Images 31–45

Remnant spawn athwart the road, defiling and disordering the palace. One man and one woman send another's state to its end.

Loyal ministers and worthy officers all sink away. Heaven opens its inmost, and the disorder grows more tangled. Though there be a breast that could be laid open and plain, heaven and earth no longer belong to the old bright sovereign.

Shengtan says: this image concerns the seven years of the Tianqi reign, when a baleful vapour spread across the sky and the vital force was injured. 'One man and one woman' refers to the eunuch Wei and Madam Ke. ○ Madam Ke was Xizong's

wet-nurse, styled Lady Fengsheng.

Hoofprints at the northern gate-tower. Dogs howling in the west. The count of eight and nine is exhausted. Sun and moon are without light.

The willow-catkin is all fallen; the plum blossom is spent. A five-coloured banner comes dividing from the north. Alas — the royal aura of Jinling is exhausted, and a single branch of spring colour takes Chang'an.

Shengtan says: this image concerns Li Chuang and Zhang Xianzhong throwing the Central Plain into disorder; Chongzhen hanging himself at Meishan; the Prince of Fu's partial settlement not lasting long; and the Ming sacrifices thereupon ending. The ode's last line seems to point

to the Hu who came after, and carries a deep meaning.

The Yellow River runs clear. When the vapour is compliant, there is order. Host and guest are not distinguished. Among the earthly branches there is no zi.

From Tianchang the white cascade comes. The Hu people's vigour does not wane. The fences are largely taken away. The little children, half of them pitiable.

Shengtan says: this image is the sign of the Manchu Qing entering the pass, the guest becoming the host. Probably this too was the working of the cyclical count, and not what human strength could pull back. Since the Liao and the Jin, the Hu

have ruled the Central Plain twice over. Set against that, can the sturdy Han people be without shame?

On the head there is hair. The garment fears white. In a time of Great Peace, king kills king.

In a time of peace, blood-flowers are seen flying again. A five-coloured pattern makes the inner and the outer garment. The flood waters reach to heaven; the sprouts do not ear. The Central Plain once saw a dream go wholly awry.

Shengtan says: to verify what has already happened is easy; to infer what is yet to come is hard. Yet having verified what has already happened, one cannot avoid extending it to the future. I only wish that from here on, what I call orderly may by good fortune hit the mark, and what I call

disorderly may by good fortune miss it — and then I may perhaps be held blameless. ○ This image suspects a flood disaster, or war and natural calamity seen together.

This is one period of disorder.

In the west there is a man. His foot treads the sacred capital. The emperor goes out and does not return. The Three Terraces prop up what topples.

Black clouds come darkly out of the west. The emperor's son, by the river, builds a golden terrace. In the south there is war; in the north there is fire. In the restoration one saw a man of rare gifts.

Shengtan says: this image suspects there is a matter of the sovereign going out on progress. It too is a sign of disorder.

A slender woman. Bare-handed she holds off the enemy. Not telling disaster from blessing. Lamplight blots out the sun.

Two fists turn heaven and earth about. Within the seas, for no cause, there is no quiet. Mother and son, no telling which came first. Looking west toward Chang'an, they come to court.

Shengtan says: this image suspects a woman able to settle the Central Plain, with her capital established at Chang'an.

The Han waters, vast and vague. Not the succession, yet succeeding. North and south undivided. Of one heart, and sharing the work.

Clear water in the end runs dry. Spears reversed meet the eighth month. Within the seas there is at last no king. Half ill-omened, and half auspicious.

Shengtan says: although in this image a head of state appears, order cannot easily be brought about for a time. This too is one period of disorder.

Outside the gate, one deer. The host of champions chase it. The calamity reaches kite and fish. Deep water and scorching fire.

When the fire-cycle opens, disaster spreads wide. Ten thousand die after; ten thousand die first. The sea's waves can muddy the rivers. What passes beyond the borders is no different from what is before your eyes.

Shengtan says: in this image the calamity of war arises outside the gate, with a sign of its extending within the gate.

The bird has no feet. The mountain has a moon. The rising sun just climbs. And everyone weeps.

In the twelfth month the vapours are out of harmony. On the south hill a sparrow; on the north hill a net. One morning the golden cock is heard to crow. And over the deep, deep sea the sun has already passed.

Shengtan says: this image suspects foreign peoples fighting and throwing the Central Plain into disorder. It must reach a you year before it can be settled.

One, two, three, four. No land, and yet a lord. A little Tiangang. Ruling with folded hands.

One mouth comes from the east, its air too proud. No shoes on its feet, no hair on its head. If it meets the wood-child, ice and frost disperse. What gives me life is the monkey; what kills me is the vulture.

Shengtan says: in this image there is one surnamed Li, able to subdue the eastern peoples but unable to lay plans for lasting order and long peace, so that in the end order and disorder alternate. There is here the sense of the beast living and the bird dying —

so it is.

Heaven and earth are darkened and blind. Grasses and trees multiply. Yin and yang are turned back to back. Earth above, sun below.

The cap must be worn — blood without a head. Hands toying with heaven and earth: what day will it stop? Ninety-nine years make one great mistake. To call oneself king suits only Qinzhou.

Shengtan says: in this image a warrior seizes military power to himself and brings on the calamity of earth overturned and heaven upturned. Perhaps one surnamed Bai settles it.

A beauty comes from the west. In the court the days grow gradually calm. A long bow lies on the ground. In peril, and yet not in peril.

A woman of the west, an immortal of the pipa. Bright and white her clothing, its colour fresher still. At this time she mingles her traces, dwelling in court and market, and throws prince and minister into a myriad confusions.

Shengtan says: this image suspects a woman holding the state, her robes favouring white, gathering all great power into her own hands and coming near to endangering the altars. It may appear, perhaps, in a mao year. This is a sign of disorder beginning.

The prince is not a prince. The minister is not a minister. At the outset, hardship and peril. At the last, able to settle.

A black hare runs into the azure dragon's den. Wishing to end and not ending — it cannot be told. Only out on the root-tree beyond the border do sons and grandsons form, within thirty years.

Shengtan says: this image suspects that the disorder of the state by the woman of the previous image is not yet ended; that prince and minister go out on progress; and that there is an outstanding man who settles it for them — but necessarily only after thirty years.

Sun and moon shine in heaven. The host of yin is cowed into submission. The hundred spirits come to court. Two wings, four feet.

China now has a sage. Though not a hero, yet a Cheng of Zhou. The four peoples, through relays of interpreters, call him Son of Heaven. Obstruction at its limit, peace arrives: spring in nine states.

Shengtan says: this image is the sign of a sage born again and the four peoples coming to court. It is one great period of order.

A guest comes from the west, reaches the east, and stops. Wood, fire, metal, water wash away this great shame.

The fire-fortune opens wide; the world becomes as one. The golden crow hides itself within the white ocean. From now on none dares call itself chief. The breath of war melts wholly away; the cycle has ended.

Shengtan says: in this image, in an age of great peace, war is seen once more, and it must be upon the ocean. After this, the flourishing age is reached more fully still.