Popular Astrology and Border Affairs in Early China: An Archaeological Confirmation
by David W. Pankenier
A Recent Niya Discovery
In 1995 one of the most unique archaeological discoveries in recent years drew attention once again to the ancient oasis settlement of Niya in the Taklamakan Desert (Fig 1). Located on the southern branch of the Silk Route in the shadow of the Kunlun Mountains and buried by shifting sands since about the end of the 4th century, Niya was the westernmost settlement in the small desert kingdom of Shanshan (Kroraina) whose capital was at Loulan on the north shore of Lop Nor. Niya became famous after Sir Aurel Stein publicized the results of his 1901 expedition to Xinjiang (followed by those of 1906, 1913, and 1931). Along with his contemporary, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin, Stein reported the discovery of a conflux of diverse cultural influences -- Buddhist, Chinese, Hellenistic, Iranian -- in these remote regions of Central Asia located precisely at the interface between the Xiongnu, Kushan, and Han Empires. The reported traces of long-buried Buddhist desert kingdoms caused a sensation. Subsequent expeditions led to the discovery of caches of numerous documents written on wooden strips mainly in Kharosthi and, of course, Stein's and Paul Pelliot's famous discovery of thousands of medieval manuscripts in one of the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang.
After a long hiatus, further discoveries of the ruins of Ran dynasty agricultural garrisons in nearby Cherchen, Kroraina (Loulan), and other sites, including Ran administrative records on wooden strips dating from as early as 49-8 B.C., revealed a good deal about the organization of Chinese garrison colonies and the life of soldiers stationed in the area. Joint Sino-Japanese archaeological expeditions resumed in earnest in the 1980s and continued for several seasons despite the extremely challenging working conditions. These efforts culminated in 1995 with the excavation of a Niya burial ground that once again demonstrated the unique mix of ancient cultural influences in the Tarim Basin and the remarkable degree of preservation of artifacts buried in the desert soil. Lying in the tomb of a beautifully dressed Europoid couple, excavators found an Eastern Ran silk brocade artifact whose striking multicolored decor and rare state of preservation made it one of the ten most important archaeological discoveries of 1995 (Pl. 1). Not only were the colors still fresh and bright, but woven into the decorative pattern of this unique textile remnant, now recognized as a bowman's arm guard, is also the remarkable legend, "when the five planets appear in the east it is beneficial for China." One could hardly ask for more eloquent testimony to the pervasiveness of astrological thinking in early China than this accessory from one of the remotest frontiers of the empire. While there is much to be said about the importance of the Niya finds and about the fascinating ethnic and cultural diversity of the strategic desert kingdom of Shanshan, my specific focus here will be on this silk brocade arm guard and its place in the history of astrology in China.
Early Planetary Astrology
The evidence has long indicated that from the earliest times the ancient Chinese were astute observers of celestial phenomena and that such observation was not the result of disinterested star-gazing. Original records of regular astronomical observation ranging from the mundane (sunrise and sunset, solstices, individual stars and planets) to the exceptional (lunar and solar eclipses, sunspots, supernova, etc.) appear as early as writing itself in the Shang oracle bone inscriptions, but for many years the conventional view has been that astrology played no significant role in Chinese intellectual history before the Warring States period.4 The very fact that astronomical records first appear in the context of Shang dynasty oracular divinations, and that the Spring and Autumn Annals accurately reports numerous solar eclipses (not to mention three comets) should be sufficient to give pause, but until recently the role of astral-terrestrial correspondences in the very earliest period has not been adequately explored....