Appreciation of Chinese Studies "Divide"

Witty words; Punchline

In order to predict the good or bad of the world with the change of astronomical phenomena, ancient astrologers in China corresponded the starry sky region with the countries and states on the ground, which was called the dividing line.

Classical explanation

According to China's ancient astrology, the positions of the states and countries on the ground correspond to the starry sky area, and the astronomical phenomena in this area augur well for the corresponding states and countries. The idea of dividing line began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and first appeared in Zuozhuan, Guoyu and other books. The dividing line reflected in it is generally bounded by twelve stars, such as astrology, mysterious table (xiāo), building, girder, stone god, quail head, quail fire, quail tail, longevity, fire and wood analysis. "Guoyu" records that Zhou Yueguan said: "I used to cut Yin, and I was eighteen years old in quail fire." The astronomical phenomenon of this day's attack is that the old star is in quail fire, so the division of the week is quail fire.

After the Warring States period, there was also a dividing line of twenty-eight lodges, such as Huainan Xun: "The names of the stars are Jiao, Kang zhn, Bian, Fang, Wei, Bai (jο) Yan, Dou, Qian Niuyue, Wu, Xu, Wei, Dong Biwei, Kui and Lou. Later, due to the interconnection of twelve stars and twenty-eight lodges, the two divisions gradually coordinated and communicated after the Western Han Dynasty. Specifically, a star is regarded as the dividing line of a country or a state, or a country or a state can be regarded as the dividing line of a star in turn.

It should be pointed out that the dividing line is a superstition. The so-called relationship between heaven and earth is determined by people, so it is inevitable that there will be different families in past dynasties.