Shumobo Chinese Classroom

After proposed to your sweet heart and submitted a big diamond, the next step is searching a love nest. Without first doing a Feng Shui (風水) survey, you may end up having bad lucks waiting for you for the rest of your life if purchased a wrong house with bad Feng Shui.

Chinese believe Feng Shui, which needs Bagua (八卦, eight elements, eight events, or eight predictions) to show whether the house you plan to purchase can bring in good luck to the owner. Bagua is an octagon shaped complex devise, usually used to predict the future. For thousands of years, numerous predictions that came true are gathered together as a guide to predict the unknown future. So Bagua actually is an accumulation of thousands of years of observation and knowledge by vast amount of scholars and monks. It is more of scientific studies for generations than pure nonsense. No wonder many people believe it.

The earliest Bagua dates back to prehistory time in China (Chinese history). There were records of Bagua symbols craved on animal bones and turtle shells. A complete Bagua diagram believed to be made around legendary King Fu Xi’s (伏羲) time, close to million years ago. By the end of Shang Dynasty (商), about 1130 B.C., Zhou King Wen Wang remade his own diagram, which was known as Wen Wang Bagua (文王八卦). These two diagrams are slight different in orientation. They are both popular. The picture on the right is a Fu Xi Bagua (伏羲八卦). It consists of eight elements, or symbols, distributed evenly on a circle. They are basically made from straight lines and broken lines. Some scholars believe they were first used as counting symbols. Others believe a rectangular diagram with only four elements was the original.

Bagua is associated with Yin Yang (陰陽) and Tai Ji (太極). In Yijing (易經), Tai Ji, the beginning of everything, divided into two that called Yin and Yang (positive and negative, day and night, male and female, etc.). It then divides again and becomes four (sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, four seasons, four directions, etc.). With another division it changed into Bagua. This process is continuing. In comparing this process with the modern scientific phenomena, it looks like a cell division in biology. It also looks like mathematical number generation starting with 2⁰, then 2¹, 2², 2³… and so on. This makes the basic of binary calculation in computing. The universe is generated from Tai Ji to Bagua, and then from Bagua to everything. It sounds more like the Big Bang theory of the universe. The philosophy of Yijing and Bagua are becoming ever more popular today. So much so, even the symbol of Tai Ji and Bagua is designed into the national flag of South Korea since 1950.

This week I am presenting a pair of new Sudoku variants: the octagon or circular shaped Bagua Standard Sudoku and Bagua Plum Sudoku. Here are the rules for these two brand new Sudokus.

Rules for Bagua Standard Sudoku:

1. Follow all three rules of a Standard Sudoku.

2. All eight blue Bagua lines must use only four digits. Each line must use three of them.

Rules for Bagua Plum Sudoku:

1. Follow all three rules of a Plum Sudoku.

2. All eight blue Bagua lines must use only four digits. Each line must use three of them.

表達了深切的愛意,獻上了昂貴的鑽石,是成家的時候了. 小兩口辛辛苦苦找到了一個家. 說什麼也得請個風水先生算算好不好買吧? 所以本週就出兩個八卦題.

八卦傳統數魔(Bagua Standard Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守傳統數魔三條規則之外,八個藍邊只能填四個數,每邊都要用到三個.

八卦梅花樁數魔(Bagua Plum Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守梅花樁數魔三條規則之外,八個藍邊只能填四個數,每邊都要用到三個.

八卦传统数魔(Bagua Standard Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守传统数魔三条规则之外,八个蓝边只能填四个数,每边都要用到三个.

八卦梅花桩数魔(Bagua Plum Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守梅花桩数魔三条规则之外,八个蓝边只能填四个数,每边都要用到三个.

Drjsguo 1-19-2007

Around 120 BC in West Han Dynasty (西漢, xi han) 孔安國 (kong an guo, a descendant of Confucius) in his interpretation of an ancient book mentioning about He Tu (河圖) and Luo Shu (洛書), he wrote: “He Tu was found when King Fu Xi (伏羲) saw a dragon horse jumped out of the river with heavenly message. He drew the message and made Bagua (八卦). Da Yu (大禹, the founder of Xia Dynasty) found Luo Shu. It was carried on the back of a giant turtle. It has nine numbers. He copied and divided the land into nine areas accordingly and successfully controlled the Yellow River annual flooding”.

The earliest Chinese books named He Tu and Luo Shu were actually drawings with no written language. They are known as “books from heaven with no word “(無字天書, wu zi tian shu). The legend goes that Fu Xi met a dragon horse at Yellow River (黃河, huang he) and thousands or tens of thousand years later Yu met a giant holy turtle at River Luo (洛水, luo shui). These two sacred animals both carried messages from heaven on their bodies. The messages were recorded and named as He Tu and Luo Shu. From there, Astronomy, Geography, Mathematics, Feng Shui (風水), Yi Jing (易經), Bagua, governing, and many other knowledge were derived.

We do not believe these legends are the true fact. However, these records indicated that Luo Shu appears long before historical records were made, i.e. earlier than Xia (夏, 21st - 16th century BC) Dynasty, more than four thousand years ago. The message on the turtle was craved on its shell. Interested thing is it arranged and fitted a 3X3 square grid. The sum of all directions is 15 (http://www.kunde.org.tw/teach-a011.htm). That was the beginning of magic square.

This week, three Bagua Sudokus are presented here. Remember, Bagua Rainbow Sudoku has the combined rules of Bagua Standard Sudoku and Bagua Plum Sudoku.

在西元前一二零年間西漢時,孔安國曾在註解論語及尚書洪範中”河出圖,洛出書,聖人則之”一段時寫道:”河圖者,伏羲氏王天下,龍馬出河,遂則其文以畫八卦.洛書者,禹治水時,神龜負文而列於背,有數至九,禹遂因而第之,以成九類.” 意思是說伏羲帝曾在黃河見到一龍馬躍水而出,身附一圖,既河圖,又稱龍圖. 伏羲因圖而始創八卦.禹治水時在洛水見到一神龜游近,龜背刻有九種不同的圖形,既洛書.禹按龜背圖形劃天下為九洲,而整治了時常氾濫成災的黃河. 後來傳下來的也就是中國最早的兩部無字天書, “河圖洛書”.

這些遠古神話似的傳說也不見得完全可信. 但它們記錄的時間點卻給了我們答案. 就是洛書的出現至少是在有文字記錄之前.大約在四千多年前舜令禹治水的初期.洛書龜背附的圖形非常特別.它正好是一個三乘三的九宮.每一行,每一列,及對角線的和都是十五. (http://www.kunde.org.tw/teach-a011.htm). 這個洛書圖也就是後來魔數方塊的源始.

本週出三個八卦題.請不要忘記八卦彩虹數魔(Bagua Rainbow Sudoku)的規則是包含所有八卦傳統數魔(Bagua Standard Sudoku)及八卦梅花樁數魔(Bagua Plum Sudoku)的規則的.

在西元前一二零年间西汉时,孔安国曾在注解论语及尚书洪范中”河出图,洛出书,圣人则之” 一段时写道:”河图者,伏羲氏王天下,龙马出河,遂则其文以画八卦.洛书者,禹治水时,神龟负文而列于背,有数至九,禹遂因而第之,以成九类.” 意思是说伏羲帝曾在黄河见到一龙马跃水而出,身附一图,既河图,又称龙图. 伏羲因图而始创八卦.禹治水时在洛水见到一神龟游近,龟背刻有九种不同的图形,既洛书. 禹按龟背图形划天下为九洲,而整治了时常泛滥成灾的黄河. 后来传下来的也就是中国最早的两部无字天书,”河图洛书”.

这些远古神话似的传说也不见得完全可信. 但它们记录的时间点却给了我们答案. 就是洛书的出现至少是在有文字记录之前.大约在四千多年前舜令禹治水的初期.洛书龟背附的图形非常特别.它正好是一个三乘三的九宫.每一行,每一列,及对角线的和都是十五. (http://www.kunde.org.tw/teach-a011.htm). 这个洛书图也就是后来魔数方块的源始.

本周出三个八卦题.请不要忘记八卦彩虹数魔(Bagua Rainbow Sudoku)的规则是包含所有八卦传统数魔(Bagua Standard Sudoku)及八卦梅花桩数魔(Bagua Plum Sudoku)的规则的.

Drjsguo 3-16-2007

Chinese character has unique advantage in the computer world, because the majority of the Chinese characters are derived from graphic. Each character has a single definite meaning. Each character also has unique sound with only one syllable. It can be used equally efficient in spoken language and in written language. Chinese calligraphy itself is also a very important art. A bonus of taking this graphic advantage is it can be used also as a model for generating new Sudoku variants. Picture on the left is an example of Chinese calligraphy art which shown the copy of Wen Tian Xiang’s poem (文天祥過零丁洋詩, Wen is a national hero who died in Mongol’s captivity four years after the fall of Song Dynasty in 1283, he never surrendered).

Chinese characters were used for more than two thousands years and never changed. It was unified under Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, first Emperor of China) after 221 BC. Qin Shi Huang also built the Great Wall of China intended to protect his kingdom for million of years as well as vast underground terracotta army that buried with him to be used as his fighters in the underworld. What he never expected was that his kingdom lasts for only 14 years. What he did was truly affect Chinese greatly forever.

The Chinese character for “King” is 王. It is also a very popular Chinese surname “Wang”. 王marking also appears on a tiger’s forehead. Tiger is the largest cat on earth, the most fearsome carnivore predator on top of all the food chains. Tiger is the King in animal kingdom just like a king ruled the whole country in the past Chinese history. Chinese kings wore gold yellow color. Every one is forbidden to wear yellow clothing.

Interesting thing about another character is “country” or “kingdom” 國 (pronounced guo, similar to my last name but in different intonation). In simplified Chinese it is国. For this character, in the center is a king. A king surrounded by walls, or square, to represent his ruling kingdom. Some use character 玉 (yu, Jade) instead of King at the center, like the one shown in this paragraph. It seems like a king carrying a royal jade ring on his thumb, we accept that too.

There are other characters that also mean “King”, e.g. 皇 (huang, it shapes like a king wearing a crown) and 帝 (di). Since Qin Dynasty (秦), the later two characters were used exclusively for the Chinese emperor. 王 is used for princes who are authorized by the emperor to govern smaller territories inside his kingdom, or name the rulers of satellite countries around China.

This week I present two sets of new Sudoku variants, the King Sudokus or Kingdom Sudokus, depending on how you look at the picture. Here are their rules:

King Standard Sudoku (帝王傳統數魔):

All three Standard Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all four yellow lines of the character must use five different digits that are coming from a pool of six digits.

King Plum Sudoku (帝王梅花樁數魔):

All three Plum Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all four yellow lines of the character must use five different digits that are coming from a pool of six digits.

中國字大多是由圖案演變出來的.故簡單的國字是九九數魔變種的最好題材.諸位可有興趣一試? 本週推出兩個帝王數魔.它們的規則如下:

帝王傳統數魔(King Standard Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守傳統數魔三條規則之外,四條明黃直線都必須填五個數,全部由六個數中選用.

帝王梅花樁數魔(King Plum Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守梅花樁數魔三條規則之外,四條明黃直線都必須填五個數,全部由六個數中選用.

本周推出两个帝王数魔.它们的规则如下:

帝王传统数魔(King Standard Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守传统数魔三条规则之外,四条明黄直线都必须填五个数,全部由六个数中选用.

帝王梅花桩数魔(King Plum Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守梅花桩数魔三条规则之外,四条明黄直线都必须填五个数,全部由六个数中选用.

Drjsguo 2-10-2007

This year the lunar Chinese New Year falls on February 18. It is the year of 丁亥 (ding hai, D pig, 豬, zhu). Chinese calendar uses 10 sequences and 12 zodiacs to count and name years. It started from甲子 (jia zi, A rat, 鼠, shu). Every year, the sequence count moves forward one unit and so is the zodiac count. From甲子 it goes to乙丑 (yi chou, B bull, 牛, niu), then丙寅 (bing yin, C tiger, 虎, hu), and so on. After sixty years, the same sequence and zodiac meet again. We name this cycle 一甲子 (yi jia zi). So 一甲子 is equivalent to 60 years. None of us can live long enough to see the second甲子, so 60 year birthday anniversary is a very big day for anyone to celebrate.

In ancient China, a day was further divided into twelve units. Each unit is two hours. It started also with rat (子時, zi shi , 23 pm ~1 am). Time measurement is more associated with 12 in China long before watch is invented in 16 century in Europe. For centuries, local government send service men at night walking along the streets to announce time by hitting a small luo (鑼), and to send a reminder for watching fire hazard and thief problem before going to bed. This activity is called 打更 (da geng).

甲子, 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours, 30 days, 12 months are all somehow associated with 12. Even a ball, rotating earth, sun, and moon are all associated with it, so is the 360 degrees of a circle. Why 12 or 60? Why not just everything is as simple as 1 to 10? Remember 60 gave us so much trouble in our 5 to 6 grade elementary math? Why is that? I think I have finally found the answer. They are all universally derived from the observation of sky by our ancestors in every culture. Interesting isn’t it?

There is more information of Chinese zodiac on this website: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:k-uVAZJPggYJ:www.xywq.com/files/ganzhi11.htm+%E5%8D%81%E4%BA%8C%E5%B9%B2%E6%94%AF%E8%A8%88%E7%AE%97&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

. An excellent article about the clock story can be seen on this website:

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa070701a.htm

In Chinese New Year people like to say good words and hang lucky things. Photo on the right is one of the hanging lucky items. It believed can bring in money luck inside the house and hold them there. It is 招財進寶掛軸 (zhao cai jin bao gua zhou, attracting wealth inviting treasures hanging roll ).

This week in observing and celebrating of Chinese New Year, I present five Color Sudokus and one Super Color Sudoku.

As I had mentioned a year ago in Chinese writing that Sudoku can have many different types of form. It can use any symbol we would like to, as long as nine elements are provided. Numeral form is the most common one. Color, like the color balls shown on the top right column of the home page, is another form. Other symbols include alphabets, Chinese characters, diagrams, photos, or even mixed symbols are all good sources of elements. This week, all six Color Sudokus (顏色數魔, yan se shu mo) are emphasized only on nine different foreground colors of the Chinese character. The characters themselves are not an issue. There can be many different characters in one 9X9 grid as long as they have the same color they should be treated as the same.

The hint for solving the Super Color Sudoku 5-ring puzzle is that you have to correctly translate same colored characters (no mater what characters) into one same digit before you start. The meanings of these characters are “dreams come true” (如意, ru yi), “good luck” (吉祥, ji xiang). An up side downed 福 (fu, fortune) means “fortune is here”. I wish everyone full of happiness, good luck, and all your dreams come true in the year of 丁亥.

喜逢丁亥年大年初一.特別推出六個顏色數魔(Color Sudokus),恭祝您新春如意,萬事吉祥.

顏色數魔裡的文字,只是一個可有可無的附加符號.所以並不重要.重要的是需有九個不同的顏色.解超級五連環顏色數魔圈題時,可將同一顏色不同的文字轉換成同一數字.或許會有不少的幫助.

喜逢丁亥年大年初一.特别推出六个颜色数魔(Color Sudokus),恭祝您新春如意,万事吉祥.

颜色数魔里的文字,只是一个可有可无的附加符号.所以并不重要.重要的是需有九个不同的颜色.解超级五连环颜色数魔题时, 可将同一颜色不同的文字转换成同一数字.或许会有不少的帮助.

Drjsguo 2-16-2007

Jing (井) is another character that is very important in Chinese history. Jing is water well (水井, shui jing). The shape of a well forms the character. Jing divides a square into nine equal parts. Modern Sudoku has the characteristic of this shape too.

Ever since farming became an essential part of human activity in China, taxes on land naturally is important for government to raise revenue. There was Jing Farming Policy (井田制度, jing tian zhi du) in ancient China, around the beginning of West Zhou Dynasty (西周, xi zhou, 1100 BC) or much earlier, for collecting taxes from farmers. Various government own lands. Government divided its land into nine equal parts and issued them to eight farmers. The center belongs to the government; the surrounding eight are farmers’. Eight families cultivate their own land and also worked together for the center. This policy was successful for several hundred years. In Warring States Period (戰國, zhan guo, 476 BC - 221 BC), Qin’s (秦) government got ambitious. In order to increase the national productivity Qin privatized the land by encouraging their citizens on new land cultivation. Jing Farming Policy was finally abolished in Qin Xiao Gong’s regime (秦孝公) in 355 BC. After six generations, Qin became so powerful that Qin Shi Huang finally defeated all six rivals and unified China.

This week I present two sets of new Sudoku variants, the Jing Standard Sudoku and Jing Plum Sudoku. The rules for both Sudokus are slightly different. This is because Standard Sudoku is limiting the freedom on the center 3X3 grid. Here are their rules:

Jing Standard Sudoku (水井傳統數魔, shui jing chuan tong shu mo):

All three Standard Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all bright yellow area of the character must use digits that are different from the center digit of this Sudoku.

Jing Plum Sudoku (水井梅花樁數魔, shui jing mei hua zhuang shu mo):

All three Plum Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all four yellow lines of the character must use all same five different digits.

本週推出兩個水井數魔. 由於傳統數魔有中心的限制,它們的規則稍有不同.規則如下:

水井傳統數魔(Jing Standard Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守傳統數魔三條規則之外, 所有明黃部份的數字都不能與迷題中心的數字相同.

水井梅花樁數魔(Jing Plum Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守梅花樁數魔三條規則之外, 四條明黃直線都必須填滿相同五個不同的數目.

水井传统数魔(Jing Standard Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守传统数魔三条规则之外, 所有明黄部份的数字都不能与迷题中心的数字相同.

水井梅花桩数魔(Jing Plum Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守梅花桩数魔三条规则之外,四条明黄直线都必须填满相同五个不同的数目.

Drjsguo 2-24-07

Shi (士) is another Chinese character that I want to introduce. Shi usually means the class of scholar, a well educated class. The four classes in ancient China are: Shi, farmer, laborer, merchants. Shi also means soldier (武士, wu shi), or bodyguard (衛士, wei shi).

Shi is a very important member in Chinese chess, Xiang qi (象棋, elephant board game). It serves as Commander in chief’s bodyguard. Xiang qi is a war game and is very similar to chess we play in the west. There is a Commander in chief (將, jiang or 帥, shuai), protected by two bodyguards, Shi, and further protected by staffs or assistants (相, xiang, or 象, bishops), knights (馬, ma, horse), and war chariots (車, ju, rook). In addition, there are two cannons or gunners (炮, pao, cannons have the ability to kill by flying overhead another piece) and five solders (兵, bing, or 卒, zu, pawn). There is no powerful queen and is more realistic to real life’s war. Playing rules are very similar for both games. Shi moves only diagonally and never leave the commanding post.

History record suggested that Xiang qi was played around Warring States Period (戰國, zhan guo, 476 BC - 221 BC). Modern Xiang Qi was finalized in Song Dynasty (宋, 960~1279), when cannons were used heavily to defend the country against northern invasions and eventually mastered by Mongols. It was also believed earlier Xiang qi was greatly affected by the event of Chu king 項羽 (xiang yu) and Han king 劉邦 (liu bang) fighting for the domination (楚漢相爭, chu han xiang zheng) after defeating Qin’s army (秦軍, qin jun) before 206BC. Picture on the left is a sample of Xiang qi. You can recognize the blue Shis on one site. The opponent, in red, added a symbolized human figure (人, ren) on its left (仕) to show the difference.

Xiang qi can be play with all pieces up side down which is another game we called Blind Chess (暗棋, an qi). The pieces in Blind Chess move only stepwise when they are turned upward. The powerful pieces beat the smaller one, except pawns beat the generals. Even a blind person can master it by simply touching the letters with his fingers.

The figure of Shi is like a man sitting on the floor. A similar Chinese character is 土 (tu), which means earth or soil. The difference between the two is that Shi is shorter in the leg, and Tu is longer and bigger at the bottom, like the ground where we stand. It is easy to remember.

This week I present two sets of new Sudoku variants, the Shi Sudokus. Here are their rules:

Shi Standard Sudoku (衛士傳統數魔, wei shi chuan tong shu mo):

All three Standard Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all three yellow lines of the character must use five different digits that are coming from a pool of six digits.

Shi Plum Sudoku (衛士梅花樁數魔, wei shi mei hua zhuang shu mo):

All three Plum Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, all three yellow lines of the character must use five different digits that are coming from a pool of six digits.

本週推出兩個衛士數魔(Shi Sudoku)它們的規則如下:

衛士傳統數魔(Shi Standard Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守傳統數魔三條規則之外,三條明黃直線都必須填五個數,全部由六個數中選用.

衛士梅花樁數魔(Shi Plum Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守梅花樁數魔三條規則之外,三條明黃直線都必須填五個數,全部由六個數中選用.

推出两个卫士数魔(Shi Sudoku)它们的规则如下:

卫士传统数魔(Shi Standard Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守传统数魔三条规则之外,三条明黄直线都必须填五个数,全部由六个数中选用.

卫士梅花桩数魔(Shi Plum Sudoku)规则:

除必须遵守梅花桩数魔三条规则之外,三条明黄直线都必须填五个数,全部由六个数中选用.

Drjsguo 3-9-07

In ancient time, 琴 (qin, music instrumental technique) 棋 (qi, chess technique) 書 (shu, read, write, and calligraphic techniques) 畫 (hua, drawing technique) are four essential educations for scholar. I have discussed calligraphy for 書 and chess for 棋. This week is time for a music instrument Qin (琴). Qins are string music instrument. The earliest Chinese string instrument is Se (瑟). 瑟 is very bulky with 25 to 50 strings and later splits into Zheng (箏). Zheng is smaller with 5 to 21 strings. Both of these two string instruments are already populated in Warring States Period (戰國, zhan guo, 476 BC - 221 BC). They can be both played with finger, finger nails, or false finger nail called yi jia (義甲) or, jia jia (假甲) like guitar. 筑 (zhu) is string music instrument same as Zheng, but played by hitting with bamboo stick(s).

String instruments also include琵琶 (pi pa). It is much smaller than Zheng and easy to carry. It has four strings and played vertically like guitar. The sound can be very loud due to its big vibration chamber. It was first appeared around Qin Dynasty. Later was reintroduced in Northern and Southern Dynasties Period (魏晉南北朝 wei jin nan bei chao, 5^th to 6^th century) from the west. A beautiful color drawing in the rocky grotto of Dun Huang Shi Ku (敦煌石窟) in Gan Su (甘肅) depicts a dancer playing pi pa at that time. 琵琶 was even more popular latter in Tan (唐, 618 -907) Dynasty.

Another different type of small string instrument named Hu Qin (胡琴). Hu Qin is similar to violin. Two stringed Hu Qin became popular in China also in Tang Dynasty. The name Hu Qin is because it’s foreign (胡, foreign) origin. Picture on top is an Er Hu (二胡, two stringed Hu Qin). Er means two.

Er Hu is a popular music instrument. But in Qing Dynasty (清) it was banned by Manchu (滿洲, man zhou) government during the time when old Emperor Qian Long (乾隆) retired and his son Jia Qing (嘉慶) took the throne. Er Hu has two strings (二弦, Er xuan). One named “old string” (老弦, lau xuan, implies old king Qian Long) and the other “son string” (兒弦, er xuan, implies young king Jia Qing). The government saw playing Er Hu as fooling with the emperors; a great insult that could be punished by decapitation. So Er Hu was banned for a long time. There are numerous of this type of ridiculous taboos in ancient China.

Good Er Hu uses hard red wood (紅木, hong mu) for body construction. Like violins, wood material is the utmost important factor for producing eloquent sound for Er Hu. Er Hu made from old Chinese red wood furniture produces the best sound quality and hence very expensive. Python skin (蟒皮, mang pi) was chosen to cover the oscillation box in order to get loud, clear, and beautiful harmonic sound. Horse tail hairs (馬尾, ma wei) are used for bow strings. I found an article describing horse tail hairs to have tiny hooks that can enhance the string vibration for long lasting sound. However, I could not find hook-like structure of a horse tail fiber when enlarged under a microscope. It is thick and smooth. Interestingly, I found other animal hairs such as rabbit hair with stair-like wave structure that might enhance the sound effect.

Er Hu is a very important music instrument in Beijing opera (平劇, ping ju, or 京劇, jing ju). The actresses play in Beijing opera are frequently men. You won’t be surprised if you have seen a movie named “Farewell my concubine” (霸王別姬, ba wang bie ji). 霸王別姬 is a Beijing opera show. It is about a love story of king of West Chu (西楚霸王, xi chu ba wang) 項羽 (xiang yu, 232-202 BC) and his beloved concubine 虞姬 (yu ji). Xiang Yu was born in a noble family and was an outstanding military commander wining battles upon battles against his enemies. He once ordered to bury 200,000 captured Qin’s POW alive (Qin’s general Bai Qi 白起, who massacred 400,000 Zhao’s, 趙, POW the same way decades earlier). After losing his decisive battle against 劉邦 (liu bang), he and Yu Ji were surrounded by Han’s army. Yu Ji figured that she should not drag Xiang Yu’s fight for his last chance so she killed herself. Xian Yu managed to reach Wu River (烏江, wu jiang) with a small troop. At the bank of Wu River he refused to cross the river for another comeback fight. Saddened by the death of Yu Ji and his many comrades he killed himself with his own sword.

Xiang Yu failed because he dug his own grave when he brutally killed so many captured Qin’s POW and burned Qin’s capital 咸陽 (xien yang). According to historic record, after Liu Bang handed over Xien Yang to him, he revoked Liu Bang’s decision and ordered the surrendered Qin King to be executed and burned the capital. Fire kept burning for three months, destroyed everything in Qin’s capital including millions of valuable books, historic documents, and government records. About half million people lost their home overnight. His cruel actions lost the support of people. Liu Bang on the other hand, who is nobody but a clan leader, treated people with respect and kindness. Whenever Liu Bang librated a city from Qin he immediately outlawed Qin’s cruel laws that won people’s support. Liu Bang finally won the war against Xian Yu and started his Han Dynasty (漢) in 206 BC. Later, his descendents made the country even stronger. Han became well known across the globe. Chinese are since been labeled as Han people (漢人, han ren). Chinese characters are named Han Zi (漢字).

The falls of tyrannical Qin and Xiang Yu flourished Confucian (孔子,kong zi) and Meng Zi’s (孟子) philosophy (孔孟思想, kong meng si xiang) and the philosophy of treating people with kindness and love (仁愛思想, ren ai si xiang). Human should be treated with dignity, without that a government fails quickly. This is the Wang Dao (王道) or kingly way of governing. It affects Chinese governments and people’s daily life ever since.

But sometimes history tends to repeat itself. Mongol ruled China cruelly and did not follow Wang Dao system, so powerful Yuan (元, 1271 - 1368) ruled China last only 89 years. Manchu did the same, their barbaric bloody “save hair or save head” law (留髮不留頭, liu fa bu liu tou, if male doesn’t shave his hair and leave a piggy tail like Manchu, his head will be copped off) killed countless innocent Chinese men. But Manchu king changed the course to adopt Wang Dao system shortly after conquered China, and totally integrated with Chinese culture, so Qing (清) last much longer. Funny thing is when Republic was established in 1911, many men cried and fought to keep their pigtails when new government ordered to cut them off.

Sometimes friends gathered together sang Beijing opera as entertainment. When I was a little boy, my Dad used to sing Qing Yi (青衣, green cloth, means green clothed or plain clothed young actress) to entertain our guesses after dinner. We did not have the luxury of Er Hu as a companion instrument, so he would sang everything with his mouth. Everyone enjoyed. That was some memorable moment.

May be you have noticed that many of these stringed instruments have a similar top part in the character, doubled 王. It does not mean two kings here. They resemble the shape of these music instruments. This is typical for graphic oriented Chinese language. Sometimes, just by looking at the shape of a never seen new character, you can guess the meaning and possibly the pronunciation too. The others I have mentioned are with a top of 竹 (zhu, bamboo) because they are made of bamboo.

Ever wonder why the Chinese students are usually good in math? If I tell you the secret is in the language would you believe it? Chinese one is (一, yi), two is (二, er), and three is (三, san). It is so easy to learn. Kids love to learn these simple words. No doubt they like math and are good at it as they grow up. I bet you too can quickly remember these three Chinese characters and never forget them.

This week I present three Er Sudokus. Their rules are as follows:

Er Standard Sudoku (二字傳統數魔, Er zi chuan tong shu mo):

All three Standard Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, two yellow lines of the character must use same five different digits.

Er Plum Sudoku (二字梅花樁數魔, Er zi mei hua zhuang shu mo):

All three Plum Sudoku rules must be followed. In addition, two yellow lines of the character must use same five different digits.

Er Rainbow Sudoku (二字彩虹數魔, Er zi zei hon shu mo):

Rules are the combination of all rules in Er Standard Sudoku and Er Plum Sudoku.

本週推出三個二字數魔 (Er Sudoku)它們的規則如下:

二字傳統數魔 (Er Standard Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守傳統數魔三條規則之外, 二條明黃直線必須填同樣的五個數.

二字梅花樁數魔 (Er Plum Sudoku)規則:

除必須遵守梅花樁數魔三條規則之外, 二條明黃直線必須填同樣的五個數.

二字彩虹數魔 (Er Rainbow Sudoku)規則:

須符合二字傳統數魔及二字梅花樁數魔所有規則

推出三个二字数魔 (Er Sudoku)它们的规则如下:

二字传统数魔 (Er Standard Sudoku) 规则:

除必须遵守传统数魔三条规则之外, 二条明黄直线必须填同样的五个数.

二字梅花桩数魔 (Er Plum Sudoku) 规则:

除必须遵守梅花桩数魔三条规则之外, 二条明黄直线必须填同样的五个数.

二字彩虹数魔 (Er Rainbow Sudoku) 规则:

须符合二字传统数魔及二字梅花桩数魔所有规则

Drjsguo 3-23-07

旦 (dan) means dawn or daybreak. 旦角 (dan jue) is the general term of all female characters in Beijing opera. There are 正旦 (zheng dan, noble lady), 花旦 (hua dan, young lady), 閨門旦 (gui men dan, fair lady), 玩笑旦(wan xiao dan, clown ), 潑蕩旦 (po dang dan, fierce lady), 刀馬旦 (dao ma dan, female general), 武旦 (wu dan, fighter), and 老旦 (lao dan, old lady).

Chicken is a very important domesticated fowl. They provided us meat and eggs; roosters make morning call. It is named 司晨鳥 (si chen niao, bird that announces the daybreak). On top is a scroll of chick and spider. The style is Ba da shan ren (八大山人, 朱統鑾, Zhu tong luan, 1626-1705, each character means eight, big, mountain, human respectively) style. Ba da shan ren is a descendant of Min’s emperors. He became a monk for not surrendering to Manchu after Min (明) fell. Monks are not engaged in any normal activities like regular people, so governments leave them alone. Qing (清) law required that all men should have hair style like Manchu; shave the top and front but leave a pigtail (辮子, bian zi). Being a monk with no hair, he disobeyed Qing’s law. That is another form of not surrendering. He is famous for his great contribution in Chinese graphic arts. His drawings are all black and white, simple and quick, humorous and vivid. All his life he was not happy. The signatures on his drawings resemble Chinese characters of crying (哭, ku) and laughing (笑, xiao).

In rural area of China, watch and clock might not be as useful as a rooster; especially when electricity supply is unstable and cost money. Left over cooked foods cannot be wasted and throw away, so farmers raise chicken and pigs to take care of this problem, and this is rewarded with fresh protein supply. Chicken also eats bugs that damage crops. There are many advantages to have these animals around. The bad thing is you have to live with them under one roof. When I was a math student in Taiwan, I lived in a farmhouse across the campus. You can imagine how troubling I was on the smell that came from pig quarter. Simple open pit of human waste is another added ingredient that bothered me a lot, especially in a hot and humid subtropical weather. In farmhouse everything goes green and nothing is wasted. I am for green but against air pollution. Fortunately I moved out when school dormitories finally finished and readied to accept students.

There is a historical event in Warring States Period (戰國, zhan guo, 476 BC - 221 BC) related with chicken. In 298 BC, Qin king 秦昭王 (qin zhao wang) invited 齊 (qi, a citizen from Qi) 孟嘗君 (meng chang jun) and was considered offering him the prime minister position but questioning about his loyalty because he is from another country. Finally Qin king appointed another person and put 孟嘗君 under arrest. He ran away by bribing 秦昭王 favorite concubine who persuaded 秦昭王 to gave order and let him go. 孟嘗君 ran immediately and it was very late at night so he could not pass through the gate. Qin’s guards won’t open the gate before daybreak under any circumstance. Meanwhile 秦昭王 regretted and sent troop to stop 孟嘗君. 孟嘗君 sensed the urgency and was like an ant on a hot tin pan (熱鍋上的螞蟻, re guo shang de ma yi). He almost lost his hope; suddenly one of his companions started to imitate rooster call. Immediately roosters in the neighborhood started to make the morning call too, then roosters’ calls for daybreak everywhere. The guards finally open the gate and he got away.

This week, two Dan Sudokus are shown. On blue area, every line shared the same seven digits.

本週發表二個旦字數魔.所有藍色直線都共用七個數.

本周发表二个旦字数魔.所有蓝色直线都共用七个数.

Drjsguo 3-31-07

Zhong (中) is center, or middle. A spinning top can best describe the shape of this character. China is also named Zhong Guo (中國), the Middle Kingdom, or the Central Empire.

The earliest record of using 中國 as the name of China is at the beginning of West Zhou Dynasty, three thousand years ago. The record was left inside a beautiful and very sophisticated 39 centimeter height ceremonial bronze wine container named 何尊 (he zun). We found 周成王 (zhou cheng wang, 1042BC~ 1020BC, who is the son of周武王, zhou wu wang, founder of the Zhou Dynasty) recorded a phase of “宅兹中或” (interpreted as 宅兹中國, zhai zi zhong guo, living in Zhong Guo) in it. However, China is apparently much more famous eight hundred years later in Qin Dynasty (秦), and was known as “Chin” outside China. But Chinese still call themselves 中國人 (zhong guo ren). “Chin” is an unfamiliar word to them. I first knew “China” to be the other name of Zhong Guo when I started to learn English in junior high school.

This week, two Zhong Sudokus are presented here. All dark blue lines are limited to same seven digits.

三千年前周成王(周武王之子)在洛邑營建新城時,曾派人鑄了一個祭祀用的青銅酒尊.尊內底部鑄有122字的銘文.中有”宅茲中或”一句.既”宅茲中國”.是”中國”一詞的最早出處.那個尊叫”何尊”.是一九六三年在陝西省寶雞市的賈村發現的. 現藏陝西省寶雞市青銅器博物館.

本週發表二個中字數魔.所有藍色直線都共用七個數.

本周发表二个中字数魔.所有蓝色直线都共用七个数.

Drjsguo 4-7-2007

I don’t believe fortune teller things or stuffs like that. But sometimes, they just blow my mind off. One of them is named 拆字測運 (chai zi che yun) or 測字(che zi).

My younger sister (妹妹, mei mei) was separated from my family since she was a baby. It was in the early spring of 1950, my Dad and national army were defeated and retreated to Taiwan (臺灣), and communist took over mainland China. My Mom (媽媽, ma ma), my sister and I were lived in my Grandparents’ home in the countryside of Zhejiang (浙江). I was seriously ill with rare disease and unable to walk. Local country medical doctor believed burning incense (香, xiang) at the back of my knee might help. It got worsen after the treatment and I get a permanent burn scar as a souvenir. Mon fed me numerous bitter herb medicine broths, none helped and I was dying…. One day Mom received a letter from my Dad (爸爸, ba ba). He asked her to find a way to joint him. My Mom decided to take the risky trip with me. Mom did not tell anyone she was leaving. On a chilly night with drizzle (毛毛雨, mao mao yu) we left my Grandparents’ home and boarded on a train heading south. In Shenzhen (深圳), we waited patiently at the national boarder in the dark, before day break we sneaked into Hong Kong (香港, xiang gang), and finally jointed my Dad in Taiwan. With modern medicine help, I was saved and eventually recovered. Unfortunately my little sister was left behind with my Grandparents.

The same year my Grandpa (公公, gong gong, grandpa on the mother side) died in stroke. Grandma (婆婆, po po, grandma on the mother side) and sister since had very hard time under communist regime. Grandma was a traditional old fashioned Chinese woman with artificial tightened small feet (小腳, xiao jiao, because of 纏足, chan zu, foot binding) since childhood. Walking was already difficult for her. She had to joint the Great Leap Forward (大躍進, da yue jin, 1958, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward) and worked in the muddy rice field (稻田, dao tian) to plant rice at an age of 62. My sister was denied the opportunity to go to junior high school because of our Dad. She also had to climb the mountain to gather tree branches and brought them back home, sometimes near dark, for winter heating at very young age. Due to heavy quota, farmers submitted most of their harvest to government so they had very little kept for themselves. It was especially hard for them during the severe famine period (大飢荒, da ji huang) that spreading widely all over China from 1959 to1961 after the disastrous Great Leap Forward. She told me many stories about the food shortages and how they survived with eating tree bark and leave from 榆樹 (yu shu, elm, it is good to know, just in case).

My parents tried to bring my sister to Taiwan for years but never made it. After my Dad passed away I also tried in order to find someone who can spend sometimes with my ailing mother. It was difficult because both governments are still considered at war against each other. Around 1990, communist government relaxed the law and ceased the blood wash Taiwan (血洗臺灣, xue xi tai wan) threat. Mainland Chinese government allows Taiwanese to visit China, especially for those retired elderly homesick soldiers who retreated to Taiwan with the national army in 1949. Due to security consideration to prevent spying, which was the main reason that the national army collapsed so quickly during civil war from 1945 to 1949, Taiwanese government never allowed any mainland visitors come in. In the fall of 1994, I heard from a friend in Taiwan, who found someone might be able to help. I flew in to meet that person. But it failed again; the case was blocked at the police central bureau. I felt deeply depressed because no one can fight against the government regulations. One day, I tried 測字 to see if there is any miracle. I wrote a character 會 (hui, meet). Due to limited knowledge, I could only separate 會 into three smaller characters: 小日合 (xiao ri he, means little, day, together, respectively). I found it can be interpreted as “united in short time”. I smiled and did not really believe it. Then the miracle struck. In early 1995, I found news on Taiwanese newspaper announcing government has changed the law. Close relatives from mainland China are allowed to enter the island for the first time. I sent the news to my sister. By May we met in Taiwan, after 45 long years of separation. It was a very happy reunion for the family.

The photo on top is my Mon taken with me in Taipei Park (臺北新公園, tai bei xin gong yuan) on January 11, 1954. Thanks for her courageous journey in 1950, so that I can have the opportunity to serve my Sudoku readers today.

There is another story of 測字. In 2004, Taiwanese news Medias were predicting KMT party (Kuomintang, 國民黨) candidates Lian Zhan (連戰) and James Song (宋楚愉, song chu yu) would be the winner of next Presidential Election held in that year according to many surveys. Someone used 測字 and predicted otherwise. The prediction was circulated a few weeks on Taiwanese Internet before the election. The author wrote something like this: “character 連 containing 車 (che, car), and character 愉 containing 俞 (yu). The two combined forms another character 輸 (shu, lost), so they would lose in the election”, which it did happen. Amazing? It is.

Drjsguo 4-13-07

申(shen) is monkey (猴, ho). It is one of the Chinese zodiac symbols ranked number nine. Shen also means time of the day from 15:00 to 17:00 in China. China has only one time zone. Imagine if someone is traveling east or west, he might get confused with jet lag or with daily activities such as when to eat, sleep, or get up. On the other hand, he will never miss an appointment by forgetting reset a watch because he does not need to. It is simpler for government record keeping also.

In Ming Dynasty (明), a novel of a mighty monkey appears in the16^th century. The monkey named Sun Wu Kong (孫悟空). The novel is about the story of a Buddhist (佛, fo) monk (僧, seng) Xuan Zhuan (玄裝, also named San Zang, 三藏, 600~664)), who went to India (印度, yin du) and brought back 75 Buddhist bibles and introduced Indian logic (邏輯, luo ji) reasoning method to China in Tang Dynasty (唐, 618 -907). Xuan Zhuan also introduced Chinese philosophies to the Indian in this journey. He is the greatest ambassador of culture exchange between China and India. He took this difficult and lonely journey to India for a span of 17 years (from 627 to 645), covered 110 countries, and walked 25,000 kilometers. But the story modified into a mythological even and provided him with four companions, a monkey, a pig, a river monster, and a horse. Monkey is the most powerful figure, he can ride with a jet stream and reach India in minutes; but San Zang is restricted to travel only by land. In the journey, there are many devils wanted to eat San Zang’s flesh in order to be able to live forever. His companions protected him and finally reached the west, the happiest land of Buddha. Kids love the story, especially the powerful monkey. Title of this novel is named 西遊記 (xi you ji, western traveling story). This book has been translated in many foreign languages known as “Journey to the West”. Many popular movies, shows, cartoons, and comic books are made from this fascinating novel.

In China, Buddhism came from India as early as Han Dynasty. The first Buddhist temple, 白馬寺 (bai ma si, White Horse Temple), was built in 68 BC in Henan Luoyang (河南洛陽). Buddhism believes reincarnation and all life is equal. A person’s next rebirth is affected by current behavior, the 因 (yin, cause). A bad behavior in current life of a person results the next life to be reborn as a pig or lower form of life, the result, 果 (guo, fruit). Buddhist religion actually teaches people to be better persons and accept their current whatever statuses. People’s hope of having better next lives encourages them to work harder to be better persons. Governments recognize Buddhism stabilized the society and helped their governing, so Buddhism flourished in China. Buddhism religion bolts well with 孔孟仁愛思想, (kong meng ren ai si xiang) and produces a unique Chinese culture that tolerates multiple races, different cultures, and various languages. History has proven that Mongol and Manchu melted into Chinese culture shortly after conquering China. 孔孟仁愛思想 is really a great melting power. Like ocean gathers all the water from thousands of rivers.

I visited Xuan Zhuan’s childhood place in Henan, Yan Shi (河南偃師) two years ago. Photo on the top is the house he once lived. The house is well preserved for thousand of years and was protected by every government. It is now a very popular tourist point. Communist government now realizes that old culture and ancient stuffs are not necessary all bad as they once blindly believed in Mao’s (毛) era. Tourism generates great incomes they badly needed for modernization. Deng Xiau Ping (鄧小平) understood that capitalism free market system is a better choice than government planed economic system after seeing Taiwan (臺灣) and Hong Kong (香港, xiang gang) prospered far ahead of them and big brother Soviet Unions collapsed. After his “black cat white cat” theory (黑貓白貓, hei mao bai mao), China was back to capitalism again. Now, China is prospering and going strong. I have talked to many people in China during the years of my traveling. They are now more open-minded and are willing to talk. The trend is that people are more optimistic today about the current free market system and they won’t want to go back to the old system again.

In Chinese cities, there are many quality services and merchandises I found cost much less than in other countries. Their meager earnings and low standard of livings seem inadequate, but time will change because everyone is working harder (勤勞, qin lao). Latest news of Chinese central government is considering gradually giving people back their democracy (民主, min zhu) is good news. I can see their future brighter.

This week, three Shen Sudokus are shown. On the blue areas, every line shared the same seven digits.

本週發表三個申字數魔.所有藍色直線都共用七個數.

本周发表三个申字数魔.所有蓝色直线都共用七个数.

Drjsguo 4-20-07

Like famous Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, China once had a female monarch whose name is 武曌 (Wu Zhao), known as Wu Ze Tian (武则天, http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/tang/emperor_wuzetian.htm ). She was worshiped as 則天大聖皇帝 (the Great Ze Tian Emperor), by her son. 曌 is a character she invented and named herself. It constitutes three characters 日 (ri, sun), 月 (yue, moon), and 空 (kong, sky or empty). Means 日月當空, 光照人間 (sun and moon shine in the sky, brighten all mankinds). When she was 14, because of her impressive beauty she became one of the concubines of Emperor 太宗李世民 (tai zong, li shi min,) one of the founders of Tang Dynasty (唐, 618~907). When young crown prince Li Zhi (李治) met her during Tai Zong’s illness, he immediately felt in love with her. After Tai Zong died in 649, all emperor’s concubines were ordered to be nuns. When Li Zhi (高宗 Gao Zong) took the throne, the new emperor brought her back into the imperial palace in 652.

She successfully got rid of other favored concubines around the emperor. She even murdered her own infant daughter and blamed the death on Queen. She later became the Queen in 655. She helped her weak husband ruling the empire. When Gao Zong was seriously ill and unable to see in 660, she took over the power and ran the central government. After Gao Zong died in 683, her third son李顯 (li xian, Zhong Zon, 中宗) took the throne. She had difficulty to control 李顯, so she demoted him and named her fourth son to be the emperor. In 690 at the age of 67, she abdicated the emperor again and named herself the monarch and began her Zhou (周) Dynasty.

May be you have noticed that there are significant differences between western culture and Chinese culture. In China, the addresses are listed from big to small, e.g. from province, county, town, street, then number. This also applies to names. Family name is ahead of individual name and is the more important one. Family name normally has one character, few with two syllabuses. Individual name is usually two characters but single character is also popular. Men do not change their name but scholars used to have one or two additional individual names. Women do not change their family names after marriage, but sometimes add her husband family name on top. In Chinese tradition, family is important so that family name must be honored and continued. Wu Ze Tian madden name is “Wu (武)”. In order to let Wu family continue ruling the empire, she was thinking leaving the throne to her nephew. Her Prime minister reminded her that no one would worship her after her death if the heir is not her son. Finally she decided to name 李顯 again as the heir in 699. She was forced to give back the power to 李顯 in an imperial palace coup during her illness in 705. Tang Dynasty was continued. She died in the same year later.

Wu Ze Tian is a very talented and capable ruler. Historians praised her among greatest rulers in Chinese history. She started revolutionary examination system to select talented and capable persons around the country to work for the governments. In her ruling of China, she has changed 70 ministers, most of them did excellent job. She also quickly and successfully subdued many rebellions from her husband’s families who were against her for taking over the country.

In 河南洛陽 (Henan Luoyang) 龍門石窟 (Lung Meng shi ku, Long Men stone grottos), there is a giant stone 盧舍那大佛 (Grand Vairocana Buddha) sculpture, 17.14 meter high. It was built at Wu Ze Tian’s time, from 672 to 676, after Xuan Zhuan (玄裝, see my story on Shen Sudokus) came back from India. Legend said that she supported this project and the face of the Buddha was modeled on her. Picture on top is this fascinating image. 龍門石窟 is one of the three most important cave treasures in China. The works started in 493 during North Wei (北魏, bei wei) Dynasty (386~534) and ended in Tang Dynasty for over 400 years. Total number of stone Buddha was original numbered more than 142,000 on both banks of River Yi (伊水). A survey in early 20th century was numbered more than 97,000. Sadly, the whole area was heavily damaged during Mao’s culture revolution (文化大革命, wen hua da ge ming) by red guards (紅衛兵, hong wei bing) and vandalism since the beginning of industrialized nation invasions in mid 19 century, as well as occasionally great nature disasters over thirteen hundred years.

Drjsguo 4-28-2007

If you think born in a King’s family is a wonderful thing you may be too naive. The power struggle among royal family members is very bloody. It is like two queen bees or two queen ants born at the same time in the same colony. The fighting for domination is always fatal. One of the famous stories is Chao Zhi (曹植) and Chao Pi (曹丕) in Three Kingdoms Period. When Chao Pi became Wei King, he wanted to kill his younger brother Chao Zhi, who almost took his place to be the heir. Chao Pi was jealous of Chao Zhi’s intelligent and always felt threatened. However his mother was very protective for the younger brother, so he had to make a plan to get ride of his brother. He ordered Chao Zhi to compose a poem in seven steps walking distant and time or facing death penalty. Chao Zhi made his famous Seven-steps poem as follows:

煮豆燃豆萁 (zhu dou ran dou ji, Cook bean with beanstalk)

豆在釜中泣 (dou zai fu zhong qi, bean weep in the pot)

本是同根生 (ben shi tong gen sheng, we grow from same root)

相煎何太急 (xian jian he tai ji, why burn me so fast)

Chao Pi was very touched by the poem and spared his brother’s live.

In Tang (唐) Dynasty, Tai Zong (太宗) plotted and killed his older and younger brothers in order to be the only heir. When choosing his heir, he weighted more on kindness of his sons than their age, ability to govern, and intelligent. He wanted to keep all his sons alive. He finally chose the weak but kind Gao Zong (高宗) to be his heir. He could not foresee that not only his children could not be protected but also his Tang Dynasty almost ended by this decision (see my last week article about Wu Ze Tian).

In tradition, the oldest son of the emperor inherited the throne, so there is no competition and no fighting among the princes. But this is not a perfect system either, especially when emperor is young or inexperienced. In late Ming Dynasty, young 熹宗 (xi zong) was only interested in woodcraft art instead of governing. It is easy to see why the country was in chaos and Ming Dynasty fell in Manchu’s hand shortly. Xi Zong died young with no heir, so his younger brother 思宗 (si zong) became emperor. It was difficult for Si Zong to deal with years of great famine, plague, domestic rebellions, and Manchu’s invasion. When rebels entered Forbidden City, he killed his wives and daughters and hanged himself on a tree behind the imperial palace in 1644. Photo on top is his tomb and place where he hanged himself. The place is 煤山 (Mei Shan, coal mountain) in Beijing (北京, bei jing, northern capital). On top of Mei Shan you can have a nice bird view of the Forbidden City and Beijing.

In Qing Dynasty (清), Empress Dowager 慈僖 (ci xi, Tzu hsi) took the advantage of son-inheritance tradition and manipulated the country for three generations. She subsequently chose three small children to be the emperors and kept the royal power herself for more than four decades. She was very intelligent and capable. However China missed a golden opportunity to revive itself under Emperor Guan Shu (光绪) because of her strong objection. Emperor Guan Shu was later under house arrest and died just one day before Ci Xi died. Rumor spreads that she ordered to poison the Emperor. Zhong Guo (中國) was weakened in her hand and four thousands years of Dynasty period reaches the end point.

Drjsguo 5-5-2007


				*Shumobo Chinese Classroom*



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