China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Logic of Chinese Characters

Liùshū Revisited

W.K. Choy
 Published by W. K. Choy
Copyright © 2022 by W. K. Choy

All rights reserved.

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ii
 Dedication

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.

J. J. Rousseau

This book is dedicated to everyone who faces oppression.

iii
iv
 CONTENTS

Preface viii

Part 1 – Preliminary xxxxxxx

1 Dilemma 1
2 The Book 21
3 Old Test 35

Part 2 – Ancient Framework

4 Archers 65
5 Foreign Language 76
6 Stratagem 94
7 Portal 100
8 Framework 119
9 Duality 140

Part 3 – The Conundrum

10 Movement 169
11 Conundrum 177
12 Slaves 187
13 Bridges 205

v
14 Error 222
15 Keys 227
16 Moon Secret 243
17 Bigrams 249
18 Madman 256
19 Falsehood 285
20 Five 301
21 Prophecy 326
22 Exegesis 340
23 Culture Speaks 347
24 Contract 375
25 Yi Speaks 393

Part 4 – Clouds
26 Clouds 399

Postface 417

Part 5 – References and Index

Bibliography 421
Other References 444

vi
vii
PREFACE

This book is an introduction to the Classical Chinese. It was written for a

diverse audience that may include:

Readers who have an interest in solving mysteries and logical puzzles.

Readers who have an interest in current affairs, politics, history,
literature, philosophy, culture, linguistics, and archaeology in relation to
China and the Sino sphere.
Ethnic Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese readers who may
have an interest in understanding Hanji, Kanji, Hanja and Han Tu.
Students of languages who may wish to learn Hanji.
Sinologists, philologists, linguists, sociologists, anthropologists,
archaeologists, historians, cryptologists, logicians, philosophers,
teachers, translators of Chinese texts, and any others for whom an
understanding of Classical Chinese may be of relevance to their fields of
study.

China’s Orthographic Dilemma is written as narrative non-fiction for readers

who have no prior knowledge of Chinese. For this audience, it tells the story of
man’s journey out of the primordial state of nature–out of the Stone Age into
the modern era. This book is also written for sinologists and for the Chinese
people who are experts in reading vernacular Chinese. For this audience, this

viii
book was written in the hope that it could serve as an introduction to Classical
Chinese.

I owe an intellectual debt of gratitude to many people–sinologists,

philologists, linguists, historians, philosophers, theologians, sociologists,
anthropologists, archaeologists, and lexiconists. Their collective efforts have
provided insights that have helped me to understand classical Chinese, and to
write this book. Rather than paraphrasing these scholars, I have chosen to
share this platform with them–to allow their voices to be heard through
quotations, in acknowledgement of their contribution. In doing this, I have
endeavoured to stay within fair use guidelines in order not to infringe upon any
copyright that still subsists. It is my hope that the reader will enjoy hearing the
diverse voices, through the various quotes, ranging from ancient classical texts
to modern scholars–each with his or her own distinctive timbre, cadence, and
turn of phrase.

A debt of gratitude is also owed to the many people who have collectively
created the information superhighway, and the treasury of information that
resides in cyberspace. The internet gave me access to this treasury in order to
research China’s Orthographic Dilemma, while my nomadic life led me across
the globe, many miles distant from the shores of China. This book would
certainly not have been written had this enabling technology and treasury of
knowledge not existed.

ix
I extend my personal thanks to Peter Lee for his valuable comments on the very
incoherent first draft of this book. Grateful thanks are also due to Lee Hui
Huan for explaining (shí'èr lǜ: twelve pitches) to me.

W.K. Choy
April 2022

x
xi
xii
 1
Dilemma

In 221 BCE, Zhao Zheng (260–210 BCE), leader of the Chinese vassal state of
Qin, defeated six other warring vassal states to unify China and establish the
Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Zhao Zheng is also known as Qin Shihuang–
the Qin First Emperor. This unification marked the end of ancient China and
the beginning of imperial China, which was to endure for more than two
millennia until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 CE. During his military
campaign to unify the country and throughout his subsequent reign, Qin
Shihuang was guided by advice from his chancellor Li Si, a scholar who
embraced the philosophy of Legalism. Historically, ancient China was a
hierarchical agrarian society with inequalities in law. In contrast to this, a
central principal of Legalism was the equality of all citizens before the law
without regard to social status. This philosophy may be traced to the social
reformer Shang Yang (390–338 BCE), author of the Book of Lord Shang:

What I mean by the unification of punishments is that punishments

should know no degree or grade, but that from ministers of state
and generals down to great officers and ordinary folk, whosoever
does not obey the king’s commands, violates the interdicts of the
state, or rebels against the statutes fixed by the ruler, should be
guilty of death and should not be pardoned.1

1
J. J. L. Duyvendak (tr.), The Book of Lord Shang: A Classic of the Chinese School of Law, p. 278-279.

1
 Dilemma

Upon establishing imperial China, Qin Shihuang and Li Si introduced

orthographic reforms to the logographic (symbol-based) Chinese writing script
or (hànzì: Hanji, Chinese character). Han dynasty scholar Xu Shen (58–
147 CE) described the reform:

Afterwards [after the time of Confucius] the feudal lords strove for
power, and were not rule by the king. ... When the emperor Qín
Shǐhuáng first combined world into one, the minister Li Si
proposed to unify them [the various scripts], discarding all those
which were inconsistent with [the script of] Qín. ... They started
from the ‘large seal’ script of the Scribe Zhou, modifying and
simplifying it; this is what is called the ‘small seal’ script. ... At that
time the clerical script first appeared, to make writing easier and
more concise.2

Subsequent to the orthographic reform, Li Si requested that Qin Shihuang

order the burning of books in 213 BCE, to suppress other schools of Chinese
philosophy called the Hundred Schools of Thought. Two Confucian texts, the
Book of Songs and the Book of Documents, were particular targets. Han
dynasty court historian Sima Qian (d. 86 BCE) chronicled the event:

Your servant requests that the records of the historians apart from
those of Qin should all be burnt. Apart from those copies which the
scholars of broad learning are responsible for in their official
capacity, anyone in all under Heaven who dares to possess and hide

2
Xu Shen, Shuowen Dictionary, cited in William H. Baxter, A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology, p.
346.

2
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

away the Songs, the Documents, and the hundred schools, should
hand them all over to a governor or commandant and they should
be indiscriminately burnt. If there is anyone who dares to mention
the Songs or Documents in private conversation, he should be
executed. Those who, using the old, reject the new will be wiped out
together with their clans.3

The imperial library kept a copy of all books, including those subject to
burning, but these books were lost when rebels burned the library in 207 BCE.
In conjunction with book burning, Li Si asked Qin Shihuang to persecute
Confucian scholars who opposed Legalism, whereupon Qin Shihuang ordered
the burial alive of 460 Confucian scholars in 212 BCE. Many more scholars
were sent to internal exile in the border regions of imperial China.

The subject of orthographic reform was revisited in the twentieth century and
it polarised China’s intellectual and political elite. Initiation of twentieth
century discourse on this subject can be traced to the pages of the influential
New Youth (La Jeunesse) magazine, which was established in 1915 by Chen
Duxiu (who went on to become dean of Peking University in 1917). The
establishment of New Youth was set against the historical backdrop of the
Hundred Years of National Humiliation (1839 - 1949), a term used to describe
the subjugation of the Qing dynasty by Western imperialist powers and Japan,
during which time China had been described as the Sick Man of Asia. New
Youth played a central role in the New Culture Movement (1915–1919) and
the subsequent May Fourth Movement (1919–1921). Political scientist,

3
Raymond Dawson (tr.), Sima Qian: The First Emperor, p. 74.

3
 Dilemma

Suisheng Zhao, shares his insights on the New Culture Movement and Chen
Duxiu:

The New Cultural movement was the first systemic expression of

antitraditionalism and created cultural realignments and cleavages
that remain important characteristics of modern China. ... Chen
[Chen Duxiu] declared that “to support Mr. Democracy and Mr.
Science, we have no choice but to oppose old art and condemn old
religion.” ... In a series of articles in New Youth, Chen contended
that to build a new nation, China had to thoroughly throw out
Confucianism. ... Chen suggested that liberty, equality, and civil
rights were “principles of Western civilization” while hierarchy and
dictatorship were “characteristics of Confucianism” and “the unique
civilization of China”.4

The New Culture Movement was not only about Mr. Democracy and Mr.
Science replacing the old culture of Confucianism. The term ‘New Culture
Movement’ in Chinese uses the character to represent the concept of
‘culture’. The character is a polyseme. It is a character with more than one
meaning. The character means (wén: literature, culture, writing).5 Therefore
the Chinese concept of ‘culture’ is inextricably bound to literature and writing.
As such, the New Culture Movement was as much about new literature and
writing as it was about a new scientific and democratic culture incorporating

4
Suisheng Zhao, ‘A Nation State by Construction, Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism’, pp. 57–
58.
5
Unihan Database: U+6587

4
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

principals of liberty, equality, and civil rights to replace the old culture of
Confucianism, which was characterised by hierarchy and dictatorship.

All possible options for orthographic reform were considered in public

discourse published in newspapers and magazines over the course of some forty
years. Discourse that was set against political backdrops ranging from the New
Culture Movement (1915–1919) during the era of the Republic of China
(1912–1949), up to the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956–1957) after the
establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.

One camp favoured basic orthographic reform to replace Chinese characters

with a phonetic script and was exemplified by Qian Xuantong, Chen Duxiu and
Lu Xun. Qian Xuantong was a linguist, writer and professor of Chinese
literature at Peking University, whereas Chen Duxiu was a philosopher, author,
dean of Peking University, founder of New Youth magazine, and co-founder of
the Chinese Communist Party. Lu Xun was a poet, writer, and literary critic.
He is widely regarded as China’s greatest writer in the twentieth century and
celebrated as the founding father of modern Chinese literature.

The camp opposed to basic orthographic reform was exemplified by Lin Yutang
and Chen Mengjia. Lin Yutang was an inventor, novelist, linguist, philologist,
lexicographer, and professor of English literature at Peking University. Chen
Mengjia was a poet, palaeographer, archaeologist and professor of Chinese at
Tsinghua University.

5
 Dilemma

In his 1918 open letter to Chen Duxiu, editor of New Youth, Qian Xuantong
initiated China’s twentieth century discourse on orthographic reform by
proposing the abolishment of the Chinese language:

Dear Mr. Chen:

In an earlier essay of yours you strongly advocated the abolition of
Confucianism. Concerning this proposal of yours, I think that it is
now the only way to save China. But upon reading it, I have thought
of one thing more: if you want to abolish Confucianism, then you
must first abolish the Chinese language; if you want to get rid of the
average person’s childish, uncivilized, obstinate way of thinking,
then it is all the more essential that you first abolish the Chinese
language.6

Qian Xuantong went on to say:

After written Chinese is abandoned ... we should adopt Esperanto,

an artificial language that is concise in grammar, uniform in
pronunciation, and elegant in its word roots.7

Chen Duxiu was in favour of initially replacing the Chinese writing script with
a Latin script.

In the period of transition (before the Chinese language is

abandoned), we need to first abolish the Chinese script. The Chinese

6
S. Robert Ramsey, The Languages of China, p. 3.
7
Ping Chen, ‘China’, in Andrew Simpson (ed.), Language and National Identity in Asia, p. 151.

6
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

language may be maintained for the time being, but should be

written in Roman Script.8

Lu Xun only favoured replacement of the Chinese written language with a

phonetic Latin writing script. This would have allowed retention of the spoken
Chinese language. In an article that first appeared in the Shanghai newspaper
Shen Bao in 1934, Lu Xun said:

The New Latinization uses only twenty-eight letters, and the

spelling is easy to learn. ... Thus, provided that one recognizes
twenty-eight letters and learns a few rules for spelling and writing,
then anyone but a lazybones or an imbecile can read and write.9

Lin Yutang favoured reforming and simplifying the logographic Chinese

character script as opposed to replacing it. Sinologist Qian Suoqiao
summarises Lin Yutang’s role in the discourse:

It should be pointed out that it was Lunyu [Analects Fortnightly

magazine established by Lin Yutang in 1932] that first promoted
the use of simplified Chinese characters. On the Nov. 16, 1933 issue
of Lunyu, Lin Yutang set up a discussion forum gathering public
opinions about the reform of Chinese characters. Although that
discussion did not finalize the standardization of simplified Chinese

8
Ping Chen, ‘China’, in Andrew Simpson (ed.), Language and National Identity in Asia, p. 151.
9
Victor H. Mair (tr.), ‘Lu Xun, An Outsider’s Chats About Written Language’ in Victor H. Mair et al.

(eds.), Hawai’i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture.

7
 Dilemma

characters, many of the viewpoints and choices anticipated the final

version implemented by the PRC government.10

Chen Mengjia opposed all orthographic reform and favoured retaining Chinese
characters unchanged. Writer and journalist Peter Hessler documented Chen
Mengjia’s role:

... the Communist Party launched the Hundred Flowers campaign,

during which intellectuals were invited to speak their minds ... Until
then, Chen Mengjia had not been active in the writing-reform
movement, but now he stepped in as a vigorous opponent of
alphabetization and character simplification. His words were
everywhere in the popular press that spring [1957]. In an article for
the Guangming Daily, he wrote, ‘There must be objective reasons
why we are still using these characters after more than three
thousand years ... They are our cultural inheritance.’11

Those who favoured basic orthographic reform to replace Chinese characters

were not a few eccentrics but were some of China’s most prominent intellectual
and political figures during the early part of the twentieth-century. Sinologist
Ping Chen shares his insights:

All of these prominent figures [Qian Xuantong, Chen Duxiu, Lu

Zun, Qu Qiubai and others] in twentieth-century China held sincere
and strong nationalist sentiments, and in their respective ways

10
Qian Suoqiao, Liberal Cosmopolitan: Lin Yutang and Middling Chinese Modernity, p. 118.
11
Peter Hessler, ‘Oracle Bones’, The New Yorker, 16 February 2004.

8
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

played important and highly commendable roles in the nationalist

movement working for modernization of the country. ... Indeed,
perhaps at no other point in modern history has the intellectual and
political elite of a major emerging nation seemed to hold its mother
tongue in such apparent abhorrence, and used such strong
depreciatory language in condemnation of the language. There
were, to be sure, certain dissenting voices defending the Chinese
language, but these were generally weak and few and far between,
at least in the first half of the twentieth century.12

Politician, writer and linguist Qu Qiubai, who was instrumental in developing a

phonetic writing script for Chinese called Latinxua Sinwenz, provides an
example of the strong depreciatory language in condemnation of the Chinese
language. He said:

Chinese characters are like the filthiest, most abominable, most

wicked, medieval night soil cesspit.13

China was facing an orthographic dilemma and the prominent political and
intellectual figures in the first half of the twentieth century debated the issue
but could not agree on a solution. Lu Xun framed the debate in terms of a
choice of either sacrificing everyone to old characters, or sacrificing old

12
Ping Chen, ‘China’, in Andrew Simpson (ed.), Language and National Identity in Asia, p. 152.
13
Ibid, p. 151.

9
 Dilemma

characters for the good of all.14 On his deathbed in 1936, he said, ‘If Chinese
characters are not eradicated, China will perish’.15

There is a mystery to solve. Why did China’s political and intellectual elite hold
their ‘mother tongue in such apparent abhorrence and used such strong
depreciatory language in condemnation of the language’? Why were China’s
intellectual and political elite so intent on replacing the Chinese writing script
that they were willing to consider abandoning their mother tongue completely?
What was the reason for China’s orthographic dilemma?

China had a Confucian education system dating back 2,500 years to Confucius,
but the character (xué: learning, knowledge; school) has a precursor in the
3,000-year-old Oracle Bone Script, which indicates that schools existed in
ancient China long before the Confucian era. Despite this exceedingly long
history of education and schools, hierarchical and dictatorial imperial China
had a literacy rate of between only 10% and 15% at the turn of the twentieth
century.16 There was a growing nationalist call to modernise (Mr. Science) and
change Chinese society (Mr. Democracy) in light of the Hundred Years of
National Humiliation. China had to modernise from a Confucian society
characterised by hierarchy and dictatorship into a modern democratic society
incorporating principals of liberty, equality, and civil rights. The denial of an
education to the common man may be viewed as a means of segregating China
into a hierarchical society based on literacy. This hierarchical model for an

14
David E. Pollard, The True Story of Lu Xun, p. 184.
15
Victor H. Mair, ‘Foreword’, in Zhou, Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and

Mencius and Establish Modern Confucianism’, p. iv.

16
Heidi Ross, ‘China Country Study’, p. 3.

10
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

agrarian society was out of date. China had to modernise, and the education of
the illiterate common man could no longer be denied. It had been denied for
too many millennia.

The New Culture Movement transitioned into the May Fourth Movement (4
May 1919), which grew out of student protests over the Chinese government’s
weak response to the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. The treaty
transferred Chinese territory (Kiautschou Bay Concession) from Germany over
to Japan instead of back to China. The Treaty of Versailles shattered Chinese
faith in liberal western democracy as the West was increasingly seen as cynical
and imperialist states that threatened the survival of China. Whilst the New
Culture Movement took English and American democracy as its role models,
the May Fourth Movement took Russian socialism as its role model.17 After
May Fourth, Chen Duxiu, who had once championed Mr. Democracy
incorporating principles of liberty, equality, and civil rights to replace
Confucianism characterised by hierarchy and dictatorship, went on to be a co-
founder of the Communist Party of China in 1921. China’s path towards liberal
democracy had been diverted. Political scientist Suisheng Zhao shares his
insights:

It was during the May Fourth movement that Chen Duxiu made the
critical shift from liberal cosmopolitan to a socialist. Chen’s
participation in the May Fourth demonstrations led to his arrest.
Once released, he became a powerful advocate of Marxism ...18

17
Suisheng Zhao, ‘A Nation State by Construction, Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism’, p.59.
18
Ibid, p.59.

11
 Dilemma

The systematic oppression of the illiterate across the many millennia of

hierarchical China’s long history was to lead to the Chinese Civil War (1927–
1950) between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and the Communist
Party of China (CPC). In 1936, the Communist forces gathered around Yan’an
after fleeing from encircling Kuomintang forces in a military retreat that is
today known as the Long March. In Yan’an, Mao Zedong’s communist
revolutionaries introduced a phonetic script called Latinxua Sinwenz to the
areas under their control. Journalist Edgar Snow venture into Communist
controlled territory to conduct first hand interviews with the leadership of the
CCP in Yan’an. These interviews were subsequently published in his book Red
Star Over China. In one interview, Mao Zedong said:

In order to hasten the liquidation of illiteracy here we have begun

experimenting with Hsin-Wen-Tzu [Latinxua Sinwenz]. It is now
used in our Party school, in the Red Academy, in the Red Army, and
in a special section of the Red China Daily News. We believe
Latinization is a good instrument with which to overcome illiteracy.
... Sooner or later, we believe, we will have to abandon the Chinese
character altogether if we are to create a new social culture in
which the masses fully participate. We are now widely using
Latinization, and if we stay here [Yan’an] for three years the
problem of illiteracy will have been largely overcome.19

More than 300 publications, totalling half a million copies, appeared in

Latinxua Sinwenz. The Communist administration in Yan’an announced that
documents written in Latinxua Sinwenz should enjoy the same legal status as

19
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China, p. 446.

12
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

those written in the Chinese character script.20 The administration decreed

that the most important of the laws and public announcements should also be
published in Latinxua Sinwenz. 21 Then, in 1944, the Latinxua Sinwenz
movement was officially and inexplicably curtailed on the pretext that there
were insufficient trained cadres capable of teaching the system.22

On 10 October 1949, the PRC was established, with Mao Zedong as the first
chairman of the CPC, and Zhou Enlai as the first premier of the PRC. The
Association for Chinese Language Reform was established at the same time
with proponents of Latinxua Sinwenz among its members. Mao was a
proponent of basic orthographic reform to replace Chinese characters with a
phonetic script, as were many intellectual and political elites in China during
the early years of the twentieth-century. There was an expectation that the
Chinese written language would undergo basic orthographic reform, that
Chinese characters would be replaced with a phonetic script. However, in 1950,
Mao wavered on this. Linguist and sinologist John DeFrancis documents the
change:

These expectations received a shattering blow when Mao Zedong

dropped a bombshell by laying down new guidelines and priorities
for language reform. The change in policy was signaled by Wu
Yuzhang’s convocation of the cadres of the Association for Chinese
Language Reform on 10 July 1950 to transmit to them instructions

20
Ping Chen, Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics, p. 186.
21
John DeFrancis, ‘The Prospects for Chinese Writing Reform’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 171, June 2006,
p. 3.
22
Jerry Norman, Chinese, p. 262.

13
 Dilemma

he had received from Mao the month before. In these instructions

Mao Zedong, presumably reflecting a collective decision of the
government, ... ordered that reform of the writing system should
start with simplification of characters... 23

In December 1955, the PRC released the first list of simplified characters. This
was followed by a second list in October 1956. 24 The reforms to simplify
characters involved three elements:

Defining new unique replacement characters

Mapping complex characters to simpler characters
Promotion of variant historical scripts into mainstream use

The reformed logographic writing script that is used in the PRC today is known
as Simplified Script. Following simplification of the Chinese character script,
the PRC released the phonetic Hanyu Pinyin (Pinyin) script in 1958. Zhou
Enlai introduced the new script but pointed out that the aim of Pinyin was to
make it easier for people to learn the logographic Chinese character script, not
to replace it. Wang Li, a leading linguist in the PRC who supported basic
orthographic reform, provided insights on the reality that forced Mao to give
way and put off basic orthographic reform. Wang Li said opposition ‘comes
primarily from intellectuals, especially from high-level intellectuals’.25

23
John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 257.
24
Wm. C. Hannas, Asia’s Orthographic Dilemma, Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 1997, p. 22.
25
John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 273.

14
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The protagonists in the Chinese Civil War may be viewed as China’s literate
gentry and landlords represented by the Kuomintang on one side, and China’s
illiterate common men, peasants and slaves represented by the CPC on the
other. This is a simplistic view of a complex situation. While the common men,
peasants and slaves were largely illiterate, the CPC was founded by Chen Duxiu
and Li Dazhao, both of whom had associations with Peking University and
were decidedly literate. Also with links to Peking University was a junior
employee at the library called Mao Zedong. Traditional accounts assert that
Mao hailed from a peasant background; he would have been one of relatively
few literate peasants at that time. Mao was perhaps accepted amongst the
literati in no small part due to his mentor, Yang Changji, a professor of
philosophy at Peking University, who had previously been Mao’s philosophy
teacher at Hunan First Normal University. (Mao was to subsequently marry
Yang Changi’s daughter, Yang Kaihui, as his 2nd wife.) The presence of literati
within the CPC is also exemplified by Premier Zhou Enlai who came from a
family of scholar officials–the literati who administered the bureaucracies of
imperial China. The literati belonged to the same hierarchical social class as
imperial China’s gentry and landlords. It is possible to speculate that Zhou
Enlai may have been one of the ‘high-level intellectuals’ referred to by Wang Li.

The PRC introduced Simplified Script in December 1955. In April 1956 Mao
launched the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956–1957) to encourage open
expression of opinion. Mao said:

‘Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought

contend’ should become our guideline in my opinion. Let a hundred

15
 Dilemma

flowers bloom in the arts and let a hundred schools of thought

contend in academia.26

In response to the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Chen Mengjia voiced

opposition to the reform of Chinese characters. The Hundred Flowers
Campaign was short lived and was followed by the Anti-Rightist Movement
(1957–1959). Chen was labelled as a ‘rightist’ and targeted in newspaper
headlines such as ‘The Rightist Element Chen Mengjia, a blade of grass that is
poisonous ... should never be allowed to root deep’.27 At the beginning of the
Cultural Revolution in 1966, Chen was severely persecuted and was sent to a
labour camp.

In a speech delivered in January 1958, Zhou Enlai commented on those who

opposed reform to Chinese characters:

In the early period of the rectification campaign, a number of

rightists launched vicious attacks on the reform of the written
language, alleging that the simplification of the Chinese characters
was a failure and that the masses opposed it. They demanded that
the State Council rescind its order and cancel the scheme for
simplification. Of course, the rightists had an ulterior motive in
their attack on the language reform. They used this as a pretext to
assail the Party and the government. But it was also true that they
opposed the language reform. The simplification of the characters is

26
Hu Angang, Mao and the Cultural Revolution, Volume 1: Mao’s Motivation and Strategy, p. 82.
27
Peter Hessler, ‘Oracle Bones’, The New Yorker, 16 February 2004.

16
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

a good thing which is in the interest of the people. The rightists who
opposed the people would naturally oppose it.28

It would be incorrect to assume that only rightist opposed to the reform of

Chinese characters were persecuted in the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957–
1959) and during the subsequent Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Lu Xun
favoured basic orthographic reform and had said on his deathbed, ‘If Chinese
characters are not eradicated, China will perish’. According to an anecdotal
account by Zhou Haiying (Lu Xun’s only child), during an evening gathering of
fellow Hunanese in Shanghai at the beginning of the Anti-Rightist Movement
in 1957, Luo Jinnan (former president of Xiamen University), asked Mao what
would happen to Lu Xun if he were still alive? Mao paused to think for a
moment, then responded in all seriousness: ‘In my estimation, he would either
be locked up, and continue his writing in jail, or he would be perspicacious
enough to grasp the situation and not utter a word’.29

From the establishment of the PRC in 1949, the state attacked Confucianism
and all things ‘old’. Confucius was reviled as a ‘slave holder’ and Confucian
values were condemned as oppressive and class-based. The attack culminated in
the Cultural Revolution and estimates of death from unnatural causes during
the revolution range from hundreds of thousands to over a million. China’s
orthographic reforms in the twentieth century and Qin Shihuang’s
orthographic reforms 2,200 years earlier are both inextricably linked to
Confucianism. Mao said:

28
Zhou Enlai, Reform of the Chinese Written Language, Peking, p. 10.
29
Zhou Haiying, Lu Xun yu wo qishi niàn, Haikou, Nanhai Chuban Gongsi, 2001, cited in Jon Eugene
von Kowallis, ‘Lu Xun: The Sexier Story: A Review Article’, CLEAR, vol. 27, 2005, p. 161.

17
 Dilemma

People always condemn Emperor Qin Shihuang for burning books

and burying alive Confucian scholars, and list these as his greatest
crimes. However, I think he killed too few Confucians. That is why
his successor Emperor Qin The Second lost the rule of the world.
Those Confucian scholars were indeed counter-revolutionaries.30

Lu Xun studied the Confucian classics and spoke through his writings. His
continued writing would have cost him his liberty had he lived into the 1950s
and not laid down his pen. Lu Xun’s writings may shed light on the mystery.
Why did Lu Xun say: ‘If Chinese characters are not eradicated, China will
perish’? What is there in the logographic (hànzì: Hanji, Chinese character)
script that would cause Qian Xuantong, a nationalist and a professor of
Chinese literature to propose replacing the Chinese language with Esperanto?
What did the nationalist, writer and linguist Qu Qiubai see in (hànzì:
Hanji, Chinese characters) that would cause him to say, ‘Chinese characters are
like the filthiest, most abominable, most wicked, medieval night soil cesspit’?
What was the cause of China’s orthographic dilemma?

Qin Shihuang established imperial China and buried Confucian scholars more
than 200 years before Christ was born. The mystery of China’s orthographic
dilemma has ancient roots that predate Christ. This orthographic dilemma may
have foundations in the Stone Age–a time when man lived in a primordial
state of nature. In 1651, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury
published Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common-Wealth
Ecclesiasticall and Civill–today commonly referred to simply as Leviathan.
The name is a reference to a sea monster that is mentioned in the Old

30
Zhengyuan Fu, Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics, p.188.

18
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Testament of the Bible. In his book, Hobbes hypothesised the natural condition
of mankind from which human society evolved, when there was war of every on
against everyone, and the life of man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and
short:

Out of Civil States, there is always Warre of every one againſt every
one. Hereby it is manifeſt, that during the time men live without a
common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition
which is called Warre ; and ſuch a warre, as is of every man againſt
every man. ...

Whatſoever therefore is conſequent to a time of Warre, where every

man is Enemy to every man ; the ſame is conſequent to the time,
wherein men live without other ſecurity, than what their own
ſtrength, and their own invention ſhall furniſh them withall. In
ſuch condition, there is no place for Induſtry ; becauſe the fruit
thereof is uncertain: and conſequently no Culture of the Earth ; no
Navigation, nor uſe of the commodities that may be imported by
Sea ; no commodious Building ; no Instruments of moving, and
removing ſuch things as require much force ; no Knowledge of the
face of the Earth ; no account of Time ; no Arts ; no Letters ; no
Society ; and which is worſt of all, continuall feare, and danger of
violent death ; And the life of man ſolitary, poore, naſty, brutiſh,
and ſhort.

... The Deſires, and other Paſſions of man, are in themſelves no Sin.
No more are the Aƈtions, that proceed from thoſe Paſſions, till they
know a Law that forbids them : which till Lawes be made they

19
 Dilemma

cannot know : nor can any Law be made, till they have agreed upon
the Perſon that ſhall make it. ...

In ſuch a Warre, nothing is Unjuſt. To this warre of every man

againſt every man, this alſo in conſequent ; that nothing can be
Unjuſt. The notions of Right and Wrong, Juſtice and Injuſtice have
there no place. Where there is no common Power, there is no Law :
where no Law, no Injuſtice.31

Note: Spelling, and punctuation from the Andrew Crooke 1651 first
edition. Character forms ſ=s, but f=f, and sometimes c=ƈ.

31
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, pp. 62-63.

20
 2
The Book

Logographs are symbols that represent ideas. Mankind’s earliest recognised

writing–Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian heliographs, and Chinese characters–
all share a commonality in using logographic elements. The logographs of the
Arabic numerals 1, 2, and 3 represent the idea of the numbers ‘one’, ‘two’, and
‘three’. A logographic script uses symbols to represent ideas, therefore the
symbols do not dictate pronunciation and the script is language independent.
The logographs 1, 2 and 3 can be read in English; they can also be read in
French, as well as in Chinese. The logographs representing the Arabic numerals
1, 2 and 3 can be read in every language, and knowledge of Arabic is not a
prerequisite for reading them. The only prerequisite is that the reader has to
understand the ideas represented by the logographs and to remember what the
logographic symbols 1, 2, and 3 represent.

The Chinese writing script is a logographic script. Sinologist Wenden Li shares

his insights on logographic scripts:

Previously, however, writing throughout the world was no different

from Chinese. Everywhere, written expression was logographic–
symbols represented words rather than sounds. ... What
distinguishes Chinese from the rest of the world’s ancient

21
 The Book

logographic languages is that Chinese logographic writing was not

abandoned in favour of alphabetic writing.1

It may be counter-intuitive, but knowledge of Chinese is not a prerequisite for

reading the (hànzì: Hanji, Chinese character) script, just as knowledge of
Arabic is not a prerequisite for reading Arabic numerals. The Chinese writing
script is a logographic script that is language independent. It can be read in
English and every other language. The Chinese characters , , and can be
read in English as ‘one’, ‘two’, and ‘three’. The character can be read in
English as ‘horse’. Because the logographic Chinese character script is
language independent, it has been used as a writing script by non-Chinese
countries in East Asia such as Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Within China itself,
characters have been used as a writing script to represent diverse and mutually
unintelligible dialects such as Fujianese, Shanghainese, Cantonese, and
Mandarin. In practical terms, mutually unintelligible Chinese dialects must be
treated as different languages. According to the linguist Leonard Bloomfield,
‘the term Chinese denotes a family of mutually unintelligible languages’. 2
Therefore, the Chinese character script has been used as a writing script by a
number of different languages within China as well as outside China.

This book examines and interprets Chinese characters in English. In this book,
Chinese characters are written together with their Pinyin transliteration and
English translations in the format: (mǎ: horse). Pinyin is displayed only in
lower case letters and is included as a guide to the pronunciation of Mandarin
Chinese for English readers. The use of a single case is reflective of the Chinese

1
Wendan Li, Chinese Writing and Calligraphy, p. 73–74.
2
John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 227.

22
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

character script, which does not have a differentiation for upper and lower case
letters. English translations of Chinese characters are capitalised in accordance
with British norms in the format (hànzì: Hanji, Chinese character). The
exceptions to this are ‘sun’ and ‘moon’, which are generally not capitalised in
this book for consistency with a number of quoted texts that have not
capitalised them.

In order for a logographic script to be understood, a character or logograph

should be consistent in representing the same meaning (or set of meanings)
whenever it is used. Once a simple basic character is understood, it can be used
in conjunction with other simple basic characters to form a more complex
associative compound character. An associative compound character may be
conceived to comprise a logical association of two or more sub-components,
which combine to form a very simple and rudimentary sentence. One should be
able to read and understand an associative compound sentence within a
Chinese character using symbolic and semantic logic. An example of an
associative compound character follows.

The character (rén: man) may be thought of as a type of logograph called a

pictograph–a logograph that is a picture of the thing it represents. The
character (rén: man) can be understood to be a simple stylised representation
of a matchstick man with two legs. The addition of the character (yī: one) to
the character (rén: man) results in the associative compound character
(dà: big). The associative compound sentence in the character (dà: big) is
formed from its sub-components ( ) in conjunction with the final character
( ) itself. This associative compound sentence says: (yī: one) (rén: man)
[is] (dà: big). In any social grouping or organisation, there is usually a leader

23
 The Book

who may be described as the ‘big man’. The logical association of ideas
expressed by the associative compound sentence (yī: one) (rén: man) [is]
(dà: big) can be understood universally.

We may also consider the character (dà: big) to be another type of logograph
called an ideograph–a logograph that represents an idea. The character may
be thought of as representing a man holding out his arms to indicate that the
fish that got away was that (dà: big). Therefore, there appears to be more
than one possible logical rationalisation for the character (dà: big). This
second rationalisation can also be understood universally.

In fact, the character can be rationalised to be a pictograph of a man with

two arms and two legs and this rationalisation can be understood universally.
The character is much more recognisable as a pictograph of a man than the
character (rén: man). Why then does the character not represent the
concept of ‘man’ instead of the character , which is deficient as it lacks arms?
We have been set a puzzle to solve. Why does a pictograph of a man ( ) not
represent the concept of ‘man’? In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi
Dictionary says: (běn: root, origin) (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (rén:
man) (zì: character).3 Therefore the character is a polyseme that represents
more than one meaning. It means (1. rén: man 2. dà: big).

(gǔwén: Classical Chinese) characters are a subset of characters in variant

form. All variant characters are dualities and can be used interchangeably.
‘Man’ can be written with any of the following variant characters: , , ,

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 248 #1: .

24
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma
4
and .5 Variant characters may be conceived of as dualities and they lie at
the heart of a classical cipher within Chinese characters that I call the Duality
Code.6 This book uses the symbol to denote dualities in the format:
.

This book uses the decryption format show immediately above. The associative
compound character being analysed ( ) is shown to the left of the colon. The
associative compound sentence ( ) that lies within the character is shown
to the right of the colon. The associative compound character ( ) is always the
last word in the associative compound sentence ( ).

Chinese characters are extremely ancient. They pre-date the earliest English
writing system (Anglo-Saxon Runes c.5th century CE) by units of time
measured in millennia. Some of these characters date to ancient China’s Bronze
Age over three thousand years ago, and there are others that date to the
preceding Stone Age. Due to their antiquity, the associative compound
sentences within Chinese characters are not sentences in the Queen’s English.
They must instead be viewed as sentences in a very primal language equivalent
to an extremely basic Pidgin English.

It is possible to comprehend the primal associative compound sentence: (yī:

one) (rén: man) (dà: big). However, there is a certain amount of ambiguity
in the sentence that permits different interpretations. I postulate that it is

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 755 #2: .
5
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 128 #34: .
6
W.K. Choy, The Duality Code.

25
 The Book

possible to read the primal associate compound sentence in three ways

as follows:

(yī: one) (rén: man) [is, was, or will be] (dà: big).
(yī: one) [is a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or will be] (dà: big).
(yī: one) [is] ‘ (rén dà: man big)’.

The first possibility, ‘ (yī: one) (rén: man) [is, was, or will be] (dà: big)’
can be universally understood as there is usually a leader in a group, society or
country. The second possibility, ‘ (yī: one) [is a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or
will be] (dà: big)’ appears slightly wayward and it raises the question: ‘If
(yī: one) is a man, what is his name?’ The third possibility, ‘ (yī: one) [is]
“ (rén dà: man big)”’ appears highly unusual and it raises the question:
‘Who is “man big” and what is his name?’ There is also the possibility that all
of the above three interpretations apply–that all interpretations are correct.
The Duality Code is contemplative and it invites consideration of all the
possible meanings of its primal associative compound sentences.

In order for associative compound characters to be logical, there should be

logical progression of ideas from one character to another with the addition of
every new element. However, the addition of the (gǔwén: classical Chinese)
character (zhǔ: master) 7 to the (gǔwén: classical Chinese) character
(rén: man) results in the quite unusual associative compound characters
(qu ǎ n: dog) and (tài: excessive; extreme). The associative compound

7
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 80 #12: .

26
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

sentences in these characters can be interpreted to say: (zhǔ: master) [of]

(rén: man) [is a] (quǎn: dog), and: (zhǔ: master) [of] (rén: man) [is]
(tài: excessive; extreme). These are logical associations of ideas, which form
primal sentences that can be comprehended. However, they appear to be quite
strange choices for communication of the ideas ‘dog’ and ‘excessive; extreme’.
Furthermore, there exist other extremely strange associate compound sentences
such as: (máo: hair, fur, feathers) [on a] (shī: corpse) [is a] (wěi: tail;
end). Why use the character (shī: corpse) to generate the meaning of (wěi:
tail; end)?

Is there any logic behind these strange associative compound sentences? If the
sentences in these characters are not logical, how do Chinese characters
generate meaning? Why are there extremely strange logical progression of ideas
such as (rén: man) (dà: big) (yāo: die young) (xiào: smile, laugh) and
(yǐn: secret) (ér: son; child) (wū: to cut off the feet) 8 generated by
incrementally adding one additional element to each preceding character?

Is there some oblique allusion, or subtext, behind these strange associative

compound sentences and logical progression of ideas? What would be the
purpose of this subtext if it exists? Are these strange associative compound
sentences and logical progression of ideas linked to the mystery surrounding
China’s orthographic dilemma? Perhaps these characters are not associative
compounds. Is the character a pictograph? Is the character an ideograph?
How does the (zhǔ: master) placed between the legs of (rén: man) generate
the meaning of (tài: excessive; extreme)?

8
Kangxi Dictionary: p. 123 #2: .

27
 The Book

The Chinese character script that is used today can be translated into English
as (kǎishū: Kai Script). Simplified Script used in the People’s Republic of
China and Traditional Script used in Taiwan are both expressions of
(kǎishū: Kai Script). The characters used to denote Kai Script are the
polysemes: (kǎi: model; pattern; regular; standard) and (shū: book;
writings). As such, these two characters have also been translated into English
as (kǎishū: Regular Script) as well as (kǎishū: Standard Script).
However, the character has the central meaning of (shū: book).
(kǎishū: Kai Script) itself is a book of writings. In Confucian Chinese
culture it is the Book. It is the Book of secret writings in which every Chinese
character has two parts that form a duality. Taking the character (1. rén:
man 2. dà: big) as an example, the first part of the duality comprises the sub-
components ( ), which are not read in vernacular Chinese. The second part
of the duality is the entire character ( ), which everyone literate in vernacular
Chinese characters can read and understand. Combining the two dualities, the
sub-components ( ) and the entire character ( ) yields the unity, which is
the associative compound sentence ( ). In essence, the sum of all the
associative compound sentences ( ) that lie hidden in the entire
vocabulary of the Chinese character script constitutes the Book. It is the
world’s most secretive book. It is a deconstructed book that hides in plain sight.
In order to hide in plain sight, the Duality Code uses a number of strategies to
encrypt hidden meanings into Chinese Characters. Four of these strategies are
explained below.

The first strategy is to use encrypted undefined characters such as and .

These undefined characters have to be decrypted before the associative

28
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

compound sentences in characters such as (jīn: now, today) and

(fènghuáng: phoenix) can be read.

The second strategy is to use substitution ciphers. An example of this is the

character (wěi: tail; end). The associate compound sentence (máo: hair,
fur, feathers; coarse) (shī: corpse; to impersonate the dead; to preside)
(1. wěi: tail 2. yǐ: horse’s tail) appears incomprehensible because there is a
substitution cipher present in the character （máo: hair, fur, feathers;
coarse). This substitution cipher will be decrypted in a later chapter.

The third strategy is to use unusual meanings of characters to decipher the

associate compound sentences in characters. This is also seen in the polysemic
character (1. wěi: tail 2. yǐ: horse’s tail), where the second pronunciation and
meaning (yǐ: horse’s tail) 9 is unusual and is probably unknown to most
Chinese educated only in vernacular Chinese.

The fourth strategy is to keep secret the context in which the associate
compound sentences can be understood. Reading the associate compound
sentence will not make sense unless the context relating to (1. wěi: tail
2. yǐ: horse’s tail) is known. The contextual framework of the Duality Code has
to be uncovered in order to understand all the associate compound sentences in
the Book. The contextual framework is highly elaborate and has a number of
parts that will be uncovered throughout this book.

Over a billion people literate in vernacular Chinese read Chinese characters on

a daily basis. They read only the last word ( ) of the associative compound

9
MDBG Dictionary: .

29
 The Book

sentence ( ), without comprehension of the Duality Code’s existence.

Imagine an ancient mariner who sets eyes for the very first time on a sea filled
with distant icebergs. All that the ancient mariner sees are the tips of the
icebergs protruding above the sea. He is not cognizant of the remaining 90% of
the iceberg that lies beneath the water. The astounding reality is that there are
over a billion modern mariners who navigate between icebergs on a daily basis
without realising what lies beneath the visible tip of each iceberg. Ancient
Chinese (wū: shamans) have devised an ingenious deception, which renders
all mariners incapable of comprehending what lies below the tip of icebergs. We
will explore the role of (wū: shamans) later in this book.

Classical cryptography is the art of using codes, or ciphers, to enable two

parties to communicate secretly. In most cases, security is dependent on secret
decryption keys shared between the parties. It is conventionally held that
classical ciphers fall into two basic categories: substitution ciphers, and
transposition ciphers. Computer scientist Niaz Chowdhury provides insights
relating to the conventional consensus on cryptography:

Classical cryptography perhaps traces its roots to carved ciphertext

on stones in Egypt around 1900 BCE. The scholarly consensus on
this, however, rules it out as cryptographic work and identifies it as
a drawing created out of amusement of literate observers that had
nothing to do with concealing information. If we accept this verdict,
the Greek transposition tool scytale [c.700 BCE] and the Hebrew
monoalphabetic substitution cipher Atbash [c.500 BCE] would be
the earliest form of cryptographic tools. ... The goal of cryptography
is to transform any data from its original form, called the plaintext,

30
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

into an obscure form known as the ciphertext. This process is called

encryption. The reverse process of recovering the plaintext from the
ciphertext is called decryption. 10

The Duality Code cipher exists in Chinese characters, and can be traced back
definitively to ancient China’s Bronze Age c.1050 BCE, but the foundations of
the code may have been laid in the preceding Stone Age. Developed over several
millennia, this cipher has no equal. It is a gigantic logical word puzzle where
each and every logographic Chinese character contains an associative
compound sentence. This logical word puzzle spans the entire universe of
Chinese characters and may spill over into every text written in classical
Chinese, from antiquity up to the modern era. The Book is read by decrypting
the strange associative compound sentences contained within Chinese
characters, and solving encrypted puzzles and conundrums that lie within
Chinese literature, culture and writing.

The Duality Code is ancient and the Kangxi Dictionary identifies three
individuals–Fuxi (unknown date BCE), King Wen (1152–1056 BCE) and
Confucius (551–479 BCE)–as the former ( ), middle ( ) and latter ( )
ancients respectively.11 King Wen is the posthumous name for Ji Chang, and it
means (wén: Culture) (wáng: King). Confucius was given the posthumous
title (wén: Culture) (xuán: Proclaim) (wáng: King) in 739 CE by Tang
dynasty Emperor Xuanzong. Therefore, King Wen and Confucius are the
culture kings.

10
Niaz Chowdhury, Inside Blockchain, Bitcoin, and Cryptocurrencies, pp. 28–29.
11
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 171 #8: .

31
 The Book

(gǔwén: Classical Chinese) is a conjunction of the characters (gǔ:

ancient) and the character (wén: literature, culture, writing). It says: (wén:
literature, culture, writing) [that is] (gǔ: ancient) [is] (gǔwén: classical
Chinese). These two characters may also be interpreted to mean [gǔwén:
ancients’ literature, culture and writing]. As such, the Duality Code is the
literature, culture and writing that has been handed down by the ancients from
the dawn of the Chinese history. The ancients and subsequent generations of
Chinese scholars have encrypted innumerable Duality Code puzzles. These
puzzles present themselves as strange associative compound sentences in
characters such as (quǎn: dog), (tài: excessive; extreme), and (1. wěi: tail
2. yǐ: horse’s tail).

The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors are mythological rulers that preceded
the legendary first Chinese dynasty–the Xia dynasty. Ancient legends relate
the story of Cang Jie, scribe to the Yellow Emperor (who was one of the
mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors). Sinologist Wendan Li shares his
insights:

To the Chinese, the creation of language means the creation of

Chinese characters. Credit for this invention is given to a half-god,
half human figure called Cang Jie, who lived about four thousand
years ago. The ancient Chinese believed that Heaven had secret
codes, which were revealed through natural phenomena. Only those
with divine powers were endowed with the ability to break them.
Cang Jie, who had four eyes, had this ability. He was able to
interpret natural signs and to transcribe the shapes of natural

32
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

objects (e.g., mountains, rivers, shadows of trees and plants, animal

footprints, and bird scratches) into writing.12

Ancient Chinese texts such as the Spring and Autumn Annals say: (cāngjié:
Cang Jie) (zuò: make; compose) (shū: book). Heaven had secret codes and
Cang Jie created the Book containing the code.

The Duality Code says: (cè: book) (jí: to assemble) [in] (lùn: logical
order). The Book that contains the Duality Code or Heaven’s secret code is
assembled (decrypted) through the systematic application of logic.
Mathematical logic, symbolic logic, semantic logic, and philosophical logic may
be viewed as different points along the same logical continuum. The Duality
Code explores the entire logical continuum.

Logical deduction is required to break the Duality Code in order to read

Heaven’s secret code in the Book created by Cang Jie. To read the Book that
resulted in countless deaths from unnatural causes during the Cultural
Revolution; to read the Book that polarised China’s literati in the run-up to the
Cultural Revolution; to read the Book that caused Qian Xuantong to propose
the replacement of the Chinese language with Esperanto; to read the Book that
caused Lu Xun to say: ‘If Chinese characters are not eradicated, China will
perish’; and to read the Book that caused Qu Qiubai to say: ‘Chinese characters
are like the filthiest, most abominable, most wicked, medieval night soil
cesspit’.

12
Wendan Li, Chinese Writing and Calligraphy, p. 5.

33
 The Book

One logical starting point for this journey of decryption is to examine the
historical evolution of Chinese characters, and to understand the principles of
Chinese character composition.

34
 3
Old Test

The Kangxi Dictionary identifies Fuxi as the former ( ) of three ancients.

This mirrors ancient Chinese myths that name Fuxi as the first of the legendary
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. To the Chinese, myth and history are
inseparable–myth is believed to be historical fact. Philosopher Xinzhong Yao
shares his insights:

In fact, myth, history and religion were once inseparable in China;

the figures of myths such as the Three Sovereigns (san huang) and
the Five Emperors (wu di) are not only believed to be the true
ancestors of the Chinese people, but are also taken as the initiators
(or even founders) of various religious streams or traditions,
representing both the divine order and the discoverers of this order
for human beings.1

As the first sovereign, Fuxi is the initiator of monarchy at the very origin of
ancient China’s culture. According to legend, Fuxi is associated with the
arrangement of the trigrams for divination, the creation of social order, the
institutionalisation of marriage, the introduction of animal husbandry, and
much else. Myth suggests that Fuxi was instrumental in the transitioning of
society in ancient China from a hunter-gatherer society into an agrarian

1
Xinzhong Yao, Chinese Religion, p. 51.

35
 Old Test

society. Han dynasty scholar Ban Gu (32–92 CE) provides insights on the
myth surrounding Fuxi in a text called the Bai Hu Tong:

In the beginning there was yet no moral nor social order. Man knew
their mothers only, not their fathers. When hungry, they searched
for food; when satisfied, they threw away the remnants. They
devoured their food hide and hair, drank the blood, and clad
themselves in skins and rushes. Then came Fu Hsi [Fuxi] and looked
upward and contemplated the images in the heavens, and looked
downward and contemplated the occurrences on earth. He united
man and wife; regulated the five stages of change [ (wŭxíng:
Five Movements)], and laid down the laws of humanity. He devised
the eight trigrams [ (bāguà: Eight Divinations)], in order to
gain mastery over the world.2

Archaeologists us a three age system–Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age–
for the periodisation of human evolution. The Stone Age describes a period in
our past when our ancestors used tools made of stone. It is conventionally
divided into three sub-periods, the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age, the
Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age, and the Neolithic Period or New Stone
Age.

The Neolithic Period is characterised by permanent settlements and advances

such as cereal cultivation and animal domestication, which marks the
adaptation from a nomadic hunter-gatherer society to a settled agrarian
society with established social order. The appearance of pottery for the storage

2
Ban Gu, Bai Hu Tong, cited in Wilhelm/Baynes (trs.), The I Ching or Book of Changes, p. 329.

36
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

of grain is another element that may be indicative of cereal cultivation and the
Neolithic period.

In ancient China, the earliest known pottery dates to c.20000 BCE, which
suggests that the Neolithic period may have begun in China as early as 20000
BCE. Historian Tony Lincoln shares insights on the early urbanisation of
China:

Pottery dating from 20000 to 10000 BCE is among the earliest

evidence of Chinese settlements. Some of these settlements
developed into the Yangshao Culture, lasting from 5000 to 3000
BCE. Many were located along the Yellow River and its tributaries
in Henan, and further east close to present-day Xi’an.3

Small numbers of inscriptions have been found on pottery, jade, bone, and shell
artefacts from the Neolithic Peiligang culture (c.7000–c.5000 BCE), which
reared pigs and cultivated rice as well as millet. There is an academic debate as
to whether these Neolithic symbols constitute writing, proto-writing, or non-
writing symbols. The mythical association of Fuxi with the development of
laws for social order, the regulation of the (wŭxíng: Five Movements), and
the creation of the (bāguà: Eight Divinations) would suggest that these
developments occurred in tandem. We shall see later in this book that the
(bāguà: Eight Divinations) and the (wŭxíng: Five Movements)
implies that writing and the Duality Code had been invented. This in turn
implies that the invention of Chinese writing and the Duality Code occurred at

3
Toby Lincoln, An Urban History of China, p. 16.

37
 Old Test

the very onset of the Neolithic period. Evolution of Neolithic symbols into
Chinese writing is a phenomenon that merits investigation.

The Chalcolithic or Copper Age describes a transitional period from the

Neolithic period of the Stone Age to the succeeding Bronze Age. Scholars
consider the Copper Age as part of the Neolithic Period within the broader
three age system. The Copper Age is characterised by copper smelting and the
emergence of states–populous socially stratified societies governed by
powerful rulers. Brass (a mixture of copper and zinc) found at Jiangzhai is
dated to 4500 BCE indicating that the Copper Age had arrived in China by that
time. The Jiangzhai culture lies within the Yellow River basin and
archaeologists have found pottery artefacts with symbols on them that are
dated to c. 4400 BCE.

The end of the Stone Age (Neolithic period encompassing the Copper Age) and
the beginning of the Bronze Age is marked by the advent of bronze-smelting
technology (bronze is a mixture of copper and tin). This resulted in the
replacement of tools made from stone and bone with tools made from bronze.
Bronze artefacts from ancient China (sacrificial vessels, wine vessels, spears,
arrowheads, and axes) have been unearthed at the archaeological site of
Erlitou, which is believed by some archaeologists to be the site of the legendary
first Chinese dynasty called the Xia dynasty. These artefacts date to c.2000
BCE indicating that the Bronze Age had arrived in China by that date.
Archaeologist Cao Dingyun in his paper ‘Identification of Writing in the Xia
Period’ published in Chinese Archaeology, asserts:

38
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Do these pottery glyphs [symbols] belong to the earliest writing?

Certainly don’t. Although they are more primitive than the
corresponding oracle-bone inscriptions, they are still rather complex
in structure, and the simpler coexist with the more complex. ...
Therefore the source of Chinese writing should be traced in
archaeological cultures earlier than the Erlitou culture.4

Cao Dingyun identified Erlitou pottery glyphs (symbols) that he deciphered to

represent Oracle/Bronze Script characters for (xíng: walk) and (shǐ:
arrow). We shall see later that these are highly significant characters in the
Duality Code.

Oracle Bone Script (Oracle Script) is the largest corpus of writing from ancient
China that exists today. These are characters inscribed on shell and bone
artefacts that date to between c.1300 and 1046 BCE. The artefacts were
recovered from the ruins of the legendary second Chinese dynasty–the Shang
dynasty (c.1600–1046 BCE). The Shang dynasty is sometimes also known as
the Yin dynasty. Oracle Script offers conclusive evidence that Chinese
characters are at least 3,300 years old.

The Shang were a Bronze Age warrior tribe that was reputed to be exceedingly
cruel. They waged war continually with a neighbouring tribe called the Qiang,
and alternated war and peace with another neighbouring warrior tribe called
the Zhou. The Zhou invoked the Mandate of Heaven to overthrow the Shang in
1046 BCE. This is the earliest known invocation of the Mandate of Heaven,

4
Cao Dingyun,’Identification of Writing in the Xia Period’, Chinese Archaeology, vol. 5, issue 1, p. 186.

39
 Old Test

which affirms that only a virtuous king has the right to rule. The ancient Book
of Documents chronicles the Zhou invocation:

He [the Duke of Zhou] said,

“I salute with joined hands and bow my head to the ground, in
respect for you, king-favoured duke. And in a [formal]
announcement I declare [this] to [you] Yin peoples and to your
managers of affairs.

“Ah! August Heaven, High God, has changed his principal son and
has revoked the Mandate of this great state of Yin. When a king
receives the Mandate, without limit is the grace thereof, but also
without limit is the anxiety of it. Ah! How can he fail to be
reverently careful!

“Heaven has rejected and ended the Mandate of this great state of
Yin. Thus, although Yin has many former wise kings in Heaven,
when their successor kings and successor people undertook their
Mandate, in the end wise and good men lived in misery. Knowing
that they must care for and sustain their wives and children, they
then called out in anguish to Heaven and fled to places where they
could not be caught. Ah! Heaven too grieved for the people of all
lands, wanting, with affection, in giving its Mandate to employ
those who are deeply committed. The king should have reverent care
for his virtue.5

5
Wm. Theodore de Bary et al, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Second Edition, Volume I, From Earliest

Times to 1600, p. 36.

40
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Kangxi Dictionary identifies King Wen of Zhou as the middle ( ) of the
three ancients. His son defeated the last Shang king at the Battle of Muye in
1046 BCE. This battle marked the end of the Shang dynasty and the attainment
of China by the Zhou dynasty, which is divided into two periods; Western Zhou
(1046–771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (771–256 BCE).

The advent of iron-smelting technology marks the end of the Bronze Age and
the beginning of the Iron Age. The earliest artefact that provides evidence for
the arrival of iron-smelting technology in China is an iron sword with a bronze
core and a jade handle. It was recovered from the mausoleum of Guo Ji, ruler of
the vassal state of Western Guo, which existed during the Zhou dynasty. This
indicates that the Iron Age began in ancient China c.800 BCE at the latest. At
this time in history, the Duality Code was re-encrypted from Oracle Script into
Large Seal Script. Large Seal Script is attributed to Scribe Zhou, who lived
during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou (825–782 BCE). King Xuan’s reign was
marked by political instability–with rebellions against royal command and
struggles to restore royal authority. The earliest precursor to Chinese
dictionaries may be a text that could be attributed to Scribe Zhou called the
Shizhoupian, which is thought to have been compiled c.800 BCE. It is no longer
extant but its existence is known through references in other ancient texts.

The arrival of the Iron Age in China was to herald the end of the Western Zhou
soon thereafter when King You of Zhou was killed by joint forces from the
vassal states Shen and Zeng, together with forces of Quan Rong (thought to
refer to the Qiang). This brought about the beginning of the Eastern Zhou
dynasty with the migration eastwards of the Zhou ruling house. The Eastern
Zhou was characterised by the accelerating collapse of royal authority and is

41
 Old Test

itself divided into two periods–the Spring and Autumn Period (771–446 BCE)
and the Warring States Period (446–221 BCE). The Spring and Autumn period
takes its name from the Spring and Autumn Annals, which is the official
chronicle of the vassal state of Lu from 722 to 481 BCE that was said to be
written by Confucius, who is identified as the latter ( ) ancient by the Kangxi
Dictionary.

Historical events during Confucius’ lifetime reflected the accelerating collapse

of royal authority during the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Records relating to King
Jing of Zhou (519–477 BCE), a contemporary of Confucius, reveal that there
was a continual power struggle with a vassal leader called Tzu Ch’ao. Han
dynasty scholar Sima Qian chronicled the power struggle in a text called
Records of The Grand Historian:

In the first year of King Ching [King Jing] (519 BCE), the people of
Chin escorted King Ching back to Chou [Zhou]. Yet, since Tzu
Ch’ao had enthroned himself, King Ching was unable to enter the
capital. He stayed at Tse . In the fourth year (516 BCE), Chin
followed by the feudal lords, escorted King Ching back to Chou,
making Tzu Ch’ao his vassal. The feudal lords rebuilt the city wall
of Chou. In the sixteenth year (504 BCE), Tzu Ch’ao and his
followers again rose in revolt. King Ching fled to Chin. In the
seventeenth year (503 BCE) Duke Ting of Chin (r. 511–475
BCE) successfully escorted King Ching back to Chou.6

6
William H. Nienhauser, Jr. (ed.), The Grand Scribe’s Records, p. 78.

42
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Confucius was native to the vassal state of Lu, where he gained a government
position. He is thought to have engaged in a number of political intrigues c.500
BCE that led to his extremely hurried departure from Lu in 498 BCE.7 This
departure was explained by Mencius (the most important Chinese philosopher
after Confucius):

When Confucius was chief minister of Justice in Lu, the prince came
not to follow his counsels. Soon after there was the solstitial
sacrifice, and when a part of the flesh presented in sacrifice was not
sent to him, he went away even without taking off his cap of
ceremony.8

Sinologist Roel Sterckx asserts: ‘The acceptance or refusal to accept sacrificial

meats functioned as a symbolical reaffirmation or rejection of interpersonal
and interstate allegiances’.9 Confucius had engaged in political intrigues and Lu
had publicly severed political allegiance with him by not apportioning him
sacrificial meat. Confucius could have landed himself in hot soup. He was
possibly the next item in an unforgiving political agenda. He chose to
immediately depart Lu with all possible haste, so much so that he did not even
linger to remove his ceremonial cap. Upon exile, Confucius travelled to other
vassal states to offer his services without success. Philosopher Alexus McLeod
shares his insights:

7
Alexus Mcleod, Understanding Asian Philosophy, p. 50.
8
James Legge (tr.), The Works of Mencius, 6B6.
9
Roel Sterckx, Food, Sacrifice, and Sagehood in Early China, p. 28.

43
 Old Test

In 498 BCE, due to his role in Duke Ding of Lu’s unsuccessful

attempt to tear down the defenses of the Meng family at Cheng,
Confucius and his followers were exiled. He took his show to the
road, so to speak, travelling to various states ... Confucius
experienced failure after failure – turned or chased out of states,
ignored and neglected.10

However, Confucius was invited to return to Lu in 484 BCE. His student, Ran
Qiu, who had returned to Lu earlier and gained high political office, may have
played a role in this. 11 After returning, Confucius committed himself to
teaching and developing the classical texts for a Confucian education. Scholar
and linguist Zhou Youguang, who was given the task of developing a phonetic
script to replace the Chinese character script by the PRC, explains:

Confucius deleted what he thought to be inappropriate from The

Book of Odes and The Book of Documents, established the
tradition of The Book of Rites and The Book of Music, and
composed The Spring and Autumn Annals. ... In the late Spring and
Autumn period (771–476 BC), vassals competed against each other
for land, and the people were afflicted with constant wars,
struggling to survive ... Confucius wished to restore the hierarchical
and social order of the Western Zhou (1046–771 BC). After failing
to fulfill [sic] his ambition, he committed himself to education.12

10
Alexus McLeod, Understanding Asian Philosophy, pp. 49-50.
11
Yong Huang, Confucius, pp. 27–28.
12
Zhou Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern
Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p. 1.

44
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Zhou dynasty ended in 256 BCE when King Nan of Zhou was killed by the
army from the vassal state of Qin. Later, in 221 BCE, Zhao Zheng–a
subsequent leader of the vassal state of Qin – was to defeat the other warring
vassal states and unify all under Heaven to establish the Qin dynasty (221–
206 BCE). Qin Shihuang and his chancellor Li Si reformed Large Seal Script,
which was re-encrypted as Small Seal Script in 221 BCE. At this turbulent time
in China’s history, the Duality Code was further re-encrypted into a new script
that is linked to Cheng Miao. The new script is known by different names
including Li Script, Clerical Script, Chancery Script, and Official Script. The
Qin dynasty adopted Legalism, which held equality of all before the law as a
central principal, but it was short-lived. It was soon replaced by the Han
dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), which adopted Confucian doctrine of a
hierarchical social order, with inequalities before the law, as state orthodoxy.

The Han dynasty ended in 220 CE and was followed by another politically
unstable period in China’s history called the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE),
where three vassal states vied for dominion. The Duality Code was re-encrypted
into Kai Script c.220 CE, during the transition of the Han dynasty to the
beginning of the warring Three Kingdoms period. The first master of Kai Script
was Zhong Yao, who is also known as the Father of Kai Script. Zhong Yao was
a scholar official of considerable importance in the state of Cao Wei, which was
one of three warring vassal states during the Three Kingdoms period.

Kai Script is still in use today as Simplified Script in the People’s Republic of
China, and as Traditional Script in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both
Simplified Script and Traditional Script may be considered re-encryptions of
the Duality Code following the end of another period of political instability in

45
 Old Test

China–political instability represented by the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912,

the Warlord Era (1916–1928) when the Republic of China was divided between
warlords vying for dominion upon the death of Yuan Shikai (first president of
the Republic of China), followed finally by the Chinese Civil War fought
intermittently between the CPC and the Kuomintang from 1927 to 1949.

Throughout China’s history, from antiquity until the twentieth century, there
have been different vassal states headed by warlords that have sought
dominion over China. The Duality Code had been continually re-encrypted in
times of political instability, warfare and change. This book examines the three
most important layers of the Duality Code, contained in Oracle Script, Small
Seal Script (Seal Script) and Kai Script.

According to conventional belief, the composition of Chinese characters is

based on six principles, called the (liùshū: six writings). They are:

Ideographs
Pictographs
Semantic-Phonetic Compounds
Associative Compounds
Derivative Cognates
False Borrowings

The Shuowen Dictionary compiled c.100 CE, lists a total of over 10,000
characters and variants. However, it identifies only seven characters as
associative compounds ( ). The natural consequence of this is
that Chinese characters are not usually taught as associative compounds.

46
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

According to linguist and sinologist John DeFrancis, by the eighteenth century,

the vast majority of Chinese characters were semantic-phonetic compounds,
which accounted for some 97% of all Chinese characters.13 As a result, Chinese
characters are mainly taught as semantic-phonetic compounds, instead of
associative compounds. A semantic-phonetic compound may be viewed as a
simple quiz. Ask a six-year-old English-speaking child the question: ‘What
“metal” sounds like the word “old”’? It is likely that the child would arrive at
the answer: ‘gold’. This is the basic principle behind a semantic-phonetic
compound character, which comprises two component parts:

a semantic component that indicates the subject (such as ‘metal’)

a phonetic component that indicates the pronunciation (such as ‘old’)

As an example, the semantic-phonetic compound character comprises two

component parts– and . It asks the question: ‘What “ (shuǐ: water,
liquid)” sounds like “ (kě: possible)”’? The answer that a six-year-old Chinese-
speaking child could arrive at is: ‘ (hé: river)’.

Rain and dew can be described as water, and there are many different types of
liquids. The semantic-phonetic compound character (hé: river) is also an
associative compound sentence that says: (kě: possible) (shuǐ: water, liquid)
[is a] (hé: river). It is a true statement, even though it appears trivial and is
inadequate as a self-explanation for the concept of (hé: river). An associative
compound sentence that lies within a Chinese character does not have to be a

13
John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 84.

47
 Old Test

self-explanation of the character. Associate compound sentences within

Chinese characters narrate the context of the Duality Code.

The Shuowen Dictionary nominates the character (xìn: believe, letter) as an

example of an associative compound. It is a cryptic hint to examine the
associative compound sentence in this character. The ancients have provided a
cryptic clue and instruction: (yán: words; speak) (rén: man) [to] (xìn:
believe, letter). The (yán: words) are the associative compound sentences that
lie within each Chinese character. In the polysemic character (yán: words;
speak), the ancients say cryptically that: (yán: words) [can] (yán: speak).
The associative compound sentences contained within a Chinese character
represent messages from the ancients who speak to you; they are letters from
the ancients to you. In the polysemic character (xìn: believe; letter), the
ancients cryptically ask you to: (xìn: believe) [their] (xìn: letters). The
fundamental axiom of the Duality Code is that the letters from the ancients are
messages that contain true associative compound sentences. If you do not
understand an associative compound sentence within a Chinese character, it is
either because you have decrypted the character incorrectly; or you have not
understood a context in which the associative compound sentence makes
logical sense. This book interprets the messages in the letters from the ancients.
It reads Chinese characters as associate compound sentences and explains a
context in which Chinese characters make logical sense.

The message from the ancients in the character (hé: river), shown above,
provided the clue: (kě: possible) (shuǐ: water, liquid) [is a] (hé: river).
This is interpreted to mean that the character (shuǐ: water, liquid) can

48
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

possibly be read as [hé: river]. Therefore, the decryption of the polyseme

[1. shuǐ: water, liquid 2. hé: river] is made. (An explanation about the use of
square brackets to indicate [decryptions] will be provided later in this chapter.)
The Duality Code makes use of the secret meaning [hé: river] somewhere
within its gigantic web of ciphers. The ancients set puzzles to solve when their
letters make strange or unusual statements such as: (zhǔ: master) [of] (rén:
man) [is a] (quǎn: dog). When this occurs, logic is applied to solve the puzzle
of the strange message from the ancients.

The ancients have disguised their messages to resemble semantic-phonetic

compounds, pictographs and ideographs. The ingenious deception of the
ancient (wū: shamans) that renders mariners capable of comprehending only
the tips of icebergs is the (liùshū: six writings). Chinese characters are
associative compounds, but the (liùshū: six writings) conjures up reasons
to read characters as pictographs, ideographs and semantic-phonetic
compounds in order to divert attention away from the associative compound
sentences contained within characters. The character (hé: river) is one
example of this, it is taught as a semantic-phonetic compound instead of an
associative compound. Another example is the character (dà: big), which is
taught as an ideograph instead of an associative compound. The (liùshū:
six writings) provides the beguiling rationale for not reading the associative
compound sentences in characters. In effect, it holds people in thrall and
renders them capable of only reading the last word (such as ) in associative
compound sentences (such as ).

The (liùshū: six writings) was first mentioned in an ancient text called the
Rites of Zhou. It is also mentioned in the Shuowen Dictionary–a Han dynasty

49
 Old Test

etymological dictionary compiled c.100 CE by the scholar Xu Shen. In the

Shuowen Dictionary, Xu Shen nominates example characters that illustrate
each of the (liùshū: six writings):

Ideograph: (shàng: top; superior; go up) and (xià: below; inferior;

bring down)
Pictograph: (rì: sun; day) and (yuè: moon; month)
Semantic-Phonetic Compound: (jiāng: large river) and (hé: river)
Associative Compound: (wǔ: military) and (xìn: believe; letter)
Derivative Cognate: (kǎo: test) and (lǎo: old)
False Borrowing: (lìng: command) and (zhǎng: leader)

Xu Shen has hidden a Duality Code ciphertext message in the characters that
he has nominated as example characters that illustrate each of the (liùshū:
six writings). By convention, writing a sentence is a task carried out from the
beginning of the sentence to the end of the sentence. The Duality Code is
written forwards from the beginning to the end, but is normally read
backwards from the end to the beginning. This may be conceived of as a form
of transposition cipher. Transposing the example characters back to front
exposes a rough outline of Xu Shen’s intended message:

(zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command) (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test)

(xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ: military) (hé: river) (jiāng: large river)
(yuè: moon; month) (rì: sun; day) (xià: below; inferior; bring down)
(shàng: top; superior; go up).

50
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Transposition is the first step in a two-step process to decrypt Xu Shen’s

message. He has also encrypted his message with a substitution cipher. One
clue to the existence of the substitution cipher is indicated by the character
(jiāng: large river), which is nominated as an example of a semantic-phonetic
compound. The character asks the question: ‘What “ (shuǐ: water, liquid)”
sounds like “ (gong: worker)”’? The answer ‘ (jiāng: large river)’ is strange.
It is very much out-of-tune with the phonetic element (gong: worker).
Sinologist Wendan Li explains out-of-tune semantic-phonetic compounds:

In modern Chinese, the majority of characters in the writing system

belong to the category of semantic-phonetic compounds. ... It is
worth noting, however, that there are problems with extensive
reliance on semantic-phonetic characters. Languages change over
time, and Chinese is no exception. Both the pronunciation and the
meaning of characters are in a state of flux. While the written signs
remain constant, over time sound change and semantic evolution
have eroded the relationship between characters and their sound
and semantic components, making it more and more difficult to
deduce meaning and pronunciation of a character from its written
form.14

Language may change over time, but so have Chinese characters that have been
re-encrypted a number of times. An out-of-tune semantic-phonetic compound
could easily have been replaced by a new and in-tune semantic-phonetic
compound. Although it is plausible that sound changes over time (also known
in linguistics as phonetic drift) may cause out-of-tune semantic-phonetic

14
Wendan Li, Chinese Writing and Calligraphy, p. 79.

51
 Old Test

compounds, I take the view that such out-of-tune semantic-phonetic

compounds have never been in-tune. The Duality Code uses out-of-tune
semantic-phonetic compounds as markers to indicate that there is something
strange and not logical that needs to be investigated. The out-of-tune semantic-
phonetic compound (jiāng: large river) nominated by Xu Shen is indicating
that there is something strange connected with the character. Investigation
reveals that there is a false borrowing substitution cipher present.

False borrowing may be conceptualised as a form of substitution cipher that

gathers characters around a common false borrowing element to create
ciphertext. It is decrypted by removal of the common false borrowing
component from all characters that are gathered together in this way. This
reveals the residual components containing the intended plaintext. The false
borrowing in the character (jiāng: large river) is the component (shuǐ:
water, liquid). Removal of the false borrowing component from both the
characters and reveals the intended plaintext (gong: worker) and
(kě: can, possible). This completes the second step of the decryption process.
False borrowing will be examined in detail in a later chapter. Making
adjustments for the transposition cipher and false borrowing substitution
cipher, a rough outline plaintext of Xu Shen’s encrypted message is shown
below. Chinese characters are polysemic and Xu Shen’s message now need to be
interpreted. This will be done in stages as this book progresses.

(zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command) (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test)

(xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ: military) (kě: possible) (gong: worker)
(yuè: moon; month) (rì: sun; day) (xià: below; inferior; bring down)
(shàng: top; superior; go up).

52
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The ‘old test’ mentioned in Xu Shen’s message is the Duality Code, which was
encrypted into Chinese characters by the ancients and generations of Chinese
scholars since antiquity. When Xu Shen compiled the Shuowen Dictionary c.100
CE, the Duality Code was already considerably in excess of 1,400 years old. Xu
Shen is addressing you in his encrypted message, and he refers to you as (kě:
possible) (gong: worker). There is an ancient Chinese class structure called
the (sìmín: Four Classes).15 Worker is the third of the Four Classes and it
is associated with the number three. There is a numeric element that is central
to the Duality Code. Xu Shen tells you to: (xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ:
military). The character (wǔ: military) may be interpreted as an abbreviation
for (wǔshì: warriors). The (shì: shi) were the upper class in Chinese
society and they were the first of the (sìmín: Four Classess). The (shì:
shi) were originally associated with the (wǔshì: warriors). Sinologist Kam
Louie shares his insights on the shi:

Chen Shan [a historian] postulates that in the Zhou Dynasty, men

who had wu (martial arts) expertise dominated the shi (the upper
classes). They were known as the wǔshì. It was only after
Confucianism took hold that wen became progressively more
dominant for the upper classes, resulting in shi’s later association
with ‘scholar-officials’.16

Historian Anthony J. Barbieri–Low shares his insights on the evolution of the

shi identity:

15
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .
16
Kam Louie, Theorising Chinese Masculinity, Society and Gender in China, pp. 10-11.

53
 Old Test

During the late Zhou period, when the term first appeared in the

commoner rankings, the word shi did not mean “literary

scholar”, as it would later. Instead, it usually indicated the sons of

peripheral branches of noble families who had to gain official

position based on skills and merit. By the Han period, the term had

come to mean both book scholars and members of the influential

landed families, the types of men who filled the new imperial

bureaucracy. The Han term could denote those who merely sat as

pupils of known scholars ... or those who had already entered

government service.17

From the Zhou dynasty, the (shì: shi) were peripheral nobles who were
primarily (wǔshì: warriors), but over time they became the (shìzú:
land-owning class), (bóshì: court academicians), and (shì dàfū:
scholar officials). As court academicians and scholar officials, the shi were
directly involved with scholarship. They created linguistic terms by appending
the character (shì: shi) to characteristics and activities that (shì: shi)
associated with themselves. The Duality Code is the language of the (shì:
shi), who were the: (jíshì: good and virtuous persons), (xiánshì:
virtuous persons, men of merit), (háoshì: men of honour and courage),
(yìshì: high-minded and righteous persons; patriots; loyalists),
(yǒngshì: warriors, brave persons), (zhuàngshì: heros, warriors),
(lièshì: martyrs), (shìbīng: soldiers), (cèshì: strategists, counsellors
on military strategy), (nánshì: gentlemen), (shēnshì: gentry,

17
Anthony J. Barbieri–Low, Artisans in Early Imperial China, p. 37.

54
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

gentlemen), (shìrén: intelligentsia, scholars), (rúshì: Confucian

scholars), and (wénshì: literati). Xu Shen tells you to believe the letters
from the shi. We will explore other shi identities through terms formed with the
character (shì: shi) later in this book.

Shi scholars were the creators of the Duality Code and shi cryptographers
compiled decryption manuals to facilitate the decryption of the code. This book
primarily uses two of those decryption manuals–the Shuowen Dictionary
compiled c.100 CE by Xu Shen, and the Kangxi Dictionary first published 1716
CE. Reference to any other Chinese dictionary will be noted in the text of this
book.

The Kangxi Dictionary is a compendium quoting from Chinese classics such as

(lǐjì: Book of Rites) and the (shǐjì: Records of the Grand Historian), as
well as texts on (liùshū: six writings) such as (liùshū lüe: Abstract
on the Six Types of Chinese Characters) and (liùshū běnyì: Original
Meanings of Six Writings). Furthermore it provides definitions given in Chinese
dictionaries that preceded it for two millennia such as:

Erya, c.250 BCE

Shiben, c.250 BCE

Cangjiepian, c.220 BCE

Jijiupian, c.40 BCE

Shuowen, c.121 CE

Shiming, c.200 CE

Guangya c.230 CE

55
 Old Test

Zilin, c.350 CE

Yupian, c.534 CE

Ganlu Zishu, c.700 CE

Guangyun, c.1007 CE

Leipian, 1066 CE

Zihui, published 1615 CE

Zihui bian, published 1621 CE

Zihui bu, published 1666 CE

Zhengzitong, published 1671 CE

The earliest Chinese dictionary is thought to be the Shizhoupian, which was

compiled c.800 BCE. This text is no longer extant, but its existence is known
through references in other ancient texts such as the Shuowen Dictionary.
Existence of the Shizoupian is also known through ancient Chinese statute. Art
historian and archaeologist Haicheng Wang explains:

It seems that Shi Zhou pian was still widely used in the Han period
(second century B.C. to A.D. second century). An early Han statute
on the training of scribes ordered students to master characters
from a primer that has been interpreted as Shi Zhou pian ...18

Large Seal Script was re-encrypted into Small Seal Script by Li Si who authored
the Cangjiepian c.220 BCE. This dictionary was lost for over a thousand years
but rediscovered by archaeologists who found fragments of a copy in 1977.

18
Wang Haicheng, Writing and the Ancient State, p. 280.

56
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Although physical copies of the Cangjiepian were lost, the Kangxi Dictionary
nevertheless quotes the Canjiepian on numerous occasions, which suggests that
the lexicographers who compiled the Kangxi Dictionary had at least indirect
knowledge of the Canjiepian’s contents.

The earliest extant Chinese dictionary is the Erya. The major part of this
dictionary is thought to date to the third century BCE, but the earliest parts
may date to c.325 BCE, and there may have been additions as late as 90 BCE.
The Erya is on of the Thirteen Classics on which the imperial examinations in
China were based.

Although the Kangxi Dictionary quotes the Shuowen Dictionary, it

nevertheless expects readers to refer directly to the Shuowen Dictionary for
certain encryptions. Therefore the Kangxi Dictionary serves as the primary
decryption manual for this book, and reference is made to the Shuowen
Dictionary when required. These decryption manuals are solely in Chinese and
translations into English will be required. This book uses three online resources
for the translation of Chinese into English. They are:

The Unicode Consortium’s Unihan Database (Unihan Database) as the

primary translator of single Chinese characters into English. The
Unihan Database is an effort to create a universal character set for
Hanzi, Kanji, Hanja and Han Tu characters for computer encoding. The
Ideographic Research Group comprising experts from China, Japan,
South Korea, Vietnam as well as other countries that use Chinese or
Han characters is responsible for this effort.

57
 Old Test

The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s online version of the Lin

Yutang Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage (Lin Yutang
Dictionary) for both single Chinese characters and words or phrases
combining two or more characters.

The MDBG Chinese Dictionary (MDBG Dictionary) website based on

the CEDICT project started by Paul Denisowski in 1997 with the aim to
provide a complete downloadable Chinese to English dictionary. The
MDBG Dictionary is also used for both single Chinese characters and
words or phrases combining two or more characters.

Chinese characters directly translated into English through the three online

resources mentioned above will be shown within (round brackets) in the format

(shuǐ: water, liquid). Characters where additional polysemic meanings are

taken from the Kangxi Dictionary or the Shuowen Dictionary and translated

through the online dictionaries into English are also displayed using (round

brackets). This is exemplified by (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) where the Unihan

Database provides the definition: (dà: big), but the Kangxi Dictionary tells

us that the character is the original (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (rén:

man) (zì: character), which provides an additional polysemic meaning to give

us (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) as was explained earlier in this book. Round

brackets are used to denote dictionary meanings, not decryptions. The text of

this book will make known any additional polysemic meanings derived from the

Chinese dictionaries and footnotes will be provided for easy reference to the

Shuowen and Kangxi dictionaries as well as the Chinese-English dictionaries

58
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

used for translations where appropriate. On occasions, round brackets are used

for Chinese texts that have been translated into English, an example of which

is (lǐjì: Book of Rites). In contrast to dictionary meanings such as (shuǐ:

water, liquid), characters where meanings, or additional meanings, are

decrypted by the author are displayed within [square brackets] in the format

[hé: river], or [1. shuǐ: water, liquid 2. hé: river]. The derivation of all

decrypted meanings will be explained in the text of this book. Chinese

characters may be highly polysemic. This book will not list all the meanings

provided by the online Chinese to English dictionaries or by the two Chinese

dictionaries used. Only meanings relevant to the decryptions in this book will

be shown.

China had educational institutions that dated back to ancient China over three
millennia ago. Zhou Youguang, a distinguished scholar and leading linguist in
the PRC, said:

Prior to Confucius’ time, the form of educational organization was

guanxue (official schools), which only guozi (men of the
aristocratic class) were privileged to attend. ... Confucius
initiated private schools. He taught students entirely in accordance
with their aptitude, rather than dividing them into different social
classes.19

19
Zhou Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern
Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p 2.

59
 Old Test

Conventional Confucian ideology claims that Confucius advocated education

for all classes of people. This has been questioned by academics, such as
philosopher and theologian Lee Dian Rainey who says: ‘it is not at all clear
that Confucius meant to extend education to women or to lower-class men’.20
Confucius’ acceptance of students is detailed in the Analects 7.7: ‘The Master
said, “From the man bringing his bundle of dried flesh for my teaching upwards
I have never refused instruction to anyone”’.21 There may be academic debate
over Confucius’ intent in relation to extending education to all social classes,
but there is no debate over Confucius’ consumption of meat. Confucius was not
a vegetarian as the Analects asserts that his tuition fee was (xiū: dried meat).

Sinologist and anthropologist Roel Sterckx shares his insights on the

availability of meat to the lower strata of society during the time of Confucius:

Generally meat consumption was a privilege for the rich and noble
who could complement their livestock income with meats obtained
from hunting ... the lower strata of Warring States and Han society
were mostly deprived of the luxuries of meat, except the occasional
chicken or fowl during special occasions or when guests were to be
entertained.22

Confucius is widely regarded as the first person to offer private education in

ancient China. While Confucius’ tuition fee of (xiū: dried meat) may sound
insignificant in the twenty-first century CE, the common man who lived during

20
Lee Dian Rainey, Confucius and Confucianism: the Essentials, p. 57.
21
James Legge (tr.), The Chinese Classics: Vol. I, p. 61.
22
Roel Sterckx, Food, Sacrifice, and Sagehood in Early China, p. 26.

60
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

the Iron Age of fifth century BCE ancient China did not have access to bundles
of dried flesh for tuition fees. Roel Sterckx also shares his insights on the links
between meat and the aristocracy:

Aristocrats and nobles in early China were frequently referred to as

“meat eaters” (rou shi zhe ). The same term was used to
denote officials who enjoyed high rank and salary... The origins of
this term ... ought to be traced back to the role of sacrificial meat in
forging social bonds in feudal China.23

Sinologist Mark Edward Lewis shares his insights on the role of consuming and
sharing sacrificial meat during the Zhou dynasty:

... the presentation and consumption of meat indeed played so

crucial a role in the Zhou state that one term for the aristocracy
was “the meat eaters”. The Zhou king regularly presented meat
from his sacrifice as a special honor to feudal lords who bore his
surname and to descendants of previous dynasties.24

The aristocracy, nobles and high-ranking officials were the (ròushí zhě:
meat eaters) who would have been able to supply Confucius with meat. The
military were in possession of weapons of war that could be applied to hunting
meat, therefore they would also have had access to meat. The shi themselves
may be viewed to have stratified into different social classes, such as
soldiers/warriors, landlords, and high ranking officials by the time of

23
Roel Sterckx, Of Tripod and Palate: Food, Politics, and Religion in Traditional China, pp. 38–9.
24
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China, p. 30.

61
 Old Test

Confucius. It is possible to hypothesise that Confucius’ innovation in

establishing ancient China’s first private school was to make an education
available to all classes of the shi. According to Zhou Youguang, ‘Prior to
Confucius’ time, the form of educational organization was guanxue
(official schools), which only guozi (men of the aristocratic class) were
privileged to attend’. 25

After Confucius started ancient China’s first private school, all classes of the
shi had the opportunity to become the (wénshì: literati) of Chinese society.
A classical Confucian education, however, may have been a privilege that was
available only to the shi in ancient China and imperial China. In 1934, Lu Xun,
who was from a shi scholar-official family, wrote the article ‘ ’. The
title of this text will be decrypted in a later chapter. In the article, Lu Xun
explains why the common man was not literate. A quotation in Chinese follows
together with a conventional translation into English:

社會改變下去，學習⽂字的⼈們的範圍也擴⼤起來，但⼤抵限于
特權者。⾄于平民，那是不識字的，幷⾮缺少學費，只因爲限于
資格，他不配。⽽且連書籍也看不⾒。26

As society evolved, the number of those who learned to write

increased; but still most of them belonged to the privileged class.
The common people were illiterate not because they could not

25
Zhao Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern

Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p. 2.

26
Lu Xun, , from http://pinyin.info/readings/lu_xun/menwai_wen_tan_trad.html

62
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

afford tuition fees but because they were considered unworthy. And
they had no access to books.27

The Chinese original text of the above highlighted translation says:

, which directly translates to: (érqiě lián:
furthermore) (shūjí: books) (yě: also) ( kàn bujiàn: cannot be
seen, invisible). The common people could not see the deconstructed and
encrypted (kǎishū: Kai Book), which was hiding in plain sight and was
invisible to all but the shi. The Duality Code was a shi secret. Literacy was
the ‘defining characteristic, and exclusive property’ of the shi.28 According to
Lu Xun, the common people were illiterate because they were considered
(bù pèi: unworthy, not qualified).29

Despite a history of literature that stretches back over more three millennia,
China had a low literacy rate of 15% or less at the turn of the twentieth-
century. Although there were a handful of educated peasants, such as Mao
Zedong, the reality of China may be that, from antiquity until the early
twentieth-century, an education (more specifically a classical Confucian
education) was generally restricted to the privileged–a privilege restricted to
the (shì: shi) who were the (rúshì: Confucian scholars). Study of the
Duality Code was a prerogative of the shi, who discriminated against the
common man and slaves in a hierarchical Confucian society that considered
the common man (bù pèi: unworthy).

27
Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang (trs.), Selected Works of Lu Hsun, p. 109.
28
Andrée Tabouret-Keller et al (Eds), Vernacular Literarcy, A Re-Evaluation, p. 273.
29
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .

63
 Old Test

Xu Shen’s encrypted message said: (zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command)

(lǎo: old) (kǎo: test). Mankind’s oldest test in the state of nature was the
test of survival. Survival can be expressed as a binary state duality (two states
that are mutually exclusive). In Leviathan, Hobbes conceived the state of
nature as a binary state duality that was either war or peace. Men of science
theorise that life on Earth began in the sea, not on land. Therefore the original
state of nature was life in the sea. Two hundred years after Hobbes published
Leviathan, Herman Melville published his novel Moby Dick, about another sea
monster, inspired by the true story of the American whaling ship Essex, which
was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. In the novel, Melville considered the
nature of war in the sea:

Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures
glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously
hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the
devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless
tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks.
Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose
creature prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the
world began.30

30
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, p. 307.

64
 4
Archers

Bows and arrows were important tools in the Stone Age. The earliest evidence
of archery is from archaeological evidence of arrowheads. Sinologist Stephen
Selby shares his insights:

It is from the Neolithic Period, spanning 20 000 to 10 000 years BP,

that we see unequivocal evidence from a multitude of sites of the
development of sophisticated arrowheads. ... Somewhere in the last
10 000 years was the period from which the earliest memories of
Chinese history are recalled in folklore.1

In the ancient Chinese world, (ròushí zhě: meat eaters) could be men
who possessed weapons such as the bow, which could be used for hunting as
well as military activities. Sinologist Mark Edward Lewis draws links between
the hunt and warfare in ancient China:

Thus the hunt and the military campaign both culminated in

offerings at the temples ... the word for what was taken in battle or
hunt had the technical sense of “living beings obtained for
sacrifice”. ... Whether those captured were sacrificed or spared, the
ceremonial presentation demonstrated that warfare logically

1
Stephen Selby, Chinese Archery, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2000, p. 6.

65
 Archers

culminated in the sacrifice of the enemy, just as the hunt culminated

in the sacrificial offering of the game.2

Archery was one of the traditional six fields of study in ancient China, and the
importance of archery in ancient religious ritual is documented in the Book of
Rites:

Therefore, anciently, according to the royal institutes, the feudal

princes annually presented the officers who had charge of their
tribute to the son of Heaven, who made trial of them in the archery-
hall. Those of them whose bodily carriage was in conformity with
the rules, and whose shooting was in agreement with the music, and
who hit the mark most frequently, were allowed to take part at the
sacrifices. When his officers had frequently that privilege, their
ruler was congratulated; if they frequently failed to obtain it, he was
reprimanded. If a prince were frequently so congratulated, he
received an increase to his territory; if he were frequently so
reprimanded, part of his territory was taken from him. ... Thus, in
the states, the rulers and their officers devoted themselves to
archery, and the practice in connexion with it of the ceremonies and
music.3

In Chinese mythology there are legends of a great archer Hou Yi, who may
appear in Chinese literature under different names with different implied
meanings:

2
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China, pp. 26–27.
3
James Legge (tr.), The Sacred Books of China: Part IV, p. 448–449.

66
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

： (yì: legendary archer Yi)

： (hòu: descendant) (yì: legendary archer Yi)
： (hòu: empress, queen) (yì: legendary archer Yi)
： (yí: barbarian) (yì: legendary archer Yi)

As with all Chinese legends that have been recounted over many millennia,
there are different accounts containing varying details. I have synthesised parts
of the legends that are relevant to this book:

Thousands of years ago, the Jade Emperor had ten sons. Each day,
one of the Jade Emperor’s sons would transform himself into a sun
and travel across the sky to provide light and warmth to the Earth.
One day, all ten of the Jade Emperor’s sons transformed themselves
into suns in the sky and heartlessly they scorched the Earth. By
noon, the rivers and seas had become dry hollow caverns, and the
rice fields and green forests of China had burned to ashes.

The great archer Hou Yi came to the rescue and shot at the ten
suns, leaving only one sun in the sky. The Jade Emperor was furious
at Hou Yi for killing his sons. He punished Hou Yi by stripping
both Hou Yi and his wife Chang E of their immortality and cast
them out of Heaven. As Chang E was extremely unhappy over her
loss of immortality, Hou Yi journeyed on a long perilous quest to
find the elixir of immortality in order that Chang E might regain
her immortality. At the end of his quest, he met the Queen Mother
of the West who agreed to give him two portions of the elixir.

67
 Archers

When Hou Yi returned to his home, he stored the elixir away and
went out. Whilst Hou Yi was out, Chang E found the elixir of
immortality and drank both portions. Hou Yi returned just in time
to find Chang E floating up in the air towards the heavens to live
forever on the moon together with a jade rabbit that resided there.

The lonely suffering of Chang E was so great that the gods in

Heaven took pity on her. On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar
month each year, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest,
Chang E and Hou Yi are allowed to reunite.

The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is one of the most important
festivals in China. Known as the Moon Cake Festival (or the Mid-Autumn
Festival) it is a celebration of the moon. It is the moon’s day and it is
associated with dynastic change. This association is reflected in a popular
Chinese legend that concerns the Chinese uprising against the Mongol Yuan
dynasty (1280–1368 CE). In the legend, the Chinese concealed messages in the
moon cakes to rebel on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. In more recent
times, the revolution that led to the fall of China’s final imperial dynasty, the
Manchu Qing dynasty, also has links to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Historian
Michael Dillon provides insights:

[The revolutionaries] organised a meeting of 2 September to prepare

for an uprising which they decided would be on 6 October, the day
of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. Rumours spread through

68
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Wuhan that there was to be a rising against the Manchus ...

However, the planned uprising was postponed ...4

The Wuchang Uprising broke out on 10th October 1911, four days after the
Mid-Autumn Festival on which it was originally planned for. It is subsumed
into the Xinhai Revolution that culminated on 1st January 1912 with the
establishment of the Republic of China. It is associated with physician and
revolutionary Dr. Sun Yatsen, who is considered the Father of the Chinese
Republic.

The legend of Hou Yi uses metaphors. According to Chinese legend, the Jade
Emperor is the ruler of Heaven. Therefore, the Jade Emperor’s ten sons are the
sons of Heaven. As the Chinese emperor is known as the Son of Heaven, the ten
suns can be interpreted to represent the Chinese emperor. The Chinese have the
philosophy of the Mandate of Heaven, wherein Heaven grants the emperor the
right to rule, but the Mandate of Heaven may be withdrawn if the emperor is
not virtuous. The ten suns represent an emperor who is causing calamity on
Earth and is therefore not virtuous. Hou Yi shoots the non-virtuous Son of
Heaven.

The online Oxford Dictionaries define duality as: ‘1. The quality or condition of
being dual 2. An instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or
two aspects of something; a dualism’. Pairs of things have the condition of
being dual. Husband and wife are pair therefore they are dualities, and many
societies conceive of the sun and the moon as a pair therefore they are also
dualities. Chang E is symbolised by the moon. Therefore, as Chang E’s duality,

4
Michael Dillon, China: A Modern History, pp. 142–143.

69
 Archers

Hou Yi can be logically deduced to be symbolised by the duality of the moon,

which is the one remaining sun. The Chinese conception of dualities will be
explained in detail in a later chapter.

The evolution of the numbers one and ten is shown in Table 1. Horizontal and
vertical are dualities. In ancient China when the legend of Hou Yi was first
conceived, the numbers one and ten were horizontal and vertical logographic
dualities. ‘One sun’ and ‘ten suns’ were represented by ‘ sun’ and ‘ suns’
respectively. The vertical suns caused calamity on Earth, therefore they
represent a non-virtuous Son of Heaven. This leads to the deduction that the
horizontal sun is the duality, a virtuous Son of Heaven.

In Chinese, the number (yī: one) has a number of variant characters that
include: . Variant characters
have the same meaning and can replace each other in representing concepts.

The ancients who encrypted the Duality Code use the (gǔwén: classical
Chinese) (yī: number one) to announce: (yī: one) [is] (yì: shoot with

70
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

bow)5 (yī: number one). Legendary archer (hòuyì: Hou Yi) is the greatest
archer in Chinese culture, as such (yì: shoot with bow) (yī: number one) is
deduced to be (hòuyì: Hou Yi). Therefore I make the decryption of the
polyseme [1. yī: one 2. yì: Yi].

Having made the decryption [1. yī: one 2. yì: Yi], the associate compound in
(yī: number one) can now be read to say: [yì: Yi] [is] (yì: shoot with bow)
(yī: number one).

At the beginning of this book, I contemplated what the associate compound

sentence could mean and postulated that there were three possible
interpretations.

(yī: One) (rén: man) [is/was/will be] (dà: big).

(yī: One) [is a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or will be] (dà: big).
(yī: One) [is ] ‘ (rén dà: man big)’.

The first interpretation,’ (yī: one) (rén: man) [is, was, or will be] (dà: big)’
is a sentence that can be understood universally. The second interpretation,
‘ (yī: one) [is a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or will be] (dà: big)’ can also be
understood universally when we replace (yī: one) with the substitution cipher
[yì: Yi] to give us the decrypted associate compound sentence, ‘ [yì: Yi] [is
a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or will be] (dà: big)’. This can be understood
universally within the context of the legend of Hou Yi, where [yì: Yi] shoots

5
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 355 # 1: .

71
 Archers

the non-virtuous Son of Heaven to become the new Son of Heaven. Can the
third possible interpretation ‘ [1. yī: one 2. yì: Yi] [is] “ (rén dà: man big)”’
also be understood as we unravel the Duality Code?

The ancients tell us: (yì: shoot with bow) (rén: man) [is the] (dài:
replacement person). Yi shoots the non-virtuous Son of Heaven and becomes
the replacement virtuous Son of Heaven. In Chinese, (dài: replacement
person; era, generation) can also mean dynasty, as in (shāngdài: Shang
dynasty). The (yì: shoot with bow) (rén: man) [begins the] [dài:
replacement dynasty].

The character has the English translation of (wéi: erect, proud; upright;
bald) in the Unihan Database.6 The Duality Code uses variant characters to
impart hidden meaning. In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi
Dictionary says: (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (wéi: encircle) (zì:
character).7 Therefore it has the meaning (wéi: encircle). In addition to this,
the MDBG Dictionary gives us the meaning (wéi: enclosure).8 Therefore we
have the polyseme (wéi: encircle; enclosure). Yi’s enclosure is his body, which
is the receptacle that houses his spirit or soul. The ancients say: [yì: Yi]
(wéi: enclosure) (rì: sun). It announces that Yi is the sun. Yi is the Son of
Heaven.

6
Unihan Database: U+56D7.
7
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 216 #14: .
8
MDBG Dictionary: .

72
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Duality Code is multi-dimensional. In contrast, this book is linear. There

are aspects of the Duality Code that have to be explained in later sections of
the book. Encryptions through variants and abbreviations will be explored
further in later chapters.

In variant legends of Hou Yi, the ten suns are symbolised by ten sunbirds.
Each day, a sunbird would fly across the sky. One day, all ten sunbirds
appeared in the sky together and their collective heat caused calamity on
Earth. Hou Yi shot the sunbirds leaving one in the sky. The identification of
the sun with a bird in Chinese myth is reflected in Chinese art. Paleographer
and sinologist Sarah Allen who researched the bird and sun relationship in
Chinese mural art explains:

The suns are depicted simply as birds, but the archer’s drawn bow
identifies the scene. Whether the bird carries the sun, is in the sun,
or is the sun is thus ill-defined because the relationship is a mythical
one.9

The sunbirds are sometimes also described as having three legs, or being three-
legged crows. One account of Hou Yi’s legend says: ‘Hou Yi shot again and
again, each time hitting another of the suns, and each time a three-legged crow
fell to the ground’.10 The earliest pictorial depiction of a three-legged bird is
found on Neolithic pottery from the Yangshao culture (c.5000–c.3000 BCE).
This suggests that the legend of Hou Yi may have had Neolithic origins.

9
Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle, p. 31.
10
Jeannette Faurot, Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends, p. 77.

73
 Archers

The ancients say cryptically: (gǒng: two hands) [and] (yǔ: feather; wings)
[also] (yì: legendary archer Yi). The Duality Code uses (gǒng: two hands)
and (yǔ: feather; wings) as substitution ciphers for Yi. Therefore the
decryptions [1. gǒng: two hands; 2. yì: Yi], and [1. yǔ: feather; wings 2. yì:
Yi] are made. The character [1. yǔ: feather; wings 2. yì: Yi] says that Yi has a
duality as a bird. Yi is the sun, and Yi is the sunbird.

The ancients tell us: (lì: establish) [yì: Yi] [for a] (yì: bright; dawn; the
next day). When the Son of Heaven is a non-virtuous emperor and there is
calamity in China, use the Mandate of Heaven and Yi will bring a bright dawn
the next day when he shoots his arrows at the ten suns.

The last sentence in Xu Shen’s encrypted ciphertext message can now be read to
say: (yuè: moon) (rì: day) (xià: inferior; bring down) (shàng: superior;
go up). The inferior non-virtuous Son of Heaven is brought down and replaced
by a superior and virtuous Son of Heaven. Xu Shen’s encrypted ciphertext
message is updated below.

(zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command) (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test)

(xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ: military) (kě: possible) (gong: worker)
(yuè: moon) (rì: day) (xià: inferior; bring down) (shàng: superior; go
up).

The legend of the archer Hou Yi is a contextual decryption key that unlocks
part of the Duality Code. The Duality Code is protected by multi-layered

74
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

security and multiple decryption keys have to be found in order to unlock its
secrets. The ancients have had many millennia to encrypt their cipher. There
are many puzzles to solve.

75
 5
Foreign Language

In Chinese, a character is monosyllabic and although classical Chinese was

largely monosyllabic, there were multi-syllable words as well. A multi-syllable
word is written with one character for each syllable. A two-syllable word in
Chinese is written with two characters called a bigram.

The character that is used to represent the meaning of ‘ten’ is (shí: ten). The
ancients use a bigram to say: (quǎn: all) (shí: ten) [is] (shíquán:
complete; perfect).1 The character that represents the concept of ‘ten’ is the
polyseme (shí: ten; complete, perfect). This is recognised in definitions
provided by the Unihan Database.2 The ancients often use the meaning (shí:
complete, perfect) in their encryptions.

A logographic script may include pictographs, which are pictures of objects. In

order for pictographs to be logical and comprehensible, they should clearly
represent the objects pictured instead of something else. The character is
conventionally said to be a pictograph of a tree. However the central meaning
of the character is (mù: wood). Just as an out-of-tune semantic-phonetic
compound signals that there is something strange is in the air, a pictograph

1
MDBG Dictionary: .
2
Unihan Database: U+5341.

76
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

that does not represent the object that is pictured signals that something
strange is afoot. The ancients have set us a logical puzzle to solve.

If we have a pictograph of a tree , then it is quite logical for a multiple trees

to represent a (lín: forest). However, if we have (mù: wood) then multiple
pieces of wood should represent a woodpile, or a lumberyard, not a (lín:
forest). The logical way forward to solve this strange puzzle is to find out what
the ancients say in the associate compound sentence that they have encrypted
in the character (shù: tree).

The ancients say: (shù: standing up)3 (mù: wood) [is a] (shù: tree). It is a
simple sentence that has to be parsed in order to extract its logical semantic
implications. Words have implied unspoken properties. An unspoken property
of a ‘tower’ is that it is oriented vertically. There is a leaning tower of Pisa. The
tower in Pisa is specified to be ‘leaning’ because the primary property of a
tower, which is that it is vertical (standing), has not been fulfilled. It would be
quite unusual for us to say ‘the standing Eiffel Tower’. Standing is an expected
property of a towers, therefore specifying ‘standing’ for a tower that is vertical
is redundant and unusual. A natural property of trees is that they are standing
or vertical. If one has to specify ‘ (shù: standing up) (mù: wood)’, this
logically implies that it is the primary intent for the character (mù: wood) is
to represent something that is not standing. This further logically implies that
the character is not a pictograph of a tree. If it is not a pictograph, it may
be an associative compound that says: (undefined) (shí: ten; complete;

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 295 #14: .

77
 Foreign Language

perfect) (mù: wood). There is a Duality Code puzzle to solve. We have to

decipher the undefined character .

The logical way forward in order to understand the character (mù: wood) is
to read messages from the ancients contained in their letters that use (mù:
wood) as a sub-component. Such characters have associate compound
sentences that include the character (mù: wood), therefore they represent
messages in which the ancients discuss or divulge information about the (mù:
wood). The ancients say: (qiǎn: all)4 (mù: wood) [to] (jiǎn: examine).
This is interpreted as a cryptic instruction from the ancients to check all
characters with the sub-component (mù: wood) for Duality Code messages.

The ancients tell us cryptically: (yuē: say) (mù: wood) (yǎo: obscure,
dark, mysterious, deep).5 There is something obscure, dark, mysterious and deep
about the character (mù: wood).

Examination of characters that include (mù: wood) as a sub-component

uncovers the character (chèn: coffin). In the gloss for the character (qīn:
relative), the Kangxi Dictionary says: (jīn: now, today) (shěng: economise)
(zuò: make; compose) (qīn: relative).6 The meaning of ‘relative’ appears

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 115 #27: .
5
Ibid, p. 513 #14: .
6
Ibid, p. 1136 #12: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

twice in the associate compound sentence within the character (chèn: coffin).
The Duality Code says: (jiàn: see) (qīn: relative), (mù: wood) [is] (qīn:
relative’s) (chèn: coffin).7 This allows us to decrypt the polyseme [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin], which is quite strange and unexpected. We will have to
seek confirmation for this strange decryption.

The decryption of the associate compound sentence (jiàn: see) (qīn:

relative), (mù: wood) [is] (qīn: relative’s) (chèn: coffin) raises the
question, ‘Who is the relative?’ The logical way forward is to examine messages
from the ancients that contain the sub-component (qīn: relative), in which
the ancients divulge information about a relative.

The ancients say: (jīn: axe) (qīn: relative) [is] (xīn: new). The axe
identifies the new relative, therefore the axe has to be identified. Confucian
scholars studied the early canonical texts of Confucianism called the Five
Classics. The axe is identified in one of the classics called the Book of Rites:

At the mourning for Confucius, there came a man from Yen to see
(what was done), and lodged at Ʒze-hsiâ’s. Ʒze-hsiâ said to him, ‘If
it had been for the sage’s conducting a burial, (there would have
been something worthy to see); but what is there to see in our
burying of the sage? Formerly the Master made some remarks to
me, saying, “I have seen some [burial] mounds made like a raised
hall; others like a dyke on a river’s bank; others like the roof of a
large house; and others in the shape of an axe-head”. We have

7
Kangxi Dictionary: p. 561 #21: .

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 Foreign Language

followed the axe-shape, making what is called the horse-mane

mound. I hope we have carried out the wish of the Master’.8

The ancient Book of Rites taunts us by asking: ‘... but what is there to see in
our burying of the sage?’ We see that Confucius’ burial mound was constructed
in the shape of an axe, thereby identifying Confucius as the axe that is the new
relative. Traditional Confucian Chinese culture practiced ancestor worship.
Imperial governments throughout Chinese history built and managed
Confucian temples. Philosopher and theologian Lee Dian Rainey shares her
insights on the establishment of Confucianism in China:

Veneration of Confucius officially began in 195 CE, when the Han

dynasty emperor venerated Confucius in Qufu at Confucius’s tomb.
... In the 450s, the imperial government built the first Confucian
temple, and during imperial China any city of respectable size had a
temple to Confucius. Imperial governments throughout Chinese
history built and managed Confucian temples and celebrated the
spring equinox, the birthday of Confucius, and the successful
candidates of the civil service examinations with public rituals in
these temples. 9

Ancestor veneration, an aspect of filial piety, is closely associated with

Confucianism. Irrespective of the fact that Confucius might not have been a
biological ancestor, the act of offering sacrifices to Confucius at Confucian

8
James Legge (tr.), The Sacred Books Of China: Part IV, p. 156.
9
Lee Dian Rainey, Confucius and Confucianism: the Essentials, pp. 152–153.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

temples in veneration rituals logically implies that Confucius is a de facto

ideological ancestor, or relative, by virtue of ritual custom.

The Cemetery of Confucius in the town of Qufu contains the burial mound of
Confucius. It is called (kǒnglín: Cemetery of Confucius) and has been a
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. Containing the tombs of more than
100,000 descendants of Confucius, representing 78 generations, it is the largest
family cemetery in the world and occupies an area of some 3.6 square
kilometres. The cemetery suffered serious damage when it was defiled by a
team of Red Guards at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

In order to confirm that (mù: wood) [is] (qīn: relative’s) (chèn: coffin) as
revealed by the ancients, the Cemetery of Confucius has to be visited. This is
achieved metaphorically by examining the characters that represent the
Cemetery of Confucius. The characters literally say: (lín: forest) (kǒng:
opening, orifice) [is] (kǒnglín: Cemetery of Confucius). Confucius’ family
name is (kǒng: opening, orifice), therefore the character that imparts the
meaning of ‘cemetery’ is logically deduced to be (lín: forest). This character
(lín: forest) shows the character (mù: wood) repeated. It is obvious that
multiple trees may represent a (lín: forest); however, in order for the
[multiple pieces of wood] to represent a [lín: cemetery], the character
(mù: wood) should represent a [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. The usage
of [lín: cemetery] in (kǒnglín: Cemetery of Confucius) confirms our
decryption of [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin].

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 Foreign Language

A deceased person can be euphemistically said to rest in, or retire to, a coffin.
The ancients warn us cryptically: [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] (rén: man)
(xiū: rest; retire; do not!). The definition provided by the Unihan Database
includes the exclamation mark.10

In the gloss for the character (pán: piece of wood), the Kangxi Dictionary
says: (cóng: from) (bàn: half) (mù: wood) (zuǒ: left) (bàn: half)
(wéi: to be) (pán: piece of wood) (yòu: right) (bàn: half) (wéi: to be)
(piàn: slice, strip). 11 The two characters (pán: piece of wood) and (piàn:
slice, strip) represent the left and right halves of the character (mù: wood).

The ancients say: (zhǐ: purpose) [of] (piàn: slice, strip) [is to] (zhī: to
cover; to close).12 Something that covers or closes can be described as a (gài:
lid, cover). Therefore the right side of the character (mù: wood) is decrypted
to be a [gài: lid, cover].

The Kangxi Dictionary says that the character (pán: piece of wood)
represents the left half of the (mù: wood). The ancients use a bigram to say:
(diǎn: shop) [selling] (pán: piece of wood) [is a] (pándiǎn: coffin
shop). Chinese expressions relating to coffin shops and coffins were

10
Unihan Database: U+4F11.
11
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 691 #9: .
12
Ibid, p. 693 #17: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

documented by sinologist, religious historian and ethnographer J. J. M. De

Groot, who explains:

In many a town there is one or more streets in which most or nearly

all the houses are devoted to the making and sale of coffins. Amoy
possesses a street of this kind, called the koau-ts‛ȃ hāng or ‘coffin
lane’. In the same town the coffin shops go by the name of pán
tièm, ‘board shops’, because in the local dialect receptacles for the
dead are generally called pán, ‘boards’ [ (pán: piece of wood)]. ...
Already in the Books of the Later Han dynasty the term ‘longevity
receptacles’ is used as a synonym for coffins. 13

Based on Chinese linguistic usage, we can decrypt the left side of the (mù:
wood) to be a coffin [pán: receptacle]. Therefore the left and right sides of the
(mù: wood) are represented by the [pán: receptacle] and the [gài: cover].
This further confirms our decryption of [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin].

The Duality Code says: [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] (pán: piece of wood)
[is a] (chuáng: bed). The left half of [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] represents
the [pán: receptacle] of a coffin, which may also be described as a bed for the
deceased.

13
J. J. M. De Groot, The Religious System Of China, p. 323.

83
 Foreign Language

The ancients instruct: (piàn: slice, strip) [and] (mù: wood) (xī: break
apart; explain).14 It is an instruction to break Chinese characters into their
constituent parts and to explain the characters. Every Chinese character
(irrespective of whether it appears to be a pictograph, an ideograph, or a
semantic-phonetic compound) is designed to be a ciphertext associative
compound sentence. As an example, the pictograph character contains the
ciphertext sentence: (undefined) (shí: complete; perfect) [1. mù: wood
2. chèn: coffin]. The character is undefined in Chinese dictionaries; it has to
be decrypted before the ciphertext associate compound message in [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin] can be read. As a further example, the character [gài:
cover] contains the ciphertext associate compound sentence: (undefined)
(undefined) (shàng: top; superior; go up)15 [gài: cover]. The ancients use
undefined characters as encryption/decryption keys to encrypt their messages
as confidential ciphertext. In order to read their plaintext messages, we have to
decrypt undefined characters.

There appears to be a number of ways in which the character (běn: root,

origin; basis) can be broken down in order to read the associate compound
sentence contained within it. Hidden within the Kangxi Dictionary in the gloss
for the character (shì: shi) is the clue: (běn: root, origin; basis) (zuò:
make) , which shows us how to analyse the character.16 The ancients tell us:
[yì: Yi’s] [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [is the] (běn: root, origin; basis).

14
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 516 #10: .
15
Ibid, p. 76 #7: .
16
Ibid, p. 242 #38: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] may be thought of as a duality capsule that
transports the deceased from the world of the living to the world of the
departed ancients. The [duality capsule] is the basis for the Duality Code.
Associate compound sentences within characters that describe the duality
capsule, the cover, the receptacle, or the rites and beliefs relating to the duality
capsule may indicate that the characters are of particular importance in the
Duality Code.

According to dictionaries, the characters , which represent Kai Script, can

be read as: (kǎi: model; pattern) (shū: book). This suggests that there is
some sort of model or pattern in the script. Dictionaries also provide the
meaning (mù: wood) for the character (kǎi: model; standard; pattern).17 It
is therefore possible to interpret (kǎi shū: Kai Script) as the (kǎi: wood)
(shū: book), or the [kǎi: duality capsule] (shū: book).

A written language based on the duality capsule is unusual, to say the least. In
1934, Lu Xun published an article titled ‘ ’. The four characters in the
title can convey the following conventional meanings:

(mén: gate, door; entrance)

(wài: outside; foreign)
(wén: literature, culture, writing)
(tán: conversation)
(wàiwén: foreign language)

17
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 542 #5: .

85
 Foreign Language

Lu Xun’s article ‘ ’ has been translated into English by numerous

translators. A selection of English translations include:

A Layman’s Thoughts on Literature

A Layman’s Remarks on Writing
A Layman’s View of Language
An Outsider’s Chats about Written Language
Literary Musings of an Outsider
Chats on Letters from Outside the Gate
Literary Discussions Outside the Door
Literary Chat Outside the Door
Outdoor Chatting on Language and Literature
Outside Literary Chats
A Discussion of Literature beyond the Door
Discussing Writing from the Outside
Talks on Literature

The title of Lu Xun’s article can be read as ‘ (mén: Door) (wàiwén:

Foreign Language) (tán: Conversation)’. The title includes ciphertext that
has to be decrypted in order to understand the plaintext meaning. The (mén:
door) is a portal and all portals lead from outside to inside, or from inside to
outside. Outside and inside are dualities. All portals are duality portals. I
decrypt the title of Lu Xun’s article as: ‘ [mén: Duality Portal] (wàiwén:
Foreign Language) (tán: Conversation)’. This decryption will be explained
further in a later chapter.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

When the article was written in 1934, the Chinese slaves, peasants and common
people were largely illiterate; and the few common people who could read were
mostly only literate in vernacular Chinese. Lu Xun was writing for a shi literati
audience who were trained to decipher and interpret the Duality Code. In the
article, Lu Xun uses the [mén: Duality Portal] as a reference to the Duality
Code, which he characterises as a ‘foreign language’. Lu Xun has used classical
Chinese encryption methods in the article and this is illustrated in a short
passage from ‘ ’ that follows: 18

The use of encryptions has naturally resulted in a lack of comprehension of Lu

Xun’s article; therefore there are inaccuracies in translations of his writings
into English. A typical translation of the passage quoted above follows:

The ancients handed down writing to us. Admittedly, this is a

tremendous heritage for which we should be thankful. However, at
the present time, when pictographs no longer resemble the objects
they are supposed to represent, and when symphonetic graphs have
gotten out of tune, our thanks cannot but be a bit hesitant.19

The character [1. yī: one 2. yì: Yi] appears twice in the quoted Chinese
original shown above, but this character has not been translated into English

18
Lu Xun, , from http://pinyin.info/readings/lu_xun/menwai_wen_tan_trad.html
19
Victor H. Mair (tr.), ‘Lu Xun, An Outsider’s Chats About Written Language’ in Victor H. Mair et al.
(eds.), Hawai’i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture.

87
 Foreign Language

as the translator is unable to fit the meaning (yī: one) into his translation,
and he has no awareness of the substitution cipher [yì: Yi]. Therefore the
translator chose to just ignore the character [1. yī: one 2. yì: Yi]. Another
example of ciphertext may be seen in the fragment: ,
which has been highlighted in the Chinese original as well as the English
translation above. This fragment has to be decrypted in order to understand
what Lu Xun said. The plaintext of the fragment is highlighted in my
decryption below. This highlighted decryption will be explained in a later
chapter when the decryption technique that needs to be employed has been
explained. In plaintext, Lu Xun said:

Ancient men handed down literature, culture, writing and

characters to us; and Yi was originally a major heritage for which
we should be grateful. But when pictographs are no longer
pictograph characters, and semantic-phonetic compounds are now
out-of-tune, this is regretfully declined; without a better option,
send down Yi’s duality capsule. [decrypted by W. K. Choy]

In the article, Lu Xun points to the existence of ciphers in pictographs that are
no longer pictograph characters, and semantic-phonetic compounds that are
out-of-tune. With the existence of ciphers, Lu Xun says to regretfully decline
the culture of the Duality Code, and to send down Yi’s duality capsule–which
is to bury Yi’s coffin, or to eliminate the Duality Code. In the article, Lu Xun
was in favour of basic orthographic reform to the written Chinese language
through adoption of a Latin script to replace Chinese characters. This would
have eliminated the Duality Code that is encrypted into Chinese characters.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Duality Code is the written classical language of the shi Confucian
scholars who were the literati. It exists alongside written vernacular Chinese,
but is a written language that is unknown and foreign to ordinary Chinese
people, and to Western sinologists alike. There is a vernacular Chinese
character (mù: wood) that all who are literate in vernacular Chinese can
read and understand; and there is the classical Chinese cipher character
[1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] containing the associate compound sentence
, which has to be deciphered before it can be read and understood.

The shi had to decipher the Duality Code in order to understand what classical
Chinese texts were saying. This may be viewed as classical exegesis (critical
explanation or interpretation). Sinologist and comparatist Haun Saussy shares
his thoughts on classical exegesis:

Confucius (550–479 B.C.E.) describes some of his disciples as

engaged in wen-hsüeh (the study of writings; Lun-yü [Analects]
11.3): this was doubtless a course in training in the deciphering and
interpretation of legal and historical texts, a necessary qualification
for office in the palace bureaucracies of early China. ... Exegesis of a
set of venerated texts gave Chinese literati their common language
and their protocols of understanding as well as the matter of their
education.20

This training in the decryption of classical Chinese was the route to power and
wealth through a career in imperial bureaucracies. It was a privilege reserved

20
Huan Saussy, ‘Classical Exegesis’, in Victor H. Mair (ed.), The Columbia History of Chinese Literature,
p. 909.

89
 Foreign Language

for the shi, as the common people were not deemed worthy. After many
millennia, the hierarchical and dictatorial agrarian society created by the shi
for the control of slaves, peasants and common people was becoming
increasingly obsolete and unsustainable resulting in imperial China becoming
the Sick Man of Asia as it entered the twentieth-century. Other nations had
transformed from agrarian societies to industrial societies, but China was still
a hierarchal and dictatorial agrarian society of the Neolithic Revolution with
over 80% of its population involved in agriculture. In the wake of the period in
China’s history called the Hundred Years of National Humiliation, China had
to transform into a modern society of the Industrial Revolution. The Duality
Code had played an integral role in the creation of a hierarchical and
dictatorial agrarian society in China. It was the central issue that polarised the
China’s literati when they were discussing basic orthographic reform from the
New Culture Movement up to the Hundred Flowers Campaign.

Lu Xun’s writings about the Duality Code and basic orthographic reform were
prominent in the public debates through magazines and newspapers at the
beginning of the twentieth-century until his death in 1936. When, in 1957, Luo
Jinan asked Mao what would happen to Lu Xun if he were still alive, the
political climate had changed. Shi intellectuals within the CPC had prevented
Mao from carrying out basic orthographic reform to replace Chinese
characters with a phonetic writing script. Instead of basic orthographic reform,
the PRC had introduced Simplified Script (1955/1956), which reformed some
(but not all) Chinese characters. The Duality Code still existed in Simplified
Script and transformation of China had begun with the education of the
common man. Chen Mengjia had voiced objection to reform of Chinese
characters during the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956/1957) and had been
targeted in the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957/1958). It was clear that

90
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

objection to orthographic reform was not politically correct and would not be
tolerated. The point of Luo Jinan’s question to Mao was to ascertain whether
discussions on the Duality Code and basic reform to replace Chinese characters
with a phonetic script would still be politically tolerated. When Mao said: ‘In
my estimation, he [Lu Xun] would either be locked up, and continue his writing
in jail, or he would be perspicacious enough to grasp the situation and not utter
a word’, the answer was crystal clear. All discussions about the Duality Code
and basic orthographic reform would no longer be entertained. Anything that
could conceivably be related to codes or the Duality Code was taboo and would
be repressed. This was illustrated by events relating to a secret coded language
called Nüshu, which is a phonetic script used only by women in Jiangyong
County, Hunan. Journalist Andrew Lofthouse documented some events relating
to this secret coded language for the BBC:

Today, much of what we know about Nüshu is due to the work of

male researcher Zhou Shuoyi, who heard about the script in the
1950s ... Zhou began researching the coded language for the
Jiangyong Cultural Bureau in 1954, but when Mao Zedong’s
Cultural Revolution erupted in the 1960s, Zhou’s work became
targeted by the state. ‘I was labelled a ‘rightist’ because of the
research I had done on the language’, Zhou recalled to China Daily
in 2004. ‘They burned all of my research files, and I was sent to the
labour camp and wasn’t released until 1979, after spending 21 years
there’.21

21
Andrew Lofthouse, ‘Nüshu: China’s Secret Female-only Language’, BBC, 2nd October 2020.

91
 Foreign Language

Mao had been prevented from eliminating the Duality Code. One logical
alternative was to try to repress the shi who understood the code and had
prevented its elimination. Vocal opposition to the reform of Chinese characters
resulted in residence at a labour camp for Chen Mengjia at the beginning of the
Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957. In May 1958, Mao told the Second Plenum
Conference of the Eighth Party Congress:

What did the First Emperor amount to? He only buried 460 scholars
alive, while we have buried forty-six thousand. ... In my debates
with some members of the minor democratic parties, I told them,
‘You revile us for being like the First Emperor, but that is wrong.
We have actually surpassed the First Emperor a hundredfold. You
revile us for being like the First Emperor, for being dictators. We
don’t dispute this. In fact, you haven’t even gone far enough, and
we need to supplement your criticisms!’22

Mao’s tally of Confucian scholars was to be supplemented. In 1966 at the

beginning of the Cultural Revolution Chen Mengjia was again severely
prosecuted. He committed suicide in September 1966. Estimates of deaths
during the Cultural Revolution range from hundreds of thousands to millions.
Although China’s Civil War had ended in 1949, China was still very much at
warre . . .

Out of Civil States, there is always Warre of every one againſt every
one. Hereby it is manifeſt, that during the time men live without a
common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition

22
Carlos Rojas, The Great Wall: A Cultural History, pp. 56–57.

92
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

which is called Warre ; and ſuch a warre, as is of every man, againſt

every man. For WARRE, conſiſteth not in Battell onely, or the aƈt of
fighting ; but in a traƈt of time, wherein the Will to contend by
Battell is ſufficiently known : and therefore the notion of Time, is to
be confidered in the nature of Warre ; as it is in the nature of
Weather. For as the nature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a ſhowre
or two of rain ; but in an inclination thereto of many dayes together
: So the nature of War conſiſteth not in aƈtuall fighting ; but in the
known diſpoſition thereto, during all the time there is no aſſurance
to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.23

23
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p. 62.

93
 6
Stratagem

Chinese archaeologists believe that Chinese culture originates from the

Neolithic Yangshao culture (c.5000–c.3000 BCE), which flourished along the
Yellow River’s middle reaches. The Yangshao culture is related to, and
descended from, the earlier Neolithic Peiligang culture (c.7000–c.5000 BCE)
that settled along the Yiluo River, which is a tributary of the Yellow River.
The Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese civilisation.

The Yellow River rises from the high Himalayas and gathers a heavy burden of
silt as it winds and cuts its way through China’s Loess Plateau, in its upper and
middle reaches, on its long descent to the distant sea. The yellow-coloured loess
soil is highly prone to erosion and it gives the Yellow River its characteristic
colour as the river picks up a heavy load of silt. The river continually deposits
new layers of enriching silt in its lower reaches, but the silting gives rise to
disastrous floods. As a result, the Yellow River is also called ‘China’s Sorrow’.
In ancient literature, the Yellow River is simply called the (hé: river). The
Chinese have many legends about Gun, and his son Yu the Great, that relate to
the control of the Yellow River’s flooding. I have synthesised the principal
details of the legends below:

Gun, father of Yu the Great, was given the task of devising a

method of controlling rivers, to alleviate the misery of continual
flooding that plagued the heartland of China. Gun devised a system

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

of dykes, but the dykes collapsed, resulting in the deaths of many

people from the ensuing flood. Shun, last of the mythical Three
Sovereigns and Five Emperors, executed Gun on Feather ( )
Mountain for failing to control the floodwaters, resulting in death
and calamity.

Shun subsequently appointed Gun’s son, Yu, to continue his father’s

work. Yu devised a system of irrigation canals and dredged the
rivers in order to control the continual flooding. Yu is said to have
eaten and slept with the common workers, and spent much of the
time assisting with the work at great personal sacrifice. The
irrigation system was successful and it allowed Chinese culture to
flourish along the Yellow River. As a result, Shun was so impressed
with Yu’s selfless efforts and upright moral character that he
passed the throne to Yu instead of to his own son. Yu is the founder
of the legendary first dynasty of China called the Xia dynasty, and
is known in Chinese culture as (dàyǔ: Yu the Great).

The legend of Gun and his son Yu the Great uses metaphors. Shun passed the
throne to Yu the Great instead of to his own son, therefore the legend deals
with dynastic change. Through much of China’s history, the emperor was
responsible for public works such as building dykes and diversion channels.1 In
the legend, Gun was given the task of controlling the river and waterways;
therefore he represents the emperor of China. In accordance with the Mandate
of Heaven, an emperor loses virtue if he rules badly. In this event, Heaven may
withdraw its mandate and manifests its displeasure in natural disasters such as

1
Randall A. Dodgem, Controlling the Dragon, p. 1.

95
 Stratagem

droughts and floods. Gun’s inept management of the waterways results in

floods and deaths, therefore Gun represents a non-virtuous emperor. Yu, who
works selflessly to successfully control the river and waterways for the benefit
of the people of China, represents a competent and virtuous emperor.

The legend of Gun and the legend of the archer Hou Yi both relate to dynastic
change and complement each other in the Duality Code. They represent the two
parts of a duality, which combines and unites to form a single unity. One part
of the duality is represented by the legend of Hou Yi, which identifies Yi as the
person who shoots the non-virtuous Son of Heaven. The second part of the
duality is represented by the legend of Gun, which identifies Gun as the non-
virtuous emperor who is executed.

The key to decrypting the Duality Code’s cipher representation for Gun lies in
numbers. Mathematics was a field of study in traditional Confucian education.
There are multiple Chinese numbering systems that may be viewed as dualities.
The first numbering system (hàomǎ: numbers) represents common
numbers that are used in everyday life. The second numbering system is used
for scientific and mathematical calculations and is called (suànzi: counting
rods).2 Chinese common numbers and counting rods are shown in Table 2.

There are two different sets of counting rods, representing the numbers one to
nine. One set represents vertical numerals and the second set represents
horizontal numerals. Vertical and horizontal rods are used for alternating
place values–units, tens, hundreds, and so on. Units are vertical, tens are
horizontal, hundreds are vertical, thousands are horizontal, etc. The number

2
Catherine Jami, The Emperor’s New Mathematics, p. 279.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

1,991 is represented by counting rods as . Counting rods are used

in conjunction with a counting board with delineated columns and rows.
Counting rods are placed on the counting board to represent numbers and zero
can be depicted by an empty space. With counting rods, the horizontal rod ( )
and the vertical rod ( ) both represent the number one. The number 1,111 is
represented by counting rods as .

In normal Chinese numbers, the number one is represented by a horizontal line

(yī: one). During the Shang dynasty 3,000 years ago, the number 10 was
represented by a vertical line . The Chinese employ a decimal counting system.
In such a system, the number 10 means ‘one ten’ and the number 20 means ‘two
tens’. The character represents a vertical number one. Horizontal one and
vertical one are graphic dualities of the number one.

The legendary archer Yi who shoots the non-virtuous sons of Heaven is

represented in the Duality Code by the phonetic substitution cipher [yì: Yi].
Yi’s duality is represented by Gun, the non-virtuous emperor who is executed.

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 Stratagem

The Kangxi Dictionary says that the character is read as ‘gǔn’.3 It is an exact
homophone that is phonetically indistinguishable from (gǔn: Gun father of
the emperor Yu). Therefore, [gǔn: Gun] is decrypted as a phonetic
substitution cipher for (gǔn: Gun, father of the emperor Yu).

The legend of Gun tells us that he is killed on (yǔ: feather) mountain. (yǔ:
feather) is a substitution cipher for [yì: Yi], therefore it tells us that Gun was
killed by Yi. The ancients also tell us [gǔn: Gun] (gōng: bow) (yǐn: to pull;
to stretch), which tells us that Yi shoots Gun. The legend also tells us that the
throne is handed to (yǔ: Yu the Great), which is a perfect homophone for
(yǔ: feather). Therefore (yǔ: Yu the Great) may be viewed as a phonetic
cipher for (yǔ: feather), which in turn is a substitution cipher for [yì: Yi].
In other words, [yì: Yi] is (yǔ: Yu the Great), who replaces [gǔn: Gun]. As
Yu the Great is the legendary founder of China’s first dynasty called the Xia
dynasty, we can deduce that it is Yi who is the founder of the Xia dynasty.

In the gloss for the character (yǐn: secret), the Kangxi Dictionary says:
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) .4 This establishes the dualities (yǐn: secret)
(yǐn: secret). The ancients tell us: [yì: Yi] [and] [gǔn: Gun] are (yǐn:
secret). We have decrypted these two secrets. There are many more secrets that
await decryption.

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 78 #20: .
4
Ibid, p. 1362 #15: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

[gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi] are each one part of a duality that combines and
unites to form a single unity. The two parts of the duality combine to become
the (shí: complete, perfect) unity.

The legends of Gun and Yi are both contextual decryption keys that facilitate
comprehension of the Duality Code. [gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi] combine to
form the (shí: complete; perfect) (yán: words) [of a] (jì: stratagem) that
is the Duality Code.

The stratagem that is the Duality Code involves other identities. The (gōng:
worker) was mentioned in Xu Shen’s encrypted message hidden in the Shuowen
Dictionary. (gōng: worker) may be viewed as number plus . The number
plus is the (wáng: king). In the Duality Code, number one is [yì: Yi],
number three is the (gōng: worker), and number four is the (wáng: king).
There is a person who is represented by the number two that has to be
identified.

The legends of Yi and Gun are extremely ancient. The earliest depictions of the
three-legged bird that is indicative of the legend of Hou Yi can be found in
artefacts from ancient China’s Neolithic period. This implies that ancient
Chinese writing has to be examined. Oracle Script may hold clues about the
Duality Code.

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Portal

The largest corpus of ancient Chinese characters that survives to this day is
called Oracle Script. Oracle Script characters were inscribed onto the flat
under-part of turtle shells (plastrons) or onto ox shoulder blades (scapulae),
which were used for a form of pyromancy divination in ancient China 3,000
years ago. Pyromancy is derived from Greek pyro meaning ‘fire’ and manteía
meaning ‘divination by means of’. The inscriptions on bone and shell recorded
questions to which answers were sought by the Shang kings from their
ancestral gods. These bones or shells were then heated in fire until they
cracked, and ancient oracles would interpret the cracks as answers from the
gods. Anthropologist Herbert Plutschow explains how oracle bones were used
for divination:

These oracle bones were shoulder bones of oxen (also of goat and
sheep) and, later, turtle plastron onto which, either before or after
divination, the diviners inscribed the divinatory questions addressed
to mostly ancestral but also a number of nature deities. These bones
were heated to obtain a pair of cracks consisting of a vertical line
plus, at about mid-point, a perpendicular line, corresponding to the
present Chinese character meaning ‘divination’ or ‘question to a
deity’. If the perpendicular crack was more or less at a right angle
to the vertical one, that is, within twenty degrees up or down the 90
degree point, the oracular reply was deemed positive. If the angle of

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the crack did not fall within this 40-degree range (from 70 to 110),
the reply was negative.1

During the late nineteenth-century, shell and bone artefacts from ancient
pyromancy divination were found by illiterate Chinese peasants who imagined
that they were dragon bones and ground them up for use in traditional
medicine. In 1899, Wang Yirong, director of the Chinese Imperial Academy,
recognised the inscriptions on the shell and bone fragments as ancient writing.
These shell and bone artefacts were excavated from the site of the last Shang
capital and date between c.1300 and 1046 BCE. In 1977, a cache of
approximately 17,000 pieces of bone and shell from the Zhou dynasty were
discovered at Fengshu Village, Qishan County; but only some 300 of them were
inscribed. Unfortunately, the Zhou wrote questions and prognostications on
oracle bones using cinnabar ink. This ink degraded over time and the written
characters did not survive the long journey through time to the twentieth-
century. Prior to the discovery of Shang dynasty oracle bones, examples of early
Chinese writing were known from characters cast into bronze ritual artefacts
from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Although such characters are collectively
called Bronze Script in recognition of their source, it is a misnomer as Bronze
Script comprises writings in a variety of scripts, including Oracle Script, and
Large Seal Script. The first recoveries of Shang and Zhou bronze artefacts
occurred during the early years of the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE). Bronze
Script offers valuable insights into the development of Chinese writing from
Oracle Script of the Shang dynasty to the subsequent Zhou dynasty Large Seal
Script, which replaced Oracle Script c.800 BCE.

1
Herbert Plutschow, ‘Archaic Chinese Sacrificial Practices in the Light of Generative Anthropology’,
Anthropoetics, vol. I, no. 2, December 1995.

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The record of Oracle Script characters from the last 250 years of the Shang
dynasty shows some variation in the way some characters are written
(including lateral inversion). This book takes one simple line of interpretation
of Oracle Script characters, but other interpretations may be possible. This
book uses four online references for Oracle Script characters and their
meanings. They are:

Chinese Ancient Texts (CHANT) Database by the D.C. Lau Research

Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Oracle Bone Inscription Database Xiaoxiaotang developed by the

Institute of History and Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

Chinese Etymology, an independent website established by the

etymologist Richard Sears who is based in China.

International Encoded Han Character and Variants Database,

established by Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

On occasions when these databases do not agree on the meaning of specific

Oracle Script characters, I will be guided by the meanings indicated by the
CHANT database. CHANT’s database comprises photographs of actual oracle
bone artefacts with inscribed Oracle Script characters arranged in sentences
for the purpose of pyromancy divination. These photographs of actual oracle
bones come with an overlay that shows the equivalent contemporary Kai Script
characters. Reading Oracle Script characters in their original context provides
more accurate derivation of current Chinese character equivalents.

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The evolution of the Kai Script character (gǒng: two hands) is shown in
Table 3. This character originates as the Oracle Script character (gǒng: two
hands), which is a pictograph that is strange and counterfactual. Hands have
five fingers, but the Oracle Script pictograph hands have only three fingers.
Furthermore, the Oracle Script character for ‘two hands’ does not just depict
‘hands’; it also depicts forearms that say: [gǔn: Gun]. Any six-year-old child
would draw five fingers when asked to draw hands. Why do Oracle Script hands
have only three fingers? The ancients have set us a Duality Code puzzle to
solve. Kai Script has re-encrypted and replaced the pictographic two hands in
Oracle and Seal Script with a non-pictographic (gǒng: two hands). There may
be a missing pictographic two hands in Kai Script that needs to be found.

The evolution of the Kai Script character (zhú: bamboo) is shown in Table 4.
The Oracle Script character (zhú: bamboo) is strange. Bamboo is a pole like
plant that grows vertically, and adjacent bamboo plants do not join at the top.
However, Oracle Script (zhú: bamboo) repeatedly, perhaps universally,
depicts bamboo being joined at the top. This is counterfactual and strange.
There is a logical puzzle to solve. Oracle Script (zhú: bamboo) can be

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interpreted to depict two hands, each with three fingers, reaching down from
the heavens. The Duality Code says cryptically: (gǒng: two hands) [and]
(yǔ: feather; wings) [are also] (yì: Yi), therefore the character (gǒng: two
hands) is a substitution cipher for (yì: Yi). The character (zhú: bamboo)
can be interpreted to depict Yi’s two hands. Yi is the sun, he is the Son of
Heaven, and as the Son of Heaven, Yi is the master. The character (zhú:
bamboo) is decrypted as a phonetic substitution cipher for (zhǔ: master,
lord). As such, the character is decrypted to be the polyseme [1. zhú: bamboo
2. zhǔ: master]. This decryption will be confirmed later in this book when we
are in a position to decrypt the associate compound sentence in Kai Script
(zhú: bamboo).

The character [1. zhú: bamboo 2. zhǔ: master] is a pictograph of [hands]

reaching down from the heavens, but it can also be interpreted as a pictograph
of [bird feet]. This leads to examination of the character for (niǎo: bird),
which is show in Table 5.

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There is a degree of variation in Oracle Script (niǎo: bird); however, one

frequent commonality in the characters is that the bird is drawn with only one
foot, which resembles a three-fingered hand. One of the master’s [two hands]
has been found. A second commonality in Oracle Script (niǎo: bird) is that
the bird is sometimes drawn standing on its tail. This is quite strange. Any six-
year-old child who is asked to draw a bird would normally draw the bird flying
or standing on its feet. Why does the Oracle Script pictograph of a bird depict
it standing on its tail? It leads to the examination of the character (wěi: tail;
end), which is shown in Table 6.

The Oracle Script character for (wěi: tail) depicts a tail on a (rén: man).
This is exceptionally strange. Men do not grow tails. However, in ancient and
imperial China, men used to wear their hair long. This Confucian tradition may
be traced to a book called the Classic of Filial Piety, which says:

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Now filial piety is the root of (all) virtue, and (the stem) out of
which grows (all moral) teaching. ... Our bodies–to every hair and
bit of skin–are received by us from our parents, and we must not
presume to injure or wound them. This is the beginning of filial
piety.2

The tradition for Chinese men to wear their hair long persisted from antiquity
until the end of imperial China. Man’s tail is a cryptic clue to the next
character in this word-puzzle trail. In Chinese, the term (mǎwěi biàn:
ponytail) is written with the character (m ǎ : horse). This leads to the
examination of the Oracle Script character for (mǎ: horse), which is shown in
Table 7.

2
James Legge (tr.), The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism: Part I, p. 466.

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Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) is standing on its tail. This is counterfactual and
very strange. A six-year-old child would draw a horse standing on its feet, not
on its tail. The ancients have flagged that there is a logical puzzle to solve. The
tail is drawn in the shape of a three-finger hand; the second of the master’s
[two hands] has been found. The Duality Code’s message, from sub-
components above the horse’s tail, says: (rén: man) (sān: three) [qiǎn:
receptacle] (mù: eye; look, see). It is an encrypted ciphertext message that is
over 3,000 years old. The ciphertext requires a decryption key to unlock the
plaintext message.

The decryption key to the ciphertext message in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse)
lies in rites, which is one of the six fields of study in a traditional Confucian
education. Sinologist J. J. M. De Groot asserts that the Chinese believe: ‘death
is only suspended animation and that the soul may return and recall the corpse
to life ...’3 In accordance with ancient tradition, the Chinese perform a three-
day wake. The reason for the Chinese version of the wake is given in the
ancient Book of Rites:

When some one asks: ‘Why is the dressing not performed till three
days after the breath has expired?’, the answer is: At the death of a
parent, the filial sons are sad and sorrowful, and their minds are
full of grief. Hence they crawl over the floor, pour forth their death-
howls as if they would bring back life into the body in this way: how
then can they allow the corpse to be wrested from them to be
dressed for the tomb? Therefore, when we say that the body is not
dressed until the third day, this means that we wait so long for its

3
J. J. M. De Groot, The Religious System of China, p. 263.

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revival. If re-animation does not follow in three days, it will not

come at all, and the heart of the filial son is still more broken
down.4

At the end of the wake, the corpse is dressed for the coffin. This is followed by
the coffin-sealing ritual, a rite of passage that marks the separation of the dead
from the living. In accordance with Chinese customs and beliefs, all persons
present symbolically turn to face away from the coffin sealing. It is considered
extremely unlucky to watch as the eldest son, or a dignitary, covers and seals
the coffin. Cultural anthropologist Linda Sun Crowder shares her insights on
Chinese funeral rites:

Considered by many to be the most important funeral feature,

sealing the coffin finalizes the situation of the corpse for burial. ... It
is unlucky to watch the coffin being closed or to have one’s shadow
or tears trapped in it. 5

The sealing of the coffin is the point at which the situation of the corpse is
finalised and the soul may no longer return to recall the corpse to life. It is the
point at which death is recognised and accepted. Death is symbolised by the
son, who becomes the new master, covering the former master with the coffin
cover when the coffin is sealed. Chinese funeral rites provide the decryption key
that is required to unlock the encrypted ciphertext message in Oracle Script
(mǎ: horse).

4
Book of Rites, cited in J. J. M. De Groot, The Religious System of China, p. 263.
5
Linda Sun Crowder, ‘The Taoist (Chinese) Way of Death’, in Clifton D. Bryant (ed.), Handbook Of
Death and Dying, Volume Two, p. 680.

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The tail in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) is a hand with the three fingers pointed
downwards. The hand is attached to a vertical forearm that says [gǔn: Gun].
The man depicted in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) corresponds to the person
identified by the number (sān: three) in the Duality Code.

The horse’s tail can be rotated to be a left hand. The forearm attached to the
hand is now horizontal and says [yì: Yi]. The horse is on its feet suggesting
that it is alive, and the (rén: man) lies on top of the [qiǎn: receptacle]. The
[qiǎn: receptacle] is only a (mù: wood) [qiǎn: receptacle] [that is a]
(chuáng: bed). The body has not been dressed for the coffin, and the situation
of the corpse has not been finalised. The soul may return to reclaim the body
and the man may get out of (chuáng: bed).

Conversely, the horse’s tail can be rotated to be a right hand. The forearm
attached to the hand is also horizontal and says [yì: Yi]. The horse is lying on
its back with feet pointing up into the air suggesting that it is dead, and the
(rén: man) lies below the [qiǎn: receptacle]. In the gloss for the character
[qiǎn: receptacle], the Kangxi Dictionary says: [gài: cover] (huò: perhaps,
maybe) (zuò: make; to regard as) [qiǎn: receptacle].6 This implies that a
[qiǎn: receptacle] can also be regarded as a [gài: cover]. The presence of
the cover over a man in Chinese funeral rites means that the situation of the
corpse has been finalised. The man can no longer leave the receptacle. The

6
Kangxi Dictionary, p 691 #9: .

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[qiǎn: receptacle] and the [gài: cover] have combined to form the
[duality capsule].

The ancients say: (mì: cover) [is] (zhǔ: master’s) (mián: roof). The coffin
cover is the roof of the master’s last home–the [duality capsule]. The
Chinese practised patrilineal primogeniture (inheritance through the first-born
son), and in accordance with funeral rites, the eldest son covers the previous
master to become the new master. However, the person who covers the previous
master can also be a dignitary who is unrelated to the mourning family. This
custom is documented by anthropologist James L. Watson who shares his
insights on the sealing of coffins in Chinese funeral rites:

Sealing the corpse in an airtight coffin. This action was considered

by many Chinese to be the most important feature of the
traditional funerary ritual. ... The ceremonial hammering of nails to
seal the coffin was a centerpiece of the ritual sequence; this act was
usually performed by the chief mourner or by an invited guest (i.e.,
someone of high social status relative to the mourners).7

When the deceased master is covered, he is ensconced in the duality capsule.

He leaves the world of the living and enters the duality world that is the spirit
world of the ancestors. Chinese ancestor worship included communication with
ancestral spirits for blessings and advice through divination. It was the Bronze

7
James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski (eds.) Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China, pp.
14–15.

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Age Shang practice of pyromancy divination that resulted in shell and bone
artefacts from which the current corpus of Oracle Script characters is sourced.

According to Chinese beliefs, the deceased enters the spirit world, and
communication between the spirit world and the living is conducted through
divination. This leads to examination of the letter prepared by the ancients,
titled (zhàn: divine). The character is not defined as a Kai Script character
in Chinese dictionaries. However, the dictionaries illustrate Seal Script
characters, therefore shi scholars could easily decrypt it as the Seal Script
character (bǔ: fortune telling; prophesy). The ancients have used the
polyseme (zhàn: divine; versify) to say: [bǔ: prophesy] [and] (kǒu: mouth;
entrance) [to] (zhàn: versify). Chinese characters are versified by decrypting
their ciphertext component word roots (sub-components) in order to ascertain
the plaintext associative compound sentence within each character. The
decrypted plaintext associative compound sentence represents the verse. The
character [bǔ: prophesy] is easily versified and it says: [yì: Yi] [and]
[gǔn: Gun] [bǔ: prophesy], which simply asserts that there is a Duality
Code prophesy involving Yi and Gun. The character (kǒu: mouth; entrance)
is less easy to versify. This leads to an examination of the etymological
development for the character , which is shown in Table 8.

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The character (kǒu: mouth; entrance) has the (gǔwén: classical Chinese)

(kǒu: mouth; entrance) character. 8 The legendary archer Yi is dead. He

reposes in a [qiǎn: receptacle] that is a [chèn: coffin] [qiǎn: receptacle]
[and] (chuáng: bed). Yi’s receptacle has a (kǒu: mouth) that can swallow a
man. It is an (k ǒ u: entrance) to another duality. The ancients have
instructed: [bǔ: prophesy] [and] (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [to] (zhàn:
versify). The classical (kǒu: mouth; entrance) has been versified. The verse
says: [yì: Yi’s] (qiǎn: receptacle) (kǒu: mouth; entrance). It is a portal to
the duality capsule; it is a [kǒu: duality portal]. The (qiǎn: receptacle) has
a counterpart (mì: cover). Together, they would form a duality capsule.

In Oracle Script, a (kǒu: mouth; entrance) was written with receptacles of

different shapes, perhaps indicating different types of receptacles. In the

8
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 135 #1: .

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ultimate duality change, a receptacle of wood is placed within a second

receptacle that is the Earth. The mouth/entrance in the Earth is also a duality
portal. Therefore there are two receptacles to get out of. The Duality Code says:
[gǔn: Gun] (qiǎn: receptacle) [and] (qiǎn: receptacle) [to] (chū: go out)
[of]. The body that is placed within a receptacle of wood may be thought of as
an item made of earth. It can also be conceived of as a receptacle made of
earth. The ultimate duality change involves three receptacles, not two.

In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi Dictionary says: (zuǒ: left)
(běn: root, origin) (zì: character).9 The Shuowen Dictionary gloss for the
character says: (shǒu: hand) (yě: also) and depicts a Seal Script left hand.10
There is a possibility of two different hands, a left hand or a right hand, when
Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) is rotated. This leads to versification of the
character (gǒng: two hands). The ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] (zuǒ: left,
hand) [is] (gǒng: two hands). This is quite strange. Why do the ancients say
that the left hand is two left hands?

The message in (gǒng: two hands) leads to the examination of the characters
for (zuǒ: left) and (yòu: right) that are used in everyday vernacular
writing. In the ciphertext message hidden in the Shuowen dictionary, Xu Shen
addressed you as (kě: possible) (gong: worker). The ancients say: (gōng:
worker) (zuǒ: left, hand) [is] (zuǒ: left). You are the (gong: worker) and

9
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 81 #11:
10
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 3, Radical 77:

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you live in the land of the living, therefore your left hand is on the left. Left and
right are dualities, and the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) is a duality portal to the
spirit world. The duality portal changes dualities, not just life to death but all
dualities including left and right. Therefore the ancients say: (kǒu: mouth;
entrance) (zuǒ: left, hand) [is on the] (yòu: right). The duality portal’s left
hand is on your right.

The Duality Code framework that appears in Oracle Script from 3,000 years
ago still governs Kai Script characters used today. In the gloss for the
character (gōng; forearm), the Kangxi Dictionary says: (gǔwén: classical
Chinese) . 11 This establishes the variants (g ō ng; forearm) (g ō ng;
forearm). The ancients say: (zhǔ: master’s) (gōng; forearm) [is a] (sī:
private, secret). ‘Master’s forearm’ references the forearm that is attached to
the hand and is the secret in the tail of Oracle Script (mǎ: horse). The (zhǔ:
master’s) (gōng; forearm) was a 3,000 year old shi (sī: private, secret).

The ancients have told us: (gǒng: two hands) [and] (yǔ: feather; wings)
[are also] (yì: Yi). The Unihan Directory has the meaning of ‘feather’ in the
character (máo: hair, fur, feathers),12 therefore I make the decryption of the
substitution cipher [yì: Yi]. The Duality Code says: [yì: Yi] (shī: to

11
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 976 #8: .
12
Unihan Database: U+6BDB.

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preside)13 [over] (1. wěi: tail 2. yǐ: horse’s tail). Yi’s forearm presides over the
horse’s tail in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse).

The Duality Code is ancient. It is ancient culture that is (gǔwén: classical

Chinese). The Shuowen Dictionary and the Kangxi Dictionary provide details
of (gǔwén: classical Chinese) characters that are a subset of variant
characters. The ancients use this (tǐ: group) [of] (yì: strange) (yìtǐ:
variant forms) in their encryption of the Duality Code. Undefined characters
hinder the reading of the Duality Code’s secret messages. One use of variant
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) characters is to provide logical equivalents for
characters that are not otherwise expressly defined in dictionaries. These
logical equivalents are substitution ciphers that enable shi scholars to decrypt
the Duality Code’s ciphertext into plaintext.

1. (x+y)p = a 2. (x+y)q = a
(x+y)p = (x+y)q
(x+y)p = (x+y)q
∴p=q

In mathematics, the two equations above can be simplified by cancelling out

the common factor (x+y). This simplification leads to the deduction that p = q.
The Duality Code uses symbolic logic that is similar to mathematical logic.

The character , which looks like a headless (rén: man) is undefined. The
Kangxi Dictionary says that the character (ding: male adult; 4th heavenly

13
Unihan Database: U+5C38.

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stem) has a (gǔwén: classical Chinese) variant .14 (ding: male adult;
4th heavenly stem) , therefore cancel out the common symbol and
deduce [yì: Yi] [yì: Yi]. In Duality Code logic, relative position of
component characters is important and care must be exercised when deducing
logical equivalents.

The decryption of the character [yì: Yi] leads on to the decryption of the
ciphertext message in [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. The legendary archer Yi
is dead. He rests under a [gài: cover], in his bed that is a [qiǎn: receptacle].
The Kangxi Dictionary says the [qiǎn: receptacle] is the left half of [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin], and the [gài: cover] is the right half of the [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin]. Together, the [qiǎn: receptacle] and the [gài: cover]
combine and unite to form [yì: Yi’s] (shí: complete, perfect) [1. mù: wood
2. chèn: coffin].

Although I have treated [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] as a decryption because
it is important to derive the logic that underpins the character, it should be
noted that the MDBG Dictionary provides the definition (mù: wood;
coffin).15 This confirms that the methods used to derive the meaning of [chèn:
coffin] are correct.

After Wang Yirong recognised the significance of the ‘dragon bones’ discovered
by illiterate Chinese peasants, the shi scholars who examined the artefacts
coined the term ‘Oracle Bone Script’, which is represented in Chinese by the

14
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 75 #3: .
15
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

characters (jiǎ: shell) (gǔ: bone) (wén: culture) (zì: character). The
polysemic meanings of these characters are shown below:

(jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; armour, shell; fingernails)

(gǔ: bone, skeleton; frame, framework)
(wén: literature; culture; writing)
(zì: character)

There are ten heavenly stems, which will be explained in greater detail later in
this book. The heavenly stems are used as an ordinal numbering system (1st, 2nd,
3rd, etc.), therefore the 1st heavenly stem is a duality of the number (yī: one);
it is a duality representation for [yì: Yi]. In Chinese, the term (jiǎ: shell)
(gǔ: bone) (wén: culture) (zì: character) contains ciphertext with the
following decrypted plaintext message:

(jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem [Yi]; shell)

(gǔ: bone; framework)
(wén: literature, culture, writing)
(zì: character)

In the Duality Code, [yì: Yi] is number one, the ultimate shi ancestral relative
whose descendants read the Book. You have (jiàn: seen) [the] (qīn:
relative’s) (mù: wood) (chèn: coffin). It is [yì: Yi’s] (shí: complete,
perfect) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. It is a duality capsule that transports
the deceased to the spirit world of the ancestors. It is the duality capsule in
Oracle Script (mǎ: horse). The duality capsule is one basis for the Duality
Code’s framework that has remained constant and unchanging over millennia.

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 Portal

The (kǒu: mouth; entrance) is a portal into the duality capsule; it is a duality
portal. It has a synonym in the character (mén: gate, door; entrance), and both
these characters combine to form the bigram (ménkǒu: doorway), which is
yet another duality portal. The Duality Code says: (mén: gate, door; entrance)
[and] (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [are both] (ménkǒu: doorways). [yì: Yi’s]
(qiǎn: receptacle) (kǒu: mouth; entrance) is the principal duality portal in the
Duality Code, and it was Lu Xun’s subject in the article ‘ [mén: Duality Portal]
(wàiwén: Foreign Language) (tán: Conversation)’.

An understand of duality portals provides the context for the ancients’ cryptic
instruction: (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [and] (mén: door; entrance) (wèn: ask
(about), inquire after).

The message in the classical (kǒu: mouth; entrance) has been versified. There is
a Kai Script re-encryption (kǒu: mouth; entrance) that contains a different
message. The dualities [yì: Yi] and [gǔn: Gun] have been decrypted, and
deducting [yì: Yi] and [gǔn: Gun] from (kǒu: mouth; entrance) leaves the
character , which is not directly defined in any Chinese dictionary. The
character will have to be decrypted before we can read the associate compound
sentence in Kai Script (kǒu: mouth; entrance).

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 8
Framework

The decryption of Oracle Script as (jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; shell) (gǔ: bone;
framework) (wén: literature, culture, writing) (zì: character) leads to the
examination of the 3,000-year-old Oracle Script message from the ancients that
is titled (gǔ: bone, skeleton; frame, framework). The etymology of this
character is shown in Table 9.

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 Framework

The Oracle Script character (gǔ: framework) places the character (zhàn:
versify) within a (kǒu: mouth; entrance). The message says: (kǒu: mouth;
entrance) (zhàn: versify) (gǔ: framework). The classical (kǒu: mouth;
entrance) is central to the Duality Code’s framework and it was versified in
Chapter Seven. In order to versify and decrypt the ancients’ message in the Kai
Script character (kǒu: mouth; entrance), the rules for the construction of Kai
Script characters have to be ascertained.

Calligraphy is the traditional Chinese art of writing with a brush, and it is a

field of study in a traditional Confucian education. The ancients say: (fǎ:
law, rule) [of the] (shū: book) [is] (shūfǎ: calligraphy). The law
governing the Book is stated in a set of general guidelines for calligraphy
stroke order, which represents the encryption protocol of the Duality Code’s
ciphertext associative compound sentences. The ancients also instruct:
(shun: follow) [the] (bǐ: writing brush) (bǐshùn: stroke order).
Observance of the encryption protocol enables decryption of the plaintext
associative compound sentences via the same protocol, but in reverse order.
The general guidelines for stroke order are as follows:

From top to bottom

left to right
Horizontal before vertical
Center before outside in vertically symmetrical characters
Enclosures before contents
Diagonals right-to-left before diagonals left-to-right

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Left vertical before enclosing

Character-spanning strokes generally last*
Bottom enclosures generally last*
Dots and minor strokes generally last*
* These are general guidelines for which there may be exceptions. A particular
character would not normally have more than one of these three elements.

The eight main brush strokes used in calligraphy are identified in the Eight
Principles of Yong. Table 10 shows the eight brush strokes, following the
sequence in which they are written in the character (yǒng: eternal). It is
called the Eight Principles of Yong because the character (yǒng: eternal) is
written with all eight of the main brush strokes, and each different brush
stroke is used only once. The Eight Principals of Yong is associated with the
Tang dynasty writer Liu Zongyuan (773–819 CE), who wrote a text called The
Praise to the Eight Principles of Yong.

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 Framework

The ancients tell us cryptically: (mǎ: code) (hào: numbers) [are]

(hàomǎ: numbers). There are codes in numbers. The Eight Principles of
Yong contains ciphertext that has to be decrypted into plaintext. The starting
point for this is the decryption of ciphertext in the number (bā: eight).

The Chinese have multiple number systems; the first is ordinary (hàomǎ:
numbers), the second is (suànzi: counting rods), and the third is
(dàxiě: numeral). As the number (yī: one) can easily be altered to
become the number (sān: three) or (shí: ten), numerals are used mainly in
financial instruments in order to safeguard against fraud. The ancients say:
(xiě: write) (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) (dàxiě: numeral). This is interpreted
as a cryptic instruction to use numerals.

x y, therefore x = y.
Variant characters are dualities that act as substitution ciphers. The Duality

Code creates the variants, numbers numerals, which act as substitution

ciphers. Chinese (hàomǎ: numbers) are generally defined to be monosemic.

The Duality Code uses (dàxiě: numerals) to impart hidden meaning to

numbers by defining numerals as polysemes. The meanings of the different

numerals are listed below. It may be possible to discern a cryptic message.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

[yī: one; Yi]

[èr: two; to revolt]
(sān: three; take part in)
(sì: four; excess; therefore)
(wǔ: five; company of five; troops)
(1. liù: six 2. lù: land; army)
(qī: seven)
(bā: eight; break open)
(jiǔ: nine; black jade)
(shí: ten; pick up, tidy up)
(niàn: twenty; think of, recall, study).
Note: Other than to observe that it is written with the character [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin], the duality meaning of (qī: seven) is not decrypted in
this book.

As an example of using numerals to impart secret meaning to numbers, the

Duality Code has created the variant duality (bā: eight) (bā: break
open; eight). The two characters are variants and can be used interchangeably.
Since the numeral can substitute for the number , and the number can
substitute for the numeral , the logical implication is that both number and
numeral must be equivalents; , therefore = . As the numeral is the
polyseme (bā: break open; eight), in order for the number to substitute the
numeral , the number must also be the polyseme [bā: eight; break open].
The Duality Code creates the variants (bā: break open; eight) (bā:
eight), in order to create the secret meaning of [bā: break open]. The same
logic is applicable to all types of duality variants created by the Duality Code.

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 Framework

In decrypting the Duality Code, decryptions can be checked and validated. This
is achieved by using decryptions to read ciphertext associated compound
sentences in other characters, in order to ensure that logical plaintext messages
are obtained. A knife can be used to cut and divide things, therefore validation
that [bā: eight; break open] has been decrypted correctly is provided by the
plaintext message: (dāo: knife) [bā: break open] [and] (fēn: divide).

The variants (jiǔ: nine) (jiǔ: nine; black jade) enables us to decrypt [jiǔ:
nine; black jade]. As with many other societies, white symbolises purity and
black symbolises evil to the Chinese. In the gloss for the character (wáng:
king), the Kangxi Dictionary says: (wáng: king) (běn: root, origin)
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) (yù: jade) (zì: character).1 Therefore it is the
polyseme (1. wáng: king; 2. yù: jade). Black jade can be decrypted to mean evil
king.

The ancients tell us: [jiǔ: black jade] is (rén: man’s) (chóu: enemy), and
[jiǔ: black jade] (rén: man) (chóu: hate). This validates our decryption of
the character [jiǔ: nine; black jade].

The number (èr: two) has the numeral variant (èr: two), which does not
appear to be a polyseme. The ancients have used an additional layer of variants
to encrypt the secret meaning for the number two. They have created the

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 727 #2: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

duality chain (èr: two) (èr: two) (èr: two; to revolt). 2 It logically
implies the polysemes [èr: two; to revolt], [èr: two; to revolt], and (èr:
two; to revolt). The use of more extensive duality chains may be viewed as an
attempt by the Duality Code to conceal its more sensitive or important
substitution ciphers.

The bigram (èrchén: turncoat official) contains the plaintext message:

(chèn: minister) [who] [èr: revolts] [is a] (èrchén: turncoat official).3
This provides validation that the duality meanings of [èr: two; to revolt] and
[èr: two; to revolt] have been correctly decrypted.

The plaintext message in the Eight Principles of Yong is: (fǎ: law) [to]
[bā: break open] (zì: characters) [is] (yǒng: eternal). They are the eternal
laws for decrypting ciphertext Kai Script characters into plaintext messages.
The eight single-stroke characters identified in the Eight Principals of Yong are
the basic building blocks of Kai Script encryptions of the Duality Code. In
decrypting a character, the meaning of a single-stroke character is taken to be
the meaning of the name ascribed to it in the Eight Principles of Yong. For
example, the single-stroke character takes on the meaning of its name, which
is (nà: press down). The Kangxi Dictionary lists entries for four of the eight
single-stroke characters identified in the Eight Principles of Yong. Table 11
combines the Eight Principles of Yong with the meaning of single-stroke
characters defined in the Kangxi Dictionary. This table of single-stroke

2
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 116 #9: .
3
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 Framework

characters may be viewed as a starting position and will be amended as we

make more decryptions. We are dealing with the Duality Code so we have to
find two meanings or duality meanings for each of the single stroke characters.

Versifying the Kai Script character (kǒu: mouth; entrance) requires the
decryption of the undefined character , which says: [wān: bend, curve] [yì:
Yi] (undefined). Examination of letters from the ancients that use this
undefined character leads to the character (jīn: now, today), which
contains the message: (undefined) (jí: to assemble) (jīn: now, today). ‘To
assemble’ may be interpreted as the matching of an undefined logograph to its
meaning. The ancients have said cryptically that the meaning of (undefined)
can be obtained in (jīn: now, today). The Kangxi Dictionary’s gloss for the
character (jīn: now, today) says: (cóng: from, through) (jí: to assemble)
(undefined) (huìyì: associative compound). The dictionary adds:

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

(undefined) [is] (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (jí: extend; reach). 4 This

creates the classical variant duality (jí: extend; reach). (jí: Extend;
reach) is a cryptic instruction for us to extend our reach beyond the bounds of
the Kangxi Dictionary. The Kangxi Dictionary expects us to refer to the
Shuowen Dictionary for certain characters that are important for the
decryption of the Duality Code. This is interpreted as the creation of more
barriers for the decryption of the Duality Code. The online Shuowen
Dictionary’s entry for the character (jí: extend; reach) shows that it has a
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) variant character .5 This extends the duality
chain to . The Shuowen Dictionary’s gloss for the character
says: (dú: read) (ruò: if, supposing) (yí: change place).6 The ancients have
used variants and the two dictionaries to create a duality chain of substitution
ciphers (yí: change place). Therefore I make the decryption
[yí: change place]. The duality chain (yí: change place) also
provides us with the decryption [yí: change place], which will be used later in
this book. Hidden in the Kangxi Dictionary’s gloss for the character is the
instruction (jiàn: see) (shuōwén: Shuowen).7 This confirms that
the Kangxi Dictionary intends for us to refer to the Shuowen Dictionary in
certain instances.

The Kangxi Dictionary has used a sleight of hand. The character [yí: change
place] is not used in the composition of the character (jīn: now, today). The

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 91 #18: .
5
Online Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 3, Radical: 76: . See: http://www.shuowenjiezi.com
6
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 12, Radical 448: .
7
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 81 #9: .

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 Framework

character used is . Consider the character (xìn: trust, believe; letter); it

would be quite unremarkable if the Kangxi Dictionary informed us that it is
composed with the character (rén: man) as it has the same meaning as the
variant character (rén: man). This sleight of hand in substituting for is
interpreted as the Kangxi Dictionary treating the characters and as
variants that can be used interchangeably. This leads to the deduction
[yí: change place]. The ancients say: (sī: secret) [and] (sī: secrets) [in a]
(huàn: sleight of hand). Two (sī: secrets) that involve a (huàn: sleight of
hand) have been found. They are [yí: change place] and [yí: change place].

The character [yí: change place] may be a thought of as a reference to the

Duality Code in which [yì: Yi] shoots and changes places with [gǔn: Gun] as
the emperor of China. Therefore the ancients have urged us cryptically:
[yí: change place; Duality Code] (jí: to assemble) (jīn: now, today).

The decryptions [yì: Yi] and [gǔn: Gun] were made through their respective
legends, not through the Eight Principles of Yong. The Duality Code has
hidden additional meanings for the single-stroke characters elsewhere and
these have to be found. The ancient (wǔshì: warriors) used a double-edged
(jiàn: sword), which is the master’s knife. The double-edged sword came in
two lengths, long and short, and shi warriors could have both in addition to
other weapons. The Duality Code says: (dāo: knife) [are] (qiǎn: all)
(jiàn: swords). Any knife can be a substitution cipher for the master’s knife,
which is the sword.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The ancients say cryptically: (zhǔ: master’s) (dāo: knife) [is] (rèn: edged
tool). The Duality Code uses abstractions to generate substitution ciphers.
Therefore, any edged tool serves as a substitution cipher for the master’s knife,
which is the sword.

A halberd is a combination of a spear and an axe. It is an instrument with a

blade and is therefore a substitution cipher for the master’s knife. The ancients
say: [gē: master’s knife] [and] (shǒu: hand) [to] (zhǎo: search, seek; find).
There are hidden swords and hands that have to be found. Swords and hands
are highly encrypted.

The ancients say: [wān: curve] [is] (yì: shoot with bow’s) (gē: halberd). A
long [jiàn: sword] has been found.

The ancients also say: [wān: curve] [is] [yí: change place] (dāo: knife).
The Duality Code deals with [yì: Yi] changing places with [gǔn: Gun],
therefore [yí: change place] refers to the Duality Code. We have found the
Duality Code knife, which is a [jiàn: sword]. The associative compound
sentences in the characters (gē: halberd, spear, lance) and (dāo: knife)
support the decryption [1. jiàn: sword 2. wān: bend, curve].

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 Framework

The ancients say: [piě: discard] [is a] (yǐn: secret) (bǐ: knife, dirk). A
short sword or (bǐshǒu: short sword, bayonet) has been found.8 This leads
to the decryption of [1. jiàn: sword 2. piě: discard]. The Duality Code has
instructed: (gē: halberd) [and] (shǒu: hand) [to] (zhǎo: search, seek; find).
Two swords, [1. jiàn: sword 2. wān: curve] and [1. jiàn: sword 2. piě:
discard] have been found. There are still some secret hands that have to be
found.

The ancients instruct: [jiàn: sword] and [yí: change place] [to] (bāo:
wrap). The shi were instructed to conceal their secrets in undefined logographs
such as [jiàn: sword] and [yí: change place], which are decryption keys to
the Duality Code.

The character has been decrypted to be a phonetic substitution cipher for

Gun. In the Kangxi Dictionary’s gloss for the character , it says: (dú: read)
(ruò: if, supposing) (gǔn: imperial robes).9 This extends the meaning of the
character [gǔn: Gun] to the polyseme [gǔn: Gun; imperial robes]. The duality
of imperial robes is normal (yī: clothes), and Gun and Yi are dualities.
Logically, the duality of the polyseme [gǔn: Gun; imperial robes] should also
be a polyseme. This therefore leads to the decryption of the polyseme [1. yì:
Yi 2. yī: clothes]. The preliminary decryptions for the eight single-stroke
characters used in this book are shown in Table 12.

8
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .
9
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 78 #20: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

This is the Duality Code, therefore the single stroke characters will have
dualities which means that they will have at least two meanings. I have
separated the decrypted meanings into primary and secondary meanings. For
the characters with only one meaning decrypted at the present, the second
meaning will be decrypted later in this book. All Chinese characters may be
viewed as associate compound sentences. This includes the eight single strokes
above where the two meanings may be viewed to form the simplest associate
compound sentence possible.

Calligraphy entails writing characters from the beginning to the end. Writing
and reading are dualities. The Duality Code is a classical cipher that uses
transposition ciphers. It is written from the beginning to the end, but is
normally read (decrypted) from the end to the beginning. Chinese characters
may generally be divided into two groups; firstly characters with non-
overlapping or unconnected components, and secondly characters with

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 Framework

overlapping or connected components. The decryption methods for both these

types of characters are explained below.

Characters that comprise non-overlapping sub-components, such as , and .

For such characters, sub-components are read in multiple passes, firstly as
individual components last to first in opposition to their encryption protocol
(the sequence in which they are written), followed by combinations of two
components last to first in opposition to their encryption protocol, followed by
combinations with increasingly higher number of components. This is
irrespective of the stroke count in each sub-component. Examples of this
decryption method follow:

Characters with overlapping or connected brush strokes, such as , and .

The character is written with four single brush strokes. Superimposed within
the character are two-stroke characters such as and , as well as the

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

three-stroke character . For characters with overlapping or connected brush

strokes, the character is read in multiple passes starting with single-stroke
characters read last to first in opposition to their encryption protocol, followed
by incrementally higher-stroke-count characters, also from last to first in
opposition to their encryption protocol. This may be conceptualised as a
comprehensive primary decryption and is demonstrated below. Where
appropriate, a character’s encryption protocol, or stroke order, is shown within
{curly brackets} in the format: { }. An example of this decryption
method follows:

The character [gài: cover] will be decrypted in a later chapter but is included
here for completeness. The Kai Script (kǒu: mouth; entrance) has been
versified. It says: [èr: to revolt] [yǐn: secret], [yí: change place] [gài:
cover] (fang: box) (kǒu: mouth; entrance). It is a portal to the receptacle of
a duality capsule that is euphemistically described as a (fang: box). It is a
[kǒu: duality portal].

The eight single-stroke characters identified by the Eight Principles of Yong

are the basic-level decryption keys that are the building blocks of the Duality
Code. The ciphertext associative compound sentences of the Duality Code can
be decrypted into plaintext messages using these eight single-stroke characters.
The plaintext messages can be understood using the higher-level contextual
decryption keys provided by the legends of [yì: Yi] and [gǔn: Gun], the

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 Framework

[1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin], the classical (kǒu: mouth; entrance), and
Oracle Script (mǎ: horse).

Decryption of Chinese characters with contiguous or overlapping strokes

requires knowledge of all possible characters that are superimposed within the
character that is being decrypted. Decryption of the simple four-stroke
character (kǒu: mouth; entrance) above generated a ten-character
associative compound sentence. This suggests that decryption of characters
with larger numbers of contiguous strokes, such as , may become difficult, if
not impossible, based on the comprehensive primary decryption method. The
decryption method needs to be adapted and simplified for characters with five
or more strokes. In the Duality Code, the number five represents duality
change. This will be decrypted later in this book. Therefore we will employ a
duality decryption method, which may be thought of as a simplified secondary
decryption method.

The general rule to adopt in the simplified secondary decryption method is to

break the character into higher-order components in such a way that every
element is used only once. The complex character can be broken into the
components: , , and . The components are read last to first, starting
from lower-stroke-count components to higher-stroke-count components.
Although necessary for more complex characters with five or more brush
strokes, this secondary decryption method can also be utilised for characters
with fewer than five brush strokes. As there may be more than one possible way
to break up a complex character into components, this decryption method may
result in multiple decryptions for a single character, which are equally valid.
This is demonstrated below.

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The decryption methods explained above may be viewed as basic decryption

methods. Examples of basic decryptions follow.

The basic methods of decryption explained above may be considered a

preliminary explanation. There exist characters that are a cross between
overlapping and non-overlapping characters. Examples include: (mǎ: horse)
and (jīn: metal). The ancients have encrypted an instruction manual into
Chinese characters. This may be viewed as a deconstructed instruction manual
within the deconstructed book that is the (kǎishū: Kai Book). Later in this
book, we will be reading this deconstructed instruction manual whereby the
ancients will give us lessons on decrypting their Duality Code so that we may
read the Book. The Book that caused Qian Xuantong to propose replacing the
Chinese language with Espernto. The Book that caused Lu Xun to say, ‘If
Chinese characters are not eradicated, China will perish’.

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 Framework

Plaintext messages within characters are sentences that combine together to

narrate the text in the Book that is called the (kǎishū: Kai Book) or the
[kǎishū: Duality Capsule Book]. Sentences in this deconstructed Book can
be read in any order. The ideas presented by the Book develop and take form as
more sentences are read. A sample of some sentences in the Book that illustrate
the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (zhàn: versify) (gǔ: framework) follows:

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China’s Orthographic Dilemma

137
 Framework

The ancients have commanded: (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [to] (bāo: wrap)
(jù: sentence). To wrap is to cover or to conceal. The shi described Chinese
characters as pictographs, ideographs, and semantic-phonetic compounds to
conceal the fact that they are ciphertext associative compound sentences. At
last resort, characters could be labelled as false borrowings. This was the
ultimate defence as it asserts that the meaning imparted by the character is
totally unrelated to the logographs within the character. Sinologist L. Wieger
describes the conventional understanding of false borrowing:

A mistake, lit. false borrowing. Use of a character in a sense which

is not its own, either 1. By error, for an other [sic] existing character;
or 2. By convention, to designate an object which has its name in the
spoken language, but which has no special character.10

The desire for secrecy logically implies the existence of secrets. There are
ancient secrets to unwrap. Ancient secrets that originate from a time when
ancient men lived in the state of nature, in a state of warre. In Hobbes’ words:

Naturally every man has Right to Every thing. And becauſe the
condition of Man (as hath been declared in the precedent Chapter)
is a condition of Warre of every one againſt every one ; in which
caſe every one is governed by his own Reaſon ; and there is nothing
he can make uſe of, that may not be a help unto him, in preſerving

10
L. Wieger, Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification and Signification, p. 11.

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his life against his enemyes ; It followeth, that in ſuch a condition,

every man has a Right to every thing ; even to one anothers body.
And therefore, as long as this naturall Right of every man to every
thing endureth, there can be no ſecurity to any man, (how ſtrong or
wise ſoever he be,) of living out the time, which Nature ordinarily
alloweth men to live. And consequently it is a precept, or generall
rule of Reafon, That every man, ought to endeavour Peace, as ſarre
as he has hope of obtaining it ; and when he cannot obtain it, that
he may ſeek and uſe, all helps, and advantages of Warre. The firſt
branch of which Rule, containeth the firſt, and Fundamentall Law
of Nature ; which is, to ſeek peace, and follow it. The Second, the
ſumme of the Right of Nature ; which is, By all means we can, to
defend our ſelves.11

11
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p. 64.

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 9
Duality

There are different ways to denote duality in Chinese. One way that the
ancients use to explain their concept of dualities is in a bigram that says:
(ǒu: pair) (duì: to match together) [is a] (duì'ǒu: duality). 1 This
Chinese conception of duality may be defined as anything that can form a pair.
Alternatively, it can be thought of as anything that can form a counterpart
relationship. Dualities can be generated from synonyms as well as antonyms.
They can be based on spatial relationships, family relationships, logical
relationships, and much more.

Imagine two children playing a word game. The first child says a word, to
which the second child responds with any word that comes to mind. The
children may be viewed as playing a duality question and answer game. We
could conceivably have the following question and answer pairings: up/down;
left/right; wrong/right; fast/slow; hot/cold; good/bad; night/day; sun/moon;
fire/water; Heaven/Earth; brother/sister; father/__?

‘Father’ could be paired with ‘mother’ to reflect the husband/wife duality.

‘Father’ could also be paired with ‘son’ to reflect the parent/child duality. It
could be paired with ‘daughter’ as it also reflects the parent/child duality.

1
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

‘Father’ could conceivably be paired with ‘grandfather’, which is underpinned

also by the parent/child duality because the grandfather is a parent to the
father. Father could be paired with ‘uncle’, as it reflects a sibling relationship;
as well as ‘aunt’, which also reflect a sibling relationship. Father/aunt not only
reflects a sibling relationship but also a male/female relationship.

The Chinese conception of duality recognises that concepts may be multi-

dimensional; therefore a simple concept such as ‘father’ may have multiple
pairings or dualities. Since concepts are multi-dimensional, duality chains (or
duality associations) can take twists and turns. For example, starting with the
concept of ‘daughter’, we can have a duality chain that goes: daughter/mother,
followed by mother/father, followed by father/uncle, followed by
uncle/grandfather. If the grandfather were the emperor, we could have
grandfather/dragon because the dragon is the symbol of the emperor.

Counterpart relationships in the Chinese conception of duality may be natural

or logical; but perhaps more importantly, they can also be synthetic. The ability
to create synthetic dualities gave ancient cryptographers the unfettered ability
to create substitution ciphers. In the legend of Hou Yi, Hou Yi and Chang E
represent the husband/wife duality. Chang E goes to live on the moon to be the
Moon Goddess, which creates a synthetic duality Chang E/moon. The sun and
the moon are the biggest celestial objects in the sky and many cultures conceive
of them as a pair, which in other words is a duality. Therefore Chang E/moon
results in our decryption of Hou Yi/sun. Mortality and immortality are
dualities. Mortality is inherent in life, and immortality is gained upon death.
The Jade Emperor who rules Heaven is an immortal–he is a dead emperor.
The Jade Emperor who lives in Heaven is Heaven, just as Chang E who lives on

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the moon is the moon. Therefore the Jade Emperor’s sons are the sons of
Heaven. The Chinese emperor is called the Son of Heaven, therefore when Hou
Yi shoots the Jade Emperor’s sons represented as the ten suns, Hou Yi is
shooting the Son of Heaven. During the Shang Dynasty, the symbol
representing the concept of ‘ten’ was . Hou Yi shoots [gǔn: Gun].

Synthetic dualities are substitution ciphers that can be created in different

ways. They can be created through variants defined in Chinese dictionaries,
through ciphertext associative compound sentences within characters, through
Chinese legends, as well as through customary linguistic usage and customs. A
example of a duality created through customary linguistic usage was seen in a
previous chapter when the (pándiǎn: coffin shop) was used to create the
synthetic duality [1. pán: piece of wood 2. qiǎn: receptacle].

, therefore =
We encountered another example of a synthetic duality created in dictionaries
earlier in an earlier chapter. The Kangxi Dictionary says that the character
(wáng: king) is the (běn: root, origin) (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (yù:
jade) (zì: character), therefore it is the polyseme (1. wáng: king 2. yù: jade).
It also follows that there is the synonym duality (1. wáng: king 2. yù: jade)
(yù: jade). If the two characters are synonym dualities that can substitute
for each other, logic dictates that they must both have the same meaning or
meanings, therefore both characters are polysemes (1. wáng: king 2. yù: jade)
and [1. yù: jade 2. wáng: king].

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Yi, the ancient master, is dead. The master is a dead king. Therefore the
ancients say: (zhǔ: master) [and] (wáng: king) [are] (yù: jade). The
(wáng: king) and (yù: jade) are dualities and substitution ciphers. The
ciphertext associative compound sentence (zhǔ: master) [and] (wáng: king)
[are] (yù: jade) creates the synthetic duality (1. wáng: king 2. yù: jade)
[1. yù: jade 2. wáng: king].

During the Han dynasty, kings and aristocrats had jade burial suits.
Excavation of tombs from the earlier Zhou dynasty have uncovered jade
ornaments placed on the abdomen of the occupants, as well as jade face masks.
Jade burial offering artefacts are common in some Neolithic graves and totally
absent in others, suggesting that jade is associated with social stratification
from the earliest period of Chinese culture. A dead king enters into the spirit
world and ascends to Heaven to become the Jade Emperor.

A duality has two parts that combine to form a unified whole or unity. Duality
is also expressed in another Chinese concept called (liǎngyí: Two
Appearances). The two parts of a duality, or the Two Appearances, each have a
name. They are called (yáng: yang; ‘male’ principle; light; sun) and (yīn:
yin; ‘female’ principle; dark; moon; secret). Dualities may be logical binary
dualities, such as top/bottom, inside/outside, receptacle/cover, left/right, and
male/female. Dualities may be synthetic such as Chang E/moon, Hou Yi/sun,
and piece of wood/receptacle. They can also be cyclical dualities such as rising
and falling tide cycles, day/night cycles, and sun/moon cycles.

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The two parts of a duality (yang and yin) combine into a single unity called the
(tàijí: Taiji, Absolute, Supreme Ultimate). This is illustrated in a diagram
called the (tàijí tú: Taiji Tu, Taiji diagram) shown in Figure 1. The white
and black parts of the Taiji Tu can be used to conceptualise a duality where
there are two states. One state called (yáng: yang; light; sun) represented by
the white part of the Taiji Tu, and one state called (yīn: yin; dark; moon;
secret) represented by the dark part of the Taiji Tu. With the assistance of
clock face imagery, the Taiji Tu can also be used to conceptualise a cyclical
duality. As a clock hand sweep across a Taiji Tu clock face, the proportion of
white yang to black yin changes in a cyclical manner.

The Chinese also represent dualities through a system of three lines comprising
a set of eight trigrams ( ). The three lines of the trigram are
divided into two subsets. The first subset comprises a single line at the bottom
of the eight trigrams that is either (yáng: yang, sun) or (yīn: yin; moon;
secret). This first subset represents the duality (liǎngyí: Two Appearances).
The second set of lines in the trigram comprises two lines with four possible
combinations ( ). These four two-lined combinations are collectively
called the (sìxiàng: Four Forms), and may be conceptualised to represent
the strength of a cyclical duality. The names of the Four Forms are:
: (tàiyang: superior yang), : (shǎoyīn: lesser yin),

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: (shǎoyáng: lesser yang), and : (tàiyīn: superior yin).2 The

Four Forms are shown in Table 13.

The Duality Code has challenged us to decrypt the meaning behind the Four
Forms. The first step in the decryption is to segregate the names of the Four
Forms into two columns, one column for yang and the other for yin. This is
shown in Table 14.

A glass that is said to be 75% full can also be described as being 25% empty. In
a logical duality, only one half of a duality has to be defined. The undefined
half of a logical duality can be deduced logically. The undefined half of the

2
Ho Peng Yoke, Li, Qi and Shu: An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China, p. 34.

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Four Forms can therefore be deduced logically and the decryption is shown in
Table 15.

The Two Appearances and Four Forms combine to give the full three-line
trigram with eight possible combinations ( ). This is called
the (bāguà: Eight Divinations). Table 16 shows the Eight Divinations in a
rectangular arrangement, with the four yang trigrams arranged above the four
yin trigrams. The four yang trigrams are shown with (yáng: yang, sun) at the
bottom, together with the two lines of the Four Forms above it, whereas the
four yin trigrams are shown inverted with (yīn: yin; moon; secret) at the top,
together with the two lines of the Four Forms below it. Note that the Four
Forms are also shown inverted in the yin trigrams. The table is read
counterclockwise from the top right corner. The inversion of the yin trigrams is
in preparation for the display the Eight Divinations in an octagonal
arrangement with the Two Appearances appearing in the innermost line of the
octagon. This will be shown later in this chapter.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The character (yáo: diagrams for divination) does not explicitly identify
which diagrams for divination it refers to. Since we have the (bāguà: Eight
Divinations), which relates to divinations, we will begin by assuming that it
refers to this as a starting point. The character (wǔ: five) is a (gǔwén:
classical Chinese) (wǔ: five) (zì: character). 3 The ancients say: (yì:
control) 4 (wǔ: five) [in] (yáo: diagrams for divination). This message
appears incomprehensible because there is no five in the Eight Divinations.
The Eight Divinations comprise the Four Forms of yang, together with the
Four Forms of yin. What do the ancients mean by (yì: control) (wǔ: five)?
The ancients have set us a puzzle to solve. A logical starting point in decrypting

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 81 #18: .
4
Ibid, p. 81 #10: .

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the character (yáo: diagrams for divination) would be to examine its

etymology. This is shown in Table 17.

In both Seal Script and Oracle Script, the Duality Code says: (wǔ: five) (wǔ:
five) [in] (yáo: diagrams for divination). The ancients are saying that there
are two fives, but the Eight Divinations only comprise two sets of Four Forms.
There is a 3,000 year old logical puzzle to solve.

The logical puzzle in (yáo: diagrams for divination) leads us to examine the
letter from the ancients that is titled ‘ (wǔ: five)’. The ancients say: [èr: to
revolt] [yí: change place] [on] (wǔ: five). Therefore the number five
represents duality change and we can logically decrypt the polyseme [wǔ: five;
duality change].

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

During the Shang dynasty when Oracle Script was in use, Yi was represented by
the horizontal character , whereas Gun was represented by the vertical
character . Together they combine to form the image . It is possible to
hypothesise that the Oracle Script character (wǔ: five) represents Yi in mid-
rotation from horizontal to vertical, and Gun in mid-rotation from vertical to
horizontal. Therefore we can also hypothesise [wǔ: five, duality change].

There are two changes in duality in the Eight Divinations–from yang to yin,
and from yin back to yang. Therefore the Oracle script character can be
decrypted to say: [wǔ: five, duality change] [wǔ: five, duality change] [in]
(yáo: diagrams for divination), which can be logically comprehended as a
reference to the two duality changes in the Eight Divinations. The Kai script
character can then be read to say: (yì: control) [wǔ: five, duality change]
[in] (yáo: diagrams for divination), which can also be logically
comprehended.

Table 18 shows the Eight Divinations restated with the number five
representing a duality change. The trigrams are arranged counterclockwise.
There are two duality changes, the yin duality change occurs when yang
changes to yin on the first count of five, and the yang duality change occurs
when yin changes back to yang on the second count of five. Thinking in terms
of Hobbes’ primordial state of nature where there is a binary state duality of
either war or peace, the yang (light; sun) duality may be thought of as peace,
and the yin (dark; moon; secret) duality may be thought of as war.

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The inversion of the yin diagrams that was done earlier was a preparation for
the derivation of the Fuxi Bagua where the Two Appearances (yang and yin) lie
in the center of the octagon. This is shown in Figure 2.

In an octagonal arrangement, the two lines of the Four Forms representing the
strength of the duality are in the outer two lines of the trigrams. This is shown
in Figure 3.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The full Eight Divinations in an octagonal arrangement is illustrated in Figure

4. The Eight Divinations comprises Four Forms of yang combined with their
duality in the Four Forms of yin. This arrangement of the trigrams is called the
(fúxī bāguà: Fuxi Bagua). It can be viewed as a cyclical duality and is
read counterclockwise from the top.

A glass that is 75% full is the same as a glass that is 25% empty. The Four
Forms can be stated in terms of yang or yin. It is important to note that
irrespective of whether the Four Forms are stated in terms of yang, or yin, or

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both, the duality is determined by the Two Appearances, not the Four Forms.
This is illustrated in Figure 5, which presents the same information as Figure 4,
but with the names of the Four Forms reverted to their encrypted names.

The Fuxi Bagua is often paired with the Taiji Tu. The white part of the Taiji Tu
representing yang aligns with the Four Forms of yang, whereas the black part
of the Taiji Tu representing yin aligns with the Four Forms of yin. This is
shown in Figure 6.

Each of the trigrams of the Eight Divinations has a name. Figure 7 shows the

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Fuxi Bagua with the names of the individual trigrams written in black.

The meanings of the trigram names combine to form a cryptic message. From
the top going counter clockwise, the message says:

(qiǎn: heavenly generative principle)

(duì: cash; exchange)
(lí: depart)
(zhēn: quake; excite)
(kūn: earth)
(gèn: tough, obstinate)5
(kǎn: pit)
(xùn: obedient)
Note: A (kǎn: pit) is a hole in the ground. In classical texts such as the
(lǐjì: Book of Rites), the character (kǎn: pit) can denote a grave.

5
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .

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 Duality

Each of the trigrams of the Eight Divinations also represents images of nature.
This is shown in Figure 8 with the images of nature written in white.

Each image of nature is paired with the image on the opposite side of the
octagon. The four duality pairings of the trigrams are:

(tiān: Heaven)/ (dì: Earth)

(zé: marsh)/ (shān: mountain)
(huǒ: fire)/ (shuǐ: water)
(léi: thunder)/ (fèng: wind)

The Fuxi Bagua is also known by another name with the conventional
translation (xiāntiān bāguà: Earlier Heaven Bagua). The term
separates to reveal a hidden message: (xiāntiān: natural) 6 (bāguà:
Eight Divinations).

6
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The duality of (xiāntiān: innate; natural) is (hòutiān: acquired, not

innate). There is a second arrangement of the Eight Divinations called the
King Wen Bagua, which has a second name with the conventional translation
(hòutiān bāguà: Later Heaven Bagua). The term separates to reveal
the message: (hòutiān: acquired, not innate) 7
(bāguà: Eight
Divinations). The ancients have told us cryptically that this is not a natural
bagua. This second arrangement of the Eight Divinations disrupts the cyclical
duality. The King Wen Bagua is not decrypted any further in this book. Figure
9 shows the King Wen or Later Heaven Bagua.

In Hobbes’ Leviathan, the laws of nature apply in the state of nature; and in
war, every man has a right to everything, even to one another’s bodies. War
results in death, and death is the ultimate duality change. Death is the ultimate
change between yang and yin, between Heaven and Earth. The word ‘sacrifice’
comes from Latin sacer meaning ‘holy’ and facere meaning ‘to make’. It

7
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 Duality

denotes the act of killing an animal or person as an offering to the gods. Blood
sacrifice to the gods was a worldwide phenomenon in ancient societies,
including the ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians, Vikings, Maya, Aztecs and
Incas. The scandal, shame, and infamy of human blood sacrifice has troubled
both theology and anthropology. From ancient times, Chinese culture was
based upon sacrifice. Anthropologist Herbert Plutschow asserts:

Sacrifice remained central in the Chinese state and no theory of

Chinese statehood could ever be proposed without reference to
sacrifice and sacrificial ideology. Like Western culture, China
follows the evolution from blood sacrifice to non-blood ...8

The earliest recognised written records from ancient China are found in oracle
bone inscriptions from the Shang dynasty. Death played a central role in Shang
religious rites, which involved blood sacrifice. The Shang also practised capital
and corporal punishment for criminal offences.9 Corporal punishment included
amputation of the nose, feet and genitalia. The ultimate punishment for
criminal offences was death. Shang blood sacrifice and punishment involved
the division of a body into two parts. This may be euphemistically referred to
as (yā: bifurcate)–to divide into two branches.

8
Herbert Plutschow, ‘Archaic Chinese Sacrificial Practices in the Light of Generative Anthropology’,
Anthropoetics, vol. I, no. 2, December 1995.
9
Zhengyuan Fu, Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics, p. 109.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Shang warriors of ancient China lived in Hobbes’ state of nature, in a

condition of continual war with their neighbours. Under the Shang, human
sacrifice was a regular institution closely linked to military activities.10 The
neighbouring Qiang tribe was the most important source of war prisoners used
by the Shang in their sacrifice rituals.11 The Duality Code says: [jiàn: sword]
(yǐn: secret) (sān: three) (yā: bifurcate) (qiāng: Qiang).

Shang punishment and sacrificial rites both involved bifurcation. The ancients
say: (wǒ: I) (sān: three) (yā: bifurcate) (yì: right conduct). Bifurcation
was politically correct in Shang dynasty ancient China 3,000 years ago.

Sinologist Ping Wang described methods of sacrifice employed by the Shang

and identified characters used in oracle bones to denote different methods of
sacrifice. There were at least twelve different methods for human sacrifice
including: chopping, beating, bleeding, burying alive, drowning, boiling,
burning, splitting a body into halves, decapitation ( ), dismembering ( ), as
well as exposing and drying ( ). Ping Wang shares her insights on one reason
for human sacrifice:

Drought and floods would be a fundamental threat to people’s lives.

In ancient China, people relied on agriculture for a living. ...
Therefore, the jiǎo sacrifice, aimed at praying for rain and

10
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China, p. 26.
11
Li Feng, Early China: A Social and Cultural History, p. 110.

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 Duality

avoiding the drought, was a very important sacrificial activity in

Shang dynasty. 12

The most common form of human sacrifice was decapitation, and the character
that was used to denote decapitation in Oracle Script was (fá: cut down,
subjugate, attack). The ancients say: (gē: halberd) (rén: man) (fá: cut
down, subjugate, attack). Shi halberds were the instruments that cut down,
subjugated, and attacked the Qiang in Shang human sacrifice rituals.

Shang human sacrifice rituals results in death. Genesis 3:19 from the English
Standard Version of the Bible says: ‘By the sweat of your brow you will eat
your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust
you are and to dust you will return’. The Duality Code equivalent of this can be
found in the character (tǔ: Earth; item made of earth).

The legendary archer Yi is resting in his grave, therefore [yì: Yi] [is the]
(shí: complete, perfect) (tǔ: item made of earth). One message in (tǔ:
Earth; item made of earth) is that Yi, or people in general, becomes an item
made of earth after death.

12
Ping Wang, ‘Methods of Killing Human Sacrifice in Shang-dynasty Oracle-bone Inscriptions’, minima
sinica, vol. 1, 2008, pp. 11–29.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

An understanding of the character (tǔ: item made of earth) provides the

decryption key required for understanding other characters. According to Ping
Wang’s study of Shang oracle bones, exposing and drying refers to a method of
Shang human sacrifice where the bodies of victims are carved open then
exposed and dried to become almost dried meat and this is represented by the
character . The Unihan Database provides the meaning: (zhí: a sword;
potter’s clay; to gather).13 The ancients say: (gē: halberd) (yuē: say) (lì:
establish) (yīn: sound) [of] (zhí: a sword), and they add cryptically (zhí: a
sword; potter’s clay; to gather). Potters clay is used to produce pottery, which
may be cryptically described as ‘items made of earth’. In the Duality Code,
‘ (tǔ: item made of earth)’ is a cryptic expression for the deceased. The
ancients say: (lì: establish) (yīn: sound) [of] [zhí: a sword; item made of
earth; to gather]. The items of earth that are gathered are the products of
Shang human sacrifice practice of exposing and drying.

The ancients have instructed: (gē: halberd) (yuē: say) (lì: establish)
(yīn: sound) [of] (zhí: a sword). The sound of a sword lies in the character
(pū: rap, tap). The ancients say: [nà: press down] [jiàn: sword] ⼀ [yì: Yi]
[jiàn: sword] (pū: rap, tap).

13
Unihan Database: U+6220.

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 Duality

The Kangxi Dictionary lists the character but Chinese to English

dictionaries do not provide a meaning for this character.14 I have made the
decryption [tā: human sacrifice by dismembering] based on the usage of this
character during the Shang dynasty according to Ping Wang’s study of Shang
oracle bones. The associate compound sentence uses the character (tā: it;
other), which is usually used for inanimate objects and animals. Applying a
cutting instrument to dismember a human sacrifice victim is described
cryptically as: (pū: rap, tap) (tā: it) [tā: human sacrifice by
dismembering].

There is a second way of decrypting the character (pū: rap, tap). The Kangxi

Dictionary gives us the (gǔwén: classical Chinese) variants . 15

Therefore I make the decryption (qiǎn: receptacle). The notion of a

‘receptacle’ is ambiguous. The human body may be viewed as the receptacle for

the soul. Alternatively, the receptacle may be interpreted to refer to the

receptacle of the duality capsule. The ancients say cryptically: [yì: Yi] [jiàn:

sword] [qiǎn: receptacle] (pū: rap, tap). Note: Based on Kangxi Dictionary

forms of the character, the character (pū: rap, tap) does include the

character (yì: govern, control).

14
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 469 #15: .
15
Ibis, p. 754 #26: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The decryption of [qiǎn: receptacle] enables us to decrypt other characters.

The ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] [èr: to revolt] [qiǎn: receptacle] (rén: man)
(zuò: make; compose).

Decryption of [qiǎn: receptacle] also unlocks the associate compound in the

character (xiàn: prior, first) where the ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] [qiǎn:
receptacle] (wū: to cut off the feet) (xiàn: prior, first). Amputation of the
legs was one of a set of criminal punishment in ancient China that was called
the (wŭxíng: Five Punishments). The ancients tell us to punish Gun first.

Confucius (551–479 BCE) lived during the Spring and Autumn period of the
Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE). The Zhou was a warrior culture that preserved
many aspects of Shang culture. Archaeological finds attest to the continuing
practice of human sacrifice by the Zhou. Sinologist Mark Edward Lewis shares
his insights on Zhou human sacrifice:

... the practice of human sacrifice continued into the Zhou. ... This
conclusion is supported by the fact that the king of Qin attempted
to ban human sacrifice in 383 B.C. However, the primary evidence
for human sacrifice during the Zhou comes from archaeological
excavations, which show that it continued throughout the
dynasty...16

16
Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Early China, p.27.

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 Duality

The Zhou dynasty was followed by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE)
of Emperor Qin Shihuang, which was quickly replaced by the Han dynasty (206
BCE–220 CE). During the Han dynasty, Emperor Wu (156–87 BCE) adopted
Confucianism as the state ideology. From the Han dynasty through to the
modern era of the twentieth-century, the practice of human sacrifice continued
as a military ritual. Historian Paul Katz provides insights:

The practice of sacrificing human victims to banners (colored flags,

sometimes bearing Chinese characters or pictures of animals,
including mythical ones) appears to have been widespread
throughout late imperial China and continued in China and Taiwan
during the modern era. Members of the state’s military and armed
groups that opposed the state both performed a variety of rituals
that featured banner worship, including sacrifices to a banner. ...
Offering blood sacrifice (including the sacrifice of a living person)
to a banner has long constituted an important Chinese military
ritual (junli ), the history of which can be traced back as far as
at least the Han dynasty.17

The symbol for (yáng: yang, sun) from the trigrams may be viewed as a
logographic duality, and therefore a substitution cipher, for [yī: Yi]. The
symbol (yáng: yang) shows Yi unbifurcated. By logical extension, the symbol
(yīn: yin; moon; secret) shows Yi bifurcated into two short or small Yis.
When Yi is unbifurcated, Yi is the (yáng : yang; ‘male’ principle; sun). When

17
Paul R. Katz, ‘Banner Worship and Human Sacrifice in Chinese Military History’, in Perry Link (ed.),
The Scholar’s Mind: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Mote, p. 207.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Yi is bifurcated, Yi becomes his duality Chang E, the moon that is the (yīn:
yin; ‘female’ principle; moon; secret).

There are records of eunuchs that appear on Shang dynasty oracle bones.
When the (zhǔ: master) [of] (rén: man) [is] [castrated] and separated
from man, the man has become a [eunuch] and it is (tài: excessive;
extreme). The character may be viewed as an ideograph of [castration], it
may also be viewed as a pictograph of a [eunuch]. When [yī: Yi] is
[bifurcated], he is no longer male, he is the (yīn: yin; ‘female’ principle;
moon; secret). The Duality Code says that yin means ‘moon, secret’. There is a
secret in yin that has to be found.

Chinese dictionaries extend the meaning of (tài: excessive; extreme) to

include the meaning of (tài: superior).18 In imperial China, castrated men
were eunuchs who served the family of the emperor. It is possible to view the
character as a pictograph of [eunuchs], who were (tài: superior) slaves
that could gain political power.19 During the Ming dynasty, the eunuch admiral
Zheng He, who is perhaps China’s most famous admiral, became the
commander of the southern city Nanjing.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the practice of castrating men and
boys to become eunuchs ended in China. The former child emperor Puyi was

18
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 618 #15: .
19
Shih-shan Henry Tsai, The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, p. 34.

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allowed to continue residing in the Forbidden City after he abdicated. However,

Puyi and the last 1,500 eunuchs were expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924.

The ultimate duality change leads to Chinese funeral rites. The duality capsule,
which is central to funeral rites can be conceived of as a box and its cover. The
ancients say: [yì: Yi’s] [yǐn: secret] (fang: box). The character (fang:
box) is a pictograph of an uncovered box, therefore it is the receptacle of the
duality capsule. The ancients assert cryptically: (fang: box) [is] (yě: also) [a]
(yí: basin; container of wine). The Duality Code uses substitution ciphers.
All objects with a common core abstract property can be used as substitution
ciphers. A coffin has a receptacle; therefore all receptacles can act as a
substitution cipher for a coffin receptacle. An uncovered (fang: box) is cipher
for a coffin receptacle. A (yí: basin) is cipher for a coffin receptacle. A (yí:
container of wine) is also a cipher for a coffin receptacle. They are all
substitution ciphers for the receptacle of the duality capsule; therefore the
ancients say: (fang: box) [is] (yě: also) [a] (yí: basin; container of wine).

The character is not defined but is used in characters, such as (jiǎ: false).
The missing half of a logical duality does not have to be defined because it can
be deduced. We have deduced the left and right side of the [1. mù: wood
2. chèn: coffin] to be represented by the [pán: receptacle] and the [gài:
cover]. We have decrypted the meaning of (kǒu: mouth; entrance) and we are
told that the left side of the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) is a (fang: box).
Therefore the right side can be logically deduced to be the [gài: cover].

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Yi’s (kǒu: mouth; entrance) is divided into two halves. The left half is
represented by the (fang: box). The right half is represented the [gài: cover].
The (kǒu: mouth) can swallow a man; it is the (kǒu: entrance) to another
duality. It is the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) of a duality capsule. It is the Duality
Code’s [yǐn: secret] [yí: change place] (kǒu: mouth; entrance). The
joining of the (fang: box) and the [gài: cover] implies that the character
(kǒu: mouth; entrance) is the polyseme [kǒu: duality portal; duality
capsule]. This differs from the classical (kǒu: mouth; entrance) where the
(qiǎn: receptacle) is not shown with its counterpart (mì: cover).

The hands found in Oracle Script have three fingers because they are not just
pictographs. They are also associative compounds. In Kai Script, the plaintext
associative compound says: [yì: Yi] [gài: cover] [yòu: right hand]. The
decryption of the character [yòu: right hand] is validated through the
etymology of the character (jūn: sovereign, monarch) shown in Table 19.

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The Kai Script character [yòu: right hand] is undefined in Chinese

dictionaries; as such, no etymological reference is published. The character
(jūn: sovereign, monarch) reveals the etymological development that leads to
the decryption of [yòu: right hand].

The decryption of [yòu: right hand] unlocks the associate compound sentence
in the character (shū: book; writings). The ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] [èr: to
revolt] [yòu: right hand] (shū: book; writings), which identifies the
principal matters addressed in the (shū: book) that is the (kǎishū: Kai
Book).

The associative compound sentence: (zǐ: child) (mián: roof) (zì:

character) appears unusual for the concept of ‘character’. The meaning of the
character has to be decrypted. China’s most famous philosophers include
(kǒngzǐ: Confucius, Master Kong), (mèngzǐ: Mencius, Master Meng)
and (láozǐ: Lao Tzu, Master Lao). In classical Chinese, the character
(zǐ: child) also means [zǐ: master]. The Duality Code has formed a naming
convention that creates the polyseme duality, [zǐ: child; master]. The child
stands on Earth and the roof over his head is Heaven. Right side up and upside
down are dualities, and life and death are dualities. The masters are dead.
They stand upside down in Heaven. The roof above the inverted dead masters’
heads is the Earth. Therefore, [zǐ: child; master] (mián: roof) means
Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth represent yang and yin, the two halves

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of a duality that forms a unity. Therefore [zǐ: child; master] (mián: roof)
(zì: character) means duality characters.

In accordance with Chinese funeral rites, the child covers the previous master
and becomes the new master. The Duality Code says cryptically: (zi: child;
son) (mì: cover) (zhǔ: master’s) (mián: roof) (zì: character). This is an
allusion to Chinese funeral rites that plays a central role in the Duality Code.

In Chinese funeral rites, the honour of sealing the coffin may be extended to a
dignitary. Another master may cover the previous master’s roof. Therefore the
ancients say: [zi: master] (mì: cover) (zhǔ: master’s) (mián: roof) (zì:
character).

Chinese characters are duality characters. One half of the duality is a

vernacular Chinese character such as ‘ (zì: character)’. The second half of the
duality is the classical Chinese associative compound sentence within
characters. Characters may generate more than one equally valid associative
compound sentence such as:

[zǐ: child; master] (mián: roof) (zì: character).

(zǐ: child) (mì: cover) (zhǔ: master’s) (mián: roof) (zì:
character).
[zǐ: master] (mì: cover) (zhǔ: master’s) (mián: roof) (zì:
character).

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In decrypting the Duality Code, any associate compound sentence that refers to
the duality capsule, the receptacle, the cover, or the rites and beliefs relating to
the use of the duality capsule may indicate that the character is highly
significant in the [kǎishū: Duality Capsule Book].

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Movement

The Fuxi Bagua may be viewed as a representation of a cyclical duality. A

duality can be cyclical but does not have to be so. For example, master and
child may be conceived as a sequential duality–each child becomes a new and
different master when the previous master is covered and this goes on ad
infinitum. The Chinese employ an alternative conceptualisation of duality in a
fivefold scheme that is called the (wŭxíng: Five Movements). The Five
Movements scheme has been conventionally translated into English in many
ways: five phases, five processes, five steps, five agents, five elements, and five
stages of change. It has been applied to many aspects of Chinese culture
including medicine, cosmology, divination, military strategy and martial arts.
Medical anthropologist Dominique Buchillet shares her insights:

2.2.3 Wu Xing (“Five Movements”)

The theory of wu xíng is a development of the yin-yang theory.
According to Chinese philosophy, events and phenomena within the
universe result from the movement and mutation of five basic
substances, namely, wood, fire, earth, metal and water. They
correspond to phases of mutation of qi generated by the succession
of yin and yang.1

1
Dominique Buchillet, ‘Climate, Environment and Epidemic Febrile Diseases: A View from Chinese

Medicine’, in Serge Morand et al (eds.), Socio-Ecological Dimensions of Infectious Diseases in Southeast

Asia, p. 12.

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 Movement

The decryption [wǔ: five, duality change] was made in and earlier chapter
and the character can be translated as (xíng: walk). Therefore
(wŭxíng: Five Movements) may be decrypted to mean [wŭxíng:
Duality Change Walk]. I will primarily use the conventional term (wŭxíng:
Five Movements) in this book, but will occasionally use the decryption
[wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk]. The (wŭxíng: Five Movements)
concept is perhaps the most important encryption/decryption device used in
the Duality Code. It may also be the most complex concept to grasp.

Perhaps the most common translation of is Five Elements, which is best

known as an expression of (fēngshuǐ: Feng Shui, geomancy). Geomancy is
derived from Greek geo meaning ‘Earth’ and manteía meaning ‘divination by
means of’. In Feng Shui, there are multiple expressions such as five elements,
five colours, five weathers, five directions, five planets, etc. The quotation from
the Bai Hu Tong in an earlier chapter said Fuxi, ‘looked upward and
contemplated the images in the heavens, and looked downward and
contemplated the occurrences on earth’ and he regulated the Five Movements.
Fuxi looked up and down; ‘up’ and ‘down’ represent directions. It is a vital and
extremely cryptic clue to begin our exploration of Five Movements with the
Five Movements (directions). In the Occident, the directions are written in the
sequence: north, south, east, and west; which traces out the shape of a cross.
The Chinese follow a different sequence and always write the directions
starting from east going clockwise in the sequence: east, south, west, and north.
This is set out in the Five Movements diagram shown in Table 19. Starting
from east, the diagram follows the direction dictated by the next character for

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the placement of that character. From east, move south for the placement of
south, and from south, move west for the placement of west, etc.

East and west are opposite directions; they are dualities. North and south are
also opposite directions and dualities. North and south may be viewed as the
vertical directions of the compass, whereas east and west may be viewed as the
horizontal directions of the compass. Vertical and horizontal are dualities;
therefore the first and third movements are a duality of the second and fourth
movements. The first four movements (east, south, west, and north) are the
cardinal directions of the compass. The fifth movement, centre, is not a
direction. It is a point in space. This is a duality of the first four movements,
which are directions.

The Kangxi Dictionary says: (cóng: from, through) (chì: step with left foot)
(zuǒ: left) (bù: step) (cóng: from, through) (chù: to take small steps)

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 Movement

(yòu: right) (bù: step) (yě: also).2 The character (chì: step with left
foot) represents a left step and the character (chù: to take small steps)
represents a right step, therefore left and right steps combine into a bigram to
say (chìchù: walk slowly).3

The characters (chì: step with left foot) and (chù: to take small steps) have
a duality when they combine into a single character that means (xíng: walk;
move; circulate). The ancients say: (chù: to take small steps) [with right foot]
(chì: step with left foot) (xíng: walk; move; circulate).

The character (xíng: walk; move; circulate) in turn has another duality as it
forms one part of the bigram (wŭxíng: Five Movements). The Five
Movements may be viewed as a cross between the Taiji and the Eight
Divinations. In the Taiji, we only have the Two Appearances, which are called
yang and yin. In the Eight Divinations, we have the Four Forms of yang and
Four Forms of yin, which combine to form the duality yang and yin. The
character (chù: to take small steps) [with right foot] may be viewed to
represent the Four Forms of yang in the first four movements of the Five
Movements diagram, and the character (chì: step with left foot) may be
viewed to represent yin in the fifth movement. Together (chù: to take small
steps) [with right foot] and (chì: step with left foot) would represent both
dualities yang and yin that combine to form a unity. This is shown in Figure 10.

2
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1108 #31: .
3
MDBG Dictionary: .

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In general, the Five Movements will display some of the following

characteristics:

The first and third movements will be dualities.

The second and fourth movements will be dualities.
The first and third movements will be a duality of the second and fourth
movements.
The fifth movement is a duality of the first four movements.
There will be at least one message in the Five Movements, which may
include messages read across the diagonals.

The character (xíng: move) comprises four non-overlapping characters. It

contains ciphertext, which is decrypted using the Five Movements device. The
four non-overlapping characters are placed in reverse order, in opposition to
their encryption protocol, into a Five Movements diagram. This is shown in
Table 20.

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 Movement

The first and third movements are dualities. The heavenly stems represent dead
shi who have ascended to Heaven. This will be discussed later in this book. A
dead shi is the duality of a live man. The second and fourth movements are also
dualities. Yi’s sword is a substation cipher for Yi’s dead body. Therefore, the
duality is a live Yi and a dead Yi represented by his sword. The decryption that
the sword is a substitution cipher for Yi’s dead body will be made later in this
book. The first and third movements are vernacular meanings of the
characters, which is a duality of the second and fourth movements, which are
encrypted classical meanings of the characters. The fifth movement is a duality
of the first four movements. The duality is between the whole and its
component parts.

The 4th heavenly stem is a duality of the number four, which represents the
king who is Gun. The 4th heavenly stem therefore represents the dead king
Gun. The encrypted message in the Five Movements (move) says: (dīng: 4th
heavenly stem) [and] [yì: Yi] [are] (rén: man) [with] [jiàn: swords] [who]

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(xíng: walk; move; circulate). The character (xíng: walk; move; circulate)
represents duality change. It represents movement/circulation involving the
4th heavenly stem (Gun) and Yi, who are both men with swords. In ancient
China, men with the double-edged swords were the (wǔshì: warriors). Yi
and the Gun were both shi warriors, they are both kings. They are binary state
dualities where one exists at the expense of the other. They circulate in an
alternating manner with one replacing the other. Yi replaces Gun, and Gun
replaces Yi.

The character is the polyseme (1. xíng: walk; move; circulate 2. háng:
profession). The second pronunciation is used in the bigram (hángdang:
profession) in which the ancients say: (dàng: accept, undertake) (xíng:
walk; move; circulate) (hángdang: profession).

The bigram (wŭxíng: Five Movements) has a duality, and can be read as
(wŭxíng háng: Five Movements Profession), which can further decrypted
to say [wŭxíng háng: Duality Change Walk Profession]. The number five
represents duality change, and bifurcation of the Qiang in Shang sacrificial
rites represents the ultimate duality change. Shi warriors bifurcated the Qiang
with their halberds; therefore the shi profession was to dispense duality change.

The fifth movement in the Five Movements (directions) is the polyseme that
says: (1. zhōng: middle 2. zhòng: attain). This character contains the
ciphertext associative compound message: [gǔn: Gun] (kǒu: mouth;

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 Movement

entrance) [zhōng zhòng: middle attain]. The ancients have provided a vital
cryptic clue.

The cryptic clue [zhōng zhòng: middle attain] leads to examination of the
middle movement in the Five Movements (directions). The middle movement is
attained by decrypting the message that the ancients have encrypted into it.
The decrypted messages says: [jiàn: sword] [yì: Yi] (yǐn: secret) (wéi:
encircle) (xī: west), as well as (wū: to cut off the feet) (wéi: encircle)
(xī: west). There is a strange [jiàn: sword] (yǐn: secret) concerning [yì:
Yi] that (wéi: encircles) (xī: west). The Duality Code has encrypted a
conundrum for us to solve.

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 11
Conundrum

The Duality Code is a multi-layered double-speak puzzle with Yi playing a

central role. Yi is a shape-shifter with many dualities (substitution ciphers)
that we need (jí: to assemble). Other elements of the Duality Code also have
multiple dualities (substitution ciphers).

The ancients say cryptically: [yì: Yi] [and] [yì: Yi] (jí: to assemble). Yi is
assembled by decrypting all the substitution ciphers relating to Yi.

The character (tiān: field, arable land) is an example of a substitution cipher.

The duality capsule is a receptacle that may be regarded as an enclosure, and
the receptacle that is the duality capsule is placed within a second receptacle
that is the grave. When a grave is dug, the Earth is scarred and is no longer
perfect. When the coffin has been interred, the grave is sealed; the container
that is the Earth becomes perfect again. Agricultural land may have graves in
it, therefore the ancients say: (shí: complete, perfect) (wéi: enclosure) [is]
(tiān: field, arable land). The character (tiān: field, arable land) can
therefore act as a substitution cipher for a grave.

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 Conundrum

The character (tiān: field, arable land) is a substitution cipher for a grave.
The ancients say: (tiān: field, arable land) (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [yì:
Yi’s] (zhǐ: imperial decree; aim)1 (fú: to fill).2 Yi’s imperial decree is to fill
Gun’s grave.

(fú: happiness, good fortune, blessing) is the (gǔwén: classical Chinese)

(fú: happiness, good fortune, blessing) (zì: character).3 The ancients say:
(tóu: head) (fú: to fill) [with] (fú: happiness, good fortune, blessing).

The ancients say: (tiān: field, arable land) (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [yì: Yi]
(shì: manifests), [and his] (zhǐ: imperial decree, purpose) [is] (fú: to fill)
[with] (fú: happiness, good fortune, blessing). With the addition of new
elements the associate compound sentence in characters change. However, once
the contextual framework is known, the different associate compound
sentences can be understood.

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 171 #6: .
2
Ibid, p. 760 #33: .
3
Ibid, p. 761 #3: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The complexity of the Duality Code leads to examination of the message from
the ancients that is titled (mí: conundrum). The ancients have anticipated
our interest and have encrypted a puzzle for us to solve. They have encrypted
ciphertext into the strange associative compound sentence: (chuò: walk,
walking) (mǐ: hulled uncooked rice) (yán: words; say) (mí: bewitch;
confuse) (mí: conundrum). The character (mǐ: hulled uncooked rice)
appears out of place. It is encrypted ciphertext that has to be decrypted.

The character is not directly defined in any dictionary; it is a cipher that has
to be decrypted through variants. In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi
Dictionary says: (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (zuò: make; compose) .4
This creates the dualities , which leads to the derivation of [qiǎn:
receptacle]. In the Duality Code, there are three receptacles, one encased within
the other. The coffin is the middle of the three receptacles. The outermost
receptacle is the grave. When the grave is filled, the ground returns to being a
perfect enclosure that is a field. As rice is grown on arable land that may
contain graves, the ancients say cryptically: [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]
[qiǎn: receptacle] [grows] (mǐ: hulled uncooked rice). The coffin’s
receptacle is the (tiān: field, arable land).

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 300 #1: .

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 Conundrum

The character (mǐ: hulled uncooked rice) can be decrypted to yield a second
message. Yi’s complete, perfect receptacle can be interpreted to be his
unbifurcated body, which houses his spirit or soul. As rice is a staple food in
China, Yi’s body is nourished by, and is therefore made from, cooked rice,
which in turn is derived from uncooked rice. This explains the ancients’ cryptic
message: [yì: Yi] (shí: complete, perfect) [qiǎn: receptacle] [is] (mǐ:
hulled uncooked rice). The character (mǐ: hulled uncooked rice) can be
interpreted as a substitution cipher for Yi, therefore it is decrypted to be the
polyseme [1. mǐ: hulled uncooked rice 2. yì: Yi].

The decryption of [1. mǐ: hulled uncooked rice 2. yì: Yi] in turn opens the
path for the decryption of the character (mí: conundrum), which says:
(chuò: walk, walking) [yì: Yi] (yán: words; say) (mí: bewitch; confuse)
(mí: conundrum).

The Duality Code uses substitution ciphers to hide secret meanings. All
characters that mean some sort of portal can be a substitution cipher for the
principal portal, which is the (kǒu: mouth; entrance). Likewise all tools with
an edge can be a substitution cipher for the principal edge tool, which is the
master’s knife or (jiàn: sword). Substitution ciphers may be conceived in
terms of duality chains. The character (chuò: walk, walking) has a synonym
duality in the bigram (chìchù: walk slowly), which in turn has a synonym
duality in a character that combines both parts of the bigram into the single
character and says (xíng: walk; move; circulate). Finally, (xíng: walk; move;

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circulate) has a synonym duality in the bigram [wŭxíng: Duality Change

Walk]. Therefore we have a duality chain (chuò: walk)
[wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] or (wŭxíng: Five Movements).
Chinese characters are polysemic, therefore I decrypt (chuò: walk) to mean
[wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] as well as [wŭxíng: Five Movements].

We can now decipher the ciphertext message in (mí: conundrum). The

ancients say: [wŭxíng: Five Movements] [yì: Yi] (yán: words; say) (mí:
bewitch; confuse) (mí: conundrum). There is a bewitching and confusing
conundrum to solve involving the [wŭxíng: Five Movements] in which Yi
plays a central role.

China is ancient and it has ancient laws codified from a time when men either
lived in Hobbes’ state of nature or had just emerged from it. The Zhou dynasty
of ancient China had a code of punishment that was a legacy from the Shang.5
It is called (wŭxíng: Five Punishments). In Chinese, it is a perfect
homophone duality of (wŭxíng: Five Movements). This is strange. Why
have the ancients created this perfect homophone duality? The ancients say
cryptically: (xíng: punishment; law) [wǔ: duality change] [in] (wŭxíng:
Five Punishments). There is some sort of duality change in the Five
Punishments. The ancients have set us a puzzle to solve. One logical way

5
Zhengyuan Fu, Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics, p. 109.

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 Conundrum

forward is to examine characters that are composed with (xíng: punishment;

law) for messages from the ancients on this subject.

The ancients say: (tǔ: item made of earth) (xíng: punishment; law) [is a]
(xíng: pattern, model). We have earlier decrypted [yì: Yi] [is the] (shí:
complete, perfect) (tǔ: item made of earth). If we take (tǔ: item made of
earth) as a substitution cipher for [yì: Yi], then we would have message from
the ancients that says: [yì: Yi] (xíng: punishment; law) [is a] (xíng:
pattern, model). There is a pattern or model in Chinese punishment, or law,
that has to be found. The Five Punishments, in order of severity, were:

tattoo on the forehead

amputation of the nose
amputation of the feet
amputation of the genital organs (castration)
death

The English have the expression ‘hung, drawn, and quartered’ that reflects the
ritual execution of persons convicted of high treason. The traitor would be
fastened to a wood frame and drawn by horse to the place of execution where
he was then hung, and subsequently quartered into four pieces. The traitor may
also be emasculated, disemboweled, and decapitated en route to being
quartered. The Chinese had many different methods of carrying out the death
penalty. These included: (jūliè: death by being fastened to five chariots and
being torn to pieces), (língchí: death by a thousand cuts), and (zūhǎi:

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to execute somebody and mince his flesh and bones).6 For the most serious
crimes the Chinese had (zhūlián jiǔzú: nine familial extermination)
where nine generations of the guilty party’s clan comprising direct descendants
from the great-great-grandfather to great-great-grandson were guilty by
association and executed. A reference to familial extermination was quoted
earlier when Sima Qian chronicled Li Si’s request to Qin Shihuang to have
been: ‘If there is anyone who dares to mention the Songs or Documents in
private conversation, he should be executed. Those who, using the old, reject the
new will be wiped out together with their clans’. The Five Punishments are
placed in the Five Movements diagram shown in Table 21.

A tattoo on the forehead and the amputation of feet represent dualities. They
are punishments affecting the polar opposite positions on a human body. They
represent the duality of top and bottom. Amputation of the nose and
castration also represent dualities. One is to a body appendage that is publicly
seen, and the other is to a body appendage that is usually concealed within
clothing in public. They represent the duality of outside and inside, or seen and

6
MDBG Chinese Dictionary: , and .

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 Conundrum

unseen. Death is the fifth movement and it is a duality of the first four
movements, which are all punishments in life. The duality is life and death. The
message in the Five Movements (punishment) says: tattoo forehead, amputate
nose, amputate legs, castration, death. The message is incomprehensible. It is
incomprehensible because the message is encrypted ciphertext. A decryption
mechanism that converts the ciphertext into plaintext has to be found. The
ancients told us: [tǔ: Yi] (xíng: punishment; law) [is a] (xíng: pattern,
model). We need to find the pattern or model.

The ancients have created the perfect homophone duality for the bigrams
(wŭxíng: Five Punishments) and (wŭxíng: Five Movements). This is
strange as it confuses the two concepts. It would only be logical if the ancients
intended the two concepts to be associated with each other. We have to find the
link between the two. In the third movement of the Five Movements
(directions), the ancients encrypted the strange message: (wū: to cut off the
feet) (wéi: encircles) (xī: west). In the Five Movements (punishment), the
third movement is to amputate feet. The character (wū: to cut off the feet)
may be interpreted as a direct reference to the third of the Five Punishments. If
we were to read (wū: to cut off the feet) as a cryptic reference to the Five
Punishments in general, then the character (xī: west) can be decrypted to say:
[wū: five punishments] (wéi: encircle) (xī: west). The [wŭxíng: Five
Movements] [yì: Yi] (yán: words; say) (mí: bewitch; confuse) (mí:
conundrum) has been found. The Conundrum is shown in Table 22.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Conundrum may be viewed as a deconstructed and encrypted instruction

manual that teaches us the Duality Code. Solving the Conundrum unlocks the
encrypted ciphertext message in Five Movements (punishment). It is the world’s
oldest crossword puzzle and may possibly date to ancient China’s Iron Age
c.500 BCE. The creation of the Conundrum may possibly be attributed to
Confucius, who is linked to punishments.

Confucius attained a number of government position in his home vassal state

of Lu. Chinese texts name one position held by Confucius as (sīkòu:
Minister of Criminal Justice), and the role of Confucius as an administrator of
punishment is recorded in a number of classical texts. The late Warring States
philosopher Xunzi said: ‘When Confucius acted temporarily as prime minister
of Lu, he had been at court but seven days when he executed Deputy Mao’.7

7
John Knoblock (tr.), Xunzi, p. 245.

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 Conundrum

Sinologist and historian Mark Edward Lewis explains Confucius’ image during
the late Zhou dynasty and early Han dynasty based on a textual analysis of
ancient texts:

Confucius’ role as judge is also marked in the Shi ji through a

reference to his execution of Deputy Mao. This is the only specific
action credited to Confucius as chief minister. Moreover, like the
meeting at Jiagu, the execution of Mao is cited in many late
Warring States and early Han sources. It was clearly an important
element in the image of Confucius at that time. Once again the
portrayal of Confucius as an ideal minister focuses on his use of
executions.8

8
Mark Edward Lewis, Writing and Authority in Early China, p. 223.

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 12
Slaves

The ancients instructed: (qiǎn: all) (mù: wood) (jiǎn: check, examine).
Examination of more messages from the ancients that use the character as a
sub-component leads to the strange character (1. lè: happy 2. yuè: music).
Since the [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] represents death, it does not appear
logical for it to be associated with (1. lè: happy 2. yuè: music). The ancients
have flagged that there is a Duality Code message in the character that has to
be decrypted.

The character (yāo: one; small) is used twice in the character (1. lè: happy;
enjoyable 2. yuè: music). It is interpreted to refer to the forearm secret in
Oracle Script (mǎ: horse); therefore the forearm belongs to [yì: Yi]. The
associative compound sentence: (gōng; forearm) (sī: private, secret) [is]
(yāo: one; small), refers to Yi bifurcated into small pieces, which is
interpreted to be represented by the character (yīn: yin; moon; secret). It also
tells us that a small [yì: Yi] may be a substitution cipher for (yīn: yin;
moon; secret).

At the top of the character (1. lè: happy; enjoyable 2. yuè: music) are the
characters , which say: (yāo: one; small) (bái: white, pure) (yāo: one;

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small). This is interpreted to be a descriptive cipher. It is a description of the

character (yīn: yin; moon; secret), which is interpreted to be the intended
substitution cipher. This therefore leads to the decryption [yīn: yin; moon;
secret]. The decryption of [yīn: yin; moon; secret] as an abbreviation for
(yīn: yin; moon; secret) is also made. This latter decryption will be validated
later in this book.

The ancients have sent the message: [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [yīn: yin;
moon; secret] [in] (1. lè: happy 2. yuè: music). There is a Duality Code secret
hidden in music, which is one of the six subjects of study in a traditional
Confucian education. Chinese music is primarily based on the (wǔ
shēng yīnjiē: pentatonic scale) although there also exists the (shí'èr lǜ:
twelve pitches), which are a series of twelve fundamental notes from which
scales could be constructed. Musical scales are circular and can start on any
note; however, the five notes of the Chinese pentatonic scale are always written
in the same order. This is shown in the Five Movements diagram in Table 23.
We will return to the (shí'èr lǜ: twelve pitches) later in the book.

The message in the Five Movements (scales) is: palace Shang dynasty business
horn summon feathers. The message is unclear and there is no distinct duality
between the fifth movement and the first four movements. Five Movements
(scales) is encrypted ciphertext. It has to be decrypted from ciphertext into
plaintext.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The character (yǔ: feather) was decrypted as a substitution cipher for (yì:
Yi) in an earlier chapter. The Kangxi Dictionary gives the character (jiǎo:
horn) the meaning of (jiǔqì: drinking vessel; wine cup).1 In ancient times,
animal horns could be hollowed out and use as drinking vessels. The ancients
have told us: (fang: box) [is] (yě: also) [a] (yí: basin; container of wine).
All receptacles including drinking vessels and wine cups act as substitution
ciphers for the receptacle, therefore the decryption [jiǎo: receptacle] is made.
From Five Movements (directions), the ancients have said cryptically: [zhōng
zhòng: middle attain]. The middle of the pentatonic scale is the third note.
Table 24 shows the pentatonic scale in a duality Five Movements diagram
starting on the middle note. The duality diagram may be viewed as a Five
Movements diagram with ciphertext decrypted into plaintext.

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1139 #6: .

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 Slaves

The message in the duality plaintext arrangement of the pentatonic scale says:
[receptacle] (summons) [Yi’s] (palace) (Shang dynasty; business).
The first and third movements are dualities. Yi is an animate object whereas
the receptacle is an inanimate object. The duality is that of inanimate object
and animate object. The second and fourth movements are dualities. The
duality is that of a verbal ‘summons’ and non-verbal ‘palace’. The first and
third movements are decryptions of classical Chinese meanings of the
characters. This is a duality of the second and fourth movements that are
ordinary vernacular Chinese meanings of the characters. Shang dynasty
business refers to the overthrow of the Shang dynasty by the Zhou after they
invoked the Mandate of Heaven. The first four movements relate to the
summoning of a replacement virtuous emperor, which is a duality of the fifth
movement that relates to the deposing of a non-virtuous emperor. The message
says: receptacle summons Yi’s palace [in] Shang dynasty business.

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In Five Movements (scale duality), the fourth movement is (gong: palace),

which may be viewed as an abbreviation and therefore a duality of the bigram
(gōngxíng: castration). Castration is the fourth of the Five Punishments.
Five Movements (punishment) is overlaid onto two different Five Movements
shown in Table 25.

Castration is a duality change that involves a (dāo: knife). When the men
were castrated, they passed through the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) that is a
duality portal. They were men before castration, but were no longer men after
the duality change. Therefore the ancients say: (kǒu: mouth; entrance) [and]
(dāo: knife) [are] (zhào: imperial summons). They are imperial summons
for service at the palace as a eunuch.

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Strange and revolting as the practice may be in the twenty-first-century, the

practice of castrating boys (or men) as a means of subjugation and
enslavement has a very long history, and it was not limited to China. In China,
eunuch slaves were officially the sole monopoly of the emperor, therefore the
practice ended with the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. This was
contemporaneous with the end of the practice of eunuch slaves in the Ottoman
Empire, where ‘the last eunuchs presented to the Ottoman family were
registered in 1901’.2 In Italy, young boys were castrated in the name of the
performing arts. The last castrato in the Sistine Chapel choir made recordings
in the early years of the twentieth-century.3 The earliest record of eunuchs
comes from the Sumerian city of Lagash and dates from c.2100–c.2000 BCE,
but the practice of castrating slaves may far outdate historical records. After
over 4,000 years, the sun finally began to set on the day of the eunuch slaves
and the castrati at the dawn of the twentieth-century. However there remains
the lingering shadow of chemical and surgical castration as punishment for sex
crimes in various countries.

Characters for eunuch and non-eunuch slaves appear in Shang oracle bone
artefacts from the Bronze Age. Slavery may be conceived of as being
representative of Hobbes’ primordial state of nature before the establishment
of laws. In the primordial state of nature, Hobbes theorised that man naturally
had a right to everything, even to another’s body. Philosopher and historian
Qizhi Zhang describes slavery during the Shang dynasty:

2
Ehud R. Tolendano, Slavery and Abolition in the Ottoman Middle East, p. 48.
3
Naomi André,Voicing Gender, p. 18.

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According to the oracle bone script ... slaves, representing the lowest
class, accounted for a large proportion of the whole population at
that time. They were given numerous names such as ‘slave’ (li),
‘serf’ (chen), and ‘thrall’ (qie or xi), but most of them were in fact
prisoners. Moreover, those from conquered clans or tribes also
constituted a sizeable sector of the population.4

The warrior Zhou dynasty that replaced the Shang dynasty continued the
practice of slavery. Slaves were the privilege of the aristocracy, who were the
highest strata of shi society during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Qizhi Zhang
shares insights on Zhou dynasty slavery:

Except for the Royal Demesne, all other lands and slaves were given
to descendants of the Zhou Clan (with surnames including Ji and
Jiang). These lands and slaves were called the “Private Properties”
(Sijia) of the princes. As we can see, the king, the princes, and even
ministers of the whole hierarchy were bound by the blood
relationship of the clan. 5

The warrior Qin dynasty (221 BCE– 206 BCE) ended the Zhou dynasty and
continued the practice of slavery but it was quickly replaced by the Han
dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). During the Han dynasty, the nature of slavery in
imperial China changed. Emperor Gaozu (d. 195 BCE), founder of the Han
dynasty, issued orders that ‘people were free to sell their sons and daughters’.
Jurist and legal historian Jinfang Zhang explains:

4
Qizhi Zhang, An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture, p. 27.
5
Ibid, p. 27.

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 Slaves

During the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, orders were once

issued by the government that “people are free to sell their sons and
daughters,” hence as the saying went that “people had provided
clothing and food for the families through the sale of titles, sons
and daughters”.6

While slaves were personal possessions of the aristocracy, and may have
primarily been war captives sourced from foreign tribes during the Shang and
Zhou dynasties, the change in law during the Han dynasty facilitated the
sourcing of slaves from within Han society itself, and allowed for slave
ownership to spread to non-aristocrats. In addition to selling children into
slavery, people could also sell themselves into slavery, and the children born to
slaves were also slaves.7 This change in law was to have lasting influence for
over two millennia from c.200 BCE into the twentieth-century as China
enslaved its own citizens.

Historian Mark Elvin describes the gradual enslavement of the Chinese people
by the rich and powerful during the Han dynasty c.25 BCE:

Most of the formerly free peasantry thus gradually fell into a state
of dependency; and a quasi-feudal system emerged in which a
number of local strongmen drew most of the economic and military
power firmly into their own hands.8

6
Jinfang Zhang, The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law, pp. 198-199.
7
Thomas Thornton, A History of China, Vol. I, p. 464.
8
Mark Elvin, The Pattern of the Chinese Past, p. 32.

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Han writer Chung-ch’ang Tung (c.156–220 CE) provides a historical account

of slavery towards the end of the Han dynasty:

The houses of the powerful are compounds where several hundreds

of ridgebeams are linked together. Their fertile fields fill the
countryside. Their slaves throng in thousands, and their military
dependants can be counted in tens of thousands. Their boats, carts
and merchants are spread throughout the four quarters. Their
stocks of goods held back for speculation fill up the principal cities.
Their great mansions cannot contain their precious stones and
treasure. The upland valleys cannot hold their horses, cattle, sheep
and swine. Their elegant apartments are full of seductive lads and
lovely concubines. Singing-girls and courtesans are lined up in their
deep halls.9

Slavery existed throughout most of human history; it was a feature of life in the
not-too-distant past, and may still exist in certain parts of the world today.
Anthropologist and sociologist Kevin Bales explains:

From the dim moment when the first scribe started to scratch
symbols in the first mud tablet, recording the life of our species,
there were slaves. Greece, Rome, Renaissance Europe–great
empires that created the beauty, art, and literature of our past–
were powered by slavery stoked up to creative heat with the burning
muscles of slaves. After five thousand years of slavery, some people
began to question this fixture of human life. ... In a wonderful

9
Chung-ch’ang Tung cited in Mark Elvin, The Pattern of the Chinese Past, p. 33.

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sleight of hand, they delivered a world where slavery was

‘abolished’. With the stroke of the pen, slavery was gone, and
everyone felt much better. But making something illegal doesn’t
make it cease to exist; making it illegal only causes it to vanish from
view.10

From beginnings as the private property of aristocrats, slave ownership spread

and even social institutions owned slaves. There were 150,000 slaves owned by
Buddhist temples, at one point, during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE).
Historian Charles Benn shares his insights on slavery during the Tang dynasty,
which is considered China’s Golden Age.

In 845 [CE], at the height of the persecution of Buddhism, the

government confiscated 150,000 slaves from Buddhist
establishments. The slaves did not fare well. ... Officials divided
their families, sending fathers in one direction and sons in another.
In the provinces of central China slaves had no food or shelter.
Corrupt officials or wealthy merchants often illegally seized them. 11

It was not just Chinese religious organisations that owned slaves. The
Christianisation of East Asia was initially centered on the Portuguese colony of
Goa in India. In 1567, the First Provincial Council of Goa, under the presidency
of the First Archbishop of Goa, articulated rules for Christian slavery that
were surprisingly similar to Chinese slavery. Historian Tatiana Seijas provides
insights on these rules:

10
Kevin Bales, Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves, p. 2.
11
Charles Benn, China’s Golden Age, Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty, p. 29.

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At that meeting, the ecclesiastical leadership agreed that people

could be lawfully enslaved for the following five reasons or titles
(titulos): one, if their mothers were slaves (Womb Law); two, if they
were taken as captives in a just war; three, if they sold themselves
into slavery; four, if they were sold by their fathers into slavery; and
five, if they were declared slaves as punishment for a crime
committed in their own homeland. Masters could possess such
slaves in ‘good conscience’.12

Aside from Chinese social institutions, the largest slave owner in China was the
emperor, who officially had the monopoly on eunuchs. At the height of imperial
slave ownership at the end of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE), it is
estimated that the Ming court kept 100,000 eunuchs.13 Historian Shih-shan
Henry Tsai describes aspects of slavery during the Ming dynasty:

Even though the Ming Code did not sanction slavery, it allowed
people to employ servants. ... When wealthy families purchased
slaves, they put in the bond such words of euphemism as adopted
sons or adopted daughters or simply called them employed servants.
As economic and social dislocations worsened and hard-pressed
peasants had to sell their children to whomever could provide for
them, slaves became abundant and cheap. One writer reported that
in a single country the number of slaves amounted to 20 to 30
percent of the whole population. It was indeed a buyer’s market.14

12
Tatiana Seijas, Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians, p. 54.
13
Shih-shan Henry Tsai, The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, p. 34.
14
Ibid, p. 28.

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 Slaves

Italian Matteo Ricci arrived in Goa in 1578, some eleven years after the First
Provincial Council of Goa that established Christian rules for slavery. In Goa,
Ricci studied theology and he was ordained as a priest in 1580. He relocated to
Ming dynasty China as a Jesuit missionary in 1582, where he employed Indian
and African slaves, at least at the beginning of his mission in China.15 In China,
Ricci observed:

... they sell their children into slavery for about the same price that
one would pay for a pig or a cheap little donkey ... the whole
country is virtually filled with slaves; not such as are captured in
war or brought in from abroad, but slaves born in the country even
in the same city or village in which they live ... The only
ameliorating feature in this traffic of children is the fact that it
lessens the great multitude of the extremely poor who have to labor
incessantly in the sweat of their brow to eke out a miserable living.16

The relationship between Chinese slavery and Christianity was explained by

sociologist and historian Steven Epstein:

Because China generated its own slaves, it also supplied other

kingdoms with slaves, but by these means God brought many of the
slaves to Christianity, since the Spanish and other Christian peoples
were among the purchasers.17

15
Christopher Shelke, and Mariella Demichele (eds.), Matteo Ricci in China, p. 33.
16
Louis J. Gallagher (tr.), China in the Sixteenth Century, p. 86.
17
Steven Epstein, Speaking of Slavery, p. 48.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Ming dynasty ended in 1644 when a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, a former
soldier in the Ming army, resulted in the suicide of the last Ming emperor. Li
Zicheng was unable to consolidate his fledgling Shun dynasty when Ming army
general Wu Sangui opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai
Pass to let in the invading Manchu Qing forces. This led to the founding of the
Qing dynasty (1644–1912 CE). Qing dynasty law recognised the sale of slaves
born into slavery as well as the sale of commoners who had sold themselves.18
By law, only official households (shi) were allowed to have bondservants (debt
slaves), but wealthy commoners circumvented the law by ‘adopting’ sons and
daughters, who served as bondservants. Historian Hsieh Bao Hua shares
insights on Qing dynasty slavery:

Socioeconomic inequality fostered Concubinage and servitude

fueled jointly by the taste of the wealthy and the suffering of the
poor. ... Markets in humans flourished in commercial towns, and
were managed as enterprises to meet customers’ expectations. Early
Qing official Zhang Xintai in his travel to Guangdong reported
that hundreds of goods from everywhere were gathered on specific
days. ... After reviewing Min-Qing socioeconomic situations, in an
edict in 1789, Qianlong emperor released the policy of “Confucian
benevolence” to rectify traffic in humans as an agency through
which the rich shared their means with the poor, who could not
survive otherwise during difficult times ...19

18
Angela Schottenhammer, ‘Slaves and Forms of Slavery in Late Imperial China’, in Gwyn Campbell (ed.),
The Structure Of Slavery In Indian Africa and Asia, p. 143.
19
Hsieh Bao Hua, Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China, pp. 12–19

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 Slaves

During the Qing dynasty, there was an international trade in Chinese slaves,
coolies, or indentured workers. Merchants from many nations were involved in
the human trafficking chain, and the cities of Swatow, Amoy, Shanghai,
Macau, and Hong Kong were some of the ports of departure for human cargo.
Incentivised by financial reward, brokers resorted to deception and
kidnapping. 20 Once delivered to merchants, coolies were kept in guarded
barracoons (enclosures for the confinement of slaves). Sinologist and historian
Angela Shottenhammer provides insights on the export of Chinese slaves
during the nineteenth century:

Chinese slaves were also exported, notably in the nineteenth century

when China was considered by Westerners a vast reservoir of cheap
labour. ... From the mid-nineteenth century a network developed for
the export of ‘unfree’ labourers who were often enticed, intimidated
and kidnapped into servitude. They were commonly shipped
through the ports of Xiamen (Amoy), Fujian and Shantou, north-
east Guangdong, to the Peruvian silver mines, Cuban sugar
plantations, or Californian gold mines ... Many died en-route
because of appalling conditions aboard the ‘floating hells’ that
transported them.21

John Bowring, British Consul in Canton and Superintendent of British Trade in

China (later to be Sir John Bowring, Fourth Governor of Hong Kong) wrote
dispatches to the British Foreign Secretary, James Howard Harris, Third Earl

20
Tan Chee Beng (ed.), Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora, pp. 78–80.
21
Angela Schottenhammer, ‘Slaves and Forms of Slavery in Late Imperial China’, in Gwyn Campbell (ed.),

The Structure Of Slavery In Indian Africa and Asia, p. 148.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

of Malmesbury, on the subject of exporting Chinese coolies, euphemistically

termed ‘Chinese emigration’. Excerpts from two dispatches follow:

Hong Kong, July 16, 1852.

WE are informed that contracts – the number of coolies to be
provided is variously stated as from 8,000 to 15,000 men – for
shipment to the Havana have been entered into by British
merchants at Amoy.

Hong Kong, August 3, 1852.

... Nothing can be more remarkable than the returns furnished from
different quarters of the results of Chinese emigration. In some
cases the misery has been extreme and the mortality frightful, in
others whole cargoes have reached their destinations almost
without the loss of a man. I have myself seen the arrangements for
the shipment of coolies at Amoy: hundreds of them gathered
together in barracoons, stripped naked, and stamped or painted
with the letter C (California), P (Peru), or S (Sandwich Islands), on
their breasts, according to the destination for which they were
intended.22

Jurist and legal historian Jinfang Zhang provides insights on slavery during the
Qing dynasty:

Chu Ru had once made a commentary on this by saying that

“according to the customs of Huainan, selling sons or daughters to

22
Correspondence with the Superintendent of British Trade in China, pp. 3–4.

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be slaves is called ‘Zhi Zi’ (pawning of sons or daughters); if the

sons or daughters are not to be redeemed within 3 years, they will be
slaves permanently”. In Qing Dynasty, “the number of the families
in which sons and daughters were sold to be slaves in the rich
families in the capital city was uncountable”.23

In 1909, just prior to the end of the Qing dynasty, slavery was made illegal in
China; however, the practice continued until the middle of the twentieth-
century. Historian Martin A. Klein provides insights:

In 1909, China abolished slavery, but the Ch’ing [Qing] dynasty was
in its last days. The period after the end of the dynasty in 1912 saw
disunity, natural disasters, poverty, and misery. Poor families often
sold their daughters who became servants or prostitutes, and
sometimes their sons.24

During the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek
and the Communist under Mao Zedong, Chiang launched the fifth encirclement
campaign (1933 -1934) that was to lead to Mao’s Long March. In his book Red
Star Over China, journalist Edgar Snow asserts:

During the Fifth Anti-Red Compaign [sic], as already noted,

Nationalist officers gave orders in many areas to exterminate the
civilian population. ... Thousands of children were taken prisoner
and driven to Hankow and other cities, where they were sold into

23
Jinfang Zhang, The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law, pp. 198-199.
24
Martin A. Klein, Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition, 2nd Edn., p. 161.

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“apprenticeships”. Thousands of young girls and women were

transported and sold into the factories as slave girls and prostitutes.
In the cities they were palmed off as “famine refugees,” or “orphans
of people killed by the Reds”. ... A considerable trade grew up, with
middlemen buying the boys and women from Kuomintang officers.25

After the Long March, Mao Zedong explained the Communist attitude towards
slavery in an interview with Edgar Snow in July 1936:

Child slavery is completely abolished in the Soviet distiricts,

[Chinese Soviet Republic established by Mao from 1931 to 1937]
and will be in the future wherever the Red banner is carried. Child
slaves are immediately freed and returned to their homes. If they
have no homes they are given work to do in the Soviet factories, or
in some productive enterprise. But many child slaves are carried off
by the landlords, along with their goods and money, when the Red
Army enters a new territory. The Commissioner of the Interior
looks after their welfare. They are given a portion of land to
cultivate, if they are old enough and able-bodied; if not, they are
entitled to a share of the products of certain lands held communally.
Prostitution, like child slavery, is a product of the economic
bankruptcy of the poor. Those who have no other means of
livelihood are compelled to market their bodies for necessities.26

25
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China, pp. 300-301.
26
Stuart R. Schram (ed.), Mao’s Road to Power, Revolutionary Writings 1912-1949, Volume V, pp. 276-277.

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 Slaves

Anthropologist James L. Watson provides insights on the nature of slavery in

China:

Until the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949 China had one
of the largest and most comprehensive markets for the exchange of
human beings in the world. In many parts of China, notably in the
south, nearly every peasant household was directly or indirectly
affected by the sale of people. A unique feature of the Chinese
market was its concentration on children, especially those under the
age of ten.27

The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, within a hundred years of the
American Civil War, which ended in 1865. Mankind’s journey out of
Africa, the journey out of the primordial state of nature, has similarities
across the world. The struggle against slavery and oppression is a human
struggle that is unique to neither America nor China.

27
James L. Watson, Asian and African Systems of Slavery, p. 224.

204
 13
Bridges

The Five Classics constitute the early canonical texts of Confucian philosophy.
Later texts called the Four Books were added to form the Four Books and Five
Classics that constitute the core of the Confucian canon studied by shi scholars
for more than two millennia. They comprise:

Four Books

The Great Learning

The Doctrine of the Mean
Confucian Analects
The Works of Mencius

Five Classics

Book of Odes (Book of Song, Book of Poetry)

Book of Documents
Book of Rites
Book of Changes (I Ching)
The Spring and Autumn Annals

The importance of different texts within the Confucian canon changed over
time as the Confucian canon expended from the initial Five Classics to the
Four Books and Five Classics, and eventually the Thirteen Classics. Theologian
Anna Sun shares her insights on the changes to the Confucian canon over time:

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 Bridges

Beginning in the Han dynasty and throughout the early years of the
Song dynasty, the Confucian canon consisted of the Thirteen
Classics, which included the early texts, the Five Classics, as well as
later texts such as the Analects, the Mencius, and The Classic of
Filial Piety. Even as the canon was expanding, the Five Classics
remained the essential texts ... However, by the fourteenth century,
the emphasis of the Five Classics in examinations was replaced by a
new grouping of Confucian texts, the so-called Four Books, and this
shift in the classical curriculum marked an important moment in
the development and transformation of Confucian China. This
change reflected the great impact of a new school of Confucian
thought and practice that started in the Song dynasty, which is
what we now call Neo-Confucianism.1

The ancients tell us: (xīn: mind, intelligence) [yí: change place] (jí: to
assemble) (jīn: today) (niàn: read, study; twenty). It is a cryptic hint to
study characters that include the meaning of (niàn: twenty).

The character (niàn: twenty)2 is a synonym duality of the numeral (niàn:

study; twenty); , therefore the polyseme [niàn: twenty; study] is

1
Anna Sun, Confucianism as a World Religion, Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities,,
p. 21
2
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 155 #20: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

decrypted. The ancients instruct: [yì: Yi] [and] [gǔn: Gun] [to] (yí:
change place) [niàn: study] (diǎn: canon). This decryption suggests that
the subject matter of the Confucian canon deals with Yi and Gun changing
places, therefore the subject matter relates to the Mandate of Heaven.

The canonical books on Confucianism that survived the book burning of 213
BCE were written in Seal Script, however the Duality Code was re-encrypted
into different scripts over time. With each re-encryption, new masters of the
Duality Code changed the message in some of the characters encrypted by
previous masters. In order for later generations of Chinese scholars to
understand the Four Books and Five Classics, they had to have access to Seal
Script, so as to be able to decrypt the messages in the original Seal Script
associate compound sentences. In the Shuowen Dictionary compiled by Xu
Shen c.100 CE, entries comprised characters in Seal Script, each followed by a
short and cryptic definition in the script of the day (Clerical Script or Kai
Script). The illustrations of Seal Script enabled shi scholars to decrypt the
associative compound sentences in the canonical books of Confucianism, and
to solve the Conundrum.

Two of the Five Movements required to solve the Conundrum have been
identified but other Five Movements have to be found. We have been told:
(qiǎn: all) (mù: wood) [to be] (jiǎn: examined). Perhaps the best-known
expression of the Five Movements is the elements and it contains the character
(mù: wood). This conventional order of the elements is displayed in a Five
Movements diagram shown in Table 26.

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 Bridges

The first and third movements, wood and metal, are organic and inorganic
solid dualities. The second and fourth movements, fire and water, are non-solid
liquid and vapour dualities. The first and third movements are solids, which are
dualities of the second and fourth movements that are non-solids. The fifth
movement, Earth, is a container and is a duality to the first four elements,
which are the contents. The dualities between the movements expected in every
five movements have been identified. There should be a five movements
message. The message is to be extracted in the five movements duality.

The duality meaning for first movement, wood, was decrypted to be [1. mù:
wood 2. chèn: coffin] in an earlier chapter. The etymology of the character
(mù: wood) is shown in Table 27. In Seal Script, the ancients said: 丨[gǔn:
Gun] (mì: cover) (qiǎn: receptacle) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. There are
different encryptions for Oracle Script [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. One of
them says: [gǔn: Gun] [wǔ: five; duality change] [1. mù: wood 2. chèn:
coffin].

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

As with the Seal Script character [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin], the Seal Script
character (huǒ: fire, fiery; anger) has been re-encrypted in Kai Script. The
decryption of the second movement, which is the polyseme (huǒ: fire, fiery;
anger), requires reference to Seal Script characters in order to understand the
Seal Script associate compound sentence. The etymology of the Seal Script
character for (huǒ: fire, fiery; anger) is shown in Table 28.

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 Bridges

The key to understanding the Seal Script character (huǒ: fire; anger) lies in
the Kai Script character (rù: enter). It says: [yīn: yin; moon; secret] (rén:
man) (rù: enter). The ancients have told us: ⼀[yì: Yi] [and] 丨[gǔn: Gun]
[are] 𠃊(yǐn: secret), therefore the [yīn: yin; moon; secret] can be interpreted
to be ⼀[ yì: Yi] as it is an abbreviation of Yi bifurcated into two pieces in the
character (yīn: yin; moon; secret). Seal Script [yì: Yi] has become (entered)
Kai Script (rén: man). The re-encryption may be viewed as an exercise in
musical chairs, involving a number of characters. An explanation of the re-
encryption follows.

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Seal Script logograph (dāo: knife) was taken out of common use as a
character in Kai Script. It became the undefined logograph .
Seal Script logograph for (rén: man) became the Kai Script logograph
(dāo: knife).
Seal Script logograph [yì: Yi] became Kai Script (rén: man).
With the re-encryption of Seal Script logograph [yì: Yi] as Kai Script
(rén: man), Kai Script needed a replacement for the Seal Script
logograph [yì: Yi]. Kai Script used Oracle Script [yì: Yi] as a
replacement for the Seal Script logograph [yì: Yi].

In Seal Script, the character for (huǒ: fire, fiery; anger) was written with the
character [bā: break open]. The Seal Script character [bā: break open] is
placed in the upper portion of the character [yì: Yi] to signify amputation of
the nose. It therefore represents the second of the Five Punishments. The
decrypted associative compound sentence says: [yì: Yi] [bā: break open]
(huǒ: fiery; anger).

The third movement is (jīn: metal). The duality meaning is encrypted in the
character (gōu: hook, sickle). The character (gōu: hook, sickle) takes the
form of a semantic phonetic compound. It asks the question: ‘What “ (jīn:
metal)” sounds like “ (jù: sentence)”’? The answer ‘ (gōu: hook, sickle)’ is out
of tune. The ancients have flagged this strange character for investigation. The
character announces: (jù: sentence) [of] (jīn: metal) [is] (gōu: hook,
sickle). The Kangxi Dictionary entry for the character (gōu: hook, sickle)
says that (gǔ: ancient) (bīng: soldiers) (yǒu: have; possess) (gōu: hook,

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 Bridges

sickle), and that it is (jiàn: sword) (shǔ: category).3 The Chinese have many
different types of weapons, one of which is the (gōu: hook), which may also
be called the (hǔtóugōu: tiger head hook). A hook is an edged tool; it is
therefore a substitution cipher for the master’s knife. This leads us to the
decryption of the single stroke character that the Eight Principals of Yong
calls (gōu: hook) as the polyseme [1. jiàn: sword 2. gōu: hook]. The
associate compound (jù: sentence) [of] (jīn: metal) [is] (gōu: hook) leads
to the decryption of [1. jīn: metal 2. jiàn: sword].

It is now possible to decrypt the message in the character (jīn: metal), which
says: (gàn: stem) [yì: Yi] [is a] [1. jīn: metal 2. jiàn: sword]. The (gàn:
stem) represents the body of a dead shi. (gàn: Stem) is explained further in a
later chapter of this book. The ancients say that Yi’s dead body is a sword,
therefore swords such as [jiàn: sword] and [jiàn: sword] are decrypted to be
a substitution cipher for Yi’s dead body. This is the rationale for interpreting
[jiàn: sword] to represent Yi’s body in the decryption of (xíng: walk; move;
circulate) in an earlier chapter. In ancient times shi warriors would be buried
with their swords. China’s oldest bronze sword, the Sword of Goujian, was
found inside a casket together with skeletal remains.

The next movement is water, which is the polyseme (shuǐ: water, liquid). In
the gloss for the character (shuǐ: water, liquid), the Kangxi Dictionary says:
(shuǐ: water, liquid) [that is] (zuì: most, exceedingly) (wēi: small,

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1302 #8: .

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micro~) (wèi: handle, govern) [yì: Yi].4 This leads us to decrypt the small
variant of (shuǐ: water, liquid), which is (shuǐ: water, liquid).

The character is undefined in Chinese dictionaries and has to be decrypted

through variants. In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi Dictionary says:
(dǒu: liquid measure) (běn: root, origin) (zì: character).5 This establishes
the variants , which leads to the decryption [gài: cover]. The cover
in Chinese funeral rites represents recognition of death upon the sealing of the
duality capsule, and a corpse may be described as being ice-cold. The ancients
say: (zhǔ: master) (bīng: ice; ice-cold) [gài: cover] (shuǐ: water, liquid).
When the master is ice-cold, his coffin is covered. The possible liquids would be
blood or tears.

As with many other cultures, the Chinese consume chicken, pig and other
animal blood as food. The tools required for the collection of animal blood
would be a knife and a container, which explains the associate compound
sentence [jiàn: sword] [and] (mǐn: shallow container) [for] (xuè: blood).
Blood is not written with (shuǐ: water, liquid) as a sub-component; therefore
it is not the duality meaning of (shuǐ: water, liquid) that we are looking for.

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 603 #1: .
5
Ibid, p. 478 #1: .

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 Bridges

The character (lèi: tears) takes the form of a semantic-phonetic compound

that asks the question, ‘What “ (lì: perverse, recalcitrant)” sounds like
“ (shuǐ: water)”’? The answer ‘ (lèi: tears)’ is out-of-tune. It has been flagged
for investigation. The ancients say: (lì: perverse, recalcitrant) (shuǐ: water)
[is] (lèi: tears). The Kangxi Dictionary’s cryptic clue of (shuǐ: water, liquid)
[that is] (zuì: most, exceedingly) (wēi: small) (wèi: governs) [yì: Yi]
refers to [lèi: tears].

The duality meaning of [hé: river] was decrypted in an earlier chapter. The
polyseme [1. hé: river 2. lèi: tears] has now been decrypted as duality
meanings for (shuǐ: water, liquid). The ancients say: (zhǔ: master) (bīng:
ice; ice-cold) [gài: cover] [1. hé: river 2. lèi: tears].

The ancients say cryptically: (kě: possible) [1.hé: river 2. lèi: tears] [is a]
(hé: river). In early Chinese literature, the Yellow River is simply called the
(hé: river)–it is also called ‘China’s Sorrow’. As such, it is possible to
substitute in the meaning [hé: China’s Sorrow]. The Yellow River is the
cradle of the Chinese civilisation and it is the deadliest river in the world.
Flooding of the Yellow River may result in death tolls in the millions. In 1887,
two million died; in 1931, almost four million; and in 1938, about one million.6
It is indeed (kě: possible) [the] [river of tears] [is] [hé: China’s Sorrow].

6
Ellen E. Wohl (ed.), Inland Flood Hazards, p. 22.

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The last movement is (tǔ: earth, item made of earth), which says: (shàng:
superior; go up)7 [èr: to revolt] (shí: complete, perfect) (tǔ: Earth; item
made of earth). If you revolt against Gun and succeed, you can attain
(tiānxià: all under Heaven, China, the whole world) which is (tǔ: Earth);
but if you fail you will become an (tǔ: item made of earth). The consequence
of failure in a revolt could be extremely severe in imperial China. Jesuit China
watcher, Laszlo Ladany asserts:

One savage feature of ancient law was the extermination of the

whole clan. This ‘clan punishment’, tsu-hsing (zuxing), was an
ancient sanction for treason. It is recorded in the time of the First
Emperor in the second century BC, and was retained by all the
dynasties that followed. ... Under the Ming Dynasty hundreds of
members of a single clan were reported to have been executed. This
cruel punishment was designed to prevent revolt and, in cases of
treason, to preclude revenge by the family clan. Extermination of
the clan for treason was instituted, not for the common people but
for higher officials who had revolted or were under suspicion of
revolting against the Emperor.8

The Five Punishments is now overlaid onto three different Five Movements.
This is shown in Table 29.

7
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 76 #1:
8
Laszlo Ladany, Law and Legality in China, The Testament of a China-watcher, p. 37.

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 Bridges

In its gloss for the character (mù: wood), the Kangxi Dictionary says that
the sequence of the five elements is .9 Table 30 shows the Five
Movements (elements duality) in the sequence instructed by the Kangxi
Dictionary.

9
Kangxi Dictionary, p 509 #1: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The message in the Five Movements (elements duality rearranged) is: [1. hé:
river 2. lèi: tears] (huǒ: fiery, anger) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [1. jīn:
metal 2. jiàn: sword] (tǔ: Earth; item made of earth). It is cryptic. It needs to
be interpreted. The [1. hé: river 2. lèi: tears] tells us that there is calamity in
China and the Mandate of Heaven is withdrawn. The calamity causes (huǒ:
fiery, anger) as [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffins] are required for victims of the
calamity. This leads to rebellion, which requires [1. jīn: metal 2. jiàn: swords].
Rebellions may be either successful or unsuccessful. You either attain
(tiānxià: all under Heaven, China, the whole world), which is (tǔ: Earth)
or you become an (tǔ: item made of earth). Table 31 shows the Conundrum
table updated to incorporate the rearrangement of the elements.

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 Bridges

The Shuowen Dictionary serves as a bridge to associative compound sentences

in Seal Script characters. Classical Chinese texts containing characters that
have been re-encrypted in Kai Script can be decrypted using Seal Script
characters illustrated in the Shuowen Dictionary. The Kangxi Dictionary,
published in 1716 CE, uses Kai Script for character entries, but Seal Script
equivalents are displayed throughout the dictionary as marginalia
(annotations in the margin). An understanding of Seal Script is vital in order to
decipher the Duality Code, therefore dictionaries that did not illustrate Seal
Script had limited utility for shi scholars. The modern Chinese Language Great
Dictionary, published in stages between 1986 and 1990, also illustrates Seal
Script characters. This suggests that there is continuing decryption of the
Duality Code.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Kai Script was continually being modified as shi scholars tinkered with Duality
Code encryptions. The script underwent accelerated orthographic reform in the
twentieth-century. Both Simplified Script used in the PRC and Traditional
Script used in Taiwan were reformed so that certain characters differ from
historical Kai Script illustrated in the Kangxi Dictionary. Table 32 shows
example characters that spotlight a few differences in the scripts. Reformed
characters are highlighted.

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 Bridges

Simplified and Traditional Script for (zì: character) are identical, but they
differ from that in the Kangxi Dictionary which is (zì: character). This may
reflect continued refinement of the Duality Code. There may have been
characters that were re-encrypted between the publication of the Kangxi
Dictionary in 1716 and the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

The Simplified Script character (yīn: yin; secret) differs from the Kangxi
Dictionary and Traditional Script forms of the character. This was part of the
PRC’s orthographic reform to simplify Kai Script characters.

Both Simplified Script and the Kangxi Dictionary’s form of the character
(bǐ: knife, dirk) are identical, but differ from the Traditional Script form of
the character (bǐ: knife, dirk). This implies that Taiwan has implemented
orthographic reform independently of the PRC.

The ancients tell us: (qiáo: stately) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [is a]
(qiáo: bridge). A coffin can be described as a bridge between the world of the
living and the duality spirit world of the departed ancestors. Just as the
Shuowen Dictionary serves as a bridge to the associate compound sentences
within Seal Script characters, historical editions of the Kangxi Dictionary serve
as a bridge to associate compound sentences within historical Kai Script.
Orthographic reform creates new variant characters that are just one
substitution cipher away from historical Kai Script characters found in the

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Kangxi Dictionary. The associative compound sentences contained within

historical Kai Script can be easily retrieved. Orthographic reform to conceal
the Duality Code by means of simplification of Chinese characters is therefore
ultimately pointless. A list of characters modified by the PRC and Taiwan may
be considered essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the Duality
Code.

221
 14
Error

The ancients have told us: (qiǎn: all) (mù: wood) [to be] (jiǎn: examined),
but further examination of characters that use the character (mù: wood) as a sub-
component does not reveal anything that could be decrypted as the first of the Five

Punishments, which is a tattoo on the forehead. However, the ancients have

also told us: (cè: book) (jí: to assemble) [in] (lùn: logical order). The
ancients expect us to apply logic to uncover the next Five Movements.

The ancients say: (xíng: punishment) (mò: ink; writing) [is] ( mòxíng:
corpral punishment consisting of carving and inking characters on the victim's
forehead). A tattoo comprises dots of ink applied to the skin and we have
decrypted the character [diǎn: dot] based on the Eight Principles of Yong.
We have also uncovered the classical Chinese character (rén: man) from the
Kangxi Dictionary for the character that is used in vernacular Chinese for the
meaning of (dà: big). A man with a tattoo on his forehead is a man who has
broken the law and has been found to be a criminal. A criminal can be
described as a (quǎn: dog).

The character (quǎn: dog) can be viewed as a pictograph of a man with a

tattoo on his forehead; it may also be viewed as an ideograph of a [quǎn: dog;

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

criminal]; and it may be read as an associative compound that says: [diǎn:

dot] (1. rén: man. 2. dà: big) [quǎn: dog; criminal]. As a pictograph of a
man with a dot on his forehead who is a [quǎn: dog; criminal], it matches the
first of the Five Punishments, which is to tattoo the forehead of a criminal.
This suggests that a Five Movements with (quǎn: dog) has to be found as
part of the solution to the Conundrum. One logical way forward is to examine
messages from the ancients in variants or synonyms of (quǎn: dog).

In the everyday vernacular language, the normal character that the Chinese use
for the meaning of ‘dog’ is (gǒu: dog). This character takes the form of a
semantic-phonetic compound that asks the question, ‘What “ (quǎn: dog)”
sounds like “ (jù: sentence)”’? The answer ‘ (gǒu: dog)’ is very much out-of-
tune. The ancients have flagged that the character (gǒu: dog) is important
and that it needs to be understood. The character says: (jù: sentence) [of]
(quǎn: dog) [is] (gǒu: dog). To the uninitiated, this associate compound
sentence appears to be a meaningless tautology. However, those in search of
the Duality Code will understand a very specific context in which this associate
compound sentence is logical and meaningful. Every Five Movements has a
message encrypted into it, and that message is a sentence. The associate
compound sentence in (gǒu: dog) is interpreted to mean that the Five
Movements sentence for (quǎn: dog) lies within the character (quǎn: dog)
itself. The common way of reading a character is just to read the externalised
vernacular meaning. The uncommon way of reading a character is to read the
classical associative compound sentence within the character.

223
 Error

The character is written with four single brush strokes called (héng:
horizontal), (wān: curve), (nà: press down) and (diǎn: dot) to give us the
character (quǎn: dog). This can be described as Five Movements (writing),
which contains encrypted ciphertext. The concept of ‘writing’ can be
represented by the character (wén: literature, culture, writing). The duality
would be Five Movements (writing duality) with ciphertext decrypted into
plaintext. The plaintext is placed in reverse order, in opposition to the
character’s encryption protocol, in Five Movements (writing duality) shown in
Table 33.

The first movement is a single-stroke character that is short and slanting right.
This is a duality to the third movement, which is a character that is long and
slanting left. The second movement is an oblique/curved character that is a
duality to the fourth movement, which is a horizontal/straight character. The
fifth movement is a compound character comprising more than one stroke,
which is a duality of the first four movements that are single-stroke characters.
Each of the five movements has two decrypted plaintext meanings, except the
second movement, which has only one meaning. We will have to decrypt a
second meaning in order to read the message in Five Movements (writing

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

duality). Five Movements (writing duality) is placed into the Conundrum table
and shown in Table 34.

In the Conundrum table, the [quǎn: dog; criminal] is in the wrong position.
The dog criminal is in the fifth movement occupying the fifth position in the
table, but the criminal with the tattoo should be in the first position. The table
has been encrypted. We need to find a decryption mechanism.

225
 Error

A logical way forward is to examine the letter from the ancients that is titled
(é: erroneous, wrong) to see if they have a suggestion for correcting the error
in the table. The character (é: erroneous, wrong) looks like a semantic-
phonetic compound that asks the question, ‘What “ (yán: words)” sound like
“ (huà: change, convert)”’? The answer, ‘ (é: wrong)’ is very out-of-tune,
therefore the ancients have flagged for us to be careful in analysing this
character. The ancients have created the variant (huà: change, convert)1
in order to cryptically say: (huà rén: change man) (yán: words) (huà:
change, convert) (é: wrong). We know that Yi and Gun change places
therefore (huà rén: change man) refers to Yi. We had earlier decrypted:
[wŭxíng: Five Movements] [yì: Yi’s] (yán: words; say) (mí: bewitch;
confuse) (mí: conundrum), therefore (huà rén: change man’s) (yán:
words) refers to the Conundrum. We can now interpret (huà rén: change
man’s) (yán: words) [to] (huà: changed, convert) [they are] (é: wrong).
The words in the Conundrum table have to be changed in some way. A
reorganisation of the Conundrum table is required.

The next logical step is to look through more letters from the ancients with

(quǎn: dog) as a sub-component for additional Duality Code messages.

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p152 #20: .

226
 15
Keys

Examination of letters from the ancients with the sub-component (quǎn:

dog) leads to the character (qì: receptacle, vessel; instrument), which
unequivocally demands attention. It is in the form of a Five Movements
diagram with (quǎn: dog) in the fifth movement. Firstly, the ancients use the
character (qì: receptacle, vessel; instrument) to tell us that we have derived
the Five Movements diagram format correctly. Most (but not all) Five
Movements diagrams have the fifth movement placed in the middle of the first
four movements. Secondly, the ancients also use the character (qì: receptacle,
vessel; instrument) to tell us that we are correct in our deduction that there is a
Five Movements with (quǎn: dog) in the fifth movement. The Five
Movements diagram is an (qì: instrument) for use in decrypting other
elements of the Duality Code. The first four movements are each depicted as a
(kǒu: mouth; entrance), which represents a duality portal. Whenever there is
a duality portal, there are two dualities present. The ancients are cryptically
saying that each of the four single-stroke characters in the first four
movements is a duality. In our Five Movements (writing duality), the second
movement [nà: press down] has only one decryption. There is a second
meaning for the character that needs to be decrypted, and it is somehow
found through the character (qì: instrument). The ancients have emphasised
the (kǒu: mouth; entrance) by using it repeatedly in the character (qì:
instrument). This is interpreted as a cryptic clue to examine dualities of (kǒu:
mouth; entrance).

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 Keys

The character (kǒu: mouth; entrance) represents a [kǒu: duality portal].

All types of entrances can serve as substitution ciphers for the duality portal.
The character (kǒng: opening, orifice) is therefore a duality of (kǒu:
mouth; entrance). The family name of Confucius is (kǒng: opening, orifice),
and Confucius is known as (kǒngzǐ: Master Kong). The duality meaning of
Confucius’ name can be decrypted to be: [kǒngzǐ: duality portal master].
The Duality Code has hidden a second meaning for the character in a puzzle
linked to his family name (kǒng: opening, orifice). The etymology of
(kǒng: opening, orifice) is shown in Table 35.

In Seal Script, the associative compound sentence in the family name (kǒng:
opening, orifice) says: [yí: change place] [zǐ: child; master] (kǒng:
opening, orifice). The child and master change place when the child covers the

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

coffin (kǒu: mouth; entrance) and becomes the new master, therefore the
(kǒng: opening, orifice) is a [kǒng: duality portal].

In Kai Script, the (kǒng: opening, orifice) family name was re-encrypted to
contain the message: (yǐn: secret) (jié: remaining; lonely) (kǒng: opening,
orifice). The ancients have created another puzzle. The have told us cryptically
that the (zǐ: child) has become (jié: lonely), therefore companions for the
(jié: lonely) have to be found. The character (zǐ: child) is conventionally
taught as a pictograph of a child. The Seal Script version of the (kǒng:
opening, orifice) family name may be viewed as a pictograph of child with two
arms. The character (jié: lonely) in the Kai Script re-encryption may be
viewed as a pictograph of a child with one arm. This provides the necessary
clues to find other characters to derive the Five Movements diagram
comprising companions for the (jié: lonely). This is shown in Table 36.

229
 Keys

Following the transposition sequence last first, the first movement in the Five
Movements diagram is the new Kai Script re-encrypted character (jié: lonely)
in (kǒng: opening, orifice), followed by the original (zǐ: child), which
appears in the Seal Script character (kǒng: opening, orifice). The character
(jié: lonely) is written with a rising brush stroke for the arm. This identifies
the duality in the third movement that is a character written with a falling
brush stroke for the arm. The second movement is the (zǐ: child) and it is
written with a long horizontal brush stroke for the arm, which is a duality of
the fourth movement that is written with a short horizontal brush stroke for
the arm. The first and third movements have non-horizontal arms, which is a
duality to the horizontal arms in the second and fourth movements. The fifth
movement is a duality to the first four movements, as it has no brush stroke for
the arms. The message in the Five Movements (arms) is: (jié: remaining)
[zǐ: child; master] (jué: beautiful) (jué: larva of mosquito) (liǎo: to
finish). The ancients address you as: (jié: remaining) [zǐ: master]. You are
sufficiently advanced in decrypting the Conundrum that the ancients address
you as [zǐ: master]. As a master who has not attained immortality, you are a
(jié: remaining) [zǐ: master]. The ancients cryptically inform you: (jué:
beautiful) (jué: larva of mosquito) (liǎo: to finish). A mosquito is an insect
that undergoes full metamorphosis and has a four-stage life cycle–egg, larva,
pupa and adult. The four stages of an insect life cycle represent the first four
movements in life, and the fifth movement is the duality–death. The ancients
have informed us that the Duality Code uses a Five Movements (life) that
needs to be identified to finish the Conundrum.

Based on placement of the arms in the characters (jié: remaining) and (jué:
beautiful), Five Movements (arms) leads to the decryption of the character

230
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

[tí: lift] as the polyseme [1. tí: lift 2. zuǒ: left], and the character [nà: press
down] as the polyseme [1. nà: press down 2. yòu: right]. Pressing down the
right and lifting left from the workers perspective turns the tail of Oracle
Script (mǎ: horse) into a right hand ( ). The man in Oracle Script (mǎ:
horse) lies under the receptacle, which becomes a cover. The situation of the
corpse has been finalised. The man can no longer leave. Table 37 updates the
decryption of the single stroke characters for [1. jiàn: sword 2. gōu: hook],
[1. tí: lift 2. zuǒ: left], and [1. nà: press down 2. yòu: right]. The decryption
of the meanings for single stroke characters used in this book is now complete.

With the decryption of the polyseme [1. nà: press down 2. yòu: right], the
message in the Five Movements (dog duality) can now be read to say:

[1. zhǔ: master 2. diǎn: dot] [1. nà: press down 2. yòu: right],
[1. jiàn: sword 2. wān: curve] [1. yì: Yi 2. yī: clothes],
[quǎn: dog; criminal].

231
 Keys

Each of the Five Movements has two meanings. The message separates into
two lines, with the first meaning of the character in each movement forming
the first line of the message, and the second meaning of the character forming
the second line. The message says:

a. (zhǔ: master) [nà: press down] [jiàn: sword] [yì: Yi] [quǎn: dog].
b. [diǎn: dot] [yòu: right] [wān: curve] [yī: clothes] [criminal].

The character (quǎn: dog) is a pictograph of a man with a [tattoo] on his

forehead. It is an ideograph of a [criminal] who is described as a (quǎn:
dog). The master becomes a dog when he presses down his sword. The dot
represents the criminal with a tattoo on his forehead. When his right arm
curves right, it turns Oracle Script horse clockwise . There is a receptacle
over the man. At the duality change, the number representations change, and
man three is the king. The change in number representations will be derived in
a later chapter. The message says that the criminal obtains clothes; the clothes
are imperial robes. The Conundrum table is updated for the decryption of Five
Movements (dog duality) as shown in Table 38.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The second and fourth movements in the Five Movements (arms) above are the
characters and . The ancients have hidden a cipher and they are
compelling us to understand that [short Yi] has a different meaning from
[yì: Yi]. The character [yì: Yi] has a logographic duality in the character
(yáng: yang; sun). The Duality of (yáng: yang; sun) is (yīn: yin; moon;
secret). Short or small Yi is (yāo: one; small). It may be thought of as an
abbreviation for [yīn: yin; moon; secret]. Abbreviations act as dualities and
substitution ciphers, therefore the dualities and validates our earlier the
decryption of [yīn: yin; moon; secret].

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 Keys

The decryption [yīn: yin; moon; secret] unlocks other ciphertext. The Duality
Code says: [yì: Yi] [yīn: yin; moon; secret] [is] [èr: to revolt]. It also says
cryptically: (rén: man) [who] [èr: to revolts] [is a] (fū: husband), and
[yīn: yin; moon; secret] (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) [in] (fū: husband). There
is a secret (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) in a (fū: husband) who revolts.

Confucianism was androcentric and women were subservient to men. The

Confucian doctrine of the three obedience dictates that a woman obeys her
father before marriage, he husband after marriage, and her son upon being
widowed.1 In effect, a woman obeys two husbands, her mother’s husband and
her own husband, as well as her son. Therefore the ancients say: (zǐ: son)
[and] (fū: husband) [are] (fūzǐ: masters).

Confucius is usually known in Chinese literature as (kǒngzǐ: Master Kong),

but post-Han dynasty literature may very occasionally name him as
(kǒng fūzǐ: Confucius), which was transliterated to ‘Confucius’ by
Matteo Ricci.2 Ancestral tablets at the Temple of Confucius suggest that his
father was a duke of the vassal state of Qi.3 There are, however, conflicting
accounts that trace Confucius’ ancestry to the aristocratic families of the Song

1
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Inner Quarters, Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung
Period, p. 50.
2
Paul S. Chung, Constructing Irregular Theology, p. 104.
3
Rodney L. Taylor, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Confucianism: Volume One, p. 129.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

vassal state.4 Differing accounts nevertheless agree that he was descended from
the aristocracy–the (ròushí zhě: meat eaters) in Chinese literature. As
a member of the aristocracy, Confucius would have had the privilege of an
education at an official school.

Confucius received posthumous honorifics such as Propagating Sage, Great

Teacher, King of Propagating Culture, and Supreme Sage and First Teacher.5
The ancients say: (zā: to make a circuit) (duī: to store up) [it is your] (shī:
teacher, master). The character (zā: to make a circuit) is interpreted as a
cryptic reference to the Conundrum, where the Five Punishments encircle
[make a circuit around] various Five Movements to create the word puzzle.
The ancients tell us to store up the Conundrum, which acts as a teacher. To
store up is to put away and not display. It was a very important shi secret that
had been unknown outside shi circles. Decrypting the Conundrum teaches the
techniques required to decrypt the Duality Code. It may be viewed as a
deconstructed and encrypted instruction manual that teaches the shi how to
read classical Chinese. It is possible to hypothesise that Confucius may have
devised the Conundrum, which propagates the teaching of the Duality Code to
all generations of the shi after him, and he is therefore the Propagating Sage, a
Great Teacher, and the King of Propagating Culture, as some of his many
honorifics assert. This would make the Conundrum 2,500 years old.

Theologian and sociologist Anna Sun provides insights on Confucianism in

imperial China:

4
Dingxin Zhao, The Confucian-Legalist State, p. 171.
5
Lionel M. Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism, p. 326.

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 Keys

... unlike Christian churches where everyone is welcome to enter,

Confucius temples in imperial China were a sacred space reserved
for imperial courtiers, scholar-officials, and Confucian students
(rusheng), people who had either passed through the civil
examination system or were about to enter it. ... and the Confucius
temples were also the sites where Confucian students celebrated
their success in the civil examination exams by offering their
thanksgiving to Confucius. 6

The veneration of Confucius in ancestor worship rituals was restricted to the

shi. Imperial governments would hold rituals at Confucian temples to celebrate
successful candidates at the civil service examinations. Confucius was the new
relative to all scholar officials who joined the shi literati family. In China, the
imperial examinations were largely based on the Thirteen Classics, but
Confucius himself based his teachings on the (liùyì: Six Arts), which are
always written in the same order:

(lǐ: rites)
(yuè: music)
(shè: archery)
(yù: charioteering)
(shū: calligraphy)
(shù: mathematics)

6
Anna Sun, ‘Conversion and Confucianism’, in Lewis R. Rambo and Charles E. Farhadian (eds.), The
Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion, p. 543.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The characters that constitute the Six Arts are polysemic and conceal a
ciphertext message:

(lǐ: social custom; manners; courtesy; rites)

(1. lè: happy, glad 2. yuè: music)
(shè, yì: shoot, eject, issue forth, emit; archery)
(yù: drive, ride; chariot; manage)
(shū: book, letter, document; writings, calligraphy)
(shù: number; several; count; fate; mathematics; stratagem)

The normal vernacular meaning of the character that represents ‘mathematics’

is (shù: count), but the Duality Code has used the dictionaries to define an
unusual meaning of (jì: stratagem).7 The hidden message in the Six Arts says:
(lǐ: social custom, rites) (yuè: music) [and] (shè, yì: archery) (yù:
manage) [the] (shū: book’s) (shù: number; count; stratagem). The
decryption keys to the Book’s number count stratagem lie in social customs,
rites, music and archery.

The use of numerals as substitution ciphers was explained in Chapter Eight.

The numeral (1. liù: six 2. lù: land; army) may be viewed as an abbreviation
for the bigram (lùjūn: army). The number variant (liù: six) (1. liù:
six 2. lù: land; army) logically implies it is the polyseme [1. liù: six 2. lù: land;
army]. The (liùyì: Six Arts) has the duality meaning [lù: Army] (yì:
Arts). The shi was ancient China’s warrior class, therefore the Six Arts, which
are the Army Arts, may also be interpreted as the Shi Arts.

7
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 475 #4: .

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 Keys

Numbers play a central role in the Duality Code’s number count stratagem. In
addition to ordinary numbers, counting rods and numerals, the Chinese have a
fourth number system called Suzhou numerals.8 They are shown in Table 39,
together with numbers and counting rods. Suzhou numerals are a mixture of
vertical and horizontal counting rods. The Suzhou numerals 1 to 3 are vertical
counting rods, but the Suzhou numerals 6 to 8 are horizontal counting rods.
The ancients have hidden a secret in the Suzhou numerals. Suzhou numerals act
as decryption keys. The switch from vertical to horizontal occurs at the Suzhou
numeral 6. The sequence vertical one, vertical two, vertical three, ? four, ? five,
horizontal six, horizontal seven, etc., allows us to decrypt the Suzhou numeral
(wǔ: five) as a vertical number. This is a decryption key that we will use later
in this book.

8
Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A Manual, p. 222.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BCE) adopted Confucian doctrines as state

orthodoxy and started a school to teach future imperial administrators the
Confucian classics. This eventually led to the creation of the Chinese imperial
examinations during the Sui dynasty (581–618 CE). The curriculum varied
over time, but was principally based on proficiency in the Thirteen Classics.
The imperial examination was seen as a route to power, wealth and success as
scholars or scholar officials. As the process of studying for the examinations
was time-consuming and costly, most candidates came from the relatively
wealthy land-owning gentry. The shi gentry were stratified according to the
level of the degree obtained, with holders of the highest metropolitan degrees at
the top and candidates who did not pass the exams at the bottom.9 To some
historians, it was inconceivable that a common man could become a
government official.10

Five of the Six Arts (rites, music, archery, calligraphy, and mathematics) have
been briefly examined in previous chapters. The one remaining art that has not
been examined is charioteering. There are a number of different characters
relating to chariots; the most commonly used of these is perhaps (1. jū: war
chariot 2. chē: car, cart). The Duality Code says: [gǔn: Gun] [èr: to revolt]
(yuē: say, speak) (jū: war chariot). Ancient shi warriors would ride and
command battles in war chariots, which carried a traditional crew of three
warriors (driver, archer and striker), and each chariot was accompanied into
battle by between 30 to 75 infantry soldiers.11

9
Ho-fung Hung, Protest with Chinese Characteristics, p. 27.
10
Eileen H. Tamura et al., China: Understanding Its Past, p. 30.
11
Richard A. Gabriel, The Great Armies of Antiquity, p. 147.

239
 Keys

The ancients say: (jū: war chariot) (mì: cover) (jūn: army). The war
chariot was the platform from which shi warriors would kill [cover] the
opposing army. This is one possible interpretation of the associative compound
sentence in (jūn: army). A second possible interpretation is: (jū: war
chariot) [is a] (mì: cover) [for the] (jūn: army). The army is the original shi
profession, and in the past only the shi could ride in war chariots. Therefore,
the presence of the war chariot logically implies the presence of the shi–or the
army. The war chariot is a cover or substitution cipher for the (jūn: army).
Therefore I make the decryption [jū: war chariot; army].

The war chariot is a vehicle that leaves death in its wake, and Chinese funeral
rites play a central role in the Duality Code. In a traditional Chinese funeral,
the wealthy may engage professional mourners to wail loudly, as an absence of
tears indicates that the deceased was not loved and this disgraces the family. A
coffin can be cryptically described as a: (huàn: noisy)12 (kū: wail) (qì:
receptacle, vessel).

According to a Chinese superstition, a dog can see spirits. According to another

Chinese superstition, a dog howling in a mournful way heralds death.
Therefore the ancients tell us: (quǎn: dog) [kǒu: duality portal; duality
capsule] (fèi: bark).

12
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 174 #19: .

240
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Following on from the ancient’s message in (fèi: bark), a coffin can be

described as a (jí: clamour; noise) (quǎn: dog) (qì: receptacle, vessel).

The associate compounds (huàn: noisy) (kū: wail) (qì: receptacle, vessel)
and (jí: clamour; noise) (quǎn: dog) (qì: receptacle, vessel) enable us to
decrypt that the (qì: receptacle, vessel) is a [1. qì: receptacle, vessel 2. chèn:
coffin]. Decryption of the [chèn: duality capsule] tells us that this character
is of significance in the Duality Code.

The message in the Six Arts is that the decryption keys to the Duality Code lie
in social customs, rites, music and archery. Social customs and rites include
funeral and matrimonial rites, as well as ancestor worship rites. Cultural
legends and beliefs may also be viewed as forming part of social customs.
Decryption of associative compound sentences contained within Chinese
characters requires an understanding of Chinese customs, habits, culture, and
ideas, which act as decryption keys. During the Cultural Revolution, the Red
Guards were mobilised to destroy the Four Olds–old customs, old habits, old
culture and old ideas–many Confucian temples were destroyed. The attack on
the Four Olds may be viewed as an attempt to erase the decryption keys of the
Duality Code. Author of religious texts, Mary Pat Fisher shares her insights:

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Confucianism was

attacked as one of the ‘Four Olds’ – old ideas, culture, customs,
and habits. The Cultural Revolution attempted to destroy the

241
 Keys

hierarchical structure that Confucianism had idealized and to

prevent the intellectual elite from ruling over the masses.13

The Confucian hierarchical structure allowed the intellectual elite to rule over
the illiterate common man, peasant and slaves. This hierarchical structure had
existed at least since Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BCE) adopted Confucian
doctrines as state orthodoxy over two millennia ago. It may be viewed as
oppression of the common man, peasant and slaves by the intellectual elite.
Oppression that may be as old as the Duality Code.

13
Mary Pat Fisher, Religions Today: An Introduction, p. 119.

242
 16
Moon Secret

The error in the Conundrum table led to examination of letters from the
ancients containing the character (quǎn: dog). This examination uncovered
the letter titled (qì: receptacle, vessel), which in turn led to the Five
Movements (arms) that facilitated the decryption of [yòu: right] and
[zuǒ: left] arms as well as [yīn: yin; moon; secret]. It did not, however,
provide a correction to the error in the Conundrum table, nor did it yield any
obvious clues for the continuation of our search. The Ancients told us: (cè:
book) (jí: to assemble) [in] (lùn: logical order). We have to use logic to
continue. The two arms that we found do not appear to have hands. The
ancients have told us (gē: halberd) [and] (shǒu: hand) [to] (zhǎo: search,
seek; find), therefore we should look for two hands to connect to the two arms,
[yòu: right] and [zuǒ: left].

The character (yǐn: secret) comes to our attention.1 Hands connect to arms
and the duality of a hand can be a foot or an animal claw. The ancients say
cryptically: [yòu: right hand] (gong: worker) (zhǎo: to grasp) (yǐn:
secret). There is a secret that we have to grasp. In Five Movements (arms), the
ancients used duality positions in the second and fourth movements to compel
us to understand that [short Yi] has a different meaning from [yì: Yi]. Top

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 689 #8: .

243
 Moon Secret

and bottom are dualities as are left and right. The ancients have used the
placement of [yòu: right hand] and (zhǎo: claw) in duality positions below
and above the (gong: worker) in the character (yǐn: secret) to tell us that
we can decrypt the polyseme [1. zuǒ: left hand 2. zhǎo: claws; to grasp]. We
have found a [zuǒ: left hand] and a [yòu: right hand] for the [zuǒ: left]
and [yòu: right] arms.

The clue (zhǎo: to grasp) (yǐn: secret) leads back to [yīn: yin; moon;
secret], which we decrypted when we decrypted [1. tí: lift 2. zuǒ: left] [1. nà:
press down 2. yòu: right]. The normal character used instead of [yīn: yin;
moon; secret] is (yīn: yin; moon; secret).

The associative compound sentence in (yīn: yin; moon; secret) says: (yīn:
yin; moon; secret) (fù: place) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). This is an example of
a reclarified compound, sometimes also described as a phonetic loan character.
The Duality Code has reformed a number of associative compound characters
so that they resemble semantic-phonetic compounds. This is achieved by adding
an unnecessary semantic element to ‘reclarify’ the character. It may be viewed
as an attempt to obfuscate the associate compound sentences within reclarified
characters. In the character (yīn: yin; secret), the obfuscating element (fù:
place) was added. The ciphertext associative compound sentence in such
characters is read from the (gǔwén: classical Chinese) form of the
character, which in this case is (yīn: yin; moon; secret).

244
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

One message in the classical character (yīn: yin; secret) says: (gōng:
forearm) [and] [gài: cover] (jí: to assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). This
tells us that we need to understand the (gōng: forearm) [and] [gài: cover]
in order (jí: to assemble) the (yīn: yin; moon; secret). This associate
compound in (yīn: yin; moon; secret) can be interpreted in a second way. If
we take (gōng: forearm) and [gài: cover] as a cryptic reference to the
Duality Code, then the associate compound could be interpreted to say:
[Duality Code] (jí: to assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). This second
interpretation may be viewed as an instruction from the ancients to assemble
the various yin variants. A non-comprehensive list includes:
.

The yin variant that holds the moon secret that we are looking for is (yīn:
yin; moon; secret).2 This character is present in the Shuowen Dictionary as a
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) character, but it is not present in the Kangxi
Dictionary. However, it reappears in the twentieth-century dictionary Hanyu
Da Cidian. The omission of the character (yīn: yin; moon; secret) from the
Kangxi Dictionary may be viewed as a Duality Code attempt to increase the
difficulty of solving the Code by storing decryption keys in different places and
forcing those in search of the Duality Code to refer to both the Kangxi
Dictionary as well as the Shuowen Dictionary.

2
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 11, Radical 423: .

245
 Moon Secret

At the top of (yīn: yin; moon; secret) is the non-overlapping character (jí:
to assemble). Deducting this non-overlapping character leaves the residual
element , which has to be decrypted. At the top of residual element is the
horizontal character [yì: Yi]. Removing this top element [yì: Yi] leaves the
residual character , which is topped by the undefined character . Suzhou
numerals provide the decryption key for this undefined character. Suzhou
numerals use both vertical and horizontal counting rods, and we had earlier
decrypted [vertical] (wǔ: five). This provides us with the decryption key to
make the decryption [horizontal] [wǔ: five]. In the residual character , there
are four strokes below horizontal [wǔ: five], which comprises two strokes
written right to left and two strokes written left to right . This allows us to
interpret [four], with one being at the bottom because [wǔ: five] is at the
top. Starting from the bottom, the first and third strokes are straight lines
that were written from left to right. This is a duality of the second and fourth
strokes, which are written slanting down right to left . Counting from the
bottom the first stroke is slightly longer than the third stroke . Long and
short are dualities, therefore the first stroke from the bottom is a duality of the
third stroke from the bottom. Counting from the bottom, the second stroke is
slightly longer than the fourth stroke , therefore the second stroke is a
duality of the fourth stroke. The first four strokes from the bottom are straight
strokes . Straight and curved are dualities, therefore the first four strokes
from the bottom are a duality of the curved stroke [wǔ: five]. The residual
character therefore has the following dualities:

246
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Duality between the first and third strokes

Duality between the second and fourth strokes
Duality between the first/third and the second/fourth strokes
Duality between the first four strokes and the fifth stroke

Chinese characters are polysemic. Given the dualities present in , I make the
decryption [wŭxíng: five movements] and [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk].

The ancients say: [yì: Yi] [wŭxíng: five movements] (jí: to assemble)
(yīn: yin; moon; secret). It provides a diagram for organising the
Conundrum in a zigzag orientation, starting from the bottom right. This
reorganisation enables the assembly of the moon secret. Following the path
dictated by the diagram , the Conundrum may be viewed as the [wŭxíng:
Duality Change Walk]. The reorganised Conundrum table is shown in Table 40.

The [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] contained in the character (yīn: yin;
moon; secret) has shown us how to move the elements in the Conundrum table
to correct the error. The character (yīn: yin; moon; secret) says: [yì: Yi]
[wŭxíng: Five Movements] (jí: to assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). This
tells us that a missing Five Movements relates to [yì: Yi]. The first four
movements arranged in a zigzag suggest that they may be viewed as sequential
dualities. The shape of the character [wǔ: five] suggests that the missing
Five Movements may be recursive or cyclical. The ancients have hidden a Five
Movements (Hou Yi) somewhere in all of Chinese (wén: literature, culture,
writing).

247
 Moon Secret

The ancients have also told us: [zǐ: child; master] (jué: beautiful) (jué:
larva of mosquito) (liǎo: to finish), which cryptically informs us that there is
a Five Movements (life) required to finish the conundrum. Therefore there are
two Five Movements, Five Movements (life) and Five Movements (Hou Yi) that
await us in the [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] [yì: Yi] (yán: words; say)
(mí: bewitch; confuse) (mí: conundrum).

248
 17
Bigrams

The ancients have told us: (jí: to assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). The
Duality Code treats abbreviations as another type of duality. The character
(yīn: yin; moon; secret) can be considered to be an abbreviation of a bigram
that uses it as a component. Therefore the ancients’ instruction (jí: to
assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret) applies equally to bigrams formed with the
character (yīn: yin; moon; secret). Examination of the numerous bigrams
uncovers the characters (tài: excessive; superior) and (yīn: yin; moon;
secret), which combine in the bigram (tàiyīn: moon). The moon and the
sun feature prominently in the legend of Hou Yi, and the existence of the
bigrams (tàiyīn: moon) and (tàiyang: sun) suggest that the ancients
have hidden a Five Movements in bigrams formed with the character (tài:
excessive; superior). This Five Movements has to be logically derived based on
our understanding of the way Five Movements are constructed. A list of
possible bigrams includes:

(tàitai: wife) (tàimǔ: grandmother)

(tàijiàn: palace eunuch) (tàishī: imperial tutor)
(tàishǐ: court historian) (tàixū: void; cosmos)
(tàibái: Venus) (tàizǐ: crown prince)
(tàihòu: empress dowager) (tàigōng: great-grandfather)
(tàishǒu: governor) (tàiyī: imperial physician)
(tàijí: the Absolute) (tàipó: great-grandmother)

249
 Bigrams

Through Five Movements (arms), the ancients sent us the message: (jié:
remaining) [zǐ: child; master] (jué: beautiful) (jué: larva of mosquito)
(liǎo: to finish). The ancients have informed us that a Five Movements (life)
is required to finish the Conundrum. In the legend of Hou Yi, Chang E takes
the elixir of immortality and floats up to live thereafter on the moon.
Mortality and immortality are dualities. Mortality is inherent in life, while
immortality is attained upon death. The sun and the moon may be viewed as
immortal duality representations of Hou Yi and Chang E. As such, the
(tàiyang: sun) and the (tàiyīn: moon) would represent death in the
fifth movement of a Five Movements (life) comprising bigrams formed with the
character (tài: excessive; superior). This implies that there is a four-stage life
cycle that has to be uncovered to represent the first four movements.

The four stages of human life may be conceived of as: child, adult (parent),
grandparent and great-grandparent. The only bigram representing the child is
the (tài: superior) (zǐ: son, child), who is the (tàizǐ: crown prince). By
forcing the nomination of royalty in the first movement, the Duality Code is
cryptically instructing the use a bigram relating to royalty for the third
movement. This would establish royalty in the first and third movements to
contrast as a duality for non-royalty in the second and fourth movements. This
therefore identifies the bigram (tài: superior) (hòu: queen), who is
(tàihòu: empress dowager), to represent the grandmother’s generation in
the third movement, as opposed to the alternative, which is the (tài: superior)
(mǔ: mother) who is the (tàimǔ: grandmother).

250
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The only bigram that represents the parents’ generation for the second
movement is (tàitai: taitai, wife). Imperial Chinese law only allowed one
wife (at any one time), but it also allowed different numbers of concubines for
different strata of shi society. Wives and concubines would live in the same
household, but a concubine had a lower social and legal status than the wife. A
concubine was purchased rather than married.1 Wives could make the purchase,
and the concubines were generally under the supervision of the mistress of the
house.2 Over time there was an elevation to the social status of concubines,
from a sexual slave to a minor wife.3 Monogamy was endorsed by China’s civil
code in 1930 and concubines were outlawed by the PRC in 1950.4 A character
that represents (qiè: concubine) exists in Oracle Script from the Shang
dynasty over 3,000 years ago. During this era female war prisoners captured
from neighbouring tribes served as concubines, and they could be bought or
sold.5 The bigram (tàitai: taitai, wife) is present in Chinese literature from
at least the Han dynasty 2,000 years ago, when concubines were clearly
inferiors to the wife, who was the (tài: superior).

The bigram (tàitai: taitai, wife) is strange and requires rationalisation. It

repeats the polyseme (tài: excessive; superior) and could mean (tàitai:
excessive superior); or it could mean (tàitai: superior superior). There is a

1
Maurice Freedman, The Study of Chinese Society, p. 99.
2
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Women and the Family in Chinese History, p. 48.
3
Kathryn Bernhard, Women and Property in China, 960–1949, p. 161.
4
Min Ding and Jie Xu, The Chinese Way, pp. 101–102
5
Barbara Bennett Peterson (ed.), Notable Women of China, p. 6.

251
 Bigrams

duality meaning in (tàitai: taitai, wife) that has to be decrypted. A logical

way forward is to examine other Chinese terms that means ‘wife’.

Modern Chinese matrimonial rites include the hair-combing ceremony known

as (shàng tóu: ceremony of coming of age for boys and girls).6 It is held
separately by the bride and groom in their own respective homes at an agreed
upon auspicious hour on the eve (or morning) of their wedding. The ceremony
is conducted by a person of good fortune, and a person is considered to have
good fortune if his or her parents and children are still present and healthy.
During the ceremony, the bride and groom have their hair combed four times
in conjunction with four blessings. The third blessing is for the bride and groom
to have many children and grandchildren. Therefore, on the eve of their
wedding, a Chinese bride and groom are literally blessed to become
grandparents. Through matrimonial rites, the Duality Code creates the duality
wife grandmother, and husband grandfather. This duality is reflected in the
ciphertext messages within the colloquial terms (lǎogōng: husband) and
(lǎopó: wife).

The ancients have created the term (liǎng gōngpó: husband and wife),
which says: (pó: grandmother) [and] (gōng: grandfather) [are] ((liǎng:
both) (liǎng gōngpó: husband and wife). This reinforces the dualities,
wife grandmother and husband grandfather, which leads to the decryption

6
Lin Yutang Dictionary:

252
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

of the polysemes [gōng: grandfather; husband] and [pó: grandmother;

wife].

The Chinese traditionally practised ancestor worship. In accordance with

Chinese rites, if a concubine had children, after her death her own sons would
make offerings to her, but these offerings were not continued by her grandsons
who only made offerings to their grandfather’s wife.7 According to Chinese
ancestor worship rites, the grandfather’s wife was always the grandmother,
irrespective of whether she was, or was not, the biological grandmother. The
grandfather’s concubine was never the grandmother, irrespective of the fact
that she might be the actual biological grandmother. By logical extension, all
ancestors above grandparents (such as great-grandparents) are husband and
wife, not husband and concubine.

The characters [gōng: grandfather; husband] and [pó: grandmother; wife]

lead us on to the bigrams (tài: superior) [gōng: grandfather; husband] and
(tài: superior) [pó: grandmother; wife], who are the (tàigōng: great-
grandfather) and (tàipó: great-grandmother). They represent the great-
grandparent’s generation in the fourth movement.

The ancients use the character (tài: superior) to mean the generation above
as the ‘superior generation’ in order to create the bigrams (tàigōng: great-
grandfather) and (tàipó: great-grandmother). This usage of the character
(tài: superior) is repeated in the bigram (tài: superior) (mǔ: mother) who
is the (tàimǔ: grandmother). The wife is always the grandmother, in
accordance with Confucian ancestor worship custom. The wife is the superior

7
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Women and the Family in Chinese History, p. 42.

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and the concubine is the inferior, but the implication of [tàitai: superior
superior] is the superior from the superior generation who is the [tàitai:
grandmother].

Five Movements (life) is shown in Table 41. Family relationships (husband/wife

and parents/children) represent dualities. The first and third movements
represent family dualities of the emperor. The second and fourth movements
represent family dualities of the shi (the common man was not legally
permitted to have concubines; the taitai was the wife of a shi as the wife of a
common man would not have inferiors). The first and third movements
represent royalty that is the duality of the non-royal shi represented in the
second and fourth movements. The first four movements are the four stages of
human life, which represent mortal life on Earth. The fifth movement, the
moon and sun, represents immortality in Heaven.

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The message in this Five Movements (life) is unclear. It is unclear because it is

encrypted. There is a decryption mechanism that has to be found that will
allow the derivation of Five Movements (life duality).

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Madman

The character (yīn: yin; moon; secret) says: [yì: Yi] [wŭxíng: Five
Movements] (jí: to assemble) (yīn: yin; moon; secret). There is a missing
Five Movements and it relates to [yì: Yi]. Five Movements (Hou Yi) is
derived from Five Movements (life) through duality chains or duality
associations. Table 42 assists in visualising the derivation of these dualities.

The first movement in Five Movements (life) is (tàizǐ: prince), who is the
(tài: superior) (zǐ: son; child). The character (zǐ: son; child) has a
synonym duality in the character (ér: son; child). In turn, the Kangxi
Dictionary provides the definition of (rénrén: benevolent man) for the
character (ér: son; child).1 The ancients have created the synonym dualities
(zǐ: son; child) (rénrén: benevolent man). The Duality Code makes
the character (rén: benevolence) a classical variant for the character (yí:

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 123 #1: .

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barbarian). This is achieved through the (gǔwén: classical Chinese)

character (1. rén: benevolence 2. yí: barbarian).2 The ancients have created
the variant duality chain (rén: benevolence) (yí: barbarian),
therefore all three characters are polysemes that mean ‘benevolence’ as well as
‘barbarian’.

The Duality Code tells us that: (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) [with] (gōng: bow)
[is a] (yí: barbarian). This has a duality in the bigram (yíyì: Barbarian
Yi), which is an alternative name for Hou Yi that is found in Chinese literature.
The character (yí: barbarian) cryptically hints that (1. rén: man 2. dà: big)
is (yíyì: Barbarian Yi). It is the first movement in the Five Movements
(Hou Yi). This derivation is shown in Table 43.

2
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 300 #4: .

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 Madman

The character (ér: son; child) is the (rénrén: benevolent man), who has a
duality as (yíyì: Barbarian Yi) through the duality chain (rén:
benevolence) (yí: barbarian). The identities represented by the
numbers one, three, and four have been identified as Yi, the worker, and the
king in earlier chapters. The (rén: man) that is represented by the number
(èr: two) is identified by the character (1. rén: benevolence 2. yí: barbarian)
that has dualities as (yíyì: Barbarian Yi), (rénrén: benevolent man), as
well as the (ér: son; child).

The second movement in Five Movements (life) is (tàitai: wife). There are
a number of ways to say ‘husband and wife’ in Chinese. One way is to use the
character (lì: spouse; couple). The Duality Code says: (lì: beautiful) (rén:
people) [are a] (lì: couple). The beautiful people have to be identified.

The character (é: be beautiful) is designed to appear as a semantic-phonetic

compound. It asks the question: ‘What “ (nǚ: woman)” sounds like “ (wǒ:
I)”’? The answer ‘ (é: be beautiful)’ is out-of-tune. The ancients have indicated
that there is something strange about the character (é: be beautiful). In the
gloss for the character (nǚ: woman), the Kangxi Dictionary says: (tong:
same) [as] (rǔ: you), which creates the polyseme (1. nǚ: woman 2. rǔ: you).3
The ancients use the character (é: be beautiful) in Chang E’s name, to say:
(wǒ: I) (1. nǚ: woman 2. rǔ: you) (é: be beautiful). You and Chang E are

3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 254 #22: .

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the beautiful people who are a (lì: couple), therefore Chang E is the
(tàitai: wife). As such, Chang E is the second movement in the Five
Movements (Hou Yi). This derivation is shown in Table 44.

The third movement is the bigram (tàihòu: empress dowager). The

character (hòu: queen, empress) has a duality in a second bigram (hòuyì:
Queen Yi), which is another name for Hou Yi that appears in classical Chinese
literature. The bigrams (hòuyì: Queen Yi) and (hòuyì: Hou Yi) are
perfect homophone dualities, or phonetic ciphers, in Chinese. This leads to the
determination that (hòuyì: Hou Yi) is the third movement in the Five
Movements (Hou Yi). This derivation is shown in Table 45.

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The fifth movement in Five Movements (excessive superior) is (tàiyang:

sun) and (tàiyīn: moon), which have synonym dualities in the pictograph
characters (rì: sun; day) and (yuè: moon; month). These two separate
characters have another duality, in a character that combines them both into
the single character (míng: understand). The ancients say cryptically: (yuè:
moon) (rì: day) (míng: understand). The moon’s day is the fifteenth day of
the eighth lunar month, when the Moon Cake Festival is celebrated in honour
of Chang E and Hou Yi. The character (míng: understand) is the fifth
movement in the Five Movements (Hou Yi). This derivation is shown in Table
46.

The fifth movement is derived from the celestial duality of Hou Yi and Chang
E, therefore the first four movements may be deduced to be the terrestrial
dualities of Hou Yi. The first and third movements are the male dualities of
Hou Yi, to contrast with Chang E in the second movement, which is a female
duality. This implies that the missing fourth movement is also a female duality.

The fourth movement in Five Movements (life) are the bigrams [tàigōng:
great-grandfather; husband] and [tàipó: great-grandmother; wife]. The

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ancients have set a puzzle to find a husband and wife that transforms into a
unified duality for Chang E. Hou Yi has a duality as the mythological sunbird,
therefore one would also expect Chang E to have a duality as a bird. This leads
to the mythological (fènghuáng: phoenix), which decomposes into separate
characters to reveal (fèng: male phoenix) and (huáng: female phoenix).
These are decrypted as the dualities of [tàigōng: great-grandfather;
husband] and [tàipó: great-grandmother; wife].

The bigram (fènghuáng: phoenix) uses the undefined character , which

has to be decrypted before the encrypted associate compound sentence in
(fènghuáng: phoenix) can be read. The character is decrypted through
variants. Chinese dictionaries provide the variants ,4 therefore I make
the decryption (nǎi: then; indeed; after all; namely).

The ancients say: (nǎi: then) (1. nǚ: woman 2. rǔ: you) (nǎi: milk). Since
a woman only has milk after childbirth, it logically implies a mother.
Therefore, the (nǎi: milk’s) (nǎi: milk) is the mother’s mother, who is the
grandmother. This provides the logic for the bigram (nǎinai:
grandmother). Traditional Chinese households were multi-generational. Sons
who married remained within the household, while daughters who married
moved out to their husband’s household. A son who marries is the (shàoye:
young master). This bigram decomposes into (shào: young) (yé:
grandfather). Correspondingly, the (shàoye: young master’s) wife is the
(shào nǎinai: wife of the young master). This term decomposes to reveal
(shào: young) (nǎinai: grandmother).

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 363 #3: .

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A Chinese bride and groom are blessed to become grandparents on the eve of
their wedding, and Confucian ancestor worship custom dictates that the
grandmother is always the grandfather’s wife, never the concubine. The
dualities husband grandfather, and wife grandmother, are reflected in the
terms (shàoye: young master) and (shào nǎinai: wife of the young
master). In a Chinese household, a respectful term of address to the master’s
wife is (nǎinai: mistress of the house). The mistress of the house is the wife
who is destined to be the (nǎinai: grandmother) and will be worshipped at
the family altar by all her children, and all descendants of her husband from
grandchildren onwards, irrespective of whether she is or isn’t their biological
ancestor. Therefore, the bigram is equally applicable to the grandmother
as it is to the master’s wife who is the mistress of the house. Chinese customs
and linguistic usage lead to the decryption of [nǎinai: grandmother; wife].
The bigram [nǎinai: grandmother; wife] is a perfect homophone for a
bigram formed by [nǎinai: undefined]. There is no other bigram in
Chinese that reads as nǎinai. This leads to the decryption of [nǎinai:
grandmother; wife] as a phonetic cipher.

In imperial China, the empress wears the phoenix crown. From royal
beginnings, ordinary Chinese brides were eventually allowed to wear a phoenix
crown on their wedding day, in order to be empress for a day. The character
is defined in the Kangxi Dictionary as (yān: then, thereupon; how? why?
where?).5 The ancients say: (huáng: ruler) (yān: thereupon) [nǎinai:
wife] [is the] (fènghuáng: phoenix). The fourth movement in Five

5
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1481 #2: .

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Movements (Hou Yi) is Chang E’s bird duality, the (fènghuáng: phoenix).
This derivation is shown in Table 47.

The ancients say: (yuè: moon) (lì: establish) (lóng: dragon). The dragon
is the symbol for the emperor of China. The moon establishes the dragon when
Hou Yi shoots the non-virtuous sons of Heaven, to become the new virtuous
Son of Heaven. Hou Yi is the dragon and Chang E is Hou Yi’s phoenix. The Lin
Yutang Dictionary provides the definition: (lóngfèng: dragon and phoenix,
generally symbolic of male and female).6

We generated Five Movements (Hou Yi) from dualities of Five Movements

(life). The duality of life is death, therefore Five Movements (Hou Yi)
represents Five Movements (death). Table 48 updates the Conundrum table
with both Five Movements (life) and Five Movements (death) following the
path of the [wŭxíng: Dualty Change Walk].

6
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .

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The message in the Five Movements (death) instructs: (yíyì: Barbarian Yi)
(cháng'é: Chang E) (hòuyì: Hou Yi) (fènghuáng: phoenix)
(míng: understand). Therefore we will need to understand the phoenix. The

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phoenix is said to be associated with Confucian virtue. Sinologist and

anthropologist Roel Sterckx shares his insights:

The anatomy of the phoenix for instance was associated with

Confucian virtues: its head carried virtue, its cranium manifested
righteousness, its back supported benevolence, and its heart was
entrusted to knowledge. 7

Confucian scholars had formulated the five principles of Confucian ethics by

the Han dynasty. The five principles are conventionally translated into English
as the (wǔcháng: Five Virtues). They comprise:

(rén: humaneness, benevolence, kindness)

(yì: right conduct, righteousness)
(lǐ: social custom, manners, courtesy, rites)
(zhì: wisdom, knowledge, intelligence)
(xìn: trust, believe; letter)

The (wǔcháng: Five Virtues) is a bigram that can be read as separate

characters with the usual meaning of (wǔ: five) (cháng: normal). The five
normals are placed in a Five Movements diagram in Table 49. The fifth
movement represents duality change, and the duality of normal is abnormal.
The fifth movement is therefore represented by the abnormal duality of the
character (rén: benevolence), which is (1. yí: barbarian 2. rén: benevolence).

7
Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China, pp. 157–158.

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The first and third movements are characters with sub-components that are
arranged in horizontal orientation; this is a duality of the second and fourth
movements, which are characters with sub-components arranged in vertical
orientation. The fifth movement is a character with overlapping sub-
components and is a duality of the first four movements, which are characters
with sub-components that do not overlap. The first plaintext message is:
(xìn: believe, letter) (zhì: knowledge) (lǐ: rites) (yì: right conduct) [is]
(1. yí: barbarian 2. rén: benevolence).

The second message in the Five Movements (normal) is encrypted along the
diagonals of the Five Movement diagram. Each of the first four movements is a
compound of two component characters that yield two separate meanings when
they are read separately. The fifth movement has two meanings. The message is
read along the diagonals in two passes, using one meaning in each pass. Each
diagonal results in one message.

The message along the first and third movements diagonal says:
(yán: say) (yí: barbarian) (lǐ: abundant) (rén: man) (rén:
benevolence) (shì: manifest).

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The second message along the second and fourth movements diagonal says:
(yuē: say) (yí: barbarian) (wǒ: I) (zhī: comprehend) (rén:
benevolence) (rèn: undefined).

The second message is encrypted. It requires decryption of the undefined

character , which has been given the pronunciation rèn in the Unihan
Database.8 A search through the dictionaries fails to reveal a variant that
provides a meaning for this undefined character. We have been told: (cè:
book) (jí: to assemble) [in] (lùn: logical order). The Duality Code has
issued a challenge for us to use logic to decrypt the character (rèn:
undefined).

In linguistics, the term ‘bound morpheme’ is used to describe part of a word

that does not stand on its own as a complete word. In English, the word
‘unhappily’ has two bound morphemes ‘un~’ and ‘~ly’, which do not stand on
their own. They have to be bound to other words, such as ‘happy’ or ‘fortunate’.
Bound morphemes may be thought of as prefixes and suffixes such as ‘re~’,
‘un~’, and ‘~ing’. As the final externalised meaning of the character is
missing, it is interpreted to be a type of Chinese bound morpheme that can only
be used when it is bound to something else to form a valid character or word.

8
Unihan Database: U+2634C.

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Some of the possible associative compound sentences in the bound morpheme

are shown above. A Chinese character may be viewed as a duality. One half
of the duality is formed by the sub-components of the character, whilst the
other half of the duality is formed by the externalised meaning of the entire
character. As the bound morpheme does not have an externalised meaning,
the associative compound sentences generated by the sub-components of the
bound morpheme will be incomplete. The incomplete associative compound
sentences represent one half of a duality that is missing its duality counterpart
in the externalised meaning of the character .

Through the Five Movements (normal) diagram, the ancients have told us
cryptically that characters that do not overlap and characters that overlap are
dualities. In the character , subcomponents that overlap generate the reading
(sān: three) (yā: bifurcate), whereas (wáng: king’s) [qiǎn: receptacle] is
generated by subcomponents that do not overlap. The bound morpheme is
one half of a duality that binds onto itself to form a complete unity. Therefore
the character is decrypted to say: (sān: three) (yā: bifurcate) (wáng:
king’s) [qiǎn: receptacle]. The message along the second and fourth
movements diagonal of the Five Movements (normal) can therefore be restated
to say:

(yuē: say) (yí: barbarian) (wǒ: I) (zhī: comprehend) [rén:

benevolence] [rèn: three bifurcate king’s receptacle].

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The Shang was a warrior tribe that raided their neighbouring tribes for war
prisoners. Male prisoners were castrated to be eunuch slaves and female
prisoners were taken to be concubines. The Shang practised human sacrifice to
their gods, and human sacrifice was sourced from war prisoners. It was the shi
who effected the ultimate duality change with their weapons. Ancient and
imperial China practised corporal and capital punishment, which was
politically correct in accordance with their legal code. Therefore the ancients
say: (w ǒ : I, we) (sān: three) (yā: bifurcate) (yì: right conduct,
righteousness). The ancients have also said: (wǒ: I) [rèn: three bifurcate
king’s receptacle] [is] (yì: right conduct, righteousness). The ancients say
effecting dynastic change is righteous conduct. The Duality Code contains
ancient moral and political philosophy.

In 1918, Lu Xun published a short story titled ‘ (kuángrén rìjì:

Madman’s Diary)’, in the influential New Youth magazine. ‘Madman’s Diary’
is regarded as China’s first modern short story written in vernacular Chinese.
It is a story about a shi scholar studying for the imperial examination, and it is
he who is the self-described madman. The madman reads the Confucian classics
with ‘virtue’ and ‘benevolence’ written on every page, but finds the words ‘eat
people’ written between the lines. The penultimate entry in the madman’s diary

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says: ‘Here I am, the product of cannibalistic predecessors stretching back four
thousand years. Although I was unaware at first, I now know the truth’.9
Sinologist Vera Schwarcz summarises the story:

Who but a madman, Lu Xun taunted his readers, would dare read
between the lines of the Confucian classics? Who but a madman
would dare to discover the awful truth on each page where in
between the words ‘virtue’ and ‘benevolence’ is the hidden message:
‘Eat people!’ The last lines of the story hint at the only hope that
Lu Xun’s generation could fathom in such murderous
circumstances: ‘Perhaps there are still children who haven’t eaten
men? Save the children’.10

The story was published less than two decades after Wang Yirong recognised
inscriptions on bone and shell fragments as early writing, which led to the
discovery of artefacts use for pyromancy divination in ancient China. These
artefacts provided evidence for the existence of the Shang dynasty, the second
Chinese dynasty according to legend. They yielded insights on a society from a
time of war, a time in which man was enemy to every man, and where the life of
man was poor, nasty, brutish and short. The artifacts reflect Hobbes’ state of
nature, where the laws of nature applied and man naturally had a right to
everything, even to another’s body. Nearly all methods that could be applied to
kill animals could also be applied to Shang human sacrifices. Human sacrifice
in ancient times was not unique to Chinese society. Ancient Romans practiced
human sacrifice, and made the taking of human life an elaborate spectator

9
Gloria Davies, Lu Xun’s Revolution, p. 268.
10
Vera Schwarcz, The Chinese Enlightenment, pp. 13–14.

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sport in the architectural marvel called the Colosseum. Human sacrifice was a
worldwide phenomenon at a time when human societies existed in the state of
nature, in a condition of war with their neighbours.

According to psychologist Lewis Petrinovich: ‘As abhorrent as cannibalism

seems to many, it is as ubiquitous as other “uncivilized” practices that have
characterized human societies throughout their existence, such as torture,
murder, incest, infanticide, and war’.11 Perhaps the question one should ask
when studying ancient societies should not be whether it was cannibalistic, but
when it ceased being cannibalistic. The Shang dynasty practised human
sacrifice, and the warrior Zhou society continued the practice of human
sacrifice. Human sacrifice continued as military rites from the Han dynasty
into the modern era.

During the Zhou dynasty, the exchange of sacrificial meats determined the
rank and hierarchy between donor and recipient. The acceptance or refusal of
sacrificial meats functioned as a symbolic affirmation or rejection of
allegiances.12 Anthropologist Herbert Plutschow says, ‘We know that human
sacrifice and cannibalism were widely practiced in pre-literate societies and
that they were not local but universal cultural phenomena’. 13 Religious
historian Jimmy Yu asserts:

11
Lewis Petrinovich, The Cannibal Within, p. 3.
12
Roel Sterckx, Food, Sacrifice, and Sagehood in Early China, p. 27.
13
Herbert Plutschow, ‘Ancient Human Sacrifice on China’s Periphery’, Anthropoetics, Vol. XIV, no.1
Summer 2008.

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Scholars have noted that in seventeenth century, official Ming

History documents whole regions of China where people engaged in
cannibalism due to repeated natural disasters that led to famine. ...
Political cannibalism has its roots in ancient sacrificial rituals, but
the practice persisted up to the late imperial times in various
disguises. Sometimes eating another human being (part or whole)
had to do with revenge, cosmic renewal, and social order or power.
Well-known mythic stories of early dynastic crises shed much light
on this form of cannibalism. ... Consuming the whole human body,
whole or parts, was politicized. Sometimes it was done out of
revenge.14

Political scientist James W. Tong shares his insights on cannibalism during the
Ming dynasty:

Reports of cannibalism in the Ming bear close resemblance to what

social historians and anthropologists have found in other pre-
modern societies, particularly incidents in Europe from the ninth to
the seventeenth century.15

The following are quotes from the Analects 16 and the Book of Rites, 17
translated by James Legge in the nineteenth-century. The Analects 7.7 details
Confucius’ requirement for tuition fees: ‘From the man bringing his bundle of

14
Jimmy Yu, Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, pp. 64–65.
15
James W. Tong, Disorder Under Heaven, Collective Violence in the Ming Dynasty, p. 81.
16
James Legge (tr.), The Chinese Classics: Vol. I, pp. 61, 97, 99.
17
James Legge (tr.), The Sacred Books of China: Part IV, p. 137

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dried flesh for my teaching upwards, I have never refused instruction to

anyone’. Confucius’ acceptance of sacrificial meat is detailed in Analects 10.15:
‘When a friend sent him a present, though it might be a carriage and horses, he
did not bow. The only present for which he bowed was that of the flesh of
sacrifice’. Confucius’ retention of sacrificial meat is detailed in Analects 10.8:
‘When he had been assisting at the ducal sacrifice, he did not keep the flesh
which he received over night. The flesh of his family sacrifice he did not keep
over three days. If kept over three days, people could not eat it’. His
consumption of sacrificial meat is detailed in the Book of Rites: ‘At the
mourning rites for Yan Yuan, some of the flesh of the sacrifice at the end of (?
two) years was sent to Confucius, who went out and received it. On re-entering
he played on his lute, and afterwards ate it’. Conventional translations of
ancient Chinese texts tell us that Confucius was not a herbivore.

In the encrypted message hidden in the Shuowen Dictionary, Xu Shen addresses

us as (kě: possible) (gong: worker). Xu Shen’s message was intended for shi
scholars. The ancients tell us: (gong: worker) (cóng: from, by, through)
(wū: sorcerer, shaman). The (gong: worker) is a shi, therefore the character
(wū: sorcerer, shaman) tells us that the shi were descended from ancient
shamans who may have invented Chinese characters in the Stone Age. Chen
Mengjia, an expert on oracle bones, shares his insights on Shang shamans:

Some of the oracle bone inscriptions (used in ritual divination) state

that the “king divined” or that “the king inquired in connection
with wind”–or rainstorms, rituals, conquests, or hunts. There are
also statements that “the king made the prognostication...,”

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pertaining to weather, the border regions, or misfortunes and

diseases: the only prognosticator ever recorded in the oracle bone
inscriptions was the king... In addition, inscriptions describing the
king dancing to pray for rain and the king prognosticating about a
dream are numerous. All of these were activities of both king and
shaman, which indicate in effect that the king was a shaman.18

Chinese to English dictionaries do not provide a meaning for the character ,

however, the Unihan Database informs us that it is has a pinyin transliteration
of ‘lóng’.19 The Kangxi Dictionary tells us that the character means (wū:
shaman).20 The ancients say: (wū: shaman) and (lóng: dragon) [are] (lóng:
shamans). This corroborates Chen Mengjia’s analysis of oracle bones that the
king was a shaman.

The ancients tell us: (shì: shi) [are] (fang: local) (fāngshì:
necromancers).21 Necromancer is derived from ancient Greek nekrós meaning
‘dead body’, and manteía meaning ‘divination by means of’. The ancient Shang
and Zhou conducted human sacrifice as part of their religious ritual that
included pyromancy using oracle bones. Human sacrifice in conjunction with
pyromancy could be described as necromancy.

18
K.C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The path to Political Authority in Ancient China, pp. 45–47.
19
Unihan Database: U+2A6A0.
20
Kangxi Dictionary, p.1537 #18: .
21
MDBG Chinese Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The link between the shi and dead bodies is also captured in the bigram
(shìlín: scholarly circles).22 The ancients say: [lín: cemetery] (shì: shi)
(shìlín: scholarly circles). Matters relating to dead bodies and cemeteries
may be described euphemistically as mortuary affairs. Scholar and linguist
Zhou Youguang, whose work on the translation of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica into Chinese earned him the sobriquet ‘Encyclopaedia Zhou’,
connects the dots from Confucianism to shamans and mortuary affairs:

He [Confucius] was well versed in ancient precepts and founded a

new school, named ru . Ru originally referred to shamanist
methods of dealing with mortuary affairs and holding rites ... It
must be pointed out that the concept of ru existed even before
Confucius’ time, but the philosophical system of the Confucian
school was not established until then.23

In Shang agrarian society, timely rain was vital for the success of the
agricultural production. The Shang held human sacrifice rituals to pray for
rain and to avoid drought–rituals in which the shaman king dances to pray
for rain. The character is defined in the Kangxi Dictionary but the Unihan
Database, the MDBG Dictionary and the Lin Yutang Dictionary all do not
provide a meaning for it. In its gloss for the character , the Kangxi

22
Lin Yutang Dictionary:
23
Zhou Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern
Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p. 1.

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 Madman

Dictionary provides the meaning as (zhòngduō: numerous) (mào:

appearance), therefore the meaning is determined to be (ér: numerous
appearances). 24 The character appears as a sub-component of (rú:
Confucian scholar) but is undefined in Chinese dictionaries. It is therefore not
used in the decryption even though it could say [yǔ rén: rain man]. The
ancients tell us: (ér: and then) (yǔ: rain) (rén: man) (xū: require) (ér:
numerous appearances) (rú: Confucian scholar). Ancient rain man shaman
kings required numerous appearances therefore they became Confucian
scholars. This may be viewed as a shape-shifting corporate rebranding exercise.

Rain was important to the ancient shaman kings who made human
sacrifices in rituals to invoke rain. This leads us to examine the associate
compound sentence encrypted in the character (yǔ: rain). The ancients
say: [gài: cover] (xià: inferior; bring down) 25 (jiōng: wide) (yǔ:
rain). Human sacrifice could be described as [gài: cover] (xià:
inferior; bring down) and widespread rain could be described as (jiōng:
wide) (yǔ: rain).

The Zhou dynasty continued with many aspects of Shang culture and some
scholars argue that Zhou is a lineal descent from the Shang. The Zhou
continued human sacrifice as well as pyromancy divination using oracle bones.
In 1977, a cache of approximately 17,000 pieces of Zhou dynasty oracle bone
and shell fragments was discovered at Fengshu Village, Qishan County.

24
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 102 #9: .
25
Ibid, p. 76 #2: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Unfortunately, unlike the Shang who inscribed their oracle bones, the Zhou
primarily wrote their questions and prognostications on oracle bones in
cinnabar ink, and the ink did not survive the three millennia journey to the
twentieth-century. Sinologists and paleographer Sarah Allen provides insights
on the continuity of spirits worshipped by the Shang and the Zhao:

In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600–

1050 B.C.E.), the most powerful spirit is called Shang Di . This
term is variously translated in English as “high lord,” “lord on
high,” “high god,” “supreme thearch”, and even “God”. In the
transmitted textual tradition, from the Western Zhao （ ca.
1050–771 B.C.E.) on, Shang Di is closely related to tian , and the
terms are sometimes used interchangeably.26

The Zhou worshipped Shang Di (and other gods), practiced pyromancy

divination and continued human sacrifice in keeping with their predecessors
the Shang. Sinologist Meir Shahar, whose research interest covers the fields of
Chinese religion and literature, shares his insights on the continuity of Shang
dynasty practices into the Zhou dynasty:

Rebels and assassins would be boiled in a soup or rendered into a

meat paste (hai), their flesh ceremoniously divided between
members of the ruling elite. The communal consumption suggests
that the slaughter was at once capital punishment and ritual. In

26
Sarah Allan, ‘On the Identity of Shang Di and the Origin of the Concept of a Celestial Mandate

(Tian Ming )’, in Early China Vol. 31, p. 31.

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 Madman

this respect Zhou-period cannibalism was a continuation of the

widespread human sacrifices of the preceding Shang period.27

Meir Shahar mentions hai, which may be an abbreviation for (zūhǎi: to

execute somebody and mince his flesh and bones). 28 Mencius tells us that
Confucius departed Lu without taking off his cap of ceremony when there was
a sacrifice and part of the flesh presented in sacrifice was not sent to him.
Confucius had been involved in political intrigue and rebels could be dealt with
by capital punishment through ceremonial rites. He had reason for an
immediate departure from Lu. He could have found himself literally in hot
soup, or rendered into a meat paste and have his flesh ceremoniously divided
between members of the ruling elite in accordance with the capital punishment
and ritual of the time.

‘Encyclopaedia Zhou’ tells us that Confucianism originated from ancient

shamanistic mortuary matters and holding rites. Schools existed during the
Shang dynasty to teach children of the aristocracy during a time when human
sacrifice was an integral part of Shang culture. According to the Analects,
Confucius (who lived during the Zhou dynasty) accepted (xiū: dried meat) as
payment for his teachings. The character (xiū: dried meat) is used in three
odes that appear in the Book of Odes. The oldest section of the text in which
(xiū: dried meat) appears is (dàyǎ: Greater Odes of the Kingdom), which
dates between 1000 BCE and 800 BCE. The Shang dynasty, which ended in 1049
BCE practiced cannibalism and [zhí: human sacrifice by exposing and
drying]. The Zhou dynasty continued with cannibalism and human sacrifice.

27
Meir Shahar, Oedipal God, The Chinese Nezha and His Indian Origin, p.10.
28
MDBG Chinese Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Confucius was not a herbivore. Ancient texts record that he accepted and
consumed meat from sacrifice. It is conceivable that (xiū: dried meat) relates
to [zhí: human sacrifice by exposing and drying], which may have been
described euphemistically as ‘shamanist mortuary matters and holding rites’ by
‘Encyclopaedia Zhao in the quotation earlier in this chapter.

The Shuowen Dictionary tells us that (xiū: dried meat) decomposes into
(ròu: meat) and (yōu: distant, far) therefore these two meanings are
included in my decryption. 29 In the first part of the associate compound
sentence, the ancients say: (ròu: meat) (pū: rap, tap) [gǔn: Gun]. The
character (pū: rap, tap) is used in the character [tā: human sacrifice by
dismembering] during the Shang dynasty. It was analysed in an earlier chapter
and decrypted to be onomatopoeia for the sound of a sword at work. In the
second part of the associate compound sentence, the ancients say: (rén: man;
people) [in the] (yōu: distant) [time] (xiū: dried meat). The implication is
that (xiū: dried meat) was derived from human sacrifice by dismembering in
the distant past. (xiū: Dried meat) may be meat that was limited to the
(ròushí zhě: meat eaters). The common people and slaves would not
have had access to such exotic meat and would not have had access to a
Confucian education.

29
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 4b, radical 135: .

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 Madman

In Chinese, (chī: eat; endure) (rén: man) can be interpreted as (chīrén:

cannibalism) as most translators of Lu Xun’s ‘Madman’s Diary’ have
translated it, but it is also a figuratively expression that means (chīrén:
exploitative, oppressive). 30 The self-described madman studies a Confucian
classic with the words ‘virtue’ and ‘benevolence’ written on every page, but
finds the words (chīrén: exploitation, oppression) written between the
lines. The madman is not just the product of four thousand years of
cannibalism; he is also the product of four thousand years of a hierarchical
society that exploited and oppressed the common man, peasant and slaves.

The gap between the (shì: shi) and the (shù: common people) in medieval
times was so wide that the latter were considered untouchables, and marriage
between the shi and the commoners was forbidden by law under some
dynasties.31 Notwithstanding the legality or illegality of marriage between a shi
and a commoner, the shi had the legal right to take concubines, who were
presumably sourced from the common people and slaves. The shi were also
distinguished from the common people by their right to wear official robes.
Perhaps most significantly, they had their own ceremonial rites detailed in an
ancient text called the (yílǐ: Rites and Ceremonies), which has historically
also been known as the (shìlǐ: Shi Rites). This text used to stand
independently but has now been amalgamated into the Book of Rites.

30
MDBG Dictionary: .
31
Susan Mann, ‘Ideals of Marriage and Family’, in Susan Brownell (ed.), Chinese Femininities/Chinese
Masculinities, p. 114.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Imperial China consumed the lives of common people, from whose ranks
eunuchs, concubines, slaves, and bondservants were sourced. These common
people were exploited and oppressed by the shi, who were the (ròushí
zhě: meat eaters).

Although ‘Madman’s Diary’ is considered to be a story that is written in

vernacular Chinese, Lu Xun was trained in classical Chinese and used classical
frames of reference in the story for his audience comprising shi literati. The
title ‘ (kuángrén rìjì: Madman’s Diary)’ contains an encrypted
message. The ciphertext message in the title is revealed when it is read
backwards. Lu Xun’s message says: (jǐ: self) (yán: say) (rì: sun) (rén:
man), (wáng: king) (quǎn: dog). When ‘Madman’s Diary’ was written, the
illiteracy rate in China was 85% or more. Lu Xun’s audience was the Confucian
shi literati who understood the Duality Code. Lu Xun was telling his readers
that they are the (rì: sun) (rén: man)–that they are the legendary archer
Hou Yi, who shoots the non-virtuous ten suns. Lu Xun was also characterising
the king as a [quǎn: dog criminal].

The Republic of China was formally established on 1 January 1912, and Dr. Sun
Yatsen was elected ‘provisional president’ of the Republic, even though the
Qing dynasty had not yet ended. Dr. Sun took office in Nanjing, but he was
weak militarily and was unable to oppose the Qing general Yuan Shikai, who
controlled the imperial Beiyang army. Dr. Sun offered the leadership of the
Republic to Yuan, on condition that Yuan would force the abdication of the
last Qing emperor.32 The child emperor, Puyi, abdicated on 12 February 1912,
and Yuan was formally appointed the first president of the Republic of China

32
Guoli Liu, Politics and Government in China, pp. 4–5.

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 Madman

in March 1912. Yuan later declared himself emperor of a new Empire of China
in December 1915. This triggered the National Protection War and Emperor
Yuan was forced to step down in March 1916. Yuan died soon after and the
Republic of China entered the Warlord Era (1916–1928) when different shi
warlords controlled different regions of China. When ‘Madman’s Diary’ was
written in 1918, there was no king or emperor in China. Lu Xun has set a puzzle
to understand the king that he characterised as a dog criminal in ‘Madman’s
Diary’.

In China, the historical architectural complex that is second only in size to the
Forbidden City (the imperial palace) is the Temple of Confucius in Qufu. The
Temple of Confucius shares a number of features with imperial architectural
structures, including various decorative symbols associated with imperial
authority. As many as twelve emperors made personal visits to the Temple of
Confucius in Qufu to offer sacrifices to Confucius, and other emperors sent
their deputies on official visits. The Tang dynasty Emperor Xuanzong granted
Confucius the posthumous name (wénxuān wáng: Culture Proclaim
King) in 739 CE. Confucian temples are also known as (wénxuān
wáng miào: Culture Proclaim King’s Temple). The temple name uses the
polyseme (miào: temple; imperial court). 33 The Confucian temple can
therefore be read to mean (wénxuān wáng miào: Culture Proclaim
King’s Imperial Court). The king that Lu Xun characterised as a dog criminal
when he wrote ‘Madman’s Diary’ was Confucius.

Lu Xun’s ‘Madman’s Diary’ may be read as a critique of oppression in

traditional hierarchical Confucian society. Millennia of oppression under this

33
Unihan Database: U+5EDF.

282
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

hierarchical Confucian society eventually resulted in the Chinese Civil War

(1927–1949) between the Kuomintang, led by the shi general Chiang Kai-shek
representing the shi landlords; and the CPC led by Mao Zedong representing
the common people, peasants and slaves. It unleashed unbridled savagery as
man reverted to the state of nature, and the condition that is called war. The
table was, however, turned on the (ròushí zhě: meat eaters). Many shi
landlords were beheaded and their heads displayed on poles in the marketplace
(a punishment in imperial China). There were reports of ritual cannibalism.34

Archaeologists have evidence of cannibalism among different peoples. There

are well-documented accounts of cannibalism in the Pacific Islands, Asia,
Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. Historian Mark Nicholls
shares his insights:

The human consumption of human flesh is as old as mankind—

evidence survives from prehistoric and more recent societies across
the world ...35

The story Moby Dick was based on the real life story of the whaling ship Essex,
which had been attacked by a whale. It is based on real life cannibalism
amongst the surviving crew of the Essex. In the novel, Melville touches upon
dualities. The full title of the novel is Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Moby Dick is
The Whale, and The Whale is Moby Dick. They are dualities–different in
name, yet they both refer to the same creature. The sea and the land are

34
Klaus Mühlhahn, Criminal Justice in China, p. 161.
35
Mark Nicholls, “Things which seame incredible” Cannibalism in Early Jamestown, CW Journal, Winter
2007.

283
 Madman

dualities–they are different substances, yet they are the same in being the
surface of the planet in which life on Earth exists. Melville’s ‘Consider, once
more, the universal cannibalism of the sea’ leads to consideration of the duality:

Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most
docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you
not find a strange analogy to something yourself? For as this
appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man
there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed
by all the horrors of the half known life. God keep thee! Push not
off from that isle, thou canst never return! 36

36
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, pp. 307–308.

284
 19
Falsehood

In order to progress the decryption of the Conundrum and derive Five

Movements (life duality) and Five Movements (death duality), the concept of
(jiǎjiè: false borrowing) has to be understood. False borrowing is one of the
Six Principles of character composition and was first touched upon in Chapter
Three when I said that there was a false borrowing present in the characters
(jiāng: large river) and (hé: river) that Xu Shen had nominated as examples
for semantic-phonetic compounds. This chapter explores false borrowings.

False borrowing is an encryption device used in the Duality Code for creating
ciphertext. It occurs when two or more characters are grouped together with a
common component that acts as an assembly device in order to bring together
the characters of the intended plaintext message. When the false borrowing
assembly device component is removed, the plaintext message is revealed in the
residual components. Borrowing and lending are two sides of the same
transaction. The Chinese do not have separate characters for the concepts of
‘borrow’ and ‘lend’, which are both combined into the single character (jiè:
borrow; lend; make pretext of). False borrowing may perhaps be more
appropriately translated as false lending because it gives a false ciphertext
message that has to be decrypted to reveal the true plaintext message. I will
continue to use the conventional translation of (jiǎjiè: false borrowing) in
this book.

285
 Falsehood

The term (jiǎjiè: false borrowing) uses the character (jiè: borrow; lend;
make pretext of), which follows the form of a semantic-phonetic compound
character. It asks the question: ‘What “ (rén: man)” sounds like “ (xī:
formerly; in beginning)”’? The answer ‘ (jiè: borrow; lend; make pretext of)’ is
very much out of tune. This indicates that there is something strange about the
character (jiè: borrow; lend). The ancients say: (xī: in beginning) (rén:
man) (jiè: borrow; lend; make pretext of). This tells us that there is a pretext
made of in (jiè: borrow; lend). The English meanings for the character (jiè:
borrow; lend; make pretext of) are derived from the Unihan Database without
alteration.1

The ancients have also created the strange polyseme (jiǎ: falsehood,
deception; vacation). The English meanings for the Chinese character (jiǎ:
falsehood, deception; vacation) is also taken straight form the Unihan
Database without alteration. 2 The polysemic meanings will be analysed
separately below.

The character (jiǎ: falsehood, deception) looks like a semantic-phonetic

compound, but it makes no logical sense. Which sub-component is the semantic
and which is the phonetic? Both the semantic and the phonetic lie in the
character (jiǎ: false).3 Furthermore, it would be more efficient to generate the
meaning of ‘false’ with the character (jiǎ: false) instead of the character

1
Unihan Database: U+501F.
2
Ibid: U+5047.
3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 166 #11: .

286
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

(jiǎ: falsehood, deception). This leads us to the logical conclusion that the
character (rén: man) within the character (jiǎ: falsehood, deception) is
totally unnecessary for the generation of the meaning ‘ (jiǎ: false)’.

The character (jiǎ: vacation) works as a semantic-phonetic compound only

for the meaning of ‘vacation’. The Duality Code says: (jiǎ: false) (rén: man)
(jiǎ: vacation). The false man is a non-virtuous Son of Heaven and he is given
a vacation whey Yi shoots his arrows.

The ancients explain cryptically: (jiè: borrow; lend) (jiǎ: falsehood,

deception) [is] (jiǎjiè: false borrowing). The term (jiǎjiè: false
borrowing) is a falsehood. It is a deception. False borrowing is an encryption
device, and the bigram (jiǎjiè: false borrowing) is itself an example of this
encryption device. This will be explained below.

The ancients expect you to understand that there is something strange in the
logic of the character (jiǎ: falsehood, deception). The sub-component (rén:
man) is totally unnecessary for generating the concept of (jiǎ: false) and
should be discarded. The ancients also expect you to understand that there is
something strange in the out-of-tune semantic-phonetic compound (jiè:
borrow; lend), which bears the encrypted message: (jiè: borrow; lend; make
pretext of). There is a pretext made of borrow/lend. The ancients expect us to
discard the sub-component (rén: man) from (jiǎ: falsehood, deception)
because the concept of ‘false’ is more efficiently generated by the character

287
 Falsehood

(jiǎ: false). Extending this to the sub-component (rén: man) from the out-
of-tune component (jiè: borrow; lend) reveals the intended message: (jiǎ:
false) (xī: in beginning). This is the ancients’ encrypted explanation of
(jiǎjiè: false borrowing).

Another example of false borrowing occurs in the name (cháng'é: Chang

E). The name uses the character (é: be beautiful), which is designed to appear
as a semantic-phonetic compound but is out-of-tune. This was explained in an
earlier chapter. The out-of-tune semantic-phonetic compound indicates that
there is something strange about the character (é: be beautiful). The
character (é: be beautiful) is also an exact homophone for (é: swindle,
cheat; erroneous, wrong), which is another cryptic clue that there is something
strange in the air.

The false borrowing in Chang E’s name is the element (nǚ: woman).
Removal of the element from both the characters (cháng: Moon Goddess)
and (é: be beautiful; good) reveals the intended plaintext message: (cháng:
normal, common) (wǒ: I). This is a second encrypted explanation of false
borrowing.

Taken together, (jiǎjiè: false borrowing) and (cháng'é: Chang E) tells

us that the beginning positions [ and ] are false, and the corrected
positions [ and ] are regular or normal. False borrowing is an
encryption/decryption device.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

An understanding of false borrowing is also required in order to decrypt Five

Movements (life), which contains a ciphertext message that has been encrypted
with false borrowing in the character (tài: superior). Discarding the false
borrowing reveals the intended residual characters.

After discarding the false borrowing element (tài: superior), the residual
characters yield a Five Movements (life duality), as shown in Table 50. The
character (hòu: queen) in the third movement is treated as an abbreviation
of (hòuyì: Queen Yi) and is therefore decrypted to be the polyseme
[a. queen b. Yi]. The fifth movement represents a duality change; therefore
the ordinary characters (yáng: yang) and (yīn: yin) are replaced by duality
representations. The Lin Yutang Dictionary provides us with the meanings
(lóngfèng: dragon and phoenix, generally symbolic of male and female).4

4
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .

289
 Falsehood

As symbols of male and female, the dragon and phoenix also represent yin and
yang, therefore they replace yin and yang in Five Movements (life duality).

The message in the Five Movements (life duality) is read in two lines, with the
first meaning (a) in each movement forming the first line, and the second
meaning (b) forming the second line. The message says:

a. (zǐ: child) (tài: excessive) (hòu: queen) [gōng: husband] (lóng:

dragon).
b. [zǐ: master] (tài: superior) [yì: Yi] [pó: wife] (fèng: phoenix).

The first line says that when the child (ér: son; child) [Barbarian Yi] is
excessive, the queen’s husband remains the dragon [emperor of China]–there
is no duality change; Hou Yi [Barbarian Yi] does not shoot the ten suns. The
second line says that when the master is superior [Benevolent Yi], Yi’s wife is

290
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

the phoenix–Yi shoots the ten suns and becomes the emperor of China, and
his wife Chang E wears the phoenix crown.

Table 51 updates the Conundrum table for the decryption of the Five
Movements (life duality). The next derivation that involves false borrowing is
the Five Movements (death duality), which is shown in Table 52. The first

291
 Falsehood

movement is (yíyì: Barbarian Yi), which has a duality as the (rénrén:

benevolent man) who is the (ér: son; child) that covers the previous master.
The second movement, (cháng'é: Chang E), is a false borrowing and has
the duality (cháng: normal) (wǒ: I) after removal of the false borrowing
element (nǚ: woman). The character (cháng: normal) has a semantic
duality as it can mean (cháng: normal) (fú: clothes) according to the
Kangxi Dictionary.5 The third movement, Hou Yi, has the duality (hòu:
descendant) (yì: Yi) when the name is read as separate characters. The
(fènghuáng: phoenix), is the fourth movement, and it has a false borrowing
in the element . Discarding the false borrowing element reveals the intended
substitution ciphers (yān: thereupon) and (huáng: emperor). The fifth
movement, (míng: understand), has a synonym duality in the bigram
(míngbai: understand). This decomposes into its components (míng:
understand) and (bái: white; pure, unblemished).

The plaintext message in the Five Movements (death duality) is read in two
lines with the first meaning read in the first line and the second meaning read
in the second line:

5
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 333 #12: .

292
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

a. (rén: benevolent) (cháng: normal clothes) (hòu: descendant) (yān:

thereupon) (míng: understand),
b. (rén: man) (wǒ: I) (yì: Yi) (huáng: emperor) (bái: pure,
unblemished).

Table 53 updates the Conundrum table for the latest decryptions.

293
 Falsehood

An understanding of false borrowing leads us back to the Five Movements

(arms) shown in Table 36 (Chapter Fifteen), which involves the characters
(jié: lonely), [zǐ: child; master], (jué: beautiful), (jué: larva of
mosquito), and (liǎo: to finish). The common element is a false borrowing,

294
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

and removal of the false borrowing element results in the Five Movements
(arms duality) diagram shown in Table 54. The diagram is missing a fifth
movement. It is one half of a duality that is missing its opposite duality
counterpart. This missing duality counterpart has to be found.

Five Movements (arms duality) is missing the fifth movement. The first four
movements of any Five Movements may be viewed as the Four Forms of Yang
(or Yin) as shown in Figure 11.

295
 Falsehood

The missing fifth movement of Five Movements (arms duality) may be viewed
as the Yin half of the Taiji Tu as shown in Figure 12.

However, the duality of the Four Forms of Yang can also be stated as the Four
Forms of Yin. This is shown in Figure 13. Therefore, the ancients may present
the missing fifth movement in Five Movements (arms duality) as another Five
Movements with a missing fifth movement.

The ancients used the character (qì: receptacle, vessel), which takes the form
of a Five Movements diagram, to tell us that we were correct to look for a Five
Movements with (qu ǎ n: dog) in the fifth movement. This led to the
decryption of the [chèn: duality capsule], which tells us that this is an
important character in the Duality Code. If the character (qì: receptacle,
vessel) represents a Five Movements diagram, then the character (jí: public

296
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

opinion; clamour; noise) would represent a Five Movements diagram with the
fifth movement missing. Opinions can be made known in written form, but
(jí: public opinion) that involves (jí: clamour; noise) points to vocalised
opinion. The ancients have given as a cryptic clue. Vocalised opinion involves
speech. Spoken Chinese is a tonal language. The tones in Chinese (Mandarin)
are placed in a Five Movements diagram shown in Table 55.

The first tone is even and is a duality of the uneven third tone, which falls then
rises. The second tone rises and is a duality of the fourth tone, which falls. As
a tonal language, Chinese is subject to tone sandhi (a phonological change
occurring in tonal languages); this creates a neutral tone, which is the fifth
movement. A neutral tone may be viewed as being toneless and it is the duality
of the first four movements with their inflected tones. An example of a neutral
tone occurs in (nǎinai: grandmother), where the second occurrence of nǎi
is not inflected. There are also characters such as (1. liǎo: to finish 2. le:
article of completed action) that have a neutral tone (le: article of completed
action).

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 Falsehood

In classical Chinese, the tones are called the (sìshēng: Four Voices). In the
Duality Code, the number four represents the king. This can be read as the
[sìshēng: King’s Voice]. The names of the tones are (qùshēng:
departing voice), (rushing: entering voice), (píngshēng: even voice),
and (shǎngshēng: rising voice). The Kangxi Dictionary provides the Four
Voices diagram shown in Figure 14.6

The ancients told us: (gē: halberd) [and] (shǒu: hand) [to] (zhǎo: search,
seek; find). We have found the King’s hand and it is a left hand. Within the
palm there is the small [gǔn: Gun] together with a huge Seal Script [bā:
break apart]. The message says: [gǔn: Gun] [bā: break apart] [shǒu:
hand].

The lines marking the joints between the digits of the middle three fingers are
aligned to form the Five Movements diagram, but the fifth movement is
missing. The Four Voices diagram is a Five Movements (hand) diagram with a
missing fifth movement. Hands join to arms. It is the missing duality
counterpart for Five Movements (arms duality). The two Five Movements with

6
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 16.

298
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

their missing fifth movements may be viewed to be Four Forms of Yang and
Four Forms of Yin that combine to form a unity. The message in the unity is
read by combining the two charts. The first movement in Five Movements
(arms duality) is read together with the first movement in Five Movements
(hand), and so on. The message is as follows:

1. [1. tí: lift. 2. zuǒ: left] (sī: secret) [1. tǔ: item made of earth 2. yì: Yi]
(qù: depart).
2. [yì: Yi] [yīn: yin; moon; secret] (rén: man) (rù: enter).
3. [1. nà: press down. 2. yòu: right] [yīn: yin; moon; secret] (shí: complete,
perfect) [qiǎn: receptacle] (píng: flat, even; peaceful).
4. [yīn: yin; moon; secret] [yì: Yi] [bǔ: prophesy] (shàng: superior; go
up).

A short segment of Lu Xun’s article ‘ [mén: Duality Portal] (wàiwén:

Foreign Language) (tán: Conversation)’ was touched upon in Chapter Five.
The decryption of the fragment , which is encrypted
with a false borrowing, is now explained as follows:

(zhè: this)
(gǎnxiè: grateful)
(què: decline)
(zhǐhǎo: without better option)
(chóuchú: hesitate) (shǒu: longevity) (chú: cupboard)
(yī: one) [yì: Yi]
(xià: inferior, bring down)
(le: particle of completed action)

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 Falsehood

There are different ways to express the concept of ‘hesitate’, including the
bigrams (yóuyù: hesitate), (chíyí: hesitate), and (chóuchú:
hesitate). The key to understanding the fragment lies
in the bigram that was chosen by Lu Xun.

The bigram (chóuchú: hesitate) chosen by Lu Xun contains a false

borrowing with the concealed plaintext message (shǒu: longevity) (chú:
cupboard). Mortality is inherent in life, and immortality is attained upon
death. The link between ‘longevity’ and ‘coffins’ was documented by J. J. M. De
Groot, who said: ‘Already in the Books of the Later Han Dynasty the term
“longevity receptacles” is used as a synonym for coffins’. 7 The character
(shǒu: longevity) forms the term, or bigram, (shòucái: coffin), which is
a duality capsule that may be conceived as a synonym for [shǒu chú:
longevity cupboard, duality capsule]. Lu Xun’s article was written in the
foreign language that he wanted to bury.

7
J. J. M. De Groot, The Religious System Of China, p. 323.

300
 20
Five

The Erya is the earliest extant Chinese dictionary and it is one of the books
constituting the Thirteen Classics, which formed the syllabus for the imperial
examinations. Philosopher Chen Lai provides insights on role played by the
Erya:

The Han period began long after the formation of the Six Classics.
By that time much of the vocabulary employed in the classical
canon was no longer understood. The problem was further
exacerbated by changes in orthography that had occurred
throughout the canon’s transmission process. This led to the
emergence, as early as the Western Han, of China’s oldest lexical
aid, the Er ya, which later became one of the Thirteen Classics.1

This book has used (zìdiǎn: character dictionaries) as decryption manuals

to unlock the Duality Code. I have decrypted the character (diǎn: canon)
where the ancients say cryptically: : [yì: Yi] [and] [gǔn: Gun] [to] (yí:
change place) [niàn: study] (diǎn: canon). ‘Study canon’ applies as much to
the dictionaries as it does to the Thirteen Classics. The Shuowen Dictionary
and Kangxi Dictionary may be viewed as more current substitutes for the Erya
and are essential aids for the study of the Confucian canon.

1
Lai Chen, The Core Values of Chinese Civilization, p. 70.

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 Five

The emphasis on study in Confucian education leads us to the character

(xué: to learn).2 Chinese to English dictionaries do not give a definition for
the character . The Kangxi Dictionary tells us that the character is the
(gǔwén: classical Chinese) (jū: handful) (zì: character). 3
This
establishes the dualities . In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi
Dictionary says: (liǎngshǒu yě: two hands also).4 Therefore I make the
decryption [gǒng: two hands]. The missing pair of pictographic three fingered
hands in Kai Script has been found. The character (gǒng: two hands) is a
substitution cipher for (yì: legendary archer Yi), therefore I make the further
decryption [yì: Yi]. The ancients say: (mì: cover), [yì: Yi], [and] (yáo:
diagrams for divination) (xué: to learn).

Schools have existed in China since at least the Shang dynasty as there is an
oracle bone character (xué: knowledge; school). In Kai Script the ancients say:
[zi: child; master] (xué: to learn) (xué: knowledge; school). In Oracle
Script the ancients said: (gǒng: two hands) (yáo: diagrams for divination)
[in] (xué: knowledge; school).

Instead of using the Kai Script form for (yáo: diagrams for divination), the
duality code continues to use of the Oracle Script ( ) and Seal Script ( ) forms
in the characters (xué: to learn) and (xué: knowledge; school). This is a

2
Unihan Database: U+2696F.
3
Kangxi Dictionary: p.1003 #2: .
4
Ibid: p. 151 #12: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

cryptic instruction that tells us we have to understand why the ancients say
that there are two fives in the [yáo: diagrams for divination]. Chinese
dictionaries do not precisely identify the diagrams relating to diagrams for
divination. If we were to define the diagrams for divination as a combination of
the Eight Divinations and the Taiji Tu, then we would indeed have two fives.
This is shown in Figure 15.

Each of the two fives in Figure 15 may be viewed as an abstraction of a Five

Movements. The two fives were derived from the octagonal arrangement of the
Eight Divinations together with the Taiji Tu. If we were to flatten these out
into a linear arrangement and stack a series of the flattened Five Movements
vertically one above the other, then we would arrive at Table 56.

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 Five

Table 56 may be viewed as an abstraction of the first four Five Movements at

the bottom of the Conundrum table. In this abstraction, the first four
movements in a Five Movements are related to the fifth movement in the
preceding Five Movements.

The ancient shi lived in a world filled with dualities and had rites of passage to
mark duality change. Some of these rites of passage were detailed in one of the
Five Classics called the (lǐjì: Book of Rites). The Kangxi Dictionary
identifies the (gǔwén: classical Chinese) variants: (lǐ: social
customs).5 In Japan, the Book of Rites is written in Kanji as (lǐjì: Book of
Rites). The ancients say: (yǐn: secret) (shì: show, manifest) [in] (lǐ: social
customs). Social customs, including rites, hold the decryption keys to the
Duality Code. If you were to change social customs, you could erase the
decryption keys to the Duality Code.

5
Kangxi Dictionary: p. 839 #22: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

For the shi, duality change was also marked by changes in terms of address.
The Book of Rites details the capping ceremony, which marked the beginning
of a boy’s passage into adulthood. At birth, the child was given a personal
name by his parents. At the capping ceremony, usually at the age of twenty, he
was given a courtesy name by which he would be addressed subsequent to the
ceremony to mark the beginning of his entry into the world of adults. As an
example, Confucius has the given name Kong Qiu, and the courtesy name
Zhong Ni. The corresponding ceremony for girls was the hair pinning ceremony,
which was usually held at the age of fifteen. Philosopher Chongqing Wu links
the capping and hair pinning ceremonies to the modern (shàngtóu:
ceremony of coming of age for boys and girls):

Shangtou was equivalent to the ancient rites of “capping and hair-

pinning ( ) described, for example, in the Book of Rites: “A son
at twenty is capped and receives his appellation,” and “When a
daughter is promised in marriage, she assumes the hair-pin and
receives her appellation.” The capping of a young man symbolised
that he had come of age or “become a person.”6

There are ten (tiāngān: heavenly stems) and they were used as the names
of the Shang ten-day week.7 Death is the ultimate duality change and it is
marked by funeral rites. During the Shang dynasty, Shang kings used heavenly

6
Chongqing Wu, The Path to Sun Village, Gods, Ghosts, and People in a Post-Revolutionary Society,

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2017, p. 27

7
David W. Pankenier, Astrology and Cosmology in Early China, p. 234.

305
 Five

stems to confer posthumous names for their ancestors, who were offered
sacrifices on the day of week corresponding to their posthumous names.8

A stem is a trunk, a trunk is a torso, and a torso is a body. A heavenly stem

represents the body of a dead shi who has ascended into heaven. Right side up
and upside down are dualities. The (shì: shi) stand on Earth right side up,
whereas the dead shi, the (gān: stem), stand in Heaven upside down.

In Chinese funeral rites, the living turn and face away from the deceased at the
coffin sealing ceremony. This is the rite of passage that separates the living
from the dead. When the living turn away, the deceased faces the back of the
living. Therefore, in accordance with Chinese funeral rites, the living and the
dead do not face each other. As you are facing and looking at the heavenly
(gān: stem), it can be deduced that the heavenly stem faces away from you.
The graphical inversion of character (gān: stem), when compared to the
character (shì: shi), implies that the heavenly stem is standing upside down.
Being upside down, and facing away from you means that your (zuǒ: left,
hand) is on the heavenly stem’s (yòu: right).

The meanings attached to the ten heavenly stems shown below are based on
definitions provided by the Unihan Database. This book does not decrypt
duality meanings for the heavenly stems and does not decrypt any ciphertext
message that may be encrypted in them.

8
David N. Keightley, ‘The Shang: China’s First Historical Dynasty’, in Michael Loewe and Edward L.

Shaughnessy (eds.), The Cambridge History of Early China, 250.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

(jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; armour, shell; fingernails)

(yǐ: 2nd heavenly stem)
(bīng: 3rd heavenly stem)
(dīng: 4th heavenly stem; male adult; robust, vigorous)
(wù: 5th heavenly stem).
(jǐ: 6th heavenly stem; self, oneself; personal, private)
(gēng: 7th heavenly stem)
(xīn: 8th heavenly stem; bitter; laborious)
(rén: 9th heavenly stem)
(guǐ: 10th heavenly stem)

The ten heavenly stems are also used as an ordinal numbering system. They say
first, second, third instead of one, two, three. This is the fifth Chinese
numbering system. The hidden message in the Six Arts, which was decrypted in
Chapter Fifteen, says: (lǐ: social custom, rites) (yuè: music) [and] (shè, yì:
archery) (yù: manage) [the] (shū: book’s) (shù: number, count;
stratagem). There is a number count stratagem in the Duality Code that has to
be decrypted. The five Chinese numbering systems are placed within a Five
Movements diagram in Table 57. The first and third movements are everyday
number dualities. Numerals are in everyday use for financial instruments such
as cheques. The second and fourth movements are specialised number dualities.
Counting rods are used for scientific calculations and Suzhou numerals have
limited specialised use in commerce. These specialised numbers may be
unknown to most Chinese educated only in vernacular Chinese. The fifth
movement, heavenly stems, is an ordinal number system and is a duality to the
first four movements, which are cardinal number systems.

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 Five

The message in the Five Movements (numbers) says:

(hào: number) (mǎ: code) (suàn: count, calculate) [zǐ: child, master],
(1. rén: man 2. dà: big) (xiě: writing) (sū: resurrect) (zhōu: state),
(mǎ: code) [zǐ: child, master] (tiān: Heaven; god) (gàn: stem; invade).

When the (tiān: Heaven; god) (gàn: stem; invade), there is a duality change
resulting in a new dynasty–a new Heaven and Earth. The Duality Code says:
[zǐ: child, master] (suàn: count, calculate) [in] (suànzi: counting rods).
In counting rods, the representations for one and ten are (yī: one) and (shí:
ten). Counting rods tell us that on the count of ten, there is a change in duality
between [gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi]. This represents a change in duality
between ruler and subject, resulting in a new dynasty and may be viewed as the
major duality change.

In addition to the major duality change, there is also a minor duality change.
Suzhou numerals (shown in Table 39) use both vertical and horizontal counting
rods, therefore indicating that there is a minor duality change within the count

308
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

of ten. The decimal numbers one to ten can be divided into two sets of quinary
numbers one to five. The Kangxi Dictionary says in its gloss for the number
[wǔ: five; duality change] that: (tiān: Heaven) (shǔ: count) (wǔ: five)
(dì: Earth) (shǔ: count) (wǔ: five). Heaven represents yang, and Earth
represents yin, therefore the first set of quinary numbers one to five represents
the yang numbers, and the second set of quinary numbers one to five represents
the yin (moon; secret) numbers.

The number representation of the first set of yang quinary numbers has been
decrypted throughout this book to be:

(yī: one) [yì: Yi]

(èr: two) (ér: son; child) [ (rén rén: benevolent man),
(yíyì: Barbarian Yi)]
(sān: three) (gong: worker)
(sì: four) (wáng: king)
(wǔ: five) [wǔ: duality change]

The number (wǔ: five) represents duality change. The Duality Code says that
both Yi and Gun change places at the count of five. This appears to contradict
the message in Counting Rods, which tells us that Yi and Gun change places at
the count of ten. There is a logical puzzle to rationalise.

309
 Five

The Duality Code also says that Yi is the secret number seven. The horizontal
stroke in the number seven is written inclined or slanting. Slanting and
horizontal are dualities. The ancients are informing us cryptically that the
number seven is a duality number. Yi becomes the secret number seven.

There are two sets of quinary numbers (the yang numbers and the yin numbers),
which together constitute the ten numbers of a decimal numbering system. The
decimal number seven translates to the number two in the second set of
quinary yin numbers. This implies that, after the change of duality represented
by the number five, the number one in the yang numbers becomes the number
two in yin numbers. The implications of the change from yang numbers to yin
numbers are shown in Table 58.

In the normal perspective, the master Yi is number one and the child is number
two. In the yin duality perspective, the child becomes number one and Yi

310
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

becomes the number two. Yi is the master; the master and the child form one
duality pair. The king [Gun] is the master of men, thus the king and the worker
form the second duality pair. At the minor duality change, the number
representation changes for both duality pairs. This is the rationalisation for the
yang and yin numbers shown in Table 56. Somewhere in the gigantic web of
Duality Code ciphers, the ancients will give us a duality perspective where the
number representation has change. It should be noted that at the minor duality
change, only the number representations for Yi and the king [Gun] change. Yi
only replaces Gun at the major duality change at the count of ten. The minor
duality change may have other effects that are not examined in this book.

The number (wǔ: five) represents duality change, but the ancients use the
numeral (wǔ: five, company of five; troops) to say that there are five men, or
there is a company of five. Only four men (Yi, child, worker, and king) have
been derived. There is a missing fifth man to uncover.

Straight and slanting are dualities. The slanting character (wǔ: five) is a
duality of the straight character . The missing fifth man is the (jù: large,
great; chief).9 The great chief, the fifth man in charge of duality change, has
been identified. The (jù: large, great; chief) may be viewed as a synonym
duality of (1. rén: man 2. dà: big). This will be derived later in this book.

9
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 325 #5: .

311
 Five

The change between [gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi] on the count of ten, indicated
by counting rods, leads to the examination of letters from the ancients with the
sub-component (shí: ten; complete, perfect). This uncovers the character
(gé: leather). The synonym duality (niàn: twenty) (niàn: study; twenty)
leads to decryption of the polyseme [niàn: twenty; study].10 The ancients say:
(shí: complete, perfect) ⼝(kǒu: mouth; entrance) [niàn: study] (gé:
leather), as well as [gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi] ⼝(kǒu: mouth; entrance)
[niàn: study] (gé: leather). There is a hidden link between the major duality
change at the count of ten and (gé: leather).

The decryption of [niàn: twenty; study] in turns unlocks the associate

compound sentences in other characters. The Kangxi Dictionary tells us that
the character (yě: also) has a (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (yě: also).11
The ancients say: (yǐn: secret) [niàn: study] (yě: also). All characters with
a sub-component that says (yǐn: secret) have to be studied in pursuit of the
Duality Code. This should also be extended to all other characters that can
generate the meaning of ‘secret’ including (sī: private, secret).

Examination of characters that can generate the meaning of ‘secret’ leads us to

10
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 353 #10: .
11
Ibid, p. 84 #4: .

312
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

a character in which the ancients say: (niú: cow) (sī: private, secret)
(móu: seek, get). There is a private secret in (niú: cow) that we have to seek
and get.

An understanding of the hidden links in the Duality Code was vital for any shi
who wished to pass the imperial examinations. In 1898, Lu Xun sat the first
stage of the imperial examinations in his town and finished 137th out of 500.
According to sociologist Ho-fung Hung, the imperial examination was used as
a basis for stratifying the gentry.12 The shi enjoyed certain social, economic and
legal privileges and a particular style of life.13 Successful candidates at the
imperial examinations were exempt from taxes, they received government
stipends, and punishment for their crimes could be lighter than those for
commoners. Successful candidates could also be pardoned three times from the
death penalty.14

In 1919, Lu Xun wrote a short story called ‘Kong Yiji’ that was published in
New Youth. Kong Yiji is the name of the hero in the story, whose family name,
Kong, is a direct allusion to (kǒngzǐ: Confucius) and all who recognise
Confucius as an ideological relative. The rest of his name, Yiji, says that he
himself is the 2nd heavenly stem. Therefore he is a duality of (yíyì:
Barbarian Yi). Kong Yiji is a shi scholar who did not pass the imperial

12
Ho-fung Hung, Protest with Chinese Characteristics, p. 27.
13
T’ung-tsu C’hu, Local Government in China Under the Ch’ing, p. 174.
14
Rui Wang, The Chinese Imperial Examination System, p. 100.

313
 Five

examinations; as a result, he struggles to make a living and people treat him

unkindly.

‘Kong Yiji, can you really read?’ When he glanced back as if such a
question were not worth answering, they would continue, ‘How is it
you never passed even the lowest official examination?’ At once a
gray tinge would overspread Kong Yiji’s dejected, discomfited face,
and he would mumble more of those unintelligible archaisms. Then
everyone there would laugh heartily again, enlivening the whole
tavern.15

When ‘Kong Yiji’ was written in 1919, Chinese peasants and common people
were largely illiterate. Lu Xun’s intended audience was the millions of
disaffected literates who could not pass the imperial examinations. Philosopher
and theologian Lee Dian Rainey shares her insights on the imperial
examination:

These examinations were, in theory, open to all men of any class.

However, the rich were the only families who could afford the books
and tutors, and to have their young men spend their early lives in
study. There were occasional students from poorer backgrounds
who were sponsored by a town or guild, but, by and large, the
examination system was a way in which the rich and powerful
maintained their riches and power. ... The civil service consisted of a

15
Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang (trs.), ‘Kong Yiji’, in Margaret Childs and Nancy Hope (eds.), Voices of

East Asia, p. 98.

314
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

relatively small number of bureaucrats for a country as large and

populous as imperial China.16

When the imperial examinations began during the Sui dynasty c.600 CE, China
had a population that is today estimated at around 46,000,000. By 1928,
China’s population was estimated at around 474,000,000. Over that time,
imperial government positions may not have kept up with the shi population
increase. There were only x number of provinces, therefore there were only x
number of provincial governors irrespective of the shi population size. Imperial
China’s examination system was studied by sinologist Benjamin A. Elman, who
explains:

Given the low bureaucratic density of the imperial government and

steadily increasing population, the dynasty [Ming] utilized strict
quotas for local, provincial, and national examination competitions
to limit the numbers of candidates to acceptable levels.17

By 1850, approximately two million candidates sat for county

examinations held twice every three years. Of these, only thirty
thousand (1.5 percent) achieved licentiate status. Fifteen hundred of
the latter (5 percent) passed triennial provincial examinations, and
of these, only three hundred (20 percent) would pass the triennial
metropolitan examinations. Each stage eliminated the vast majority

16
Lee Dian Rainey, Confucius and Confucianism: the Essentials, pp. 150–151.
17
Benjamin A. Elman, Political, Social, and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late
Imperial China, p. 98.

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 Five

of candidates, and the odds for success in all stages of the selection
process was one in six thousand (0.1 percent).18

One previous disaffected shi scholar, Hong Xiuquan, had failed the imperial
examinations four times. For Hong, failing four times represents over a decade
of failed effort. Hong Xiuquan went on to lead the Taiping Rebellion (1850–
1864), for which estimates of war dead range upwards of 25 million. A second
passage from ‘Kong Yiji’ follows:

When men come off work at midday and in the evening they spend
four coppers on a bowl of wine... Another copper will buy a plate of
salted bamboo shoots or peas flavoured with aniseed to go with the
wine, while a dozen will buy a meat dish; but most of the customers
here belong to the short-coated class, few of whom can afford this.
As for those in long gowns, they go into the inner room to order
wine and dishes and sit drinking at their leisure ... Kong Yiji was the
only long-gowned customer who used to drink his wine standing. ...
And although he wore a long gown it was dirty and tattered. It had
not by the look of it been washed or mended for ten years or more.
... From the gossip that I heard, it seemed that Kong Yiji had
studied the classics but never passed the official examinations and,
not knowing any way to make a living, he had grown steadily poorer
until he was almost reduced to beggary.19

18
Benjamin A. Elman, Political, Social, and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late
Imperial China, p. 14.
19
Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang (trs.), ‘Kong Yiji’, in Joseph S. M. Lau (ed.), The Columbia Anthology of
Modern Chinese Literature, 2nd Edn., pp. 17–18.

316
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Imperial China was a hierarchical society and this was reflected in clothing.
The ancients say: (páo: gown) (cháng: leader) (chángpáo: traditional
scholar robes). The common people wore short coats while the shi wore the long
(chángpáo: traditional scholar robes). The shi who were successful at the
imperial examinations filled positions in imperial bureaucracies, to become
leaders in imperial Chinese society. Sinologist and comparatist Haun Saussy
explains:

Demonstrated familiarity with the classics was the entry into the
world of administration (and thus the goal of premodern
education). Once established as a member of the world of letters, a
scholar might take part in the most wide ranging debates about
morality, society, and policy through the glossing and emendation
of classical writings; ...20

Kong Yiji’s failure to pass the imperial examinations leads him on a path of
downward economic mobility. His long scholar’s gown is dirty and tattered,
and he does not sit with the other long gowns whose fiscal privileges enable
them to order meat dishes that the short-coated customers cannot afford. Kong
Yiji stands with the short-coated commoners who cannot afford meat dishes.
Lu Xun was telling the millions of shi scholars who could not pass the imperial
examinations that their lot was with the short-coated common man, not with

20
Huan Saussy, ‘Classical Exegesis’, in Victor H. Mair (ed.), The Columbia History of Chinese Literature,

pp. 909.

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 Five

the successful (ròushí zhě: meat eater) scholar officials in traditional

long scholar robes.

The rejection of Confucian ideals was symbolised by the replacement of the

long scholar robes with a short jacket that is today better known as the Mao
jacket. This short jacket originated with Dr. Sun Yatsen, Father of the Chinese
Republic, whose Xinhai Revolution toppled the Qing dynasty. Dr. Sun’s
revolution made use of the slogan: ‘Cut your queue, change your style of dress,
and revolt’.21 Zongshan city is named after Dr. Sun, who used a number of
different names, one of which is his revolutionary name (sūn zhōngshān:
Dr. Sun Yatsen).22 In Chinese, the (zhōngshān fú: Mao jacket)23 is the Dr.
Sun Yatsen jacket.

The story ‘Kong Yiji’ may be viewed as a call to rebel against Confucianism.
According to Elman, by 1850 there were nearly two million candidates at the
lowest examination level, out of which only 30,000 were successful. The social,
economic and legal reward system for the shi that was based on the imperial
examination system for social stratification was breaking down. On the one
hand, it had become almost impossible for the shi to reap the rewards of social,
economic and legal privileges that passing the examinations would bring. On
the other hand, the costs involved in a classical education caused financial
strain on the unsuccessful candidates who ended up in dirty, tattered clothes,

21
Karl Gerth, China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation, p. 68.
22
Haiwang Yuan (ed.), This is China, p. 72.
23
MDBG Dictionary: .

318
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

and reduced to beggary like Kong Yiji. The imperial examination system that
was designed to reward and the shi had becoming the ruin of them instead. In
effect, ‘Kong Yiji’ may be seen as a call to disaffected shi to reject the ancient
culture based on the Confucian social classes, where (ròushí zhě: meat
eaters) were oppressing the common people and slaves, because like Kong Yiji,
they themselves were standing at the bar with the short coats. ‘Kong Yiji’ was
first published in April 1819, one year after ‘Madman’s Diary’ about
cannibalism and oppression.

Although written Chinese is ancient, the literacy rate in the ROC between the
years 1901 and 1949 was about 10–15%. There is a literacy distinction that
escapes the statistics on Chinese literacy. The statistics do not differentiate
between literacy in vernacular Chinese, and literacy in classical Chinese. The
few ordinary Chinese who were literate during the first half of the twentieth-
century were most likely only literate in vernacular Chinese, not in classical
Chinese. Sinologist Benjamin A. Elman shares his insights:

Premised on a system of inclusion and exclusion based on tests of

classical literacy that restricted the access of those in the lower
classes (whose literacy was too vernacular to master the classical
frames of language and writing tested in the local licensing
examinations), the civil examinations concealed the resulting
process of social selection.24

24
Benjamin A. Elman, ‘Preface’, in A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China, pp.
xxx–xxxi.

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 Five

The ancients say: (xiōng: elder brother) [bā: break open] (duì: cash;
exchange). This associate compound appears strange and requires
rationalisation. A classical Confucian education was the privilege of the shi,
and the denial of access to a classical education may be viewed as a means for
maintenance of a hierarchical Confucian society. Without access to a classical
education, the common man had no upward mobility and was destined to be
ruled over by an imperial Chinese administration drawn from the ranks of the
(ròushí zhě: meat eaters). Destitute and hapless peasants would offer
their daughters as concubines, and they would castrate their sons as eunuchs in
exchange for cash. Journalist Emma Graham-Harrison reported for Reuters
about Sun Yaoting who was China’s last eunuch:

... the agonizing castrations often done at home and also often
lethal, ... Sun’s impoverished family set him on this painful, risky
path in hopes that he might one day be able to crush a bullying
village landlord who stole their fields and burned their house. ... His
desperate father performed the castration on the bed of their mud-
walled home, with no anesthetic [sic] and only oil-soaked paper as a
bandage. ... He was unconscious for three days and could barely
move for two months.25

25
Emma Graham-Harrison, ‘China’s last eunuch spills sex secrets’ Reuters, 16 Mar 2009.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Historian Shih-shan Henry Tsai shares his insights on eunuchs:

At the time of the establishment in 1644 of the Qing dynasty it was

estimated that the total number of eunuchs in China had reached
100,000 in a total population of about 130 million people.26

Any human population may be expected to comprise 50% males and 50%
females. Out of 130 Million people, we would expect 65 million males. Therefore
100,000 eunuchs in a population of 65 million males equates to about 0.154%
eunuchs, or an average of 1.54 eunuchs in every 1,000 males.

During the Ming dynasty, many officials performed castration without

imperial authorization and kept such castrated men for their own use.27 In
addition to eunuchs, there were non-eunuch male slaves, concubines and other
non-concubine female slaves. In certain respects, such as slavery, Qing dynasty
imperial China at the beginning of the twentieth-century may have been as
close to the state of nature as the Shang dynasty of ancient China had been
3,000 years earlier. Imperial China was a hierarchical Confucian society. It was
a society with class conflicts, a society with class wars. Imperial China was a
society that was continually at war with itself, and peasant revolts against
oppression were endemic. Historian Sucheta Mazumdar observes:

Peasant revolts in China were of course nothing new; they had been
a common phenomenon since the founding of the imperial state
system in 221 B.C. ... But the revolts at the end of the Ming were

26
Shih-shan Henry Tsai, The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, p. 11.
27
Ibid, p. 17.

321
 Five

distinguished by the particularly clear efforts of the organized

peasant struggles to curtail bonded labour and other forms of
bonded existence.28

Shang dynasty artefacts show that the Duality Code encrypted into Chinese
characters has a history going back over 3,000 years. Central to the Duality
Code is the legend of Hou Yi, which links a three-legged bird, or sunbird, to the
sun. The motif of a bird carrying a sun can be widely found on pottery and
other cultural relics from the Neolithic Yangshao culture (c.5000–c.3000
BCE). In these relics, which are about 6,000 years old, the bird carrying the sun
is sometimes depicted with three legs.29 There are symbols on pottery artefacts
from Yangshao culture archeological sites, such as Jiangzhai (c.4400 BCE), that
look remarkably like Oracle, Seal, and Kai Script characters. Table 59
illustrates some Jiangzhai symbols together with the nearest visually
comparable Oracle Script characters.

28
Sucheta Mazumdar, Sugar and Society in China, p. 202.
29
Lihui Yang et al., Handbook of Chinese Mythology, p. 32.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Yangshao culture is descended from the earlier Peiligang culture (c.7000–
c.5000 BCE). There is a small collection of symbols, inscribed primarily on
tortoise shells (but also found on bone and pottery), from an archaeological
site at Jiahu that dates to between 6600 BCE and 6200 BCE. Table 60
illustrates some Jiahu symbols together with the nearest visually comparable
Oracle Script characters.

323
 Five

Writing has been invented by different cultures around the world. Philologist
William G. Boltz asserts:

As far as anyone knows, writing was invented ex nibilo four times,

and only four times, in human history: in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, in
Mesoamerica, and in China.30

Sinologist Zev Handel shares conventional thinking on the chronology for the
invention of writing:

30
William G. Boltz, ‘The Invention of Writing in China’, Oriens Extremus, Vol. 42 (2000/2001), p. 1.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Around 3200 BCE the Sumerians invented the precursor to the

writing system we call cuneiform. Soon after, around 3100 BCE, the
Egyptians created the writing system known as hieroglyphs. After a
gap of about 2,000 years, far from the Middle East, the Chinese
invented their character-based writing system in the 13th century
BCE. Later still, about 2,000 years ago in Central America, the
Mayans independently invented writing, also called hieroglyphs.31

The Jiahu Symbol was incised on a tortoise shell that has been radiocarbon
dated to c.6520 BCE. This translates to 8,500 years before the present. 32
Jiangzhai symbols (c.4400 BCE) and Jiahu symbols (c.6500 BCE) are said to
appear in isolation, instead of in groupings of two or more. As a consequence,
they are considered proto-writing or non-writing symbols by some linguists,
who believe a few simple geometric designs cannot be considered early writing.
The Jiahu symbol illustrated in Table 60 is not identical to any known
Chinese character. Without knowing the meaning of the final word in the
associative compound sentence contained within the Jiahu symbol , we will
be a bound morpheme that does not represent a complete word. There is an
8,500-year-old Neolithic puzzle to solve.

31
Zev Handel, ‘Sinography’ in Ross King et al (eds.), Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the

Sinographic Cosmopolis, p. 1.
32
Xueqin Li et al, ‘The earliest writing?’, Antiquity, vol. 77, issue 295, 2003, p. 37.

325
 21
Prophecy

Five Movements (directions) was derived in Chapter Ten. It lies in the centre of
the Conundrum table and is the final Five Movements that has to be decrypted
for its duality. The cardinal directions of the compass have logical semantic
dualities. We speak of travelling ‘up north’ and ‘down south’. East is thought of
as being to the right and west as being to the left. In the normal perspective
from the centre of a compass rose, the four cardinal directions can be stated
together with their logical semantic dualities as:

east – right
west – left
north – above
south – below

The Shuowen Dictionary tells us that the character (dōng: east) is (cóng:
from, through) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]. 1 The ancients cryptically
instruct: (yuē: say, speak) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] (dōng: east). The
[1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] is a duality capsule that represents the heavenly
stems standing upside down in Heaven. East is to the heavenly stems’ left,
therefore the duality meaning is decrypted to be [1. dōng: east 2. zuǒ: left].

1
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 6, Radical 207: .

326
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

This decryption is corroborated by Unihan Database, which provides the

meanings (zuǒ: left; east).2

Decryption of the character (xī: west) led to the Five Movements diagrams,
which in turn led on to the Conundrum; therefore (wū: to cut off the feet) can
be interpreted to represent the Five Punishments. The [wū: Five
Punishments] (wéi: encircle) (xī: west), moving upwards and to the right in
the Conundrum table. The duality meaning is therefore decrypted to be [1. xī:
west 2. yòu: right]. The ancients also say: [yì: Yi] (ér: son; child) (wéi:
encircle) (xī: west). In the Conundrum table, the (ér: son; child) who has a
duality as (yíyì: Barbarian Yi) is positioned on the right in Five
Movements (death), which supports the decryption of [1. xī: west 2. yòu:
right]. This decryption is corroborated by the MDBG Dictionary which defines
right as (yòu: right, west).3

Sinologis Ho Peng Yoke says, ‘... and note that the Chinese traditional compass
shows south at the top, east on the left, west on the right, and north at the
bottom’.4 The Chinese traditional compass perspective is a duality perspective,
a perspective based on (yuē: say, speak) [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin]
(dōng: east). The directions from the duality perspective can be stated as:

2
Unihan Database: U+5DE6.
3
MDBG Dictionary: .
4
Ho Peng Yoke, Li, Qi and Shu: An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China, p.7.

327
 Prophecy

[1. dōng: east 2. zuǒ: left]

[1. nán: south 2. shàng: above]
[1. xī: west 2. yòu: right]
[1. běi: north 2. xià: below]

Based on the duality perspective, the first four movements of the Five
Movements (directions duality) say: [left] [above] [right] [below]. The
ancients, in their upside-down duality world above are going left, whereas we in
the right-side-up world below are going right. We have deciphered [1. tí: lift
2. zuǒ: left] and [1. nà: press down 2. yòu: right], therefore the ancients in
their upside-down world lift left, whilst we in the right-side-up world press
down right. Both actions rotate Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) clockwise to ,
which results in the (rén: man) lying below the [qiǎn: receptacle] that has
become a cover. Death is the ultimate duality change. The ancients use the
duality perspective to indicate cryptically that the second set of quinary yin
numbers are to be used instead of the first set of quinary yang numbers. In the
yin numbers, the man under the cover represented by the number (sān: three)
is the (wáng: king).

The fifth movement in the Five Movements (directions) says: (zhōng zhòng:
middle attain). The character (zhōng: middle) has a duality in the bigram

328
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

(zhōngguó: Middle Kingdom, China). In Chinese, (zhōngguó: China) is

very commonly abbreviated to (zhōng: China) and this is reflected in the
MDBG Dictionary, which provides the definition (zhōng: middle; China).5
The ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (zhōng zhòng:
middle China attain). The complete message in the Five Movements (directions
duality) can therefore be interpreted to contain the message: [left] [above]
[right] [běi: below] (zhōng zhòng: China attain). It is perhaps not
without reason that the revolutionary name for the Father of the Chinese
Republic, (sūn zhōngshān: Dr. Sun Yatsen), uses the character (zhōng
zhòng: China attain).

In the character (běi: north), the ancients say: [1. tí: lift 2. zuǒ: left] which
refers to the rotation of Oracle Script horse, [yīn: yin; moon; secret] [gǔn:
Gun] [xià: down]. Gun is brought down when the moon secret (yíyì:
Barbarian Yi) shoots his bow.

For the character , the Kangxi Dictionary tells us to (dú ruò: read
supposing) (jué: a stake).6 This establishes the duality chain: . The
duality chain is extended by the Shuowen Dictionary, which says that (jué: a
stake) means (yì: shoot with bow).7 This creates the duality chain

5
MDBG Dictionary: .
6
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 85 #9: .
7
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 6, Radical 206: .

329
 Prophecy

(yì: shoot with bow), therefore I make the decryption [jué: shoot with bow].
In the character (nán: south), the ancients tell us: [yì: Yi] [gǔn: Gun]
[jué: shoot with bow]. Yi shoots Gun, this leads to the major [shí: ten;
complete, perfect, duality change]. The duality change is indicated by the
slanting (shí: ten; complete perfect). Having achieved his mission, Yi ascends
[shàng: above]. Therefore the ancients say: [yì: Yi] [gǔn: Gun] [jué:
shoot with bow] [shí: ten; complete, perfect, duality change] [shàng:
above].

The decryption of Five Movements (directions duality) is added to the interim

solution for the Conundrum and is shown in Table 61. The message in Five
Movements (punishment duality) has been decrypted. The plaintext says:
[quǎn: dog criminal] (huǒ: fiery anger) [press down] [xī: right], (gong:
palace), [belongs to the] (lóngfèng: dragon and phoenix) (rénrén:
benevolent man) (cháng: normal clothes) (wǒ: I) (hòu: descendant) (yì:
Yi) (yān: thereupon) (huáng: emperor). The various Five Movements can
be read sequentially following the path indicated by the [wŭxíng: Duality
Change Walk]. Note that Five Movements (death duality) is read before Five
Movements (life duality).

Table 61 is an only an interim solution. The ancients have encrypted a puzzle

within a puzzle in the [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] [yì: Yi] (yán:
words; say) (mí: bewitch; confuse) (mí: conundrum). There is one more
message from the ancients in the Conundrum table that awaits decryption. For
this, we a need a clear grasp of how the first four movements of a sequential
five movements relate to the fifth movement of the preceding five movements.

330
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The decryption of [jué: shoot with bow] allows us to decrypt other associate
compounds. The character (zǐ: child) is taught as a pictograph. A text on
Chinese characters asserts that it is: ‘a picture of a newborn child swathed so
that its legs are not visible’.8 The character is also an associate compound

8
G. D. Wilder & J. H. Ingram, Analysis of Chinese Characters, p. 1.

331
 Prophecy

sentence that says: [yì: Yi] [jué: shoot with bow] (yí: change place) [zǐ:
child; master].

The ancients say: [jué: shoot with bow] [qiǎn: receptacle] [and] [gǔn: Gun]
[qiǎn: receptacle] [both] (zhú: bamboo). Both Yi and Gun are kings, they
are both lord and masters which is represented by the character (zhǔ:
master, lord). The ancients add cryptically: ( zhǔ: master’s) [qiǎn:
receptacle] [is] (zhú: bamboo). This leads to the decryption of the
substitution cipher and polyseme [1. zhú: bamboo 2. zhǔ: master] and serves
to validate the decryption of Oracle Script [1. zhú: bamboo 2. zhǔ: master].

In the character (shì: affair, matter, business), the ancients have identified
some of the principal decryptions required in order to understand the (shì:
matter) that is the Duality Code.

The character (yǐn: secret) allowed us to decipher [1. zuǒ: left hand
2. zhǎo: claws; to grasp]. The ancients say: [jué: shoot with bow] [yòu: right
hand] [zuǒ: left hand] (zhèng: to dispute, fight). This is deciphered as a
reference to the fight between left and right hands in Oracle Script (mǎ:
horse).

332
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Decryption of [jué: shoot with bow] also facilitates decryption of the

character (wǒ: I). The ancients say: [jué: shoot with bow] (gē: halberd)
(wǒ: I). You are Yi’s sword.

The Conundrum leads to comprehension that the (quǎn: dog) represents a

criminal, a man with a tattoo on his forehead. The ancients have issued the
instruction: (quǎn: dog) (rén: man) (fú: conceal). The dog man is
concealed, therefore the dog man has to be identified.

The Duality Code instructs: (xī: breath) [to] (fú: conceal) (fúxī: Fuxi),
and adds cryptically: (xī: ancient emperor) (fú: lie hidden) [in] (fúxī:
Fuxi). The shi were instructed to conceal the identity of legendary Fuxi. The
identity of an ancient emperor lies hidden in Fuxi who is the first of the
mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of ancient Chinese legends.
These legends and myths relate to dynastic change as Shun, the fifth and final
emperor, executes Gun and hands the throne of China over to Emperor Yu the
Great. As the Kangxi Dictionary names Fuxi as the first of the three ancients,
the three ancients may be thought of as the Three Sovereigns.

Fuxi is associated with the arrangement of the Fuxi Bagua, the conception of
the Five Movements and much else. The history of ancient China is said to
begin with Fuxi, who originates Chinese culture. The Duality Code says: [yì:

333
 Prophecy

Yi] (sheng: give birth to) (rén: man).9 When Hou Yi shoots the ten suns, he
creates a new Heaven and Earth, a new dynasty, a new culture. Yi
metaphorically gives birth to man–a role that is traditionally attributed to
Fuxi and his wife Nüwa. Fuxi and Nüwa may be viewed as dualities for Yi and
Chang E. The interrelationship between Fuxi and Yi is reflected in ancient
Chinese art, where depictions imply that Fuxi is Yi. Art historian Wu Hung
describes a depiction of Fuxi in Han art:

Among the icons carved on the Guitoushan sarcophagus, the union

of Fuxi and Nüwa was especially prominent in the Sichuan area
during the second century ... The two images read almost like a
diagram of yin and yang ... Fuxi supports the sun with his right
hand and Nüwa supports the moon with her left hand. Inside the
moon is a hare, and inside the sun, a bird.10

Yi and Gun are binary state dualities that are mutually exclusive. Yi lives when
Gun dies. Death is central to the Duality Code. This leads to examination of
the Oracle Script letter from the ancients that is titled (wáng: death,
destroyed; lose, perish). The etymology of the Oracle Script character is shown
in Table 62.

9
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 755 #2: .
10
Wu Hung, ‘Han sarcophagi’, Res: 61/62: Sarcophagi, p. 203.

334
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

It is possible to find Oracle Script variants (wáng: death), (wáng: death)

and (wáng: death). In the Oracle Script character (wáng: death), the
Duality Code says: [gǔn: Gun] (bǔ: prophesy) [is] (wáng: death). There is
a prophecy for the death of the non-virtuous emperor Gun. The messages in the
variant Oracle Script characters (wáng: death) and (wáng: death) are not
decrypted in this book.

In Kai Script, the Duality Code prophecy is encrypted into the characters
(xià: inferior; bring down) and (shàng: superior; go up). The Duality Code
prophecy says: [yì: Yi] (bǔ: fortune telling; prophesy) (xià: inferior; bring
down), as well as: [yì: Yi] [bǔ: fortune telling; prophesy] (shàng: superior;

335
 Prophecy

go up). The last line of Xu Shen’s encrypted message in the Shuowen Dictionary
refers to the prophecy. It says: (yuè: moon) (rì: day) (xià: inferior; bring
down) [and] (shàng: superior; go up).

There are various prophecies encrypted into Kai Script. In Oracle Script, Gun’s
prophecy was (wáng: death). This leads to the examination of the Oracle
Script prophecy for Yi, which is shown in Table 63.

The ancients say: [yì: Yi] (bǔ: prophesy) [is to] (yì: shoot with bow). The
Kai Script character (yì: shoot with bow) has a two-stroke character that
has yet to be decrypted. This decryption can be done through the Kangxi
Dictionary but is slightly convoluted. Therefore reference is made to a Chinese
dictionary called the Zihui Bu, which says: is the (gǔwén: classical

336
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Chinese) (yì: shoot with bow) (zì: character).11 This establishes the classical
variants , therefore I make the decryption (yǐn: secret) .

In Kai Script, the ancients say: (zhǔ: master) [yì: Yi] [yǐn: secret] (yì:
shoot with bow). Chinese characters may be cryptic, but they are self-
explanatory if you possess the decryption keys. The contextual decryption
keys are set in the legends of [yì: Yi] who (yì: shoots with bow) and [gǔn:
Gun] who meets (wáng: death), the allegory to funeral rites in (mǎ:
horse), the duality portal (kǒu: mouth; entrance), the [1. mù: wood
2. chèn: coffin], and the (gǔ: framework). There is an Oracle Script (gǔ:
framework) that exists in Oracle Script, Seal Script and Kai Script. A clear
understanding of the techniques required to decrypt the Conundrum also
provides tools and decryption keys that unlock the Duality Code. Kai Script,
Seal Script and Oracle Script are all Books that share the same Duality Code
framework. The etymology of Seal Script framework is shown in Table 64.

11
Wu Renchen, Zihui Bu, Volume 3, Radical .

337
 Prophecy

Chinese to English dictionaries do not give a translation for the Kai Script
character . The Kangxi Dictionary’s gloss for this character says: (yì: also)
(zuò: make, compose) (guǎ: cut flesh from bones).12 In the reciprocal gloss
for the character (guǎ: cut flesh from bones), the Kangxi Dictionary says:
(běn: root, origin; basis) (zuò: make, compose) . 13 In the gloss for the
character Seal Script character , the Shuowen Dictionary says: (tī: to scrape
meat from bone) (rén: man) (ròu: flesh) (zhì: lay out; set aside) (qí: his,
her, its) (gǔ: bone; framework) (yě: also).14 This is interpreted as a cryptic
reference to (língchí: death by a thousand cuts). It is further interpreted as
a reference to the Five Punishments. The character (yuè: moon) is interpreted
to refer to Yi. Therefore I make the decryption: [Yi] [Five Punishments]
(gǔ: framework), which is a cryptic reference to the Conundrum that has
become the framework for the Duality Code.

The ancients say: [1. tí: lift 2. zuǒ: left] [and] [1. nà: press down 2. yòu:
right] [are] [yǐn: secret]. These are secrets that can only be decrypted
through Five Movements (arms) within the Conundrum (gǔ: framework).
There are also other secrets such as [yì: Yi] [yīn: yin; moon; secret]
(rén: man) (rù: enter) and [rèn: three bifurcate king’s receptacle] that
are only accessible through the Conundrum framework.

12
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 129 #9: .
13
Ibid, p. 142 #20: .
14
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 4, Radical 133: .

338
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Conundrum framework led us to understand (zhōng zhòng: China

attain), which leads to an examination of letters from the ancients with the
sub-component (zhōng zhòng: China attain). This uncovers a character in
which the ancients say: [yì: Yi] [niàn: study] (zhōng zhòng: China attain)
[in] (gé: leather). There is an ancient secret in (gé: leather) that leads to
the attainment of China. There is a puzzle to solve.

339
 22
Exegesis

We have reached the interim solution for the Conundrum and it provides an

understanding of (zhōng zhòng: China attain). There is an ancient text titled

‘ ’ that is attributed to Confucius’ only grandson Zisi. The ‘ ’ text is one

of the Four Books and Five Classics that are the canonical texts of

Confucianism. The ancients have told us: [yì: Yi] [and] [gǔn: Gun] (yí:

change place) [niàn: study] [the] (diǎn: canon), therefore we would expect

the Confucian canon to deal with the subject of Yi and Gun changing places.

The title of the ‘ ’ text is a conjunction of the two characters, which in

vernacular Chinese means (1. zhōng: middle; China 2. zhòng: attain) and
(yōng: usual, common, ordinary). This text has been translated into English
with wildly different titles that include:

The Doctrine of the Mean 1

The Unwobbling Pivot 2
Focusing the Familiar 3

1
James Legge (tr.), The Chinese Classics: Vol. I: Containing Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and
The Doctrine of the Mean.
2
Ezra Pound, Confucius: The Unwobbling Pivot / The Great Digest.
3
Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall, Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical
Interpretation of the Zhongyong.

340
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

We attained understanding of the first character in ‘ ’ through the

Conundrum framework to mean (zhōng zhòng: China; attain).

The character (yōng: common, ordinary) originated in Seal Script and has
been re-encrypted over time, therefore reference to Seal Script gives a clearer
reading of the character. The Shuowen Dictionary says that the etymological
roots of (yōng: common, ordinary) are (yòng: use) and (gēng: 7th
heavenly stem).4 The decryption [yì: Yi] [is] (yǐn: secret) (qī: seven) tells
us that the 7th heavenly stem is a duality for [yì: Yi]. The ancients say:
(yòng: use) (gēng: 7th heavenly stem) (yōng: common, ordinary).

The (zhōngyōng: Zhongyong) can be read to say: [gǔn: Gun] (kǒu:

mouth; entrance) (zhōng zhòng: China; attain), (yòng: use) (gēng: 7th
heavenly stem) (yōng: common, ordinary). It is unlikely to mean
(zhōngyōng: The Unwobbling Pivot) or (zhōngyōng: Focusing the
Familiar).

The ancients tell us: (gǔ: ancient) (yán: words; speak) (gǔ: exegesis,
explain). For exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation) to take place, we
have to explain the ancient words that speak. I have been analysing and
explaining Chinese characters throughout this book. Sinologists knew that shi

4
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 3, Radical 95: .

341
 Exegesis

scholars were performing exegesis of Confucian texts. The Columbia History of

Chinese Literature states:

Exegesis of a set of venerated texts gave Chinese literati their

common language and their protocols of understanding as well as
the matter of their education. ... For exegesis to take place
presupposes primary texts that, for some reason, are no longer self-
explanatory. In early China, reasons for the obscurity of texts are
not hard to find. ... The condensed style of Chinese written
documents leaves the reader to interpret the wording in relation to
an often unstated context, and the loss of contextual clues could
open the door to widely inconsistent readings.5

Presupposition of primary texts that are no longer self-explanatory may be

incorrect. Classical Chinese texts require an understanding of the Duality Code
for exegesis as it provides the contextual framework within which to interpret
the words in order to obtain the self-explanatory plaintext. Sinologists found
the wrong reasons for the ‘obscurity of texts’.

In a paper titled ‘Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard’, sinologist David Moser

asserts:

Whereas modern Mandarin is merely perversely hard, classical

Chinese is deliberately impossible. Here’s a secret that sinologists
won’t tell you: A passage in classical Chinese can be understood

5
Huan Saussy, ‘Classical Exegesis’, in Victor H. Mair (ed.), The Columbia History of Chinese Literature,
pp. 909–910.

342
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

only if you already know what the passage says in the first place.
This is because classical Chinese really consists of several centuries
of esoteric anecdotes and in-jokes written in a kind of terse, miserly
code for dissemination among a small, elite group of intellectually-
inbred bookworms who already knew the whole literature
backwards and forwards, anyway. 6

Moser was correct in that there is a code. This book explains that code. The
implication of Moser’s assertion is that sinologists could not understand the
code that is classical Chinese. However, they have other sources of information
that tells them what classical Chinese passages mean in the first place.
Historical translations of classical Chinese texts represent one source of
information for sinologists like David Moser. Many historical translations
were done by James Legge (1815–1897) who was a phenomenal translator of
Chinese texts. Sinologist, Wang Hui, shares his insights:

As the foremost Sinological translator of nineteenth-century

Europe, James Legge (1815–1897) is too important to be neglected
by either China Studies or Translation Studies. ... From 1861 to
1885, he managed to translate, almost entirely on his own, the
Confucian Four Books and Five Classics into English, an
intellectual feat which to this day remains unsurpassed in scope and
comprehensiveness. Legge’s Confucian translations have long been
praised in the highest terms. Ride (1960: 24), for example, claims
that “Legge’s translation with its Polegomena and notes of the

6
David Moser, ‘Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 27, August 1991, p. 66.

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 Exegesis

Chinese Classics will remain forever a pattern for all Sinologues to

come”.7

Legge was a sinologist and missionary who lived in Hong Kong for almost 30
years, and he was a prolific and unrivalled translator of classical Chinese texts.
Reference to historical translations is premised on the assumption that
historical translators, such as James Legge, understood classical Chinese and
correctly translated classical Chinese texts. It is a highly questionable
assumption. How did Legge understand classical Chinese texts when a
contemporary sinologist such as David Moser asserts that classical Chinese
texts are ‘deliberately impossible’? Legge’s vernacular Chinese language skills
earned him tenure as the first professor of Chinese at Oxford University, but he
is unlikely to have understood classical Chinese. There is no evidence that he
understood the Duality Code. There is no evidence that he could comprehend
the associate compound sentences: and within . Without
knowledge of the Duality Code that is classical Chinese, sinologists after Legge
had no ability to challenge Legge’s translations. As a consequence, Legge’s
translations remained largely unchallenged and indeed became ‘a pattern for
all Sinologues to come’.

The imperial examinations was largely based on the Thirteen Classics. In

general, Confucian classic texts are referred to as the (jīng: classic works).
The Kangxi Dictionary provides the definition (yāo: one; small) for the

7
Wang Hui, Translating Chinese Classics in a Colonial Context, p.11.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

character (mì: fine silk).8 I have previously decrypted (yāo: one; small) as an
abbreviation for [yīn: yin; moon; secret], therefore I make the further
decryption [yīn: yin; moon; secret]. The Kangxi Dictionary also tells us that
the character (hóng: red) has a second pronunciation and meaning and is the
polyseme (1. hóng: red 2. gōng: worker).9 The ancients tell us cryptically:
(gōng: worker), (chuān: river) [is] [yì: Yi’s] [yīn: yin; moon; secret];
(gōng: worker), [jīng: streams running underground] (jīng: classic works;
pass through). Yi’s moon secrets are underground streams that pass through
the Confucian classics.

Legge was a mariner who spied two icebergs and interpreted them as The
Doctrine of the Mean. A century later, another mariner–the poet Ezra
Pound–spied the same two icebergs and interpreted them to mean The
Unwobbling Pivot. More recently, philosophers Roger T. Ames and David L.
Hall spied the same two icebergs and interpreted them to mean Focusing the
Familiar. They were not aware that [jīng: streams running underground]
(jīng: classic works; pass through). They could not see below the tips of the
icebergs. For one of the most important texts in the Confucian canon, they
could not see (zhōng: China).

The ancients say: [yì: Yi] [gǔn: Gun] [jué: shoot with bow] [niàn:
study] (cè: book). The ancient Chinese shamans’ deception in the

8
Kangxi Dictionary: p. 915 #1: .
9
Ibid: p. 916 #1: .

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 Exegesis

(liùshū: six writings) has held sinologists in thrall–they were rendered

blind to the deconstructed and encrypted book that is the (kǎishū: Kai
Book). As a result, the Duality Code had eluded the cognizance of sinologists,
who had failed to fathom simple associative compound sentences such as
. Every existing foreign language translation of Chinese texts from Lu Xun
backwards in time may be wide of the mark if someone who was not aware of
classical Chinese frames of reference performed the translation.

The academic discipline that is called sinology is built upon a foundation that
is the (liùshū: six writings). The Duality Code shows that the conventional
understanding of (liùshū: six writings) requires revision. Classical exegesis
of Chinese texts requires an understanding of the Duality Code. The field of
study known as sinology awaits re-examination.

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 23
Culture Speaks

The ‘White Horse Discourse’ (also known as the White Horse Paradox) is a
chapter from an ancient text called Gongsun Longzi. It is perhaps the most
famous logical paradox in Chinese philosophy and was written by the late
Zhou dynasty philosopher Gongsun Long (c.325–250 BCE), who belongs to a
Chinese school of philosophy called the School of Names, which is also known
as the Logicians, or the Dialecticians.

The discourse is a piece of philosophical argument that leads to an outrageous

logical conclusion. Philosopher Bryan W. Van Norden summarises the essence
of the discourse: ‘What makes this paradox so troubling is that it appears to
make it false that “a white horse is a horse”’. 1 The paradox has had
philosophers searching for a logical rebuttal since it was written c.300 BCE. In
Chinese, the first three lines of the discourse that sets up the logical argument
is as follows:

1.
2.
3.

1
Bryan W. Van Norden, An Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, p. 114.

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 Culture Speaks

A conventional English translation follows:

1. Can it be that a white horse is not a horse?

2. Advocate： It can.
3. Objector： How?2

Conventional English translations would be based on a literal reading of the

discourse in vernacular Chinese as follows:

1. (bái: white) (mǎ: horse) (fēi: not) (mǎ: horse) (kě: possibly)
(hū: question mark).
2. (yuē: say, speak)： (possibly).
3. (yuē: say, speak)： (hé: why, how) (zāi: exclamation mark).

The ‘White Horse Discourse’ may be a logical paradox when it is read in

vernacular Chinese, but may say something entirely different when read in
classical Chinese. A hypothetical partial decryption from the discourse follows.

Partial Decryption Step 1 of 4–Dictionary definitions for the first line

(bái: white; pure, unblemished; bright)
(mǎ: angry; military; horse)3
(fēi: not, negative, non-; oppose)
(mǎ: angry; military; horse)
(kě: may, can, -able; possibly)
(hū: question or exclamation mark).

2
Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden (eds.), Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, p. 364.
3
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1433 #1: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Partial Decryption Step 2 of 4–Provisional resolution of the first line

(bái: pure)
(wǔ: military)
(fēi: not)
(mǎ: angry; military)
(kě: can)
(hū: question mark).

Partial Decryption Step 3 of 4–Provisional decryption of the second line

: [yì: Yi] (wéi: enclosure) (yuē: say, speak)
: (4th heavenly stem) (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (possibly).
Alternatively:
: [yì: Yi] [jué: shoot with bow] (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (possibly).

Partial Decryption Step 4 of 4 – Provisional decryption of the third line

: [yì: Yi] (wéi: enclosure) (yuē: say, speak)
: (kě: possible) (man) [yǔ: Yu the Great].
: (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (shí: ten; complete, perfect) (gē: halberd)
(1. cái: talent; ability 2. zāi: exclamation mark).

The ‘White Horse Discourse’ may be using unusual dictionary definitions.

Chinese dictionaries provide the definitions of (nù: anger, angry) and (wǔ:
military) for the character (mǎ: horse).4 The definition (mǎ: angry; military)
was used in ancient China in a bigram for the designation of (sīmǎ:

4
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1433 #1: .

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 Culture Speaks

Minister of War), which contains the associate compound sentence: (mǎ:

angry; military) (sī: manage; officer) [is] (sīmǎ: Minister of War).
Another example of an unusual definition used in the discourse relates to the
character (hé: why, where, how). The Kangxi Dictionary entry for the
character (hé: why, how) says cryptically: (yǔ: Yu the Great) (yuē: say)
(hé: why, how).5 This is interpreted as the Kangxi Dictionary saying that the
character (hé: why, how) is a substitution cipher for (yǔ: Yu the Great).
Yet another example of an unusual definition used in the discourse relates to
the character (zāi: final exclamatory particle). The Kangxi Dictionary says
that this has a (gǔwén: classical Chinese) variant (cái: talent; ability).6
Therefore we have the polyseme (1. cái: talent; ability 2. zāi: final
exclamatory particle). Following definitions provided by Chinese dictionaries, it
may be entirely possible for the (báimǎ lùn: White Horse Discourse) to
be read as the (bái: pure) (mǎ: military) (lùn: discourse).

The ancients have told us: [jīng: streams running underground] (jīng:
classic works; pass through). The associate compound sentences of characters
in classical works are the underground streams that have to be decrypted.
Given that Chinese characters may be highly polysemic and there may be
substitution ciphers present, extremely careful classical exergesis is required.

In chapter three, I translated a sentence from ‘ [mén: Duality Portal]

(wàiwén: Foreign Language) (tán: Conversation)’, in which Lu Xun said:
(érqiě lián: furthermore) (shūjí: books) (yě: also) (kàn
bujiàn: cannot be seen, invisible). It was not only the (kǎishū: Kai Book)

5
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 98 #15: .
6
Ibid, p. 189 #8: .

350
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

that was invisible to the common man, the Chinese classic texts were also
invisible because [jīng: streams running underground] (jīng: classic works;
pass through).

There is a duality capsule encrypted into Oracle Script (mǎ: horse). The
ancients say: [yì: Yi’s] [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [is the] (běn: root,
origin, source; basis). The logical basis of Chinese characters can be traced to
the receptacle and cover in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) and beyond. Although
the Duality Code has been re-encrypted over the millennia, the basic Duality
Code’s framework itself has not changed. This framework allows contemporary
shi scholars to understand characters that are several millennia old. This
framework may be interpreted to be associated with the (mǎ: military)–the
shi who were the ancient (wǔshì: warriors).

In the article ‘ [mén: Duality Portal] (wàiwén: Foreign Language) (tán:

Conversation)’, Lu Xun was writing for a shi literati audience who understood
the Duality Code. He said:

They [the illiterate masses] have all along been cut off from modern
thought by the shackles of our difficult script and difficult literary
style. Therefore, if we want Chinese culture to advance as one, we
must promote the language of the masses and the literature of the
masses. All the more, our writing must be Latinized.7

7
Victor H. Mair (tr.), ‘Lu Xun, An Outsider’s Chats About Written Language’ in Victor H. Mair et al.
(eds.), Hawai’i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture.

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 Culture Speaks

In the article, Lu Xun can be understood to imply that there are two cultures
present in Chinese characters. There was a culture that Lu Xun termed ‘the
language of the masses’, and a culture that Lu Xun called ‘our difficult script
and difficult literary style’. The two cultures that Lu Xun was referring to were
(báihuà wén: vernacular style of writing) and (wényán wén:
classical Chinese writing). Lu Xun supported the replacement of Chinese
characters with a Latin script, in order for Chinese culture ‘to advance as one’.
A phonetic (Latin) script such as Pinyin or Latinxua Sinwenz would have
eliminated the Duality Code.

The Duality Code tells us: (wén: literature, writing) [and] (huà: language)
[that is] (bái: pure) [is] (báihuà wén: vernacular style of writing). This
is opposed to language that is encrypted and therefore not pure.

The Duality Code also tells us: (wén: literature, writing) [where] (yán:
words; speak) (wén: culture) [is] (wényán wén: classical Chinese
writing). This is the culture of the Duality Code.

In imperial China, the imperial examination was the route towards a career in
imperial Chinese bureaucracies. Central to the examination was the essay in
eight parts. The ancients say: (gǔ: thighs; share) [bā: break open] [in]
(bāgǔ: essay in eight parts). The eight-part essay may have required

352
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

candidates in the imperial examinations to break open and share their

knowledge of characters, exemplified by the character (gǔ: thighs; share).
Every Chinese character comprising two or more strokes can be broken down
to reveal an associate compound sentence. A Chinese character cannot be fully
understood until the associate compound sentence within it is understood. The
eight-legged essay may be interpreted to be an essay in which candidates are
required to display their understanding of the Duality Code.

The ancients told us: [gē: halberd, masters knife] [and] (shǒu: hand) [to]
(zhǎo: search, seek; find). The character that etymological resources show to
be derived from Oracle Script three fingered right hand is shown in Table 65.

For the character , the Shuowen Dictionary says ‘ (shǒu: hand) (yě: also)’
and depicts the Seal Script right hand, therefore the character means (yòu:
right hand, again). The ancients say: [yì: Yi] (yì: govern, control) (yòu:
right hand, again). This is interpreted to be a reference to Oracle Script (mǎ:

353
 Culture Speaks

horse). An understanding of (yòu: right hand, again) enables us to read other

characters.

The left and right hands in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse) are referenced in
numerous Kai Script characters. It has been re-encrypted over time and the
pictographic Kai Script (mǎ: horse) has a different associate compound
encrypted into it. Oracle script (mǎ: horse) has a hand encrypted into it.
There is a hand that we have to catch in order to decrypt Kai Script horse. The
etymology of the character (jǐ: to catch) is shown in Table 66.

In the gloss for the character (jǐ: to catch), the Shuowen Dictionary says:
(xiàng: image) (shǒu: hand) (yǒu: have) (suǒ: place) (jǐ: to catch)
( jù: occupy).8 Therefore, I make the decryption [shǒu: hand].

8
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 3 Radical 74: .

354
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The decryption of [shǒu: hand] can be validated in other characters such as

(yòng: use, employ) in which the ancients say: [yì: shoot with bow] [shǒu:
hand] (yòng: use, employ).

Conventional wisdom says that the character (mǎ: horse) is a pictograph,

with the four dots at the bottom of the character representing the horse’s
legs. The same four dots are present in the pictograph of a (niǎo: bird), as
well as in the pictograph of a (yú: fish). Birds and fish do not have four legs!
The four dots represent the character (1. biāo: violent anger; violent fire
2. huǒ: anger; fire).9 The characters , , and are not just pictographs -
they are also associative compound sentences. They are associative compound
sentences disguised as pictographs.

The undefined character is highly encrypted through multiple substitution

ciphers. The first substitution cipher is obtained through the Kangxi
Dictionary, which establishes variants (kǎo: test);10 therefore I decipher
. The second substitution cipher is obtained from the gloss in the
dictionaries for the character , which says: (dú ruò: read supposing)
(jué: a stake).11 This establishes the duality chain: . The Shuowen
Dictionary says that (jué: a stake) also means (yì: shoot with bow).12 This

9
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 665 #3: .
10
Ibid, p. 960 #29: .
11
Ibid, p. 85 #9: .
12
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 6, Radical 206: .

355
 Culture Speaks

completes the chain of substitution ciphers: (yì: shoot with

bow), which leads to the decryption [jué: shoot with bow]. The Kai Script
pictograph (mǎ: horse) has been decrypted. It contains the associative
compound sentence: (1. biāo: violent anger 2. huǒ: anger) [yì: Yi] [shǒu:
hand] [in] [jué: shoot with bow] (mǎ: angry; military; horse).

The decryption of the character [jué: shoot with bow] also leads to the
decryption of the message: [yì: Yi] [jué: shoot with bow] (lǎo: old)
(kǎo: test).

The decryption of the character [jué: shoot with bow] unlocks the ciphertext
messages in other characters. The Kangxi Dictionary tells us that the character
(qiáo: ingenious) has the (gǔwén: classical Chinese) variant . This
establishes the dualities (qiáo: ingenious) . The Duality Code tells us:
[yì: Yi] [jué: shoot with bow] [is] (qiáo: ingenious).

We can now see that the ancients say: (lǎo: old) (qiáo: ingenious) (kǎo:
test). Indeed, the Duality Code is ingenious, and indeed it is old.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The ancients also say: [1. jiàn: sword 2. piě: discard], [1. jiàn: sword 2. wān:
curve] [and the] (yǐn: secret) (tǔ: item made of earth) [are] (lǎo: old).
This is interpreted as the ancients telling us that the elements of the Duality
Code are old. ‘Old’ is very much an understatement. The Duality Code may
have originated in the Stone Age. The ‘old test’ may originate from a time when
man lived in the state of nature, in a state of war.

Confucian hierarchical society was encapsulated in the (sìmín: Four

Classes), which purportedly divided Chinese society into four classes. Historian
Anthony J Barbieri-Low shares his insights:

The traditional ordering is shi, nóng, gong, shang , , ,

(scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants). The Han historian
Ban Gu (32–92 CE) summed up the social role of each of the four
peoples in his “Treatise on Food and Money” (shihuoshi) in the
History of the Former Han (Hanshu) ... Obviously, Ban Gu and
other authors intended the classification of the four commoner
groups to be a hierarchy of value. It has been argued that the
classification of the “four peoples” was merely a rhetorical device
and did not directly affect government policy or accurately reflect
popular attitudes. ...”13

In most agrarian feudal societies, peasants were agricultural workers who

ranked quite low in society as they were serfs. The ranking of the Chinese

13
Anthony J. Barbieri–Low, Artisans in Early Imperial China, p. 37.

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peasants above artisans and merchants is quite strange. The (sìmín: Four
Classes) is the conventional translation into English and the bigram
decomposes into the separate characters (sì: four) and (mín: people,
subjects, citizens). In the Duality Code, the number four is a substitution cipher
for the king; therefore, the conventional translation (sìmín: Four Classes)
can be restated as the [sìmín: King’s Subjects]. The list of ‘classes’ contains
the cryptic message: (shì: shi) [in] (nóng: agriculture) (gōng: worker)
(shāng: business). Imperial China was a hierarchical agrarian society. Upon
passing the imperial examinations, the shi were dispatched throughout China
to manage the government infrastructure. They were the (shì dàfū:
scholar officials) as well as the (shìzú: land-owning class, landlords). The
shi were the land owners as well as the king’s managers of the serfs in a
hierarchical Confucian society based on agriculture. The (shì: shi) were
indeed in the (nóng: agriculture) (gōng: worker) (shāng: business).

From the ancient Han dynasty in 206 BCE, until the fall of the Qing dynasty in
1912 CE, it is possible to conceptualise imperial China as being divided into
four broad social classes:

(wáng: king (and aristocracy))

(shì: shi – scholar officials, land owning gentry, and military)
(shù: common people)
(nú: slaves)

Sinologist and historian Angela Shottenhammer provides insights on the

traditional legal basis for the Chinese hierarchical structure:

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

In law, a traditional distinction, maintained in Qing society,

between shidafu ‘government officials’, ‘commoners’ and ‘slaves’,
largely reflected a professional hierarchy. ‘Officials’ formed the
ruling class. Commoners, comprising the bulk of the population,
were officially termed liangren or ‘honourable people’ and despite
internal distinctions of status, were treated the same by law.
Beneath commoners were the jianren or ‘mean people’, a servile
category that included slaves (government and private), prostitutes
and government runners.14

Dr. Sun Yatsen was instrumental in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during
the Xinhai Revolution, and was provisional first president of the Republic of
China before he yielded the position of president to Yuan Shikai. In the year
prior to his death in 1925, he gave a series of lectures. In one of these lectures
he said:

In China every year tens of thousands died of starvation. ... Nine

out of ten farmers did not own their fields: their landlords received
most of their production. The peasants should be liberated and
given their own land to till.15

China has had a written language for over 3,300 years, yet in the first half of
the twentieth-century the illiteracy rate was 85%–90%. Illiteracy kept the
peasants bound in serfdom to the shi and the emperor, in maintenance of the

14
Angela Shottenhammer, ‘Slaves and Forms of Slavery in Late Imperial China (Seventeenth to Early
Twentieth Centuries), in Gwyn Campbelll (ed.), The Structure of Slavery in Indian Africa and Asia, p. 144.
15
Audrey Wells, The Political Thought of Sun Yat-sen, Development and Impact, p.93.

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hierarchical Confucian society comprising emperor, shi, common people and

slaves. In order to maintain this hierarchical society, literacy was restricted–
initially as a privilege of the aristocracy, and subsequently as the privilege of
the aristocracy and the shi. The imperial examinations may be seen as a device
to stratify the shi and dispense privileges to the shi who had the greatest
understanding of the Duality Code, and these privileges were enshrined in
imperial Chinese law. In the 50 years from 1950 to 2000, the illiteracy rate in
the PRC fell from over 85% to 6.7%.16

The conventional belief is that the title of the Shuowen Dictionary means
‘Explaining Graphs and Analysing Characters’. Sinologist Li Zong-kun shares
his insights on the Shuowen Dictionary:

Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing

Characters), the most important book on Chinese characters,
compiled by Xu Shen (c.56–c.147), mainly analyzed small seal
script, included ... ancient script and Zhou script ...17

Linguist and sinologist Hongyuan Dong provides further insights on the

conventional understanding of the Shuowen Dictionary:

If a character is a single graphic element which cannot be further

analyzed into contributing components, for example, ⼭ (shān,
“mountain”), then it is a wén; if a character is composed of multiple

16
Heidi Ross, ‘China Country Study’, p. 3.
17
Li Zong-kun, ‘Introduction’ in A Legacy of Elegance, Oracle Bones Collection from The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, p. 12.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

elements that contribute to the meaning and pronunciation of the

whole character in different ways, then it is a zì, for example,
好(hǎo, “good”).18

According to conventional understanding, the character (wén: literature,

culture, writing) means ‘non-compound characters’ and the character (zì:
character) means ‘compound characters’. There are, however, those who
disagree such as sinologist Françoise Bottéro, a specialist in the history and
analysis of the Chinese writing system, who says:

But it should be recalled that traditional theories on Chinese

writing (such as the liu shu theory, the distinction between
wén and zì) are still far from being satisfactorily understood.
Scholars typically refer to such theories without knowing really
what they represented at the time they were introduced, and
without asking themselves whether they provide an exact
understanding of the Chinese writing system. .... Today, most
scholars agree that the distinction between wén and zì is a
graphological distinction between ‘non-compound characters’ (wén)
and ‘compound characters’ (zì). ... Neither wén nor zì are defined as
‘character’, and there is no talk of any distinction between ‘non-
compound’ and ‘compound character’ to be found in Xu Shen’s
definitions of these words.19

18
Hongyuan Dong, A History of the Chinese Language, Second Edition, p. 194.
19
Françoise Bottéro, ‘Revisiting the Wén and the Zì ’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern
Antiquities, Vol. 74, pp. 14–22.

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 Culture Speaks

The encrypted message in the title of the Shuowen Dictionary says: (zì:
character) (jiě: untie; explain) (wén: literature, culture, writing) (shuō:
speak). The (wén: literature, culture, writing) that speaks is the ancient
culture of the Duality Code. This is (wényán wén: classical Chinese
writing). In the Shuowen Dictionary, Xu Shen provided the etymological roots
of characters so that shi scholars could decipher the associate compound
sentences within characters. For example, in the gloss for the character
(dōng: east), Xu Shen tells us that it is composed (cóng: from, through)
(mù: wood). This allows us to decipher: (yuē: say, speak) [1. mù: wood
2. chèn: coffin] (dōng: east), which unlocks Five Movements (elements
duality).

Sinologists did not understand classical Chinese writing, therefore they could
not understand that the title of the Shuowen Dictionary was a classical
transposition cipher. However, even reading the title without transposition
leads to the translation: (shuō: speak) (wén: literature, culture, writing)
(jiě: untie; explain) (zì: character). It is incomprehensibly why sinologists
did not untie characters to examine the associative compound sentences
formed by the sub-components in order to explain what the character means
when Xu Shen provides the etymological word roots (sub-components) for every
character entry in the Shuowen Dictionary so that characters could be (jiě:
untied) and (jiě: explained).

Sinologist and comparatist Wengui Fang shares his insights on the meaning of
(wén: literature, culture, writing):

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

In his preface to Explaining Graphs and Unravelling Written

Words, Xu Shen said: ‘When he first invented script, Cang Jie used
some characters to refer to matters and others to refer to objects.
Both of these types are uniformly known as wen’. ... Wen is
associated with heaven, earth and spirit, and is a cryptic code for
communication between humans and gods. As is stated in the
‘Great Appendix 2’ section of The Book of Changes, wen is capable
of achieving communion with divine beings. Indeed, in traditional
Chinese cultural narratives, wen is always a medium linking
humans to gods, something so enthralling as to ‘to [sic] startle the
universe and move the gods’.20

(wén: literature, culture, writing) is a ‘cryptic code for communication

between humans and gods’. An understanding of the character (wén:
literature, culture, writing) is central to the understanding of Wengui Fang’s
‘cryptic code for communication between humans and gods’. Table 67 shows
the etymological development of the character (wén: literature, culture,
writing) together with the earliest known symbol that is visually comparable to
the Oracle Script form of the character.

The ancients say cryptically: (yì: control; nurture) (tóu: head) (wén:
literature, culture, writing). There are two heads. There is a head that is
controlled, and there is a head that is nurtured. The head that is nurtured is

20
Weigui Fang, Modern Notions of Civilization and Culture in China, p. 11.

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deduced to be the head that has to decrypt the Duality Code. We have to
identify the head that is controlled.

In Oracle Script, the ancients said: [wǔ: five, duality change] [yì: Yi] (wén:
literature, culture, writing). There is a 4,000-year-old symbol from the
Longshan culture that looks very similar to Oracle Script (wén: literature,
culture, writing). 21 The Longshan culture was a late Neolithic culture c.3000 to
c.1900 BCE and is thought to have evolved into the Bronze Age Erlitou culture,

21
The editors, ‘In Erlitou 3800 years ago, did Oracle’s old predecessors, “Xia Dynasty characters” really

exist?’, DayDayNews, 2019-12-08.

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which some archaeologists believe to be the legendary first Chinese dynasty, the
Xia dynasty.

To the shi, those who were (máng: blind) to, or (máng: unperceptive) of, the
(wén: literature, culture, writing) that is the ‘cryptic code for communication
between humans and gods’ were (wénmáng: illiterate). The Shuowen
Dictionary mentions the (liùshū: six writings), which is conventionally
interpreted to refer to the six classes of character composition, such as
pictographs and ideographs.22 The (liùshū: six writings) has the duality
[lù: army] (shū: book; writings). They are indeed the six classes of
character composition–there are six classes for the composition of ciphers.
Those who were blind to or unperceptive of their ciphers were illiterate.

The [lù: army] (shū: book; writings) is published in several editions. The
current edition is called the (kǎishū: Kai Book), which can also be
interpreted as the (kǎishū: Pattern Book), or the [kǎishū: Duality
Capsule Book]. Just as there is localised American English and British English,
the Kai Book has a localised Simplified Script variant in the PRC, and a
localised Traditional Script variant in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. The
earliest edition of the Book from which a significant corpus of sentences has
survived to this day is the Oracle Book. This comprises some 6,000 Oracle
Script characters encrypted with associative compound sentences that are over
3,000 years old. The Oracle Book is one of the oldest texts in the world.

22
Steven Roger Fischer, A History of Writing, p. 176.

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 Culture Speaks

The [lù: army] (shū: book; writings) is conventionally viewed to comprise

six classes of Chinese characters: pictographs, ideographs, associative
compounds, semantic-phonetic compounds, false borrowings, and derivative
cognates. The fifth category, (jiǎjiè: false borrowing) is a type of
substitution cipher and is an example of its own encryption technique. False
borrowing is decrypted by removal of the false borrowing component and has
been discussed in Chapter Nineteen. The last category is (zhuǎnzhù:
derivative cognate), and it has baffled sinologists who have been unable to
comprehend its meaning. Sinologist Jerry Norman explains: ‘The meaning of
the category called zhuǎnzhù has been debated by Chinese scholars for many
centuries, but its precise significance is still controversial’.23 In linguistics, the
word ‘cognate’ refers to words that derive from a common origin. Xu Shen’s
nominated example characters, (kǎo: test) and (lǎo: old), are thought by
sinologists to originate from the common ancestral component (lǎo: old),
hence the interpretation (zhuǎnzhù: derivative cognate), which according
to Norman is controversial. (zhuǎnzhù: Derivative cognate) is an
encryption device, and it is decrypted using its own encryption/decryption
technique–the Five Movements encryption/decryption mechanism. The sub-
components of the term are placed in a Five Movements diagram shown
in Table 68.

23
Jerry Norman, Chinese, p. 69.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The message in Five Movements (derivative cognate) is unclear because the

message is encrypted ciphertext. There is no necessity to decrypt the first and
third movements. The second movement was decrypted earlier as [1. hé: river
2. lèi: tears], and the fourth was decrypted earlier as [jūn: army, military].
The fifth movement comprises the two characters (zhuǎn: shift, move, turn)
and (zhù: focus, direct). Chinese dictionaries extend the meaning of (zhù:
focus, direct) to include the meaning of (guan: pour).24 The two characters
can be read as (zhuànzhù: turn pour), which is a descriptive cipher. It is
the description of a character that depicts the turning and pouring out of its
contents. It is a description of the Oracle Script character (yì: change; easy).
Table 69 shows the Five Movements (derivative cognate duality).

24
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 618 #5: .

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 Culture Speaks

The first and third movements are vernacular meanings of the characters.
They are a duality of the second and fourth movements, which are classical
Chinese meanings of the characters, ascertained through classical exegesis. The
first four movements are Kai Script characters and are a duality to the fifth
movement, which is an Oracle Script character. The decrypted plaintext
message is: (zhǔ: master) [1. hé: river 2. lèi: tears] (zhuàn: take sole
possession of) [jūn: army] (yì: change; easy). The river of tears tells us of a
calamity in China and the Mandate of Heaven is withdrawn. Yi takes charge of
the army and brings about duality change. Change is easy.

Kai Script has re-encrypted the character (yì: change; easy) and the re-
encrypted character requires rationalisation. The concept of duality is
encapsulated in the concept of yin and yang. One half of the duality is (yáng:
yang; ‘male’ principle; light; sun). Yang is the sun, therefore (wù rì: without
sun) means (yīn: yin; ‘female’ principle; dark; moon; secret). The message in
(yì: change; easy) can therefore be decrypted to say: [yīn: yin; moon;
secret] (yì: change; easy). The moon’s secret is (yíyì: Barbarian Yi), and
the character (yì: change; easy) may be interpreted as an abbreviation that

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

points to the ancient text (zhōuyì: Changes of Zhou).

The Changes of Zhou is based on sixty-four hexagrams, obtained from

combining two (bāguà: Eight Divinations). Traditional accounts attribute
the Changes of Zhou to King Wen (d. 1056 BCE). Confucius wrote a set of
commentaries called the (shíyì: ten wings), and these commentaries
combine with the Changes of Zhou to form the (yìjīng: Book of Changes).
This most enigmatic of classical texts from ancient China therefore combines
elements contributed by each of the three ancients (Fuxi, King Wen, and
Confucius). It is possible that the encrypted subject matter in the Book of
Changes is related to the cryptic message: (zhǔ: master) [1. hé: river 2. lèi:
tears] (zhuàn: take sole possession of) [jūn: army] (yì: change; easy).
Classical exegesis is required.

(zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command) (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test),

(xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ: military) (kě: possible) (gong: worker),
(yuè: moon) (rì: day) (xià: inferior; bring down) (shàng: superior; go
up).

Classical exegesis revealed Xu Shen’s encrypted message hidden in the Shuowen

Dictionary. The first line of the message can be interpreted to mean: (zhǎng:
leader’s) (lìng: command) [is the] (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test). The message in
the character (lìng: command) is the ‘old test’. It has to be decrypted.

The Duality Code instructs: (jí: to assemble) [the] (lìng: command). The
leader’s command has to be found [assembled]. The logical way forward is to

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 Culture Speaks

examine letters from the ancients that contain the sub-component (lìng:
command).

The Kangxi Dictionary depicts the character (lìng: command). The re-

encryption of (lìng: command) to in Traditional Script, and to in

Simplified Script, was shown in Table 32, which highlights differences between

the various versions of Kai Script. The re-encryptions of (lìng: command)

affects every character in which it appears as a sub-component. The effect of
the re-encryption in Traditional Script ( ) and Simplified Script ( ) is to

conceal the leader’s command. It conceals the fact that the (lìng: command)
appears as a sub-component of the character (mìng: life, fate).

Reference to Seal Script (mìng: life, fate) provides a clearer reading of the
leader’s command. The message says, ‘ (jié: seal) (kǒu: mouth; entrance)’,
which refers to the ultimate duality change, the funeral rite of sealing the
coffin. Reference to the coffin sealing rite tells us that the character (mìng:
life, fate) is of central importance to the [kǎishū: Duality Capsule Book].
It says that those who (jí: to assemble) are to (kòu: knock; kowtow)–to
fall on bended knee and knock one’s head on the ground as a sign of respect.
At the ultimate duality change, the ancients say: (ling: command) [is to]
(hé: combine, unite) (mìng: life, fate). The leader’s command is cryptic.
What do the ancients mean by (hé: combine, unite) (mìng: life, fate)?

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The character (chuò: walking) has been decrypted to mean [wŭxíng: Five
Movements] as well as [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] in Chapter Eleven.
Therefore, the ancients can be interpreted as saying: [wŭxíng: Duality
Change Walk] [is the] (jūn: army, military) (yùn: fortune). For the
stratified shi society that originated as warriors dispensing duality change,
the [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk] [is the] (jūn: army’s) (yùn: fortune).
This can be interpreted to mean that the Conundrum or Classical Chinese is
the shi’s fortune.

The leader’s command is to (hé: combine, unite) (mìng: life, fate). The
Duality Code says that (mìng: life, fate) combines with the army’s (yùn:
fortune) to mean (mìngyùn: fate, destiny). Fate and destiny are determined
by (yíyì: Barbarian Yi) who shoots the ten suns. The etymology of the
Oracle Script character for (yí: barbarian) is shown in Table 70.

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 Culture Speaks

In Oracle Script, the Duality Code says: (rén: man) (dà: big) [is] (yí:
barbarian). The (yí: barbarian) has a duality in (yíyì: Barbarian Yi).
Therefore we can deduce that (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) is (yíyì: Barbarian
Yi). [yì: Yi] is (rén dà: man big).

In Chapter Two, I considered the possible interpretations of the primal

associative compound sentence: and postulated the three possibilities:

(yī: One) (rén: man) [is/was/will be] (dà: big).

(yī: One) [is a] (rén: man) [who is, was, or will be] (dà: big).
(yī: One) [is ] ‘ (rén dà: man big)’.

All three possibilities are true. ‘All of the above’ is the correct answer. Yi is the
once and future king. He is the (rén: man) who was, is, and always will be
(1. rén: man 2. dà: big). The (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) is the number five,
which represents duality change–he is the (jù: large, great; chief). The
etymology of (jù: large, great; chief) is shown in Table 71.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Kangxi Dictionary says in its gloss for the character (jù: large, great;
chief): (gǔwén: classical Chinese) (jù: large, great; chief) (zì:
character). 25 This establishes the variants (jù: large, great; chief) (jù:
large, great; chief). In the Kangxi Dictionary entry for (jù: large, great; chief),
it quotes a sixth-century CE dictionary called the Yu Pian which gives the
definition of for (jù: large, great; chief). 26 Therefore the character
(1. rén: man 2. dà: big) represents the (jù: great; chief).

The character is quite well hidden by the Duality Code. It is not listed in the
Shuowen Dictionary and the Unihan Database tells us it means (jǔ:
carpenter’s square, ruler, rule).27 In the gloss for the character , the Kangxi

25
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 325 #5: .
26
Ibid, p. 285 #5: .
27
Unihan Database: U+77E9.

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 Culture Speaks

Dictionary says: (běn: root, origin) (zuò: make; compose) (jù: great;
chief). 28 Therefore the character is the polyseme (1. jǔ: carpenter’s square,
ruler, rule 2. jù: great; chief). The ancients say: (jù: great; chief), (shǐ: arrow)
[is the] (jù: great; chief). This tells us that Yi is the (jù: great; chief).

Chinese etymological references do not provide an Oracle Script equivalent for

the character (jù: great; chief). The Kangxi Dictionary has said cryptically:
(běn: root, origin) (zuò: make; compose) (jù: great; chief). There is
usually an Oracle Script precursor for (běn: root, origin) characters. The
existence of numerous Bronze Script precursors for (jù: great; chief) suggests
that there may be an Oracle Script precursor. There is a mystery to solve.

28
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 824 #11: .

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 24
Contract

In Western philosophy, the social contract is a theory dating to the Age of

Enlightenment in seventeenth-century Europe. It typically addresses questions
relating to the origin of society and the legitimacy of the state’s authority over
the individual. Hobbes’ Leviathan, published in 1651, may be viewed as one of
the foundation texts for European social contract theory.

The ſecond Law of Nature. From this Fundamentall Law of Nature,

by which men are commanded to endeavour Peace, is derived this
ſecond Law ; That a man be willing, when others are ſo too, as farre-
forth, as for Peace, and defence of himſelfe he ſhall think it neceſsary,
to lay down this right to all things ; and be contented with ſo much
liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against
himſelf. For as long as every man holdeth this Right, of doing any
thing he liketh ; ſo long are all men in the condition of Warre. ...
Right is layd aſide either by ſimply Renouncing it ; or by
Transferring it to another. By ſimply RENOUNCING ; when he cares
not to whom the benefit thereof redoundeth. By TRANSFERRING ;
when he intendeth the benefit thereof to ſome certain perſon, or
perſons. ... The mutuall transferring of Right, is that which men call
CONTRACT.1

1
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, pp. 64–66.

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 Contract

The character (qì: contract) is used in three odes that appear in the ancient
Classic of Poetry, which is a collection of poetry that is thought to have been
compiled or edited by Confucius. The subjects of the odes range in chronology
from the Shang dynasty (ended 1046 BCE) to King Ding of Zhou (606–586
BCE), therefore the odes are thought to have been composed between 1100
BCE and 500 BCE. The oldest of the odes that uses the character (qì:
contract) comes from a section of the text called (dàyǎ: Greater Odes of
the Kingdom), that is thought date between 1000 BCE and 800 BCE. This tells
us that the character (qì: contract) must have been created before 800 BCE
and would be over 2,800 years old.

The Duality Code says: (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) (qià: to engrave) (qì:
contract). The character (1. rén: man 2. dà: big; great) was interpreted to be
(yíyì: Barbarian Yi) in Chapter Twenty-Three, therefore Barbarian Yi
engraves the Chinese social contract. The etymology of the character (qì:
contract) is shown in Table 72.

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There are different forms of government with different social contracts. These
include monarchy, aristocracy, plutocracy, stratocracy, direct democracy and
representative democracy, to name a few. The classical Greek democracy
(Greek demokratia from demos meaning ‘people’ and kratos meaning
‘dominion’ or ‘power’) dates to the Greek city-state of Athens in 507 BCE. At
that time, women and slaves far outnumbered freeborn men, but they were
nevertheless politically disenfranchised and were completely excluded from the
ancient Greek democratic process.

In 1776 CE, the American colonies declared their independence from the
Kingdom of Great Britain. The Declaration of American Independence serves
as an early statement of the American social contract.（The Constitution of
the United States was not drafted until 1787.) The preamble to the American
Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created

equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, --

Despite asserting ‘that all men are created equal’, and that ‘Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed’, many classes of the governed were disenfranchised.

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 Contract

Slaves were never given the right to vote.

Women were not guaranteed the right to vote until the Nineteenth
Amendment in 1920.
Native Americans were not guaranteed the right to vote until the Indian
Citizenship Act in 1924; but despite this, some states continued to deny
Native Americans the vote until 1948.
All Americans with Asian ancestry only allowed to vote through the
McCarran Walter Act in 1952.
African Americans were prevented from voting by various methods until
the Voting Rights Act 1965 prohibited states from using literacy tests
and other methods from preventing African Americans from voting.

The Chinese version of the social contract, encapsulated in the Mandate of

Heaven, envisages rule by a virtuous monarch. It had been formulated by the
end of the Shang dynasty at the very latest as it was used by the Zhao to
overthrow the Shang in 1046 BCE. The existence of Yi and Gun logically
implies that the Mandate of Heaven had been formulated and there may be
evidence in the archaeological record that Yi and Gun originated in the
Neolithic period. Therefore the Mandate of Heaven may predate classical
Greek democracy and American representative democracy by several millennia.

Heaven and Earth are dualities. Heaven represents the spirit world of the
ancestors. The Chinese conception of Heaven is bound together with the
departed ancestors, therefore the ancients say: [yì: Yi] (1. rén: man 2. dà:
big) [is] (tiān: Heaven; god).

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The Duality Code asserts: (mìng: fate) [of] (tiān: Heaven; god) [is]
(tiānmìng: Mandate of Heaven). Yi is (tiān: Heaven; god), therefore the
fate of Heaven is Yi’s fate. The Mandate of Heaven is Yi’s mandate. The
principles of the Mandate of Heaven are:

Heaven grants the emperor the right to rule.

Since there is only one Heaven, there can only be one emperor.
The emperor’s virtue determines his right to rule.
No one dynasty has a permanent right to rule.

The Mandate of Heaven may be considered to be a statement of the Chinese

social contract. The emperor’s right to rule is contingent on the emperor being
virtuous. The right to rule is revoked if the emperor is a not virtuous.

In the postface of the Shuowen Dictionary, Xu Shen mentions the story of Cang
Jie who is the legendary inventor of Chinese characters. A quotation from the
postface of the Shuowen Dictionary follows:

The quotation above has been translated into English on a number of

occasions. An early and typical translation of the postface was done by
sinologist K. L. Thern in 1966:

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 Contract

Ts’ang Chieh [Cangjie] , scribe for the Yellow Emperor, on

looking at the tracks of the feet of birds and animals, realizing that
the patterns and forms were distinguishable, started to create
graphs, so that all kinds of professions could be regulated and all
people could be kept under scrutiny.2

A more recent translation of the postface was done by historian Timothy

O’neill in 2013:

The Scribe of the Yellow Emperor, Cangjie, observing the traces of

the footprints and tracks of birds and wild animals, understood that
their linear structures could be distinguished from one another by
the differences between them. When he first created writing by
carving in wood, the hundred officials became regulated, and the
myriad things became discriminated.3

The highlighted characters is conventionally translated as ‘graphs’ or

‘writing’ by translators of the Xu Shen’s postface. The Lin Yutang Dictionary
provides the meaning for the bigram as (shūqì: art or invention of
writing). 4 The bigram says: (qì: contract) [of the] (shū: book) [is in]
(shūqì: art or invention of writing). Irrespective of whether you read these

2
K. L. Thern, Postface of the Shuo-wen Chieh-tzu, The First Comprehensive Chinese Dictionary, pp. 8-9.
3
Timothy O'Neill, "Xu Shen's Scholarly Agenda: A New Interpretation of the Postface of the Shuowen
jiezi," Journal of the American Oriental Society ,133.3, July 2013, pp. 413-440.
4
Lin Yutang Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

two characters seperately as (shū: book) (qì: contract), or as the bigram

(shūqì: art or invention of writing), Xu Shen expresses the idea that a
(qì: contract) and a (shū: book) are involved in regulating all kinds of
professions. My dictionary-based translation of the text quoted above from the
postface of the Shuowen Dictionary follows:

(huángdì: Yellow Emperor) (shǐguān: scribe, historian)

(cāngjié: Cang Jie) (jiàn: observe) (niǎo: bird) [and]

(shǒu: animal) (tí: hoof) [and] (háng: footprints) (zhī:

possessive particle). (jì: Search) [and] (zhī: know) (fēn: to
separate) [by] (lǐ: reason, logic) (zhī: possessive particle). (kě:

Possible) (xiàng: appearance) (bié: to distinguish) [the] (yì:

different, unusual, strange) (yě: also). (chū: At first) (zào: to

make) (shū qì: art of writing), [then] (bǎi: hundred; numerous;

all kinds of) (gōng: worker; profession) (yǐ: thereby) (yì:
govern, control, manage). (wàn: Ten thousand) (pǐn: articles,
products) (yǐ: thereby) (chá: examine, investigate). [Translated
by W. K. Choy]

Xu Shen mentions that Cang Jie observed bird and animal hoofs and footprints.
Animal hoofs and footprints relates to animal feet. Xu Shen is giving an cryptic
hint to observe bird and animal feet. The pictograph characters (mǎ: horse),
(niǎo: bird), and (yú: fish) tell us that there is something strange
happening in Chinese characters when animals that do not have four legs share
the same four legs ( ) with (mǎ: horse). Furthermore, the legs in the
pictograph character (lù: deer) looks quite strange and it says (bǐ:
compare). Xu Shen says search and know to separate by logic, and to

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 Contract

distinguish by strange appearances. Examination of animal characters will tell

you that these characters are not pictographs. The (shūqì: art of writing)
may be inferred to be a reference to the Duality Code or classical Chinese. Xu

Shen says that the (shūqì: art of writing) was a means towards governing
or controlling all kinds of professions, which may be interpreted as a reference
to the common people, peasants and slaves. Xu Shen asks you thereby to
investigate the 10,000 articles or products. There are 9,353 character plus 1,163
variant forms in the Shuowen Dictionary.5 These are the 10,000 articles or
products of his labour that he asks you to investigate.

The Mandate of Heaven is encrypted in the Book that is Kai Script and its
predecessors Seal Script and Oracle Script. Like the Greeks and the Americans,
the Chinese social contract was not all inclusive. The Mandate of Heaven may
be viewed as a contract between the shi literati and the emperor. The Chinese
social contract may be viewed to exclude the common people, peasants and
slaves who were blind to the culture of the Duality Code and were therefore
(wénmáng: illiterate). If the emperor was virtuous (benevolent) towards the
shi, the Mandate remained in place. This is represented by the King’s hand
which is the left hand in Oracle Script horse . It is the hand that allows the
man represented by the yang number three (worker) to live. If the emperor is
not virtuous (malevolent) towards the shi, the Mandate was withdrawn and the
emperor was replaced. This is represented by the right hand in Oracle Script
horse . It is the hand that places a cover over the man represented by the yin
number three (king).

5
Benjamin A. Elman and Martin Kern (Eds), Statecraft and Early Learning, The Rituals of Zhou in East

Asain History, Leiden, Koninklijke Brill NV, 2010, p. 71.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The ancients say: (yì: control) (tóu: head) (wén: literature, culture,
writing). The Mandate of Heaven may be viewed as a means of controlling the
emperor’s power. Political scientists Charles F. Andrain and David E. Apter
provide insights on the Mandate of Heaven:

Although Confucian beliefs justified social stability, order, respect

for tradition, and obedience to the established rulers, they also
checked the political power of the emperor. If he did not govern in a
virtuous way, he supposedly had lost the mandate of heaven. Under
this condition, people had the right to rebel against an immoral
government. Confucian principles not only legitimated the
emperor’s right to rule but also supplied the mandarins [shi] with
the ethical justifications to restrain the emperor’s power.6

Prior to Confucius the literati comprised the (guózǐ: men of aristocratic

class) who attended the (guānxué: official schools). 7 Confucius, who
founded ancient China’s first private school, may have extended the political
franchise to all strata of shi society. The common man of his time did not have
the wherewithal to afford the bundle of (xiū: dried meat) that represented his
tuition fees. Furthermore access to the Book that is (kǎishū: Kai Book)
and its precursors was restricted to shi elites as they considered the common
man to be (bù pèi: unworthy). The political disenfranchisement was
reflected in access to Confucian temples, which was restricted to the emperor,
imperial courtiers, scholar-officials, and Confucian students–the different

6
Charles F. Andrain and David E. Apter, Political Protest and Social Change, Analyzing Politics, p. 65.
7
Zhao Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern
Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p. 2.

383
 Contract

strata of shi society who belonged to the shi literati family and was politically
enfranchised. The encrypted and deconstructed Book allowed the shi to
maintain a hierarchical class structure and govern over the illiterate common
man, peasant and slaves whom they viewed to be (bù pèi: unworthy). It
may be considered oppression of the illiterate by the shi who created the
Duality Code. History is written by the literate, and the literate in China were
the shi who recorded Chinese history from their particular vantage point.

The conventional translation of (sìmín: Four Classes) was decrypted to

say: [sìmín: King’s Subjects]. The list of the ‘Four Classes’ contains the
cryptic message: (shì: shi) [in] (nóng: agriculture) (gōng: worker)
(shāng: business). The shi created and maintained the Confucian hierarchical
social and political order of the Chinese feudal state in order to enjoy social,
economic and legal privileges. Historically, the Chinese state may perhaps be
viewed as a blend of monarchy and stratocracy (from the Greek stratos
meaning ‘army’ and kratos meaning ‘dominion’ or ‘power’). A monarchy may
be viewed as a military dictatorship with a hereditary dictator.

Certain characters in Oracle Script bear a striking resemblance to Jiangzhai

symbols found on pottery artefacts from the Neolithic Yangshao culture.
Jiangzhai symbols such as , , , , and (shown in Table. 59) can be
read as Oracle Script characters. Furthermore the motif of a bird carrying the
sun is found depicted in Yangshao culture artefacts. Since these birds are
sometimes depicted with three legs, it suggests that the legend of Hou Yi
existed during the Yangshao culture 6,000 years ago. The existence of the
legend of Hou Yi implies the existence of the Duality Code, which in turn
implies the existence of the Mandate of Heaven. The Jiangzhai symbol can

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

be read as the classical character [wǔ: five; duality change], which exists in
Oracle Script, Seal Script, and Kai Script.

Some academics outside China, contend that Jiangzhai symbols are random,
largely unorganised, and unsystematic markings instead of writing as they are
said to appear in isolation rather than in sequences of two or more symbols.
Therefore, according to such linguists, the 6,000-year-old Jiangzhai symbols
from the Yangshao culture represent proto-writing or non-writing symbols.
Philologist William G. Boltz asserts:

There does not seem to be any meaningful order of repetition or

concatenation that would lead us to suspect anything more than
that these are random and largely unorganized, unsystematic
markings.8

The view of Chinese archaeologists is that they are purposeful, conventional

signs intended to convey significant meaning. Xuequin Li, a historian,
archaeologist and paleographer shares his insights :

In the late 1950’s, however, excavation of the Yangshao-culture site

of Banpo in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province unearthed large numbers of
potshards carrying signs, and this time their publication (Xi’an
Banpo 1963) attracted wide notice. ... In Jiangzhai (4600–4000 BCE)
and other contemporary Banpo-type villages, the placement and
complex structure of numerous strokes suggest that the markings

8
William G. Boltz, The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System, p. 35.

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were purposeful, conventional signs intended to convey significant

meaning, at least to a restricted group of elites.9

There are 8,500-year-old symbols from the Neolithic Peiligang culture that are
even more ancient than the Jiangzhai symbols. Archeological excavation of
Peiligang culture burials at Jiahu suggest, based on differences in burial
offerings, that social stratification had occurred. The majority of the few
known Jiahu symbols were inscribed on tortoise shell burial offerings.
Academics who contend that Jiahu symbols are random, largely unorganised,
and unsystematic markings may not be aware that Chinese characters contain
associative compound sentences. A single symbol such as the Jiahu symbol
contains the associative compound sentence: . Furthermore, the sub-
component symbol also contains an associative compound sentence: ,
or . An understanding of the associative compound sentences in Chinese
characters suggests that the Jiahu symbol may contain highly systematic
markings. The etymology of the character ⽇(rì: sun; day) is shown in Table 73.

9
Xueqin Li et al., ‘The earliest writing?’, Antiquity, vol. 77, issue 295, 2003, p. 39.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

In Oracle Script, the ancients say: [yì: Yi] (ding: 4th heavenly stem) (rì:
sun). The 4th heavenly stem is the duality of the number four, which represents
the king–the 4th heavenly stem represents a dead king. Yi and Gun are each
one part of a duality that combines into a single unity. Yi and Gun are both the
sun, they are both the Son of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven dictates that
one exists to the exclusion of the other, therefore Yi and Gun each represent
one half of a binary state duality, which are mutually exclusive conditions. Yi
and a dead Gun [4th heavenly stem] are the (rì: sun). It is hypothesised that
the Jiahu symbol , which may be about 8,500 years old, contains the same
associative compound sentence found in the Oracle Script character (rì: sun).

There are approximately 6,000 different characters of Oracle Script that are
known from oracle bones. This is probable be an incomplete record of
characters in use at that time. Associative compound sentences in Oracle Script

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characters such as (wáng: death), (yì: shoot with bow), (rì: sun), (kǒu:
mouth; entrance), (gǔ: ancient), [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin], (mǎ: horse),
(yáo: diagrams for divination), (xué: knowledge; school), (zhàn: versify),
and (gǔ: framework) are highly sophisticated statements of symbolic and
semantic logic. The existence of about 6,000 characters, each with its own
associative compound sentence, that altogether combine to form a unified and
coherent system of symbolic and semantic logic within a common framework,
magnifies the sophistication of the entire written vocabulary. In Oracle Script,
the ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] (kǒu: mouth; entrance) (gǔ: ancient). The
Duality Code was already ancient in 3,000-year-old Oracle Script. The
sophistication and complexity of the Duality Code found in Oracle Script
suggests a long genesis.

There are several thousand oracle bone and shell artifacts from the Shang
dynasty vying for the attention of scholars, and not all Oracle Script characters
have been correctly identified. Two such characters, and , await proper
attribution to cognates that are derived from them. These two characters both
contain the same associative compound sentence: [gǔn: Gun] (1. rén: man
2. dà: big) (undefined). The character (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) represents
Barbarian Yi. [gǔn: Gun] and [Barbarian Yi] are both kings. The subject
matter of the associative compound sentence in undefined Oracle Script
character relates to kings.

Oracle Script was re-encrypted into Seal Script, and bronze artifacts from the
Shang and Zhou dynasties capture the development of some Oracle Script
characters into Seal Script characters. Sinologists have identified the Bronze
Script character (jù: great; chief). There is also a record of the Seal Script

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character (jù: great; chief).10 The key to the Bronze Script character (jù:
great; chief) lies in understanding that in Oracle Script, the logograph
represented the character (rén: 9th heavenly stem). The number nine was
decrypted earlier to mean ([jiǔ: nine; black jade], which means evil king.
Therefore the (rén: 9th heavenly stem) means a dead evil king. The character
(jù: great; chief) says that man big and a dead evil king are (jù: great;
chief). It is possible to hypothesis that the undefined Oracle Script character
was re-encrypted as the character (jù: great; chief), with the (rén: 9th
heavenly stem) replacing [gǔn: Gun]. It is therefore possible to put forward a
hypothesis for the derivation of the cognate (jù: great; chief) that is shown in
Table 74.

The ancient Jiahu symbol can be decrypted to say: [gǔn: Gun] [wǔ: five;
duality change] (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) [jù: great; chief]. The character
[wǔ: five; duality change] is redundant, because [gǔn: Gun] and (1. rén:
man 2. dà: big) are mutually exclusive binary state dualities of the great chief
and [wǔ: five; duality change] is readily understood from the framework of
the Duality Code. Therefore [wǔ: five; duality change] does not need to be
stated. It is hypothesised that the Jiahu Symbol [jù: great; chief] developed

10
Hu Zhengyan and Li Deng, Essentials of the Thousand Character Classic in Six Scripts, Volume 4, p. 92.

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into the Oracle Script character [jù: great; chief], and in turn into the Bronze
Script character (jù: great; chief).

Gun and Yi are binary state dualities–they are both kings and they are both
number one. Upon death, they would become a heavenly stem and could be
represented by (jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; shell). The tortoise is an animal that
possesses an exoskeleton. This is a duality to man who has an endoskeleton.
This may be the duality rationale for the polyseme (jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem;
shell). Jiahu symbols were primarily engraved onto tortoise shells which
represent the (jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem), therefore, the tombs bearing the
tortoise shell burial offerings may signify the graves of the chiefs who have
become the 1st heavenly stem.

The Duality Code has foundations that are over 8,500 years old. The invention
of the written word is the demarcation between history and pre-history, and the
conventional belief is that writing began in Sumer c.3200 BCE. The associative
compound sentence contained in the Jiahu character [jù: great; chief] pushes
the beginning of mankind’s history back over three millennia to c.6500 BCE.
As Chinese writing has incorporated encryptions of the Duality Code from its
inception, it implies that the Chinese social contract, the Mandate of Heaven,
is 8,500 years old. Mankind’s political and moral philosophy is at least 8,500
years old. The associative compound sentence in [jù: great; chief] is already
quite a sophisticated statement of symbolic and semantic logic. This suggests
that the very first written word must predate 6500 BCE.

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In point of fact, the Jiahu character [jù: great; chief] was found engraved on
the top of a tortoise shell burial offering suggesting that it was the grave of a
(jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; shell). The bottom of the same tortoise shell found in
the same grave was engraved with the character and another that is
described as a single downstroke sign resembling the character for ‘ten’ in
Oracle Script [ ]. 11 The three characters can be combined to form the
sentence [gǔn: Gun] [bā: break open] [jù: great; chief], which is
consistent with the framework of the Duality Code. The tortoise shell may be
conceived to comprise two parts. The bottom that does not see the sun may be
thought of as representing yin (dark; moon; secret). The top of the shell that
faces the sun may be thought of as representing yang. [gǔn: Gun] [bā:
break open] is written on the yin half of the tortoise shell, whereas [jù: great;
chief] was written on the yang half of the tortoise shell. Yin and yang halves of
the duality combine to give us a unity that says: [gǔn: Gun] [bā: break
open] [jù: great; chief]. These are not random, largely unorganised, and
unsystematic symbols as some non-Chinese linguists contend. Table 75 provides
a simple visualisation of the chronology in relation to mankind’s development
of writing, dictionaries, and political thought.

11
Xueqin Li et al., ‘The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province,
China’, Antiquity, vol. 77, issue 295, 2003, pp. 31–44.

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392
 25
Yi Speaks

In a previous chapter we came across the strange associate compound sentence

made by the ancients who said: [yì: Yi] (wéi: enclosure) (yuē: speak). If
Yi’s enclosure speaks, what does it say? The logical way forward is to examine
characters that include the character (yuē: say, speak) in order to find clues
from the ancients in relation to what Yi says.

The ancients cryptically instruct us: (yuē: speak) (lì: establish) (yīn:
sound, tone, pitch, pronunciation). The five tones were established earlier in
Table 55. The five different tones may be conceived as being constrained or
enclosed within a sound. Therefore the two tones of the polyseme [1. yì: Yi
2. yī: clothes] are enclosed within the phonetic yi. The Kangxi Dictionary’s gloss
for the character (yīn: sound, tone, pitch, pronunciation) says: (gǔ:
ancient) (zì: character) (jiè: borrow) (yòng: use, employ).1 This is taken to
be an instruction to use Oracle Script characters. Based on etymological
databases, I have found 28 Oracle Script characters that map to the different
tones of the phonetic yi. Just as Kai Script may be viewed as a deconstructed
book, these 28 characters may be viewed as a deconstructed sentence. The
reconstruction may be viewed as playing a 3,000-year-old game of scrabble.
Readers are welcome to try their own scrabble arrangement. My reconstruction

1
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 1396 #25: .

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 Yi Speaks

of Yi’s sentence follows.

Note: Shuowen Dictionary defines to mean (jǔ: raise, lift up).2

Note: (yì: art)3 is taken to relate to (liùyì: the Confucian Six Arts).

2
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 3 Radical 62: .
3
MDBG Dictionary: .

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Note: The MDBG Dictionary defines as: a kind of metal or jade ornament
worn in ancient times to ward off evil spirits.4

The ancients sent us the message: [1. mù: wood 2. chèn: coffin] [yīn: yin;
moon; secret] [in] (1. lè: happy 2. yuè: music). The character (shè: shoot,
issue forth) has the alternate voicing of yì. This voicing is found in the
(shí'èr lǜ: twelve pitches), which is a series of fundamental notes from
which scales can be constructed. The twelve pitches include the pitch (wú
yì: wuyi) that is equivalent to a minor seventh. This second voicing is
recognised in the Unihan Database.5

4
MDBG Dictionary: .
5
Unihan Database: U+5C04.

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 Yi Speaks

There may be reason to believe that there is a 29th Oracle Script character that
maps to the phonetic yi. The ancients have said: [yì: Yi] (wéi: enclosure)
(yuē: speak). [yì: Yi] within an enclosure says: (yuān: abyss). In the Book
of Changes, the combination of two (kǎn: pit) trigrams creates the 29th
hexagram, which is also called (kǎn: pit). This hexagram has been translated
as the abyss by some translators of the Book of Changes. Therefore the
(yuān: abyss) may be interpreted to cryptically say 29.

A 29th Oracle Script character that maps to the phonetic yi could be the Kai
Script character , which is not listed in the Kangxi Dictionary. The
International Encode Han Character and Variants Database gives this
character the Pinyin transliteration of yì. However, no etymology reference
currently identifies an Oracle Script predecessor for the character . The
Shuowen Dictionary entry for this character says cryptically: (cóng: from,
through) (fǎn: to turn over, to oppose, to rebel) (yì: city, state).6

The interim solution to the Conundrum was shown in Table 60. In the interim
solution, the Five Punishments and the various Five Movements are stated in
terms of their dualities. These dualities need to be solved. The duality of
‘punishment’ is ‘reward’, therefore ‘punishment duality’ means ‘reward’. Five
Movements (death duality) was derived from Five Movements (Hou Yi). The
name Hou Yi decomposes to (hòu: descendant) (yì: Yi) when the two
characters are read separately, therefore ‘death duality’ means ‘descendant Yi’.
Five Movements (life) was generated from a Five Movements comprising
bigrams of the character (tài: superior). Therefore ‘life duality’ means
‘superior’. An understanding of the two fives in the [yáo: diagrams for

6
Shuowen Dictionary, Volume 6 Radical 229: .

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divination] leads to the comprehension that in sequential five movements, the

fifth movement is related to the first four movements of the next five
movements that follows. Therefore ‘scales duality’ means ‘China attain’, which
is the preceding fifth movement, and ‘elements duality’ means ‘dog criminal’
which is the preceding fifth movement. ‘China attain’ and ‘dog criminal’ are
conjunctions where meaning is generated by the conjunction of both words. For
‘directions duality’, there is a choice of either ‘Earth’ or ‘item made of earth’ in
the preceding fifth movement. This fifth movement is a disjunction where only
one of the two meanings applies. Directions of the compass relates to the
Earth, not to items made of earth, therefore ‘directions duality’ means ‘Earth’.
Finally, ‘writing’ can be represented by (wén: literature, culture, writing),
therefore ‘writing duality’ can be represented by (wénmáng: illiteracy),
which is defined as (wén: literature, culture, writing) (máng: blind). These
decryptions are added to the Conundrum table shown in Table 76.

The world’s oldest crossword puzzle is the [wŭxíng: Duality Change Walk]
[yì: Yi] (yán: words; say) (mí: bewitch; confuse) (mí: Conundrum). It
has been solved and the duality message from the ancients in Five Movements
dualities says: Illiteracy [is] dogs [and] criminals Earth. China attain [is]
superior descendant Yi’s reward.

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Yi Speaks

398
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Clouds

The ancients have sent us the puzzle: (shí: complete, perfect) (kǒu: mouth;
entrance) [niàn: study] (gé: leather)–there is a secret in (gé: leather).
The secret is in the associate compound: (mìng: fate) [of] (gé: leather) [is]
(gémìng: revolution). This strange message requires rationalisation.
Leather is usually obtained from a cow and the ancients have told us: (niú:
cow) (sī: private, secret) (móu: seek, get). Table 77 examines letters from
the ancients that are titled (niú: cow).

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⽜： 丨[gǔn: Gun] ⼀[yì: Yi] [qiǎn: receptacle] ⽜(niú: cow).

The Kai Script character (niú: cow) says: [gǔn: Gun] [and] [yì: Yi]
[qiǎn: receptacle] [is the] (niú: cow). Both Gun and Yi are represented by
the (niú: cow).

Kai Script (niú: cow) contains another associate compound that says: [jiàn:
sword] [shǒu: hand] [is the] (niú: cow). We have earlier decrypted the
message: (dīng: 4th heavenly stem) [and] [yì: Yi] [are] (rén: man) [with]
[jiàn: swords] [who] (xíng: walk; move; circulate). The sword hand
represents both Yi and Gun. However, Yi and Gun circulate in an alternating
manner as binary state dualities where one exists at the exclusion of the other.
Through the Conundrum, we have also decrypted: (gàn: stem) [yì: Yi] [is
a] [1. jīn: metal 2. jiàn: sword]. Therefore the [jiàn: sword] represents a dead
Yi. We can therefore interpret the (niú: cow) to represent a live Gun and a
dead Yi.

In Seal Script, the ancients say: [gǔn: Gun] and [yì: Yi] (qiǎn: receptacle)
[is the] (niú: cow). The same associate compound exists in Kai Script (niú:
cow).

In the Duality Code, life and death is depicted through vertical inversion–the
(shì: shi) stand right side up on Earth, whereas the dead shi who become the
heavenly (gān: stems) stand upside down in Heaven. The same logograph
represents a live (shì: shi) and a [gān: dead shi]. The logograph [yì: Yi]
can therefore be inverted to represent [dead Yi].

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

： 丨[gǔn: Gun] [dead Yi] (qiǎn: receptacle) (niú: cow).

The ancients say: 丨[gǔn: Gun] [dead Yi] (qiǎn: receptacle) (niú: cow).
The (niú: cow) represents a binary state duality. A live (niú: cow) is a
(qiǎn: receptacle) that represents a live 丨[gǔn: Gun] and a [dead Yi].
Therefore a dead [dead cow] represents a dead 丨[gǔn: Gun] and a live [yì:
Yi].

The vertically inverted Oracle Script (niú: cow) depicts (1. rén: man 2. dà:
big) [unbifurcated]. Therefore, the character can be viewed as an ideograph
of [bifurcation; castration], it is pictograph of a [eunuch], and it is also an
associative compound that says: (zhǔ: master) (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) [is
either] (tài: excessive) or (tài: superior). Furthermore, thanks to the lessons
encrypted into the Conundrum, we can understand that the single character
(tài: excessive; superior) is also an associate compound sentence that
encapsulates the Mandate of Heaven:

(zhǔ: master) (rén: man) (tài: excessive),

[diǎn: dot] (rén: man) (tài: superior).
(zhǔ: master) (rén: man) (tài: superior),
[diǎn: dot] (rén: man) (tài: excessive).

When the master of men [emperor] is excessive [non-virtuous], the dot man [the
dog criminal is superior–Yi shoots the ten suns and brings about duality
change [dynastic change]. When the master of men is superior [virtuous], the
dot man is excessive–Yi does not shoot the ten suns.

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The leader’s command is to (hé: combine, unite) (mìng: fate). Fate

combines and unites when [tiānmìng: heaven’s fate; Mandate of Heaven]
and [gémìng: leather’s fate; revolution] are united. Mao invoked the
Mandate of Heaven when he launched the Cultural Revolution. The shi may be
viewed as the non-virtuous Confucian emperor who had exploited and
oppressed the Chinese common man and slaves since antiquity.

The formal name for the Cultural Revolution is the (wú

chǎn jiējí wénhuà dàgémìng: Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution). It may be
viewed as a class war of the landless common man against the hierarchical
social class that traditionally owned land in imperial China. In effect, the
Cultural Revolution was the PRC’s class war against the shi hierarchical class
and against the Duality Code in which Confucian doctrines for a hierarchical
society are encrypted.

Yi is a shape-shifter who transforms his way throughout Chinese culture. In an

earlier chapter we had decrypted the messages: (rén: man) [who] [èr:
revolts] [is a] (fū: husband), as well as [yīn: yin; secret] (1. rén: man 2. dà:
big) [in] (fū: husband; man). There is a secret (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) who is
a (fū: husband). We have now reached an understanding of the Duality Code
that permits us to uncover this secret.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Marriage is a rite of passage that results in a (fū: husband). In years past,

marriages were arranged by parents for their children and people, irrespective
of age, were not considered fully-fledged adults until after they had been
married. On the day of their marriage, the couple become the (xīnrén:
bride and groom). This bigram decomposes to reveal the associate compound:
(rén: people) (xīn: new) [are] (xīnrén: bride and groom). There is a
(xīnniáng: bride) together with a (xīnláng: bridegroom). These bigrams
decompose to reveal the associate compound sentences: (niáng: young girl)
[is] (xīn: new) (xīnniáng: bride), and (láng: youth) 1 [is] (xīn: new)
(xīnláng: bridegroom). As the (xīnláng: bridegroom) is a husband, I
make the decryption [xīnláng: bridegroom, husband].

The Chinese have a folk tale that is sometimes described as the Chinese
valentine story. This story forms the basis for the (qīxī jié: Qixi Festival,
Double Seventh Festival), which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar
month and this day is sometimes described as the Chinese Valentine Day. The
hero of the story is (niúláng: cowherd) who marries the youngest of seven
fairy sisters. As with all legends and tales that have descended to us over
periods of time measured in millennia, there is some variation. I have
synthesised an abridged account of this folk tale:

One day, a young cowherd named Niulang came across seven fairy
sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous charge,
which was an old ox, he stole the clothes belonging to the fairies.
Upon discovering their discomfort of having had their clothes

1
MDBG Dictionary: .

403
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stolen, the fairies elected the youngest and most beautiful sister
Zhinu to retrieve their clothing. In retrieving the clothing, she was
seen in all her glory by Niulang. Having compromised her honour,
Zhiinu marries Niulang in order to redeem her honour. They lived a
happy life on earth bringing up the two sons.

When Zhinu’s mother, a goddess in Heaven, eventually learned of

their marriage, she was furious and immediately sent heavenly
troops to escort Zhinu back. Niulang was very upset when he found
that his wife had disappeared. Suddenly, the old ox that was in his
charge began to talk, telling him that if he killed it and put on its
hide, he would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife. Crying
bitterly, he killed the old ox, put on the ox hide, and carried his two
children off to Heaven to find Zhinu.

Observing Niulang approaching Heaven, Zhinu’s mother removed

her golden hairpin and created a river in Heaven, the Milky Way,
between Niulang and Zhinu. The poor couple were separated again,
destined to watch each other from afar across the Milky Way,
Zhinu as the star Vega and Niulang as the star Altair. But once a
year, all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly
up into Heaven to form the bridge of magpies so that the lovers
may meet and be together on the seventh night of the seventh moon,
thus giving us the Qixi Festival.

We have uncovered the [yīn: yin; secret] (1. rén: man 2. dà: big) [in] (fū:
husband; man). The (fū: husband) is a duality of the [xīnláng:

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bridegroom, husband]. Through the character (láng: youth), the husband

called (xīn: new) (láng: youth) has a duality in the (niúláng: cowherd)
who is the (niú: cow) (láng: youth).

In the story behind the Qixi Festival, Niulang kills an old ox [a dead cow
represents a dead Gun] and rides up to heaven to find his wife, Zhinu, on the
old ox’s hide [leather]. The (mìng: fate) [of] (gé: leather) is (gémìng:
revolution). The story of Niulang is a story about revolution. Niulang is Yi. The
Qizi Festival celebrates Yi, just as the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates Yi.

The New Culture Movement at the beginning of the twentieth-century sought

to abolish traditional Confucian Chinese culture. At the forefront of the New
Culture Movement was Chen Duxiu’s (xīn qīngniàn: New Youth)
magazine. The name of the magazine may be seen as a reference to (xīn: new)
(láng: youth) who is the [xīnláng: bridegroom, husband], which in turn
has a duality association with the story of (niúláng: cowherd). When New
Youth magazine was established in 1915, the shi literati would have been able
to decipher the duality associations. The name New Youth may be viewed as a
call for duality change, a call for revolution.

The New Culture Movement emphasised the replacement of Confucianism with

Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy, holding English and American democracy as
its role model. After the Treaty of Versailles handed Chinese territory from
Germany to Japan, the May Fourth Movement of 1919 took Russian socialism
as its role model as a result of Russian overtures. In July 1919 the deputy
commissioner for foreign affairs for Soviet Russia, Lev Karakhan, issued the
Karakhan Manifesto. The manifesto offered to relinquish rights in China that

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Russia had obtained by treaty, including extraterritoriality and economic

concessions, and it swayed Chinese revolutionaries towards Marxism. Chen
Duxiu, a leader of the New Culture Movement, as well as the May Fourth
Movement, went on to be co-founder of the CCP in July 1921 with a young Mao
Zedong in attendance. China’s path towards a society based on a western style
democracy had been diverted towards Mr. Marx.

During the New Culture Movement, the most extreme proposal towards the
abolition of Confucian Chinese culture was for the replacement of the entire
Chinese written and spoken language with Esperanto. In 1918, Qian Xuantong,
a linguist and professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, said: ‘If you
want to abolish Confucianism, then you must first abolish the Chinese
language ...’. This initiated China’s public discourse on orthographic reform
that lasted some forty years until the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1957.
Qian Xuantong also said:

If we don’t want China to perish, and if we want it to be a civilized

nation in the twentieth century, the best thing to do would be to
abandon Confucianism and Daoism, and the simplest way toward
this end would be to abandon written Chinese, in which the
Confucian doctrines and Daoist fallacies were recorded. After
written Chinese is abandoned ... we should adopt Esperanto, an
artificial language that is concise in grammar, uniform in
pronunciation, and elegant in its word roots.2

2
Ping Chen, ‘China’, in Andrew Simpson (ed.), Language and National Identity in Asia, p. 151.

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 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

The mystery of China’s Orthographic dilemma has been solved. Confucian

doctrines and Daoist fallacies are recorded in Chinese characters. The Mandate
of Heaven is recorded in Chinese characters. Chinese characters may be called
the (kǎishū: Kai Book), or the [kǎishū: Duality Capsule Book]. In
order to abolish Confucianism, the [kǎishū: Duality Capsule Book] had to
be burned. Basic orthographic reform was required.

Political historian Elizabeth J. Perry provides insights on the role of the

Mandate of Heaven in China’s many rebellions and revolutions, which may
shed light on why Li Xun said, ‘If Chinese characters are not eradicated, China
will perish’:

China’s impressive record of rebellion and revolution is due not

simply to the country’s extraordinary size and longevity, but also to
the fact that central elements in Chinese political culture have
directly encouraged such protests. The Confucian (or Mencian, to
be precise) concept of a “Mandate of Heaven” (tiānmìng) bestowed
instant legitimacy upon successful rebel leaders. This pragmatic
precept differed markedly from European notions of a “divine
right of kings” ...3

Following the founding of the PRC in 1949, it was expected that China would
institute basic orthographic reform to replace the logographic Kai Script with
a phonetic script. However, shi intellectuals were successful in their opposition
to basic orthographic reform. In 1950, Mao had to concede to political realities

3
Elizabeth J. Perry, Challenging the Mandate of Heaven, Social Protest and State Power in China, p.ix.

407
 Clouds

and ordered that orthographic reform would begin with simplification. In

December 1955, the PRC began orthographic reform by releasing the first list
of simplified script. Zhou Enlai provides insights:

In the 1950s, we tried to romanize the writing. But all those who
had received an education, and whose services we absolutely needed
to expand education were firmly attached to ideograms. They were
already so numerous, and we had so many things to upset, that we
have put off the reform until later.4

Mao needed the services of the shi to educate the illiterate common man and
may have had to make concessions for their co-operation. Although Mao had
to yield to political realities and begin orthographic reform with simplification
of Chinese characters, he nevertheless held on to the belief that basic
orthographic reform had to take place. It was the only way to eliminate the
Confucian doctrines encrypted into Chinese characters. In a private letter to an
old schoolmate dated May 1955, Mao said:

Pinyin writing is a form of writing that is relatively convenient.

Chinese characters are too complicated and difficult. At present we
are only engaged in reform along the lines of simplification, but
some day in the future we must inevitably carry out a basic
[orthographic] reform.5

4
John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, p. 258.
5
Ibid, p. 295.

408
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

Following the Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956–1957), the PRC launched the
Anti-Rightist Movement (1957–1959), which was followed, in 1966, by the
Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). One of the stated goals of the Cultural
Revolution was to bring about an end to the Four Olds (old custom, habits,
culture and thinking). The shi literati were persecuted and there was a Criticise
Confucius campaign. The Cultural Revolution may be viewed as an attempt to
erase the decryption keys of the Duality Code. It may also be viewed as
repression of the shi intellectuals who were sent for re-education in rural
settings. It is possible to hypothesise that the Cultural Revolution could have
been averted, if basic orthographic reform to replace Kai Script had been
successful.

In 1955, the scholar and linguist Zhou Youguang was appointed by the PRC to
head a committee for the reform of the Chinese language, which resulted in the
introduction of Hanyu Pinyin in 1958. As a consequence, Zhou Youguang is
often known as the Father of Pinyin. On the 50th anniversary of Pinyin in 2008,
he gave an interview to a UK newspaper, the Guardian, in which he said
cryptically (in English): “I’m not the Father of Pinyin–I’m the Son of Pinyin”.6
This cryptic statement was an allusion to Chinese funeral rites–Zhou said he
was the son of Pinyin, which implies that Pinyin was the father whose coffin
was to be sealed by the son. It was a cryptic assertion that he had a hand in
killing off Pinyin as a means towards basic orthographic reform. It is, however,
not possible to give Zhou exclusive credit for the survival of Chinese
characters. Before Zhou was handed his language reform brief in 1955, Mao
had already (in 1950) been forced by other defenders of Chinese characters to

6
Tania Branigan, ‘Sound Principles’, The Guardian, 21 February 2008.

409
 Clouds

prioritise Simplified Script over basic orthographic reform. Even earlier,

opposition to basic orthographic reform may have caused the discontinuation
of Latinxua Sinwenz in 1944 despite Mao’s stated enthusiasm for it in his
interview with American journalist Edgar Snow in 1936.

Prior to Confucius, an education was the sole privilege of the aristocracy.

Confucius was the first person to offer private education and all his students
came from the different strata of shi society. Before Confucius, only the
aristocracy had access to state schools. Confucius taught the Six Arts, which
covered the subject areas required for classical exegesis. A classical Confucian
education was the privilege of the shi that was not extended to the common
people and slaves. Upon passing the imperial examinations, the shi literati
could avail themselves of the benefits of the hierarchical Confucian society.
Historian Hsieh Bao Hua, who has studied servitude in late imperial China,
explains:

Once literati embarked on an official career, as many as a thousand

men voluntarily assembled under his protection. ... A successful
example was demonstrated in the household management of Xu Jie
(1503–83), the chief Grand Secretary serving Jiajing and Longqing
emperors. After retiring from his public service, Xu Jie became a
substantial landlord of approximately 2,400 acres and silk-
production owner in Songjiang, Jiangsu. About 10,000 bondservants
and indentured servants farmed land, control tenants and collect
rent, manage business [sic], and worked in his grand mansion-estate

410
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

and textile manufacture for the massive demand of the nationwide

market.7

Zhou Youguang, the Son of Pinyin, said: ‘The mission of Confucianism in

history was to defend the legitimacy of monarchs and maintain the social and
political order of a feudal state’. 8 The objective of the (shū: book) (qì:
contract) or (shūqì: art or invention of writing) was to defend the
legitimacy of monarchs and maintain the social and political order of a
hierarchical Confucian feudal state. The social and political order of the
Confucian feudal state was based on slavery and servitude of the common man
to the shi. This was stated by Mencius as:

Great men have their proper business and little men have their
proper business. ... Hence, there is the saying, “Some labour with
their minds, and some labour with their strength. Those who labour
with their minds govern others; those who labour with their
strength are governed by others. Those who are governed by others
support them; those who govern others are supported by them.”
This is a principal universally recognised.9

The Duality Code envisages cycles of yin and yang–change is continual and
inevitable. At the dawn of the twenty-first-century, there was a Confucian
revival in China. In 2004, the PRC marked the birth of Confucius with a state-

7
Hsieh Bao Hua, Concubinage and Servitude in Late Imperial China, pp. 97–98.
8
Zhou Youguang, ‘To Inherit the Ancient Teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Establish Modern
Confucianism’, Sino-Platonic Papers, no. 226, 2012, p. 11.
9
James Legge (Tr.), The Works of Mencius,

411
 Clouds

sponsored ceremony at the Temple of Confucius in Qufu, and this annual

celebration has been broadcast on China’s state television since 2005. In 2014,
Time magazine noted China’s President Xi Jinping’s enthusiasm for Confucius
and benevolent rule:

Earlier in the year he [President Xi] extolled the wonders of

benevolent rule in an address to party cadres ... Last year, Xi, like so
many Emperors of old, visited Qufu, Confucius’ hometown. During
his tour, he pledged to read Confucian texts and praised the
continuing value of Chinese traditional culture.10

There has been a duality change and Confucian hierarchical ideals of the social
and political order of a feudal state may once again be on the agenda. Legalism
may be viewed as egalitarianism in law. Just as the Qin dynasty, which adopted
Legalism that held equality of all before the law as a central principal did not
endure; the communist ideal of an egalitarian society may not have endured.
History repeats.

With the Confucian revival in China, it is again permissible to read the

Confucian doctrines and Daoist fallacies contained in classical texts. In order
to do this, we have to understand the Duality Code. The ancients tell us: [yǐn:
secret] [niàn: study] [for a] (shì: generation). This book has barely

10
Michael Schuman, ‘The Chinese President’s Love Affair With Confucius Could Backfire on Him’, Time,
30 October 2014.

412
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

scratched the surface of the Duality Code. It may take a generation of scholars
to unravel all its secrets.

侌
There are many secrets in the Duality Code. The ancients say cryptically:
(yún: say; clouds) (jīn: today) [therefore] (yīn: yin; moon; secret). A
cloudy day is when the sun that represents yang is obscured, therefore it means
yin. There is an additional Duality Code message that says: (yún: say; clouds)
[and] (jīn: today) [have] (yīn: yin; moon; secret)–they contain secrets. The
secrets in (yún: say; clouds) are (gōng: forearm), 11 [yīn: yin; moon;
secret] and [èr: to revolt]; and the secret in (jīn: today) are [yí: change
place] and [yì: Yi] .

The ancients say cryptically: (gōng: forearm) [yīn: yin; moon; secret]
(yún: say; clouds)–cloud is a substitution cipher for Yi’s forearm secret. Is
the forearm linked to a left hand or a right hand?

Xu Shen hid a ciphertext message in the Shuowen Dictionary in which he

addresses you as ‘ (kě: possible) (gong: worker)’. The Kangxi Dictionary

11
Kangxi Dictionary, p. 164 #2: .

413
 Clouds

tells us that (gong: worker) also means (guan: government official).12 To

the emperor, the (guan: government official) is a (gong: worker). The
plaintext of Xu Shen’s encrypted message may be interpreted to say:

(zhǎng: leader) (lìng: command) (lǎo: old) (kǎo: test),

(xìn: believe; letter) (wǔ: military) (kě: possible) (gong: government
official),
(yuè: moon) (rì: day) (xià: inferior; bring down) (shàng: superior; go
up).

The ancients say: (shì: shi) (rén: man) (shì: official; serve government). In
imperial China, government officials were drawn from the ranks of the shi who
understood the Duality Code. Xu Shen was addressing you as a shi who is a
(kě: possible) (gong: government official).

The understanding that (gong: worker) can mean (gong: government

official), leads us back to the character (wū: shaman). The ancients say:
(gong: government official) (cóng: from, through) (wū: shaman). This
leads to the deduction that (gong: government officials) who (shì: serve
government) are the (shì: shi) descendants of ancient (wū: shamans).
According to Chen Mengjia, Shang dynasty oracle bones indicate that kings
were shamans. This leads to the deduction that the (shì: shi) were

12
Kangxi Dictionary: p. 325 #1: .

414
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

descendants of ancient shaman kings. Although some academics trace the

origins of the shi to the Zhou dynasty, they may have an earlier origin.
Etymologist Richard Sears has identified an Oracle Script (shì: shi).13 The
etymology of the character (shì: shi) is shown in Table 78.

In Leviathan, Hobbes conceived the state of nature as being a binary state

duality of either war or peace. The Chinese conceived their universe as a duality
that is either yin or yang. The yang duality where the emperor is virtuous may
be seen as being the equivalent of Hobbes’ peace. The yin duality where the
emperor is not virtuous and Yi takes up his bow in revolution may be seen as
the equivalent of Hobbes’ war.

At the age of 94 years, Sun Yaoting, the last Chinese eunuch died on 17
December 1996. The last generation of Chinese eunuchs has passed. With every
passing year, the number of Chinese who were once non-eunuch slaves or
concubines decreases. Memories of slavery are getting dim. New emperors of
China worship in Qufu. The red star over China has long since faded. There are
classical clouds over China. Are they storm clouds?

13
https://hanziyuan.net/: .

415
 Clouds

For WARRE, conſiſteth not in Battell onely, or the aƈt of fighting ;

but in a traƈt of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is
ſufficiently known : and therefore the notion of Time, is to be
confidered in the nature of Warre ; as it is in the nature of Weather.
For as the nature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a ſhowre or two of
rain ; but in an inclination thereto of many dayes together ...14

14
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p. 62.

416
 Postface

The archaeologists who uncovered the 8,500-year-old Jiahu symbols reported

their findings in Antiquity, Vol. 77, Issue 295, 2003.1

The illustrations of Jiahu symbols in earlier sections of this book are base on a
display of Jiahu symbols at the Henan Museum in China. One of the
illustrations in the article in Antiquity differs sufficiently from the illustration
at the Henan Museum as to warrant disclosure. It is not known whether the
two illustrations are based on a single Jiahu inscription, or on two separate
Jiahu inscriptions. The two illustrations are recreated in Table 79. It is
hypothesised that the two symbols contain the same associative compound
sentence.

1
Xueqin Li et al., ‘The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province,
China’, Antiquity, vol. 77, issue 295, 2003, pp. 31–44.

417
 Postface

Jiahu symbols were primarily incised on tortoise shells that comprise a flat
bottom called the plastron, and a curved top called the carapace. Top and
bottom are dualities, as are flat and curved. According to the article in
Antiquity, symbols were oriented to be read with the plastrons inverted.
Inversions, right side up and upside down, are dualities.

The article stated that some pairs of plastron and carapace have holes near the
edge, through which they could be linked with a thin cord to form a box. In the
Duality Code, boxes are substitution ciphers for the duality capsule. Some of
these tortoise shell boxes contained groups of pebbles, carefully chosen for size
and colour. The article in Antiquities only provides sketchy details of the
pebbles. Where details of colour are provided, they are either stated to be black,
or a mix of black and white. Black and white are dualities.

The contents of an adult male grave at Jiahu (Grave M387) included a tortoise
shell plastron M387:4 which bears two inscriptions. One is described as a single
downstroke sign resembling the character for ‘ten’ in Oracle Script [ ], and
the other is illustrated as and described to be similar to the Oracle Script
character for ‘eight’. This is the same combination of characters found on the
palm of the Four Voices diagram illustrated in the Kangxi Dictionary, which is
a reference to the Duality Code. From this same tomb, a broken carapace that
is the matching counterpart of plastron M387:4 bears the inscription . The
plastron is the bottom of the tortoise and does not see the sun, therefore it can
be hypothesised that it represents (yīn: yin; dark; moon; secret) and it bears
the inscriptions and . Similarly, the carapace is the top of the tortoise that
faces the sun, therefore it can be hypothesised that it represents (yáng: yang;
light; sun) and it bears the inscription . Yin and yang are two parts of a

418
 China’s Orthographic Dilemma

duality that combine to form a unity with the inscriptions . It is

consequently not true that Jiahu symbols only occur individually. I have
hypothesised the meaning of [jù: great; chief] earlier in this book. The
message on the plastron and carapace combines to say [gǔn: Gun] [bā:
break open] [jù: great; chief]. Jiahu (Grave M387) contains a tortoise shell
that may indicate the grave of a historical Yi who, upon death, becomes a
(jiǎ: 1st heavenly stem; shell).

Oracle Script artefacts were found at the site of the last Shang capital, which
may be referred to as the Yin ruins, or Yinxu. The article states that the
inscription is ‘fairly close to a sign in the Yinxu inscriptions and seems to be a
person with a conspicuous right hand’.2 The right hand is the hand that places
a cover over the man in Oracle Script (mǎ: horse). The Yinxu inscription
referred to is not clearly identified in the article. It is conceivable that it refers
to , which is in turn fairly close to the Bronze Script character (jù: large,
great; chief).

The article briefly discusses precursors of Chinese writing in Neolithic symbols

inscribed on pottery. It states: ‘In Jiangzhai (4600–4000 BCE) and other
contemporary Banpo-type villages, the placement and complex structure of
numerous strokes suggest that the markings were purposeful, conventional
signs intended to convey significant meaning, at least to a restricted group of
elites’.3

2
Xueqin Li et al., ‘The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province,
China’, Antiquity, vol. 77, issue 295, 2003, p. 37.
3
Ibid, p. 39.

419
 Postface

The oppression of the illiterate by literate elites may date to the very beginning
of ancient China’s history–to the very conception of the written word. The
evolution of Chinese characters, found on artefacts from China’s Neolithic
Period, into modern Chinese writing is a phenomenon that merits further
investigation. The Duality Code has extremely ancient roots.

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450
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Liu, Yang, ‘A Reexamination of Banpo Pottery Symbols’, Journal of Beijing
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453