicates that M o Yeh committed suicide, Kan Pao’s fourth-century
a . d . text reveals that M o Yeh is alive and well but that Kan Chiang is
 Heroes ~ 225

executed by royal command o f the king o f C h’u state. The action has
moved from Wu through Yueh to C h ’u. It w ill be recalled that in gen­
eral, Kan Pao’s collection o f tales constitutes reworkings o f old mythic
material, besides legend and folklore, the intent o f which was to amuse
and divert readers rather than to transmit the eternal verities o f myth.
It is probably safer to take Chao Yeh’s narrative as a version close to the
authentic myth o f sword making and to treat Kan Pao’s tale as a fictional
diversion based on an older mythical account. Certainly, his narrative
is full o f fictional color: the oath sworn by the father w ho is about to
die, the numerical m otif o f three, repetition o f speech, the riddle o f the
rock, the vow o f revenge, the king’s ominous dream, the king’s ransom,
the dirge o f the boy hero, the miracle o f his petrified corpse, the act o f
revenge, the three heads in the cooking pot, and the joint grave with its
ironic epitaph. The piece ends w ith a familiar Six Dynasties touristic
touch.
The account belongs to the category o f revenge myth which traces
its ancestry to Chou dynasty classics such as the Chronicle ofTso, which
has a similarly grisly account o f the fate o f Y i the Archer and his sons.
The revenge myth has its apotheosis in gruesome macho-sadistic stories
o f heroes in The Water Margin o f the M ing dynasty (Plaks 1987,304-58).
In his cogent article on this myth, Lanciotti has interpreted it as a
follow-up o f the narrative presented by Chao Yeh (1955, 316-22). As
w ith the name o f M o Yeh, he noted that the young hero’s name is w rit­
ten with many variants, suggesting that “the origin o f that group o f
legends is not purely Chinese” (ibid., 114). The various names for the
son o f Kan Chiang, Ch’ih Pi, mean Red between the Eyebrows, One
Inch Broad between His Eyebrows, Scarlet Nose, and Scarlet Likeness
(Yuan K ’o 1980.2, 277).

When Kan Chiang and Mo Yeh were in Ch’u, Kan Chiang had to
make swords for the king o f Ch’u. After three years they were ready,
but the king was angry and decided to put him to death. The swords
were male and female. Kan Chiang’s wife was heavily pregnant and
was due to give birth. N ow Kan Chiang told his wife, “I was asked
to make swords for the king, and I completed them in three years.
But the king is angry with me. When I go, the king is sure to have
me put to death. If you give birth to a boy, tell him when he grows
up, ‘A s you go out o f the door, look south at the hill, and where a
pine tree grows above a rock, my sword lies hidden behind it.’ ”
Then, taking the female sword with him he went to have an audience
 226 ~ Chinese Mythology

with the king o f Ch’u. The king grew very angry. He ordered Kan
Chiang to produce the other sword. But Kan Chiang said that there
had been two swords, one male and one female; the female sword
had been brought, but not the male sword. The king was enraged
and promptly had him put to death.
Mo Yeh’s son was called Ch’ih Pi. Later, when he had grown up,
he asked his mother, “Where is my father?” His mother said, “Your
father had to make swords for the king o f Ch’u. He finished them in
three years, but the king was very angry and killed him. When he
was about to die he charged me: “Tell your son, “As you go out o f the
door, look south at the hill, and where a pine tree grows above a
rock, my sword lies hidden behind it.” ’ ” Then the son went out o f
the door, looked south, but failed to see a mountain. All he saw was
a pine stump in front o f the hall, and nearby was a stone sticking up.
He at once cleaved open the back o f the stone with an ax and found
the sword. Night and day he longed to seek his revenge from the
king o f Ch’u. The king dreamed he saw a lad with eyebrows twelve
inches apart who said he wanted to seek revenge. The king immedi­
ately offered a ransom o f a thousand pieces o f gold for this young
boy. When the boy heard o f this, he disappeared and went into the
forest. He sang sadly as he walked along. A stranger who met him
said, “You are very young. Why are you wailing so sadly?” He said,
“I am the son o f Kan Chiang and M o Yeh. The king o f Ch’u killed
my father, and I want my revenge on him.” The stranger said, “I have
heard that the king has offered a ransom o f a thousand pieces o f gold
for your head. If I go to the king with your head and your sword, I
will get your revenge for you.” The boy said, “That would be fine!”
Then he slit his own throat and held out his head and his sword and
gave them to him. He stood there, a petrified corpse. The stranger
said, “I will not fail you.” Then the corpse toppled over.
The stranger took the head and went to see the king o f Ch’u. The
king was overjoyed. The stranger said, ‘This is the head o f a very
brave man, so we must boil it in a large pot.” They boiled the head
for three days and three nights, but it would not cook through. The
head bobbed about in the boiling water, its eyes glaring with rage.
The stranger said, “The boy’s head refuses to cook through. I would
like Your Majesty to go up and look in at it yourself, then it will be
sure to cook properly.” The king at once went up to it. The stranger
chopped the king’s head off with the sword and the king’s head fell
into the boiling water. Then the stranger lopped off his own head
 Heroes —« 227

and another head fell into the boiling water. The three heads all dis­
solved into each other, so it was impossible to tell who was who.
Then they separated the flesh from the boiling water and buried it.
That is why the burial ground bore the name Grave o f the Three
Kings. Today it is situated in the region north o f Ju-nan in Yi-ch’un
county. (Sou shen chi, T S C C 11.71-72)

The Five Brothers

This long passage that follows is from the Gazette of Hua-yang by
Ch’ang Chii, o f the fourth century a . d . It is a miscellany o f interesting
bits o f information about Hua-yang, the area o f ancient Shu (Szech­
wan), which included the ancient city o f Ch’eng-tu. The extract bears
all the hallmarks o f a scissors-and-paste miscellany, for it comprises
three different narratives loosely linked by the theme o f Shu itself. The
three accounts are: (1) an explanation o f how Stalagmite Village ac­
quired its name in the era o f one o f the ancestral kings o f Shu; (2) an
explanation o f the enmity between the kings o f Ch’in and o f Shu in the
late Chou era; and (3) an explanation o f the names o f a mythic peak
based on the tale o f the five strong men o f Shu w ho brought five C h’in
brides to the king o f Shu.
It is curious that a miscellany about the region o f Shu should ex­
press a point o f view critical o f the place, its people, and its ruler in
antiquity: the king o f Shu is branded as an oversexed ruler; the soldiers
o f Ch’in play a scatological trick on the people o f Shu, in which ox
feces become “gold” ; the Ch’in court hurls insults at the Shu envoys;
and the five strong men o f Shu suffer a drastic fate together with the
brides o f C h’in. The narrative as a whole differs from others in this
chapter because it expresses no praise or admiration for the heroic ideal
but ridicules the Shu envoys for their pretensions to heroism in a coarse
satire. Thus the extract may be read as an anti-Shu tract.

In the reign o f Emperor K ’ai-ming . . . there were in Shu five strong

men who could move mountains and lift weights o f three hundred
thousand pounds. Every time a prince passed away, they would im­
mediately set up a huge stone thirty feet long, weighing thirty thou­
sand pounds, for the tomb’s memorial stone. Today, these are like
stalagmites. The area is called Stalagmite Village.. . .
In the era o f King Hsien o f the Chou, the king o f Shu possessed
the territory o f Pao and Han [-chung]. As he went hunting in the val­
 228 — Chinese Mythology

ley, he happened to meet King Hui o f the Ch’in. King Hui filled a
wicker box with gold and sent it to the king o f Shu. The king o f Shu
reciprocated with precious objects. But all the objects turned to clay,
and King Hui became angry. But his court officials congratulated
him, saying, “Heaven has singled us out for its favor. Your Majesty
will take the land o f Shu.” King Hui was overjoyed. So they made five
stone oxen, and each morning they released gold from their buttocks
and announced, “Even our ox-shit is gold!” There were a hundred sol­
diers in charge o f the stone oxen. The people o f Shu were delighted
with them. He [the king o f Shu] ordered envoys to ask for the stone
oxen, and King Hui allowed them to take them. So they sent the five
brothers to receive the stone oxen. But the oxen no longer dropped
gold dung and they became angry. He sent the five brothers back to
return the oxen and they twitted the people o f Ch’in saying, “Huh!
You eastern calf-boys!” The people o f Ch’in laughed at them and said,
“We may be calf-boys, but we are sure going to take Shu!” . ..
King Hui knew that the king o f Shu enjoyed sex, so he allowed
five brides to be sent in marriage to Shu. The Shu court sent the five
brothers to receive them. As they were bringing them back to Tzu-
t’ung, they saw a huge snake that went into a cave. One o f the men
held onto its tail and tugged it, but he could not manage. The five
men came and helped together, and with loud shouts they dragged
the snake out. The mountain collapsed, and as it did, it crushed to
death the five men and the five ladies o f Ch’in with their retinue.
Then the mountain formed into five peaks crowned with a flat slab
o f stone. The king o f Shu was bitterly upset. So he climbed the
mountain and officially named it Five Bride Peak. He had the words
“Watching Brides Beacon” and “Longing Wives Terrace” incised into
the slab o f stone. Today this mountain also goes by the name o f Five
Brothers Peak. (Hua-yang kuo-chih, Shu chih, SPTK 3.2a~3b)

Li Ping Fights the Water Beast

A discussion o f the Li Ping myth appears in chapter 3 under the
title “The Virgin Brides and the River G od,” where the myth was exam­
ined from the aspect o f the hero’s function as the slayer o f an evil mon­
ster and the underlying pattern o f its “sociological charter.” It is worth
noting that in this narrative a hero o f Ch’in is the savior o f the people
o f Shu, thus replicating the subordinate relationship o f Shu to C h ’in
which was evident in the preceding text.
 Heroes ~ 229

After King Chao o f Ch’in had attacked and conquered Shu, he ap­
pointed Li Ping as prefect o f the Shu commandery. There was a river
god who took two young virgins as his brides every year. The head
officer o f the region declared, “You will have to hand over a million
in cash to pay for the brides’ dowry.” Ping said, “That won’t be nec­
essary. I have young daughters o f my own.” When the time came, he
had his daughters beautifully dressed and made up, and he led them
away to be drowned in the river. Li Ping went straight up to the
throne o f the local god, poured out wine as an offering, and said,
“Up till now, I have continued our family line into the ninth genera­
tion. Lord o f the River, you are a mighty god. Please show your
august presence to me, so that I may humbly serve you with wine.”
Ping held the goblet o f wine forward. All the god did was to ripple
its surface, but he did not consume it. Ping said in a thunderous
voice, “Lord o f the River, you have mocked me, so now I intend to
fight you!” He drew out his sword, then suddenly he vanished. A
little later two blue oxen were fighting on the sloping riverbank.
After a few moments Ping went back to his officers and ordered
them to help him: ‘T h e ox facing south with white tied around his
saddle will be me with my white silk ribbon.” Then he returned to
the fray. The Keeper o f Records promptly shot dead with his arrow
the ox facing north. With the Lord o f the River dead, there was no
more trouble ever again. (T ’ai-p’ing yti-lan, citing Feng su t’ung-yi,
SPTK 882.4a-b)