Let's Rewrite Chinese History!

[Novelis]

Hello everybody, I’ve recently started a project that I hope some would be interested in helping me with.

As some of you may know, I am a (quite) fluent Chinese speaker, and I’ve been trying to help out with translating some SOTT materials, namely the EE materials, but unfortunately, my written Chinese wasn’t good enough to do the job confidently or competently (Please accept my sincere apologies), so I have been thinking about how to get myself to a more adequate level in order to be more helpful to the SOTT forum.

The trouble arises from the fact that although I am quite capable of communicating to Chinese speakers, I lack the adequate vocabulary to express the complex concepts expressed in more advanced thought/works.

Adding to the difficulties, I also have tremendous problems trying to type out Chinese words, since, when typing, one needs to know how a word sounds, and Chinese characters basically doesn’t have a phonetic alphabet.

Now, the way that children in Taiwan learn how a word sounds is by using the pin yin system, so most children’s books contain not only the actual Chinese characters, but also the pin yin next to each word so that children can associate the correct sounds with the words.

With Chinese words, how it is written and how it is said, it’s all about learning by rote memory, basically speaking.

Now, I have in my possession a rather large children’s book, written in Chinese, with the pin yin next to each character so that I know what sound each word makes. This makes it easier for me to type the text out, since I don’t have to spend ten or so minutes looking up the sound of each word I can’t pronounce.

Not only that, but since it’s only a children’s book, the concepts aren’t too difficult for me to translate into English.

The book’s title can be translated as “5,000 years of Chinese history”, it’s the “mainstream/orthodox” version of history that every Chinese child is programmed into believing from a very young age.

A few weeks ago, I started to type out this book, paragraph by paragraph, in order to expand my lexical pool, when I noticed something quite... Well, obvious really.

It’s all disinformation, lies upon lies upon more lies… Some lies I have been able to spot due to reading SOTT materials, but I am by no means an expert like some members on this forum… This state of affairs, the thought that they are teaching this nonsense to children, while shameful, can still nonetheless be used to our advantage.

I had the idea that I could write out these segments onto the forum, then, when people read these segments, if they have anything to say about it, then they could respond to it... “Setting the record straight” so to speak, and I could then translate these commentaries back into Chinese.

Following this route, there are many valuable gains to be had.

Firstly, for my own (selfish) progression, I could practise translation at the level that I am currently capable of performing, and over time, I will be able to get to the point where full fluency can be gained, and I can then participate in more ambitious translation projects such as interpreting SHOTW, Ponerlogy and hopefully more.

Secondly, If we use this method of working, we can end up with a more objective, chronologically ordered account of Chinese history.

Last but not least, I have noticed that, in all SOTT related materials such as the SHOTW, the wave series etc, I haven’t really seem much in depth analysis of Chinese history, or Chinese philosophy for that matter.

Maybe it’s because we simply do not need the “extra data” in order to catch a glimpse of the bigger picture and the workings behind our reality, but I think that more data can only be a good thing, so that we can build up our foundations upon even more solid ground.

So, let me just present what I have typed out so far, and let me just say that, if anyone finds the translation into English lacking in any way, then I beg your pardon, and please let me know, I am still learning after all…

Ok! If anyone spots some COINTELPRO/disinfo regarding the following segments, then please respond to this post and we'll just let the discussion go where it goes:

 

[Novelis]

Re: Let's Change Chinese History!

中國歷史五千年
Five thousand years of Chinese history

第一單元：古代聖王
Chapter one: Ancient saint kings

中國文化博大精深，中國歷史更是源源流長；若是依據地下出土的遺跡來算，應該可以上推到五十萬年的「北京人時代」。
The culture of the Chinese is deep and profound, its history is even more so. If we go by the remains that have been dug up from the ground, then we can likely trace “the era of Bei-Jingians” back five hundred thousand years.

而我們常說，我國有五千年的歷史文化；那麼，這又是根據甚麼來說的呢？是根據漢朝司馬遷先生所做的「史紀」！
As we often say, our country has five thousand years of history and culture; then, what are we basing this on? We are basing it on the book written by Mr. Si Ma Qian during the Han dynasty known as the “Records of the grand historian”!

在史記中，國史可上溯到四千六百餘年前的「黃帝時代」，約個整數，所以說：中國已有五千年的歷史文化了。
In the Records of the grand historian, it is said that our history can be traced back to “The era of the yellow emperor”, four thousand six hundred years ago. This is a rough estimate, so that’s why we say we have five thousand years of history and culture.

一般來說，黃帝是中國歷史的源頭；然而，若是要以「文字」的紀錄去探索，截至目前為止，中國所發現的最早文字，則屬於三千多年前，商朝時代的「甲骨文」。
Normally we would say that the Yellow emperor is the source of Chinese history and culture; However, if one wants to use “words” as a record to investigate history, then as far we know, the earliest words that were discovered in China, from three thousand years ago, are the “oracle bones” found written during the Shang dynasty.

因此，我們又可以說：中國的歷史，直到商潮時才進入「信史時代」。信史，就是有紀錄可查的歷史。
Therefore, we can also state that Chinese history is only traceable up to the Shang dynasty.

在「古代聖王」這個單元中，歷史故事將從有趣的盤古開天說起，一直演進到夏、商、周三代。我們可從這個單元裏，找出中華民族開化的歷程。
So, in this chapter about the Ancient saint kings, we will begin our historical tale with the story of how Pan Gu opened up the heavens, up until the mystical Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. We will begin to map out, from this chapter, how the Chinese civilization developed in its earliest days.

中華文化博大精深，中國歷史更是光輝燦爛，大家都知道中國已有五千年悠久的歷史，也都知道黃帝是中華民族共同的始祖。
The Chinese culture is deep and profound, but the history of China is even more brilliant. We already know that China has a five thousand year long history, and we all know that the Yellow Emperor is considered the first ancestor of the Chinese nation.

相傳，在黃帝之間，還有「盤古開天」、「女媧造人」的開國神話，與有巢氏、燧人氏、伏羲氏、神農氏等傳奇人物。
Along with the legend of the Yellow Emperor, there are myths that tell us how our history began, such as “Pang Gu opening the heavens” and “Nu Wa creating humans”. There are also many legendary figures that appeared during this time.

我們就從這些神話故事來「開講」。由於黃帝以前的歷史並無文字的記載，所以，將之總稱為「神化時代」。
So, let’s begin our history from these myths of creation. Since there are no written records before the time of the Yellow Emperor, we will call the era before then the “Era of the Gods”.

我們每天看著蔚藍的天空，青翠的大地，是不是也會產生許多的疑問呢？究竟是誰創造了這個多采多姿的世界呢？
As it was in the times of old, every day we can see the blue sky and the green earth, don’t you think some curiosity would’ve arose about the world? Exactly who created our colourful world?

歷史上的第一個人又是怎麼來的呢？關於這些問題，各個民族都有其一套的說法，人們通常是說：「這是神造的，或是甚麼東西變的。。。。。。」
How did the first man and woman come to be? For these questions, every nation has a way of explaining it, most people say: “This world was created by God, or the world changed from something else into this…”

而我們中國對這幾個問題，也有一些說法，其中比較有趣，並為大家都熟悉的是下面這個「盤古開天闢地」的故事。
For us, the people of China, we also have a few sayings. The most interesting one, and the one everyone is familiar with, is the legend of “Pan Gu opens the heavens and the earth”.

話說在遠古的很久很久以前，天和第本是相連在一起的，那時候的世界，看起來是既黑暗又模糊，像是個大雞蛋一樣。
As the legend goes, it is said that a long, long time ago, heaven and earth was one. The universe, during that time, was dark and turbid, like a big egg.

在這混混沌沌的世界裏，出現了盤古。開始的時候，盤古一直就沒開過眼，就這樣經過了一萬八千年。
In this world of nothingness, there appeared a God called Pan Gu. In the beginning, Pan Gu never opened his eyes before, so, just like this, sixteen thousand years went by,

終於，有一天，他睡醒了，睜開眼睛一看：「阿呀！怎麼黑呼呼的一片，甚麼也看不見呢？」於是，盤古很不高興的想：「我好不容易才醒過來，外面的世界怎麼這個樣子呢！」
Finally, one day, he woke up and opened his eyes: “Oh my! Why is the world so dark that I can’t see anything?” Also, he unhappily thought to himself: “It took me ages to wake up, so why is the world like this!?”

他越想越不舒服，也不知道從哪裏抓來了一把大斧，順手朝眼前的黑暗世界「呼」的一劈……
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Now, don’t ask me where he got it from, but Pan Gu grabbed a big axe and took a swipe at the darkness in front of him…

「嘩喇」一聲，驚天動地的巨響，混沌的世界突然起了變化，比較輕的東西，漸漸的向上升起，變成了「天」，而那些既濁又重的東西，變慢慢的沉了下來，成為「地」，於是，清爽的世界形成了。
There was a colossal shattering sound, and the turbid darkness started to take on a new form. The lighter things started to float its way to the top, and became “heaven”. Meanwhile, the heavy and feculent things started to slowly sink to the bottom, becoming “earth”, so there after; a fresh new universe took shape.

可是，事情還沒完呢！由於天地才剛剛分開，「天」有時候會降下來，「地」有時候又會升起來，「天」和「地」常常會偷偷的又合了起來，這可惹火了盤古，他說：「好吧！那我就頭頂著天，腳踏著地，看你們還有沒有辦法合起來？」
However, things weren’t over yet! As soon as heaven and earth separated, “heaven” would sometimes sink, while “earth” would sometimes rise, making “heaven” and “earth” unite again. This really annoyed Pan Gu, so he scoffed: “Fine! I’ll use my head to hold heaven up, and I’ll use my feet to keep the earth down, let’s see if you two can still unite!”

從此，天與地就被盤古撐住了，隨著盤古身體的長高，天地間的距離也漸漸拉遠，又過了一萬八千年，盤古的身子愈長愈高，看起來就像一根支撐在天地間的石柱一般。
From that time on, heaven and earth were held in place by Pan Gu. As Pan Gu grew taller and taller, the distance between heaven and earth grew further and further apart. After another one hundred and eighty thousand years, as Pan Gu’s body grew taller, he started to look like a column between heaven and earth, strutting the two opposites in place.

每天，他孤獨的站在那哩，等的就是讓天地間固起來。終於這一天到了，天地以固定了，此時，疲倦的盤古慢慢的躺下來，嘆口氣說：「唉！我真的需要休息了！」於是，他也和我們人類一樣老死了。
So, everyday, he stood there alone, waiting for heaven and earth to finally rest in place. Finally when this day came, when heaven and earth were set in place, Pan Gu, exhausted, slowly started to lie down on the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief, saying: “Oh, now I really have to get some rest!” And so it was, just like human beings, Pan Gu eventually died of old age.

可是，他臨死的時候，卻仍然沒有忘記這個世界，盤古喘息著說：「讓我把這個身體也奉獻給世界吧！」
However, when he was about to die, he still didn’t forget this world, so he uses his last breath and says: “I shall consecrate my body as well for this world!”

慢慢的，他口裏呼出的氣變成了風和雲，呼吸的聲音變成了雷電，左眼成了太陽，右眼成了月亮，四肢變成了地間的四極，頂住東、西、南、北四方，軀體變成山嶺，血液成為江河，筋脈成了道路，肌肉化為泥土，頭髮和鬍鬚成天上的星星，皮膚、汗毛也成為花草樹木，牙齒和骨頭都成為名貴的玉石與金屬，就連那汗水也成了雨露。
Slowly, his breath became the wind and the clouds, while the sound of his breath became thunder. His left eye turned into the sun, and his right eye became the moon. His four limbs became the four directions, namely the east, the west, the south and the north. The bulk of his body became the mountains, his blood turned into lakes and rivers, his tendons became pathways, while his muscles changed into the soil. The hair on his face and his head became the stars in the sky, while his skin and body hair turned into flowers and trees. His teeth and his bones all became precious stones and metals, even his sweat became the rain.

總之一句話，盤古用他的身體來妝扮世界，才有今天這樣的美景。
In other words, the only reason why we have such a beautiful world is because Pan Gu used his body to “dress” the cosmos.

在盤古死後不知道經過了多少億萬年，大地上又出現一位上半身是人形，而下半身卻是蛇樣的女神，女媧，因為日子過得太寂寞，所以她就玩起泥巴來。
After Pan Gu died, nobody knows how many millions of years passed by, until, on the earth, there appeared another being, whose upper body was that of a woman, while her lower body was that of a snake. She was a Goddess called Nu Wa, and because she had spent too many days feeling lonely, she started to play with some clay.

由於她沒有腳，覺得行動起來很不方便，所以她就想：「如果『人』也有『腳』，那就好多了！」於是，當女媧在捏「泥人」時，就根據她上半身的形狀，捏出頭、身體和手來，然後她又依照手的樣子捏了二條腿，泥人就大功告成了。
Since she didn’t have any legs, she felt like moving around was very inconvenient, so she thought: “If ‘people’ also have ‘legs’, then that would be so much better!” Thus, while Nu Wa was molding together these ‘clay people’, she used her upper form as a model to mold their heads, their upper bodies and arms, and then she used her arms as a model to create two legs, and, hey presto, the clay people were created into being.

女媧所捏造的這些『泥人』，經過天地的孕育，後來竟變成了「真人」。而這些『人』的手和腳的長度與公用都差不多，雖然無法像現今的人類那般直立行走，但已經很不錯了。
Once these “Clay people” that were created by Nu Wa went through the divine light of heaven and earth, they became “real people”. These people had arms and legs that were of similar length, and although they weren’t able to walk on two legs like modern man, they were already very similar to the people of today.

最起碼也有如現今的猿猴般，可以東奔西跑，在森林中跳上跳下的。
At least they were just like today’s ape, they could run around in the plains, as well as jump up and down in the forests.

有了這些「猿人」的活動，大地便顯得非常熱鬧，他們一代一代的地傳接下來，老一代的死去，新一代的長成。
With these “Ape men” running around, the earth seemed to become bustling with noise. They lived like so for many generations, out with the older generation, and in with the new one.

他們居住在原始的山洞裏，只知道利用一些粗糙的石器捕魚或打獵﹝至於那些魚和野獸從何而來就不知道了﹞，但仍然不曉得用火熟食，他們的生活簡直和野獸沒甚麼兩樣。
They lived in primitive mountains and caves, and they only understood how to use simple and crude tools to hunt fish and game (As to where these fish and beasts come from, nobody knows), but they still didn’t even know how to use fire to cook food. Their lives were basically like that of animals.

經過很久很久，大地上已經有許多『人』了，他們都各以自己的母親為中心，漸漸有了家庭的組織，也因此形成了一個個較有系統的小團體，其中有一個叫「有巢」的家族，最先教導大夥們在樹上搭建簡陋的樹屋，使大家不再受風雨的侵襲與猛獸的迫害，其他各族看了都紛紛學習。
After a long, long time, the earth was already filled with these ‘people’. They each considered their own mothers as the centre of their units, and so started to adopt the idea of a family, because of this, they also started to separate themselves into smaller units within themselves. Amongst these familial units, there was one called “You Chao”, which was the first family to lead everyone else to build simple huts in the trees, this was so that people wouldn’t have to endure the harsh wind and the rain, and could avoid the attacks of wild beasts. One by one, every tribe learned how to do this.

住的問題改善一些，傳說，有一天，天空的閃電擊中森林，發生了大火，很多野獸都被火燒死，大家找不到活的野獸可捕捉，只好減些被燒熟的野獸來充飢，一嚐之下，覺得熟的遠比生的好吃。
After some improvements over where to live, as the legend goes, one day, there was a lightning strike in the forest, which created a great fire. Lots of animals were burned to death, leaving everybody unable to hunt for food, so the people could only pick up some cooked remains of the animals to eat. But once they had a taste, they found that cooked food was much nicer than raw food.

人們還不懂得怎樣取火以前，「火」是上天最大的秘密，後來，有個叫做「燧人」的家族，有一次，以兩根木棒相互磨轉，磨著，磨著；竟然冒出一縷縷白煙，在繼續磨下去卻意外的迸出火星，繼而出現火種，因此，發現了取火的方法，這也就是「鑽木取火」。
Before anyone knew how to make fire, “The flame” was heavens’ greatest secret. Subsequently though, there was a clan known as the “Sui people”. They were once rubbing two sticks together, they rubbed and rubbed, and to their surprise, some white smoke started to bellow rise from the sticks. They kept going, and accidentally, some sparks started to spurt out of the two sticks, then fire finally appeared in the end. Thereafter, that’s how we discovered how to make fire, and this is called: “Making fire by rubbing sticks”.

發現了火，並懂得用火熟食以後，人們告別了「茹毛飲血」的原始生活方式。
After discovering fire, and after understanding how to use fire to cook food, humanity bid farewell to their Nascent and original way of life.

然而，為了填飽肚子，還是必須整天上山打獵，下水捕魚，有時候還甚至會賠掉生命，所以生活仍是很艱苦。
However, for keeping their bellies filled, they still had no choice but to spend their whole days climbing up mountains to hunt, while going down into the valleys to go fishing. Sometimes they would even pay for their food with their lives, so life at this time was still very harsh and arduous.

這個問題一直很不好解決，其中有個叫做「伏羲」的家族，有一次，捕回了許多野獸，一時也吃不完，便做個圍欄把他們圈起來，這個辦法，使他們感覺到如果把野獸抓回來圈住，那就不需要再天天去捕獵了，同時，也發現養在圍欄中的雌性野獸能生下許多小野獸，這下子，他們可高興得不得了，拍手大叫說：「只要把野獸抓來圈住，他們就會生出小野獸，那我們就不必冒著危險去打獵了，真是太好了！」於是，開始飼養野獸的畜牧生活。
This persistent problem kept eluding them, until there was a clan called the “Fu Xi”, whom, once, when they caught quite a few animals, they couldn’t finish eating them all at once, so they built a fence around the animals. Using this method, they realised that if they just trapped the animals that they caught, then they wouldn’t have to go hunting every day. At the same time, they also discovered that the female animals that were trapped in the fence would bare quite a few young as well, which made these people as joyous as could be. They clapped and cheered: “We only have to catch animals and fence them in, then they would give birth to MORE animals, so we will never have to risk our lives hunting ever again, fantastic!” Upon that, the domestication of animals became the new way of life.

「伏羲」這個家族發現飼養野獸的方法後，還不滿足，進而想：「現在已有大量的獸肉可吃了，但要怎樣才能捕到大量的魚呢？」
After the clan of “Fu Xi” discovered how to raise animals, (they) still weren’t satisfied, and thought: “Now (we) already have large quantities of meat that can be eaten, but how can (we) catch a large quantity of fish?”

最後，他們發現用一些細長的藤條編成網，放到河中就可捕到很多魚，這可樂得伏羲家族眉開眼笑，而其他的家族自然也就學會了「飼養家畜」和「結網捕魚」的妙法，以後，人們的生活就更加安定了。
In the end, they discovered that, (if one) uses a bunch of thin and long (pieces) of thread to weave a net, (and then if one) puts the net into the river, (one could then) catch a lot of fish. This (prospect) delighted the Fu Xi clan, and made their faces light up with joy. Furthermore, other clans naturally learned the methods of “rearing animals for the family” and “weaving a net (to) catch fish”, and so, the lives of human beings became even more stable (thereafter).

 

[Vulcan59]

FWIW, an article on early Chinese history

The Warring States period in Chinese history (c. 475 – 221) was a momentous era during which important bureaucratic, military, and legal reform as well as political consolidation taking place. Political intrigues, punctuated by vicious military campaigns and brutal battles, characterized the epoch.

Qi

With ally like Qi, who needs enemy?

quannguyen128.substack.com

 

[Tuatha de Danaan]

FWIW, an article on early Chinese history

An interesting period for sure. What is amazing, taking the distance and states Of Wei and Chu between, how the Han and Qi would try a diplomatic alliance? Even if the Qi didn't play ball. As the people of Northern England say.......Now't as queer as folk.