Page 337 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 330
Shi Huang-di, the first Emperor, is said to have based his rule on the
number six (thus, 36 provinces), while the mythical Fu-xi seems to
have preferred eight, and the Former Han who followed Shi Huang-di
opted for nine.
SixtySixty

liu-shi

The ancient Chinese calendar was modulated by series based on ten and
twelve: combining these gave 60 as a common unit. After 60 days – or 60 years – a new
cycle began. From this arithmetical fact it was deduced that human life should
correspondingly last for one cycle. Until modern times there persisted a legend that
people who had reached the age of 60 should be buried alive. The custom seems to have
been particularly prevalent in the loess areas of North China where caves are still to be
seen in which these old people were immured. A related legend has to do with a tricky
question which neither the Emperor nor his minister could answer: to everyone’s
amazement, however, a certain young man came up with the answer. Asked how he was
able to do this, he confessed that he had indeed buried his father alive as required but had
left an opening in the cave wall so that he could feed the old man – who had given him
the correct answer. The Emperor promptly abolished the custom.
In the time of the ‘Three Kingdoms’ (220–65) and thereafter, certain years
were deliberately chosen for popular uprisings as they were the initial
years in a new cycle of 60. In at least one case, however, that of the
rabble-rouser Zhang Jio, the new year brought him not a new beginning
but his own end.
S Smoke moke

yan

Smoke is a symbol of transitoriness: it rises quickly and disperses just as quickly. It is a
favourite theme of the great Tang nature poets: for example, Wang Wei:

Sun still sinking over the ford
Up from the village a single fire’s smoke.
(Tr. G. W. Robinson, Penguin Books, 1973)