Dreaming of Zhou Gong
Page 60
Only once the king had made this peace with his uncle’s great memory did he finally open the inheritance left to him by the Duke of Zhou.
The gift took the form of a cautionary text entitled, ‘You Many Gentlemen, Be Never Slack.’ It read:
In the past, the Shang king Zhongzong solemnly attended to heaven’s mandate with the utmost care, fashioning ordinances to rule the people, always fearfully alert lest he should dare to become self-indulgent. For this reason, Zhongzong enjoyed his throne for seventy-five years. When the throne passed to Gaozong …
GLOSSARY
Bi-disk — a flat jade disc with a hole in the centre, with ornate surface carving. Used in Zhou for the worship of heavenly deities.
Bo — title, equal to a Count.
Censer — vessels for the burning of incense, these can vary greatly in size and material of construction.
Chi #1 — (also Qi or Ki) life energy, life force, energy flow. Literal translation is: ‘breath, air, gas’.
Chi #2 — traditional Chinese unit of length equal to one foot.
Cun — traditional Chinese measure equal to an inch.
Cong — a tube-shaped implement with a circular inner section and a squarish outer section, i.e. a hollow cylinder embedded in a partial rectangular block. Used for the worship of earthly spirits.
Dao Yin — a series of breathing exercises to cultivate chi. The precursor of Qigong and Tai Chi.
Diyu — ‘earth prison’, hell, the eighteen levels of the Chinese underworld.
Dizi — a Chinese transverse flute, most commonly made of bamboo, but can also be wood, stone or jade.
Gong — title, equal to a Duke — when used preceding a person’s first name.
Jinzita — ‘gold word tower’ — Chinese flat-topped pyramid, sometimes stepped.
Huang He — the Yellow River.
Qin — (or Guqin) an ancient Chinese string instrument of the zither family — favoured by scholars and the literati. Legend has it that during the life of Zhou Gong the instrument developed from a five stringed instrument to a seven stringed instrument.
Shan — Chinese word for ‘mountain’.
Shangdi — the Shang name of the ruler of heaven.
Shu — term with which Zhou kings address feudal lords; also means ‘uncle’.
The Wu — Female shamans of ancient China, who ruled over the affairs of heaven. They were not answerable to any man, not even the emperor.
Tian — heaven/sky.
Xibo — title; equivalent of viscount.
Yi Jing — the ‘I Ching’ also known as ‘The Book of Changes’.
Yinhou — title meaning lord of Yin.
Zhou — the name of the state ruled by the Ji family; this name came to encompass most of China; it was also the central province of the nine provinces of Zhou.
Zhuhou — title meaning Overlord.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Hausdorf, Hartwig, The Chinese Roswell: UFO Encounters in the Far East from Ancient Time to the Present, New Paradigm Books, Florida, USA, 1998.
Horne, Charles F., Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Ancient China, Kessinger Publishing Co., Montana, USA. 1997.
Shaughnessy, Edward L., Before Confucius: Studies in the Creation of the Chinese Classics, State University of New York Press, Albany, USA. 1997.
Web references
Chinese clock http://theabysmal.wordpress.com
Dashu, Max, ‘Wu: Female shamans in Ancient China’ (article), www.suppressedhistories.net
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, a huge credit goes to Lee Pou Lon, who meticulously checked all my research for this book, aided with the Chinese translations and proofread this manuscript for errors. His painstaking attention to detail saved me from making some very embarrassing errors (like a 30-foot long qin, for example) and awarded myself, my editors and now my readers, with a greater understanding of Chinese history and culture. Lon’s input was invaluable, and thanks to his guidance and polish, I feel far more confident in presenting this story to the world.
Thanks also to my editors, Sue Moran and Stephanie Smith, and to my new commissioning editor, Deonie Fiford, all of whom are a pleasure to work with and, along with all the wonderful people at HarperCollins/Voyager Australia, continue to support my creative aspirations.
I also wish to thank my agent, Selwa Anthony, for her ongoing guidance and belief in me. Also my daughter, Sarah Harding, who listened to me read this story as it was written, and aided me to create the floor plan of the House of Yi Wu Li Shan and a map of ancient Zhou. To my son, John, a big hug for letting Mum get on with writing, and to Mum and Dad, all my family and friends — who don’t really get to see me much, but are always there when I need them most.
I am very grateful to Cheryl Hesketh for maintaining my Trazling Messageboard and Facebook Page, to Trish Borg for taking care of my Traci Harding Fans Facebook page, and to David Harding for maintaining traciharding.com. Thanks to the moderators on all my sites and to my readers, near and far, who keep me gainfully employed as a writer and who email and post messages of encouragement — your excitement and enthusiasm are always inspiring!
Thanks to my pre-readers on this book, Rob and Christine; your feedback was very helpful.
The beautiful Chinese clock featured in the front pages of the book, I use with the kind permission of theabysmal.wordpress.com
The Holy City of Chengzhou map and illustration of the magic square were created by Lamassu Design.
All the speeches written by Ji Dan (Zhou Gong) in this tale were adapted from the translation of ‘The Great Document’ featured in Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Ancient China (see bibliography for details).
About the Author
Since the 1996 bestseller, The Ancient Future, Traci Harding has published many fabulous books with HarperVoyager. These are available in print and e-books, and some titles are available in audio; she has also been translated into several different languages.
Go to traciharding.com and find out all there is to know about Traci and her books.
Other Books by Traci Harding
The Ancient Future Trilogy
The Ancient Future: the Dark Age (1)
An Echo in Time: Atlantis (2)
Masters of Reality: the Gathering (3)
The Alchemist’s Key
The Celestial Triad
Chronicle of Ages (1)
Tablet of Destinies (2)
The Cosmic Logos (3)
Ghostwriting
The Book of Dreams
The Mystique Trilogy
Gene of Isis (1)
The Dragon Queens (2)
The Black Madonna (3)
Triad of Being Trilogy
Being of the Field (1)
The Universe Parallel (2)
The Light-field (3)
Copyright
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2013
This edition published in 2013
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Traci Harding 2013
The right of Traci Harding to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Harding, Traci.
Dreaming of Zhou Gong / Traci Harding.
ISBN: 978 0 7322 8126 7 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978 0 7304 9286 3 (epub)
A823.3
Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover images: Woman by Chris Nicholls; all other images by shutterstock.com