Mapping Culture: Battle Array Schemas (Zhentu) in Middle Period China*
In: Journal of Chinese Military HistoryFull descriptions and explanations of battle array schemas (zhentu 陣圖) first appear in Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) military manuals. Their increasingly “fantastic” characteristics during the Northern Song (960-1126) have long been a source of fascination and puzzlement. Although modern day scholars question whether such schemas were used in battle, middle imperial writers considered these schemas important enough to include in military manuals. Battle array schemas functioned not only as military tactic, but also as diagrams. As superimposed ideational maps, they scribed a cultural geography, providing an arena for the resolution of the many social and cultural tensions that characterized this era. Derived from ancient diagrams, array schemas both inspired new cultural and philosophical forms and expressed the possibilities for a transformed society.
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3
Liu 1996, 3-4 dismisses zhentu outright. Xu 1990, 350-51 labels zhentu “unscientific” and unsound. Indeed, zhentu receive far more attention in divination and literary studies. For examples of the former, see Cheng 1935, Duan 1986, and Ho 1998. Hsia 1974, 325-58 gives an exemplary discussion of zhentu as a literary trope. Wu 1959 gives one of the most extensive discussions of middle period zhentu from a military history perspective. See also Xie and Yuan 1994, 213-17, and on formations (zhenfa), see Xu 1990, 206-13; and Gawlikowski 1994, 58-66.
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4
Gawlikowski 1994, 26.
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6
This history was completed in 1345, and therefore suffers from a chronological distance from events of the Northern Song. It is often criticized for its hasty compilation and lack of consistency. However, as Chikusa Masaaki notes, “[I]t is precisely because the Yuan historiographers did not add much polish from their own subjective viewpoint that the [Songshi] has such high value as a source for us today. Especially outstanding are the monographs. . . .” And it is these that document battle array schemas in the most detail. Chikusa 1996, 122.
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13
Lau and Ames 1996, 97. Yuhai 142.1v citing Yan Shigu.
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21
See Sawyer 1993, 373-76; Sawyer 1994, 33-76; Lau and Ames 1996, 47-56, Gawlikowski 1994, 58-66; Xu 1990, 206-13; Tsang 2008.
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25
Lau and Ames 1996, 50.
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29
Allan 1991, cited in Porter 1996, 89.
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30
Porter 1996, 89.
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31
Porter 1996, 135; wjzy 8.321; Li et al. 1992, 343.
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32
Lau and Ames 1996, 48.
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35
Sivin and Ledyard 1994, 26-27 points out that one cannot know exactly when this character was associated with an actual diagram, but it was very early on. See also Henderson 1994.
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36
Yee 1994b, 72-73; Yee 1994a, 128.
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37
See Bray 2007, 6-12 for an overview of tu studies.
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38
Chemla 2010, 303-11.
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39
Bray 2007, 2.
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40
Milcinski 1999, 386.
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42
Sawyer 1993, 341.
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43
Smith et al. 1990, 100-135.
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44
Smith et al. 1990, 100-135.
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52
Li 1998; Saso 1978.
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54
Itano 1976; Dull 1966.
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60
See Griffith 1963, 34-35, 42-43; Sawyer 1993, 427-29 n. 33 and 442 n. 64. In his commentary on the Sunzi, Sawyer favors qi and zheng as merely tactical devices, rather than forces connected with yinyang. This is true of Griffith also. I note here that the concepts are discussed more in the early Song Wendui than in any other text of the Military Classics, including of course the Sunzi.
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73
Deleuze 1986, 42; Deleuze 1993, 193-200.
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77
Smith 2009b, 347-483; Levine 2008; Mote 1999. See Skonicki 2008 and Levine 2008 on how ideology informed court discourse in court factional debates.
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81
Smith 2009b, 353. See Levine 2008 on court factionalism at this time.
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86
Smith 2009b, 477.
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89
On Li Xian, see Smith 2009b, 465-73.
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92
Deleuze 1988b, 39.
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94
See Levine 2008 and Smith 2009a & 2009b.
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95
Levine 2008, 184 n. 25.
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96
Shiba 1976, 1137-41; ss 148.4863; Mostern 2011, 173; Smith 2009b, 466-68.
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98
Deleuze 1986, 42, and 1988a, 12. That is, more hypothetical and contingent, and less reflective of actual conditions.
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103
See Sawyer 1993, 328 for the passage. Also called the Feng Hou Woqi zhentu, the Huangdi (Yellow Emperor’s) Woqi zhen or the Feng Hou Bazhentu. Ma Long annotated a volume called the Woqi jing, or Classic of the Wondrous Grasp. The latter is mentioned in the Wendui. Feng Hou was the Yellow Emperor’s minister. Though the Yuhai cites the Feng Hou Bazhentu in the Han dynasty bibliography, modern Chinese scholars cite the bibliography of the Official History of the Song (ss) as the first occurrence of the work. See Xu 1990, 207-8; Yuhai 142.2r. The authors of Wendui suggest that the Wondrous Grasp zhentu post-dated Zhuge Liang.
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112
See Li et al. 1992, 708. Their explanation is based on the Song text, Lidai bingzhi.
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113
Gawlikowski 1994, 58.
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128
Henderson 1994, 207.
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Mapping Culture: Battle Array Schemas (Zhentu) in Middle Period China*
In: Journal of Chinese Military HistoryFull descriptions and explanations of battle array schemas (zhentu 陣圖) first appear in Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) military manuals. Their increasingly “fantastic” characteristics during the Northern Song (960-1126) have long been a source of fascination and puzzlement. Although modern day scholars question whether such schemas were used in battle, middle imperial writers considered these schemas important enough to include in military manuals. Battle array schemas functioned not only as military tactic, but also as diagrams. As superimposed ideational maps, they scribed a cultural geography, providing an arena for the resolution of the many social and cultural tensions that characterized this era. Derived from ancient diagrams, array schemas both inspired new cultural and philosophical forms and expressed the possibilities for a transformed society.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 968 | 176 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 278 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 65 | 12 | 0 |