Here\u00a0we offer a selection from classical and pre-modern texts and authors, as well as a\u00a0post-1949 poem, a film and a famous quotation \u2014 our sources are the\u00a0I Ching<\/em>, The\u00a0<\/em>Book of Poetry<\/em>, The Tao and the Power<\/em>, ‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ by Tao Yuanming of the Wei-Jin period, a story by Pu Songling of the Qing dynasty, a painting by Xu Beihong, as well as a poem by Mao Zedong of the People’s Republic, a quotation from his wife, and later widow, Jiang Qing and, finally, a film by Shi Hui \u2014 that reflect various\u00a0aspects of \u00a0j\u012b<\/em>\u00a0\u96de<\/a>. As these various uses of the word, as well as the texts and images selected here are well known and in general circulation in the Chinese Commonwealth, we have compiled this material\u00a0to illustrate aspects of the abiding heritage of language, thought, art and history. This approach, and an appreciation of such material, is part of\u00a0our advocacy of New Sinology<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is one of three essays to appear in China Heritage<\/i>\u00a0on the theme of the Year of the Rooster. The other two are: On Seeing and On Eating & Speaking.<\/p>\n I am grateful to John Minford<\/a> for his suggestions and for permission to quote from his work, old and new. See also The Year of the Rooster, On Seeing<\/a>\u00a0and The Year of the Rooster, On Eating, Imbibing, Injecting &\u00a0Speaking<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Geremie R. Barm\u00e9<\/a>, Cock’s crow \u96de\u9cf4 ushers in the morning and wakes the day. But the cock also indicates excessive aspiration or unrealistic ambition. In the early text of divination, I Ching<\/em>,\u00a0the image of the cock’s vain attempts to fly is used to indicate impending doom or calamity. The text warns against overconfidence; commentators advise against ‘crowing’ over presumed good fortune. This is a lesson for cocksure people in the 2017 Dingyou Year of the Rooster \u4e01\u9149\u96de\u5e74 who believe that their time has come. For those riding high as the year starts it would be wise to consider that events\u00a0may well have passed their zenith; what lies ahead could\u00a0be a\u00a0dark nadir.<\/p>\n On 12 September 1975, when visiting the Dazhai People’s Commune Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s last wife, spoke about the\u00a0dangers facing true\u00a0revolutionaries like her as revisionists were plotting to overturn the policies of the Cultural Revolution.<\/p>\n She famously declared:<\/p>\n ‘It’ll be easy for people to engage in revisionism, that’s why at night I “sleep with a\u00a0sword under my pillow and practice my martial prowess at cock’s crow every morning”. You\u00a0must all be on your\u00a0guard.’ \u641e\u4fee\u6b63\u4e3b\u4e49\u5f88\u5bb9\u6613\u3002\u6211\u6bcf\u5929\u662f \u2018\u805e\u96de\u8d77\u821e<\/a>\uff0c\u6795\u6208\u5f85\u65e6<\/a>\u2019 \u561b\uff01\u5927\u5bb6\u8981\u63d0\u9ad8\u8b66\u60d5\u3002<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A little over a year later she, along with her fellows, was detained in a military coup. Following years of incarceration and later under house arrest at Qincheng Prison, and suffering from throat cancer, Jiang Qing hung herself in 1991.<\/p>\n In the\u00a0I Ching\u00a0<\/em>the cock represents unrealistic aspiration. The Oracle cautions against overweening pride and predicts inevitable failure.<\/p>\n In Hexagram XLI, \u4e2d\u5b5a Zhong Fu, Good Faith<\/strong>, the Cock\u00a0is the theme of the Yang or unbroken line in the top place: \u4e0a\u4e5d\uff0c\u7ff0\u97f3\u767b\u65bc\u5929\uff0c\u8c9e\u51f6:\u00a0‘<\/strong>Cock’s Crow Rises to Heaven \/ Steadfastness \/ Calamity’, where the word\u00a0h\u00e0n \u7ff0<\/strong><\/a>, feathers,\u00a0indicates a cock:<\/p>\n Yang in the Top Place<\/strong><\/p>\n Cock’s crow<\/p>\n Rises to Heaven,<\/p>\n In\u00a0coelum ascendit<\/em>.<\/p>\n Steadfastness.<\/p>\n Calamity,<\/p>\n Hoc pessimum<\/em>.<\/p>\n On the Image<\/strong><\/p>\n The cock<\/p>\n Cannot crow for long.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u300a\u8c61\u300b\u66f0\uff1a<\/p>\n \u7ff0\u97f3\u767b\u4e8e\u5929\uff0c<\/p>\n \u4f55\u53ef\u9577\u4e5f\u3002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yang Line in Yin Place. The cock itself cannot rise to Heaven, writes Zhu Xi, but its Aspiration is to do so. The Steadfastness is misplaced; the true situation has not been taken into account. This will lead to Calamity. [\u6731\u71b9\uff1a\u5c45\u4fe1\u4e4b\u6975\uff0c\u800c\u4e0d\u77e5\u8b8a\uff0c\u96d6\u5f97\u5176\u8c9e\uff0c\u4ea6\u51f6\u9053\u4e5f\u3002\u6545\u5176\u8c61\u5360\u5982\u6b64\u3002\u96de\u66f0\u7ff0\u97f3\uff0c\u4e43\u5dfd\u4e4b\u8c61\u3002\u5c45\u5dfd\u4e4b\u6975\uff0c\u70ba\u767b\u4e8e\u5929\u3002\u96de\u975e\u767b\u5929\u4e4b\u7269\uff0c\u800c\u6b32\u767b\u5929\uff0c\u4fe1\u975e\u6240\u4fe1\uff0c\u800c\u4e0d\u77e5\u8b8a\uff0c\u4ea6\u7336\u662f\u4e5f\u3002] One should beware of overconfidence such as this, of any inclination to ‘crow’ over good fortune, writes John Blofeld. The intellect is wrongly used, writes Magister Liu. Wishing to climb the heights, one ends up falling. There is a lack of Humility, a random, eclectic ‘sampling’ of faiths \u2014 faiths no sooner entered than abandoned. The Leader should not step beyond his ability, writes Professor Mun. He should recognise the limits of his own strength.<\/p>\n \u2014 From John Minford,\u00a0I Ching<\/em><\/a>, translated with commentary, Penguin\/ Viking, 2014, p.474, Chinese text added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His lady to the marquis says, Again she wakes him with the words, He sleeping still, once more she says, <\/p>\n \u96de\u65e2\u9cf4\u77e3\uff0c <\/p>\n \u6771\u65b9\u660e\u77e3\uff0c <\/p>\n \u87f2\u98db\u85a8\u85a8\uff0c \u2014 From The Book of Poetry<\/em><\/a>, Book VIII, ‘The Odes of Ch’i’, translated by James Legge, 1876. From\u00a0\u8a69\u7d93\u00b7\u570b\u98a8\u00b7\u9f4a\u98a8\u00b7\u96de\u9cf4<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cold wind, and the rain, Shrill wind and the rain Wind, rain and the dark <\/p>\n \u98a8\u96e8\u6dd2\u6dd2\uff0c\u96de\u9cf4\u5588\u5588\u3002 <\/p>\n \u98a8\u96e8\u701f\u701f\uff0c\u96de\u9cf4\u81a0\u81a0\u3002 <\/p>\n \u98a8\u96e8\u5982\u6666\uff0c\u96de\u9cf4\u4e0d\u5df2\u3002 \n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u2014\u00a0Translated by Ezra Pound,\u00a0<\/em>in John Minford and S.M. Lau, eds,\u00a0Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations<\/i><\/a>, I, 2000, pp.127-128. From \u8a69\u7d93\u00b7\u570b\u98a8\u00b7\u912d\u98a8\u00b7\u98a8\u96e8<\/p>\n Chickens and dogs\u00a0have been a feature of life in China for thousands of years. Recent archaeological evidence<\/a> indicates that the domestic chicken, gallus\u00a0<\/i>gallus<\/em>, has been a part\u00a0of rural life in the Lower Yangzi Valley for 10,000 years. Dogs may have been domesticated even earlier<\/a>. The two have been so prominent that the expression ‘chickens\/ cocks and dogs’ \u96de\u72ac has been used\u00a0in Chinese\u00a0written sources from at least the time of the pre-Qin philosophers. In modern Chinese the pairing of ‘chickens’\u00a0\u96de and ‘dogs’ \u72ac survives\u00a0in numerous set phrases \u6210\u8a9e<\/a>, and anyone who has spent time in the Chinese countryside knows only too well the meaning of \u96de\u9cf4\u72ac\u5420, ‘cocks crowing and dogs barking’.<\/p>\n So intimate was the connection of chickens and dogs that the philosopher Mencius (340-250BCE) coupled them with two key concepts in what would later be known as Confucian thought, ‘benevolence’ \u7fa9 and ‘righteousness’ \u4ec1:<\/p>\n Mencius said, ‘Benevolence is man’s mind, and righteousness is man’s path. How lamentable is it to neglect the path and not pursue it, to lose this mind and not know to seek it again! When men’s fowls and dogs are lost, they know to seek for them again, but they lose their mind, and do not know to seek for it. The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.\u2019\u00a0\u5b5f\u5b50\u66f0\uff1a\u4ec1\uff0c\u4eba\u5fc3\u4e5f\uff1b\u7fa9\uff0c\u4eba\u8def\u4e5f\u3002\u6368\u5176\u8def\u800c\u5f17\u7531\uff0c\u653e\u5176\u5fc3\u800c\u4e0d\u77e5\u6c42\uff0c\u54c0\u54c9\uff01\u4eba\u6709\u96de\u72ac\u653e\uff0c\u5247\u77e5\u6c42\u4e4b\uff1b\u6709\u653e\u5fc3\uff0c\u800c\u4e0d\u77e5\u6c42\u3002\u5b78\u554f\u4e4b\u9053\u7121\u4ed6\uff0c\u6c42\u5176\u653e\u5fc3\u800c\u5df2\u77e3\u3002<\/p>\n \u2014 Translated by James Legge<\/a>. From\u00a0\u5b5f\u5b50\u00b7\u544a\u5b50\u4e0a<\/p>\n One of the most famous early uses of the pair\u00a0‘chickens and dogs’ \u96de\u72ac appears in\u00a0The Tao and the Power<\/em>\u00a0\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93, attributed to Laozi \u8001\u5b50 (5th or 4th\u00a0century\u00a0BCE).<\/p>\n It occurs in\u00a0Chapter Eighty of the book, ‘Tying Knots’. The following excerpt is\u00a0from John Minford’s new translation of\u00a0this classic, with commentary. This is a work-in-progress, and we are grateful to the translator for\u00a0allowing us to quote from\u00a0it here for the first time.<\/p>\n A small nation, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u5c0f\u570b\u5be1\u6c11\u3002 The River Master<\/strong> Magister Liu<\/strong> In\u00a0‘The Peach Blossom Spring’ \u6843\u82b1\u6e90\u8a18, China’s most famous idyll, the author, Tao Yuanming \u9676\u6df5\u660e \u00a0(365-427CE), describes a scene of untrammelled rural harmony. The expression ‘The sounds of cocks crowing and dogs barking could be heard from one courtyard to the next’\u00a0\u96de\u72ac\u76f8\u805e (as opposed to \u96de\u72ac\u4e0d\u805e, which appears in The Tao and the Power<\/em> above to describe contented isolation), has been\u00a0in use\u00a0ever since:<\/p>\n During the Tai-yuan period of the Jin dynasty, a fisherman of Wuling once rowed upstream, unmindful of the distance he had gone, when he suddenly came to a grove of peach trees in bloom. For several \u00a0hundred paces on both banks of the stream there was no other kind of tree. The wild flowers growing under them were fresh and lovely, and fallen petals covered the ground \u2014 it made a great impression on him. He went on fro a way with the idea of finding out how far the grove extended. It\u00a0came to an end at the foot of a mountain whence issued the spring that supplied the stream. There was a small opening in the mountain, and it seemed as though light was coming through it. \u00a0The fisherman left his boat and entered the cave, which at first was extremely narrow, barely admitting his body; after a few dozen steps it suddenly opened out onto a broad and level plain where well-built houses were surrounded by rich fields and pretty ponds. Mulberry, bamboos and other trees and plants grew there, and criss-cross paths skirted the fields. The sounds of cocks crowing and dogs barking could be heard from one courtyard to the next. Men and women were coming and going about their work in the fields. The clothes they wore were like those of ordinary people. Old men and boys were carefree and happy.\u00a0\u6649\u592a\u5143\u4e2d\uff0c\u6b66\u9675\u4eba\u6355\u9b5a\u70ba\u696d\u3002\u7de3\u6eaa\u884c\uff0c\u5fd8\u8def\u4e4b\u9060\u8fd1\u3002\u5ffd\u9022\u6843\u82b1\u6797\uff0c\u593e\u5cb8\u6578\u767e\u6b65\uff0c\u4e2d\u7121\u96dc\u6a39\uff0c\u82b3\u8349\u9bae\u7f8e\uff0c\u843d\u82f1\u7e7d\u7d1b\u3002\u6f01\u4eba\u751a\u7570\u4e4b\u3002\u5fa9\u524d\u884c\uff0c\u6b32\u7aae\u5176\u6797\u3002\u6797\u76e1\u6c34\u6e90\uff0c\u4fbf\u5f97\u4e00\u5c71\uff0c\u5c71\u6709\u5c0f\u53e3\uff0c\u5fac\u5f7f\u82e5\u6709\u5149\u3002\u4fbf\u6368\u8239\uff0c\u5f9e\u53e3\u5165\u3002\u521d\u6975\u72f9\uff0c\u624d\u901a\u4eba\u3002\u5fa9\u884c\u6578\u5341\u6b65\uff0c\u8c41\u7136\u958b\u6717\u3002\u571f\u5730\u5e73\u66e0\uff0c\u5c4b\u820d\u513c\u7136\uff0c\u6709\u826f\u7530\u7f8e\u6c60\u6851\u7af9\u4e4b\u5c6c\u3002\u9621\u964c\u4ea4\u901a\uff0c\u96de\u72ac\u76f8\u805e\u3002\u5176\u4e2d\u5f80\u4f86\u7a2e\u4f5c\uff0c\u7537\u5973\u8863\u8457\uff0c\u6089\u5982\u5916\u4eba\u3002\u9ec3\u767c\u5782\u9aeb\uff0c\u4e26\u6021\u7136\u81ea\u6a02\u3002<\/p>\n \u2014 Translated by J.R. Hightower, in Minford and Lau, Classical Chinese Literature<\/i><\/a>, I, 2000, p.515.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Editor’s Notes<\/em>:<\/p>\n As we observed in A Golden Monkey’s Journey to the East<\/a>, published in these virtual pages on 1 January this year, the squawking outline of then US president-elect, Donald Trump, was used by an enterprising shopping mall in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, to create an effigy for\u00a0the Year of the Rooster in anticipation of Chinese New Year’s day on the 28th of January. The international media reported that a Chinese factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, inspired by the original statue in Taiyuan, was manufacturing inflatable Donald Trump-shaped roosters which sold for US$2080 on Taobao<\/a>. For the details of this story, see here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Given Trump\u2019s prodigious priapism and his stance on minority rights, we include here an Italian reference to sodomy \u96de\u59e6 that is related\u00a0to another\u00a0loud-mouthed demagogue and self-important\u00a0political strongman, Benito Mussolini.<\/p>\n The Fascist leader was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small village in Emilia-Romagna. His mother, Rosa Maltoni, was a school teacher and his father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith. His lowly origins, and his disastrous leadership of Italy, would later feature in a pasquinade:<\/p>\n If Rosa, lit up by divine light Se Rosa, illuminata de alma luce,<\/em> \u2014 Robert Hughes, Rome<\/i><\/a>, 2011, pp.426-427.<\/p>\n And here we return to Tao Yuanming\u2019s\u00a0‘The Peach Blossom Spring’, but in the form of a double-entendre-laden lampoon of moralists who disapproved of male-to-male anal sex, \u96de\u59e6 (literally ‘chicken fucking’), although an older orthography is \u36bb\u59e6 (for a man to forcibly have sex with a man ‘like a woman’; \u36bb is also pronounced j\u012b<\/i>). The modern, formal term for anal sex is \u809b\u4ea4.<\/p>\n This ribald text comes from the pen of the early Qing fiction writer Pu Songling \u84b2\u677e\u9f61 (1640-1715), author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio<\/i> \u804a\u9f4b\u8a8c\u7570. As he writes in\u00a0his \u2018Jesting Judgement\u2019 \u7b11\u5224 to the story \u2018Cut Sleeve\u2019 \u9ec3\u4e5d\u90ce (in John Minford’s unstinting translation):<\/p>\n I have written a Jesting Judgement, which I here append, in the light of the teaching of the great sage Mencius: ‘The coming together in sexual congress of man and woman is one of the great natural bonds in human relations.’ \u4f59\u6709 \u2018\u7b11\u5224\u2019\uff0c\u4e26\u5fd7\u4e4b\uff1a\u7537\u5973\u5c45\u5ba4\uff0c\u70ba\u592b\u5a66\u4e4b\u5927\u502b\u3002<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Light and dark, … …<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u71e5\u6fd5\u4e92\u901a\uff0c<\/p>\n \u4e43\u9670\u967d\u4e4b\u6b63\u7ac5\u3002<\/p>\n \u8fce\u98a8\u5f85\u6708\uff0c<\/p>\n \u5c1a\u6709\u8569\u6aa2\u4e4b\u8b4f\uff1b<\/p>\n \u65b7\u8896\u5206\u6843\uff0c<\/p>\n \u96e3\u514d\u63a9\u9f3b\u4e4b\u919c\u3002<\/p>\n \u4eba\u5fc5\u529b\u58eb\uff0c<\/p>\n \u9ce5\u9053\u4e43\u6562\u751f\u958b\uff1b<\/p>\n \u6d1e\u975e\u6843\u6e90\uff0c<\/p>\n \u6f01\u7bd9\u5be7\u8a31\u8aa4\u5165\uff1f<\/p>\n \u4eca\u67d0\u5f9e\u4e0b\u6d41\u800c\u5fd8\u8fd4\uff0c<\/p>\n \u6368\u6b63\u8def\u800c\u4e0d\u7531\u3002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Translator’s Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n Jesting Judgement<\/em>: Pu Songling’s witty envoi, as I read it, pokes fun at the anti-homosexual lobby, in the form of a brilliant and highly lascivious parallel-prose pastiche of pedantic neo-Confucian prudery. It is roundly condemned as vulgar and obscene by no less as scholar than Zhu Qikai (see his edition, note 85, p.317), who refuses to interpret its real sense, obliging the reader only to the extent of providing the raw meaning of individual allusions (most of which he takes straight from the nineteenth-century commentator L\u00fc Zhan’en). This strange little piece should surely be seen as a humorous counterpart to Pu Songling’s more famous tour de force, the Author’s Preface. It is certainly just as crammed with literary allusions. Judith T. Zeitlin calls it ‘an amazingly arcane and rather hostile parody in parallel prose on homosexual practices’ (Historian of the Strange<\/em>, p.91). I find it not so much hostile, as a deliberately exaggerated spoof. …<\/p>\n Pu Songling’s time was one of considerable sexual tolerance.\u00a0… The classic homosexual collection\u00a0Tales of the Cut Sleeve\u00a0<\/em>was probably published during the seventeenth century. While homosexual practices are described in other stories in\u00a0Strange Tales<\/em>, this [‘Cut Sleeve’ \u9ec4\u4e5d\u90ce] is the principal full-length story devoted to the love between a man and a male fox-spirit.<\/p>\n [1]\u00a0Of Half-Eaten Peach<\/em>: Mi Zixia, one of the most celebrated homosexuals in Chinese history and the favourite for a time of Duke Ling of Wei (534-493BC), ‘was strolling with the ruler in an orchard and, biting into a peach and finding it sweet, he stopped eating and gave the remaining\u00a0half to the ruler to enjoy’ (Bret Hinsch,\u00a0Passions of the Cut Sleeve<\/em> (Berkeley, 1990), p.20).<\/p>\n [2]\u00a0bird-track<\/em>: This is playing with the expressions from the famous poem by Li Bo [701-62), ‘The Road to Shu Is Hard’ \u8700\u9053\u96e3: ‘West on Taibo Mountain, take a bird road there … When earth collapsed and the mountain crashed, the muscled warriors died’. [\u897f\u7576\u592a\u767d\u6709\u9ce5\u9053 \u2026 \u5730\u5d29\u5c71\u6467\u58ef\u58eb\u6b7b] (Minford and Lau, Classical\u00a0Chinese Literature<\/em>, I, pp.723-5). The Chinese character for ‘bird’, normally read\u00a0niao<\/em>, when read\u00a0Diao<\/i> [\u9ce5, also\u00a0\u5c4c], is a slang expression for the penis.<\/p>\n [3]\u00a0Peach Blossom Spring<\/em>: The title of the famous idyll by Tao Yuanming (365-427), in which a fisherman stumbles upon an earthy paradise. (See Minford and Lau,\u00a0Classical Chinese\u00a0Literature<\/em>, I, pp.515-17.) The relevant passage in Tao’s original reads: ‘The fisherman left his boat and entered a grotto, which at first was extremely narrow, barely admitting his body; after a few dozen steps it suddenly opened out on to a broad and level plain.’ [Quoted above. \u2014 Ed.<\/em>]\u00a0‘Grotto’ [\u5c0f\u53e3] was one of the standard terms for vagina.<\/p>\n \u2014 From Pu Songling,\u00a0Strange Tales from a\u00a0Chinese\u00a0<\/em>Studio<\/i><\/a>, translated and edited by John Minford, Penguin Books, 2006, pp.275 & 538-539.<\/p>\n Editor’s Note<\/em>: For the full\u00a0the text of Pu Songling’s ‘Jesting Judgement’ with\u00a0translator’s notes, see Reprints here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wind, rain and the dark In the spring of 1937, shortly before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the noted artist Xu Beihong\u00a0\u5f90\u60b2\u9d3b<\/a>\u00a0(1895-1953) used this line from\u00a0The Book of Poetry<\/em>, quoted earlier in Ezra Pound’s translation,\u00a0as the theme of a painting made in Guilin, southwest China. The inscription on the painting reads: \u98a8\u96e8\u5982\u6666\uff0c\u96de\u9cf4\u4e0d\u5df2\uff0c\u65e2\u898b\u541b\u5b50\uff0c\u96f2\u80e1\u4e0d\u559c\u3002\u4e01\u919c\u59cb\u6625\uff0c\u60b2\u9d3b\u61f7\u4eba\u4e4b\u4f5c\u3002\u6842\u6797\u3002The expression\u00a0\u98a8\u96e8\u5982\u6666\uff0c\u96de\u9cf4\u4e0d\u5df2\u00a0is still used as a metaphor about the relentless dark of night pierced by the sounds of hope for a new day. It often refers to outspoken individuals who dare confront political oppression.<\/p>\n In 1943, Xu would also create a painting using the line\u00a0‘The cock has crowed and all under heaven is bright’ \u96c4\u96de\u4e00\u8072\u5929\u4e0b\u767d from the Tang-dyansty poet Li He \u674e\u8cc0. In 1950, this same line was adapted by Mao Zedong for one of his own poems (see below).<\/p>\n Written in response to a work\u00a0composed by Liu Yazi at Mao’s request, the following poem from October 1950\u00a0is famous for the line ‘Now the cock has crowed and all under heaven is bright’ \u4e00\u5531\u96c4\u96de\u5929\u4e0b\u767d.<\/p>\n In his poetic imagination Mao extends the reign of peace under the Communist Party and the newly established People’s Republic of China as far as\u00a0Yutian (Xinjiang). Tibet was yet to be ‘liberated’.<\/p>\n In light of the devastating effect of Mao’s rule over the People’s Republic, as one reads this poem it is worth reconsidering the\u00a0pasquinade offered in the Intermezzo above.<\/p>\n The night was long and Now the cock has crowed and <\/p>\n \u2014 From Mao Tsetung, ‘Reply to Mr. Liu Ya-tzu\u00a0\u2014 to the tune of\u00a0Wan Hsi Sha\u2019<\/i>,\u00a0October 1950, in\u00a0Mao Tsetung Poems<\/em>, Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1976,\u00a0pp.28-29, online in Chinese with Liu Yazi’s sycophantic original\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In pre-modern times, feathers, in particular chicken\/ rooster feathers, were attached to\u00a0urgent\u00a0military documents, messages and letters carried by\u00a0couriers. Feathers indicated\u00a0that the message had to be delivered at the speed of flight. Called ‘feather documents’ \u7fbd\u6a84<\/a>\u00a0in the past and ‘chicken feather letters’ \u96de\u6bdb\u4fe1<\/a>\u00a0in modern times, they form the theme of the first\u00a0feature film made for children in the People’s Republic of China, one that extolled\u00a0the patriotism of children during the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance.<\/p>\n Made by the actor and director Shi Hui \u77f3\u63ee<\/a>, Urgent Letter<\/em><\/a> (\u96de\u6bdb\u4fe1, also known as The L<\/em>etter with Feathers<\/em>) was released in 1954. It was one of the only films still to be screened during the Cultural Revolution era (1964-1978), at a time when nearly all other\u00a0cultural works created from 1949 to 1966 had been denounced and banned. Urgent Letter<\/em>\u00a0has remained a popular fixture\u00a0in China’s offical patriotic canon and it has frequently been adapted and recycled in stories, children’s books and cartoons.<\/p>\n Editor’s Note<\/em>: See also\u00a0Shi Hui, \u2018There Was No Confucius Before Confucius\u2019, trans. G. Barm\u00e9,\u00a0Chinese Literature<\/em>, August, 1983, pp.105-112. Despite his devotion to the new party-state, Shi Hui was denounced as a Rightist in 1957 and committed suicide by drowning himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a season of felicitations and rooster-related bonhomie, it is worth remembering that in the Chinese linguistic multiverse the word\u00a0\u96de j\u012b (\u9e21 \u9cee\u00a0\u9d8f\u00a0\u9dc4) covers a range of meanings: chicken, hen, rooster, cock, heroic, outspoken, steadfast, as well as including less-salubrious terms such as prostitute \u96de\u3001 \u91ce\u96de (the latter expression also means pheasant, although \u91ce\u96de\u5927\u5b78 means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","category-journal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9gcZ6-Zb","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":176,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17113,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions\/17113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/i>\u00a0Editor, <\/em>China Heritage<\/a>,
\n15 January 2017<\/p>\n
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Jiang-Qing-rooster.jpeg\")
\nCock’s Crow Rises to Heaven<\/h3>\n
I Ching<\/em> \u6613\u7d93<\/h4>\n
![\"\u4e2d\u5b5a](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/\u4e2d\u5b5a.jpg\")
\nThe Cock Has Crowed<\/h3>\n
The Book of Poetry<\/em>\u00a0\u8a69\u7d93<\/h4>\n
\n‘The cock has crowed; \u2019tis late.
\nGet up, my lord, and haste to court.
\n\u2019Tis full; for you they wait.’
\nShe did not hear the cock’s shrill sound,
\nOnly the blue flies buzzing round.<\/p>\n
\n‘The east, my lord, is bright.
\nA crowded court your presence seeks;
\nGet up, and hail the light.’
\n\u2019Twas not the dawning light which shone,
\nBut that which by the moon was thrown.<\/p>\n
\n‘The flies are buzzing loud.
\nTo lie and dream here by your side
\nWere pleasant, but the crowd
\nOf officers will soon retire;
\nDraw not on you and me their ire!’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u671d\u65e2\u76c8\u77e3\u3002
\n\u532a\u96de\u5247\u9cf4\uff0c
\n\u84bc\u8805\u4e4b\u8072\u3002<\/p>\n
\n\u671d\u65e2\u660c\u77e3\u3002
\n\u532a\u6771\u65b9\u5247\u660e\uff0c
\n\u6708\u51fa\u4e4b\u5149\u3002<\/p>\n
\n\u7518\u8207\u5b50\u540c\u5922\u3002
\n\u6703\u4e14\u6b78\u77e3\uff0c
\n\u7121\u5eb6\u4e88\u5b50\u618e\u3002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nCold Wind, and the Rain<\/h3>\n
The Book of Poetry<\/em>\u00a0\u8a69\u7d93<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\ncock crow, his is come again,
\nmy ease.<\/p>\n
\nand the cock crows and crows,
\nI have seen him, shall it suffice
\nas the wind blows?<\/p>\n
\nas it were the dark of the moon,
\nWhat of the wind, and the cock’s never-ending cry;
\nTogether
\nagain
\nhe and I.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u65e2\u898b\u541b\u5b50\uff0c\u96f2\u80e1\u4e0d\u5937\u3002<\/p>\n
\n\u65e2\u898b\u541b\u5b50\uff0c\u96f2\u80e1\u4e0d\u7633\u3002<\/p>\n
\n\u65e2\u898b\u541b\u5b50\uff0c\u96f2\u80e1\u4e0d\u559c\u3002<\/p>\n
\n
\nCocks Crowing,\u00a0Dogs Barking, I<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Tao and the Power<\/em> \u9053\u5fb7\u7d93<\/h4>\n
![\"Chapter](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/\u8d75\u5b5f\u982b\u4e66\u9053\u5fb7\u7ecf\u7b2c80\u7ae0.png\")
\nWith few folk.
\nLet there be
\nTools for tens or hundreds
\nWhich are never used.
\nLet the folk be
\nMindful of Death
\nAnd never travel far.
\nLet there be boats and carriages,
\nWhich are never
\nPut to use.
\nLet there be arms and soldiers,
\nWhich are never
\nDeployed.
\nLet them
\nReturn
\nTo the simple
\nTying of knots,
\nLet them think their food sweet,
\nTheir clothes fine,
\nLet them find peace in their dwellings,
\nAnd joy
\nIn their customs.
\nNeighbouring countries can be seen,
\nCocks can be heard crowing,
\nDogs barking;
\nBut the folk die happily
\nOf old age
\nWhere they are,
\nWithout ever having mingled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u4f7f\u6709\u4ec0\u4f2f\u4e4b\u5668\u800c\u4e0d\u7528\uff1b
\n\u4f7f\u6c11\u91cd\u6b7b\u800c\u4e0d\u9060\u5f99\uff1b
\n\u96d6\u6709\u821f\u8f3f\uff0c
\n\u7121\u6240\u4e58\u4e4b\uff1b
\n\u96d6\u6709\u7532\u5175\uff0c
\n\u7121\u6240\u9673\u4e4b\u3002
\n\u4f7f\u4eba\u5fa9\u7d50\u7e69\u800c\u7528\u4e4b\u3002
\n\u81f3\u6cbb\u4e4b\u6975\u3002
\n\u7518\u7f8e\u98df\uff0c
\n\u7f8e\u5176\u670d\uff0c
\n\u5b89\u5176\u5c45\uff0c
\n\u6a02\u5176\u4fd7\uff0c
\n\u9130\u570b\u76f8\u671b\uff0c
\n\u96de\u72ac\u4e4b\u8072\u76f8\u805e\uff0c
\n\u6c11\u81f3\u8001\u6b7b\u4e0d\u76f8\u5f80\u4f86\u3002<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nLet the folk Return to the tying of knots for their daily use. Let them Return to that which is Simple and Real, let them be sincere and without guile. Let their simple meals be agreeable to them. Let their coarse garments appear beautiful to them, and let them not overly prize the beauty of the senses. Let them find peace in their reed-hut, and not hanker after ornamented dwellings. Let them find joy in their simple customs, so that they have no Desire to change them. Neighbouring countries may be within sight of each other, the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs may be heard, because they are close at hand. And yet the folk will live to old age and die without ever having mingled with their neighbours. They will have had no Desire to do so. They will have lived in Contentment.<\/p>\n
\nFood and clothing are fine in the Heart-and-Mind, dwellings seem peaceful to the Heart-and-Mind, customs are a joy to the Heart-and-Mind. They are all a notion, conceived in the Heart-and-Mind of the Tao, in Not-Knowing, in the Oblivion of Self. Neighbouring countries can see one another in every attractive detail, and yet there is no Desire to travel. The sounds heard are No-Sound, the sights seen are No-Sights, within the Heart-and-Mind. The Heart-and-Mind is oblivious to Self, to things. The folk die of old age, without coming and going to and fro. Every phenomenon is a solitary grain in the Vast Void, round and bright, calm and naked. The Buddhists call this the Marvellous Countenance of the True Void. The followers of Confucius call it the Spirit of Sincerity. The Taoists call it the Great Alchemical Cinnabar, the Golden Elixir. Once this Treasure is formed, once its Form and Spirit have attained their full Marvel, and all is One in Truth with the Tao, then its Infinite Depth is unfathomable even to the Spirit Light of Heaven-and-Earth, let alone to the eyes of ordinary mortals. All-under-Heaven can never Contend with this Supreme State, with this True Reality, with this Ultimate Contentment.<\/p>\n
\nCocks Crowing,\u00a0Dogs Barking, II<\/h3>\n
The Peach Blossom Spring \u6843\u82b1\u6e90\u8a18<\/h4>\n
\n
![\"Imagining](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Vision-of-Taohua-Yuan-Qi-Baishi.png\")
\n
\nIntermezzo<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/CHINA-ODDLY-.jpg\")
\nThe night The Leader was conceived
\nThere, in the forge at Predappio
\nHad presented her anus instead of her twat
\nThe one who got it up the ass would be
\nJust Rosa \u2014 not the whole of Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n La notte in cui fu concepito Il Duce,<\/em>
\n Avrebbe, in lo fabbro predappiano,<\/em>
\n Invece della fica, presentato l\u2019ano,<\/em>
\n L\u2019avrebbre preso in culo quella sera<\/em>
\n Rosa soltanto, ma non l\u2019Italia intera.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Tiny Bird-track<\/h3>\n
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio<\/em> \u804a\u9f4b\u8a8c\u7570<\/h4>\n
A Jesting Judgement on a Cut Sleeve<\/h4>\n
\nHot and cool,
\nDry and moist,
\nSo it goes,
\nTrue counterpoint
\nOf Yin and Yang.
\nIllicit trysts
\nTwixt men and women
\nWere once thought foul;
\nHow much fouler reeks
\nThe passion of Cut Sleeve,
\nOf Half-eaten Peach,[1]
\nOf love twixt man and man!
\nOnly the mightiest warrior
\nCan penetrate that tiny bird-track![2]
\nThat narrow grotto
\nLeads to no Peach Blossom Spring:[3]
\nSurely the fisherman
\nPoled up it by mistake!<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/\u660e\u5468\u81e3\u6843\u82b1\u6e90\u56fe.jpeg\")
\nThe Cock’s Never-ending Cry<\/h3>\n
A Painting by Xu Beihong<\/h4>\n
\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/\u5f90\u60b2\u9e3f\u300a\u98ce\u96e8\u9e21\u9e23\u300b-175x300.png\")
\nas it were the dark of the moon,\u00a0\u98a8\u96e8\u5982\u6666\uff0c
\nWhat of the wind, and the cock’s never-ending cry. \u96de\u9cf4\u4e0d\u5df2\u3002<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nNow the Cock has Crowed<\/h3>\n
A Poem by Mao Zedong<\/h4>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01300000019916120083401715903_s.jpg\")
\ndawn came slow to the Crimson Land.
\nFor a century demons and monsters
\nwhirled in a wild dance,
\nAnd the five hundred million people
\nwere disunited.<\/p>\n
\nall under heaven is bright,
\nHere is music from all our peoples,
\nfrom Yutien too,
\nAnd the poet is inspired
\nas never before.<\/p>\n
\nUrgent Letter<\/h3>\n
A Film by Shi Hui<\/h4>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Feather-Letter-image.jpeg\")
\n