The ''Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven'' ()
[Literally "Mu(,) Heaven('s) Son('s) Tale". "Son of Heaven" is a designation for a sovereign of China, and the word used for tale is often a biography or history.] is a fantasy version of the travels of
King Mu of Zhou
King Mu of Zhou (), personal name Ji Man, was the fifth Chinese sovereign, king of the Zhou dynasty of China. The dates of his reign are 976–922 BC or 956–918 BC.
Life
King Mu came to the throne after his father King Zhao of Zhou, King Zha ...
, historical fifth sovereign of the
Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...
of China, r. 976–922 BCE or 956–918 BCE.
The written originals of the fantasy biography of King Mu and a biography of his mother were found along with the ''
Bamboo Annals
The ''Bamboo Annals'' ( zh, t=竹書紀年, p=Zhúshū Jìnián), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' ( zh, t=汲冢紀年, p=Jí Zhǒng Jìnián), is a chronicle of ancient China.
It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow E ...
'' in the tomb of
Wei Xiang-zi (d. 296 BCE), king of
Wei, rediscovered in 281 CE during the
Jin dynasty (266–420)
The Jin dynasty or Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the or the , was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty in China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Emperor Wu of Jin, Sima Yan, eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had previou ...
, after which they were merged into a single tale during transmission.
[
]
Transmitted are four textual lineages which became independent from the original.
Later versions were sometimes called ''Zhou Wang Youxing'', literally "(The) Zhou King('s) Travels" or "Travels of the Zhou King".
[
]
Contents
King Mu dreamed of being an immortal. He determined to visit the Western heavenly paradise of the Queen Mother of the West
The Queen Mother of the West, known by #Names, various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese religion and Chinese mythology, mythology, also worshipped later in neighbouring countries. She is attested from ancient ...
on Mount Kunlun and taste her Peaches of Immortality
In Chinese mythology, Peaches of Immortality ( or ) are consumed by the immortals due to their mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who eat them. Peaches symbolizing immortality (or the wish for a long and healthy life) are a common symbo ...
. A brave charioteer named Zao Fu carried the king and seven worthy companions by chariot to the Queen Mother, whom he feasts at blue gem pool[
] in Chapter 3 with a banquet, wine, gifts, and decorous exchange of poems[ with some sense of his being subsequently rejuvenated or at least blessed with posterity][. The implications of the poems seem to cast the Queen Mother of the West as a ]vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
whom King Mu confirms in ruling her own land.[
Chapter 6 mainly recounts the death of King Mu's favorite consort, Cheng Ji, with details of her funeral with a huge entourage which takes eight days to arrive at her burial site. Heartbroken, King Mu tarries there, fishing, hunting, until a soldier chides and admonishes him into returning his attention to government and slowly traveling back to his capital.][
The ''Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven'' is an early textually extant narrative case of ]Chinese literature
The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...
stressing a particular hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
ic human, though the biography, apparently fantastic or considered credible, is a chief format of Chinese literature from its outset with focus on sovereigns and their exploits, particularly with governmental preoccupation with geography through the peripheries of the emergent Chinese state.[
]
Commentaries
The earliest commentary to the text was written by the scholar Guo Pu (276–324) during the Eastern Jin.
During the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(1644-1912), the text was revisited by Tan Cui 檀萃, Hong Yixuan 洪頤煊 and Zhai Yunsheng 翟雲升.
Modern scholarship
*Porter, Deborah Lynn. ''From Deluge to Discourse: Myth, History, and the Generation of Chinese Fiction''. State University of New York, 1996.
Notes
References
{{reflist
External links
穆天子传
by Pu Guo, The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mu Tian Zi Chuan, by Pu Guo in Chinese
English text of 穆天子傳 (Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven)
discussion about English translations at chinese.stackexchange.com
Zhou dynasty
Horses in Chinese mythology