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Abstract
The present study focuses on the concept of leisure in early China. Leisure is a form of disengagement with the usual concerns of life; but the message of many early texts is that there is no time in which one can afford to be disengaged. However, toward the mid-to-late Spring and Autumn period, when traditional power structures began to spiral out of control, political disengagement became a morally acceptable option for those faced with unscrupulous rulers who could not be served without fear of moral compromise. Political disengagement thus opened a space for leisure in early Chinese culture.
Notes
1 Many thanks to Constance Cook and Eric Henry for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. On ritual feasting in early China, see, for example, Constance Cook, “Moonshine and Millet: Feasting and Purification Rituals in Ancient China,” In Of Tripod and Palate: Food, Politics and Religion in Traditional China, edited by Roel Sterckx (New York: Palgrave, 2005), 9–33.
2 I exclude references to leisure in the Book of Odes because examples drawn from this text tend to focus on ritually or politically motivated feasts or leisure activities. Further, as will be argued later, leisure activities become a particular source of anxiety when they are singled out as emblematic of the core personalities of specific individuals. In most odes concerning leisure, the identities of individuals involved are often impossible to ascertain.
3 Analects 2:10; translation based on James Legge, The Chinese Classics (Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1970), vol. 1, 149.
4 The “hedonist” thought of Yang Zhu, a possible contemporary of Mencius, is an exception, but there is little reliable documentation of his thought. See, for example, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 2, 92–99.
5 See Zuo zhuan Xi 9; translation in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 155. This anecdote concerns Duke Hui of Jin (r. 650–637 BCE). The pronouncement is made by the Jin minister Xi Rui (郤芮), whose promotion of Duke Hui for the rulership of Jin is based on the duke's behavior in childhood, which he claims is consistent with that of the adult.
6 Zuo zhuan Min 2; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 129. This event occurred in 660 BCE.
7 Sima Qian, Shiji 37 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 1594.
8 See discussion in Li Wai-Yee, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007), 98, n. 33.
9 According to the Shiji, because Duke Yi's father had ascended the throne by murdering the established heir apparent, Duke Yi was unpopular with his people from the start.
10 Its tone and content, specifically, its interest in the connections between sensory stimuli and behavior and the non-trivial nature of seemingly trivial acts, reveal concerns more in keeping with late Spring and Autumn or Warring States modes of argumentation than those dating to the Western Zhou.
11 Shangshu, “Lüao”; translation by Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 3, 348.
12 Ibid., 349.
13 See, for example, Michael Loewe, Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China, 1993), 376–89.
14 Shangshu, “Lüao”; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 3, 349–50.
15 Ibid., 350.
16 The “Thicket of Sayings” found in the bamboo texts from Guodian also express a similar view. See Scott Cook, The Bamboo Texts of Guodian: A Study and Complete Translation, 2 vols. (Ithaca: East Asia Program, Cornell University), vol. 2, 880.
17 The Earl of Zheng was Zizang's father.
18 Zuo zhuan Xi 24; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 193 and Li Wai-Yee, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 95. This event occurred in 636 BCE.
19 See Zuo zhuan Xi 7, 16; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 149, 171.
20 See discussion in Wai-Yee, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 95.
21 Still, Yang Bojun notes that the ignoble circumstances under which Zizang fled the state should have caused him lay low and not indulge the frivolous urge to collect caps. Yang Bojun, Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 426–47.
22 Shangshu, “Jiu Gao,” “Wu Yi”; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 3, 399–412, 464–73. On dating, see Michael Loewe, Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographic Guide (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China, 1993), 379 and Martin Kern, “Bronze inscriptions, the Shijing and the Shangshu: the Evolution of the Ancestral Sacrifice during the Western Zhou,” In Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han, edited by John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Boston: Brill, 2009), 143–200.
23 This was Gongsun Xi, whom Boyou wanted to send on a mission to Chu that was likely to cost Gongsun Xi his life. See Zuo zhuan Xiang 30 (543 BCE); translation in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 551.
24 Zuo zhuan Xiang 30; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 557. This event occurred in 543 BCE. Boyou, also called Liang Xiao 良霄, headed Zheng's government from 544 to 543 BCE.
25 Translation based on Wai-Yee, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 106–11 (also see here her discussion of this anecdote). Also see Zuo zhuan Yin 5; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 18–19.
26 This anecdote is found in Guoyu, “Luyu,” part 2, no. 13. See Guoyu, 2 vols (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), vol. 1, 205. Here I am following the Lienü zhuan version of the story (1.9), translated in Anne Kinney, Exemplary Women of Early China: the Lienü zhuan of Liu Xiang (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 13–14. Jing Jiang was born ca. 540 BCE. Ju was a small state located in present-day Shandong province. The name Ji here refers to the Jisun clan of Spring and Autumn times. Along with the Shunsun and Mengsun clans, the Jisun was one of the three great ministerial families that controlled of the state of Lu. They were also known as the “Three Huan,” namely, the three younger sons of Duke Huan of Lu (r. 711–694 BCE) and their descendants. They headed the “three ministries” (san qing) of state by hereditary privilege. Gongfu Wenbo (b. ca. 520 BCE), who was also known as Gongfu Chu, was a grandee of the state of Lu.
27 Jisun, that is, Ji Kangzi, was a powerful minister to Duke Ai of Lu and an associate of Confucius.
28 The “greater colored robes” refer to ceremonial garments of five colors worn on this occasion. See Zhouli, 20/138C in Shisanjing zhushu. The “virtues of earth” refers to natural resources that bring benefit to the people. See Guoyu, 2 vols. (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1978), vol. 1, 206, n. 8.
29 The “lesser colored robes” refer to ceremonial garments of three colors worn on this occasion. See Zhouli, 20/139A in Shisanjing zhushu.
30 The punishment is of the sort mentioned in the paragraph above, which was meted out to those who did not perform the labor expected of them. In the case of aristocratic women, they could be punished for failing to provide the various pieces of royal regalia.
31 Gongfu Mubo, also called Ji Sunzi, was a grandee of the state of Lu; his son was Gongfu Wenbo.
32 In contrast, the Confucius of the Zuo zhuan criticizes Zang Wenzhong (d. 617 BCE), an eminent official of Lu, as failing in benevolence for making his concubines weave rush mats (presumably for sale). See Zuo zhuan Wen 2; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 234.
33 For boating, see Zuo zhuan Xi 3, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 138; hunting see Cheng 17, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 405; lute playing see Xiang 1, 14, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 416, 465.
34 He also describes sages who “Idly roam beyond dirt and dust, wander free and easy in the service of inaction” (芒然彷徨乎塵垢之外， 逍遙乎無爲之業 mangran er fanghuang hu, chen'gou zhi wai, xiaoyao yu wuwei zhi ye), excerpted from “The Great and Venerable Teacher,” translated by Burton Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), 84, 87.
35 See “Free and Easy Wandering,” translated by Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 32, 35.
36 See “Let it Be, Leave It Alone,” translation based on Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 122–23.
37 From “Heaven and Earth,” translation based on Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 140–41.
38 See translation in Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 60–61.
39 From “Heaven and Earth,” translation based on Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 135. In “Autumn Floods,” however, Confucius is praised for strumming his lute and singing with pleasure while surrounded by enemy troops in Kuang because he thereby demonstrates his ability to accept his fate. See Watson, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 184.
40 Zeng Xi was the father of the great Confucian disciple, Zengzi. He is mentioned in Mencius 7B:37 as “wild and unconventional/blunt” [狂簡 kuangjian].
41 The commentaries in the Shisanjing zhushu suggest that these activities do not serve a religious function. See Ruan Yuan, Shisanjing zhushu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), vol. 2, 2500–01.
42 Analects 11:25; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 1, 246–49, but I have also drawn upon the translations of D.C. Lau, Confucius: The Analects (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1979), 110–11; Arthur Waley, The Analects of Confucius (New York: Vintage Books, 1938), 159–61; E. Bruce and Taeko Brooks, The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 150–51; and Edward Slingerland, Confucius: Analects with Selections from Traditional Commentaries (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993), 122–24.
43 Slingerland, Confucius, 124.
44 Ibid. Slingerland is here citing the commentary of Huang Kan (488–545) and Mr. Zhou (Han dynasty). See Ruan, Shisanjing zhushu, vol. 2, pp. 2500–01.
45 Brooks, The Original Analects, 145.
46 Ibid., 151.
47 Robert Eno, The Confucian Creation of Heaven: Philosophy and the Defense of Ritual Mastery (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), 50, 60.
48 See Constance Cook, “Ancestor Worship during the Eastern Zhou,” In Early Chinese Religion, Part One: Shang through Han, edited by John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski (Boston: Brill, 2009), 237–80.
49 In a similar vein, in Analects 7:11, Confucius says, “If wealth were something worth pursuing, then I would pursue it, even if that meant serving as an officer holding a whip at the entrance to the marketplace. Since it is not worth pursuing, however, I prefer to follow that which I love (好hao).” Translation by Slingerland, Confucius, 68. However, “to follow that which I love” is not necessarily equivalent to pursuing leisure activities. Analects 2:4, for example, also mentions Confucius “following his heart,” and VII:16, 18 makes reference to what he takes joy in (樂le ) but here the specific activities are not mentioned. Analects VI:18 also compares and ranks “loving” (hao) and “taking joy” (le) in something.
50 Brooks, The Original Analects, 40.
51 Analects II:4; translation by Brooks, 110.
52 Ibid.
53 Translation by Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 2, 127–28.
54 In Mencius 3A.2, Duke Wen of Teng admits that he did not study in youth but indulged his love of horses and swordsmanship and is thus poorly regarded by his elders and officials.
55 Frederic Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981), 79; cited in Schaberg, A Patterned Past, 256.
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Anne Behnke Kinney
Anne Behnke Kinney is Professor of Chinese and Chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Virginia. She is also the director of Traditions of Exemplary Women, a digital resource for the study of women in early China: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/xwomen/. Her translation of Liu Xiang's Lienü zhuan (Categorized Biographies of Women) was published by Columbia University Press in 2014. Her previous publications include Representations of Childhood and Youth in Early China (2004) and Chinese Views of Childhood (1995).