by Chen Jack W
97. One of the earliest usages of the phrase qing ji 傾己 is found in the “Discussion on Clarifying Buddhism” 明佛論 by the Buddhist layman and artist Zong Bing 宗炳 (379–
443), in Seng You 僧祐 (445–518), comp., Hongming ji, 2.20b / p. 108. Zong Bing’s essay is partially translated in Liebenthal, “Immortality of the Soul in Chinese Thought,” pp. 327–
397. We may also compare Taizong’s usage of qing ji with his use of xu ji 虛己 in other writings. See, for example, “Edict Once More Replying to Fang Xuanling” 又答房玄齡詔,
in which Taizong writes, “We breakfast after noon and think upon governance, humble
Ourself and revere worthies” 朕昃食思政，虛己欽賢. In Quan Tang wen, 9.107; and
Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, p. 402.
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On Sovereignty and Representation
Throughout the essay, Taizong continually returns to figures of corpo-
reality, even when he is discussing the question of the fengjian system, as
he is in the second section of the essay, entitled “Establishing Kin” 建親.
Here, Taizong argues that the vastness of the empire means that no one
man could hope to have solitary command and so should enfeoff his
kinsmen to help him rule over it. The Zhou did precisely this and enjoyed
many centuries of rule. Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of Qin, however,
acted in a different manner:
During the latter days of the Qin, [the First Emperor] rejected the proposal of
Chunyu [Yue] while accepting the scheme of Li Si.98 He did not treat his kin as
kin, but believed that his wisdom alone was wise. When the state collapsed, he
had no one to hold on to, and in two generations [the Qin] was lost. How is this
not a case of “when the branches and leaves are luxuriant, then the roots are diffi-
cult to pull out” and “once the legs and arms are destroyed, then the heart and
stomach will have nothing on which to rely”!
秦之季世，棄淳于之策，納李斯之謀，不親其親，獨智其智，顛覆莫
持，二世而亡。斯豈非枝葉扶疏則根柢難拔，股肱既隕則心腹無依者
哉。99
Twitchett points out that much of this section is a paraphrase of “Dis-
course on the Six Ages” 六代論 by Cao Jiong 曹冏 (fl. third century), the
great-uncle of Wei Shaodi 魏少帝 (r. 239–54).100 In 243, seeing how the
Wei was close to losing its hold on the empire, Cao Jiong wrote this dis-
course in hopes of persuading Wei Shaodi to restore the fengjian system,
which Cao Jiong believed could revive the dynasty’s fortunes. The fact that
Taizong returned to the importance of the fengjian system at the end of his
life speaks both to his undimmed confidence in the Zhou model of empire
—————
98. Chunyu Yue 淳于越 attempted to persuade the First Emperor to enfeoff his brothers,
arguing that the Shang and Zhou had done so and thus each enjoyed more than a mil-
lenium of rule. Li Si 李斯 (d. 208 bc) rebutted this by noting how previous ages did not imitate one another and by arguing that no ruler in history was comparable to the First Emperor. See Shi ji, 6.254–55.
99. Di fan zhu, 1.2b–3a; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, p. 597.
100. Twitchett, “How To Be an Emperor,” p. 96. The “Discourse on the Six Ages” is preserved in the commentary by Pei Songzhi 裴松之 (372–451) to the Sanguo zhi 三國志; see Chen Shou 陳壽 (233–97), comp., Sanguo zhi, 20.591. The text is also found in Wen xuan, 52.2273–82.
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On Sovereignty and Representation
97
and suggests, as we have seen, that he may have had reservations about his
heir’s abilities to rule without the support of the imperial kinsmen.
In this passage, Taizong makes use of two analogies. First, he figures
the feudatories as protective “branches and leaves,” which would serve as
protective barriers for the capital region, echoing a similar use of the fig-
ure in “The Golden Mirror.”101 The second analogy, which figures the
feudatories as the arms and legs, and the sovereign as mind and stomach,
recalls the passage from Mencius discussed previously that begins, “If the
sovereign looks upon his ministers as his hands and feet, then his minis-
ters will look upon the sovereign as stomach and mind.” Taizong sees the
relationship between the imperial region and the feudatories as constitut-
ing a single body, one that is directed by the sovereign. This is the promise
of kinship and perhaps one of the reasons why Taizong returned to the
idea of fengjian again and again. An empire established upon a model of
kinship transforms the impersonal technologies of government into the
flesh and blood bonds of family.
At this juncture, it is worth considering in more detail what it means
for the sovereign to be both mind and stomach. For Mencius, the mind
and the stomach are paired terms, denoting the crucial organs that regu-
late the workings of the body. For Taizong, however, while the mind is
the organ of discernment, the stomach is something much more ambigu-
ous, as it is also the organ of appetite. As we have seen before, Taizong
identifies the stomach as a potential source of the empire’s destruction
since it is the seat of desires, and it is this problem that occupies a signifi-
cant portion of “Model for the Emperor.”
In the seventh section, “Admonition against Indulgence” 戒盈, and in
the eighth, “Revering Frugality” 崇儉, Taizong makes arguments against
excess and indulgence, noting the ruinous appetites of the imperial stom-
ach. In both of these two sections, Taizong relies heavily upon the “Tech-
niques of the Ruler” chapter of the Huainanzi, which articulates an eco-
nomics of restriction and self-denial. In this respect, Taizong’s borrowing
of the Huainanzi is not surprising, as the Han philosophical encyclopedia
was the first major synthesis of various arguments concerning sovereignty
—————
101. Twitchett points out that this analogy of branches and leaves occurs also in Cao Jiong’s “Discourse on the Six Ages.” See Twitchett, “How To Be an Emperor,” p. 60, n263.
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98
On Sovereignty and Representation
and askēsis, drawing upon pre-Qin texts such as the Mozi 墨子 and Han Feizi.102
Taizong begins the seventh section, “Admonition against Indulgence,”
in the following manner:
The sovereign is frugal in order to sustain his nature; he is still in order to cultivate his personal body. If he is frugal, then the people will not be exhausted; if he is still then his subjects will not be disturbed. If the people are exhausted, then grievances will arise; if his subjects are disturbed, then his governance will not be obeyed.
夫君者儉以養性，靜以脩身。儉則民不勞，靜則下不擾。民勞則怨
起，下擾則政乖。
Compare this to how the “Techniques of the Ruler” chapter begins:
The way of the sovereign is to reside
in stillness to cultivate his personal body and to be frugal and moderate to lead his subjects. If he is still, then his subjects will not be disturbed; if he is frugal then the people will not issue grievances. However, if his subjects are disturbed then the government will be disordered; if the people
issue grievances then his charisma will be weak. If his governance is disordered
then worthies will not offer counsel; if his charisma is weak then the brave-
hearted will not be willing to risk death.
君人之道，處靜以修身，儉約以率下。靜則下不擾矣，儉則民不怨
矣。下擾則政亂，民怨則德薄。政亂則賢者不為謀，德薄則勇者不為
死。103
Taizong, following the Huainanzi, argues for a Daoist quietism at the
heart of sovereignty. It should be noted that this conception of rulership
is largely absent from Taizong’s other writings.104 As the Huainanzi states, the way of the ruler is “to reside in stillness” 處靜, and “to be frugal and
moderate” 儉約. Taizong changes the sequence of practices slightly in his
version, though the goal is the same—to ensure the stability of the empire
through the quelling of the sovereign self. The correlation of the stilled
—————
102. For example, see the Mozi chapter entitled “Moderating Usage” 節用, in Sun Yirang 孫詒讓 (1848–1908), annot., Mozi jiangu, 6.159–68. Note that the earlier Lüshi chunqiu 呂氏春秋 ( Annals of Master Lü) does make arguments about the restriction of imperial pleasure, but it is not presented in such a developed form as we find in the Huainanzi.
103. Huainan honglie jijie, 9.289.
104. There are a few exceptions. For example, in a eulogy for his deceased father, Taizong writes, “The Perfected Man forgets his self, and bodily soars into the void” 至人忘己體沖
虛. See “Panegyric to Imperial Virtue” in Chuxue ji, 9.214; Quan Tang wen, 4.48–49; and Tang Taizong quanji jiaozhu, pp. 151–54.
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On Sovereignty and Representation
99
self to governance is articulated as early as the Laozi: “Not to desire but to reside in stillness, and the world will regulate itself” 不欲以靜，天下將
自正.105 Both the Huainanzi and “Model for an Emperor” follow the
Laozi in arguing that the empire is secure only when the sovereign is still, since the sovereign who desires, and who acts to have his desires fulfilled,
will bring disorder and then ruin to the world.
Taizong then goes on to describe what might constitute the objects of
the sovereign’s numerous desires and what consequence succumbing to
those desires would have for the empire:
If the ruler of men loves marvelous skills and lascivious sounds, birds of prey and
fierce beasts, if his personal tours are without measure and his field hunts out of
season—if things are like this, then conscriptions and [occasions for] forced labor
will be manifold. If conscriptions and forced labor are ceaseless, then the strength of the people will be exhausted. If the strength of the people is used up, then the
livelihoods of farming and mercantilism will be ruined.
If the ruler of men loves high terraces and deep pools, carved decoration and
inlays, pearl and jade and precious baubles, and hatchet-embroidered linen cloth,
if things are like this, then tax collections will be heavy. If tax collections are
heavy, then the resources of the people will be depleted. If the resources of the
people are depleted, then hardships of hunger and cold will arise.
The sovereign of a chaotic age lets his arrogance go to extremes and allows his
delectations to run to extravagance. He will want to clothe earth and wood [of
buildings] with orange silks and brocade, though the coarse wool tunics of the
people will not cover their whole bodies. His hounds and horses are satiated by
fodder and grain, though chaff and husks for the people are not sufficient. Thus
people and spirits will grow vexed and resentful, and superior and inferior will
turn their backs on one another. Before ease and happiness has ended, ruinous
danger will already have arrived. These are the fears occasioned by arrogance and
extravagance.
人主好奇伎淫聲，鷙鳥猛獸，遊幸無度，田獵不時，如此則徭役煩。
徭役煩則人力竭。人力竭則農商之業廢焉。
人主好高臺深池，雕琢刻鏤，珠玉珍玩，黼黻絺綌，如此則賦歛
重。賦歛重則人財匱。人財匱則餓寒之患生焉。
亂世之君極其驕，奢恣其嗜，欲土木衣緹繡而民裋褐不全。犬馬厭
芻豢而人糟糠不足。故人神憤怨，上下乖離，佚樂未終而傾危已至。
此驕奢之忌也。
—————
105. See Zhu Qianzhi, ed. and annot., Laozi jiaoshi, 37.147.
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On Sovereignty and Representation
We find here the usual examples of excessive hunting, precious goods and
rare objects, ornamental buildings and pools, fancy cloths, and prized ani-
mals. Taizong puts forth the expected argument about expenditures and
exactions here, since it is the labor of the common folk who provide the
means by which the sovereign enjoys his pleasures. Under such a despot,
the people will have nothing to eat, while the ruler’s animals will dine upon
meat; the people’s clothing will be ragged and incomplete, while the ruler
will cover his buildings with fine cloths. Throughout this passage, Taizong
does not depart very far from the Huainanzi, which issues warnings about
precisely the same objects of imperial desire. Taizong concludes with a de-
scription of a world of insufficiency, one in which the wants of the ruler
have utterly depleted the capacities for supply of the empire.
By contrast, Taizong describes the enlightened rulership of the sage-
kings in the next section, “Revering Frugality.” He writes,
Sovereigns in the age of sageliness lived in moderation and frugality. While their
wealth and power were great and broad, they kept it through restraint; while
their sagacity and knowledge were acute and penetrating, they kept it through
simplicity. They were not arrogant because of their own prominence; they did
not boast of their abundant virtue. The thatched roofs of their houses were not
trimmed; their pine beams were not hewn; their boats and carts were not orna-
mented; their clothing had no patterning; the earthen stairs were not raised up;
and their sacrificial broths were not seasoned. It was not that they abhorred luster and despised flavor; it was just that they resided in plainness and practiced frugality. Therefore the popular customs were pure and simple; their households all
were worthy of enfeoffment. This was the virtue of moderation and frugality.
夫聖代之君存乎節儉。富貴廣大守之以約，叡智聰明守之以愚。不以
身尊而驕人，不以德厚而矜物。茅茨不剪，采椽不斲，舟車不飭，衣
服無文，土階不崇，大羹不和。非憎榮而惡味，乃處薄而行儉。故風
淳俗朴，比屋可封。此節儉之德也。
Taizong describes the domiciles, vehicles, clothing, and food of sage-kings
against aesthetic pleasure; it is instead an argument against desire. The
dwellings with their untrimmed roof thatches and unhewn pine beams
are objects of utility, unlike the embellished dwellings that manifest and
display the despots’ desires. In fact, since all objects would exist only to
fulfill human needs and nothing more, we may think of this (in Marxist
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On Sovereignty and Representation
101
terms) as a society of pure use-value, untroubled by any destabilizing su-
perfluities of desire.106
Having articulated an economy not of desire but of use-value, Taizong
turns back to the central source of instability within the empire: the body
of the sovereign. He goes on to state:
Extravagance and frugality come from within; security and danger reside in the
self. If the five gateways are closed off to what is close at hand, then this will allow virtue to flourish even at a distant remove;107 if one is vulnerable within to the
thousand desires, then the wellspring of disaster will gush outwards.108 For this
reason, when the red osmanthus encloses borer worms, the radiant fragrance will
be destroyed in the end. If the scarlet flames are enveloped in smoke, then cloud-
soaring blaze will be blocked.109 Thus, one should know that arrogance comes
from the will; if one is not moderate, then the will will be overturned. Desires are born in one’s body; if they are not checked, then the body will perish. Thus, [the
ancient despots] Jie and Zhou gave free reign to passion, and disaster was their
end; Shun and Yao restrained the self and fortune was prolonged. How can one
not strive for this?
奢儉由人，安危在己。五關近閉，則令德遠盈。千欲內攻，則凶源外
發。是以丹桂抱蠹，終摧耀日之芳。朱火含煙，遂鬱凌雲之燄。故知
驕出於志，不節則志傾。慾生於身，不遏則身喪。故桀紂肆情而禍
結，堯舜約己而福延。可不務乎？110