Looking at Hong Kong’s positioning from the perspective of the cycle of heaven
It can be seen from the “Xu Gua Zhuan” in the “Book of Changes” that we need to consider repositioning this city in order to continue to promote the development of this international city and cultural capital.
Author: GUDORDI | 2023-02-15
The “Book of Changes” explains the laws of the development of all things in the universe, and there will be no end. (Shutterstock)
Continuing from the above: “The truth can be said, but it is not the way; the answer can be answered, but it is not the answer – the future of Hong Kong’s legend”
“Those who have had something wrong must give it to them, so they will give it to them once they have received it. Things cannot be exhausted, so they will end up receiving it without giving it to them.”
── “Book of Changes”
In the last chapter, the author mentioned the Utopia in Fuxi’s mind and mentioned that we can use four angles to answer it. The first angle is to examine what Fuxi could have done but failed to do; the second angle is to examine the legends about Fuxi together. In this chapter, the author will continue to talk about this angle.
The extraordinary tradition of Chinese historians
In the above article, the author pointed out that attaching great importance to history is one of the characteristics of Chinese culture. Since Sima Qian’s “Historical Records”, Chinese historians have inherited a high sense of moral mission, responsibility and justice in writing history books. We regard the true and fair recording of history as our responsibility to our predecessors and future generations. Emperors of the past dynasties also understood this, and believed that it would help restrain royal power to a certain extent and avoid excessive abuse, making this an invisible force that protects Chinese culture.
Over the years, many historians have written Fuxi’s deeds into history books. In addition to the “Emperor Century” mentioned above, there are also “Historical Records Sound and Meaning” by Xu Guang of the Southern Song Dynasty, “Historical Records Annotations” by Pei Xiang, “Historical Records Annotations” by Qi Zou, “Historical Records Sound and Meaning” by Liu Bozhuang of the Tang Dynasty, and Zhang Shoujie’s “Historical Records Sound and Meaning” “Historical Records of Justice”, Sima Zhen’s “Historical Records of Suoyin”, etc., to make up for the shortcomings of “Historical Records” in this regard. Among these various works, “Annotation of Historical Records”, “Historical Records of Justice” and “Historical Records of Suoyin” were most praised by later historians, and were collectively called “Three Commentaries of Historical Records”.
Among them, “Historical Records Suoyin” can be said to be a great historical masterpiece that combines the culmination of various works. It pays equal attention to sound and meaning, and has detailed annotations. The author Sima Zhen even won the title of “Little Sima”, which corrected the omissions and errors in the “Historical Records” circulated at that time. Many shortcomings have been corrected.
The mantra of "Little Sima"
In the “Supplement to the Historical Records: The Benji of the Three Emperors” in “Historical Records Suoyin”, Sima Zhen comprehensively described Fuxi’s deeds: “Look up and observe the images in the sky, look down at the laws on the earth, and observe the writings of birds and animals and the movements of the earth. It is appropriate to take bodies from near and objects from far away, and start to draw the Eight Diagrams to communicate the virtues of the gods and imitate the emotions of all things. Then make a written contract to replace the knotting of ropes. Then start to make marriages and use the skin as a gift. He built nets to teach the tenants how to fish, so they were called Mi Xi. The words have concisely, comprehensively and comprehensively summarized Fuxi’s life story, which in turn has an indestructible relationship with the evolution and development of Chinese culture.
As mentioned earlier, the “Book of Changes” explains the laws of the development of all things in the universe. Since cultural development is a phenomenon, it can naturally be understood through the “Book of Changes”. The author believes that the last hexagram “Weiji” among the 64 hexagrams best represents Fuxi. The hexagram “Weiji” in “Xu Gua Zhuan” implies the concept of endless life and breakthrough. I believe this is also the spirit behind Fuxi’s invention.
Going back to the text quoted at the beginning of this article, it also comes from the “Xu Gua Zhuan” (or “Xu Gua”) of the “Book of Changes”. “Sequence Hexagram” focuses on the arrangement order and causal relationship of the 64 hexagrams. That passage can be translated as “the end of one stage is the beginning of another.” If applied to the situation in Hong Kong, it may mean that we need to consider repositioning the city in order to continue to promote the development of this international city and cultural capital. . We’ll talk about that next time.
“Hong Kong’s Legendary Future” Series 22
Contact the author: Gudordi@proton.me
