'When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang's House': A Warring States Period Tale of Shamanic Possession and Building Construction set at the turn of the Xia and Shang Dynasties

摘要

"When Red Pigeons Gathered on Tang's House" (Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu 赤鯦之集湯之屋) is a Warring States period bamboo manuscript written in the script of the Chu state. It concerns figures that are well known in historical legend: Tang 湯, the founder of the Shang dynasty; his wife; his minister Yi Yin 伊尹, here called by the title xiaochen 小臣 [minor servitor]; and the last king of the Xia dynasty, here called simply the Xia Lord (xia hou 夏后). These figures have their familiar identities, but the tale recorded in the manuscript is unique and has no apparent political or philosophical import. The protagonist, Xiaochen, is Tang's cook, but he does not play the role of founding minister raised up by a future king. Moreover, he is associated with a nexus of motifs associated with shamans, including spirit possession. He acquires clairvoyance after eating a soup of magic red birds (jiu 鳩, [pigeons] or hu 鵠 [cranes]) intended for Tang. After fleeing from an angry Tang, he is possessed by a spirit-medium raven. He then cures the illness of the Xia Lord by having him move his house and kill the yellow snakes and white rabbits under his bed. One rabbit escapes and the story concludes that this is why parapets are placed on houses, suggesting that the context of the story was the construction of a building. Thus, it may have been similar to a historiola, narrated in a ritual to sanctify houses after the placement of the parapet, thus preventing illness among the inhabitants. Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu 赤鯦之集湯之屋 [When red pigeons gathered on Tang's House] is a bamboo-slip manuscript of the Warring States period (475-222 bce) written in the script of the southern state of Chu 楚, now in the Tsinghua University collection. It concerns figures that are well known in early Chinese literature: Tang 湯, the founder of the Shang dynasty; his wife; his minister Yi Yin 伊尹, here called by the title xiaochen 小臣 ("minor servitor"); and the last king of the Xia dynasty, here called simply the Xia Lord (xia hou 夏后). The main part of the manuscript is a tale in which Xiaochen (Yi Yin) is possessed by a spirit medium in the form of a raven and cures the illness of the Xia Lord. This account of spirit possession is unique in pre-Han literature. Moreover, although the actors are frequently found in accounts of early Chinese history, the story has no apparent political or philosophical import and concludes as an explanation about an architectural feature on houses. I will argue below that it is similar to "historiolae" that construct narratives based upon known mythical figures to legitimise and give power to ritual acts - in this case, a rite associated with house construction. In the following, I will first discuss some physical aspects of this bamboo-slip manuscript and its relationship to two other manuscripts in the Tsinghua collection with which it was bound, Yin zhi 尹至 and Yin gao 尹誥. I will then translate Chi jiu zhi ji Tang zhi wu (hereafter abbreviated as Chi jiu) into English. This will be followed by a review of Yi Yin's conventional role in early texts as a founding minister and an explication of the text of the manuscript.