鲲鹏安知鹪鹩What Does the Great Roc Know of the Wren?

This session centres on Zhang Hua, Minister of Works of the Jin, with a talk, analysis and discussion. Here are some short passages from the Treatise on Curiosities (Bowuzhi). Can you guess what scientific facts or common knowledge they describe? • When people today comb their hair or take off their clothes, sometimes there are sparks as the comb undoes the knots, and sometimes a crackling sound. • The earth moves constantly and never stops, just as a person sitting in a boat does not feel the boat moving. On all four sides of heaven and earth the seas are connected, and the land in their midst is only small. • Long ago Rinan sent four elephants as tribute, each with its mate. One of the males died in Jiuzhen. More than a hundred days later, when they reached Nanhai, its mate smeared mud over its body, would neither eat nor drink, and burrowed into the grass. When the chief clerk asked about it, the elephant wept as soon as it heard. • The "Luo" of Luoyang was once written with the water radical beside 各. The Han ruled by the element of Fire and shunned water, so the water radical was removed and 隹 added. Then the Wei ruled by the element of Earth; water flows when it meets earth, and earth softens when it meets water, so 隹 was removed again and the water radical added, changing 雒 back into 洛. Some questions to keep in mind during the talk: • How did Zhang Hua, author of the Treatise on Curiosities, rise from shepherd boy to the de facto decision-maker of the state in the Western Jin, an age when "the top ranks held no one of humble birth, and the bottom ranks no one from a powerful clan"? • How did he cross the ever more rigid divide between the gentry and commoners and win acceptance and recognition from above and below? • Did his humble origins affect Zhang Hua's social circle and his decisions? • Besides the Treatise on Curiosities, what other works did Zhang Hua leave behind? • What made Emperor Wu of Jin so determined to make his foolish son, the one who asked "Why don't they eat meat porridge?", heir to the throne? Questions for discussion after the talk: • Why was the Western Jin unable to sustain stable rule for long? • Did Zhang Hua hold a consistent political position, and if so, what was it? • Could Zhang Hua have resolved the conflict between Emperor Hui of Jin's wife and his son (Jia Nanfeng and Crown Prince Minhuai)? • Why was it so hard to reconcile the divisions between the northern and southern literati of the Western Jin? • Is there a necessary link between Xuanxue "pure conversation" and empty talk ruining the state? Related reading: Fang Xuanling (Tang), Book of Jin Quan Jiayu, Wei–Jin Politics and the Transmission of Imperial Power Luo Zongqiang, Xuanxue and the Mentality of Wei–Jin Literati Qiu Luming, Political Power and Family Networks in the Wei–Jin Transition