Week 5

Tuesday, 9/26 

    In Shi Ji 94, Tian Heng refuses a summons to appear before the emperor (H201mt). Tian Heng gives two reasons for avoiding the emperor: the first is his shame at becoming the emperor’s servant rather than peer (H201b). The second is his shame for ordering the violent death of Master Li, a previous envoy of the emperor and older brother to Li Shang, a general for the emperor (H201tm). Rather than accept the summons, Tian Heng pleads to “be made a commoner and left to guard the islands of the sea,” suggesting that if he can remain far away, living a different sort of life, he will be able to live with his shame (H201tm). But, the emperor persists, and he must appear or be punished (H201m.)

    It seems that Tian Heng cannot bear how his shame will intensify if he is physically close to the emperor and Li Shang. As Tian Heng journeys closer to the emperor, he begins focusing on his physical appearance, asking to stop and bathe prior to seeing the emperor (H201b). His comments about his shame of seeing the emperor and Master Li seem to emphasize physical proximity. Of the emperor he states, “how great would be my shame were I to face north and acknowledge him as my ruler (H201b)!” Of Li Shang he laments that he would be “side by side with Li Shang, a man whose elder brother I boiled to death.” Finally (and strangely), he notes that the emperor’s real motive for the summons is that he “may for once have a look at my face (H201b).” Tian Heng’s meditations on the prospect of being looked at, and being near one he has injured, leads him to an extreme solution: to cut off his head and have it rapidly delivered to the emperor, so that the emperor may see him (H201b-H202t). In this way, he acknowledges what he believes the emperor really wants, and escapes having to endure the shame. 

    Why does Tian Heng think that the emperor’s real motivation is to see his face, and not what the emperor is stating – to pardon and offer him a role as king or marquis? And if Tian Heng is right, why does the emperor want to see his face? The emperor could want to read his face, since physiognomy has occurred several times in our readings (H52b for example). Or perha>s the emperor intends to stare at this potential rebel, to order to inflict feelings of shame. If the latter is correct, Tian Heng finds this a possibility that would be worse than death. This portrayal of shame strikes me as unique in the text. We have lots of examples of violent acts, but are there any other perpetrators who express the burden of feeling shame as Tian Heng does? What is Sima Quan telling us about the nature of shame? Is shame something that increases with proximity to its object? Is this proximity temporal as well as physical? If the offer to face the emperor had come after more time had passed, would Tian Heng been able to bear it? Or is shame an illusion, and what Tian Heng was really afraid of was being imprisoned or executed? He knows too well that promises of peace are often not honored.

Thursday, 9/28 

    In seminar on Thursday, we discussed how surprising many of us found Sima Qian’s ending comment for Empress Lu’s biography (H284tm). In the remark, Sima Qian’s states that under Empress Lu “the world was at peace” and “punishments were seldom meted out and evil-doers grew rare, while the people applied themselves to the tasks of farming, and food and clothing became abundant” (H284tm). Yet Empress Lu’s biography recounts how she carries out heinous acts like murder (H269, H273tm, H275tm). In particular, Empress Lu’s torturing and disfigurement in Lady Qi is one of the most horrifying events so far in all of our readings (H269m). Emperor Hui is witness to the aftermath of Lady Qi’s torture and describes the act as inhuman, writing to his mother that “no human being could have done such a deed as this” (H269m). Thus, Sima Qian’s remark casts Empress Lu in a shocking light, one that is confusing to a reader who might assume that peace could not be achieved by such a personally cruel ruler. 

    Sima Qian’s description of Emperor Hui in his remark is also strange given the events in the biography. Sima Qian tells us that because there was little activity in the kingdom, “Emperor Hui sat with folded hands and unruffled garments…”(H284tm). Emperor Hui’s resting and still posture may be accurate, but the remark might suggest that the Emperor is enjoying being in a peaceful state. Events in the biography suggest instead that Emperor Hui is more likely in a state of fear, or even perhaps in a drunken stupor. After witnessing what his mother does to Lady Qi, “Emperor Hui gave himself up each day to drink and no longer took part in affairs of state, so that his illness grew worse” (H269m). We also know that he is “weak and soft-hearted” (H267m) and “compassionate by nature” (H268b), which are attributes that would perhaps make him very fearful of his mother’s cruelty.

    Are these discordant accounts meant to be ironic? If so, what is it meant to draw our attention to? Thinking back on earlier biographies, when warring is at its height, we are given accounts of killings that are summed up in figures that are incomprehensible. How can one understand an account where 200,000 soldiers are butchered, for example (H27b)? Relaying carnage this way dehumanizes these deaths. We can’t fathom the pain and damage of murder on that scale. Because we can’t fathom it, we can’t feel the horror of it. In Empress Lu’s biography, probably for the first time this semester, violence on an enormous scale is absent. As a reader still reeling from the Empress Lu’s violent deeds, I failed to detect the absence of mass casualty at first. Sima Qian’s remark that “the world was at peace” left me feeling a bit rebuked that I hadn’t noticed (H284tm).