Who was Zou in the Warring States Period?

Zou Yan (about 324 ~ 250 BC), a famous thinker at the end of the Warring States Period, is a master of the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Zou Yan wrote many works in his life, Hanshu? Forty-nine articles on Zou Zi and fifty-six articles on the beginning of Zou Zi in the Records of Literature and Art were recorded by the Yin and Yang families, but they have all been lost. We can only understand his thoughts and theories from the remaining scattered materials.

Five virtues begin with five elements.

When Zou Yan was in Qi Xuanwang, he studied in Jixia Xuegong, studied Confucianism first, and then founded the Yin and Yang School. In his later years, he became a husband and a doctor of Qi. Later, Xia Ji Gong Xue declined, and a large number of scholars left. At this time, Zou Yan also left the State of Qi and defected to the State of Yan. Yan Zhaowang built the Jieshi Palace for him, treated him with courtesy, and asked him to make suggestions for the war between Yan and Fa. After Yan Zhaowang's death, King Hui ascended the throne, and the situation of Yan-Qi War was reversed. Zou Yan was framed and imprisoned, and returned to Qi after he was released from prison. At this time, King JiXiang restored JiXia Academy, and Zou Yan became Mr. Xia Ji again. In the eighth year of Jian 'an (257 BC), Zou Yan sent an envoy to Zhao to criticize GongSunLong and depose him. In the 14th year of Qi Dynasty (25 BC1), he met Yan. In the second year, Yan failed to attack Zhao, and Zou Yan died soon.

According to historical records? According to the Biography of Mencius and Xunqing, Zou Yan's research method is "transcendental trivial matters, pushing important matters, as for infinity". From the time point of view, he first talked about the well-known Yellow Emperor, and then pushed it away until the universe was not born, even longer, and even the chaotic state that could not be studied. In terms of space, the famous mountains and rivers, rare birds and animals, water and soil vegetation in China are listed first, and then pushed to places that overseas people have never seen before. His thoughts are grand and comprehensive, covering all aspects of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, astronomy and geography, so he has the reputation of "talking about heaven and earth". According to the available data, Zou Yan's theories mainly include five virtues as the beginning, five elements as a whole, Kyushu and Yuelv.

The theory of five elements winning each other holds that: many people win, so water wins fire; Fine wins strength, so fire wins gold; Just wins softness, so Jin wins wood; Specializing in scattering, so wood beats soil; Reality triumphs over emptiness, so earth triumphs over water. Zou Yan founded the theory of "Five Virtues at the End" according to the circular relationship among the five elements of earth, wood, gold, fire and water, which was used to explain the historical development and dynasty change. Five virtues refer to the five virtues of earth, wood, gold, fire and water, and they are related: Mutuke, Jin Kemu, Huojinke, Shuihuoke and Tukeshui. This is the order of historical development, and each dynasty has one of the five virtues to cooperate with it, which determines the fate of this dynasty. When a new dynasty is about to rise, there must be some kind of Fu Rui in heaven as a symbol. When the Yellow Emperor appeared, there was a big cockroach (the cockroach was an earthworm and the cockroach was a mole). The yellow emperor said, "rustic spirit wins." Therefore, the Yellow Emperor belongs to the soil and advocates yellow. When the vegetation was still dry in autumn and winter, Yu said, "Wood wins." Therefore, jade belongs to wood and advocates cyan. At the time of Shang Tang, there was a phenomenon that the golden blade was born in water. Tang said, "Jin Lingsheng wins." Therefore, it is commercial gold and advocates white. When I was there, there was a spectacle of Hong Niao holding Dan Shu in Zhou society. King Wen said, "Anger wins." Therefore, Zhou is a fire and advocates red. According to the principle of five elements winning, Zou Yan speculated that the substitute of fire must be water virtue, and there would be signs that steam would win. Water vapor wins, so it advocates black. However, if you are not prepared, you will lose the opportunity of transportation and turn to Tude. In this way, the relationship between the five elements formed a closed cycle process, which led to the replacement and periodic changes of dynasties in history.

Zou Yan, a beginner of Confucianism, saw that "the country can get extravagant benefits, but not the reward of Suntech". Out of the need of Suntech, he founded the theory that "the five virtues will eventually begin", hoping that the monarch would be intimidated by his "strange and pedantic change", so he should take care of Xiu De and "treat Li Shu as a whole". However, the establishment of the theory of "five virtues begin at the end" objectively caters to the psychological desire of monarchs to realize the great cause of reunification at the end of the Warring States period and provides a theoretical basis for them to unify the world. The influence of the theory of "Five Virtues in the End" in princes is expanding day by day, and Zou Yan himself is treated with courtesy from all countries. When Zou Yan arrived in Liang, King Hui personally went out of the city to meet him in the suburbs and gave him courtesy. When I arrived in Zhao, I walked to the roadside and dusted my seat. When he arrived in Yan State, Zhao Haoqi swept the road to lead the way and asked to be his disciple. He built a palace for him in Jieshi and went to listen to his lectures in person. Zou Yan received such preferential treatment, which was a far cry from Confucius dying of starvation in Cai State and Mencius being imprisoned in Qi State and Liang State. The degree to which Zou Yan's theory is taken seriously can be seen.

Zou Yan's theory of "Five Virtues in the End" was not only taken seriously at that time, but also had a great influence on later generations' academics and politics. Academically, Dong Zhongshu combined Zou Yan's theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements with Confucianism, which initiated the transformation from Confucianism to Yin-Yang and Five Elements in Han Dynasty. As far as politics is concerned, the theory of five virtues, as a theoretical tool for changing dynasties, was believed by the founders of the new dynasty. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, according to Zou Yan's assertion that "Shuide took the place of Zhou", taking Qin Wengong's hunting of the black dragon as the symbol of the rise of Shuide, he carried out a series of reforms that met the requirements of Shuide, in order to prove the legitimacy of his regime and become the first practitioner of the theory of "Five Virtues at the End".

Zou Yan explained the rise and fall of political power with the theory of five elements contending with each other, and explained the natural seasonal alternation with the theory of five elements contending with each other, which enabled Qi Xuanwang and King Qi Min to formulate four-season imperial edicts for the son of heaven, and made the system of Four Seasons Hall more perfect. The theory of five elements is that wood is warm and burns when drilled, so wood makes a fire; Fire can burn wood, and wood burns to ash (ash is soil), so fire produces soil; Jinju stone was born on the mountain, and the soil gathers into mountains, and the mountains produce stones, so the native land produces gold; When the metal is cold, the water vapor in the air condenses and adheres to its surface, so gold produces water; Water nourishes everything, and so does aquatic wood. In this way, wood, fire, earth, gold and water constitute a circular relationship. According to the order of the five elements, there are spring, summer, late summer, autumn and winter (late summer is added between summer and autumn to make up the number of the five elements), and the son of heaven should wear clothes of corresponding colors (blue, red, yellow, white and black) in corresponding directions (east, south, middle, north), which is "the change of the five elements depends on the phase." Zou Yan also believes that the son of heaven should live in a special room, with a main hall and two flanks, which are called "Tang Ming". Tianzi should live in a different place every month. The clothes he wears, the food he eats, the music he listens to, the gods he sacrifices to, the things he does, and so on. They are all done according to the special regulations of this month, and they are completed in twelve-month rounds. There is also a hall in the middle of the big yard for the son of heaven to live in summer and summer months (another said that he takes out 18 days to live here every season). Matching the direction of "east, south, middle, west and north" with the seasons of "spring, summer, late summer, autumn and winter" makes the son of heaven do the work of "harmony between man and nature" in the order of "wood, fire, earth, gold and water", which is the so-called Tang Ming system. Zou Yan, for example, thinks that different seasons make different wood for fire. Spring belongs to wood, so green elm willow is used; Summer is a fire, with red dates and apricot wood; The late summer month belongs to the soil, so Huang Sang is used; Autumn belongs to gold, so white oak is used; Winter belongs to water, so black wood of Sophora japonica is used. This order is arranged according to the five elements of wood fire, fire born soil, soil born gold and gold born water, in which soil is the center, and what about Lu Chunqiu? The exposition of "When the Yellow Emperor was a native" in Yingtong explains the mystery that the Yellow Emperor should live in the center as the Emperor of Heaven, which is very useful for creating Tian regime (Tian Yuan is a family of Chen Guogong, following the surname of Ji) to pretend to be the descendants of the Yellow Emperor instead of the regime after Jiang Yan. It is another great "achievement" of Zou Yan to demonstrate the rationality of Tian Daiqi with the theory of five elements and design a system of four-season laws and regulations. Zou Yan standardized the thinking mode of Four Seasons Tang Ming system with the thought of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Twelve Ji and The Book of Rites? Moon Order, Huainanzi? On this basis, they formed a set of monthly order system, and the articles of monthly order became the reference style for later agronomists to write agricultural books.

"Great Kyushu" Theory under the New Earth View

"History? Gong Yu's "Kyushu Border Map"

Zou Yan also put forward the geographical theory that the world is divided into "Kyushu", and became the first person in ancient China with the concept of "opening the earth by the sea". In China's ancient cosmology, "Gaitian Theory" and "Huntian Theory" are two representative theories. Gaitian said that "the sky covers the hat and the ground covers the plate", while Huntian said that "water (ocean)" not only carries the earth, but also supports the sky; Gaitian said it came from the inland, Huntian said it came from the ocean. Zou Yan's theory of "Great Kyushu" was inspired by Huntian theory. During the Warring States Period, China's navigation level was improved, and people knew something about the land or islands in the eastern waters of China. In addition, the natural environment in Qi coastal areas, the wonderful mirage, and the rumors and descriptions of exotic customs by fishermen and businessmen in Yanqi all inspired Zou Yan, broadened his thinking, and made him boldly speculate on the world he lived in and founded the theory of "Great Kyushu". Zou Yan thought that the so-called "China" of Confucianism during the Warring States Period (referring to the Central Plains where Chinese people lived) was not the whole world. At that time, the whole of China (referring to the sum of the seven warring States territories) was called Chixian Shenzhou, and Chixian Shenzhou also had a Kyushu, which was the sequence of Hebei, Yanzhou, Qinghai, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, Liang and Yong Kyushu in Dayu's flood control. There are states as big as Chixian Shenzhou in the world. Huainanzi also records the complete name of Kyushu: deep state in the southeast is called agricultural soil, southern Asian state is called fertile soil, southwestern Rongzhou is called deep soil, western Maozhou is called mixed soil, central Jizhou is called middle soil, northwestern Taizhou is called fertile soil, northern Zhangzhou is called soil, northeastern thin state is called latent soil, and eastern Dongyang state is called soil application. There are two different records in Shu Wei's river map enclosure images: the morning soil in the southeast of China, the deep soil in the south of Zhou Ang, the deep soil in the southwest of Rongzhou, the mud in the west, the mud in the middle of Jizhou, the fertile soil in the northwest of Zhuzhou, the soil in the north of Xuanzhou, the hidden soil in the northeast of Zhouxian and the soil in the east of Yangzhou. Second, "the city of Kunlun, the lower hole contains the right, and the state of Chixian County is Zhongli. It is called Shenzhou in the southeast, Zhou Ang in the south, Rongzhou in the southwest, Shizhou in the west, Jizhou in the middle, Zhuzhou in the northwest, qi zhou in the north, Bozhou in the northeast and Yangzhou in the east. " No matter what the name of Kyushu is, Zou Yan predicted the existence of continents and oceans more than 2,300 years ago, nearly 1800 years earlier than the similar predictions of European scholars on the earth. Although Zou Yan's theory of Kyushu was based on subjective speculation and lacked rigorous argumentation and scientific judgment, it undoubtedly broke through people's narrow geographical concept at that time, broadened people's horizons and inspired people's enthusiasm for exploring outside China. Before people really know the earth, the theory of "Great Kyushu" is undoubtedly "all wet". Commenting on Zou Yan's Great Kyushu, Wang Chong said: "This statement is bizarre and the audience is horrified." About salt and iron? On Zou, he also criticized Kyushu and said, "How do you know the sea when you are near?" ..... it's useless, ... it's useless to cure. " However, with the development of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, the exchanges between overseas countries and China have become increasingly frequent, and the value of the theory of "Great Kyushu" has gradually been recognized by people. In Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Jian wrote in Island Planning? The preface says: "Kyushu is surrounded by the sea, while China is called Chixian Shenzhou, and the other states are Fujiu, surrounded by the sea. People and animals can make it clear that this is a state, just like the state in the same area. This is what Zou said. People are suspicious of his absurd boasting, but at that time, the outside world had not reached China. Why should we test his words? After the Han and Tang dynasties, the islands were within reach and the interests were within reach. Class and a half history handed down, the name is inherent! Xue Fucheng's Diary of the Four Kingdoms Mission also said: "In the past, Zou Yan talked about the sky ... Sima Zhi said his words were grand and unrealistic, while Huan Kuan and Wang Chong laughed at his pedantry and falsehood ... Today, many people travel around the world, and their situation can be verified and calculated. I only know what Zou Zizhi said, not nonsense. It is unclear whether the ancients had this study, Zou Zi explained. So as to make an objective evaluation of Zou Yan's Kyushu theory.

Blowing gas measurement to guide production

Zou Yan also made great achievements in music and temperament. Hanshu? Ritual music? Song of Sacrifice to the Suburbs is divided into four chapters, namely Qingyang, Zhu Ming, Xihao and Xuanming. The annotation says: "Spring is the green sun, summer is Zhu Ming, west is Shao Hao, and Xuan Ming is the god of the north." Judging from the name, these four chapters of music are probably composed by Zou Yan for the Tang Ming system in Tian Zi, which shows that Zou Yan is also highly literate in music. There are many stories about Zou Yan's blowing method to measure gas in the existing data. Volume 9 of Selected Works quotes Liu Xiang's words in Bielu: "Zou Yan is in Yan, and Yan is beautiful and cold in the valley, and does not produce five grains. Zou Zi lived in it, blowing the law to warm his breath, and taking care of the sound is now famous. " Zou Yan's grain production by blowing method has always been regarded as nonsense, but it is not. "Rhythm" is not only a musical instrument, but also a tool to measure Qi in ancient China. Rhythm formed by measuring qi with rhythm is a unique subject in ancient China. The method is to use twelve bamboo tubes or copper tubes (made according to a certain size ratio) to determine the twelve laws as an instrument to check the changes of solar terms. Based on the special conditions of high latitude and cold climate in Zou Yan, the local temperature and humidity were measured by blowing method, and then the sowing date and frost-free period were determined to guide the local people to carry out agricultural production, thus making the barren land grow "millet valley".

In addition, Zou Yan also has his own unique views on the purpose and method of logic. Historical records? According to "Biography of Jade Qing", when Zou Yan was on a mission to Zhao, he happened to meet Gong Sunlong and his disciples, and they had a heated debate on the issue of "a white horse is not a horse". Ping Yuanjun asked Zou Yan for advice on this matter. Zou Yan believes that Gong Sunlong's assertion that "a white horse is not a horse" is purely "reasonable". Although it is beneficial to clarify the relationship between the individual and the general, it violates the logical principle of "debating, specializing in the class, so that heresies are not confused", resulting in the drawback of "words are more important than reason". Ping Yuanjun agreed with Zou Yan, so he expelled GongSunLong. After Zou Yan, Zou Xuan, a famous yin and yang family, appeared in Qi. He "quite uses Zou Yan's technique to describe prose", and his writing pays attention to carving, so he is very literary, so he has the reputation of "carving dragons". Later, on the basis of Zou Yan's theory, the magical thoughts of ghosts and gods were integrated into it, forming the Fang Xiandao. "Since then, there have been countless eccentric flatterers."