É. Apor (ed.): Jubilee Volume of the Oriental Collection, 1951–1976. Papers Presented on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
I. ECSEDY: Historical Time and Mythical History in Ancient China
65 to justify its belief in an unbroken historical eternity, as valid as the laws of nature. And it was never possible throughout the whole history of the Chinese state to create that remoteness which would lend itself to the manufacture of a systematic mythology. There never existed wide gulf between the mentality of the scholar-officials who organised Confucianism into a system, and the first Chinese state(s) in their efforts to civilize the country and the images of those personified in mythical forms. The most characteristic features of ancient times in the preserved written tradition, i.e. in records preserving and forming traditions also reveal their social function. The old stories are quoted as presenting a more and more shining image, a polished mirror of correct and proper government and have become parts of a deliberately rationalised world concept, practical in both aspect and method. Thus they tend to lose their miraculous elements, or the elements of everyday reality cease to be presented in the usual order of everyday experiences. Slowly, as one characteristic moment of the story becomes more and more important until it serves as a model or justification, even the story of mythical persons presented as if they were real personages fades into unrecognition. References to the age of the myths point out first of all some features of state-organisation, deriving these methods from ancient times and emphasizing their continuous and even present-day survival. Confucius for example suggests that when teaching somebody the principles of government, we should follow the Hsia-dynasty ' s schedule (calendar), travel on the Yin-dinasty's official coach, and wear the Chou-dynasty' s ceremonial cap... ('Lun-yü', Chapter XV). And in another passage attributed to him, he refers to the beginning of theChou-era (11th — 3rd century B.C. ), to the founders of the Chou-dynasty to justify the peaceful conservation of the ancient patriarchal organisation as well as the activity of a court administration above it, tracing back the first, primitive organisation of the division of labour to the "kung" (prince) of Chou, i.e. to the period prior to the foundation of the dynasty Chou, placing it in Lu principality, the native land of Confucianism. In this passage, Chou kung explained to his son, the prince of Lu that a virtuous prince ("chiin-tzu") did not dismiss his relatives, did not arouse the chief ministers' ("ta-ch'en") indignation by not leaving them in their office and did not deprive members of old families of their office unless he had a very good reason to do so, and, finally, he did not expect a single man to possess every ability ('Lun-yii', Chapter XVIII). The actual processes of state-organisation are presented most plausibly in the innumerable, multicoloured and heterogeneous traditional fragments which describe how the first rulers regulated waters and land, how canals and dams were built, the omens of earth and heaven and other knowledge of existential and social importance studied and the fate of persons of dubious age and their histories revealed; more plausible, in fact, than by patent and tendentious condensations of historical events, which nearly always appear to be falsification, as for example we see in the extracts quoted above from the most classical work of Confucianism. The persons who appear in the mythical stories
