Wei Xiang's Considerations on War and Monstrous Crimes

During the Fundamental Repose 元康 years (65-62 BC) the Huns* 匈奴 sent some of their armed men to attack the Han 漢 garrison and military farm in Kioshi 車師**, but were unable to force a surrender. The emperor† consulted with the general of the rear Zhao Chongguo 趙充國 and others, hoping to take advantage of the apparent weakness of the Hun kingdom by sending a force of men to attack the western portion of their territory and intimidating them from making further trouble for the regions west of China. Wei Xiang‡ 魏相 , however, submitted a letter to the throne opposing such a plan of action and saying:

"I have heard that military action which is designed to rectify disorder and punish violence is called a campaign of righteousness; such a campaign is the mark of a true king. Action and arises unavoidably when an enemy launches an attack against one's own forces is called a campaign of response; such a campaign will be victorious. An action which arises from petty wrangling and spite, from ire and vexation that can no longer be restrained, is called a campaign of anger, and such a campaign will end in failure. An action which has as its object the exploitation of someone else's land or treasures is called a campaign of greed and it will face defeat. An action in which one party, relying upon the superior size of its territory and boasting of the large number of its people, sets out to overawe its enemy by a show of force is called a campaign of arrogance, and it is doomed to annihilation. These five categories are not merely something contrived by men but have their basis in the Way of Heaven.

"In recent times the Huns have consistently manifested a spirit of good will, immediately returning to China any subjects the Han who happened to fall into their hands and refraining from violations of the border. Although there has been a scuffle with the garrison troops of Kyoshi, it is scarcely important enough even to merit notice. And yet now I hear that the various generals are planning to call out troops and move into Hun territory. Ignorant as I am, I am at a loss to know what name to assign to a campaign such as this!

"The border regions these days are beset by poverty and want, father and son sharing their pelts of lamb and dog, eating the seeds of grasses and herbes, ever fearful that there will not be enough to sustain life. It would be hard in such a time to launch a military campaign. They say that war is always followed by a year of dearth -- this is because the anguished and suffering spirits of people bring injury to the harmony of yin and yang. Thus, although the troops that march forth may win victory, there is bound to be sorrow and suffering in its wake, and this suffering, I fear, will bring about unusual occurences such as natural calamities and disasters.

"These days there are many men serving as governors of provinces or prime ministers of vassal kingdoms who are not fitted for their jobs; the customs and folkways have grown frivolous and corrupt, and flood and drought visit us without respite. According to the statistics for the past year, there was a total of two hundred and twenty cases of sons or younger brothers who murdered their fathers or elder brothers, or wives who murdered their husbands. If I may say so, thi is an 'unusual occurence' of far from petty proportions. Yet those who attend Your Majesty fail to worry about this and instead propose to call out trops to repay some trifling grudge against some far-off barbarians. This is perhaps what Confucius 孔子 meant when he said, 'I suspect that the threat to the Jisun 季孫 family lies not in Zhuanyu 顓臾 but within its own screens and walls.'§ I hope that Your Majesty will consult with the marquis of Pingchang 平昌侯, the marquis of Lechang 樂昌侯, the marquis of Ping'en 平恩侯, and other knowledgeable persons in careful deliberation before reaching a final decision."

The emperor heeded his advice and abandoned plans for an expedition against the Hun kingdom.

From the Han shu 漢書 of Ban Gu 班固, chapter 74. Translation (with a few modifications) from Burton Watson, from his Courtier and Commoner in Ancient China: Selections from the History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku, pp. 178-180.

*In Chinese, Xiongnu. Recent research by Etienne de la Vaissiere has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that in name at least the Xiongnu are the equivalent of the later Huns of India, Eastern Europe, and Hungary. See his "Huns et Xiongnu," Central Asiatic Journal 49 (2005), 3-26.
**Roughly the area of modern Turpan/Turfan in Xinjiang, then as now, ruled by China, but mostly not Chinese ethnically.
†Emperor Xuan of the Han, who had barely escaped death in his great-grandfather Emperor Wu's purges, began his life as a commoner, and become along with Emperor Wen the best emperor of the Han dynasty.
‡Then prime Minister of the realm.
§Analects xvi:1. The Jisun, a very powerful ministerial family of the ancient duchy of Lu was preparing to attack the tiny state of Zhuanyu, which it claimed was a threat to its power. (Note the text I've cited uses the older transcription system.)

Good and Bad Emperors on Feasting and Drinking

YOur assignment will consist of two passages from the famous Han shu of the writer Ban Gu. Much of the work consists of citations from imperial edicts and memorials to the throne, which fulfill much the same function that speeches do in the Greco-Roman classical historians. Here are two citations. The first is from the best emperor of the Han, emperor Xuan (r. 74-48 BC), who comforted the empire after the collossal exertions and campaigns of Han Wudi, and who reaped much of the benefit of those campaigns:

Verily the rites of marriage are the important feature of human relationships; gathering for drinking and feasting are the means whereby the rules of proper conduct and music are performed. But now in the commanderies and principalities*, some of the officials ranked at two thousand piculs arbitrarily make vexatious prohibitions, imposing prohibitions upon the common people when they give or take in marriage, so that they are not permitted to prepare feasts, to offer felicitations, or to summon each other. In this way they have abolished the rites of proper conduct for the districts and villages and have caused the common people to be without any means of enjoyment. This is not the way in which to guide the common people. Does not the Book of Odes say,

If people are lacking in virtue
They are sparing even providing dry provisions.

Do not practice such vexatious government! (from the Han shu 漢書 written by Ban Gu 班固, chapter 8, trans. Homer Dubs, History of the Former Han Dynasty, II, pp. 248-49).

*These were the subordinate districts into which the Han empire was divided. Commanderies were ruled by officials, principalities by princes of the imperial family.

The next is from a memorial by an official to Wang Mang who usurped the Han throne and under whose reign perhaps half the population of North China died or fled. His edicts and memorials were models of style, however:

Fermented drink is the most beautiful happiness from Heaven, whereby the ancient lords and kings* have nourished the whole society ("all under Heaven" 天下). Meetings for offering sacrifice, for praying for blessing, for succoring the decrpeit, for caring for the sick, and all the rites, cannot be carried on without fermented drink.

Hence the Book of Odes says,

'If I have no fermented drink, I buy it, do I,'

but the Analects says,

'[Confucius] would not drink purchased fermented drink.'

These two are not contradictory.

Verily, the ode refers to when peaceful reigns succeeded each other and the fermented drink purchased at a government office was harmonious [i.e. fairly priced], agreeable, and suited to the people, so that it could be offered to others.

In the Analects, Confucius was in the Zhou dynasty as it decayed and was in disorder, so that the sale of fermented drink was in the hands of the common people, and hence was of poor quality, bad, and not free from adulteration. For this reason he suspected it and would not drink it.

If now the whole society's fermented drink is cut off, then there will be no means of performing the rites or of cherishing others. If permission is given to brew and no limit is set to that, then it will consume wealth and injure the people. Hence , I beg that you [the hypocrite and usurper emperor Wang Mang] will imitate the ancients and order the government offices to make fermented drink . . . (from the Han shu 漢書 written by Ban Gu 班固, chapter 24B, trans. Homer Dubs, History of the Former Han Dynasty, III, p. 497-98)

**帝王　"lords and kings" here is short for the "five lords and three kings," the lawiving/prophetic kings of the distant past who revealed to mankind the proper ways of living, roughly what an anthropologist would call a "culture hero."

The passage goes on to detail the addition of a liquor monopoly to the already disastrous six monopolies of the usurping hypocrite Wang Mang who betrayed the dynasty he served and destroyed his country with impeccable repristinated scriptural justification. As Ban Gu wrote:

Whenever Wang Mang acted, he desired to imitate the ancients and did not consider what was appropriate to the times 又動欲慕古不度時宜 （ibid., p. 477).

Assignment: discuss in terms of

1) The right and wrong way for government to nourish family values
2) Liturgical practice and Eucharistic theology
3) How to rightly conduct festivals, dancing, and music
4) The "Scouring of the Shire" chapter of the Lord of the Rings
5) Psalm 104:14-15:

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man's heart.

and Proverbs 31:4-7:

It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to take strong drink,
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.

7) The right practice of marriage as a condition of the good society
8) Legalism and repristination
9) The proper limits of government and the disasters that result from overstepping them
10) Home brews vs. commercial brews; Confucius as the patron of home brewing